Avis Colonies
They rode in the prison carriage while Rainbow pulled it alone, apparently having no issue doing so. Despite Rarity making comments about it being “demeaning,” taking the prison carriage proved a good idea, as none of the griffons they passed wanted anything to do with it and generally steered clear of them. As such, they were able to travel without incident to an airship yard near the Griffon Order’s western border. Once there, they ditched the carriage and Rainbow’s stolen uniform and snuck their way into the yard, hiding behind a stack of recently unloaded cargo.
“So I’m guessing the plan is to fly out of here on an airship then,” Spike surmised, the diamond dog scratching at one of his floppy ears as they eyed the four or five airships currently lined up nearly in a row within the yard.
“Yup,” Rainbow Dash replied confidently, her calculating eyes skimming over each of the balloon-suspended craft in turn, trying to determine which would be best for them.
“Well, this should be an adventure then,” Rarity remarked, intrigued. “I’ve never been on an airship before.”
“It’s…nice,” Fluttershy offered to the dragon before making a small shudder. “At least until you fly into rough weather…then it’s less nice. Admittedly, I prefer traveling by sea instead, but…”
“Now wait,” Twilight said, her brow furrowed. “Just how exactly are we planning to do this? After what happened at Lord Goldstone’s mansion, I somehow suspect we will have a hard time finding any shipmasters willing to accept us as passengers.”
“We aren’t doing it that way,” Rainbow assured, her eyes finally focusing on one cargo airship in particular, parked fairly close to them. It looked like it was finishing loading up to depart.
This only made Twilight more confused though. “Then…I don’t understand. How exactly are we going to fly out on an airship if we aren’t hiring any?”
“We’ll sneak aboard one while they’re not looking,” Rainbow revealed, her gaze turning sly as she timed their next move.
Twilight was immediately taken aback by the idea. “What? We can’t do that! That would be…”
“Okay, now!” Rainbow said, darting out from behind their cover and towards the airship she’d selected. “Quick, while nobody’s looking!”
The others swiftly followed after the griffon without listening to Twilight’s attempts to protest. Groaning and seeing she’d been outvoted, Twilight begrudgingly followed too. They hid behind one of the airship’s steering fins for a moment, then hurried and slipped through its open cargo hatch while the well-built red parrot standing near it had his back turned. Once aboard, they all scrambled for hiding spots among the crates filling most of the cargo hold and tensely waited. Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait long, as only a few more crates were loaded aboard before the cargo hatch was closed and the airship lifted off, departing on a southwestern course. Once the craft was underway for a few minutes without incident and no signs the ship’s crew would be entering the cargo hold anytime soon, the group started to relax a little with conversation resuming in soft whispers.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Twilight muttered aloud, massaging her face with one holed hoof.
“Hey, we needed to get out of the Griffon Order so you can go find the Elements of Harmony,” Rainbow retorted, looking rather smug with herself, “and this was the quickest way to do it!”
“Quickest, yes,” Twilight conceded, shooting the griffon a small glare. “But legal? If we’re caught doing this by anyone…”
“We won’t be caught,” Rainbow assured, waving aside the matter as a non-concern.
“Besides, it’s not like you yourself haven’t bent a few rules getting this far, darling,” Rarity murmured gently from behind a more sizeable crate, the best hiding spot for a creature of her size. “After all, did you not deliberately break a direct order from your own queen?”
“And, um, attacking all of Lord Goldstone’s guards like we did probably wasn’t following the rules either,” Fluttershy unhelpfully added.
“Didn’t you also say you’d kinda assaulted the leader of the Dragon Coasts too?” Spike put in.
Twilight groaned, recognizing she didn’t have much to stand on in this argument. “That doesn’t mean I want to go around breaking every rule we come across all willy-nilly, not when we could’ve found ways to avoid it.”
“Hey, you said we probably wouldn’t find very many ship crews that’d take on passengers like us,” Rainbow reminded. “And every moment we wasted trying would’ve meant both more chances for Goldstone to figure out what happened and less chances to find airships that could’ve flown us where we wanted to go.”
“And that’s another thing,” Twilight said, pointing vaguely in the direction of the upper deck where she assumed the crew were all working. “This ship is going where they want to go, not where we want to go. They’re a parrot crew, so they’re almost certainly flying for home in the Avis Colonies, not anywhere near the Everfree Forest.”
“Yeah, but they are still flying southwest for the moment, which is still in the right direction, right?” Rainbow countered. When Twilight reluctantly nodded to concede that point, she continued. “So we’ll just keep hitching a ride with them until they start going in any direction that’s not the way we want to go, and when they do, we’ll jump ship and keep working towards it some other way.”
“Oh, hopefully we’ll be pretty close to there when that happens,” Fluttershy remarked, “Or else we might end up traveling by ourselves a pretty long way.”
“See?” Twilight said, motioning to the hippogriff and using that as proof of her point. “And with only three days left until Nightmare Moon is expected to return, we don’t have time for that, particularly when we have no guarantee this airship will really travel southwest for that long. Even if it does, staying on that path forever still won’t get us where we want to go, because after a certain distance, we’d need to start traveling straight south or we’ll overshoot it. Rainbow, look, I appreciate everything you’ve done to help, and I know you’re just trying to do that again here, but…”
She was cut short though when they heard the thump of a door opening, causing them to fall silent and hunker down in their hiding spots. “…well, Ah know it’s gittin’ late, but sumthin’ has got ta be causin’ this, so it’s gotta be somewhere on this danged tub!” a female voice drawled, in the middle of calling back at a cohort as she strolled into the room. “So ya go check them engines for anythin’ outta the ordinary while Ah give the cargo a double check, y’hear?”
A faint call of compliance echoed back before the conversation ceased and the newcomer was heard shuffling through the cargo, searching for something. Moving cautiously, Twilight carefully eased her head over the crate she hid behind to try and steal a peek of the creature. She proved to be an orangey-tan colored parrot with a blond crest, wearing denim shorts and a rustic looking button-up shirt with rolled-up sleeves. Twilight couldn’t pick out much else from this angle though, due to the parrot having her back to her and wearing a wide-brimmed stetson hat which obscured the parrot’s face. She didn’t have long to look anyway before having to duck back down again at the first sign of the parrot turning.
The rummaging continued, but they didn’t start to understand why until, in frustration, the parrot started mumbling aloud. “Well, Ah sure as heck dunno wut’s causin’ it,” she was heard grumbling to herself. “Even if those dockhands were somehow off ’bout the weight of this here cargo, there’s no way they could’ve gotten it so far off and not realize it’d affect the ship’s performance like this before loadin’ it up. So either sumthin’s way off with one of these crates, or…”
She trailed off, trotting relatively near their hiding spot before bending over to pick something up. Twilight risked another peek and saw the parrot had found a familiar green flat cap. Growing alarmed, she twisted around to look back at Spike, who realized in that same moment he’d lost his hat in the haste of sneaking aboard. As he patted the top of his bare head in alarm, it was clear he didn’t need to be told what this meant.
Particularly as the parrot, demeanor turning cross, said it aloud anyway. “…or we’ve got an extra someone aboard who shouldn’t be,” she concluded, raising her voice in a clear attempt to make herself heard.
Rainbow mouthed a frustrated “dude!” at Spike, who sheepishly cowered closer to the floor in shame.
The parrot began circling around the cargo hold for any other signs of stowaways she now seemed certain were aboard. On her second pass, she drew even closer to where they hid, but stopped short and turned to face the other way from them, eyes surveying the hold.
“Mmkay, Ah’ll make it easy fer ya,” the parrot continued, confident they were within hearing range. “Ya reveal yerself voluntarily and Ah’ll go easy on ya, maybe even try and strike a deal with ya if that’s wut ya want. If not, then, well, guess we’ll be doin’ this the hard way. Yer choice.”
She then waited for any sort of response. Said stowaways urgently glanced at each other, of differing minds about what to do and silently asking one another what they thought. Twilight and Fluttershy seemed open to taking the parrot’s offer and revealing themselves, but not enough to actually do so if the others weren’t okay with it. Rarity and Rainbow Dash, however, both signaled staying hidden and seeing if they couldn’t still avoid being found. Rainbow even actively motioned for Twilight, the closest to her, to stay put. Spike, meanwhile, didn’t seem to have a favored side and held off in hopes the others would come to a choice for him.
Ultimately, they remained hidden and undecided until the arbitrary amount of time the parrot gave them to respond ran out. She sighed. “Well, if that’s the way ya want it then,” she called resignedly. She started forward again, as if about to go right past and away from them, enough that the group relaxed slightly.
But then, to their surprise, she abruptly leaned over the nearest crate, grabbed Rainbow Dash by the scruff of her neck, and hauled her out from hiding with such precision and accuracy, she must’ve already figured out at least Rainbow was there.
“Well, look who we have here,” she commented aloud as she took in the griffon gripped in her paw, squirming uncomfortably in her grasp.
“Ack—gah—let go—flipping heck!” Rainbow cursed and complained, trying to free herself from the parrot’s pinching claws.
“Hey, ya watch yer language, y’hear?” the parrot reprimanded crossly, dragging Rainbow closer so that they were almost touching beaks, “Or Ah’ll clean out that beak of yers harder than a plow clears a field!”
It was then Rarity, unable to stop herself, popped out of hiding so to confront her. “You unhand her this instant, you ruffian!” she commanded the surprised parrot. “Or we’ll see just who is punishing who here!”
The parrot gaped at Rarity for a second then looked back at Rainbow, still helpless in her grasp. “Wut in tarnat—is she with you?” She jabbed her head in Rarity’s direction, who scoffed at being spoken about like she couldn’t hear.
“…kinda,” Rainbow grunted, making an awkward shrug with her wings.
“…the devil are ya doin’ with a dragon?” the parrot asked, looking confused.
“Oh trust me, darling, I am just the tip of the iceberg here,” Rarity remarked with an eye-roll, folding her arms.
“Rarity,” Rainbow hissed at her potentially giving too much away.
The parrot sputtered for a second, putting two with two. “All right, who the hay else is here with ya?” she demanded.
There was a momentary pause then Fluttershy sheepishly and slowly poked her head out into view. Spike, apparently seeing the writing on the wall, did similarly. He pointed at the hat the parrot still held in her other paw.
“That’s my hat, actually,” he said, hoping to have it back.
Spike’s comment was ignored for the moment though, the parrot more interested in eyeing them all, befuddled by the diversity of creatures popping up before her. “Why are ya all here on my airship?” she asked.
With a groan, Twilight also stepped out of hiding so to answer. “If it helps, I tried to tell them it wasn’t the greatest of ideas.”
The parrot yelped at the sight of the undisguised changeling, dropping Rainbow as she backpedaled away a couple of feet. She again needed a moment to take them all in. “…Is there any more of y’all that I should know about?” she finally demanded.
“No, that’s all of us,” Rainbow replied in weary defeat, reaching one paw around to rub at the sore side of her neck.
“We don’t mean any harm though,” Fluttershy assured.
“Oh, yeah, sure, now y’all tell me that!” the parrot snarked back, doubting.
“Despite appearances, we really aren’t,” Twilight confirmed, moving to the front of the group now that there was little reason to withhold anything. “Actually, if anything, we…just really needed transportation out of the Griffon Order.”
“Well why didn’t ya just come an’ say so instead of doin’ all this sneakin’ around?” the parrot demanded. “We coulda worked sumthin’ out!”
All eyes fell on Rainbow, who apologetically grinned under the scrutiny. “To be fair, we didn’t know that at the time,” she attempted to justify.
“Yes, but you didn’t stop to even consider it as a possibility either,” Twilight retorted. “So maybe if you had listened to what I was telling you at the airship yard…”
“Okay, okay, wait,” the parrot interrupted, motioning for them all to stop speaking before mumbling to herself for a second. “…landsakes, this is gunna be a long night, ain’t it…” She rubbed at her forehead in frustration. “…y’all just need to git sumplace, right?” When they nodded, she latched onto that point. “Okay then, let’s start there. Where is it exactly that ya need ta git to?”
“Everfree Forest,” Twilight replied.
The parrot’s eyes bulged at that news, her beak working up and down fruitlessly trying to form any kind of response. Before she could find the words though, the cargo hold hatch opened again and a second, much younger, parrot strolled in with a large bow in her red-colored crest and not quite tall enough to reach the shoulders of the first.
“Okay, Applejack, Ah went and checked out the engines like ya said, and there ain’t anythin’ wrong with ‘em that Ah can tell,” she reported, looking back the way she came as she approached, initially unaware of what she’d walked into the middle of. “So where else d’ya want me…ta…” she trailed off as she noticed the five stowaways and took a moment blankly taking in the sight. “…well. Ah, uh, guess ya found the problem already.”
“Yeah, kinda have,” the older parrot, Applejack, admitted while wearily rubbing at her face again. “Ah was just about ta ask ‘em what brought ‘em here at all.” She looked expectantly at the group of creatures.
“Oh, well…that’s a bit of a long story,” Fluttershy admitted.
“Ah ain’t in a hurry,” Applejack assured flatly. She glanced at the younger parrot. “Are you, Apple Bloom?”
“Nuh-uh,” Apple Bloom replied with a shake of her head. “This is more interestin’ than sittin’ and watchin’ the radio like Ah’m normally doin’ anyway.”
Twilight sighed, but nodded. “Well, I suppose we’ve had plenty of practice explaining it by now,” she managed to joke before launching into the, by now, quite familiar explanation.
As they did so, Applejack led them up onto the main deck where the ship’s only other crewmember, the red parrot they had snuck past earlier, was manning the ship’s wheel, so he could be filled in on this too—apparently all three of them were siblings. The red parrot, named Big Macintosh, was just as surprised to see the diverse group of stowaways, but he was a parrot of few words and trusted Applejack’s judgement, so his presence didn’t halt or slow the explanation of their quest much.
By the time they’d finished, all three parrots seemed quite taken aback. “Wow,” Apple Bloom remarked, dusting off her green shirt and denim pants before taking a seat by the radio, “y’all sure have been through a lot.”
“Oh my, yes,” Fluttershy agreed with a nod from where she’d seated herself on the floor. “It’s been…quite an adventure getting this far.”
“But hopefully we are nearly done with it all,” Rarity remarked, the dragoness having sprawled out in another seat. “No offense, Twilight, but I’ve just about had enough of these…unforeseen complications…we keep facing.”
“No, I completely agree,” Twilight said, the changeling the only one who wasn’t seated and instead up on her hooves pacing back and forth. “I can only hope its smoother sailing from here on out.”
“Knock on wood,” Rainbow Dash muttered, tapping her talons on the wooden deck beneath her.
“Well, we’ve already crossed the border into the Avis Colonies,” Applejack assured, “so since yer in parrot territory now, yer at least safe from Lord Goldstone and…wutever the heck he figured he was gunna accomplish doin’ wut he did.”
“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh added from the ship’s wheel, which seemed to be the normal amount of words from him.
“Thank you,” Twilight said, but kept pacing. “But this isn’t over yet. We still need to find the Elements of Harmony, and soon.”
“Yeah, about that,” Applejack said. “If ya really think these things will stop this Nightmare Moon character then more power t’ya, but…d’ya really wanna go lookin’ fer ‘em in the Everfree Forest of all places?”
“It’s where our only lead says they could be,” Twilight replied resolutely. “I understand it doesn’t seem like the most ideal of places to be searching, but…”
“But nothin’!” Applejack interjected. “That forest ain’t like anywhere else on this continent, and Ah don’t mean that in the good sense,”
“She’s right, Twilight,” Rarity agreed as she and the others expressed similar apprehension. “I’ve never been anywhere close to it before now and even I’ve heard plenty of tales on how dreadful of a place it can be.”
“It can’t be that bad,” Twilight retorted.
“But it is!” Apple Bloom butted in. “That place just ain’t natural! The plants grow…”
“…animals care for themselves…” Fluttershy added.
“…and the clouds move…” Rainbow also said.
“…all on their own!” Applejack concluded. “And that’s without gittin’ into all the mighty dangerous critters that’re supposed ta live there, too!”
“Well, maybe,” Spike conceded as he put in his own thoughts, “But my pack lives on the edges of Ghastly Gorge fairly close to Everfree, so I’ve seen the forest myself. Yeah, there’re dangers in there, but most of them are only found super deep inside, and if you know what you’re doing, you can still avoid most of them.”
Twilight glanced at the diamond dog. “Are you saying you could safely navigate the forest?” she asked hopefully.
“Me personally?” Spike asked, taken aback. “Heck no, but I know of creatures who probably could—there’s a colony of zebra living on the forest edge that I’ve traded with a few times.”
“Zebra?” Rainbow repeated, raising an eyebrow. “Aren’t they all basically gypsies?”
“Don’t be racist, darling,” Rarity gently reprimanded, giving the griffon a gentle swat.
“They’re the magicians I told you all about the other day,” Spike explained, uncertain how else to answer that question. “But more importantly, they know Everfree better than anyone. If any creature can get us safely through the forest, it’d be one of them.”
“Then that’s who we’ll speak with next,” Twilight concluded as she paced. “Now we just need to get there.”
“Well, we’ve got that part covered, right?” Rainbow replied, shooting a smug grin in the direction of the parrot siblings.
Applejack immediately protested this though. “Now hold on, Ah ain’t said anythin’ ’bout flyin’ y’all there,” she pointed out before rubbing at her brow, frustrated. “Look, Ah sympathize with yer problem, Ah do, but this ain’t a luxury cruise liner yer on! We’ve got a load of cargo we need ta unload back home and another load to haul out waitin’ fer us there! Ah can’t just divert us willy-nilly like that just fer some hootenanny quest!”
“It ain’t just some hootenanny quest though, Applejack!” Apple Bloom objected before anyone else could, the young parrot apparently already convinced of the cause. She flung a set of talons out at the group. “Ya heard ‘em! They’re tryin’ ta stop that Nightmare Moon gal, and why wouldn’t ya want to help with that?”
“Sugarcube, Ah ain’t sayin’ their cause ain’t important,” Applejack argued back. “But so’s ours, and just ’cuz some evil pony of doom is comin’ ta take over the world don’t mean creatures don’t still have goods that need deliverin’, and unless ya forgot, we’re the parrots who do exactly that! So this ain’t the time ta go changin’ priorities here!”
“That’s exactly the time ta be changin’ priorities!” Apple Bloom protested, throwing her arms into the air. “The world’s literally gonna end, sis!”
“No it ain’t, ya—grrr!” Applejack pressed both paws into her face for a moment, trying to keep her cool. “C’mon, Big Mac, back me up here!”
“Nope,” the parrot instead smoothly bailed, refusing to get involved in the argument.
“Oh, whole lotta good you are then!” Applejack snapped at his turned back before facing her younger sibling again. “Look, Apple Bloom, think ’bout this fer a second. Even if we did help git ‘em there, then tell me just how long it’d take ta git there?”
Here, Apple Bloom ducked her head. “Well, okay…that would take time,” she begrudgingly admitted before sheepishly looking to her older sister for confirmation. “…won’t it take about a day ta git there from here even at our best speed?”
“Probably closer ta two,” Applejack replied, rubbing her beak. “And that’s assumin’ we don’t stop and unload our cargo first like we’re supposed to.”
“What are you hauling on this tub anyway?” Rainbow Dash butted in at this point, curious.
“Right now? Just supplies we’re bringin’ back home. But we’re in the business of hauling the apples we grow at the family orchard out ta places where we can sell ‘em for profit. And like Ah said, we’re set ta pick up another load full now that we’ve left the Griffon Order.”
Spike perked up at that. “Ooh, I like a good apple,” he said hopefully.
Applejack, grinning at that, reached over into a nearby compartment to pull out such an apple and tossed it to him. “Here. Consider it a free sample.”
“All right!” Spike cried, immediately chomping down on the red fruit. He hummed approvingly at the taste.
“Um…how close could you get us to Everfree while staying on your current course?” Fluttershy asked, attempting to compromise while Spike ate.
Applejack sighed, gazing heavenward. “Only ’bout halfway, I’m ’fraid,” she said. “Which considerin’ how much time ya said ya had left ta do all this, Ah dunno if that’ll be close enough fer ya.” Catching the dejected frown the hippogriff made at that she made yet another sigh. “Look, Ah meant wut Ah said, Ah wish Ah could justify helpin’ ya more. But we got our own affairs ta worry ’bout, and Nightmare Moon or not, that ain’t just gonna go away.”
“Is there someplace you could drop us off where we could maybe hire someone else to take us there?” Twilight asked.
“Maybe, but Ah doubt they could git ya there any quicker,” Applejack reasoned. “In fact, when ya consider the time ya’d have ta take to switch rides, it’d probably be a little slower than if we just took ya straight there, but seein’ we have a schedule ta keep, Ah don’t know if we can.”
“I don’t suppose there’s anything we can do to convince you to hold off on making any stops until we’re at the Everfree Forest,” Rarity nevertheless suggested, suspecting she already knew the answer.
Applejack sadly shook her head. “Not unless something big comes up that’d make it worth our while t’do so.”
Spike looked up from the apple he’d already stripped almost entirely down to the core. “Would a potential new client buying your apples do?” he asked.
Applejack arched an eyebrow, intrigued. “…Maybe,” she said cautiously, “Why, ya think ya know someone?”
“Yeah, my pack is always up for a good trade, particularly when there’s food involved,” Spike explained, wiping juice off his mouth. “If we stop at Ghastly Gorge, I could totally swing for you to meet with the pack leader, give you a chance to strike a deal with them. And if all of your apples are as tasty as this one,” he held up the mostly eaten fruit, “then I think you wouldn’t have much trouble doing so.”
“Oh, ya can bet yer hide that they’re all that tasty,” Apple Bloom assured proudly. “That’s the Apple family guarantee!”
“And Spike did say Ghastly Gorge is right next door to Everfree,” Fluttershy added, smiling as she caught on, “So you’d still be getting us where we want to go too.”
All eyes turned anxiously to Applejack, who chewed indecisively on her tongue. “Ah dunno…” she began, but it was clear Spike’s offer of new business was tempting to her.
“C’mon, Applejack!” Apple Bloom again pleaded. “We gotta do sumethin’ fer ‘em! It’s not like they’re askin’ us ta help ‘em fight off Nightmare Moon or anythin’, they’re just askin’ fer a lift there!”
“Oh yes, we certainly are not going to ask you to join the fight if you don’t want to,” Twilight added. “I would more than understand you wanting to turn that down.” Then, catching the looks of her cohorts, she timidly added, “Though…if you can spare the time to give us a lift…”
“And ya know Granny would totally be on board ’bout a new trade deal with the diamond dogs!” Apple Bloom added. “Y’know she ain’t got a problem ’bout anyone we sell to, just so long as they’re fair and willin’ ta pay wut they agreed to.” She waved her talons at her brother. “Ya git wut Ah’m sayin’ here, right Big Mac?”
“Eeyup,” the monosyllabic parrot replied.
Applejack shot him another look. “Oh sure, take their side, why don’t ya!”
Big Macintosh returned it with a look of his own. “The extra profit would probably help us out this year, AJ,” he pointed out gently.
The guttural groan Applejack made at that indicated she saw his point, but no sooner had she made that noise was she also chuckling, shaking her head. “Y’all drive a hard bargain fer a buncha stowaways,” she said, giving the group a sly look before straightening her hat. “All right fine, Ah think we might be able ta swing this fer ya. Ah’m clearly outvoted on this anyway.” She looked at her siblings. “Unless there’re any last minute changes of heart?”
“Nope!” Big Macintosh remarked while Apple Bloom eagerly shook her head no, “Still will probably take us a day, maybe two, to get there though.”
“That will have to do,” Twilight assured. “And of course, we’ll all try and assist you where we can until then, right everyone?” The others all voiced their agreement to those terms.
“Much appreciated,” Applejack said, thankful, “But t’be honest, most likely y’all will just have ta sit tight ’til we git there.”
“Hopefully so,” Twilight said as she wandered to the side of the ship and gazed out into the distance. “Still, we’ll want to keep an eye out…just in case.”
“Like Ah told ya before, Goldstone can’t touch ya out here, he ain’t got the jurisdiction t’do so,” Applejack reminded.
“It’s not exactly him that I’m worried about,” Twilight replied cryptically.
Back in the Griffon Order, Goldstone was fuming over how his night had ended up going. Just when he thought things were going his way, he receives word that the creatures that made it happen and he’d ordered imprisoned had escaped. Not long thereafter, he also learned that the reference guide and other research he’d taken from them had also gone missing. He’d ordered, of course, that both try to be located again, as well as going ahead and sending a scouting party to the location in the Crystal Mountains he’d been told to search for the powerful Elements of Harmony…but he was starting to get a bad feeling that the scouting party would come back empty-taloned.
Now he had gotten a report indicating his escaped prisoners, the ones who knew more about what he sought, had probably tried to flee the country and might have already crossed the border, possibly into parrot-controlled territory, or maybe somewhere else further south. If so, he wouldn’t be able to pursue them without the cooperation of whatever nation they’d fled to, and to get that, he’d probably have to explain why he wanted them, something he loathed doing because it meant revealing, even just in part, what he knew about the powerful artifacts he sought.
And if he wanted to take those artifacts for himself, he could only imagine the leaders of other nations would similarly want them for their own purposes too.
He massaged his forehead wearily with his talons while staring down at the report on his desk with tired eyes. He probably ought to get some sleep, but feared that would effectively mean admitting defeat at this point. And he didn’t want to admit he’d been bested just yet, not if there was any chance, however slim, he could still save this. He told himself that even if it all didn’t work out, he could still have the last laugh by trying to ensure that mish-mash group of creatures wouldn’t ever be safe in the Griffon Order again, if not ensure they’d stay in hot waters in some of the surrounding countries too. But that felt like a hollow and petty victory, a poor substitute for the prize he feared was slipping away from him.
He was still debating his next move when three griffon guards let themselves into his office unannounced. Surprised, but assuming the guards had a reason for this, he turned his attention to them. “Yes, what is it?” he asked of them.
“We heard about your encounter with a group of foreigners today,” the apparent leader of the group remarked, approaching Goldstone at his desk while the other two silently began moving to different spots within the office.
Goldstone’s brow furrowed at the guard. “Yes, but…that’s not exactly news at this point, unless you three have all been out of touch for whatever reason,” he remarked, somewhat confused. “In any case, what is it to you? Unless you have something useful to report on the matter, I’m not particularly interested in…whatever this is.”
“Your interests in the matter aren’t what I’m here for,” the guard assured.
Goldstone was growing alarmed at this point and began tracking what the other two guards were doing. His alarm grew as he noticed one was busy locking his office door while the other closed the curtains behind him, ensuring they were neither interrupted nor overseen.
Beginning to suspect foul play, Goldstone started to rise out of his seat. “Who the devil do you think you all—” he was cut short when the guard closing his drapes forced him back into his seat and easily held him there with a surprising amount of strength.
“Now,” the lead guard continued seriously, rearing up on his hind legs so to plant his forelegs on Goldstone’s desk and look him in the eye, “You haven’t been sharing all the details with your staff, leaving you as apparently the only one here with all of the information we’re looking for. So you will tell me everything you can about these creatures, what they were here to do, what they have done while they were here, and anything you can tell us about where they are going next. I strongly recommend you withhold nothing.”
“I will tell you nothing of the such!” Goldstone declared, confused and concerned about what was happening but also angered by the gall of these intruders. “And I promise you, all of you will be stripped of your ranks and booted into the streets for treating your superior like this!”
“Ah, but see, here’s the thing,” Pharynx said as he and his two compatriots all reverted into their normal changeling forms, to Goldstone’s horror. “We don’t answer to you.”
True to Applejack’s predictions, it took more than a day to near their destination, even when traveling as fast as the airship could carry them. Applejack admitted that problem was because the ship was loaded with cargo, weighing it down enough that it couldn’t quite achieve its normal top speed when unloaded. But even then that wouldn’t shorten their travel time much because they were still journeying from far enough away of a starting point that it was always going to take time to cover that distance.
“Honestly, ya probably got us at the airship yard furthest away from yer destination, which don’t help ya any,” Applejack admitted at one point.
Still, though Twilight was closely watching the little time they had remaining until the expected return of Nightmare Moon, they were expected to arrive with enough time to and try and find the Elements of Harmony before then, though as they got well into the second day of their journey, they weren’t going to have much more than a single day to do it in. As such, Twilight insisted they spend most of that second day planning precisely what they would do once they arrived, so to maximize as much of the time remaining as they could. By late afternoon they had completed doing so, or at least gotten as far as the others could tolerate, growing weary of the changeling’s obsession for micromanaging trivial details—they called for a stop when she started scheduling timeframes for bathroom breaks, a point they decided was going a little too far. But that now done, they milled about on the main deck, watching the terrain slide by while enjoying a cool drink courtesy of Apple Bloom.
“There ya go,” the young parrot said, pouring the last glass full of fresh apple cider and passing it to Rarity. “Sumthin’ fer ya all ta enjoy while ya’ve still got the chance.”
“Thank you, darling!” Rarity told Apple Bloom, watching with small amusement as she then jogged away. The dragoness gave Applejack, sitting with them, a small grin. “She’s a sweet youth, Applejack. She reminds me somewhat of my own sister back home.”
“You have a sister, Rarity?” Spike asked as he supped his own drink.
“Oh yes,” Rarity assured with a grin. “In fact, I think she might be around a similar age as Apple Bloom, if I’m translating my dragon years accordingly. She hasn’t had her molt yet though, so she typically doesn’t go far without my parents.” She made a small sigh. “I do hope she’s doing okay. I can only imagine what she’s been told after my…abrupt departure…from the Dragon Coasts a few days ago.”
“I hope all my animal friends back home aren’t worrying too much about me either,” Fluttershy remarked as she wistfully gazed in the vague direction of New Hippogriffia. “They knew I was going to be gone for a good few days and probably aren’t expecting me back just yet, but…I’m not exactly following the original travel plan anymore either, and I’m not sure how soon I’ll be able to get back.”
“Assuming we even succeed at this,” Rainbow remarked, being brutally realistic before tipping her glass in Fluttershy’s direction. “But I hear ya. Wouldn’t surprise me if Goldstone’s seized my whole house by now, so not only am I not sure on when I can get home, I’m not sure I’m even going to be allowed to.”
“Gee, that kinda makes me feel bad now,” Spike admitted, peering into his glass, “Seeing we’re going to be landing at my home at Ghastly Gorge and all.”
“I am sorry for dragging all of you into this, for the record and all.” Twilight said as she stared into her own glass, sensing their emotions of unease. “I never intended to get anyone else involved like this.”
“Yeah, but would ya have even gotten this far if ya didn’t?” Applejack reasoned, trying to find the upside. “From wut y’all have told me, it sounds like they’ve all helped ya a good deal in gittin’ through all this.”
“They have,” Twilight relented with a small smile, looking thankfully at each of them in return. “And I thank all of you. I don’t know what this next day and beyond will bring for us exactly, but…I hope when it’s all said and done, I’ll be able to repay you all for it.”
“Oh, you don’t owe us anything, darling,” Rarity assured. “For a cause as momentous as this, we’re happy to help.”
“And you’re a good creature, Twilight,” Fluttershy added.
“For a changeling,” Rainbow added, which earned her a small slap from Applejack.
Twilight peered into her glass again, still smiling. “I’m just trying to do the right thing, that’s all.”
“Well, if nothin’ else, Ah wish ya the best of luck with it,” Applejack remarked, raising her glass in a mock salute to the changeling. “That said, though, Ah gotta admit…this whole Nightmare Moon business is still mighty farfetched ta me.”
Twilight chuckled at that. “I nonetheless appreciate your honesty, Applejack,” she assured. “If anything else though, I hope recovering the Elements of Harmony will be worthwhile.”
“And that’s why Ah ain’t tryin’ ta talk ya out of it,” Applejack admitted. “’Cuz even if ya are wrong about the whole Nightmare Moon thing, Ah figure the elements will definitely be worth findin’ anyway.”
“Assuming they actually work as intended,” Rainbow said. “We haven’t exactly found an instruction manual for these things, have we?”
“No,” Twilight admitted as she turned her attention to the reference guide they’d uncovered in the Griffon Order. She’d been flipping through it off and on during their flight towards Everfree Forest. “And to be honest, the more I read what this has to say on the elements, the more I wonder if any of us ever truly understood their purpose.” She motioned to the others. “For example, Goldstone thought they were a weapon. Queen Chrysalis thought they were a source of power, enough to conquer with. I thought they were a type of defense mechanism. But according to this, they are more of a…tool…used to encourage and promote harmony within the land. It gets misconstrued as a weapon because in extreme instances it’s reacted in such a way to stop threats that it seemed like one, but…I’m getting the impression it’s more complicated than that. Even worse is the implication that these elements can’t be used by just anyone—the guide implies one has to be chosen for it. And I have no idea if any of us are even the right creatures to handle them.” She curled up a little upon herself. “And that’s what really scares me about all of this, that it all could still be for nothing.”
A heavy moment of silence fell after that.
“Let’s hope it’s not then,” Spike said, attempting to be optimistic.
There was some half-hearted murmuring of agreement to that sentiment. There continued to be a small lull in conversation until Rarity noticed something flutter past the airship out of the corner of her eye.
“Goodness, what was that?” she asked, turning her head to get a better look, but it had already vanished from view again.
The others looked up from what they were doing. “Wut was wut?” Applejack asked, having missed it.
“There was something flying by just now, something small and dark,” Rarity said as she stood up and approached the deck railing, the others curiously following her. After a moment of looking around, she pointed her claw at another small fluttering object moving past the airship. “There, there’s another one!”
“Oh!” Fluttershy exclaimed, recognizing the small animal. “That would be a brown bat. They’re pretty common for this area, I believe.” She then frowned and looked towards the sun hanging in the western side of the sky. “Although…bats are nocturnal animals, so…why is this one up so early?”
“It ain’t just the one though, because there’s another,” Applejack said, pointing a talon at another bat flying by.
“And there’s another!” Twilight said, pointing at yet another.
And more kept coming, until suddenly the airship was cruising through whole swarms of bats—all baffling flying in the same direction and all at a bizarre hour of day for them. At one point the swarms were so thick that Spike ducked with a yelp so to avoid one running into his head.
“The heck is going on here?” Rainbow Dash cried out in confusion.
“And where are they all going?” Rarity added, noting how they were all flying in the same direction. “What has gotten them all riled up like this?”
“Maybe…maybe something disturbed them?” Fluttershy attempted to speculate. “I…I don’t know, I can’t seem to communicate with any of them. They just have this singular focus to all reach the same destination.”
“Which is?” Spike prompted.
They all looked in the direction the bats were heading, which was when Twilight realized with a start it ran parallel with the airship’s current course. “Same place we’re heading,” she breathed in awe, “Everfree.”
A moment of silence fell while they watched the swarms of bats start to thin again as they finished passing.
“Twi, didn’t you say that strange animal migrations were one of the signs of Nightmare Moon’s return?” Rainbow asked slowly.
“I did,” Twilight said. She swallowed. “I think we just witnessed one.”
The heavy silence continued for a moment.
Twilight took a deep breath. “The sooner we get to Everfree Forest, the better,” she concluded, “because we are running out of time.”
Don't worry, Goldstone's probably fine. 
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Yah. Sure.
Okay that's a new one so Applejack is a parrot a anthro one nice I mean those creatures are actually kind of cool when I saw them in the movie
“Well…why didn’t ya just come an’ say so instead of doin’ all this sneakin’ around?” the parrot demanded. “We coulda worked sumthin’ out!”
All eyes fell on Rainbow, who apologetically grinned under the scrutiny. “To be fair, we didn’t know that at the time,” she attempted to justify.
I figured that was him as well and what goes around comes around Goldstone
It was great to see villain on villain with Goldstone, and the more pompous outclassed, but this chapter felt like a step back again as for the things with Twilight. The whole rigamarole with "Uh, woops, ya caught me, I'm a changeling that needs your help, and now it's time for you to be awkward for a bit and wholly trust me once we're clear with each other!" really was worn out after Fluttershy, so things with AJ felt kind of tedious; the whole sequence really needed, I think, some kind of conflict like the Apples wanting them to walk the plank or at least haggle over paying for being passengers.
Okay it looks like time is at the asset so after escaping the Griffin territory there was an Airship preparing to leave and it looks like Rainbow Dash decided to sneak inside without any of the parrots noticing them and Twilight did not like the idea but the others follow anyway thinking that there are smooth sailing right now unfortunately one of the parrot name Applejack checking out the stocks and everything and the other are hiding thinking like you can escape from finding them but unfortunately spikes hat kind of giveaway and now Applejack is giving them a warning to come out after a few minutes she found Rainbow Dash and despite that they decide to show themselves and Applejack were pretty surprised so nice there are different creatures on board so Twilight had to explain about the situation and at that point it's time to become a thing but it looks like Applejack actually believe her even though she doesn't think that Nightmare Moon is coming or something but she offer her assistance to get them to ever free Forest and despite the reputation it gets they need to go there but unfortunately things got a lot of strange the bats were flying in group and Twilight thinks they're running out of time and they need to get there and right now pharynx is close by Let's hope that the others make it in time
Don't worry, Goldstone's probably fine.
Well what goes on comes around
For some reason, I really laughed at this.
Wouldn't have expected Applejack to be a parrot.
rainbow dash was randomly racist twice in this chapter, i might be required to revoke my previous statement
also this is so exciting
All that control is a pony thing, not a general feature of creatures overall. It wouldn’t make sense for them to fret over something growing or living naturally.
That being said, tales of all sorts of monsters from the few explorers who survived the Everfree Forest would most certainly be disconcerting.