Turmoil Rising

by JFT

Chapter 76: The Fiery One Cometh

Flashing. Flashing and thundering everywhere. Within the city of Musa, the trapped residents took refuge inside the buildings that the street fighting and the rain of lightning bolts from above hadn’t damaged. For a whole day, King Abraxas’ Storm Guard had been fighting the Storm King’s ones, trying to protect their people. As the sun set though, the invaders disappeared back through the portals from which they had emerged, allowing the natives to finally have some respite… or so they thought. Even though the enemy armies had retreated, their leader was still flying above them non-stop, raining bolts on their city, yet the attack wasn’t as intense, as he was preoccupied with dealing with one of the Three Kings of Farasi. Even so, the constant flashing and booming sound would barely allow any of them to rest enough so they could be prepared for the next day when the attack would resume again.

The same was not the case for the said invaders. They were all making themselves comfortable and resting high above, aboard their airships, all of them protected by domes made of dark light, which isolated any unpleasant sounds. The conjurer of the said spell had remained awake through the night, motionlessly gazing into the eye of his companion, observing activities far away from them.

“Anything yet?” Doubt asked as it circled around the border of the magical barrier.

“Still nothing,” the ram responded. “All I see is darkened dunes.”

The weaselly vapor let out a groan in response before resuming its circling, and then once again stopped after a full round. “The sun is rising.”

“How do you know when we’re surrounded by dark light?” he turned his head to it in question.

“Trust me, I can tell. Anyway, this lot will have to wake up soon and join their leader again.”

“You know what? I’ll take your word for it,” the sorcerer said as he gazed back into the arimaspi’s eye. “I think I can finally see something.”

The shade quickly turned and flew to his side. “Is that so? What can you peek at?”

“I see the sparks of light, illuminating the sandy dunes. And yet… I see dark. Dark and rain.”

“That’s it!” it raised its voice. “This must be the place! Open the doorway, Shaper!”

The grizzled ram rose on his feet. “In a moment, Doubt. First though…”

He turned about to see the satyrs still fast asleep, but he knew that wasn’t gonna last much longer. His horns began to glow, and in a matter of moments, the protection fields surrounding the airships dropped. One would’ve expected that the first rays of light would’ve woken up the sleeping army, but instead…

KRAKOOOM!

Only a few seconds passed before the first crash of thunder pierced the sky, and instantly, all the satyrs jumped on their feet in fright. They spotted a glimpse of light, but the more noticeable one came from the direction of the fight between the two kings, and theirs was still flying above the city in his cloud form.

“WELL WELL WELL, LOOK WHO FINALLY WOKE UP,” he regarded them. “DID YOU ALL HAVE A GOOD NIGHT’S REST? YES? GOOD! NOW GET YOUR REAR ENDS DOWN THERE AND GET BACK TO FIGHTING!”

They all groaned. “Not even a breakfast?” the black hedgehog murmured under his breath, in hopes that he wouldn’t be heard, and then noticed a portal of dark light opening near him, before gazing at the caster. “Mister Grogar, couldn’t you have left us to sleep just a little bit longer? Or at least wake us up so we could first have something to eat?”

He regarded him. “Alas, little Grubber, I fear I could not. It’s my time to act now, and I must depart.” He faced forward, and a portal opened before him, big enough for his companion to pass through. “Paramis,” he uttered, and at the drop of the word, the arimaspi rose and rushed through, disappearing out of sight. “In the meantime, make sure your master doesn’t get into any mischief that would end badly for him.” And with that, the sorcerer passed through the portal, and shortly after that, it shut closed.

The Storm King’s right hand sighed. “Well, it was pleasant while it lasted, boys… Anyway, you’ve heard our king. Move out!”

At the command, the satyrs rushed through the opened portals aboard their ships, appearing back on the streets of Musa, and just as they did, they soon encountered the locals who met them to fight. It was clear from the first contact though, that one side was suffering from lack of sleep. Meanwhile, on the tops of the city’s spires, lightning zoomed left and right, then leaping in the air and making contact with the electric barrier that barred everybody’s escape. It tried to break through it, only for the giant sentient cloud face to come down and counter the escape from the other side, as the cloud’s controller exposed himself through its open mouth, using the enchanted arm to absorb the attack of the lightning zebra king.

“I’m impressed you’ve lasted this long, pal,” he complimented King Abraxas. “You’re certainly more durable than your followers, I’ll give you that. But there’s still one problem: Unlike me, you’re still just a living creature. I can go on forever, but I wonder… how much longer can you last and protect your precious city?”

While the zebras in their kingdom had at least a modicum of reprieve, the same could not be said for the forested area beneath Mount Chinjaio. Throughout the night, the fires raged, and even though the locals tried to put it out, it was almost next to impossible because of the strong winds that were caused by their leader and his honor guard, as well as the invasive species that they were fighting. As the first speck of morning light appeared, a trail of devastation was left from the slopes of the mountain and all the way to the village that was deep in the jungle, half of it burned down. As one of the villages came by with a bucket to try and douse a nearby burning tree, his ruler appeared close by with a gust of wind.

“What’s the situation?” Amun inquired.

“Sir, we’ve tried our best to douse the fire, but it’s spreading so fast. And these changelings are making things worse, they keep attacking us while we’re trying to work,” he complained, as several more abadas joined him, carrying buckets.

“We don’t have other options. All we can do is hope that Watami is warned. And in the meantime…”

The king walked past them, and his people began following him close by. All of a sudden, he stopped and quickly spun around them all, until they were picked up by strong wind and flung into the air. As they were flailing about, all of them were enveloped in a flash of green, revealing themselves as the invading forces, one of them included their queen.

“I was wondering where you’ve slipped off to! If you’re planning to deceive me by impersonating my own people, you’re going to rue it!” And the abada king lept into the air and clashed with Chrysalis.

“Persistent, aren’t you?” She smiled. “Your lackeys are short on breath, but you seem in a different league compared to them. Let’s see who lasts longer, shall we? Your chilly winds, or my ice-cold hatred?”

He grunted. The centaur spent the cold night in the middle of the desert with no problem. He recalled that in certain areas back in the Nether Lands, nights could get quite cold, but surprisingly, he felt no such thing that night. Yet even so, he was dealing with an unusual case of discomfort sometimes half through the night: When he was nice and snug on a pile of sand, he now felt hard surfaces all around him, and he kept twisting and turning to try and find a comfortable position, but he had no such luck. Then the light over the horizon began to emerge, attempting to rouse Tirek from his slumber, yet he only turned away from it, refusing to comply with the wake-up call; he just wanted to sleep some more, desperately trying to make himself comfortable and failing. After some time passed, however, a strong light suddenly erupted all around him, finally forcing his eyes to open – he was in a foul mood from being robbed of the modicum of comfort, and when his eyes finally adjusted, he realized what was the cause of his unpleasant condition. Glass. Glass all around him, it almost looked like a bowl. The Pillar of Hatred was unaware that his current state passively radiated heat from his body, an ever-increasing one. And during his slumber, his body released so much heat that the sand he was sleeping on turned to glass. As for the strong light, the sun had already traveled beyond the horizon, and its radiance finally ended up reflecting into the bowl where the centaur was lying. He would’ve laughed at the unpredictable result, were he not peeved. As he rose up, he smashed the ground he was standing on, causing the creation of his action to instantly crumble underneath him.

“Ugh…” he groaned. “I wish I had the power to push the sun down for a bit longer…” He cracked his neck and flexed his muscles. “Well, I guess I should look for the ponies then…”

He connected his thumbs with index fingers, then proceeded to channel his magic to create tiny fields that filled the circular gap in the formation. He then put one hand before the other until the fields aligned and then looked through them, allowing him to see in the distance. He gazed across the vast ocean of sand, hoping to finally spot them, but now he was faced with a problem he did not foresee. The ocean of sand was turning into a literal ocean, or at least a murky resemblance of it. The scorching sun reflecting off the surface of the sand created a distorted image, through which the centaur lord was unable to gaze past despite his magic.

“DRAT!” he cursed. “Now I can’t see them even in broad daylight! No good. I need a higher elevation so I can look past the mirage…”

He gazed through his makeshift spyglass and looked about his surroundings, and finally spotted a particularly high sandy hill in the distance to the west. To march to that location in this scorching climate would’ve probably taken hours, adding up to more unnecessary exhaustion, but Tirek had no intention of wasting his time with such trivialities - all he needed to see was his location up close, and he could make it work with ease. A fiery orb manifested itself between his horns, and without even blinking, a doorway enveloped in fire opened before him, and a familiar location that he had just witnessed was on the other side.

“All of you! With me!” he commanded, and the nirik immediately followed him through the portal.

The Pillar of Anger stepped through the doorway, and now, along with his armies, found himself atop the tall sandy dune that was overlooking the vast desert. And with the mirage no longer obstructing him, on the northwestern side, he finally noticed signs of greenery. Once again, he conjured his makeshift spyglass to look for his targets, but after scanning for a while he still couldn’t spot any sign of them. They must’ve gotten ahead of him while he was still sleeping. But if that was the case, it also meant that they were already on the way to one of the three kingdoms - there was no point in looking at the desert anymore. His gaze turned to the greenery he had seen earlier and took a better look at it. There were surprisingly a lot of rivers, several trees, as well as some fields, being tended to by the natives, but still no sign of the culprits that would stand out from them. He looked further into the distance, and finally, something caught his eye. No, it wasn’t the ponies. As he followed the river to its source, he finally came across a large body of water, and there… he saw it, a superstructure, standing out of the middle of this vast lake, like a fountain statue. This was it! No regular being could live in a place as grandiose looking as this: This must’ve been the home of the third native monarch!

Long before that, just as the first rays of light began peaking over the east, a portal of dark light opened at a certain location in the desert, one that the Father of Monsters had only recently become aware of, as he passed through it, along with his arimaspi companion, as well as a weaselly shape that can slither across the air before the conjuration shut closed behind them. The ram was following a certain somebody. This place, one of the natives knew where it was and how to get to it, so he was trailing her instead of the ponies. And it led to this place: There were dark clouds in the sky before them, concentrated on a very specific location, never seeming to wander out of bounds, which created a clear contrast between it and the outside – the sun was slowly illuminating the land, but not the area under the clouds, where there was nothing but constant dark and rain, the atmosphere was truly depressing.

“So, this is where the final piece is, Doubt?” Grogar inquired. “I can feel great power originating from this place, even if the clouds weren’t there, I can tell there is a sinister force at work.” He was waiting for confirmation, but the usually talkative shadowy wisp was strangely silent. “Doubt?” he called it again, but when silence followed again he decided to regard it.

He had thought that the manifestation had already departed in eagerness to liberate its significant other, but it was still there, levitating on the spot, being completely silent. That’s when the grizzled ram noticed something unusual: As the shade was staring into the distance, tiny blobs were forming on the bottom border of its green eyes, trailing down its slim form and evaporating as they parted from its body.

“Doubt? Are you… shedding tears?”

There was a solemn tone in its voice. “Despair has been freed, yet it’s being incarcerated by one of the natives, who called upon the elements of the land to assist him. The locals have made their bed when their ancestors chose to stand up against a fragment of Turmoil, but the elements…” it paused. “They do not deserve such torment…”

“I do not understand you, Doubt,” Grogar spoke. “You seem to hate living creatures and want to bring harm upon them, yet you seem to feel “hurt” when the same courtesy is extended to the natural forces of this world. Why is that, I wonder?”

The vapor’s whip-like tail moved towards its head and wiped the tears away. “That does not concern you, Shaper. I will go ahead to the prison. Look for a lush jungle land, and at the heart, you will find its location. Do not dally.” And the weaselly shape flew away into the darkened lands.

The creator and his pet were left standing on its border, the latter addressing the former with grunting gibberish. “No, not right away, Paramis,” the maker spoke. “My curiosity has been piqued.” The arimaspi once again addressed him in incomprehensible sounds. “Who knows…” The grizzled ram’s head turned to the dark land before them. “Let us move at our own pace.”

Elsewhere, the sun was also just beginning to rise over the horizon, immediately awakening one of the two zebras that were leading the newcomers, who were now in a cluster with them so they could survive the cold night.

The younger one yawned before stretching out. “Okay everybody, get up! We’ve got a good time to move on!”

And soon the moans and groans of the group surrounding her came up. “As expected from Sanaa: Always the early bird,” the elder one said.

“Well, somebody has to be, Grandma Zeg’us. Otherwise, nothing would get done out in the fields. Besides, I was partly being kept awake due to SOMEBODY’S jittering.”

Her glare was pinned on the blue pegasus who was pressed against her. “Sorry,” Rainbow Dash apologized, “but it was just so cold, even if we were in this position all night.”

“Then you should’ve thought about getting ahead of everybody, instead of gagging at the prospect when it was suggested.”

“Yeah, Dashy!” Pinkie Pie popped up from behind her. “You should’ve snuggled up to our “heater” in the middle, and then you’d be all snug and cozy.” And to that response, the wonderbolt could only grumble.

Spike yawned, having a difficult time stretching as the purple alicorn rested her head on his, who was soon after roused from slumber. “Did you sleep well, Twilight?” the little dragon wondered.

“Of course it was,” she smiled.

“I agree. Who would’ve thought that such a small package could pack so much heat,” Rarity mused, as she rubbed the little dragon’s chin, almost making him melt in her hoof.

“Yeah, Ah agree, Spike. Your scales as so warm and comfy…”

The orange pony uttered that; she was still half asleep, but everybody present could tell things were not as they seemed for her. “Em, Applejack? Those aren’t my scales…”

The workhorse finally opened one of her eyes, and it took her a moment to clear the mist from her sight to become aware of her surroundings. Much like the blue pegasus, she was forced to spend the night on the outer side of the cluster, depriving her of the majority of the heat that the rest of the group shared. But unlike her, she had a surprisingly warm night, thinking that she managed to get close to Spike, and now she was able to see green scales on the back end of another equine-like being, who was not there when they all dropped off, and she was still sleeping.

“Autumn Blaze?!” she jumped in surprise, causing her to twitch in shock.

“Can we wait a little bit, please? I’m not an early bird…” she mumbled, still not fully awake.

From the cover of the animal caretaker’s pink hair, Discord popped his head out. “Well, of course, you’re not, you’re a kirin. How long have you been up?”

She yawned. “I’m not sure. At some point, I just got tired of sorrow and I wanted to have some sleep.” She stretched herself out.

“Autumn Blaze,” Fluttershy confronted her, “are you okay?”

She gave her a look, and others were not sure if it was one of sadness or tiredness. “No,” she bluntly answered, “I’m not. All night I saw the nirk fire burning, reminding me that all my people were right there, in front of me, and I was powerless to help them.”

“I’m so sorry…” the shy pegasus apologized.

“Don’t. I had a long time to think about things in the dead of night. And in the end, I came to realize something: I was down this road once before. You know, being excluded from the rest of my kind. Previously, I was kicked out for refusing to conform to the dull life that we had to endure out of fear of harming one another. And now, I’m once again excluded by my own choice. Except this time, they’ve been taken by a force they can’t resist. Surely breaking its hold on them should be easier than trying to squeeze water out of rock, right?”

She waited for their response, hopeful. They wanted to say it, but they knew an issue was afoot. The problem in this case was not Tirek himself, but rather the source itself that was controlling the nirik - Anger. They didn’t expect that one of Turmoil’s aspects would be brought along, and if they ended up facing it, much like back at Griffinstone, they knew full well they wouldn’t be able to fight back against it, or at least, not directly. But they needed to say something optimistic, they had to, now that the lone kirin finally showed some genuine optimism in the midst of all the gloom and doom. Before anyone could utter a word through, a growling sound emerged among them, garnering their attention. They looked about what could be causing it, but it didn’t take long for them to realize that it was coming from the party planner.

“By the way, when do we eat?” Pinkie Pie inquired.

“As soon as we get to Carthage, pink one. No sooner,” Sanaa answered. “Unless you’re satisfied on munching your own manes.”

“Thanks, darling, but I think we’re not that desperate yet,” Rarity declared, but not before she noticed that the pink pony had been licking the tip of her puffy hair.

“What? We haven’t eaten anything since lunch yesterday, and now Zecora’s go-” Twilight quickly shut Pinkie Pie’s mouth as soon as she heard her utter their resident shaman’s name, at which point her elder sibling was glaring at her.

“Alright, everypony! Who’s next to do the heavy lifting?” Rainbow Dash suddenly declared. “Oh right, I think it’s you, Twilight.”

“Wait, what? What heavy lifting?” She gave her a confused look.

“Remember yesterday? We were taking turns on who’s gonna have to carry graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…” the blue pegasus’ voice suddenly trailed away when she realized what she was about to say, and she felt eyes like daggers pointing at her. “Grand matriarch Zeg’us to the end destination, remember?”

The elderly figure towered over the rainbow-maned pony. “The “grand” part was a bit too extravagant, but still, good recovery, girl.”

“Right,” the alicorn stepped in, “and since we’re on the clock, the sooner we reach the queen the better. Madam Zeg’us, if I may?”

“Certainly,” she accepted, and before the elder zebra knew it, a pink glow suddenly enveloped her, and she began levitating off the ground.

“Miss Sanaa, lead the way,” the princess requested from the guide.

She nodded, and wandered off in the direction of the northwest, with the visitors all following her.

The travelers continued their trek across the desert. As time passed and the sun kept rising higher, they began noticing that the heat was beginning to rise in the previously cold desert. But soon, the heat began to stabilize, as some of the ponies began noticing that dirt was beginning to appear under their hooves, and greenery was beginning to sprout everywhere. Soon enough, they came across a couple of gazelles, who were standing in the middle of a path and talking, and their attention quickly got grabbed when they noticed approaching equines that were alien to them.

“Watami’s blessing upon you,” was what Sanaa said as she approached them, and they responded in kind. “Is one of the rafts currently moored nearby? We need quick transportation to the city, right away.”

“I believe so,” one of them answered. “We went by one of them close by and it wasn’t active yet.”

“This wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with these… strangers, would it?” the other one inquired.

“Yes, but all the more both of you should go and warn others in Watami’s domain that a threat is coming their way and that they should take cover,” the zebra warned them.

A loud growl suddenly followed, and when the gazelles heard it, they yelped and quickly ran away. That was not the sound of the aforementioned threat though, it was the sound that the pink earth pony's stomach had been making the entire way.

“Nice going, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash glared at her.

“I can’t help it! I need some yummy for my tummy…!” she whined.

“We’ll get that fixed once we reach our destination. Now follow!” the field manager beckoned.

They continued their advance, and with the solid ground again under their feet, their pace increased. Soon enough, they came across the first body of water – a thin river with a pier, and a raft with railings floating close by it.

They all stopped on it, but the mare with an eye for details quickly noticed something odd. “Hold on, this raft doesn’t have any oars or anything. How are we supposed to use this?”

“Yeah, Ah doubt we’ll get far if we have to use our hooves to move it. We might as well just go on foot at that point,” Applejack pitched in.

“Hold on all of you,” the guide calmed them.

She walked to the edge of the pier, leaned over the edge, and tapped the surface of the river. A few seconds passed, and soon enough the silent body of water was disturbed, and a form emerged from beneath: It had a long, deep blue body, and even though it was rising from the water below the pier, it came face to face with the caller, it almost resembling a sea serpent, with two pairs of webbed red fins on each side serving as limbs, only her head looked somewhat equine, with her dorsal red fin extending from the top of her forehead and all the way down her spine to look like a mane. The ponies were taken aback a bit, and they'd only seen a sea serpent once before but this one seemed different. For starters, the first thing it did was not even regard them, it raised one of its fins to cover her mouth and yawn.

“An early bird as always, huh, Wadi?” the zebra smugly said.

“That’s not funny, Sanaa. You know I can’t deal with this early,” she finally spoke.

“Odd. You’d think after being here for several cycles now that you’d have gotten used to it.”

“I’m not gonna deal with your smug attitude, Sanaa.” The kelpie began to descend back into the body of water. “If you wanna get to the capitol, go on foot.”

“Wadi, wait!” she finally said in an urgent tone. “This is serious. I need you to get us all to Carthage, we have to warn your mother, the queen.”

The aquatic being halted just as her sight was about to pass the pier’s surface, and only then did she finally notice the company that was with her. “Well, there’s something you don’t see every day. Do these outsiders have anything to do with it?”

“They’re friendly. But others that made landfall on the eastern shores of Farasi aren’t. Both the kingdom of Mansa and Mount Chinjaio are under attack, and now the third attacker is coming this way.”

The kelpie stared at the zebra for a while longer before she sunk beneath the surface. The rest thought that the warning had fallen on deaf ears, but that soon changed as the raft suddenly shifted a bit and came closer to the pier.

Wadi popped her head out from under the raft. “All of you, hop on. And make sure to hold onto something.”

They all rushed ahead, but not before Twilight put the elder on the raft first. “Sorry about the bumpy ride the past few miles, matriarch Zeg’us, but I couldn’t keep up much longer.” After which the rest clustered together with her.

Once they were all set, the kelpie’s head disappeared underwater again, and the raft moved. They traversed the river line slowly, but as they left the shallows, the speed began increasing. Soon enough, they were forced to grab hold of the railings so they wouldn’t fall off. As they advanced, they began seeing more greenery, as it turned into a forest, and many more native creatures were going about, like wildebeests, giraffes, buffalos, and even more bare zebras.

In the meantime, as the latter ones were seen, the workhorse noticed a forlorn look on the guide’s face, and she decided to divert her attention. “Tell me somethin’, is our carrier always in such a sour mood?”

“Wadi, you mean? She’s bitter and has been for a while now, ever since she did something that peeved off her mother because her younger sibling told on her. As punishment, she got stationed on the edge of the domain to ferry others.”

“She’s got a lil’ sis too?”

“Yeah. She’s apparently too good for her own sake.”

“Think she’ll ever forgive her?”

“Who knows? This grudge’s been going on for a while now. Something monumental would probably have to happen.”

“But there is still a possibility, right?”

She was about to say something, but halted herself, and then turned her head to the orange pony. “This isn’t really about them, is it?”

Applejack sighed. “Look, Ah get little sisters can be a handful, Ah know from first-hand experience. Back home on a farm, she always got to all kinds of mischief, and even outside of it, she’s done all sorts of stuff that got her and her friends in very hot water. You and Ah aren’t that different from one another.”

The zebra scowled. “Has your sister ever unleashed an evil that corrupted your homeland and caused the destruction of your whole tribe?”

“Well, no, nothing as drastic as that. The worst Ah recall them doing was spewing a bunch of lies about everypony in town, which made them outcasts in the entire community. Even Ah was angry at her, but they did a lot of apologizin’, and eventually things returned to normal.”

“Look, miss, why do you even care?”

“Because Ah knows how hurt Zecora is. She knows full well that what she’s done was wrong, but she didn’t know any other way to fix things. Even you should understand that a single filly, even if she did just become a mare, wouldn’t be able to do what her pops could. Ah know it’s been a long time, but now that she’s back Ah don’t want the two of you to be at odds after being apart for so long.”

The zebra turned away. “The despair that we all had to endure, the scattering of our tribe, the break-up of our family… Some things just can’t be forgiven in a lifetime.”

Applejack wanted to press further. “Have you always had a bad relationship with your lil’ sis?” The guide shook her head in response. “Were you on bad terms when she disappeared?” And once again the zebra shook her head. “Don’t you miss your sister even a little?” She waited, but there was no response to her words. “Miss Sanaa?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she coldly replied.

And the conversation fizzled out. The Element of Honesty turned away from her, only to realize that everybody else was staring at them; it seemed that they were all quietly observing the development, equally hopeful that the situation would be resolved.

“We’re here,” the elder zebra announced.

As they turned a corner on the waterway in the jungle, wide space opened before them, as the river spilled out into a giant lake, and in the middle of it, a giant spire stuck out in the middle of it, spewing water.

“It looks like a water fountain,” Pinkie Pie commented.

“Pinkie, don’t be so rude!” The fashionista glared at her.

“You’re not the first one to make that observation, young lady,” Zeg’us chuckled.

As they approached, the “fountain” finally took on the form of a city that had been carved out from a rock, and they also began noticing more and more rafts coming and going from the direction of the spire.

“It… it looks so majestic,” Rarity said as they approached.

Finally, they moored at the dock where more rafts were stationed, and everybody disembarked.

“Alright, fillies,” the matriarch announced, “I’ll lead you to the entry where the queen’s quarters are so we can receive an audience with her. Follow.”

The mares all followed her, but the workhorse wasn’t so lucky, as she was about to leave, something tugged on her hind leg and she fell flat on her face. She looked back and noticed a red colored fin wrapped around her leg, as the kelpie was sticking her head out.

“Can Ah help you?” she asked in an annoyed tone.

“Tell me something: Did you say earlier that Zecora’s come back?” the aquatic being asked.

“Yeah, why? You know her?”

“Of course I do! She’s my friend! I’ve not seen her in ages! Where is she?!” she asked frantically.

“Yeah… this is awkward.” The pony rubbed the back of her head. “She split with us when we were over in abada’s kingdom. But we’re assuming she’s going the way where we’ll end up anyway.”

And almost instantly, the kelpie dived into the water. Applejack stared for a moment, confused, but soon after the creature popped her head onto the surface.

“I’ll get Mom to meet you all below,” was all she said before she disappeared again.

“Applejack! You coming?” Rainbow Dash called out to her, after which she joined them.

They walked through the stone-covered area that was strewn with stalls that were selling things and wooden pipes everywhere, and on the far end of it, was a large opening into solid rock, with stairs on each side of it. It quickly became apparent that the eyes of the locals were focused on them, but the looks were something that needed to be ignored since they had to meet the ruler. They got as far as the fountain that marked the center-point of the market when a loud thudding sound made everybody go quiet. It was coming from the giant opening, and water was beginning to rush from it, first in small spills, but soon, a tidal wave came and it washed all over them, making them completely drenched. Then, a large mass spilled forth through the opening – it was a giant kelpie, with a deep blue body and fins of royal red color. It towered over everything, and when she appeared, everybody present bowed before her, except for the newcomers, who were wet from head to hooves.

“Queen Watami,” the elder zebra made a slow nod in response, “I appreciate you’ve come all this way just to meet us.”

“My apologies for the inconvenience, matriarch. But Wadi had just informed me that there’s something urgent afoot and it couldn’t wait, so I came to see it for myself.” Her eyes then wandered to the outsiders that were with her, and when they took notice of it, they all quickly bowed. “All these newcomers in my kingdom… How did they get past Abraxas?”

The alicorn finally raised her head to address her. “Your Majesty, I’m Princess Twilight Sparkle! And I’m-!”

She was interrupted by a growl, one that the Elements of Harmony had to endure for the past few hours, but now it’s become so loud that overshadowed her voice. They all turned to the pink earth pony, who was clutching her stomach.

“Hungry?” the kelpie queen wondered.

Several locals have just landed on the southern banks of the great lake with their rafts, prepared to go about their business. All of a sudden, something flashed in their vicinity. A strange doorway in space, surrounded by flames, opened. On the other end, they could see a desert, as well as a giant imposing figure, and numerous shapes, enveloped in red and blue flames. Lord Tirek made a single leap through the threshold and landed with a loud stomp on the other end.

“Come!” he commanded.

The nirik charged through, and as they began filling up the space in the vicinity, the natives quickly made themselves scarce, as they could tell by the look of them that these creatures didn’t have good intentions. And the doorway behind him closed, he looked about and his sight finally focused on the tall spire that sat in the middle of the lake. He once again created the makeshift spyglass with his hands and finally managed to take a closer look at the side location. He saw stalls of shops, people going about, and among them, a towering fish-like creature. That must’ve been the one he had to distract. But there was something else he saw… He saw THEM: some were stuffing their faces, especially the pink puffy ones, while some tried to get themselves dry, most notably the prissy white one, and the alicorn was talking to the giant fish.

He grinned. “Right in the nick of time.” He turned to his servants. “Alright, listen up! Scorch the entire length of the bank! Make sure the fire line’s thick enough that nothing will come and leave this place!” At his command, the nirik army split in half, and they ran by the side of the lake, leaving the scorched trail of red and blue fire behind. “As for you,” he addressed the tall one, “you’re coming with me.”

As the ring of fire around them spread, a fiery orb manifested itself between his horns, and a fiery doorway opened before them, showing the docks. As they stepped through and landed on the city’s border, several of the locals spotted them and began crying out. The two quickly dashed up the ramp that led into the market above, and at the sight of them, the people ran off in fright, only the colorful four-legged equines remained present.

“Oh no… He’s here already,” the princess murmured.

“Well, well, well,” Tirek mused as he slowly walked toward them. “Princess Twilight. I’m surprised you’ve managed to get as far as you did, despite all the obstacles. Crossing the desert on foot for several days couldn’t have been pleasant for you, was it? All tired, exhausted, and hungry. I, on the other hand, am well-rested and fed. And on top of that, I have a get-out-of-jail card just in case.” He gently stroked the bag that was hanging around his neck that contained Anger’s gemstone. “And look.” He pointed at the on both sides of the lake, where the nirik’s magical flame could be seen spreading around it. “I’ve also made sure that neither you nor anyone else here will be able to just leave. Outplayed and outmatched. What can you do at this point, when you can’t even run away?”

Out of nowhere, watery tentacles suddenly wrapped around his limbs and lifted him off the ground, completely disorienting him. More tentacles appeared and they tried to go after the nirik leader, but she was too fast for them and she managed to evade them, charging at the ponies. Twilight jumped in front of everybody and erected a barrier, and the attacker crashed against it head-first. And it didn’t stop; she flared up and continued to try and force through the obstacle to get the alicorn – the burning anger inside her pushed her to do so.

“Rain Shine…”

She halted. A familiar voice stopped her, one devoid of anger and full of song in her tone. The kirin on the other end of the barrier – she knew her, and she came to the alicorn’s side!

“Rain Shine, it’s me, Autumn Blaze. Don’t you recognize me?” She pressed herself against the barrier so she could raise herself to her eye level. “I know you’re there, I know you’re inside of this raging monstrosity, this isn’t the real you! I beg you…” She pressed her head against the barrier. “Please… Don’t let the anger keep hold of you…”

There was a sudden shift, a change in her behavior – the menacing look on the leader’s face disappeared, and the fire surrounding her dimmed. “Autumn… Blaze…” she slowly uttered.

“What are you waiting for, slave?!” the suspended centaur commanded in rage. “GET THEM!”

Almost instantly, the fire surrounded the nirik and the raging expression returned, her flames beginning to spread across Twilight’s entire barrier.

“I’m sorry, Autumn Blaze, we tried, but I fear this just isn’t enough,” the princess expressed her condolence, before looking at the attacker. “I’m sorry, Rain Shine. I promise we’ll come back for you… For every kirin…”

FLASH!

The Pillar of Anger was up in the air, in grips of watery tentacles, being moved about. His head was spinning, and was desperately trying to focus, opening his eyes every now and then. Eventually, he managed to put a picture together: On the side of the tower city, he spotted a pair of serpent-fish-like creatures that resembled the leader, and they seemed to be channeling some sort of spell to make the water form in a certain way. He knew what needed to be done. First, he superheated himself, causing the constrictors to almost immediately evaporate. As he landed with a loud thud on the ground, he acted quickly, focusing his magic. He knew where his targets were – out of sight, but not out of reach. The orb between his horns lit up, and he tightened the grip in his hands. And then he heard it, the sound of creatures struggling, as he lifted them both out of the body of water and brought them before him. He grinned menacingly, before opening a portal in space once again, to a desert land, and then, with a single swing, threw both adult kelpies through it, before closing the way. Easily dispatching the deterrent, the centaur once again ran up the ramp to where his enemies were… Only to find the lone nirik leader, trapped inside a pink bubble. He wasn’t pleased, not one bit. He stomped over to her and with a single thump shattered it.

“Well? Where are they?” he inquired.

Rain Shine pointed to the side of the tower, and at the last moment, all that Tirek saw was a giant deep blue body, as it took a deep dive into the lake.

“What are they thinking? The entire surrounding area is enveloped by magic fire that just keeps spreading. Where do they think they can escape to?”

Comments

[nightshroud96]

The ponies were taken aback a bit, as they had seen such a creature once before, and their initial encounter was unfriendly, to say the least, but this one seemed different. For starters, the first thing it did was not even regard them, it raised one of its fins to cover her mouth and yawn.

What did it mean by they seen such a creature before?
The sea serpent from the season 1 premiere?

[JFT]

11883737
It's referring to pet issue from comics.

[nightshroud96]

11883751
So that one is still canon here?

[JFT]

11883763
Originally I didn't want to, but the way kelpies look, it had to be done.

[nightshroud96]

11883769
Not really.
Just because they look just like in the comic issue doesn't mean that comic issue had to be canon.
Like just use this chapter to introduce them instead of just saying that awful comic arc is canon here.
Like treat their appearance in this AU as their "debut" instead of just saying that comic arc was canon in order to use them.

[JFT]

11883773
fixed it

[nightshroud96]

11883821
Ok

[Khampostel]

I have a small doubt, okay it's a very big one. You mention season 10 of the comic in a post, but I have searched in the chapters of your fanfic for any mention of Danu and the Knights of Order but I haven't found it. Do you have any where you refer to them?

[JFT]

11884546
Not even once, and for a good reason.
I hated Season 10 comic, and all the problems from each individual arc culminate in the reveal of the Knights of Harmony. They were the first "Elements of Harmony" that went all over the world and "uplifted" the lesser races, and then because of Discord's actions, all the uplifted races to which the Knights have shown nothing by kindness, turned on them, and because of that, they decided that the outside world wasn't worthy of their gift of Harmony, so they hid the trees of all the uplifted races before disappearing.
Jeremy Whitley said he wanted to show how there are different types of friendships all around the world, but that's not true, as literally ALL friendships mirror Mane 6. In fact, all the places are basically a mirror of Equestria, but with different races, there's no cultural difference between them (the bird kingdom introduces a caste system, but it has no effect on the plot and is quickly swept under a rug). On top of that, he wanted to shove in the message of "imperialism=bad", as the Knights are literally an allegory for the British Empire, when in the context of the story it makes no sense, and even less at the end, when it's trying to make a connection to G5, saying that war will break out between of all the Elements of Harmony holders if they're not suppressed...
It's been a while, so I may have forgotten something, but the story also goes against the main message of Season 9 (which Discord himself spells out in the premiere, and is fulfilled in the finale): "One does not need immortal demigods, omnipotent creatures from another dimension, or the power of mystical McGuffins to use the power of Friendship, because the Power of Friendship comes from WITHIN."

We've had an extensive discussion about season 10 on MBS Show, but unfortunately, I wasn't part of the cast for the Zecora arc as I've had most grievances with her treatment, since she's my fav character.
One of them was that she was made out to be a fraud, who copied Mage Meadowbrook, and she spitted her friends for not being supportive enough for her wanting to learn magic because zebras don't have it, even though there are contradictions from previous issues (Friends Forever #21), as well as this very story arc because the zebra prince had magic over fire. Zecora was basically reduced to a 2nd-hand Twilight.
The entirety of season 10 had stripped any potential and creative world-building, and it made me so angry, which is what made me start writing this series in the 1st place because I figured I could make better world-building, and a more interesting and intimidating end villain than Jeremy Whitley did (it's funny because for the majority of the MLP comics run his stories were great, but this one felt like a kick in the teeth).

I hope that answered your question.

[Khampostel]

11885323
Well, it's an interesting point of view. Maybe you should add those details in the description of the fanfic, to avoid confusion. I am doing a story in a similar context to the one you put in your description, and I thought we would have similar points of view. However, in my case it is a totally different story, which seeks to follow the main line of the end of the comic.

I can understand that you don't like season 10 of the comic, I didn't like it either. However, when I made my fic, I did not do it with the aim of denying what already existed or supplanting it, but rather to work with that material and adapt it by adding my own point of view of how the story could advance. Of course I could have errors but they are due to my own inexperience.

I believe that accepting the changes around you is the first step to understanding how wide the world is. When night comes, there is more than one star in the sky.

[JFT]

11885339
I did not like the Knights, because they are the be-all and end-all of the series, everything that's come was because of them, with no room for improvement and expanding the world-building, and they are irredeemable.
Never mind that the writer of the season 10 main story retconned several things just so that things would fit perfectly in his narrative, so any continuity and consistency go out the window right away, which is what immediately puts me off. This is where the acceptance part will NEVER work for me. As far as I'm concerned, Season 10 is as canon as Siege of the Crystal Empire.
The only thing I'd regard as good in Season 10 comics is the slice-of-life stories (except the Celestia & Luna one), and they're taking place outside the continuity of the overarching story.

Anyway, I'm surprised you got through this story so fast already.