Turmoil Rising

by JFT

Chapter 67: The Last of her Kind

Author's Note:

Late post everybody. Sorry.
Lately been feeling a bit under the weather.

The train tooted. It has several times throughout this journey, as four mares traveled directly south. The road to Apple Loosa alone took several hours, and the beating sun of the climate wasn’t one bit generous to the passengers. Luckily, the sun eventually disappeared as they passed into the narrow ravine of Macintosh Hills, the only passage south. Finally, some reprieve for the sleeping white unicorn, but it wouldn’t last long. In the shade of the environment, the train suddenly began to slow down just as the cover disappeared. They all felt something was off: The train had stopped and they hadn’t reached the station yet.

The orange mare got up and traipsed to the conductor, who was just staring out of the door window of the cart they were in. “ ’Scuse me, why did the train just stop? We’re kinda in a hurry to get to the Peaks of Peril.”

The conductor didn’t answer her, he only pointed out the window. She couldn’t understand what could have given him such a grim look, but she soon mimicked it. The train stopped just as it exited the narrow ravine and into the open jungle that later turned into a savanna. The reason for it stopping was because it couldn’t get to the station. Everywhere was partly green and orange, but on the large foreboding peak that wore the sinister name – it was engulfed in red and opal-colored flames, a long streak leading from it and through the land where the station stood, or rather, what was left of it.

“DASH! RARITY! FLUTTERSHY! The whole dang place is on fire!” she quickly alerted them.

The two mares quickly joined her side, while the other one took some time as she wobbled over to them and looked out the window.

“Oh no! The kirin!” the yellow pegasus panicked, awakening the draconequus in her fanny pack. “Who-wha-?”

“Sweet Celestia, we were too late!” the fashionista gasped, finally fully awake.

“Well, what are we still waiting about then?!” The wonderbolt immediately forced open the cart’s door. “Quick! We have to help the-”

As she lept into the air to rush ahead, before she could finish, her tongue twisted, as the workhorse bit her tail to stop her in place. “Hold, thunderhead, you don’t even know where to go. You try as much to approach from the air and you’re gonna suffocate from the smoke, if the heat doesn’t get you first.”

“I hope you still remember the way, Applejack,” the white unicorn wondered.

“We both do,” the animal caretaker assured her.

The Element of Honesty turned to the conductor. “Sir, go tell the driver to hold the train until we come back.”

“What? Excuse me, miss, but we can’t just hold the train,” he argued.

“There’s sentient creatures living atop that burnin’ mountain and we have to save them! And if you’ve got a problem with that you’re gonna have to explain it to Princess Twilight Sparkle, got it?!”

All he did was nod and dash out of the cart.

“Alright girls, let’s get goin’!” Applejack commanded and dashed off, with Fluttershy quickly catching up to her, with the other two Elements following them.

They got to a small creek, not far from where the fiery streak ran down the peak. They hopped over to the other side of it where the base of the mountain was. Nearby, there was a large rock, and both the shy pegasus and workhorse pushed it aside, revealing a large crevice in the wall. “This way, y’all,” the latter urged.

Yet, just as they were about to enter it, the former overheard something – it sounded like the sounds of terror and fright. “Wait!” Fluttershy ordered and quickly flew to the nearby bush, opening it, and revealing a group of squirrels huddled together and quivering. “Oh, you poor things.” She reached out and gently petted them. “Shhhhh. It’s okay, I’m here for you. Come on.” She scooped the four animals into her embrace and gently rocked them. “What’s happened to your home?” One of the squirrels finally spoke in a chittering noise. “What? Are you serious?”

“What are they saying, Fluttershy?” Rarity inquired.

“They’re saying… that the kirin set the whole peak ablaze.”

“Wait, what?” Rainbow Dash gave her a confused look. “They’re the ones responsible for all this destruction?”

“That don’ make a lick of sense,” Applejack joined in. “Kirin wouldn’t just set things ablaze unless they transformed into nirik. But Ah reckon we’ll find out once we get to their village. Come on.”

As the other three mares went on to the crevice, she let the critters climb up on her back. “Don’t worry, we’ll keep you safe, won’t we Discord?”

The wormy patchwork slipped out of the fanny pack and crawled up on the top of her mane. “Well, normally I’d say yes, but as things are, you’re the only one that’s capable of doing it, Fluttershy.”

She trotted off to join the rest of the group that already entered the narrow tunnel, and after a short walk, the light came at the end of the exit. And it proved to be anything but a good sign as they came out into the valley within the peak. Fluttershy and Applejack still remembered this place when they first visited it: A paradise, tucked away in this mostly inhospitable land where the locals have been living with nature for generations beyond counting; it was a breathtaking sight. Now, however, it was a sight of horror, as the entire village, all the greenery and the beautiful scenery, was reduced to a burning wreck.

“It’s… not supposed to look like that, is it?” The white unicorn pointed.

“No… You’ve no idea, Rarity,” the orange pony answered in a somber tone.

“But why would this happen? I thought we had the whole thing sorted out the last time we were here,” the shy pegasus wondered.

“Think about that later! We have to douse the fire!” the wonderbolt urged, as she ran further off and dug into the dirt, bucking it away at the flames.

The workhorse wanted to suggest simply using the nearby water source to do the job, but it didn’t take a moment for her to notice that it had already evaporated from the intense heat. The dirt job was in order then. She motioned to the rest and they followed. All of them pitched in, kicking up the dirt to put the red and opal-colored flames, even the squirrels and Discord joined in to assist, as little as they helped.

But as much effort as they put into it, the fashionista eventually voiced her observation. “It’s no use…” she huffed. “No matter how much of this… EUGH, dirt, we dump on fire, it just won’t go out.”

Even Rainbow Dash stopped. “How does that make any sense?!”

“Unfortunately, Rarity’s likely right in this case,” the draconequus spoke. “I can make an easy guess that we’re dealing with magic fire.”

“Great… So it was all a wasted effort…” the orange pony sighed in frustration.

“Even if we can’t put out the fire we at least have to look for survivors.” Fluttershy scooped up her small friends.

“Look for survivors? In this inferno? That’s about as likely as…” the wonderbolt’s voice trailed off as she began staring at Rarity.

The white unicorn took notice of her, she noticed all of them were suddenly staring at her. “What? Why are you all giving me that look?”

The other mares looked at one another before the yellow pegasus jumped in. “I-I think what she meant to say was that there’s likely nobody in the house. And last I remember, the kirin, or rather, nirik, burned in such colored flames. If they were the ones responsible for the fire it’s unlikely they’ll get hurt by it.”

“Even so, where did they go? Any indication of what happened went up in flames, and there is no way for us to look for clues when all the houses are impassible.”

Applejack rubbed her chin, looking about the burning village, when her eyes finally stopped at a trail that was leading out of it, jogging her memory. “Maybe not all of them… There’s one place we have to check first to be sure. If fire hasn’t reached it yet we may be in luck.” She turned. “Come on, everypony.”

They galloped in the said direction with the Element of Honesty leading them, eventually getting out of the burned growth, finding a trail to be more pronounced now against the orange and brown rocks, and their sight caught a small house sitting on the cliff edge, surrounded by vegetation that had not been touched by the fire.

“Phew, Ah was right. This one’s still safe.” She wiped her brow.

“Applejack, how did you know about this house?” the shy pegasus inquired.

“Because its owner brought me here when we got here the first time, Fluttershy.”

“You know the owner?” the blue pegasus asked.

“Oh yeah, she’s a chatterbox that one. If she’s here then she won’t be easy to miss.”

They climbed the hill and finally arrived at the house, and Rarity had to make a statement. “Well, one thing’s for sure, your friend’s taste is… well, wanting, to say the least.”

“Autumn Blaze!” Applejack called out.

No response was given. She ran all around the house and inside, but there was no trace of it. Then she climbed the log that led to a ledge. And still no trace of her.

She gave a disappointed sigh, then gazed at the landscape, seeing the trail of fire leading into the horizon. “Ah was certain she would be here. She loves this spot, she comes here to reflect… Then again, with what’s on the horizon she probably wouldn’t want to see it.”

She stared at it, for so long that others climbed onto the ledge, curious about what was taking her. But they were unaware of the weight limit of the structure, which, after making several squeaking noises, gave out, causing it to collapse, including all that was attached adjacently to it.

Applejack pushed one of the planks off of herself. “Ouch… Everyopony okay?”

“Been better…” Rainbow Dash groaned as she crawled out of the remains.

“I managed to land on this soft bag,” Fluttershy answered atop a large wrapped-up bundle, which just so happened to be atop Rarity as well.

“In the name of everything that’s decent would you please get this thing off me…?” the white mare moaned.

The shy pegasus quickly hopped off, while the workhorse grabbed the bundle and pulled it off of her. As the wrapped-up object was dragged away, it suddenly began to move. It soon became apparent that something or somebody was in it, which became especially obvious when a bulge rose up in the form of a head. The orange mare ripped it open and revealed a familiar face: The creature’s head closely resembled that of a pony, however, it had a scale-like formation running from its forehead to the tip of its nose, it had a long, curved horn, with a small tip growing out of it in the middle, and it had a long, curly mane that extended all around her neck as if it were a beard.

“Autumn Blaze!” she cheered and hugged her. “Thank Celestia you’re okay. We really thought for a second nobody was left after what we saw happened to the village.” She pulled back and noticed that something was off with her friend, as the expression on her face looked... passive. “Autumn Blaze, are you okay?”

The kirin only shook her head in response.

“Oh... yeah, Ah suppose that was a stupid question to ask after what we saw.” She rubbed her head. “What’s happened here?”

The kirin nodded in the direction of the burning village.

“Yes, we know what’s happened, we were there. But can you be more specific about it, please? We didn’t see anypony there and you’re the only one who’s…” She slowed down, noticing that she didn’t make any attempt to talk this whole time, her whole expression seemed completely unresponsive, and then she remembered she saw such symptoms in the past when she first visited. “Autumn Blaze, did you take a dip in the Stream of Silence?”

The kirin simply nodded.

“Oh no…” was the only response from the country pony.

“Applejack, what’s the Stream of Silence?” the fashionista inquired.

“It’s a magical stream, Rarity,” the animal caretaker elaborated. “If you touch it, it will remove any sort of emotions from you.”

“Oh, that explains why I’m not seeing the aforementioned “chatterbox”.” Discord nodded to himself, only to have the wonderbolt put a hoof over his muzzle.

“KHM!” The earth pony coughed in order to distract. “Anyway, we need to get an antidote. Fluttershy, can you ask your squirrel friends if they have any Foal’s Breath around? Because based on that inferno in the back I doubt any of it survived.” She felt a tap on her shoulder, as the kirin grabbed her attention, nodding at her house. “Wait… You have it? Why didn’t you use it already then?”

She didn’t answer, instead, she got up and traipsed through the doorway and a moment later came out levitating a wooden teapot and a cup. She poured herself one and then stared at it for a while, not moving at all.

“Autumn Blaze, what is it?” Applejack tried to get her attention.

After a while, the kirin looked at her and then down to the cup again, before finally taking a sip. A gulp followed, a soon after the passive expression on her face disappeared. The wooden cup and teapot stopped levitating and fell to the ground, spilling what was left. Everybody then watched as a frown formed on her face, she began hyperventilating, and they saw tears beginning to form in her eyes. And then a scream followed, only to be replaced by a distressing cry, as she collapsed on her hind quarters, waterworks in full motion. The country pony was about to approach her, but halfway she just ran at her and began shaking her violently.

“Rain Shine! Village! Fire! Big One!” and all the other random broken words were being spewed out of her.

“Wow… She’s not just a chatterbox, she’s a tongue-twister,” Discord made a snide remark only to be bumped on the head by the wonderbolt.

Applejack pulled Autumn Blaze in and wrapped her hooves around her. “Shhhh, it’s okay, we’re here for you, suga’ cube.”

The word spouting finally ended and was replaced with sobbing.

While the acquainted duo tried their best to calm the weeping kirin, Rarity picked up the wooden pot to try and make some tea. There was drinkable water and herbs, the heat source was another matter though; she had to improvise. She used her magic to enclose the wooden pot in a cube and then put it inside the nearby fire for a few seconds, and it was finished. She returned to the house on the hill, noticing that the moaning had finally stopped, though the earth pony and the pegasus were both still close to her to console her, all the while the Element of Loyalty kept a close eye on the draconequus so he wouldn’t say something tactless.

She poured a cup of tea. “Here you go, darling.”

The kirin’s horn began to glow, as she levitated it to herself, taking a sip. “Thanks. By the way, I like what you did with your hair, Rarity.”

She made a prideful mane swing. “Oh, this old thing? It’s nothing, darling. It’s all natural…” Her voice trailed off when she noticed from the corner of her eye that the wonderbolt was looking at the distressed local, making a cutting motion at her direction, before noticing that the fashionista locked her gaze with her, and then quickly pretended like nothing happened. “Rainbow Dash, what was that?”

“W-what was what?” she feigned ignorance.

“That thing you just did with your hoof. It’s almost like you were trying to cut Autumn Blaze from speak-” Once more she stopped when she noticed Applejack and Fluttershy doing the same thing, both facing the kirin, then pretending they didn’t do it when she noticed that they were being watched. “And you two, what was that for? What’s wrong with everypony?”

There was an awkward silence in the air until the local finally spoke up. “I think they were trying to tell me not to mention your mane for some reason, but that’s just me.”

Both pegasi and the earth pony looked at her with a grim look on their faces.

“My mane? What’s wrong with my mane? It’s perfectly combed, glistening and-” This time Rarity’s voice went silent, as she brushed off her hair with her hoof and then brought it before her face, noticing a purple smudge mark.

“Soooo… that’s not your new mane style then, is it?” she remarked once again.

There was a sense of dread creeping up on the white unicorn, as she slowly brought out her hand mirror, and a single look at it confirmed her fears – the intense heat from the fire had melted away her mane color, revealing the grey streak. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” she cried out upon revelation, bursting into tears. “All that hard work wasted! AGAIN!” she wheezed. “Excuse me…” A magical aura enveloped the wooden cup that the kirin was already drinking from, ripping it from her grip and drawing it to the fashionista. “But I need something to drown my despair right now…!” And she began drinking fervently, refilling it after it was empty, making a suppressed sob every now and then.

“Hey, look at it this way, Rarity,” the former Lord of Chaos quipped. “Misery loves company. You’re both miserable now and you can keep each other’s company.”

He only finished the sentence, and already the blue pegasus scoped him up and shoved him into the fanny pack of the yellow one. “Sorry, but I’ve had it with his tactless responses.”

“Sorry,” his muffled voice could be heard from inside.

Applejack once again turned her attention. “Autumn Blaze, explain what exactly happened here.”

She sighed. “I don’t even know where to begin, Applejack. I mean, it started off so well: I got up and opened the window of my door to soak in the morning sun, and Fern Flare came by to say “good morning”, and I went to the stalls to get some delicious vegetables for my breakfast, and I cooked them for-”

Rainbow Dash coughed, interrupting her. “Sorry, but, I’ve got an idea: How about you tell us when it actually started, cuz we’re kinda in a hurry here.”

“Oh, right, sorry,” Autumn Blaze cleared her throat. “So, we were setting up the stage for the monthly stand-up. Things were going fine, but then something went “dum, dum, dum!” as if something heavy was approaching. I found it odd because, by the sound of it, it should’ve been close to the village already. Then, a large shadow was cast over the village and we saw a figure standing on the rocky edges that surround the village, and we had no idea how big it was until it lept off and landed right in the middle of it.”

“What was it?” the workhorse inquired.

“I’m not sure. It had four legs, so one would assume it was equine-related, but where its head was supposed to be was instead a muscular torso with a pair of arms and a horned head atop it.

“Wait… That sounds like Tirek,” the shy pegasus pointed out.

“Who?” she gave her a confused look.

“Lord Tirek. He’s a centaur. You know – we faced off against him and two other villains when a call for help was given.”

The kirin thought for a moment. “Oh yeah… I thought he looked familiar, even with the makeover he got.”

“What do you mean “makeover”?” Rarity asked, still in a state of distress.

“He was huge compared to back then, as tall as a house. Among other things.”

“What? Don’t tell me his hair also caught fire or something as well?” Discord jokingly said.

“Actually, that’s pretty accurate.”

“It… it is?”

“Yeah. And he was just standing there for a while, looking at us. Our leader, Rain Shine, approached him and tried to communicate by saying “hello”, but he didn’t speak. Instead, he just broke Blossom Burst’s house with a single swing of his arm. He did the same with several other houses, and we tried to talk to him in vain. So, we tried to use magic against him, trying to tip him off balance by throwing stuff at him, and all it did was make him angry. So angry in fact, that he breathed fire on us. At that point we didn’t really have much choice – we had to fight fire with fire… In a literal sense, I mean.” Red and opal-colored flame suddenly enveloped her, taking the workhorse and the animal caretaker off guard, making them jump, revealing her rather unpleasant dark-looking form, before the process repeated and she returned back to her normal self.

“Wow! That’s pretty cool,” the wonderbolt complimented her.

“Please don’t do that again,” Applejack reproofed. “So, what happened then? Did a fiery battle erupt between you and him? Is that why the Peaks of Peril are on fire?”

“No. Quite the opposite happened. When we turned to nirik we expected a full-on destructive fight to ensure, but instead, he just began backing up. We didn’t even attack him directly at that point and he was retreating. The whole village joined in, and slowly he got backed into the walls of the peaks where he finally got cornered. He didn’t even try to fight back, so at that point, we were just waiting for him to apologize.”

“Did he?” Fluttershy hopefully wondered, to which, just about everybody who knew who was being talked about, gave her an unimpressed frown.

“Fluttershy dear, it’s Tirek we’re talking about. Of course, he wouldn’t,” Discord answered her question.

“Your slinky friend is right, Fluttershy,” Autumn Blaze resumed. “All of a sudden he started to laugh. And then went: “Good, good. Let your anger flow through you. And now, get consumed by it.”. Only then did I notice that around his neck he wore a small bag, tied with a rope. He took it off, opened it, and then, like a sinister villain from a play declared: “BEHOLD THE POWER OF DARKNESS!!!”,” she yelled out loud, making everybody twitch from the sudden outburst. “And then…” she paused as if she was trying to find words. “I don’t know how to describe it, but all of a sudden I felt heat rising all over me, there was this red haze that began clouding my senses as if overcome with strong emotion, something I wasn’t able to control began taking over me. I just… I just wanted it to stop, and I did the only thing I could think of with my consciousness fading.”

“Ya ran for the Stream of Silence, didn’t ya?” the orange mare connected the dots.

She nodded. “I ran for it and immediately took a dive. And instantly: “POOF!” it was all gone. The fiery haze was lifted and I could think clearly once more.”

“Yes, but you also lost all of your other emotions as well,” the shy pegasus pointed out.

“For the better, honestly.”

“What…?” Rarity finally stopped whimpering and sipping her tea. “Why would you say that?”

“What happened next…” There was a pause that the kirin let happen for a long time. “When I finally crawled out of the stream I came to realize I was the only one; none of the other villagers were there, either because they didn’t think about it or they didn’t manage to make it. So, I snuck back to see what was happening. When I saw them, I understood why that was the case. They stood there, motionless before the Tirek guy, Rain Shine was the only one who seemed to still be fighting to keep control of herself, but in the end, she too went still, her eyes turning red like the rest. The big guy then stretched out his hand before her, like this.” She mimicked the motion. “And then said in a calm dominant tone: “Now, kneel before your Lord.”. And that’s what she did, what all nirik did.”

“He tried to make the entire kirin village angry at him and then coax them all to surround him and turn into creatures who are especially susceptible to anger.” Discord made an observation. “He used their anger to take control of them. And I think we can all guess, from the recent experience, what caused it?”

They all knew its name. There was no need to speak of Turmoil’s fractured essence that nearly burned down the home of the griffins. And now, the Peaks of Peril suffered the same fate.

And that’s what bothered Applejack. “But if Tirek took control of all the nirik and has already left, why is the whole place on fire?”

The look on the kirin’s face became grim. “What he did next… He said: “Now we march south, to the western sea. And we will leave a path of destruction for everybody to see. Starting with this village. BURN IT TO THE GROUND!”.” When Autumn Blaze yelled out those words, she began to quiver. “I couldn’t do anything… I just watched. Watched as my own kin burned down our homeland. This wasn’t like when our anger got the better of us over a trivial spat and we ended up burning our village. This was unbridled rage, hotter and uncontrolled. Not just our homes, but also all the trees and plants burned. And it will continue to burn because nirik fire does not die down, not until they revert back to kirin form. All I could do was hide away. And even if I couldn’t see the action in progress anymore, the mouth-frothing cries persisted.” The tone in her voice began to crack. “In a single day, I lost both my home and my people… That’s why I didn’t want the Silence’s effect to end. I couldn’t bear the burden of emotions, I just…”

She broke, tears beginning to surge forth. The Elements of Honesty and Kindness quickly closed the gap between her to try and comfort her. The Element of Generosity stared at the now once more distressed female, and looked at the cup she was holding, before refilling it and handing it over to the weeping kirin; compared to what she was going through, she needed it more.

“I’m sorry,” the kirin apologized under her tears, as she grabbed the cup of tea and took a sip. “I know I seem so pathetic for just waiting for somepony’s shoulder to cry on… But I really didn’t know what to do… I don’t know if it’s a miracle or a chance that you all got here in my time of need…”

“Chance nothing! We knew we had to come here.” Rainbow Dash spoke up, making Autumn Blaze pause and give her a look of confusion.

“Dash is right, Autumn Blaze,” Applejack budged in. “We came here because the Cutie Map showed us something has happened to Peaks of Peril, so we came to investigate. In fact, we’re trying to prevent whatever Tirek and the rest of his goons are doing. If there’s a way to save your people from them, we’ll help you.”

“You can count on us, darling,” Rarity agreed.

The kinin looked at all of them, their words and looks radiating confidence. “Thank you…” she sniffed with a hopeful smile.

“I do wonder where Tirek could’ve taken all the nirik,” Fluttershy wondered.

“We don't have to think about that too hard,” Discord answered. “That trail we saw when we left the train because the path to the station was blocked by fire? That’s the path they left behind. If we end up following it we’ll eventually reach them.” He turned to the kirin. “Am I right?”

She nodded.

“Well, it’s a good thing there’s a way to keep track of them. Still, we’re gonna have to leave this place,” the earth pony resumed. “It’s a good thing that most of this land is barren so that the fire doesn’t spread far. There’s a train waiting down by the tracks for us.”

“Wait, we may have an issue though, Applejack,” the unicorn stopped her. “Twilight will be coming this way on an airship, we can’t put her at risk of our transport catching fire.”

“Yes. It’s unfortunate that we don’t have some sort of magical way to let her know,” draconequus pouted.

“You know what?” the Element of Loyalty grinned. “We may not have magic to do it, but we do have another way.

“No good, Princess Twilight, we can’t get any closer!”

The Lavender Spirit Airship approached the Peaks of Peril, but going any further was out of the question, as the captain said – the flames were too intense.

“But we have to get down! My friends are waiting for us there!” the alicorn insisted.

“Twilight, I don’t think they’ll be anywhere near this place,” her companion said as he looked over the edge. “I’m a dragon and I’m feeling this place is really hot.”

“We can’t just leave, Spike! We agreed that we would meet up here.”

“It may be presumptuous for me to make an injection,” the shaman responded, “but would it be possible for them to leave us a direction?”

“Zecora, that’s nonsense! How could they leave us a message?”

“By writing it in large letters?” Pinkie Pie replied as she leaned over the other edge of the ship.

The princess joined her side and discovered that she was being serious. Away from the fiery mountain, on the dried barren ground, there were lines on the ground made from tree logs, set up in a specific way that resembled writing, saying – “CROUP TOWN HARBOR. AVOID THE FLAME TRAIL.”.

The captain also looked over the edge of the ship after a while. “Croup Town? The city that stands on the western coast?”

“You know it, Seasaddle?” Twilight turned to him.

“It’s where I set off from with a cargo ship before I got caught in a storm and was brought to… that place.”

“And it’s also where the rail comes to an end.” Spike reviewed the map.

“But how do we know this was set by them?” the princess wondered. “For all we know this could’ve been put up by the very thing that destroyed the kirin village and it’s trying to divert us from the real trail.”

“Or mayhap, the answer is more obvious and not likely a trap.” Zecora pointed at a set of spaced-out letters that lay beneath the message, displaying A, F, R, RD, and AB. “Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash are the names I can make out, but the latter fills me with doubt.”

The tracks that ran through the narrow ravine in between the untamed jungle to the barren lands of southern Equestria split in two at some point. One of them led to the dead-end station near the Peaks of Peril, while the other continued further, where the path opened to the vast empty desert, at which point it once again split in two - one turning left towards Mount Aris, while the other turned right, and trailed along the mountainside, all the way to the coast. And this is where the port settlement of Croup Town stood. There were only a handful of houses, most of them belonging to the sailors who were sailing their ships to the other side of the continent or the neighboring ones. Still, the town had its basic businesses that were required to function properly, such as a restaurant, no more than a street away from the harbor. One that a certain group was currently occupying to sate their morning cravings.

“Ahhhh… That hit the spot,” Applejack let out a sigh of relief after scarfing down the last apple pocket.

“Ye…” the blue pegasus said with her mouth full, still munching a large hayburger.

“I agree, it was delicious,” Fluttershy wiped her mouth with a napkin after finishing her humble meal. “Although…” She turned her head to the side.

Next to her sat the kirin who didn’t order anything to eat, with a forlorn look on her face, yet she was the complete opposite of the white unicorn sitting next to her, who was gorging herself on ice cream.

“Waiter, another one, please,” Rarity said as she finished the last one, and he was already in wait with another bowl.

“Don’t you think you’re going a bit overboard, Rarity?” the workhorse made her concerns known. “That can’t possibly be good for your health.”

“No… But it just feels so good…”

The survivor next to her glanced. “This cold mush actually helps?”

The fashionista halted herself, pulling the spoon out of her mouth. “Autumn Blaze, don’t tell me you’ve never had ice cream before?”

“Well, considering where I live and the fact that I have an “incineratory condition”…”

“Oh darling, you have no idea what you’re missing. Here.” She scooped up a spoonful and shoved it into kirin’s mouth without notice.

At first, she was in shock, but then the expression on her face mellowed down. “It’s… so goooooooood…”

With her magic, she ripped the spoon from Rarity’s own, dug into the frozen pile, shoved another spoon full into her mouth, and soon after began rapidly stuffing herself.

“Dear, please, slow down!” the unicorn warned her. “If you do this so fast you’ll end up with-”

It came too late though. As she put another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, she stopped, as she felt a strange cold sensation coming over her head, spreading all over her, feeling the sting. “AAAAAAAA!” she screamed, falling off her chair and clutching her head. “What is this?!”

“That’s what they call brain freeze,” Applejack answered. “Ya eat too much cold stuff really fast and that’ll happen.”

The wonderbolt was about to chuckle, yet was unable because her mouth was still full. And even if she was able to, it would’ve quickly turned to a frown. As the kirin was wincing from her condition, her eyes suddenly turned white, exuding opal flames that were bordering the color red. A moment later the said flames completely enveloped her, as she turned into nirik, her flame blasting upwards, burning the umbrella cover under which, they were sitting. A few seconds later, the flames enveloped her again and she returned back to her normal form.

“Phew… Okay, it passed finally,” she sighed in relief.

The ponies just sat motionlessly and stared at her, the cover that was shielding them from the sun now gone. A shadow suddenly obscured the sunlight from above, and it was too sharp to be that of a cloud. They looked up and saw an airship passing over them. This was their cue.

“Let’s get the hay out of here before the owner finds out what happened to his umbrella,” Rainbow Dash suggested, with the country pony tossing a bag of bits on the table.

They all left the table and made their way to the harbor, but just as they did, the fashionista stopped in her tracks. “Girls… You go on ahead and tell Twilight to wait. Nature calls.” And she quickly dashed inside the restaurant.

The workhorse rolled her eyes, nodding to the rest to follow. They finally exited the town and onto the large web of docks that stretched across the bay of Croup Town. The airship they saw earlier was beginning to descend and eventually landed on one of the piers. Approaching, they finally noticed a purple mare, on it.

“Twilight!” the yellow pegasus greeted her, as she, the orange pony, and the kirin waited for the ramp to be lowered, while the blue pegasus just flew up on deck.

“Yo, Twi!” the wonderbolt greeted her, noticing a new face steering the vessel. “I take it that’s our guy?”

“This guy,” the stallion heard her, “miss, is the one who will get you to the destination when nopony else can. Thank you very much.”

“What’s with him?” she leaned into Spike.

“He’s in a bad mood because he didn’t want to come and feels like he’s being guilted into going.”

“I shouldn’t worry,” Pinkie Pie hopped by. “A few days on the sea and he’ll get over it.”

“Pinkie, we’re not sailing on the sea…”

“Oh, right, sorry. OVER the sea.”

Meanwhile, other mares boarded the ship, and the princess noticed somebody was missing. “Where’s Rarity?”

“One last bathroom trip before we cast off.”

The Element of Magic realized that a new voice was among them. “Wait. You’re…” she tried to recall. “Autumn Blaze, right? What’s happened at your home?”

As soon as she mentioned it, her gaze dropped and her expression became depressed.

The country pony quickly stepped in. “Twilight, here’s what’s happened at Peaks of Peril.”

Rarity came trotting out of the restaurant, finally relieved. She didn’t hold still for long though, she had to hurry and catch up to the rest, so she quickly galloped towards the dock. As she was coming to the street corner though, somebody came right around it. She ended up crashing into him and he fell all over her.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” he apologized, as he crawled off her. “I was so engrossed in the book I wasn’t paying attention. Are you ok… Miss Rarity?”

She shook her head, the voice that greeted her seemed familiar. As she got up to take a good look at the pony: He was a unicorn stallion, short in stature, his fur grey and mane dark blue, with a look that almost made him seem aged than he really was.

“Stygian? Fancy meeting you here of all places.”

“I could say the same,” he replied. “What are you doing here on the far end of Equestria?”

She gave him a curious look. “Didn’t Star Swirl or any other of the Pillars of Old Equestria notify you about what’s been going on?”

“Well, I’ve been away from home for a while now, traveling Equestria, having time to think about things and write the next story.”

“Oh, you mean Me and My Shadow series? You got only two novels out over the course of the last three years compared to how quickly the first three came out.”

“Yeah… As I said, I’ve been away to have some time to think… Which was about a year and a half ago.”

“Wait… You mean to tell me you’ve had no contact with anypony else you know for that long? In any way?”

“Erm… yes?” he gave her an awkward shrug.

“Sweet Celestia! Stygian you really need to meet up with your friends every now and then. Prolonged loneliness is really unhealthy for you. Not to mention you seem to be completely out of the loop of what’s been happening.” She was prepared to speak further but then remembered she was in a hurry. “Look, I’m in a hurry, so I’ll be blunt about it: Something bad is happening in the Everfree Forest. I’m here with Princess Twilight Sparkle and everypony else to set off to a distant land to stop it. And as I’m speaking everypony else is already waiting for me.” She began trotting backward towards the harbor. “Go to Ponyville and you’ll get the answers you need. Toddles!” And she ran off.

The scrawny pony was left all by himself now, unsure what to do with what he was just told. “This doesn’t sound good,” he thought to himself. “Maybe I should go and check up on that but… The last thing I would want now is to face any one of THEM again…”

He shook his head. That last part - it felt right, and yet he got put off by the idea that such a thought even came to his mind. It brought back the memory of a time that he didn’t want to remember, of a time… when his anger and hatred felt just. He trotted off in the opposite direction, towards the train station, wondering what could’ve brought that up, completely unaware of the shadowy wisp, which managed to sneak just past the corner of his sight when he was distracted. It grinned before it flew away.

The Lavender Spirit took off from the harbor and sailed away into the west. The atmosphere was anything but pleasant aboard since they just related what had happened at the Peaks of Peril.

Twilight went past her companion, who was looking through the spyglass back at the shore. “What are you looking at, Spike?”

“That line of fire that Autumn Blaze mentioned,” he answered.

“What about it?”

“I think I found its tail.”

“Come again?”

He handed her the instrument and she looked through it. She saw the fiery line in the distance as it approached the waterline, further south of Croup Town, in the desert, where it ceased. And that’s when she spotted them! An army of nirik gathered on the shore, adamant and motionless. But they weren’t alone, as near them a skittering swarm of changelings was also present. And sitting on the very edge of the border, were their two leaders.

“It’s Tirek and Chrysalis!” the alicorn let out a suppressed scream, hoping that others wouldn’t hear them.

“Why are they just standing about?” Spike wondered.

“My guess is that they don’t have the means to cross the sea. If that’s the case then we still have the upper hand to get to our destination before them.”

“Do we let… her know?” He nodded in the direction of the kirin, who was being consoled by Applejack and Fluttershy.

“No… I think seeing her kin like that again would just demoralize her even more.”

With that knowledge, the dragon quickly put the spyglass away.

“Yo, Spike!”

The call made him jump, making him quickly turn to the one who made it. “What, Rainbow Dash?!”

“You got a stopwatch?”

“Why?”

“If we’re gonna be flying for a long time, no way am I just gonna sit about. I just barely recovered and I think my wings have gotten a little rusty. I need to get back in shape while we’re on the way. So, start measuring.” And she flew over the edge of the airship.

Spike shrugged and went off the look for the stopwatch, leaving Twilight alone. In the meantime, Twilight picked up the spyglass and looked back at the shore again, where the Pillars of Hatred and Anger waited. It made her worry. They were getting ahead of them, but how long would that last?

A day passed, and there was no land anywhere in sight. The passengers were trying to pass the time or to keep their thoughts busy by playing cards or board games. The only ones not present for the activities were the captain who was steering the ship, the wonderbolt who was trying to break her flight limit, the dragon who was timing her, and strangely, for some reason, the shaman, who was just sitting at the very head of the ship, staring at the horizon. The day was passing just normally until the pony at the helm caught something in sight.

“Ship’s ahoy!”

The mares came running out and looked over the edge. On the left side of the vessel in the distance, they saw a fleet of dark airships passing by them. And they knew exactly to whom they belonged.

“The Storm King,” Twilight whispered.

“A friend of yours?” the kirin asked.

“Hardly,” Rarity answered. “He’s with the one who took your kin, Autumn Blaze.”

“Ah. I see.” There were no other words for her to say.

“If he’s gonna come at us we getter go to battle stations,” Applejack suggested.

“I don’t think he will,” Twilight said. “Even if they spot us he’s not going to waste time. They’re in a hurry to transport others to Farasi.”

Fluttershy smiled. “It’s a good thing then that we’re a good day ahead of them then.”

“A good day ahead that will hardly help us miss,” the captain spoke up again. “Look ahead of us, all of you.”

They all went to the front of the airship where the shaman sat. They gazed to the horizon, or rather the lack of it, as in the distance, large storm clouds could be seen, covering a long reach to the north and south.

“Same place as I knew it would be. That darn storm nearly got me last time. And it’s the reason I ended up in that land. If y’all don’t want to experience what I did all those years ago, we’re gonna have to go around it.”

“How long will that take?” Spike inquired.

“We’ll be lucky if not more than a day.”

“And since the Storm King’s airships can just fly through the storm undeterred it means they’ll have shortened travel time than us…” Rainbow Dash realized.

“Even so, that’s our only way,” Seasaddle finished.

Ears of some dropped in knowledge, and they went back to the accommodation to pass the time. As the shy pegasus was the first to pass the threshold, the small worm-like creature quickly stopped her at her face.

“Discord, what are you-?”

He wrapped around her mouth to shut her up. “Shhhhh. Quiet.”

Other mares who were behind her noticed it. “Discord, what are you doing?” Rarity inquired.

He unwrapped from the pegasus’ muzzle and crawled up to the white unicorn. “I think we have stowaways.”

“What makes you think that?” the animal caretaker questioned.

Draconequus flew to the table where the games and snacks were. “I remember specifically there were salted pretzels right here. I know because I was about to have a nibble before we got called out. Now there’s a handful of them missing.” He skipped over to the other ones. “So are the chocolate-covered hobnobs, the roly-poly, and do I even need to continue?”

“Okay fine, Discord, but where could a stowaway even hide?” Rainbow Dash.

“Gee, I wonder,” said Pinkie Pie, who rolled her eyes, before rolling herself all over the floor in a specific direction. “It couldn’t possibly be in this one giant obvious place that’s proven itself to be completely capable of hiding an individual being. That would be silly.” She stopped rolling as she reached the closet and pointed at it.

They all looked at one another. Twilight used her magic on the handle of the closet to open it, and much like last time, a pile of clothes tumbled out of it. And much like last time, they began to wiggle. The draconequus was right, somebody else was here unannounced! They all surrounded the moving pile, both Rarity and Twilight charging up their magic, while others grabbed large objects that weren’t bolted to the floor to use as weapons, except for Fluttershy who peaked from behind others. The pile of clothing finally rose and a face popped out. A familiar face, giving an awkward smile! They all knew this yellow-furred, red-maned young mare with a bowtie on her head.

“APPELBLOOM!?” they screamed in unison, her older sibling being flabbergasted. “WHAT THE HAY ARE YOU DOING HERE?!”

Comments

[Phetiamwantip]

Oof. Looks like Apple Bloon has a lot of explaining to do.

[Great White Prime]

Croup Town? Don't you mean "Klugetown"?

[JFT]

11704694
Nope. Two different towns.
images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/b84a491d-2f11-4cc5-8eb0-95044f2c957d/dga5bv1-df119c98-45de-4591-b4f2-db6dbf90a5cc.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2I4NGE0OTFkLTJmMTEtNGNjNS04ZWIwLTk1MDQ0ZjJjOTU3ZFwvZGdhNWJ2MS1kZjExOWM5OC00NWRlLTQ1OTEtYjRmMi1kYjZkYmY5MGE1Y2MuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.sEUp2L7kXVKrb6Cabow6Pp2SvI0f7v0k2zIXJwYYZwE

[Great White Prime]

11705162
Ah thanks for clarifying