Explorers from Giraffia

Chapters

Act 1 Chapter 1: New land
Act 1 Chapter 2: Commotion
Act 1 Chapter 3: Sun, moon and books
Act 2 Chapter 1: King of pain
Act 2 Chapter 2: Zebra, tree and hope

Act 1 Chapter 1: New land

“There’s a land on the horizon!“

Even Sea Sail down in hold could hear a loud yell from watch high on the mast. Is this what they were looking for? She checked the maps scattered among the table in front of her. The areas they were heading into were all white, but, to be honest, so were areas they already sailed through. They were really far away from their homeland.

Old legends said this weird land called Equestria was located somewhere far away across the Big Ocean, but, even after more than one year of traveling, they didn’t find anything but some isolated and deserted islands yet. Sea Sail was trying to believe in the existence of said land, but who knows…

She turned away from the table and climbed a few stairs until her head, perched on top of her long neck, reached out of the hold. Most of the sailors were on the main deck. Some were climbing on the mast for a better view; some were looking into the distance, where a mountain peaks peeping from behind the horizon could be seen. This didn’t seem like an island though. Well, unless it was really big island, of course. Others were scattered among the ship and were looking at her, waiting for her commands. Sea Sail was a captain after all.

She paused for a while, until she had a complete attention of all the sailors, then she began to talk. “Good. As the watch already stated – and as all of you can see for yourself, we’re heading towards some kind of big lands. It could be just a big island, but it also could be the land of ponies, Equestria. The land our king – king of all of Giraffia – sent us to find. We may be far away from our land, but we’re still under his rule. And we shall not disappoint him. Acacia!”

“Yes ma’am?” Acacia Sprout, dark green male giraffe bull with brown mane, was one of the youngest, but also the most reliable giraffes on board. He was expert on plants and was on board to examine the plants in lands they are getting into and if they are consumable. He was also Sea Sail’s personal assistant.

“When we’ll get close, we’ll send a boat to explore the land a bit. I want you and two sailors on board. Bring one okapi, too. Someone good at magic, I think Vermishine should be ideal. You choose sailors; you know them better than I.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Acacia immediately looked around and pointed at two sailors, “I think Bluewave and Amber Spot should be ideal. I’ll visit Vermishine right now; you know how he almost never comes out.”

Sea Sail nodded. Those were logical choices. Amber Spot was an excellent navigator and was very friendly. Bluewave could be kind of arrogant and he was very sceptical about their journey but he was also young and strong, Blue Wave knew he could handle almost any kind of danger. She looked at the faraway land once more. She was starting to think no Equestria exists and they are going to sail forever. After all, legends said that it were the two rulers of Equestria who raised and set the sun and the moon each day. What a ridiculous idea! But… the king wouldn’t send his best sailor captain to find it, if he wasn’t sure it existed… would he?

•••

Sand crunched under the bottom of the boat as they landed on a beach. Sea Sail was first to get out. She quickly scanned her surroundings. Near the beach was some kind of forest, but she couldn’t see any signs of life. When she looked back at sea, she could see their ship, anchored in the bay they found.

She could hear singing of some birds, but it didn’t sound like birds back in Giraffia. The forest was looking pretty weird too. It wasn’t jungle they knew from their homeland or some of the islands they found on their way. Far away, behind some lower mountains, one very high mountain could be seen. It was very steep, almost to the point that it was looking pretty ridiculous.

“Alright, everygiraffe, we don’t seem to have much of an option here. We should probably look around a bit. Acacia, what do you think about those trees? Are their leaves edible?”

Acacia Sprout went and peered at the trees. He plucked a small branch with his tongue and examined it. Then he ate one small leaf, “I can’t be completely sure if they are poisonous, but they sure do taste good. I guess it won’t hurt if we take some.”

“Fine, but we won’t eat any until we’ll be sure it didn’t do anything with you. Vermishine is pretty good at healing magic; I think he could heal you from poisoning.”

Vermishine, vermilion-coloured okapi with blue stripes nodded.

They harvested some leaves and placed them in their saddle bags. Then they proceeded into the forest. It was a rather sparse forest, so they didn’t have much problem walking through, they just had to be careful about the lower branches.

“I think I saw a squirrel,” Noted Amber Spot. “But it was running up a tree. I didn’t know squirrels can do that.”

“They can’t.”, answered Bluewave. “You were probably just seeing things.”

Sea Sail sighed. Bluewave was always sceptical, so no big news here. When they were still sailing, Bluewave was always saying he doesn’t believe in land inhabited by “ponies” and that whole journey is just a waste of time. Aber Spot once ironically asked him why he agreed to sail with them then. Bluewave didn’t speak with her for two months after.

Acacia sometimes exchanged a few words with Sea Sail, but they stayed silent for majority of their journey through the forest. Vermishine didn’t say anything, but he was examining the forest around him more than the rest of them. Okapis were living in jungles in Giraffia and this new kind of forest was fascinating for him.

•••

It was almost evening when they finally got out of the forest. The strange mountain they saw earlier was now much closer, towering high into the sky, with only some small hills at its base. They realised they crossed the lower mountains they saw earlier and didn’t even realize it. They remembered going up and down some hills, but no one of them would think they passed them.

Now, bigger region has opened in front of them. They also saw first evidence that this land might be inhabited – a road. It wasn’t paved like roads in Giraffia were, so it might have been made by animals, but the road just seemed too wide for that. And the sun was quickly setting down.

“Alright, Vermishine, send to the other okapis on ship a telepathic message about our progress so far.” said Sea Sail.

Vermishine’s ossicones lightened up. While he was dealing with that, Sea Sail turned to the others.

“So, now we have to decide where to go next. I think we should stay here for the night and see if any inhabitant of this land pass around, proving our theory. If not, I think we should try going up the road and find some citizens. We’ll stand behind those trees. We won't be noticeable in the dark, while we’ll see quite well on the road thanks to the moon. We were all sleeping two days ago, so no need there. So, now go into the positions!”

Vermishine was already finished, too, so they quickly hid behind the trees and started to watch the road carefully.

Author's Note

The first chapter... Just a quick explanation: Giraffes and Okapis have horns called "ossicones". Both genders of giraffes and male okapis have them, female okapis don't. In this fanfic, they are used at similar fashion as unicorn's horn, but only male okapis can do that, giraffes can't use theirs for magic. That's about it for now, thank you for every view and comment!

One last note: (I am NOT a native English speaker... I hope there aren't that many mistakes in there...)

Act 1 Chapter 2: Commotion

Night passed without much of an interruption. Several wild animals passed around, but most of them could smell them, and as they certainly didn’t smell giraffe before, avoided them. When the sun appeared on the sky again, there wasn’t much more to do than continue on.

Sea Sail chose direction pretty much at random. The road soon turned away from the forest and continued on into the open terrain, dodging the high mountain.

It wasn’t long at all before they found the first definite sign of this road not being just a strangely wide animal trail – a bridge over the stream.

“So we might have actually found Equestria,” Noted Acacia happily.

“I wouldn’t count on that,” Muttered Bluewave. “It’s just a bridge.”

“Yeah, but it certainly didn’t built itself, did it?” Snapped Amber Spot.

“That’s not what I am saying. I am just saying the fact that something built a bridge here doesn’t mean we found a pony land or whatever,” Answered Bluewave.

“Come on now, we may stay here and keep on discussing over a simple wooden bridge or we may actually cross it and continue on,” Said Sea Sail and she was also first one to cross.

When the rest of them did as well, they continued. Not too long after, they could see that the route is turning around some bushes into hilly areas.

Amber Spot suddenly stopped and pricked up her ears, “Don’t you hear something?” She whispered.

The rest of them immediately stopped in their tracks and started to listen as well. They could definitely hear some strange clopping. It sounded almost like running of zebras or antelopes they knew from the lands close to a Giraffia.

It was enough for the Sea Sail to just nod in the right direction. All of them jumped into the bushes. Sadly, Sea Sail didn’t look at them too carefully and didn’t notice all the thorns.

As quickly as they got in, they were out again, with thorny branches tangled into their manes and tails.

Just a moment after, some sort of creature appeared in their line of sight on the road.

It was certainly looking very strange. It was small, even a bit smaller than okapis, and those were about third the height of giraffes. Actually, it was around the same size as zebras. It looked a lot like zebras, too, but zebras were all white with black stripes. This creature was pink and it had green mane. It also had talent symbol that looked similar to theirs, not those strange swirly things zebras possessed. Creature’s talent symbol featured two white flowers.

“Um…. Hi?” Said Sea Sail nervously. Was this a pony? She was a bit disappointed, to be honest. Old legends said some ponies have wings or horns on forehead, but this one didn’t have either.

Creature didn’t answer right back. Its eyes were so huge, looking up at them.

“What… in the name of Celestia… are you?”

Sea Sail had no idea what or who Celestia is, but she was glad that the universal translating spell worked. The best okapi magicians placed it on them before they left, but they didn’t really have chance to find if it actually worked yet. Sea Sail remembered the king saying something about Equestrian ponies talking in strange language, but now she could understand very well. She knew it works other way around, too, so the creature will hear everything they say in the language understandable for it.

“We’re giraffes, but that doesn’t really matter much,” Replied Sea Sail. “We were sent to find legendary land called Equestria, inhabited by ponies. Are we here or do we have to continue on sailing?”

“Legendary? I wouldn’t talk about legends, tally,” Frowned the creature. “I only heard about giraffes in one old pony tale my mother used to tell me before sleep.”

“So… this is Equestria?”

“As far as I know,” Replied pony. “But I have no idea why you would come here. I don’t think wherever you are from is exactly close, is it?”

“It most definitely isn’t,” Muttered Bluewave, seemingly still shocked about the actual existence of the land he was refusing to believe in for so long.

“Well, we are here because our king sent us to find this land and… establish contact. Where do your leaders live? Lege- we’ve heard you have two of them and that they were immortal. But that’s probably not true, is it?”

“No, it actually is. You’re thinking of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. But they live in Canterlot and that’s not exactly around the corner. And,” Pony once again looked at heads of four giraffes towering above her. “I don’t think you would exactly fit into the train. Well, you friend there probably would, but if you all want to go, that’s not a way. By the way, she or he’s not a giraffe, too, or is it?”

“He’s an okapi. They are giraffes, too. Just a different kind.”

“If you say so. Anyways, you fellas actually seem kind of nice, but still pretty scary. I guess. If you want to talk with royalty, you should come with me. I live in a small town behind that mountain over there. It’s called Ponyville and Princess Twilight has her castle in there, she’ll know how to contact Princesses Celestia and Luna. I need to collect some herbs from here first, though. That’s why I came here in the first place, they do not grow anywhere else except the Everfree forest… and I am not setting my hoof in there.”

“You… know a lot about herbs?” Asked Acacia Sprout. “I am really interested in plants as well. Oh my, there is so much plants over here I don’t know… what’s that tree over there called?
“That’s an oak tree… and if you don’t know what that is, you certainly are from far away. Do you have names? Mine’s Daisy.”

“Of course we don’t,” Replied Bluewave, voice full of irony. “When we need to talk to somegiraffe else, we just yell ‘Hey, you!’”

“Don’t mind him, Daisy, he’s just grumpy because you actually really exist, that’s all,” Explained Amber Spot. Right after that she proceeded to say everyone’s names. She also didn’t forget to mention Sea Sail being a captain.

“Now, Daisy, why don’t you show us how that herb of yours look like so we may help you and get to that Ponyville place you mentioned?” Asked Sea Sail.

With their help, it took only a short while to find as much as Daisy wanted and with their new guide, proceeded towards Ponyville.

•••

Travel was quite long. It was already dark and, according to Daisy, they were still hours of walking away from Ponyville.

“Well, I knew I won’t get back before dark, but I certainly didn’t expect I’d have to sleep with strangers. Erm… no offence.”

“None taken,” Answered Sea Sail quickly. “What do you think we should do? Keep walking?”

“Well, I was originally planning to sleep through the night, but I think that’ll wait until I get home. It seems like the best option,” Daisy wouldn’t admit it, but she was still a little scared. They were so giant… And the only smaller one, the okapi, remained silent throughout whole trip, not saying a word.

In the end, it took them whole night. Sun was already shining, when giraffes finally saw Ponyville for the first time. It was small town filled with many houses. Most of them looked the same, but they could easily see some that looked much different. But the thing that caught their eyes first was standing on an outskirts of town. There was huge tree made out of what seemed to be crystal. There were spires with windows in between its branches, suggesting that it’s actually a very strange building.

Daisy noticed where they are looking, “Yes, that’s Princess Twilight’s castle. But I am honestly not very sure what to do with you now. You can’t just walk into the town, ponies would probably panic. You know what? Just stay in her for a while and I’ll run for the Princess Twilight, she’ll know what to do.”

And then she was away.

“Well, that was interesting,” Noted Vermishine. It was first thing she said since they met Daisy. “I guess I should let others know how we are doing so far again.”

“Yes,” Agreed Sea Sail. “I sure hope it won’t take Daisy long… “

•••

But it did. They waited for hours. Bluewave was, of course, first to complain.

“She ditched us,” He was saying. “If she won’t come in five minutes, I am just going down there.”, but he never did, even after ten or twenty minutes.

After several hours, they could see some sort of big commotion in town. What seemed to be hundreds of ponies were running around in chaos. They noticed some of them flew, which prove some of them indeed had wings. It took several minutes, but then the whole crowd started to move out of the town, heading straight to them.

That wasn’t exactly expected. Acacia looked like he’s going to panic. Daisy was fine, but hundreds of those strange creatures at once? He didn’t like the idea at all. No surprise, Bluewave wasn’t too keen about it either.

Daisy was one of the first to get to them. Purple pony was running with her. Blue Sail quickly noticed it had both wings and horn. Strange purple lizard was sitting on purple pony’s back.

Daisy started to explain immediately as what had to be whole town was getting close.

“I wanted to say it only to Princess Twilight here, but she wasn’t home so I was searching for her and it turned out she was on one of Pinkie Pie’s parties. I had to say it in front of everypony at that party and well… Pinkie Pie managed to tell it to everypony else in town in like two minutes. We just couldn’t stop her. And everypony wanted to see you guys so well…”

In that moment, bright pink pony without wings or horn was next to get to them, still far before main crowd. It wasn’t hard to guess that it’s Pinkie Pie.

“Oh my gosh, it’s really giraffes. When I first heard Daisy say it I was like ‘gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasp’ because I mean giraffes; I tought they existed only in legends and it was just so amazing news I went to everypony and everypony was so excited too, even Rainbow Dash; Applejack didn’t believe me but I convinced her Daisy wouldn’t lie; Fluttershy didn’t want to come because she hates commotions so she stayed home but she’s like only one; But I mean really- mmmf mmf mmmmmf.” Princess Twilight Sparkle did something completely un-princessy – she shove her hoof into Pinkie’s mouth to make her shut up.

But the rest of town was already coming close. Many and many voices gasped and yelled and talked and talked and talked as they saw new hosts for the first time.

“Oh, they are so big!”

“Huge!”

“Why do they have such a long necks, mommy?”

“Oh, those spots, so garish.”

“That’s so amazing!”

“Eeyup.”

“…they sure are excitable bunch,” noted Amber Spot.

Finally, Princess Twilight in collaboration with important looking pony with grey mane managed to calm everypony down.

“Um… so, as I can see, you’re all pretty excited about our new giraffe visitors. But, as it all went so fast, I don’t really know much about them. So, if I may ask, would you say something to us about you yourself?”

“Do we have any other choice?” Answered Sea Sail. “I didn’t expect we would cause such a huge commotion but… it won’t hurt if you know why we sailed into this strange land…”

Author's Note

Second chapter... yeah, I wasn't expecting to write it so soon, but I've got some free time today and the nice reception from yesterday just made me to write more. I really hope you liked it!

I have to give big thanks to Aldar. He helps me with my English grammar.

Act 1 Chapter 3: Sun, moon and books

“My name is Sea Sail, “ Sea Sail started her speech, “and I am thought to be the best sailor of Giraffia. Personally, I don’t really think so, but everygiraffe keep saying it. The king of Giraffia, Neckolas III, has called me one day – he told me that he was searching in old books for several months and that he has found many clues of the existence of a mysterious land called Equestria. He was convinced that this mysterious land really exists and told me to try to find it and establish the contact. He thought we might learn a lot from ponies, and other way around. He also told me that legends say Equestria is located behind the Big Ocean. After a few weeks, I had my crew assembled. I won’t tell you about everything we found on our way here because none of it was really that interesting. There were some krakens and many storms, but in the end we managed to make our way here and are very actually very excited about it.”

All ponies were listening. Surprisingly, even Pinkie Pie kept quiet.

“When we’ve found this place, me, my assistant Acacia Sprout, one magician Vermishine and two sailors – Bluewave and Amber Spot, have decided to explore this land a bit. Next day, we met Daisy here and really that is about it.” The speech ended and ponies started to stomp their hooves on the ground and cheering loudly.

When they stopped, Princess Twilight Sparkle came and said, “Thank you for your speech, giraffes. I hope you’ll enjoy your stay here and report back just the best about our land to your king when you return home. Now, Spike–“

Lizard on her back jumped down, “Yes, Twilight?”

“– We will have to inform Princess Celestia and Princess Luna about our situation. Please, take a letter – “

The lizard pulled out an ink, parchment and quill from somewhere and started to write down her words. She has pretty much explained everything in the letter and then told the lizard to send it – but he didn’t. Instead he, to the astonishment of everygirrafe, burped a flame and burned the letter down. But the princess didn’t seem angry; instead she smiled at the guy.

Not too long after, the lizard suddenly burped a flame again and another letter came out of the flames. Once again, while all the giraffe guests were staring at it in an absolute confusion, Princess Twilight seemed to be quite happy about it.

She unrolled the letter and quickly read it for herself. She then nodded and said, “Princess Celestia says it would be best if she and Princess Luna came to Ponyville and to talk with the explorers rather than trying to get them to Canterlot. They will be arriving here shortly.”

•••

It really didn’t take too long. Only about one half an hour later, a big golden chariot pulled by a winged ponies landed near all of them. All ponies immediately fell to their knees and hold their head very low above the ground. All but Princess Twilight. She instantly ran to the chariot instead and started to talk to with ponies in it.

And, when they stepped out, the giraffes were shocked. They didn’t look anything like the other ponies. They were bigger, not nearly as big as them, but definitely bigger than Vermishine. One of them was white and other very dark purple. The purple one was a bit smaller. They both had the strangest manes any giraffe have ever seen. It looked like they were moving on their own.

“Welcome to Equestria,” said white princess. “It’s a very long since anyone from your country came to visit us. Last time was when I and Luna were still pretty young. My name is Celestia and my sister and I are the rulers of this land.”

It took a while for giraffes to be able to speak again. There was just something… majestic about those two mares. Even Bluewave seemed to be very impressed.

After a while of silence, Sea Sail just couldn’t help but ask, “Um… we’ve heard you two actually rule over sun and moon, too.”

“Yes, you are correct,” Answered Celestia.

“Alright then, so, sorry if this will sound rude, but… what in the name of Giraffepolis were you doing past year and half? First, not long after we set on the sail, the sun rose much later than usual. Then, just several months later, both moon and sun were just crazy one day, rising and setting like every five minutes! After that, half a year later, sun and moon were on the sky at the same time! And also that strange moon setting and sun rising a month ago. If you really control moon and sun, why are you doing such crazy things with them? Are you bored or what? Have you got any idea how scary such events are?”

It took a while for Celestia to answer, “Well, we’re not bored, but… let’s just say we had some problems in here. However, we have managed to get through all of it.. Well, not so much me, but mainly six most trustworthy ponies around here… and Elements of harmony… but, if you are interested, we may get to that later. Now… the question is… what would you like to do in our land? You may, of course, travel all around Equestria as much as you want, if that’s what you wish. We’ll inform all ponies about you so they wouldn’t be shocked. If you are interested in information about Equestria, history and ponies, Princess Twilight has quite a spacious library in her castle. I am sure she would be happy to provide you with the knowledge within.”

Sea Sail started to think, “Well, we didn’t really think about that too much so far. I mean, we couldn’t be even sure if we would really find Equestria until today. We’ll have to talk about it and decide. Also, we’ll have to contact our ship, then we need to sleep somewhere and I am afraid all of us but Vermishine are too big to fit in your houses. And actually, our king said it would be great if we could find a way to establish a trade route between our lands, but we encountered so much dangerous things on our way here… I am afraid it will be impossible….”

“We’ll see. Twilight, would you mind if me and Luna stayed in your castle for several nights until our guests decide what they would like to do? I’ll inform the royal guard that we’re staying here for now.”

“You’re staying in my castle?” Yelled Twilight. “But it’s not ready! Spike, come, we have to clean it up right now!”
She tossed Spike back on her back and dashed back towards the town.

•••

After that, ponies slowly started to walk back into the town, too.

“It’s almost night-time,” Said Princess Luna. “We’ll find you a place to sleep and then me and my sister will have to do our royal duty of ending day and bring forth the night.”
Suddenly, an orange pony with a cowboy hat walked up to them. “Um, sorry to interrupt, but if y’all giraffes don’t know where to sleep, you can sleep in our barn. You should be able to slip through the doors, I recon' they are kinda big. It should be fine.”

“Great idea, Applejack. If you don’t mind, you shall sleep at Applejack’s, then.” Answered Luna.

“Sounds good,” Suddenly said Vermishine. “But can we first go to Princess Twilight’s castle? I would really like to borrow some books about magic and read a bit before we go to sleep.”

Princess Twilight seemed very nervous about the visit of the two other princesses in her home, but she was happy to bring Vermishine some books about magic outside. All princesses stayed there and everygiraffe followed Applejack to her home. It turned out Applejack was living at some kind of orchard outside of the city. Applejack wanted them to meet her family members, but all the giraffes were actually pretty tired. A lot has happened in two last days.

While all giraffes stood in the barn, their heads almost touching the roof and fell to asleep, Vermishine lighted up his ossicones and started to read the books. It turned out pony magic was very interesting. It was similar to okapi’s, but there were also many differences. Around a midnight, Vermishine decided he would like to test some. He went out of a barn and looked around, determined to learn this new kind of magic, so he would become a better magician, like he always wanted to be.

He didn’t know it yet, but it was a very bad idea.

Author's Note

Alright, alright. I am very sorry it took me so long... let's just say I had some problems writing this chapter... but I finally did it so here you go. This is pretty much the end of the first - I'd say "arc"? - of this story. The real adventurous part starts next time. That's why I ended it with a little cliffhanger, I am sorry. :D I hope you liked it. :) The next chapter should be up at Monday or so.

Now, I just have to give big thanks to my friend Aldar. He proofreads every chapter and helps me with some of my stupidest formulations. This chapter, he also helped me a lot with Celestia's and Luna's speaking parts. So, really, thanks.

Act 2 Chapter 1: King of pain

Vermishine was amazed. Unicorn magic felt so strange, yet so appealing. It really was unlike any okapi magic he has ever tried.

Soon enough, all kinds of objects were levitating around him. He didn't feel like that ever since he was learning how to use okapi magic for the first time. After a while he decided to try to cast the spell he wanted to try ever since he saw it in the book - the teleportation spell. Surprisingly, okapis didn't have any spells like that so this will be a completely new experience for him.

And then, everything went wrong.

•••

Applejack, and everypony from the whole Ponyville, was suddenly woken up by a giant wave of a strange magical energy running through the whole town. She ran towards the window.

“What the hay?”

A huge pillar of light was rising up into the sky right next to her farm. It was so bright she had to squint her eyes.

At that moment Applebloom burst into her room shouting “Applejack! Applejack! What was that?”

“Ah don't know sis, but ah am gonna find out. You stay here.” Said Applejack as she dashed down the stairs and almost ran into Big Mac. They didn't have to say a word, one look was enough, and ran outside together. Their giraffe guests were already outside as well.

“What in the name of Celestia is that?” yelled Applejack directly at Sea Sail.

“Believe me, I have no idea. But Vermishine is missing. I think we should inform your princesses.”

“There's no need for that,” Princess Celestia and Princess Luna just landed right next to them, with Princess Twilight close behind.

•••

Princess Twilight suddenly woke up. She felt a very strong unusual magical disturbance somewhere in the town. Spike was sitting in his bed confused too, so this wasn't a dream, he would never be awake at this hour otherwise.

“What's going on, Twilight? I fealt something... strange.”

But Twilight didn't answer. She was already standing by the window, starring into the distance, where a huge pillar of white light was towering into the sky. It seemed it's somewhere close to the Sweet Apple Acres. Spike came to the window and stared at the phenomenon as well.
“Spike, stay here, I am going to wake up the Princesses.”

They were, of course, wide awake too and were staring at the pillar as well.

“Princess Celestia do you have any idea what's going on?” asked Twilight, who was already starting to panic.

“We shall find out soon enough, but first, let us get there to see exactly what hast happened,” said Luna and flew out of the open window. Her sister followed her immediately. Twilight first looked around the library; thinking if she wouldn't find the answer somewhere in there, but this probably wasn't the right time for research. She didn't even know what to look for. So she took a deep breath and flew after the royal sisters.

•••

Princess Celestia examined the pillar. It was crackling with electricity, sending small bolts all around.

“You said Vermishine went missing?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Oh no...” Princess Twilight suddenly looked even more terrified. “He borrowed some of my books about magic, remember? What if he tried to cast it? I don't know how much is our magic even compatible!”

“If it is so, we may be in a great danger, for we don't know, what this pillar might do. Applejack, could you gather all the ponies from this town on the other side of it's borders, as far away from this phenomenon as possible? Your other friends will surely help.”¨

“Of course princess,” answered Applejack and ran towards the town. Big Macintosh went back into the barn to gather the rest of the family, then they all rushed after Applejack.

“So... what shall we do, sister?” asked Princess Luna.

“Let's begin with carefully trying to use some spells against it. We have to learn what it is and if it is dangerous.”

•••

Celestia started with a simple identifying spell. It bounced right off, having absolutely no affect. Then she, Luna and Twilight went for more and more complicated spells, from all kinds of exploring and see-through spells to destructive spells.

However, no matter what they did, none of their spells seemed to be able to get even close to the pillar. Then, around two hours after it appeared, it led out another great outburst of magical energy which sent all three alicorns flying back. When they recovered, they saw Vermishine crashing very hard into the ground. It seemed he went flying out of the pillar the last magical burst.

Everygirrafe quickly ran towards him, with princesses following them close by. Vermishine was badly hurt, but still conscious. He looked back at the pillar, which was now glowing and sending thunders everywhere around.

It was apparently very hard for Vermishine to speak, but with problems, he said, “He.... is coming........ “

“Who? Who is coming?” Sea Sail yelled at him with fear in her voice. Then suddenly she realized, what might be getting here from the dimensional void.

Sea Sail didn't really know why, but in that moment, she remembered her school years when they were listening to stories, horrible stories about ancient evil lurking in between dimensions where it was once just very barely, and with help of all the nations around Giraffia, banished. And the horror in Vermishine's eyes just added to it. Sea Sail didn't know how, but she somehow knew it. The biggest nightmare of all of giraffekind is inside that pillar, trying to get out. And, as she suddenly realised, they had probably brought it here, into this peaceful pony land.

Vermishine's lips moved, confirming her worst fears.

“Ninki... Nanka!”

Everypony and everygiraffe stopped for a moment. Celestia thought about it. She had no idea, who or what that is, but she could clearly see the absolute horror in all of the giraffes's eyes. It was enough for her to know that this isn't going to be good.

The pillar now started sending more and more outbursts every few seconds, causing all the ponies and giraffes to lie on the ground to not get hurt. Thunders were flying everywhere around and Sweet Apple Acres already took fire at several places. Earth itself was shaking and the pillar started to collapse. It glowed brighter than ever before, sent the last outburst and then finally disappeared.

•••

In its place, a gigantic creature stood. It was towering high above the tree tops. The huge thunderclouds were spinning right above its head crowning it with lightnings. The head actually looked a bit pony-like, but instead of fur, it was covered in scales, it had very evil looking glowing red eyes, giant wide spreading horns and a very sharp, long teeth. Under the head was long neck full of spots, resembling giraffe neck a bit. However, once again, there was no fur, just scales. Its body looked like from some kind of lizard. It was covered in many and many sharp-edged scales and ridges. It also, unsurprisingly, had very long claws. It would be really horrible sight even if the whole beast didn't laugh maniacally.

“What.... is... that?“ asked Celestia the first giraffe she could see, which was Bluewave. Then she realised she might not get very clear answer and fully expected something arrogant to come out of the giraffe.

But Bluewave was apparently too shocked and horrified to even answer sarcastically. Instead his voice was just full of fear.

“Ni... Ninki Nanka. The king of pain. He... he once ruled over Giraffia and surrounding lands. A very, very long time ago. In the end, he was banished to the void between dimensions. But it took lots and lots of great magicians from many nations to do that! Hundreds of them!“

Ninki Nanka suddenly stopped laughing. He looked down, directly at the group of pony princesses, giraffes and now unconscious okapi.
Giraffes knew they have no chance here. Bluewave took Vermishine and they backed away from the creature.

“What are we going to do?“ yelled Amber Spot. ”There's no way anything is going to stop him!“

However, princesses apparently wanted to at least try. They all took off the ground and flew towards the creature.

•••

All princesses fought as hard as they could, flying all around Ninki Nanka and shooting all kinds of powerful looking laserbeams from their horns. Giraffes just couldn't help to stare in owe. All those ponies looked so peaceful and harmless and now it turns out they have such a great powers inside of them.

But no matter how powerful their spells were, Ninki Nanka didn't even take notice of them. Storms over his head continued to spread far and wide. And now, he bagan to walk towards Ponyville.

Princess Celestia apparently realised their magic isn't doing that much, “This is no use. We have to warn everypony! Fast!“

“We know how sister!“ yelled Princess Luna. “Give us a moment“

She landed on the ground and closed her eyes. A few moments later, to the shock of everygiraffe, her shadowy head appeared on the full moon.

“Amazing!“ said Twilight. “Like this, everypony in whole of Equestria will know of this thread.“

“CITIZENS OF EQUESTRIA!“ yelled the shadow with Luna's voice. “THIS IS YOUR PRINCESS LUNA SPEAKING. WE ARE VERY SORRY TO EVERYPONY THAT WE HAD TO WAKE UP, BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT. A NEW GREAT DANGER FOR ALL OF EQUESTRIA AND PONYKIND HAS APPEARED NEAR PONYVILLE AND IS RIGHT NOW HEADED RIGHT INTO THE TOWN. PONYVILLE SHALL BE EVACUATED RIGHT NOW. TO EVERYPONY IN OTHER CITIES, BEWARE OF A GREAT THUNDERSTORM ON THE SKY, INDICATING THE DANGER IS GETTING CLOSE. IF IT GETS CLOSE TO YOUR HOMETOWN, RUN AWAY AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. WE RELY ON MAJORS OF TOWNS TO ORGANISE THE EVACUATIONS. WE AND OTHER PRINCESSES ARE WORKING ON SOLLUTION, BUT IT SHALL TAKE SOME TIME. BEWARE!“

The shadow than disappeared and Luna opened her eyes. She seemed very tired.

“Great job, sister, now, hopefully, we don't have to fear for anypony to get harmed for a while. We have to think of what to do now.“

Twilight looked at giraffes, which were all standing in a tight small group, looking completely terrified, “I think it might be a good idea to ask our giraffe friends. They said they've met Ninki Nanka before.“

She landed right before them, “So, would any of you care to explain? I don't think it's a coincidence that the great enemy from your history appeared in the Equestria right after you came here!“

“You... you're... right. It's not,“ Vermishine just woke up. He was seemingly still in pain, but also determinated to say what happened, “I... I... made a great mistake. I tried our... pony tele.. portation spell, but... it didn't quite work. I was somehow... teleported into the void, leaving a portal to... this place.... and he.... used it... right after. It's all.... my fault!“

“It certainly is, but you couldn't know what will happen. And it was my fault too, I shouldn't have land you those books. But now we have to learn something about him!“ she looked at the rest of the giraffes.

It was Sea Sail who started to talk, “I... don't know that much about him. He appeared in Giraffia thousands of years ago and completely took over it and many natons around the Giraffia. He was known as Ninki Nanka, or also the King of pain, because it was horrible times for any creature who came within his grasp. Constant thunderstorms wiped out all the jungles, earth itself was burninga nd entire land became great desert filled with ashes. It's also said he loved to torture living creatures with great pains. He could make you feel like your entire being is on fire! In the end, with the help of the best magicians from all the lands, he was banished into the void, dsppearing forever. Or, well, until now.“

“Is there anything else? Anything?“

Amber Spot seemed to remember something, “I think it was the zebras who came with the plan, right? The shamans from zebra tribes used their great wisdom and made the spell that banished Ninki Nanka! That's how the teacher in our school said it! It's also said zebras know many things about this world, but do not talk about them too much. At least if you are not another zebra, that is. But it wuld be worth a shot! Well, if there were any zebras in this land...“

“There used to be one zebra tribe deep within Everfree forest very long ago. Me and Luna met with them once. But I don't know if it's still there!“ said Celestia.

“But there is still at least one zebra in the forest! Do you remeber, princess? I was writing you about her. We have to go there!“
“There... There are some zebras here?“ asked Acaccia Sprout.

“Well, at least one for sure! Let's go!“

“Twilight!“

Everypony and everygiraffe turned around. Five ponies were running towards them. Sea Sail easily identified Applejack and Pinkie Pie, but she didn't know the rest of them. They all dashed towards princesses.

“Twilight!“ yelled one of them again. It was horned pony with white coat and elegant purple mane.

“We all heard Princess Luna's message and came as quickly as we could! But we had to run far around some horrifying giant creature. Is that what were Luna talking about? We have to use elements inside us again! Just like we used them against the Tirek!“

“But how? Last time, the power went out of the chest! Actually, we were just headed to Zecora, our giraffe friends told us they know zebras from their homeland and that zebras might know something about Ninki Nanka. Then we will go to the Tree of harmony, maybe it will help us again!“

"Great idea, Twilight“ commended her Celestia.

"So what are we waitin' for? Move it!“ yelled Applejack. Bluewave putted Vermishine back on his back and the whole group began to move towards the Everfree forest.

Author's Note

So... yeah.... after like two and a half months I finally wrote a new chapter. Boy, was I procrastinating a lot. Honestly, I was (and still am) kind of worried. Because this chapter... well, it changes the direction of the story quite a bit. But, if you just enjoyed giraffes going around Equestria and stuff, don't worry. There is still a lot of story to be told and we're just in a second act.

Once again, big thanks to Aldar for proofreading. This time even more than ever before. He worked really hard and made this chapter much better than it would be otherwise.

Act 2 Chapter 2: Zebra, tree and hope

As it turned out Everfree forest was huge. It was located on the outskirts of Ponyville and seemed very dark and thick. Sea Sail vaguely remembered Daisy mentioning it one time, and not in a good way.

As they drew close to the line of the trees, Priness Celestia suddenly stopped. Her sister did the same just a moment after and then the rest of the group.

“I think me and my sister should return to Canterlot,” said Princess Celestia.

“What? Why?” asked Sea Sail confused.

“In this great time of danger, I think we should be available for our citizens. We will be of a more use in Canterlot than here. After all, the bearers of Elements of Harmony are with you. They have already been in many dangerous situations and they will help you, if you need. Come, sister.”

The princesses quickly took their leave and teleported away to Canterlot.

Pinkie Pie suddenly jumped with a shocked expression on her face, “Oh my gosh! We are going to an adventure together and we don’t even know all of our names yet!”

She then immediately threw the names of all of her pony friends at the giraffes and started to describe their personalities right after. However, she was interrupted in a middle of a word as Vermishine started to wake up.

“Wha… what happened…” he seemed to be confused at first but soon remembered everything and realised it wasn’t just some sort of strange nightmare. He was now conscious, but still very weak and so remained on Bluewave’s back for the time being.

Pinkie Pie, however, insisted on repeating her monologue all over again, since Vermishine couldn’t hear the beginning.

Bluewave groaned, his face revealing his opinions towards the pink pony more than obviously. The rest of the giraffes weren’t too keen about it either but Pinkie Pie failed to see that and started. But the rest of her friends were clever enough to interupt her again.

“You know, Pinks,” said the blue winged pony with an incredibly colorful mane. “What about if all of us just introduce and then go to the forest. There’s really not that much time you know. Ancient evil trying to destroy Equestria and all.”

Pinkie Pie, to a big surprise of the giraffes, actually agreed. Each one of her friends than promptly introduced and so did the giraffes.
After the basic introductions were finally over, they took their way into the forest.

•••

The forest was so thick that giraffes had to bow their head very low to keep themselves from bumping into each and every branch and even then it was somewhat difficult to continue.

“So… your zebra friend lives here?” asked Accacia Sprout. “Zebras from our homeland like big planes and open fields, not thick and hard to pass through forests.”

“She just likes her privacy. But she does seem to be happy with her life,” answered Princess Twilight Sparkle, or just Twilight, how she insisted giraffes to call her.

“Careful now,”she continued soon after. “Whatever you do, do not touch those blue flowers. Trust me.”

Accacia Sprout peered closely at one of the blue plants, “Why? What does it do?”

“Basically, it makes fun of you and turns your life into a hell,” answered Twilight.

“Oh…” Accacia Sprout quickly moved away from the plant. All of the giraffes were very careful where they step from that moment on.

•••

They managed to get to their destination fine in the end. The zebra’s home was apparently carved inside of a tree.

“Pretty nice,” commented Acacia Sprout. “I’d really like to live in an alive tree like that. Seems like a very nice idea.”

For some reason Twilight suddenly looked very pained. Acacia Sprout noticed it and wondered what he said. Maybe she doesn’t like her crystal tree home and thinks a real tree would be better too?

Sea Sail went ahead and knocked on the door.

Soon after they opened and a zebra head appeared.

The moment the head saw Sea Sail, it made a very scared face and disappeared back behind the door.

Twilight yelled, “Zecora, it’s me, Twilight! The rest of us are here, too. And, well, a few giraffes. Please, let us in, we need to talk!”
“Oh my friends, you hear – why did you brought the giraffes here? My tribe came from behind thousand waves – in giraffe land, zebras are just a slaves.”

“What?” Twilight looked puzzled at Sea Sail, who just felt very uncomfortable.

“Eeh… Zecora?” yelled Sea Sail through the door. “Your tribe must have come here very long ago. I admit, giraffes used to be slavers and had many zebra slaves, but that was centuries ago! Now, Giraffia trades with zebra tribes and many zebras live in Giraffia - freely!”

Zecora was quiet behind a door for a moment, “I have heard so many tales - in them, giraffes are evil and we are the slaves!”

“Alright, Zecora,” said Twilight. “I understand that you are afraid, but… we are here, too. You trust us, don’t you? I mean, I know the giraffes for only a little while, but from what I could see, they are pretty nice.”

“Yeah,” bounced Pinkie near the door. “They are super duper friendly!”

“Is that the truth? I can’t say – And I can’t just send my friends away! Listen – maybe you are speaking the truth – but what would you do if I wanted a proof?”

Sea Sail decided it’s a right time to speak again, “Well, I don’t have any proof, but listen - we are too big to fit in your house anyway. So just let your friends in. You believe them, right? There is something really bad happening and we need you. Princess Twilight will explain everything, but - Ninki Nanka appeared in the Equestria!”

Zecora imidiately opened the door. Fear in her eyes said more than enough.

“Yes, it’s true Zecora. The giraffes told us it was zebras who realized how to defeat Ninki Nanka back when he ruled. Do you know what happened?”

“I’m afraid not, sadly – but I will give you an advice – and gladly. Ninki Nanka’s powerful and strong, but even he will fall – to the strongest power of them all. As in the times of past, to set Equestria free, the Tree of Harmony holds the key.”

Twilight thought for a while, then nodded, “Yes, you are right, Zecora. Actually, that was our idea too. But we thought we would ask you first. The giraffes told us that zebra shamans were the ones that made the spell that stopped Ninki Nanka.”

“I’ll go with you to the Tree. What will it do - I would want to see. If the giraffes really are nice, it certainly will give advice.”

“What in the name of Giraffepolis is that Tree of Harmony even supposed to be, anyway?’ asked Bluewave.

“Well, it’s very important for Equestria. And it’s actually quite fabulous, you will see,” answered him the white pony with horn - Rarity, if he recalled correctly. She had unbelievably trimed and sparkly mane and was so over the top obvious fashion deva. Bluewave didn’t like her at all.

“Yeah, it’s like super amazing, it is all sparkly and crystally and stuff. And it holds the Elements of Harmony - we gave them to it you see, and- oooo, oh my gosh, I just realised. The giraffes and a zebra from Equestria - nations long separated back together again, you know what this calls for?”

Oh, Pinkie Pie, thought Bluewave, The most annoying one. Since the beginning of their trip. She talked about something like every two minutes and drew him nuts.

I swear to Neckolas III, if she’ll say it-

“A party!”

She said it! She really did! I swear, just don’t-

“I am affraid we don’t really have the time to party right now Pinkie,” said Rarity. Bluewave suddenly liked her much more.

“Aaaaw…” Pinkie Pie looked sad, but it only lasted for like a millisecond or so. Then she was back to her cheery self jumping joyfully around for no apparent reason whatsoever.

•••

Zecora joined their group, but the giraffes could clearly see she was constantly keeping herself as away from them as possible, staying close to the ponies.

“Come on, Zecora,” said Amber Spot. “It hurts me that you are afraid if us so much. It’s different, really. Many zebras live in Giraffia completely freely now.”

Zecora looked up to her, “Please understand - that might be true and maybe not - I’m starting to believe you, but just a jot. You are all so big scary but you also seem very friendly. Ninki Nanka is the real problem here - and also my greatest fear. But you giraffes - are you a threat? I still can’t decide - not just yet.”

“Well, I don’t care what you think about me. Ninki Nanka’s a huge problem, but I could care less about Equestria,” commented Bluewave.

Rainbow Dash was unamused, “That’s really rude you know. What even is your problem? You have got to be the most unfriendly giraffe ever. Try to be a little more awesome, like me.”

“Well, aren’t you full of yourself,” snapped Bluewave back.

Amber Spot quickly took a word, “Please, Rainbow Dash, you misunderstand him. Bluewave can sound really rude, but I know him. Deep inside he’s a strong but soft guy. Even if he tries to hide it.”

“No I am not!” Bluewave’s cheeks started to turn red.

“Calm down, everypony…. and everygiraffe,” inserted Twilight. “We’re getting closer. And this is a really dangerous part of the forest.”
Accacia Sprout was looking at many of the plants along the way, examining them closely and every so often putting some of them into his bags to examine them further later.

“Oh come on… this place is amazing! It’s full of such an interesting plants! They are unlike anything I’ve ever seen!” he commented.

“Well, I don’t like it,” said Vermishine from behind Bluewave’s back. “You giraffes probably can’t see it, but I am an okapi, I know forests, and this one is actually pretty similar to jungles in our homeland… and I don’t trust it. It seems more… evil, however weird that might sound. I feel like it’s silently watching us. You see, in a normal jungle, there are always lots of animal noises, mainly birds. But this forest is so quiet… too quiet. Well, except for us talking.”

Everybody started to listen. He was right. No animal sounds whatsoever could be heard.

“Ah reckon we shoud hurry up y’all. This here forest gives me heebies,” said Applejack.

•••

“So, what’s this place?” asked Sea Sail.

There was some sort of huge and very old castle in front of them. It was in ruins. Near it, a big canyon stretched through the land, and at the end of it was a cave, shimmering with light from the inside.

“Well, this is an old castle of the royal sisters,” ansered Twilight. “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna used to live here… one thousand years ago. And the Tree of Harmony is inside that cave over there. We just have to go down these stairs.”

But that was easier said than done. The stairs were obviously built for a pony hooves rather than a much bigger and clumsier hooves of the giraffes. The time also eroded them, so they were pretty unreliable, sometimes crumbling under their weight as they walked over them. It took a lot of time and carefully planned steps, but everygiraffe and everypony managed to get down safely.

The sun was already setting, reminding them of how much time they’ve already wasted. Ninki Nanka was out there for a whole day now. Who knows how much damage he has already caused? But since the moon appeared on the sky right after, at least it seemed that Princesses were unharmed and able to perform their royal duties.

•••

All of the giraffes stared at the Tree of Harmony.

Accacia Sprout trotted closer to the tree and peered at its trunk, “I can’t believe it! It looks like it’s made out of crytsals, but I think it’s actually alive! How is that even possible? What do you think, madam?”

“Wait a second…” Sea Sail looked closely at tree’s branches. There were some sorts of gems in them, in all sorts of strange shapes. “This reminds me of something… look, there’s a balloon... and a butterfly… a lightning bolt, a gem and an apple. And in the middle…”

“Yes. A star,” interrupted Twilight. “Those are the Elements of harmony. We used to posses them, that’s why they look like our cutie marks.”

“Cutie marks? What the heck is that?” said Bluewave.”Wait, don’t tell me that’s how you ponies call your talent symbols, oh dear Necking, that’s so weird.”

“Talent symbol?” asked Rarity “Well, I have to admit that it does sound better. More… descriptive. Why do we even call them cutie marks anyway?”

“I like the name cutie mark more,” said Pinkie, starring at the three balloons on her flank.

“Well, of course you do,” muttered Bluewave.

„Keep it down, everyone!“ interrupted Twilight. „Let’s hope the Tree of Harmony will help us somehow. We don’t possess the Elements of Harmony anymore so it’s our only chance.“

“Yeah, we know, Twilight. Let’s get this over with,” answered Rainbow Dash and everybody walked close to the beautiful tree.

“So… what do we do now?” asked Fluttershy while they were all rather awkwardly starring at the tree waiting for something to happen.
Twilight touched the trunk of the tree, “I don’t know! Last time it helped as after we gave it back the Elements of Harmony!”

“Hey. Twilight, look!” shouted Rarity, “Your Element is glowing!”

Twilight immidiately looked right up above her. She could see the star shaped gem in the trunk was indeed shinning brightly. She pulled back her hoof and the gem stopped glowing. The tree and the Element in it had to sense her touch somehow.

“Okay, this may sound pretty strange, but I think we should all touch it.” she said afterward.

All six ponies gathered in front of the tree and placed their hooves on its trunk at once. Every gem in the branches started glowing with blinding brightness, The light got more and more intense, so everybody had to close their eyes. When they’ve opened them again, the gems were dim and right in front of the tree stood an elegant case.

“What?” asked Rainbow Dash. “This is getting old. You already gave us one chest, remember tree?”

“Yes, Rainbow, but this one looks even more dazzling than the one before!” commented on the aesthetics of the strange present Rarity.

In that moment, she noticed something else, “Wait, look, there aren’t six locks! There are eight!”

Rainbow Dash flew closer to take a look too, “Eight? But how is that even possible? There are six of us!”

“Maybe… maybe it’s not for us… but for them…” thought Twilight, pointing at the giraffes.

“But there are five of them! So why eight?” contradicted Rainbow.

“You are right… but whatever reason this tree gave us this chest for, it sure must be something important,” answered Twilight.

“Wait, wait, wait,” jumped Sea Sail into the conversation. “What’s with this chest? And what do you mean that it may be for us?”

“Well, there already was one chest like this one. We have found all the keys for it when we stayed true to our elements in hard times. The chest contained something that helped us when Equestria was in danger. Oh, and my castle’ve sprouted out of it.”

“Er… I... ” Sea Sail was just more and more confused.

“But there were six locks and six keys! Because there are six Elements of Harmony! So why does this one have eight locks? That doesn’t make any sense!” continued Twilight her monologue.

“Just don’t mind her for some time. When she’s like this, it usually takes her a while to snap out of it,” said Rainbow Dash to Sea Sail.

Twilight, however, surprised all of her friends when she just stopped, “Oh well, I think it will start making sense in the right time. Until then, this chest is all we have. And we have to find all the keys… somehow.”

“Well, at least something,” said Amber Spot. “I think we can manage to do that. But we better hurry. Ninki Nanka won’t just wait for us to find them!”

Twilight looked at the chest again. The last one was inside a flower, but this one was just standing on the floor. The Tree of Harmony probably wanted them to take it with them.

Amber Spot was the first giraffe near the chest. She picked it up and gave it to Sea Sail, who putted it in her saddlebacks immidiately.

“Whatever the future holds,” she then. “We at least have some… hope now.”

Author's Note

So... something up there didn't want me to publish this chapter. Just as it was done and waited only to finish the proofreading, I broke my ankle and ended up in the hospital for more than week. Anyway, I am home now and this story is taking a rather... interesting path. Princesses ~~chickened out~~ went to do a royal business (for now, at least). Oh and Zecora appeared. And she is a pain in the flank to write, I tell you.
Well, enjoy for now, bye.