The Adventures of a Tone-Deaf Pony

Chapters

Chapter 23: Opening Up
Chapter 24: At Long Last
Chapter 25: Coup D'etat
Chapter 26: Paradise
Chapter 27: Mightier Than the Sword
Chapter 28: Weh Pourehasti du Quri Surai...
Chapter 29: Realizations
Chapter 30: Thoughts, Messes, and Memories
Chapter 1: Supercell
Chapter 2: Lost
Chapter 4: Morning
Chapter 5: Discoveries
Chapter 6: Explanation and Evacuation
Chapter 7: Recovery
Chapter 8: Taken
Chapter 9: Food
Chapter 10: All-out
Chapter 11: Identity
Chapter 12: Music
Chapter 13: Crescendo
Chapter 14: Forte
Chapter 15: Decrescendo
Chapter 16: Aftermath
Chapter 18: On the Move Again
Chapter 19: Downhill
Chapter 20: Hero
Chapter 21: Signature
Chapter 22: Has'rou
Prologue
Chapter 3: Cam
Chapter 17: Counselling

Chapter 23: Opening Up

My voice caught in my throat, and I froze up. Slowly, I raised my head up and off of Tranquility’s chest, and found myself staring into her eyes once more. There was something different this time, though. All of the pain, hurt, and shock was still there, but the deadened, glassy look had vanished, replaced with a sharp and piercing stare. It was one laden with terrible, terrible pain, but it was an intelligent, aware stare all the same.

It meant she wasn’t unresponsive anymore...

And relief surged through me.

“Oh, thank Celestia,” I whispered, tightening my embrace around her to the point where she let out a pained grunt. I buried my face in her chest and started to sob again, this time from relief. I could feel her start to cry as well, her body shaking and her tears dripping onto my mane. We didn’t say anything else to each other for a while, and I don’t think we needed to. The comfort of just holding each other was enough.

Eventually, though, Tranquility broke the silence. “Y-you’re okay,” she whispered. “Is e-everyone else alive as w-well?”

“T-they are,” I answered, pulling my head away from her chest and starting to nuzzle her face and neck. “We’re a-all fine. C-cam pulled us into h-her box and a-away from that monster.”

“W-we’re safe?” Tranquility asked breathlessly.

“F-for now,” I answered, letting my head rest on her shoulder. She let out a shaky sigh and did the same, her wings extending and wrapping around me.

“Geisa Reah,” she murmured. “I… I don’t want to go through that again. I-I thought you d-died, and I thought it was my fault… and then the guilt and sadness consumed me. I-I was in a b-bad place, Fall. It did that to me without e-even trying… and it made me remember…” She trailed off, her throat closing up slightly, if her small gasps were any indication. “The o-only reason I’m back is b-because you s-started crying,” she whispered, her voice sounding strained. “It t-touched my soul and brought me back s-somehow.”

I nodded softly. “I’m just g-glad you’re back,” I whispered softly, tightening my hold on her.

We sat in silence for a little longer. My mind drifted off, and I started to reminisce on our situation. It seemed we’d truly fallen to our lowest. We’d made out of Has’rou, but now we were trapped in a small, pocket dimension of sorts. Our only method of escape would be to jump out of here, and then Ivy would start to chase us again, which would lead to our inevitable deaths… it wasn’t a pleasant thought, but it was reality.

I was brought out of my reverie by the sound of quiet sniffling. I felt a small trembling in Tranquility’s body, too. “You o-okay?” I asked.

“No,” she answered. I felt a hot tear drip onto my shoulder, and she let out a sigh. “I-it’s still on my m-mind… I t-tried to forget w-what it showed me. T-to have it b-brought up again… I’m s-sorry. I’m a g-gigantic mess.”

“N-no,” I protested. “You’re not a mess.” I paused for a moment before pulling my head off of my shoulder. “Do you w-want to talk about it?”

“About w-what?” she asked shakily.

“What the creature m-made you remembe-”

“NO!”

The sheer ferocity of her shout startled me, actually causing me to jerk away from her, even as she jumped away from me. Her eyes had gone wide with her burst of panic, and she had started to take deep, heaving breaths. Confusion blossomed through me. “What?” I asked dumbly.

“Just… just no,” Tranquility whispered, her breathing starting to slow. “I-I… Somepony k-knew what happened, and t-they did all they c-could to distance themselves f-from me and make my life a-as miserable as they c-could… I d-don’t want that to happen again…”

“Tranquility…” I said softly, moving closer to her. “Do you think I’d do that to you?”

She didn’t respond for a moment. “N-no,” she whispered. “But I’m s-scared anyway.”

“You d-don’t have to be,” I said. Before she could protest, I moved in and swept her into another embrace. “You can tell me anything, no matter what it is. Getting this off of your chest might help. I won’t think less of you for it… I promise.”

For a long while, she didn’t answer me, tucking her head below my chin and taking deep breaths. I waited patiently, not wanting to turn her away by saying anything else. I was curious, definitely curious, but if it was going to hurt her, then I didn’t want to know. Instead, I started to run my hooves up and down her back and sides, trying to calm her down even more. It seemed to work, with her moving her wings out of my way so I could. After a while of sitting in that silence, she took a deep, shaky breath.

“I-I never knew m-my father,” she began, her voice soft enough that I could barely hear it. I could tell she was barely suppressing tears, though, and I tightened my hold on her.“I w-was told that when h-he found out I was on the way, h-he fled into the night, not wanting to d-deal with the stress and financial strain I w-would bring. I don’t r-resent him for it. I’m sure he w-was a nice stallion, otherwise, my mother w-wouldn’t have gotten with him.

“I-I know that’s true b-because I knew my mom. She w-was the best p-parent I could have asked for, always looking out f-for me, doing everything s-she could to protect and shelter me from the terrible world w-we lived in. When I look b-back at old photos, I can see m-myself in her… and I’m glad that I do. S-she was an a-amazing pony…” she trailed off, letting out a sigh.

“What did you mean by ‘the terrible world’ you lived in?” I asked softly. I had a bad feeling about what this was leading up do, but I didn’t show it.

“Canterlot,” she answered, a shudder running through her body. “I-it was t-the worst p-place I could h-have been born, the w-worst place a pony like m-me can live. It’s so m-much more anti-thestral than y-you know, Fall… so much worse…” she trailed off again, starting to take deep breaths once more. I felt a few tears soaking into the crook of my neck, and the trepidation I’d been feeling intensified. “B-but in a way, I w-was lucky,” she said eventually. “My mother was in p-poverty when I was born.

“I-I know that sounds bad, and i-in some ways, it was. I-I remember many, m-many nights when we d-didn’t have enough to eat and m-my mother would give me h-her food, and we shared a s-small, one story b-building with a family o-of gryphons, down i-in the slums of the c-city. Mom and I s-shared a worn-out mattress, too, and we only had o-one blanket, even on the cold nights. I r-remember that s-sometimes, I would w-wake up crying because my wings h-had gotten cold… My m-mother also h-had to work incredibly l-long shifts at a local h-hospital just to support us. When I p-put it like that, i-it sounds absolutely terrible, b-but there was one thing that m-made up for all of it.

“We were accepted. T-the slums w-were the friendliest place i-in Canterlot, with ponies, gryphons, z-zebras, minotaurs, and diamond d-dogs living together i-in harmony. I h-had a small group o-of friends, a-and even though w-we didn’t have toys to play with, w-we still had so m-much fun together. We all w-would band together i-in times of crisis, too. Once, I r-remember that a s-stallion got really, r-really sick. I k-kid you not, everyone b-bound together and g-gave a portion of t-their money to g-get him help from a b-better hospital than the l-local one, and because of that, he survived. I-it was a-amazing, and a place I’m p-proud to have o-once called my home.”

“Wow,” I whispered. It was all I could say. The way Tranquility described that place, one which I’d always assumed to be dirty, grimy, filled with crime, and generally terrible, made me feel like I should live there. I felt bad that she’d been in such a bad spot, but strangely, I didn’t think I needed to. It was rather perplexing. “W-what changed?”

“We moved,” she whispered, sharp, terrible hurt in her voice. Instantly, a feeling of dread spread over me. “D-during an inspection from the government at my m-mother’s hospital, s-she did something impressive enough to earn an offer t-to go to a much, much better o-one. H-her paycheck got a h-huge boost with it, t-too. She accepted, a-and after a year or so, a few d-days after I turned four, she said s-she had s-saved up enough money to b-buy a house i-in the upper l-levels of the city. I-In fact, it was o-one level below yours.”

“S-so you got out of poverty?” I asked.

“W-we did…” she said, trailing off. “But I wish we d-didn’t.”

I was afraid to ask. In fact, I was positively terrified, scared of what I could learn, but I had to. “Why?” I whispered.

She didn’t answer right away, tensing up. I started to rub her back again, the trepidation in my soul rising. The tension didn’t leave her body, but she did start to take deep breaths. “Because t-then my mother w-would still be alive.”

I froze, my eyes going wide. I knew that Tranquility’s mom was no longer with us, of course, but I didn’t know that it was affecting Tranquility so much. “W-what happened?” I asked softly, fear prominent in my voice.

“I-I said goodbye to m-my friends in the slums, s-saying I would visit them… and w-we made the move,” she began softly. My shoulder and neck started to get more and more wet, her tears coming more frequently. “I-it was a beautiful t-two story house. I-I even got my own r-room! I-I spent the whole f-first day exploring, l-laughing and p-prancing around, h-happier than I’d ever been before i-in my life. It was b-barren, it was clean, and it w-was better. I-I spent the second day w-walking around the area w-with my mother, exploring… b-but on the third d-day, I r-realized something.

“T-the third day was when I t-tried to make f-friends with o-our neighbors. I-I don’t remember m-much, but I do r-remember something that s-summed up the whole e-experience. I-I said hi to t-the c-colt across t-the street, and h-he turned his s-snout up at me and w-walked away, disgust practically oozing f-from his body. N-nobody was friendly, l-like they were in the s-slums… and that was c-crushing. I-I complained to m-my mother a-about it, a-and she said thing w-would get b-better. It s-stressed me o-out enough that m-mom insisted I take a nap, and a-as I result, I went to bed a-at dusk. T-that n-night…” she trailed off, starting to tremble. A high-pitched whine built up in her throat. “T-that night-” She broke off, starting to cry again.

Concern and a little panic welled up in me, and I tightened my hold on her. “T-take as much time as y-you need-” I began, but was cut off abruptly.

“That night, s-someone SET O-OUR HOUSE ON FIRE!” she screamed.

Instantly, my entire thought process ground to a halt, replaced by one emotion- horror. I didn’t want to believe it, but Tranquility’s broken sobs booked no argument. She was telling the truth.

The horrible, horrible truth.

I didn’t want to believe that the ponies of Canterlot, the ponies I’d been born among and raised by, could do something so horrendous, but in my heart, I knew it was true. I’d seen how Tranquility was treated in school. She was shunted aside, bullied and teased, and thrown out of all of the social circles there just because she sounded like a thestral. It was just an extension of that hatred that would lead something like that, especially if she had just moved out of the slums.

But she didn’t stop there.

Her breathing started to increase to the point where she was hyperventilating, and her trembling also increased. A spike of worry drove itself into my mind, and I started to worry she was having a panic attack.

Then, she started to speak.

“I-I woke up a-and my r-room was filled w-with smoke,” she said breathlessly through her tears, her eyes glazing over. I realized with a start that she was remembering it, and I started to nuzzle her frantically, trying to reach her. “I started s-scream for m-mom, running to m-my door. I-I fumbled w-with the doorknob f-for a few seconds, m-my hooves slippery w-with sweat. I-I opened the door j-just in time to s-see my m-mother collapse o-onto the floor, u-unconscious.

“I-I ran over t-to her, screaming ‘Mama! Mama, get up!’ but she d-didn’t move. I-I climbed o-onto her back, s-shaking her, p-poking her, screaming f-for h-her to get u-up until m-my voice b-broke and I s-started coughing u-up blood, b-but it didn’t w-work. I-I w-was short enough that I w-was below the s-smoke line. A-all that meant w-was that I was a-awake to see w-what h-happened when t-the flames reached u-us.

“T-the first t-thing to go w-was her tail. It went u-up in orange, s-sooty flames a-as an acrid smell filled the a-air. T-that s-set her c-coat ablaze, and I w-watched as that burned away, b-blackening the s-skin and f-flesh beneath it. I started to scream m-more, d-despite my d-damaged throat, crying f-for help, s-someone, a-anyone to s-save us, b-but no one c-came. T-then the b-bulk of the f-flames were u-upon us…

“I-I watched as m-my mother’s flesh b-began to f-flake off, b-burning down to t-the bone. Her l-legs became skeletal. H-her wings b-burned away… and I-I couldn’t d-do anything b-but scream, a-and then the e-embers f-from the fire s-started to fly through t-the air… t-they landed on m-my wings, b-burning through the l-leather, and m-my screams b-became ones o-of agony. I-it w-was then that the f-firefighters s-showed up. T-they h-had to p-pry me off o-of my mother’s b-burning corpse. B-but the shock a-and pain w-was too much for m-me, and I p-passed out. T-the last thing I-I remember f-from that n-night w-was m-my mother’s eyelid’s b-burning off, revealing a dead, l-lifeless stare, before her eyes m-melted out of t-the sockets.

“I-I woke up i-in the hospital, c-covered in b-bandages and i-in s-searing agony. T-the doctors h-had performed a h-half-flanked healing s-spell on me, leaving me w-with d-discolored white p-patches on the leather of my w-wings where t-the embers had b-burned through them. T-there was a n-newspaper o-on my bed, probably l-left b-by a careless d-doctor. O-on the front p-page w-was a picture of my b-burning house, a-and written in the a-air above it in g-glowing, fiery letters was o-one w-word: batshit.

“A-after I had h-healed up, t-they sent me to a-an orphanage. I d-don’t remember the n-name, and I d-don’t want to. The mare w-who ran the p-place absolutely h-hated me, and I t-think it was b-because I was a thestral. S-she didn’t w-withhold dinner from the o-others on a whim, a-after all. W-when I r-reached out to her a-about what happened… she t-told m-me to s-shut up, t-that the d-death of m-my mother didn’t m-matter. L-luckily, I got o-out of there, a-and m-my adoptive parents u-understood… but I still remember… I remember every second of it!” She paused for a moment before her eyes widened slightly, and she broke down, pressing her face into my chest and starting to sob.

I barely registered it, my jaw having gone slack. In a subconscious way, I understood what had just happened. It was like floodgates opening- when the memory started to leave her lips, it didn’t stop until it was all out, and when what she had said caught up to her, it was overwhelming.

That was shoved to the back of my mind. All I could think about was the horror of what she had to go through.

It seemed like something straight out of my worst nightmares, something to tell as a scary story around a campfire, but it was real. It actually happened, and it happened to the pony I held closest to my heart! It was like a splash of cold water, washing away the shock of what I had just heard and replacing it with concern and horror. I closed my mouth, swallowing dryly. I couldn’t believe she hadn’t told me before or seeked out help. The memory had been torturing her for years, longer than I’d actually known her, and it had all come to a head in a brutal, crushing way. She was left in broken pieces, her soul having been shattered by the monster of Has’rou, and she didn’t know how to go on.

So, I made a promise.

I promised to help her heal. I promised to be there for her if these terrible, terrible memories resurfaced again. And I promised to try to heal the trauma caused by those terrible experiences, no matter what it took. It seemed like the right thing to do, and I somehow knew that I would definitely keep that promise.

I was brought out of my reverie when Tranquility pulled her head off of my chest, sniffling. When I made eye contact with her, she flinched away, dropping her gaze to the ground. To my surprise, she let out a soft, despondent sigh. “I-I’ll go now…” she mumbled.

“What?” I asked reflexively, my eyes widening.

“N-now that you know a-about that, d-don’t you want to get a-as far away from m-me as possible?” she asked, fresh tears springing to her eyes. “T-the other pony w-who knows did, a-and I don’t blame t-them. I’m a m-mess! A scarred, t-traumatized mess! S-someone who’d easily be l-locked up in a m-mental ward if they w-weren’t so good at concealing w-what they held inside! A-and now that y-you’ve heard what h-happened…” She closed her eyes, an agonized grimace spreading across her face. “Y-you’ll turn m-me away, and y-you have every reason to. I-I’m one of the messed-up ones, and someone l-like you doesn’t deserve to b-be around or be friends w-with me. Y-you’re too… too g-good, and I’m a screwed-up, w-worthless-”

What I did next was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.

I wasn’t sure exactly why I did it. Maybe it was because my emotions were frayed, and I couldn’t take it anymore. Maybe I did it simply to get it over with, and just chose the worst time possible to do it. Maybe there was no reason. I think, however, that the most plausible theory was that I couldn’t stand Tranquility saying those things about herself, tearing herself down and ending up in an even worse spot than before, and I wanted to show that it wasn’t true in the most direct way possible. It doesn’t matter, because in the end, I still did it.

In the middle of her self-deprecating rant…

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, leaned forward, and firmly planted my lips upon hers.

Author's Note

INSIDE THE AUTHOR'S HEAD:

"Sir!"

"What is it, Rational Thought?"

"Are you sure that was wise, hitting them with the backstory and the kiss in the same chapter? The readers are all staring at their screens in shock!"

"Of course it was wise! I've had this idea in my head since before this story was formulated, before Cam was even a passing thought, and before Fall and Tranquility even had names! I've known exactly how this scene was going to play out for ages, and I'm not going to change anything about it!

"But is that wise-"

"It's wise, damn you!"

"Heart, you don't always make the best choices..."

"Screw it. We're going with this, and that's final."

"..."

"..."

"Sir?"

"Yes?"

"The comments section just exploded."

"Oh, this should be entertaining..."

I suppose I should explain how this backstory came to be. The original idea emerged from listening to this song on repeat:

After listening to it a few times, I thought "What if the word batshit was a racial slur towards thestrals?" and my mind took it from there. The mental first draft was completed back in early October, and I sat on it for a while.

Eventually, though, I thought "I need to tell a story about this" and boom, the first inklings of The Adventures of a Tone-Deaf Pony were planted in my mind. I continued to develop it, and eventually, I sat down, wrote out the prologue, and posted it.

In a way, this entire story was written around this one moment.

Does that mean I'm stopping? Oh hell no! This has evolved so much in my head that I can't bear the thought of not completing it. We're going on a ride, and it's gonna be a long time before that ride stops.

But, since I hit this point in the story and we're just a few chapters away from the end of story arc 1, I would like to take a moment to thank each and every one of you for sticking with me over seventy-thousand words, three months, and a whole collection of highs and lows. It means so much to me to wake up and see that this story got another like, or another comment, or even another view! Every time I see that notification bell with red on top of it, my heart soars. So thank you. Thank you all so much.

Thestral Language Guide

~Pyrepinna

Also, could you tell me how well I pulled this off?
And do I need to change this story's rating to mature because of this?
Thanks!
Bye now!

Chapter 24: At Long Last

Tranquility squeaked, her tirade breaking off abruptly, and froze up, sending a thrill of fear and excitement coursing through me, adrenaline making my heart rate skyrocket. I couldn’t see, but I’m fairly sure her eyes shot open in surprise. Inwardly, I cursed myself for being an impulsive fool, sure that I had just blown any chance I had with that sudden move. Oh well… there’s no going back now, I thought. So, I didn’t pull away.

Tranquility didn’t either, keeping her lips firmly pressed against mine. I’m not sure why she didn’t break the kiss off as soon as it again. A part of me liked to imagine it was because she felt the same way as me, but my more rational side knew it was probably due to shock. Still, it gave me more time to hold it, to truly push my message across.

I registered every sensation from that little moment, and I felt something instinctual start to stir inside of me, a small, pitiful fire of sorts, one that spread a pleasant, warm sensation throughout my body and urged me to go further, push more, take more from this moment. I resisted that urge, but it didn’t stop the satisfying warmth from permeating every inch of my body. I realized I didn’t want that to end, that I wanted to feel that for the rest of my life.

I’d kissed a few mares before, and once, a stallion, but I’d never felt this rush of pure euphoria before. It made me realize that, despite all that we’d gone through in the past few hours, despite the terrible things that Tranquility had told me, that kiss was right, and even if things didn’t work out afterward, I would have that comfort.

Unfortunately, all good things have to end, and that remained true for that moment. Eventually, I pulled away and opened my eyes, despite my heart screaming that I shouldn’t. Tranquility’s jaw went a little slack as soon as I did, her mouth forming a small, cute ‘o’ shape. A rosy blush had spread over most of her face, and her eyes had gone wide with confusion and shock. After a little bit of time, with the both of us sitting in silence and trepidation building inside of me, she closed her mouth and swallowed nervously. “Fall?” she whispered. “W-what was-”

In my second impulsive maneuver of the day, I lunged forward and wrapped my hooves around her, pressing my head into her chest. “Don’t,” I murmured. “Don’t ever say t-those things about yourself. Y-you’re amazing, and you mean so much more t-to me than you know…” Opting not to say anything more, I closed my eyes and waited for her response, nervousness building in me once more.

She didn’t respond for a while, and my agitation increased. I screwed it up! I thought frantically, feeling my heart rate increase even more.

Eventually, she let out a soft sigh. “How long?” she asked, her voice a soft murmur.

“What?” I asked.

“How long have you felt this way about me?” she clarified. “I-I want to know.”

I raised my head off of her chest and looked into her eyes. There was no hurt and no anger, just curiousity, confusion, and something else. “Um… ever since I found out you were a thestral,” I answered sheepishly. “You were in a bad spot that d-day, when I walked into your room while you were undisguised, but once I convinced you that I wasn’t going to stop being your friend and that there was nothing wrong with being a thestral, you became so much more animated, and you became so happy. Seeing that, when added on top of how nice, understanding, and helpful you were, made me realize something. You were beautiful to me, in mind, body, and spirit. I wanted to be with you as more than a friend. Those feelings never faded, strengthening, in fact… and here we are now.”

“You’re kidding me,” Tranquility whispered, shocked. “You’re saying that you’ve had a crush on me for over a decade?!”

“Yes?” I answered tentatively, a sheepish grin spreading over my face.

She let out an exasperated, amused sigh. “Paraituswa feirote, Fall,” she muttered softly. “Why didn’t you just ask me out?”

“I was afraid you’d say no,” I admitted softly.

“You-” she began, cutting herself off and taking a deep breath. “So what gave you the courage now?”

“I… don’t honestly know,” I answered, rubbing the back of my head with my hoof. “I think it’s because you were sending yourself down a horrible path, and I wanted to stop it and show you it wasn’t true, and I tried to do it in the most direct way possible.” I paused, looking into her eyes. “Did it work?”

A burst of hurt flashed into her eyes, and she sighed. “Yes and no,” she answered. “Alohaidurast…”

“I’ll help you fix that,” I said, remembering her explanation of the term. “I’ll help you with your memories, too. You don’t have to bear that burden alone. Together, we’ll get through this.”

“I… okay,” she answered softly, giving me a sad smile. I pulled her into another hug, and we stayed like that for a while, basking in the comfort of each other’s warmth.

Once again, trepidation began to cloud my mind, and I tucked my head underneath her chin. S-she didn’t say anything about getting into a relationship! I thought. I kissed her and told her that I liked her that way. She knows, so why didn’t she say anything? What if she doesn’t want to be with me? What if I-

“Fall?”

My train of thought was abruptly derailed by that statement. I slipped my head out from under hers and stared into her eyes. “Yeah?” I asked.

“You’re a terrible kisser,” she said, a wry smile playing at her lips.

Instantly, a blush of shame spread across my face, and I dropped my gaze to the floor, feeling hurt, guilt, and apologeticness well up in me at the same time. “O-oh,” I mumbled, feeling like I was about to cry. I bungled it… “I’m sorry… I-I guess I’ll-”

In the next instant, she shoved me backwards onto the floor, fell down onto my chest, and locked her lips with mine, closing her eyes and humming softly.

My eyes shot open in shock, and most of my conscious brain functions shut off in a glorious blaze of mental fireworks and confetti. The pleasant warmth that I’d felt earlier flared into a full-on bonfire, an elating burn blazing through my every nerve. I could barely comprehend that Tranquility, my long-time love interest, was actually kissing me. A burst of pure joy ran through me, and I closed my eyes, letting the bliss run through me.

After a few moments, I became aware of the small, subtle motions she was making with her lips and began to reciprocate them, eliciting a hum of approval. I lifted my hooves off the floor and wrapped them around her. I felt shivers run through her body, ones which I assumed to be shivers of excitement.

While this was going on, I felt something awaken, something brought to life by this clear return of my feelings. It seemed to take the shape of a mighty beast, unable to be controlled by any force known to pony. It roared in delight at our actions, rearing up onto its hind legs and clawing at the air. It wasn’t love, per say. It was more of a beginning, something that would mature and grow into love if given time to do so, getting stronger through tough experiences. It wouldn’t go down without a fight, and it would last as long as it could.

And I would nourish it to the best of my ability.

After a few more moments, Tranquility pulled away from me, a bright, beautiful smile adorning her face. Meanwhile, I had a big, dopey grin on my face, my head seemingly stuffed with clouds. “You just need some practice,” she whispered, gently nuzzling my cheek. “Practice that I’m so willing to be a part of.”

“Uh-huh,” I murmured dumbly, my grin spreading to be a little wider. My mind was still a bit fuzzy from the kiss, but I understood that statement quite clearly. Tranquility was saying yes to my unspoken request. She wanted to be with me… and just like that, I became the happiest stallion in the multiverse.

Tranquility let out a soft giggle, covering her mouth with her hoof. “You look surprisingly adorable with that blush on your face,” she commented, amused.

I was about to respond when my ears shattered.

“EEEEEEEEEEEE!”

The squeal started us, with Tranquility jumping off of me, flaring her wings out to the side and baring her teeth while I rolled over and onto my stomach, looking around frantically, any traces of fuzziness gone. I saw that Cam and Reed had returned, standing at the end of the corridor we were in. Reed was carrying Cam, a small smirk on his face. He flashed me a smug, congratulatory smile, as if to say good job, and I felt my cheeks heat up slightly.

Cam, on the other hoof, had tear tracks running down her face and had a slight tremble running through her paws, evidence that she’d been crying extensively, much like we had been, but those tears were nowhere to be seen, a massive smile having taken up residence on her face.

“And I thought that only thestral foals could make that noise,” Tranquility grumbled, folding her wings back to her sides. “Sweet Celestia, that was painful.”

“Did you guys actually do it?!” Cam gasped, scrambling down from Reed’s arms. “Are you two a thing now?!”

“Yes?” I answered tentatively, a nervous grin spreading over my face.

“YES!” she shrieked, jumping up into the air. “I’ve been waiting for so long! Did you two kiss? Please tell me you kissed!”

“We did,” Tranquility said, a small blush taking up residence on her cheeks. “Twice, actually.”

Cam let out a high pitched scream of joy. “THIS IS THE BEST POSSIBLE THING!” she yelled.

“If you say so,” I murmured, embarrassment rising up in me. Tranquility walked to my side and lay down, draping her wing over my side.

“Okay, calm down,” Reed said, stepping forward and scooping her up again. “I know this is exciting, but we’ve got bigger problems to worry about. We’re still stuck.”

Instantly, the smile on Cam’s face vanished. “Wow,” she mumbled. “Just kill all the fun, why don’t you.”

“Fun doesn’t matter right now,” Reed said sadly. “We need to figure out a way to get out of here and away from Has’rou.”

I nodded softly, a bit of frustration welling up in my gut. Despite the monumental event that had just occurred, we still had to worry about getting out of here with our sanity. It was a depressing reminder that we weren’t out of the woods just yet.

“Well, there’s the obvious solution.” Tranquility said softly, pressing against my side. “Warp out of this little pocket dimension and leave anything outside behind. It’d be the safest option-”

“Not a chance,” Cam interrupted. “I’m not leaving the box behind. It’s the only entrance to this area that I know of, and it carries too many memories to just ditch.”

“What’s your suggestion?” Reed asked softly. “Because if you don’t have a replacement plan, we may have to go with that one.”

Cam nodded softly, a grimace crossing her face. “I know… let me think for a moment.”

“Take all the time you need,” I said softly.

Reed set her down and walked over to us, leaving her to contemplate. He leaned on the shelves and smiled slightly. “So, who made the first move?” he whispered, sending more embarrassment running through me.

“Him,” Tranquility answered. “Came right out of the blue and kissed me, no warning at all.”

“Oh,” Reed said, rolling his eyes with a smile on his face. “One of those romances.”

“I actually rather liked it,” Tranquility said. “It was straight, to the point, and heartfelt. It also had the welcome side effect of distracting me completely, taking my mind off the horrible memories that the monster made me remember.”

“I’m not saying it’s a bad thing,” Reed quickly defended. “I’m saying that it’s a bit cliché. It sounds a bit like the beginning of a trashy romance novel, to be honest.”

“Look how much I care,” Tranquility deadpanned, a playful glint in her eyes.

Before Reed could answer, Cam let out a sharp gasp. “I’ve got it!” she yelled. “I’ll flash that creature! And there might be banging involved!” Before we could even react to that phrasing, several jars and a big bowl floated down from the shelves around us, with leaves, powders, and a few liquids floating towards her from other shelves throughout the area.

Reed facepalmed, a grimace spreading across his face. “Tell me that just sounded bad and she doesn’t mean what I just heard…” he mumbled.

“She doesn’t,” Tranquility said.

“Hopefully,” I mumbled.

“This is a terrible idea,” Cam mumbled, upending a jar of bluish-white powder into the bowl, sending a thrill of fear through me. “A flash-bang of this size… let’s say that if we aren’t inside the box when it goes off, we won’t be seeing or hearing anything for days.”

“Oh, thank the Void,” Reed said, sighing in relief. “Why a flash-bang?”

“Blind the eye and escape before the creature regains its senses,” Cam explained. “Basically, create a rift and shove the box through. It might not work. We don’t know anything about it, after all. But it’s worth a shot, right? And if it doesn’t work, at least it’ll piss that thing off.”

“Because we want to make the creature who’s out to keep us in a state of perpetual depression mad,” Tranquility snarked.

“Yeah, I do,” Cam said, upending a jar filled with orangish-pink liquid into the bowl. “I think it’d be funny to make it angry. Payback for what it did to you, y’know?”

“I don’t thi-” Tranquility began softly, raising a hoof in protest, before Cam cut her off.

“We’re doing it and that’s that,” she said, going back to mixing ingredients.

Tranquility froze, her mouth hanging open, before sighing and lowering her hoof. “I don’t understand why she has such selective hearing at times,” she muttered softly.

“Stress,” Reed suggested. “We’ve been through a lot in the past few hours. Perhaps she’s simply looking for an outlet.”

“I’d prefer it if that outlet wasn’t one that could possibly get us killed,” she groused, leaning against me. I nodded in agreement and nuzzled her.

For the next thirty minutes, the three of us watched Cam work. It was rather fascinating, actually, the way she methodically put together the flash-bang. She seemed to lose herself in her work, her posture straightening and the faint trembles left over from her meltdown vanishing. I recognized it as a method of coping, a way in which she could vent her emotions out of her mind. She was putting her heart into the project, and in the process, stabilizing her soul.

I could tell she was enjoying it, too. Even as she was mixing the ingredients together, an arguably tedious and mundane task, a small smile graced her face. I realized that a significant part of her passions lay with her experiments and concoctions, and I made a resolution to let her spend time on those things if we ever got out of this mess.

The process in which the bomb was created was interesting as well. Cam spent the first ten minutes or so mixing together the various substances she’d summoned. That part was rather uninteresting, but it quickly got better. After that, she lifted the liquid mixture into the air with her magic, morphing it into a rectangular shape. Her paws flashed brightly, and the outside of the liquid hardened into a solid shell. She then cracked it, letting the liquid inside spill back into the bowl she had used to combine the ingredients. The shell stayed in the air, though. She used her magic to grind up the solid mixture into a fine powder, which she sprinkled into the bowl. She then repeated the process for about fifteen minutes. Each time, the liquid became more and more chunky and solid.

Eventually, she used her magic to separate the liquid and the sizable amount of powder she had created. She formed the dust into a circular shape and levitated a small length of string towards it, sticking one end inside. After that, she levitated the liquid around the dust and hardened it into a shell, leaving some of the string poking out.

“Ta-da!” she cheered. “Finished!”

“Wow,” Reed said, walking over and gingerly plucking the sphere out of the air. “If this works, it’ll be amazing.”

“It will,” Cam said confidently. “I’ve got the formula for flash-bangs down.”

“Have you ever considered doing something in chemistry or alchemy?” Reed asked softly. “You seem to have a talent for it.”

“I’m too young to be thinking about that stuff,” she said dismissively. “I’m only seven… but that might be a good idea.”

“It might,” I acknowledged.

“But now’s not the time for discussions about my future,” she said, enthusiasm springing into her voice. “Now’s the time for chucking explosives at dangerous foes.”

“Of course,” Tranquility said, rolling her eyes and folding her ears back against her head.

“Is there a problem?” Cam asked.

“I’m just afraid,” she said softly. “What you’re about to do could provoke that creature to be even more hostile than it already is. I’ve been through what it does… and I don’t want it to happen again, much less to you.”

“Oh,” she said, her enthusiasm wilting somewhat.

“If I recall, I said something similar earlier,” Tranquility remarked.

“But I was in the zone then,” Cam protested. “I was focused on the task at hand, and you couldn’t really reach me.”

“It doesn’t matter now,” Reed said. “The question is whether or not we go through with the plan.”

“I still wanna do it,” Cam quickly said, prompting an exasperated sigh from Tranquility. “I just made the thing. Why let it go to waste? And isn’t it best to explore all options before going to a last resort?”

“But the last resort is the safest option,” Tranquility protested. “I don’t think you understand-”

“Where’s the fun in taking the safest route?” Cam asked softly, a playful smile spreading across her lips.

Shutting her eyes, Tranquility took a deep breath and let it out slowly, a grimace taking up residence on her face. “I suppose if you’re so fixated on doing this stupidity, I can’t stop you,” she whispered. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Reed stepped up next to her and placed a paw on her back. “How about I do it?” he suggested softly.

Instantly, the argument ground to a halt. Tranquility’s eyes shot open in shock, and mine widened slightly. He was suggesting putting his life on the line to follow through with Cam’s idea, while keeping her out of danger! It was a move that I would expect a parent to pull, but certainly not Reed.

“Why?” Tranquility asked.

“It keeps Cam out of harm’s way,” he said. “I’ve also got more fighting experience than her.” He leaned closer to us, his voice lowering to a whisper. “And it’ll help placate my soul.” Without any explanation for that remark, he stood upright and directed his gaze towards Cam. “Could I please have the explosive?”

“What?” she gasped. “But I-”

“Don’t want to end up in the same state that I was in,” Tranquility interrupted sternly. “Cam, you don’t understand exactly how bad that was. I know you think you know everything, but you only got a taste of what that thing can do. This is a time where you need to defer to what the adults think is best.”

Cam leveled a glare at her, which she returned with equal force. The two stared at each other in tense silence for a few seconds before Cam broke their eye contact. “Fine…” she muttered, dropping her gaze to the floor and levitating the bomb towards Reed.

“That’s all I asked for,” Tranquility said soothingly, extending a wing and sweeping her into a tight embrace. She didn’t respond, though, continuing to glare at the floor. Tranquility’s face morphed into one of concern.

I nuzzled her head, subtly planting a kiss on her cheek. “She’s just disappointed,” I whispered, a blush becoming visible on both of our faces. “You did the right thing.”

“I know,” she whispered back. “But I really don’t like seeing her like this, for some reason.”

Before I could respond, Reed sat down next to us. “How does this work?” he asked, holding the flash-bang out in front of him.

“Light the fuse,” Cam grumbled. “I’ve treated it with a spell that’ll make it burn with no visible flame. You’ll have five seconds to throw it before it explodes.”

“Thanks,” he said. “And how do I get out of here?”

She flashed out a paw, and a wooden archway appeared in the corridor. It had a swirling, borderline black void in its center. “Door’s right there,” she mumbled. “Walk out or toss it through, I don’t care.”

“Okay,” Reed said. “Thanks again… and I’m sorry that you can’t do this.” When she didn’t respond, he sighed and stood up. “Fall, Tranquility, I’d suggest getting away from the archway, just in case something goes wrong.”

“We will,” Tranquility said, wrapping a hoof around Cam and standing up. I climbed to my hooves as well, and we walked about twenty feet away from the portal. With every step I took, a sense of trepidation began to build in my heart. We had no idea if this would work, and it could very well get us killed, or worse, thrown into that catatonic, depressed state. So, when Reed stepped up the portal and sparked the fuse with his magic, a thrill of fear ran through me, and I pressed up against Tranquility.

Reed lobbed the flash-bang through the archway and immediately spun around, crouching down, closing his eyes, and covering his ears. I could almost hear a soft voice, seemingly saying One… Two… Three… When the count reached five, the archway flashed a brilliant, blinding white, and a muffled crack echoed through the dimension. I fancied I could feel the floor shift slightly as the force of the explosion washed over the box.

Cam let out a soft cheer as Reed straightened back up and poked his head through the archway. “It worked-” she crowed, but was cut short as Reed jerked back into view with a sharp gasp.

“By the Void!” he yelled, his jaw going slightly slack.

“What happened?!” Tranquility shouted, tensing up.

Reed opened his mouth as if he was going to respond, but words failed him. He stuttered for a few seconds before pointing at the archway shakily.

Curiosity got the better of me, and despite a startled protest from Tranquility, I sprinted towards the doorway. Before Reed could tell me not to, I shoved my head through, wanting to see what had shocked him so badly.

I saw pandemonium.

The creatures who were previously frozen were now scrambling around, shrieking, howling, screeching, and generally panicking as the massive eye tried to restore order, freezing them one by one. A group of Wolves were the recipients of this treatment at that moment, Wolves who I assumed to be the group of Warriors that Reed had told me about. They were trying to open a rift, but the monster wasn’t letting them, their frantic howls being silenced one by one as they were sent back into the state they had been in before. My mouth dropped open, the sheer chaos stunning me.

Strangely, the only creature who hadn’t moved an inch from where it stood before was the solitary Mage, Jasmine, who appeared to still be frozen.

Before I could register any more, I felt a strong yank on my tail, and I was pulled back inside the box, just in time to see Reed flash his arm through the portal and make a slashing motion. The walls, ceiling and floor of the room began shift and warp strangely, seemingly changing shape like something I would see in a funhouse mirror. A second later, a sharp, focused blow collided with the top of my head, causing me to yelp.

“Dae keihohro!” Tranquility screamed, sweeping me up in a tight embrace. “Don’t ever do something like that again!”

“No promises,” I muttered, rubbing my head and wincing.

“What happened?!” Cam yelled, scrambling up to us.

“Your flash-bang worked,” Reed said, sitting down heavily. “Not in the way you expected, though. I think the sudden sensory overload shocked the majority of those poor creatures out of their state, and the monster was so focused on re-freezing them that it couldn’t spare a thought towards us.”

“So we made it out?” she whispered, her eyes widening.

“Yes,” he said, making Cam let out a happy shriek. “I opened a rift and managed to push the box through. We did something no one else has ever done before: get out of Has’rou.”

“I knew it would work!” she shouted happily, a beaming grin on her face. “We kicked monster tushie!”

“Not really,” I muttered, but she didn’t hear me.

“Reed,” Tranquility said softly. “You said that the majority of the creatures woke up. Which ones didn’t?”

A shadow seemed to pass over his face, and he let out a sigh. “Just one,” he mumbled. “Jasmine.”

That dark, sad remark sorta killed the conversation.

After a few more seconds, the shifting in the walls and floor vanished. Reed silently stood up and poked his head through the archway. When he pulled it back through, he sighed in relief. “We made it,” he said. “We’re actually safe.” Without saying anything more, he stepped through the archway. Cam, Tranquility, and I followed a second after.

The first glimpse I got of this new dimension took my breath away. We appeared to be inside of something similar to the aurora borealis, with the entire landscape, including the air, being made of tiny, bright strands of light. When I stepped out of the box, the strands that seemed to make up the floor bent, but held my weight. A sense of wonder overtook me, and I sat down, taking in the beauty and surreal wonder of the world.

“Welcome to Quaa’st,” Reed said, smiling softly.

“It’s beautiful,” Tranquility whispered, sitting beside me.

“Yeah-” Cam began, but she was interrupted by something that sent a thrill of terrible, heart-wrenching terror through me.

A warping, twisting sound. The sound of a dimensional rift.

A black seam opened in the air behind Reed, but instead of seeing Ivy gracefully step out, a Mage dressed in a worn, black cloak tumbled out of it, collapsing into a heap on the ground. Cam scrambled in front of us, raising a shield, while Reed planted his feet in a defensive stance, but the Mage didn’t react. A few seconds later, he frowned, and his paw glowed softly. A barely visible aura swept over the Mage’s body, and a second later, his eyes widened in shock. “Oh my goodness!” he gasped. He lunged forward, falling onto his knees, and wrapped his arms around the Mage’s barrel, flipping her over.

I saw thick, matted tear streaks along the Mage’s face, and wide, tortured eyes. The bottom dropped out of my stomach, and Tranquility let out a soft gasp.

“It’s Jasmine!” Reed shouted, frantically looking back towards us. “Cam, get me some water, now!”

Cam shoved her paw inside her box instead of responding, withdrawing a ceramic jar and tossing it to him. His paw glowed once more, and he waved it over the pot. Immediately afterward, he popped off the top and upended it over Jasmine’s face, spilling the water all over her head.

Her body spasmed violently as she started to cough and splutter, flinging the water everywhere. I felt a few drops land on me, the wet patches chilling my skin through my fur. I felt Tranquility shiver next to me, and Cam let out a gasp. Reed, however, didn’t flinch, holding onto her body with worry in his eyes. After a few seconds, her coughing died down, and she let out a pained groan. “Ugh…” she grumbled softly, her voice hoarse. “That was really cold. Whoever did that s-sucks.”

“I may suck, but at least you’re out of that terrible state,” Reed responded, his voice a soft, soothing drawl.

Instantly, Jasmine’s eyes shot open, and she stared up into his eyes with a look of surprise. “Reed?” she whispered. “Is that you?” When he responded with a nod, she giggled. “You look older.”

“And I should,” he said. “It’s been six years since you went into that horrible place.”

“That long?” she gasped.

“Yeah,” Reed confirmed.

“Huh,” she mumbled, a perplexed look spreading over her face. “Didn’t f-feel like it.”

“How so?” he asked. “If you don’t mind answering.”

“It was like time simply stopped moving forward as soon as that abomination froze me up,” Jasmine mumbled, squeezing her eyes shut and shuddering. “It felt like the m-moment lasted forever… but at the same time, not even a second. An eternity crammed i-into nothing, if that makes sense at all. And during all of it, terrible m-memories and horrible emotions were running through my mind… When I was shocked out of that state, I remained frozen until I was sure that the eye wasn’t focused on me, found out where you had gone, and then I created a rift. It still managed to get me as I fell through, though...”

A sense of horror and shock spread over me. What we would have gone through became brutally apparent to me, along with exactly how narrowly we’d dodged that fate. I could tell Tranquility was being affected as well, and Cam’s face had turned a pale white.

This poor Mage had gone through it all for six years… and was still sane. She was strong, stronger than I could ever hope to be, and that made a strong feeling of respect and even awe grow in me.

“I’m so sorry,” Reed whispered. “At least that explains why you don’t look like you’ve aged a day.”

“It’s fine, and thanks,” Jasmine said, pulling herself up into a sitting position and leaning her back against his chest. “So, six years, huh? What’d I miss?”

“A bunch,” Reed said. “I’ll stick with the important stuff. Hawkeye resolved the feud between the cities of Nirvana and Haven, Jackson’s dead, Cypress got himself a girl, Jay’s started spending more time with Willow than Ivy and has started to reject his mother’s beliefs, we discovered another nonmatter dimension, Redwood is dead, and as a result, Ivy’s become even more of a power-hungry shrew than before, and Ash is still a dick. That’s basically the gist of it.”

“That good, huh?” she muttered softly.

“Yep,” he confirmed.

“Grand…” she mumbled darkly. “What about you? Did something happen in your life, or were you just boring?”

“I happened,” Cam interjected, walking over to them on all fours.

Jasmine jumped slightly and looked over to her. “Hi there,” she said soothingly. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Cam!” she said cheerily, hopping up into her lap.

She looked up at Reed. “Is she yours?” she asked. “Who’s the mother?”

A few seconds of silence passed, and Reed’s face burst into a scarlet-red blush. “What?!” he gasped. “No! No no no! I don’t have a new mate. That’s not what she meant!” Cam started laughing, and I had to stifle a chuckle.

“Really?” Jasmine asked. “What did she mean, then?”

“It’s a bit of a long story,” Reed said, his gaze falling to the floor. “And it’s one you won’t necessarily like.”

“Ka airote,” Tranquility muttered softly, her voice barely loud enough for me to hear.

Unfortunately, it was still too loud.

Jasmine’s head jerked towards us and zeroed in on Tranquility with startling accuracy. “Reed,” she whispered softly. “There’s two creatures there. They appear intelligent and they see us.”

“I know,” he said softly, wrapping his arms around her gently.

“Well, we have to do what’s necessary,” she sighed, a shadow of sadness flickering over her eyes. A spike of fear ran through my mind, and I shrank back from her. “I’ll get the one with the slitted eyes.” Tranquility’s eyes narrowed slightly at that remark.

“Actually…” Reed began softly. “I’d prefer it if we didn’t.”

“Has the law changed?” she asked softly, hope springing into her eyes.

Reed didn’t answer for a moment, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. “No,” he whispered. “It hasn’t.”

“Well, that settles it,” Jasmine stated matter-of-factly. “We have to do this. Look, I understand that you don’t like it, and neither do I…” she shuddered softly. “I really, really don’t like it. But that’s how life is sometimes.”

“And sometimes, you have to break the rules,” Reed said. “Killing them isn’t right.”

“But the law says-” Jasmine started.

“Just because it’s law doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do…” Cam mumbled softly, interrupting her. “I’d know that for sure.”

With each successive statement, Tranquility and I edged further and further away, fear pounding in our hearts. We didn’t want to make any sudden moves, but I still wanted to get as far away from her. The two of us were thinking the same thing: I don’t want to die, not after what just happened. We’d just escaped from Has’rou, something we thought was impossible, and we had started to deepen our relationship. We had a new start. We didn’t want that taken away.

Jasmine let her mouth hang open for a moment before closing it and swallowing nervously. “It doesn’t matter if it’s right or not,” she said softly, pain evident in her voice. I actually felt a stab of sympathy for her, even though she was fighting to kill us. “I know that it’s wrong. My time in that terrible place showed me that. Visions of all the innocent creatures I’d killed ran through my mind in there. It was part of why I was broken so easily. I’m not some heartless monster. I’d very much like to let those two live… but the fact of the matter is that the consequences will be very real if I spare them.”

“What consequences are there?” I asked softly, still moving away from her.

“If the Alpha deems it appropriate, he’ll take my life,” she answered sadly, causing me to gasp. “You’re asking me to choose between my future or yours.”

“There’s a third option,” Tranquility said. “Don’t go back. Stay with us.”

“And leave the Wolves without me?” she said bitterly. “I’ve been blessed to have this gift, the gift of magic. I’m going to use it to help the Wolves as much as I can. I’m sorry, but I have to do this. It pains me… your speech proves that you’re intelligent and aware. It’ll be like killing an equal.”

“It won’t be like that,” Reed growled. “It will be that. I’ve realized the error of my ways. You say you have as well, but you’re still going to kill them. If I have to, I’m going to protect them from you.”

Jasmine didn’t respond for some time, closing her eyes. “Do you really want to fight me?” she whispered softly.

“No,” he responded. “I don’t. But as you said yourself, sometimes we’ve got to do things we don’t want to do.”

“Six years can change a lot, can’t it,” she mumbled sadly.

“It can,” Reed affirmed.

“So be it,” she murmured. Placing her arms on Reed’s she started to strain against his embrace. “Let me go,” she whispered.

“No,” he said softly.

Jasmine’s eyes slid open, and I was overcome with a sensation of impending danger. Cam squeaked and jumped away from the two, scrambling over to us as fast as she could. Tranquility swept her close to her with a wing, and the three of us drew a little closer together.

“Reed,” Jasmine said softly, “you’re going to let me go. Now.”

Shutting his eyes, Reed began to grimace, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead. “Maybe we don’t need to do that right now, okay-”

He was interrupted by the sound of reality splitting.

A horrible, unearthly screech tore through the air, the sound making me scream. Reed and Jasmine sprung apart and planted their feet in identical defensive positions, both of them frantically looking around. I had just enough time to realize that neither of them caused it before another sound smashed into my eardrums.

A terrible, horrible, ripping sound washed through the light around us. Tranquility’s mouth fell open, and she pointed up at the sky. I looked up and gasped

A wave of horror ripped through me as I saw a massive reddish-orange seam split open in the sky above us.

Author's Note

Late chapter is late. I'm sorry about that. Life became hectic these past few weeks. It was just a rollercoaster of ups and downs... kinda like this story! :rainbowwild: But just like the last super late chapter... it's long. And boy, did it need to be.

A bunch went down. Fality is now official, they escaped from Has'rou, and a new doggo appeared. A lawful doggo. :rainbowderp: This is gonna be interesting.

And of course, something completely new appeared. Something scary. Something that you won't find out about until the next chapter! A maniacal laugh sounds. I'm evil and I love it.

Thestral Language Guide

Could you tell me how well I pulled this off, or just leave a comment in general? I love getting them, and I try to respond as quickly as possible.

As always, thanks for reading!

~Pyrepinna

Chapter 25: Coup D'etat

A thick, golden shield spread over the five of us, swirling with intricate patterns similar to those of a fast-moving stream. I snapped my gaze over to Reed and gasped, my jaw falling open. Strings of golden light, nearly indistinguishable from the rest of the light around us, were flowing out of his paws and into the space between him and Jasmine. A similar phenomenon was occurring with her, and their separate strings seemed to entwine and fuse together, creating a glowing, pulsing ball of energy. The shield sprouted from it, curving out and around us. With a start, I realized that their magic was mixing together, and they were controlling it as one. Just who is Jasmine? I thought, curiosity blending in with my fear.

I didn’t have time to ponder that thought, though.

With an ear-splitting roar and a blast of heat, a gout of sooty, reddish-orange fire spilled out of the rip and towards us, racing towards our shield. Tranquility had just enough time to squeak softly and fall to the floor, covering her head, before the fire washed over us, bathing our little group in a Tartarus-like glow, a color that struck primal fear into my heart. I heard Jasmine let out a strained groan, but the shield held up under the onslaught.

And then… it was over.

The flames suddenly cut off, evaporating into the air and leaving behind a fine mist of fine, black powder. A body fell out of the rift, completely covered in ash and soot, and then it closed, leaving behind a pristine, unmarred sky.

“What the heck?” Reed muttered, narrowing his eyes. Jasmine seemed to share a similar sentiment, a look of confusion overcoming her face. The two didn’t let down the shield.

As the body fell, I got a closer glimpse of it. It appeared to be the charred remains of an unfortunate Wolf. Tranquility let out a startled exclamation of horror, and my voice caught in my throat. Cam shielded her eyes, and Reed’s eyes shot back open in shock.

Then, the body moved.

It was subtle at first. The body started to reorient itself in midair, standing upright. It appeared like something a natural falling object might do, so I didn’t think much of it. Then, its arms stretched out and above its head, sending ash cascading off its shoulders and revealing a pristine, immaculately cared-for golden coat. My heart started racing even faster, but this time, it was because of the fear of the unknown. I had no idea what was going on, and as a result, seeing something that I’d previously assumed to be dead move was frightening.

The Wolf continued to stretch, and in the process, knocked off all of the ash and soot that clung to its body. It appeared to be an older Mage, well muscled and confident in its movements. There was a certain way that it conducted itself that made me want to trust it, for some reason, but ignored that urge. I was still scared, scared out of my mind, and I couldn’t get past that.

“Who’s that?” Jasmine whispered.

“I don’t know,” Reed answered back, pouring more magic into the shield. “Too far away to tell.”Jasmine did the same, and the magic glowed brighter.

“What’s going on?” Cam whispered, her ears folding to the. None of us had an answer for her, as we were all wondering the same thing. I stepped in front of Tranquility and Cam and tried to spread my wings protectively, but stopped when I felt a jolt of pain, a reminder that they were still broken.

The Mage continued to fall from the sky. Its paws glowed, and a platform of magic appeared under its feet, slowing its descent to the speed of an elevator’s travel. As it got closer, several details that hadn’t been obvious at first made themselves known. There were faint trembles running up and down its body- not the shakings of trauma, but ones of overexertion. I could also see its chest rising and falling rapidly, indicating it was breathing hard. I could also assume, from what I’d seen from Reed, Jasmine, and the other Mages, that it was male.

“What the heck?” Reed whispered. “I’ve never seen that Wolf before!”

“Let’s get his magic signature,” Jasmine muttered. Reed nodded, and the two twitched their paws slightly. A fast-moving stream of magic branched out from the shield, snaking its way towards the strange Mage. The way it moved reminded me of the lethal spell that Ivy hit me with, causing a shudder to run through my body.

As the tendril of magic got closer, a sense of foreboding came over me. I wasn’t sure exactly why, but I knew in my gut that something would happen if that spell reached the Wolf. “W-wait,” I whispered softly. “I don’t think-”

I was too late. The magic made contact with the Mage.

As soon as it did, he whirled around, snatching the stream of magic as if it were a physical rope. His eyes flashed brightly, a golden glow similar to the sun’s washing down over us, nearly blinding me.

That was only the beginning, though.

Jasmine let out a startled grunt as the shield over us began to warp and distort, pulling towards the Mage as if he was a black hole. At the same time, he launched himself off the platform he’d created. Instead of resuming his fall though the air, though, he shot towards us like a bullet, pulling himself along by sucking the tendril of magic into his paw. At the same time, the shield continued to weaken, more and more of the energy being pulled towards the Wolf. A spike of fear drove its way into my heart, and I stumbled backwards. Reed had just enough time to squeak in surprise before the Mage smashed into the weakened shield, ploughing through it and knocking him onto his back. Flashing his paw up to Reed’s throat, he growled softly, his glowing eyes boring into Reed’s.

“Why weren’t you in Paradise when Ivy and the others returned?!” he yelled in a deep, raspy voice.

“W-what?” Reed gasped, starting to shake. Jasmine began backing away from the two, preparing some sort of magic. I did as well, my heart pounding.

“Was I not clear?” the Wolf asked softly, a blade of magic extending from his paw and pressing up against Reed’s throat, sending a pang of shock through me. “WHY WEREN’T YOU IN PARADISE WITH THE OTHER MAGES WHEN THEY RETURNED?!”

“I’m not one of them anymore!” he cried desperately, trying to edge away from the blade. “I’ve realize what I was doing was wrong and sided with the enemy!”

Instantly, the Mage’s demeanor changed. His eyes lost their glow, revealing soulful, orangish-yellow orbs. The blade vanished, and he climbed off Reed, smiling apologetically. “Sorry about that,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if you were a threat.”

Reed scrambled to his feet and stuck out his paws in front of him, his eyes wide with fear. “Who are you?” he whispered shakily, his paws starting to glow.

The Mage sighed, his face morphing into a soft frown. “I... I’m not sure I should say,” he murmured.

“You better,” Jasmine growled. “Because I’m about two seconds away from flipping out. You just wrenched my control away from my magic! I didn’t know that was possible!”

What?! I thought, my eyes widening.

The Mage spun around, his eyes going wide. “Jasmine?” he whispered, shocked. “Is that really you?”

“In the flesh,” she growled. “I’d probably be overjoyed to see you, but I don’t know who you are.”

“So Ivy wasn’t kidding,” the Mage whispered, his eyes widening. “You four actually did go to Has’rou.”

“Unfortunately,” Tranquility muttered.

“You really have defected, haven’t you,” he said, turning to Reed, who hadn’t lowered his paws. “You’ve distanced yourself from the Wolves and have joined forces with the rogue.”

“Bingo,” Cam muttered softly.

“It’s nice to see you again, Cam,” he said softly and sincerely. A look of confusion spread over her face, and she started to back away from him.

“Cut it,” Jasmine said sharply. “Who are you?”

The Mage smiled softly. “You’re going to regret phrasing that comment that way in about two seconds,” he said. Then, he raised his paw, holding it in front of his face. Ever so slowly, he began to move it to the right.

It was like wiping dirt off of a surface to see the shining surface underneath. I watched the Mage’s face ripple and vanish, revealing an older, more grizzled muzzle beneath. I felt a sudden surge of awe and an overwhelming urge to bow. Something about the barely noticeable wrinkles, the grey-tipped fur, and the hard-set mouth invoked a feeling of… regalness in me.

The most striking feature about him, though, was his eyes.

As he passed over his eye, a pattern became visible in the fur. It looked like black lines sprouted out from the outside of his eye. A double helix with a line down the center adorned the top right corner, and two lines sprouted from the top of that, connecting it to the front of the eye.

It seemed a little cool to me, but it was nothing compared to the effect it had on Reed, Jasmine, and Cam. Their jaws all dropped, and their eyes widened. Reed seemed particularly affected, starting to hyperventilate.

“Told you,” the Mage said softly, a smirk spreading over his face as he dropped his paw to his side, the illusion. “Does that answer your question?”

“Not really,” I said softly.

“W-what?!” Cam yelled. “I haven’t seen you in-”

“Five years,” he interrupted softly. “It’s been five years. And I must say, you’ve grown a lot since we last spoke.”

Reed started to stutter incoherently, lifting a shaky paw to point at the Mage. “W-what are you doing here?!” he yelled. “Hawkeye, you should be back in Paradise!”

Anything else he said was lost to me as my jaw dropped open in shock, the sounds around me seeming to become muted.

I didn’t know what to think about the revelation. On one hoof, Hawkeye, the Alpha of the Wolves, quite literally the top dog, was standing right in front of us! Suddenly, the pure awe that I’d felt when I’d seen his face made sense. He was a powerful, benevolent leader. He’d helped Cam in the past and actually let her remain free.

But on the other hoof, he was the leader of our enemy. He’d, in the end, sent the Mages after us. He could have chosen to just ignore the Wolf who told him Cam was there, but he’d still sent Ivy and the others after us. Ultimately, he was responsible for all the pain and misery that we’d gone through these past few days.

The conflicting thoughts crashed and bumbled together in my head, and my mouth dropped slowly open. I almost didn’t hear Hawkeye’s response to Reed, I was so conflicted.

“Not anymore,” he grumbled softly, a shadow seemingly flitting over his face.

“Not anymore?!” Reed gasped, his pupils shrinking in shock. “What happened?”

“Ivy happened,” he answered, his voice taking on an edge of steel. “In all honesty, I should have seen it coming, but hindsight is twenty-twenty, and I can’t change it now.”

“Explain,” Jasmine, Reed, and Cam said, perfectly at the same time. I felt a spike of curiousity, but didn’t say anything, still unsure if Hawkeye posed a threat to me.

Hawkeye sighed, closing his eyes and shuddering slightly. “It’s a long story…” he muttered softly. “It started a week ago, after that Wanderer told the entire Den that there was a rogue Mage…”

“Why?!” Hawkeye roared, storming into his private quarters and slamming the door shut behind him with his magic. Several enchantments flickered to life around the room, illuminating the royal-red walls, the regal, lush, lavish purple carpet, the four-post bed, the mahogany dresser and wardrobe, and the expensive, silver mirror. None of that mattered to him, though. He was too wrapped up in his own anger. His paws flashed in quick succession, powerful privacy wards springing up in the blink of an eye. A growl built in his throat, rising in pitch until it turned into a full-fledged scream.

“Why did he have to find her?!” he yelled as he st, the question being directed at nothing in particular. “Why couldn’t she have just lived a normal life?! Why couldn’t she have stayed hidden, safe in her safe world?!” Stopping, he took a deep breath, clenching his fists as his paws started to glow. His eyes took on a powerful, piercing, harsh light. “Why can’t anything work out like it’s SUPPOSED TO?!” he shrieked. Unfortunately, as his anger surged, his magic did too, and twin bolts of pure arcane energy blasted out of his paws and into the dresser, splintering the meticulously cared-for wood into thousands of smoldering splinters.

The loud bang that accompanied the sudden discharged shocked him back to his senses, and he stared at the ruined remains of the once-beautiful furniture. Closing his eyes, he took several deep breaths, slowly releasing the anger from his body. “Stupid…” he whispered softly, reopening his eyes. His paws began to glow, and the splinters lifted off the ground, surrounded by a barely-visible golden aura. “That was stupid, Hawkeye. Sixty-eight years old and still throwing temper tantrums like a pup… it was surprisingly therapeutic, though.” A chuckle slipped out of his lips as the shattered wood began to flow like water, melding back into a whole, perfect dresser. “I should vent like that more often.”

When the dresser finished repairing, Hawkeye set it down and trotted dejectedly over to the lavish bed, flopping unceremoniously down on it. “But the question remains… why did they have to find her?” he muttered sadly. “She doesn’t deserve what we put her through. At the ripe age of two, we took that poor girl’s parents away from her and tried to take her too… and forced her to kill someone, undoubtedly scarring her, possibly for life. All because of the STUPID laws we have to follow, written ten millennia ago by xenophobic, secretive morons. And I tried to help her by letting her go five years ago, without the Den’s knowledge, but now, I have to send the Mages after her, just to save face…” He sighed, curling up into a ball and bowing his head in shame.

“Cam, if by some chance you can hear this, I’m so, so sorry…”

“That little meltdown caused my downfall,” he said sadly, looking down to the ground in shame.

“How so?” I asked softly, my fear forgotten. Throughout his retelling, it had slowly faded away, replaced by respect, a tinge of sadness, and a little bit of awe.

Hawkeye froze, turning slowly towards Tranquility and I. “You’re the two natives who got wrapped up in this mess,” he said softly. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” I whispered, feeling a sudden and inexplicable urge to bow.

“I have to know something before I can accept that,” Tranquility whispered, a tinge of anger in her voice. “You said that you sent the Mages after Cam to save face?! What kind of sick-”

“It was either that or infuriate half of the Wolves!” Hawkeye firmly interrupted. “Could you imagine five hundred million citizens protesting against their leader, possibly violently? The best option for the society was to uphold the law. Making half of the population happy and the rest indifferent is better than a possible civil war.”

“Point taken,” Tranquility said sheepishly. “Apology accepted.”

“I want to know the answer to… his question,” Jasmine said, pointing at me. “How did that cause… whatever happened?”

“Ivy’s lack of regard for privacy and simple canine decency,” he said softly. “I only found out about what she had been doing earlier today.”

“What was she doing?” Reed asked softly.

Hawkeye let out a soft growl. “Well, let me tell you all about it,” he grumbled softly, closing his eyes once more.

The sound of a quill scratching across crisp parchment filled Hawkeye’s private study, its repetitive drone consuming the soft ambient noise of the room. Smiling softly, Hawkeye let the scratching fill and consume his senses, calming and relaxing him. He was drafting a simple piece of legislation, something to loosen restrictions on the Wolf city of Genesis. The sanctions had been placed on them after they had tried to break away from the rule of the Alpha, but that event had taken place over two centuries ago, and he felt that it would be appropriate to give back what they had taken. It was a small bill, borderline inconsequential, but it still needed to be done.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans.

The thick oak door to the study exploded inwards, peppering Hawkeye with shrapnel and filling the room with an acrid smoke. Ivy strode in through the ruined doorway, a devilish smile plastered across her face. The three other Mages followed, their expressions ranging from resignation to malice.

Hawkeye released an annoyed sigh, starting to massage the bridge of his snout. “There had better be a good reason for that… extravagant entrance,” he muttered softly, feeling annoyance rise up in his mind.

“There is,” Ivy whispered, childlike excitement in her voice. “Stopping you.”

Hawkeye let out a soft, exasperated chuckle. “This should be entertaining,” he said, leaning back in his chair.

“We don’t have a lot of time before the Protectors realize something’s amiss, so I’ll spare you the details and give you the choice,” Ivy said crisply. “We’re removing you from power. You can either step down peacefully… or we’ll take your seat from you by force.”

Hawkeye let out another annoyed sigh. “So, just to be clear…” he muttered softly. “You decimated part of my office… so you could commit treason?” There was a hint of disbelief in his voice, and as he was speaking, he raised one of his bushy eyebrows.

Ivy’s eyes narrowed, and a sinister grin appeared on her face, giving her a positively evil appearance. “Oh… I’m not the treasonous one here,” she murmured softly, a strange combination of malice and glee present in her tone. She slowly raised one of her paws, a golden orb of light springing to life in front of the center pad.

And then, the glowing ball started to pulse softly. A recording of sorts began to play, and Hawkeye’s jaw dropped.

He recognized those sounds, for he had been the source of them! It was a recording of his breakdown over Cam, with every single word being crisp and distinct. As the audio continued, the shock in his eyes became more and more apparent.

When it ended, he worked his jaw for a few moments before looking up at Ivy. “You bugged my room,” he whispered softly.

“That I did,” she said smugly. “And look how well it payed off!” Her paw glowed softly, and the sounds around them became dampened. She strode forward, starting to chuckle softly. “It took three years, but I finally have something on you, Hawkeye. How will the Wolves react when they see that their perfect little idol isn’t as flawless as they thought?”

“Having an opinion isn’t a crime, Ivy,” he said softly, the markings around his right eye starting to shimmer like light reflecting off of oil.

“Will the people see it that way?” she countered gleefully. “They’ll see it as you siding with the enemy. And even if that little rant isn’t enough to convince them of that… there’s the fact you helped that little girl some five years ago, letting her go instead of taking her in like you should have.”

“She was two!” he protested. “I couldn’t have, not after seeing what we had done to her!”

“You know that, but they don’t,” Ivy said, her voice sweetly poisonous. “For them, it’s a simple matter of good and evil, black and white. They won’t care about nuance! All that will matter is the fact that you sided with Cam, the evil, rogue Mage.”

Hawkeye’s eyes took on a golden sheen, and the markings around his eyes started to shine brightly. “Why?” he asked softly. “What do you get out of this?”

“A throne?” she answered simply, her smile taking on an innocent, pleading look.

“Like I’m going to give you that,” he hissed. The glowing pattern on his face took on a golden-white sheen, his eyes flashed a blinding white, and all Tartarus broke loose.

“That unbelievable, power-hungry, self-centered, narcissistic witch!” Jasmine yelled, startling me out of my shocked stupor. “She actually put a microphone in your bedroom?!”

“That she did,” Hawkeye confirmed. “One she created herself. It was ingenious, really.”

“You weren’t kidding when you said that she’d gotten worse, Reed,” she muttered softly. “How could she think that would actually work?”

“Because it did,” Hawkeye said sadly.

Everyone’s jaws dropped, including my own and Tranquility’s. Reed was reduced to a spluttering mess once more, managing to get one word out, a word that voiced all of our feelings at once. “H-h-how?!” he gasped.

“Not in the way you’d expect…”

It was quite apparent that there was something wrong in the palace to the citizens of Paradise. Bright flashes were visible through the stained-glass windows, the slate-grey walls seemed to bulge at times, soft booms and cracks emanated from it at frantic intervals, and a general sense of power radiated from it. Curious Wolves made their way to the large, spacious courtyard in front of it. It was generally used for the Alpha’s speeches, but today, it was the host of an inquisitive audience.

And they certainly got a show.

The sharp sounds of explosions reached a fevered climax, and the front wall of the palace exploded, sending sharp, heavy shrapnel flying over the crowd. The Wolves cried out in shock, but before the broken stone could hurt them, a glowing, golden aura surrounded the chunks and set them gently down on the floor. A golden, awe-inspiring silhouette appeared in the dust… and was promptly struck in the back with a powerful blast of magic, throwing it into full view.

Shocked gasps ran through the crowd as Hawkeye landed face-down on the pile of rubble formed by the wall’s collapse. Ivy strode confidently up behind him, a victorious smirk plastered on her face. The other Mages hung back, not wanting to interfere.

“Civilians, Laborers, Protectors, Wanderers… your alpha has betrayed you,” Ivy began, a spell amplifying her voice for all to hear. A hush fell over the crowd, some jaws dropping, making her smirk deepen. “He’s sided with the rogue Mage over the rest of the Wolves!”

As Hawkeye pulled himself to his feet, gasps of shock rang out among the throng. “Don’t listen to her!” he cried, augmenting his voice as well. “She’s-”

“Yes, don’t listen to me,” Ivy interrupted, chuckling sinisterly. “Listen to HIM!” She thrust her paw into the air, and the same recording she had played for him blasted out into the mass, reaching every ear clearly.

Hawkeye could only watch in horror as the shock and disbelief in his subject’s faces turned to anger. About halfway through the clip, shouts began to spring up throughout the crowds, saying things such as “How could you?!” and “You monster!” When it finished, a collective growl rose up in the throats of the Wolves, a sound of malice and hate directed at Hawkeye.

As his jaw fell open in shock, Ivy coolly strode up behind him “I told you,” she said softly, an euphoric happiness in her voice. “They’ll never trust you again.”

Hawkeye closed his jaw and turned around, a cold steel becoming visible in his eyes. “We’ll see about that,” he rumbled, his eyes starting to glow. Flashing his paw out to the side, he slashed downward with all of his will and might, tearing a hole in the fabric of the multiverse.

An unearthly shriek tore out of the rift, echoing over the city and startling the younger members of the crowd. A gout of heated air blasted out as well, ruffling Hawkeye’s fur. “I’ll be back, Ivy!” he yelled. Then, he jumped into the rift, sealing it and leaving Paradise behind.

Not a single sound could be heard throughout the dimension, the story seemingly having shocked reality into silence. I didn’t know what to do. It was just… an OVERLOAD of information.

Eventually, Reed broke the silence. “You have to get out of here,” he said softly. “She’s going to track where the rift you made went.”

Hawkeye just chuckled. “I made sure THAT’S impossible,” he said confidently.

“How?” Cam asked quietly.

“Void travel,” he answered simply.

Instantly, Jasmine and Reed’s jaws dropped. “WHAT?!” they shouted together. “HOW?!”

“What’s the Void?” I asked curiously, not understanding their shock.

Reed spun around towards me, his eyes still wide. “The Void is what we call the space between dimensions,” he explained. “It’s nigh-mythical, which is why I say stuff like ‘By the Void!’ sometimes.”

“And it’s not an empty place,” Hawkeye continued, smoothly breaking off Reed’s speech. “Most Wolves just think it is. In reality, there’s something there- you just can’t control where you end up. I’ve landed in saltwater before, and this time, I landed in the middle of some sort of firestorm. That wasn’t pleasant.”

“Unbelievable,” Jasmine whispered.

“B-but she can still get your magic signature, right?” Reed asked.

He didn’t hold back this time, letting out a full-on laugh. “The day someone gets my magic signature is the day I get dethroned by an ant,” he chuckled softly. “It’s not going to happen.”

“And what makes you say that, oh cocky one?” Cam asked sarcastically.

“Just like a written signature, a magic one can be changed,” he said, smiling.

The deafening silence returned, with Jasmine actually sitting down in surprise. I would have been mad at Reed for not using that when we needed it, but from the look of things, he hadn’t even known about it. In fact, it looked he hadn’t even thought of that as a possibility. Hawkeye knows things, things that they don’t… He could be our biggest helper! I thought excitedly.

Jasmine eventually got her paws back under her. “How the-”

“Later,” Hawkeye interrupted. “We have bigger problems right now.”

“What problems?” Tranquility asked.

“Ivy just took over leadership of the Wolves!” Jasmine answered, eyes wide. “That’s like-”

“The worst possible thing,” I completed, reviewing what Reed had told me about her. She’ll rule more harshly, tightening down the laws on secrecy. She thinks WE’RE dead, but what about others who might find themselves discovering a Wolf?

“So you understand,” Hawkeye said, relieved. “You know what she’ll do.”

“Yes,” the five of us said.

“Good.” Hawkeye walked up to Reed and extended a paw. “You know what’s at stake. Will you help me take back the seat of the Alpha?”

Reed looked at the paw for a while, seemingly contemplating what to do. In my head, I was rooting for him to say yes. No creature deserves to go through what we’re going through. If we let Ivy keep her seat, she’ll just make it worse.

Eventually, he nodded. “I will,” he said, shaking the outstretched paw.

“I will too,” Jasmine said determinedly. “I made a promise to help the Wolves in any way I could. Letting Ivy stay on the throne certainly won’t be doing that.”

“I’ll come too!” Cam said quickly. “It’ll be like a kick in the face to her when she sees I’m still alive. And that’s just what I want to do to her.”

“If you’re going, Cam, we’re going,” Tranquility said softly. “I don’t want to see you hurt.”

“Same,” I said lamely, not sure what else to add.

“A crew of six,” Hawkeye said, thinking. “I’ll give you disguises and re-do my own. Normal glamor magic won’t cut it in this case.”

“Normal- you’re using glamor magic?!” Reed gapsed.

“A variation of it that I created myself,” he stated smugly. “It’s more… undetectable.”

“What other magical wonders have you been hiding from us?” Jasmine asked gleefully.

“A great many things,” Hawkeye answered vaguely. “Now, get in a line. I’ll put your glamors on.”

The business of disguises was taken care of rather quickly. Hawkeye changed his disguise to that of a slightly scarred, grey Wanderer. Reed was given the appearance of a tall, lanky Protector, Jasmine that of a portly Laborer, and Cam was turned grey and given slightly longer hair.

Tranquility and I were turned into dogs.

“What the heck is this?” I deadpanned, looking down at my new whitish-brown forelegs. Tranquility looked back at her tail and started to chase her tail in circles.

“Dogs are pets in Paradise,” Hawkeye explained. “I can’t turn quadrupedal creatures into bipedal ones. It’s the best option.”

“Grand,” I muttered softly.

“Don’t be like that,” he chided. “Dogs appear to be universally loved across the multiverse. It really is a noble disguise.”

Tranquility stopped chasing her tail and looked me dead in the eye. “Woof,” she deadpanned, her expression perfectly neutral.

I lost it laughing.

After I had recovered from my fit of mirth, the six of us gathered together in a little huddle.

“Are we going to be jumping into Paradise through Void travel?” Cam asked, absentmindedly blowing the longer hair out of her eyes.

“Of course not,” Hawkeye answered. “That’s dangerous, and we’re not trying to make a flashy entrance. We’re going to use a normal portal and appear in the outskirts of the city. From there, we’ll make our way to the palace. I know a few ways in that are well-hidden, unguarded, and secret.”

“And what happens when we’re in?” I asked.

“I’ll ask you and Tranquility to stay back with Cam,” he answered. “I’m not putting a pup in danger. With luck, if you’re discovered, the guards will think that she got lost from one of the tours, and she brought her pets along. Jasmine and Reed will come with me, and we’ll… remove Ivy from power.”

A heavy, somber silence spread over the group. We all knew what he meant.

“Any other questions?” he asked. When no-one answered, he smiled. “Good. Shall we head off?”

“I think so,” Cam said.

With that, Hawkeye slashed his paw through the air. A normal, black rift appeared, and the six of us stepped through.

We landed on a paved, cobblestone street. I shook my head, clearing it from the dimensional travel, but I heard Hawkeye fairly clearly.

“Welcome to Paradise…”

Author's Note

Yes, I named the city Paradise just so I could make that reference.

This is a good thing.

ANYWAY, out goes the first of the sporadic chapters! I hope I sufficiently turned your expectations on your head.

If I made any grammatical or spelling errors, let me know and I'll fix them as soon as I can.

~Pyrepinna
Also, I don't think I'll be able to respond to comments immediately, like I have done in the past. That doesn't mean I WON'T, though, it just means it'll be a little later.

Chapter 26: Paradise

As my vision cleared and balance reasserted itself, I started to look around. Instantly, my jaw fell open, an awed stupor coming over me.

If Symphony looked like something out of a comic book, Paradise resembled an unformed, spectacular idea in the artist’s mind. There were no skyscrapers or overly grand buildings. In fact, the tallest one, a dark shape in the middle of the city, appeared to only be eight stories tall, not even half the size of the Canterlot Castle.

What made the city spectacular was the architecture.

In a way, it didn’t even look like the buildings had been built. Instead, they seemed to have been eroded into their shapes. The walls and roofs looked like the sides of a wind-swept canyon, smooth, flowing, and elegant. However, rather than being made out of reddish-brown stone, they were composed of a blended mixture of smoky grey and slate grey glass-like materials. Even the STREET seemed natural, the white stone having a pattern and texture like that of a frozen river, with light seeming to flow across it like water

I couldn’t see a hard edge anywhere. Everything was smoothly blended together, like a finely sanded sculpture.

We had landed in the outskirts of the city, where the buildings were small and cramped. I didn’t see a single one that exceeded one story in height, and they were all cramped together like ponies in an overfull train. However, when I glanced toward the center of the metropolis, I saw that the buildings became more spacious and tall the closer they were to the palace. It gave the city the appearance of a VERY wide stacked cake.

Everything had a nice, picturesque look to it, like an old photo. It helped that there were no Wolves anywhere in sight.

The one thing that took away from the splendor was the dull, grey sky

“Oh my Celestia,” Tranquility breathed softly, her eyes widening in awe.

“Something’s wrong,” Reed said sharply.

That snapped me out of my awestruck reverie, and I glanced toward him. “What?”

“It’s a little past noon,” Jasmine answered quietly. “Wolves should be walking around. Laborers should be sweeping the streets. Pups should be playing, scrambling around us and between our legs. This… this emptiness isn’t right!”

“Exactly,” Hawkeye confirmed worriedly. “Something’s happened… I think we need to move quickly.” He started to walk at a brisk pace, heading down a straight and narrow road that led toward the palace and motioning for us to follow him.

As we moved, our worry grew. Not a single Wolf could be seen… or heard. It was eerily silent, with the only sounds being those of our hoov- paws striking the ground. It was like we were walking through a ghost town.

“I don’t like this…” Cam whimpered, her ears folding flat against her head.

“Neither do I,” Reed said grimly, causing her to let out a low whine.

“The worst part is, there’s nothing here that should be s-scary, so I c-can’t rationalize my fear…” she whispered. “It’d be s-so much easier if there was something I could pin it on… it feels like s-something’s gonna jump out and kill u-us.”

Shoot, I thought. She’s freaking out! Unfortunately, I had no idea what to do about it. I pressed up against her side, trying to comfort her, but it just made her jump.

Fortunately, Tranquility was there. “Jasmine, tell me about the city,” she said sharply.

“Uh… okay?” she responded, confused. “What do you want to know…?”

“What’s up with the… the tiers of buildings? Y’know, how the structures get taller at periodic intervals,” she said.

Jasmine raised an eyebrow at her, confused. Tranquility subtly jerked her head in Cam’s direction, leveling a commanding glare at her. She glanced at her, and her eyes widened in comprehension. “Oh! Um… if nothing’s changed while I’ve been gone, it’s all for organization. The city is completely circular, so the architects planned it to be a set of rings, one for each rank of the Wolves. The Civilians live in the outermost ring, the one we landed in, with the one after that being for the Laborers, followed by the Protectors, and so on. The Den, Mages, and Alpha all live in the castle. It’s really simple and effective.”

“Not to mention absolutely sick,” Tranquility muttered softly.

“What? How?” she gasped, shocked. “It’s not like they can’t leave their rings.”

“Think of it this way,” she said. “Imagine that you were a Civilian. Every day, you would return to your house, walking past, bigger, better, taller houses, knowing that you’ll never be able to move into them because you’re not seen to be as good as them.”

“That’s now how it works,” Jasmine protested.

“But it’s what you just said!” Tranquility argued insistently.

“Don’t jump to conclusions,” she said, a small smirk appearing on her face. “You’re forgetting an important detail- each ring is smaller than the last. The architects designed it so that the buildings in each ring make up for that loss. Each Wolf family gets an equal living space- one floor with two bedrooms, a kitchen, a sitting room, and two bathrooms. The floors just get stacked on top of each other.”

“That doesn’t necessarily matter,” Tranquility challenged confidently.

“How so?” Jasmine shot back.

The two devolved into a fast-paced, heated argument, much to the exasperation of Hawkeye, Reed, and I. However, my annoyance faded away when I saw the effect the conversation had on Cam. Over its course, she became more and more invested in it, and her trembles faded away. A few times, she chimed in, adding in her own opinion into the mix.

We passed through two more rings of the city before the argument started to wind down. “I still think it’s fine,” Jasmine stated defiantly.

“Only an idiot doesn’t change their views when they’ve been proven wrong,” Tranquility said, finality in her voice. “Oh… and thanks.”

“Thanks?” she asked, confused. “What for?” Tranquility flashed her a smug smile and walked over to me, staying silent. “What for?!” she asked again. Reed chuckled and pulled her off to the side.

“That was brilliant,” I muttered to her, pressing against her side.

She chuckled. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far-”

“Quiet,” Hawkeye hissed sharply, cutting her off and bringing our group to a sudden halt. For a few moments, we stood in silence, the only sound being that of the soft wind blowing in our ears. Hawkeye closed his eyes, the markings around the right one glowing softly, and snapped them open, his face contorting with anger. “That insufferable, manipulative, cunning piece of-”

Before he could finish his sentence, his paws blazed with a blinding light. The grey and white buildings around me around me seemed to twist and warp, their lines blurring and stretching down to a single point in the distance. It was almost like reality had shrunk down to a thin, long tunnel. A deep groaning sound echoed through the space around us, and I could feel the air around me stretching, along with the floor spreading beneath my feet, which sent a pang of alarm through me. Cam let out a shriek of surprise, and Tranquility jumped, her eyes widening. Considering that she looked like a dog, it was a little funny, but I didn’t laugh, my own confusion and fear eclipsing the humor.

After less than a second, reality snapped back to normal, with one crucial difference than before- we were no longer standing in the streets of the city. We had teleported to the top of a tall, archaic-looking building. We’re on top of the palace! I realized with a start. But how- never mind, we teleported. With as much time as I used to spend around unicorns, I really shouldn’t be surprised. With that in mind, I calmed down rather quickly, Tranquility doing the same.

The others didn’t exactly have the same reaction. While Hawkeye immediately began to walk around the edge of the roof, strange runes and symbols appearing in his wake, Jasmine and Reed both set their paws alight with magic, looking around fearfully, while Cam ran towards Tranquility and hugged her, eyes wide. For a few moments, the four of us stood in shocked silence.

“Warn us before you do that,” Cam eventually said, releasing Tranquility shakily.

“My apologies,” Hawkeye growled softly.

“Do you hear that?” Reed asked, his ears perking up.

“Hear wha-” I began, but broke off when I noticed something odd.

Background noise.

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have thought much of it, but we had just been walking through a city that was dead silent. To have sound suddenly reappear… was a bit jarring.

Cam ran towards the edge of the building and peered over it. “There’s a big crowd down there-” She broke off with a pained squeak as a cloud of golden magic appeared around her tail and forcibly yanked her away from the drop, an act that made me wince.

“Stay away!” Hawkeye yelled. “I haven’t finished setting up the wards!”

“So what?” Cam grumbled, crossing her arms and pouting. “That hurt!”

“It means that they could see you, that’s what!” Hawkeye growled, his paws flaring brighter than they already were. A wave of golden energy blasted out from them, sweeping through us and taking shape as a shimmering barrier around the edge of the roof. “That’s the last thing we need right now. I hope they haven’t started the broadcasts…”

“Broadcasts?!” Tranquility gasped. “What’s going on?”

“Ivy’s called an address,” Reed said, his eyes widening and his ears flattening against his head.

“What’s that?” Cam asked.

“An address is exactly what it sounds like,” Hawkeye explained, a growl building in his voice. “The Alpha calls one when an event happens that needs to be… well, addressed publicly. Generally, it’s used for emergencies, like an attack on a city or a full dimensional collapse, and technically, this takeover would fall under something that needs to be addressed, but right now, it’s the worst thing that could have happened.”

“Of course,” I mumbled. “Because Lady Luck doesn’t want to give us a break. Why is this so bad?”

“The rumor mill,” he hissed. “I was confronted in front of a crowd. It’s been a few hours since then, and the news has probably been spread throughout every Wolf city. It’s been contaminated with lies and falsehood as well, no doubt. Everyone’s unsure about what actually happened, nothing is set in stone, and they all want a consensus, an answer. With this, Ivy gets to control that answer. She gets to control the truth.”

“Truth can’t be controlled, though!” I protested weakly.

“You’ve got a lot to learn,” he chuckled sadly. “In the absence of opposing voices, anything that’s said becomes the truth. It’s why Ivy was able to turn the crowd against me a few hours ago.”

“But that’s messed up!” Cam gasped.

“Reality often is,” he muttered, walking to the edge of the building. “The broadcasts have started. This changes everything… why didn’t I think this would happen?”

“What the heck are the broadcasts?”

“A means to reach the other Wolf cities during an address,” Jasmine explained. “Large screens are erected in a designated gathering places, and a Mage sets up a device to broadcast the address to the screens.”

“Like a radio?” I asked.

“But with pictures,” she elaborated.

“Why can’t we just do what we were gonna do and have you give the address?” Reed asked, turning towards Hawkeye.

“Again, the rumor mill,” he said, annoyance. “Enough Wolves heard Ivy’s impromptu speech about me that if I took back the throne, they would be angry enough to stage another coup within the year. After all, there can’t be an Alpha who sides with the two-year old enemy, can there?” There was a particularly sarcastic emphasis on the word ‘enemy.’

“Can’t you just tell them why you did it?” I asked.

“Of course not,” he hissed, glaring sullenly in the direction of the crowd. “For a good portion of the Wolves, the fact that I helped the rogue Mage at all would be cause to remove me from the throne. It’s not that simple. It never is.” With that, he sat down, not wanting to continue the conversation.

A sense of frustration welled up in me, and I walked over to Tranquility, my ears against my head. “Why does it have to be so complicated?” I grumbled to her.

“I don’t know,” she said. “It is rather strange that the oldest one here is acting the most like a disappointed child.”

“Wait, wha-” I began, but I didn’t get a chance to finish.

A screech of microphone feedback cut me off before I could.

Author's Note

Oh hey, a new chapter! It’s only been what, over two and a half months since the last one?

Yeah... I’m sorry.

I’m also sorry that this chapter isn’t spectacular. With all the time it took to write, it should be, but it’s not, and I don’t know how to fix it. It’s... meh. And I’m sorry for that.

I’m also sorry that it’s not longer. Originally, I planned to have the address be in this chapter, but then I realized something: Ivy is hard to write. I didn’t want to deprive you guys of an update any longer, so I moved that to the next chapter and uploaded this.

Also, the half-hiatus isn’t over. I’m still not sure about my update schedule. Hopefully, though, I won’t go months without uploading again.

Also, the site updated. The only problem I have with it so far is that it took away the ability to stretch the text sizes outside of the set BBCode parameters. What do you guys think about it?

Sorry that this author’s note was so serious. As usual, if I screwed up grammatically, let me know and I’ll fix it.

Thanks for coming back to this story!

~Pyrepinna

Chapter 27: Mightier Than the Sword

“It’s starting,” Reed said softly, walking towards the edge of the building, Cam following close on his heels. Jasmine took a seat and swung her legs over the edge, pulling him down with her and resting her head on his shoulder. A feeling of confusion washed over me. It’s like they’re dating…

Tranquility brushed past me, rubbing against my side softly and startling me. She rolled her disguised eyes and sighed. “Sit with me,” she said. “I don’t want to watch this alone.” I nodded and got to my hooves(paws?), following her to the edge.

When I sat down, the crowd was completely silent and staring in our direction. An involuntary shudder ran down my spine, and I pressed up against Tranquility.

“That’s just a bit creepy,” Cam muttered.

“They aren’t looking at us,” Jasmine said, a disgusted frown manifesting on her face. “They’re looking at her.”

My gaze drifted downward, and my expression morphed to match hers. Ivy had walked out onto a raised platform that had been erected in front of the crowd. She was completely silent, her gaze sweeping passively over the crowd. As far as I could tell, she was waiting for a few Wolves out near the back to finish speaking. From the fact that they were in small booths and had glowing equipment pointed at them, I assumed that they were reporters, likely for the broadcasts Hawkeye mentioned.

After a few more seconds, they turned around, and Ivy cleared her throat, stepping up to the microphone. “My fellow Wolves!” she said firmly, her voice reverberating strongly throughout the area. “I’ve called you here under rather unusual circumstances.”

“Understatement of the century,” Cam muttered softly.

“By know, all of you are bound to have heard something about the events that transpired earlier today,” Ivy continued. “I have no doubt that what you’ve heard is different than what the Wolf standing next to you did. I’m here to clear up the rumors and tell the true tale of the incident.

“Some of you are confused, I can see. You’re wondering why I’m the one out here, why I’m the one who called this address, and why Hawkeye is nowhere to be seen. The reason is quite simple. Hawkeye is dead!”

A full second of silence passed before the crowd exploded with shocked shouts.

I jumped slightly; not from the wave of noise, but the wave of confusion it brought. There was an overlying current of shock, but just below it, a jumbled mess of emotions swirled around. The amount of joy in the crowd was stunning. I actually saw a few Wolves high-fiving and hugging, enthusiastically chattering to each other. Others had smiles on their faces, while some were hiding their enthusiasm behind wide-eyed expressions. I felt my ears start to turn back in disgust.

On the other end of the spectrum, though, were the Wolves who were undeniably devastated by the announcement. I saw a few of them with tears in their eyes, but that was nothing compared to the minority who had taken on a wide-eyed, shell-shocked look of sorrow. Just glancing at their faces sent pangs of sadness through me, so I avoided looking at them. Some of them appeared only slightly sad.

What surprised me the most, though, were the number of Wolves who appeared neutral or confused. While others were consoling their shocked partners or cheering, they were passively staring ahead, sometimes saying something to someone behind them. At first, I thought that they were simply not attached enough to Hawkeye for them to care, but then I realized they just weren’t sure how to react. I could almost see the gears turning in their heads, their thoughts battling for dominance. It took me a moment, but I realized that these Wolves were the ones who had mixed opinions of Hawkeye. Their experiences with him were so varied that they couldn’t decide how to feel.

One thing seemed to be consistent throughout all the Wolves, though. Shouts of “How?!” and “When?!” and “Why?!” floated up from all areas of the crowd as soon as the noise started. Hawkeye was right, I thought. Everyone wants an answer… and Ivy’s got control of it…

Speaking of Ivy, she was watching over the chaos with a sympathetic, neutral expression. She slowly swept her gaze over the crowd, making eye contact with individual Wolves and giving them consoling glances. It was actually a bit surreal. The Ivy I’d see was an evil, psychopathic, equicidal creature, caring for nothing but getting more power and stopping at nothing to get it. This Ivy was the complete opposite of that image. It seemed like she was trying to connect with everyone in the crowd, to soothe their worries, to ease their hurt, to join in with their joy… the effect was profound enough that I felt my heart actually start to go out to her.

I gleaned two things from the reaction. The first thing is that Hawkeye’s rule was seen in two completely different lights by different Wolves, and that the two opinions seemed to be split evenly among them. That implied a whole host of things that I didn’t exactly want to think about at that moment.

The second thing was that everything I’d heard about Ivy was true.

If anything, what I’d heard was understated. Ivy was an undeniable master of manipulation. She’d orchestrated everything to work out perfectly in her favor; even the wild card that was us didn’t slow her down. If anything, it only helped her along, as it caused Hawkeye to reveal that he helped Cam, an incredibly damaging piece of information. And even with that trump card, she exercised enough control to come up with a plan to release it to the public in a way that left Hawkeye with no ground to make his case on! Furthermore, the method of release caused enough confusion that no Wolf was truly sure what happened, but the tale was still clear enough that Ivy could spout her modified version of the events and everyone would believe them. It was just vague enough to work, and she was able to work that out on the fly. And now, she had started the final stages of her plan, and it was too late for us to do anything. A strange combination of dread and awe came over me at the realization of how thoroughly outmatched in terms of wit we were.

“Scary, isn’t it,” I muttered softly, turning towards Tranquility.

“Yeah…” she whispered, but her gaze wasn’t on Ivy. Instead, it was trained towards Hawkeye. I tilted my head to the side and opened my mouth to ask about that, but the crowd quieted down suddenly, drawing my attention back to them.

Ivy had raised a paw into the air, and the whole crowd had fallen silent. However, I could still see the questioning looks in their eyes, their yearning for an answer as to what happened. Unfortunately, Ivy was poised to deliver that answer.

“He passed away this morning,” she continued, making the audience gasp. “He attempted to jump into the Void and was immediately destroyed by a blast of otherworldly energy. It was a terrible fate, and a terrible thing to witness. I’m sure the hundreds of Wolves who saw it occur can confirm that.” A shocked murmur ran through the audience at that statement. Hawkeye himself rolled his eyes and growled softly, glaring down at her. “It was a truly tragic event that I wish could have been prevented,” she said sadly, closing her eyes and sighing. “At this moment, let us all take a moment of silence to honor this Wolf’s life.” A deep and tangible silence fell over the area around us. It was like the sound version of total cave darkness, and it gave me the shivers.

After about seven seconds, Ivy opened her eyes, and her expression hardened significantly, becoming deadly serious. “The loss of a life is always tragic,” she said somberly. “As a member of the Mages, I know that firsthand. I’ve seen my friends die. I lost my mate only four short years ago.” She paused, appearing to compose herself in light of that revelation. “I know exactly how saddening these events can be. I know how you all are feeling, and my heart goes out to you. I know a lot of you loved Hawkeye, and I wish this hadn’t happened.

“I know another thing, though, and this is the most important thing that each and every one of you needs to realize. You can’t let your emotions blind you to reality. I discovered this when I was barely an adult, back when I first joined the ranks of the Mages. My mentor passed away in an unfortunate accident just weeks after I officially went into service. I was heartbroken. I locked myself in my room for days on end, mourning him. He was like a father to me, for crying out loud! I didn’t know what to do. The pain…

“I stayed like that for a week. On the seventh day, someone slipped a piece of paper under my door. It was a summons. I was being called to testify before the Den.” Ivy paused, letting the implications of that statement sink in. “The case? A post-mortem examination of my mentor. He was being tried for the crimes of knowingly revealing himself and collaborating with another sapient species. There was also speculation that he was collaborating with said species, giving them information about our society and helping to prepare them in case they ran into another Wolf!” She paused again, watching as the assembled Wolves gasped and started to whisper to each other. “I couldn’t believe it. I had seen my mentor as being a good Mage, one who was committed to the protection of the multiverse. Our secrecy is integral to that duty, and compromising it would be compromising us. It didn’t seem right to me that he would have willingly done something so potentially disastrous.

“As I reread the summons, I realized that I had three days until I needed to testify. But, I was still confused. I didn’t know what was going on. And so, I resolved to use those three days to figure it out. I packed a satchel with everything I would need and set out.

“My mentor had passed away in the Sordid Wastes, a dimension that the Wolves of the day knew very little about. Our knowledge extended to basic generalization that is was an uninhabitable dusty plain. However, I knew that there must’ve been something to cause the investigation. I wanted to know what that something was.

“Over the course of those three days, I discovered exactly what I didn’t want to. I discovered that there was a sapient, advanced species living there, and that my mentor had been actively communicating with them. It was worse than that, though. He was teaching these creatures to make highly advanced technology, technology that is still classified to this day, in case they ran across a hostile Wolf and needed to defend themselves. At first, I didn’t believe it. My grief swelled up in a bubble around me, trying to shield me from the truth. I wanted to keep the image of my mentor as a virtuous Wolf safe and sound, but as time passed, I realized that I couldn’t, and the bubble broke down. On the third day, I got interviews with a few of the creatures, prepared my testimony… and fixed my mentor’s mistake.

“I delivered a testimony not three hours later that condemned his name to be remembered in infamy, and to this day, I don’t regret it. Some of you might think that’s cruel and heartless, but it was what I needed to do.

“I know it seems strange of me to bring this story up during such a morbid address. To some of you, it’s downright insensitive. Do understand, I brought it up for a reason. I need you to keep your heads straight when I reveal why Hawkeye died. Don’t let your grieving get in the way of clear thinking. Do you understand?” As the crowd murmured it’s assent, Ivy took a deep breath. “There’s really no way to sugarcoat this, so I’m going to say it bluntly.

“My fellow Wolves, Hawkeye betrayed you!”

It didn’t even take a full second before the crowd exploded into shocked shouts once more.

I managed to break my eyes away from the chaos in front of me and turned my gaze to my companions. Reed and Jasmine were staring at Ivy with identical disgusted expressions, looking like they had ordered a meal and gotten a pile of mold instead. Cam had migrated into Reed’s lap and was watching the proceedings with an angry glint in her eyes. I felt something rise within me when I saw that, like some sort of instinct. I felt like I needed to go over and comfort her somehow, and it felt like something incredibly important, but I tried to shake the feeling off. Reed was there, and he could do that if things got worse. But the urge remained…

I don’t think it helped that I knew why she was mad. She was watching Ivy, a person who had played a major part in destroying her life, get exactly what she wanted, and was completely unable to do anything about it. For her, this was a personal thing, like an insult to her very being. She didn’t fully realize exactly what repercussions this would have for the Wolves, and she didn’t really care.

As I glanced over at Hawkeye, I saw something similar, but at the same time, fundamentally different occurring. He wore a deadpan expression, but I could see that he was hurting in his eyes. He too was taking this as a blow to his core, but for different reasons. For him, this was a personal failure. He had failed to detect Ivy’s little plot, even when it was right under his nose, and had dismissed her desire for power as something inconsequential. He didn’t see the full picture until it was too late, and now, he was watching the consequences unfold before his eyes.

That’s what I thought, anyway. I didn’t know him well enough to be sure of that.

Reed and Jasmine were mad for different reasons. They both had known Ivy would pull something like this eventually, and even with that in mind, her plot had still worked. It had apparently been clear even before her mate had died, as evidenced by Jasmine’s knowledge of her. Their frustrations lay with the fact that this could have been prevented if even one person had taken Ivy more seriously. They were watching the ideals they cared about start to crumble down, knowing that they could have stopped it.

And Tranquility…

She just stared straight ahead, a blank, passive look on her face. Her eyes were closed, so I had no way to see her emotions there. Every now and then, her face would twitch slightly, giving me slight hints as to what was going on, but other than that, she could’ve passed for a stone wall with how little she was giving away.

I’d been faced with this situation before; multiple times, in fact. Whenever Tranquility got like this, it meant that something big was going on in her mind. It manifested most frequently back when we were in school, generally after she’d had a really rough day with the bullies. When it happened then, what she really needed was someone by her side, to give her silent reassurance and comfort through those rough thoughts.

This was different than those cases, however.

This time, I didn’t think that she was in a depressed state. When we had entered Paradise, she seemed to be doing fine enough, and I didn’t notice anything that would have thrown her into one. Then again, that didn’t rule out the possibility. The last few hours had been such an emotional stressball that something little might’ve pushed her over the edge. But that possibility seemed unlikely…

In short, I had no idea what was going on or what was causing this.

However, I could still assume that what I’d done in the past would still help her. I tried to stretch my wing out around her, but a sharp jolt of pain reminded me that they were still broken and bound. I froze for a few seconds, trying to hold back a squeak of pain, before I awkwardly scooted closer to her and pressed my side against hers, which was the best I could do at that moment.

For a few moments, we sat there in silence. Then, Tranquility leaned back against me, stretching one of her wings over me (even though I couldn't see it), and I felt a small surge of relief. I gently rested my head on her shoulder and looked out over the city. It felt… nice. Secure. Safe.

And in that moment, I came to terms with how I felt about this coup.

I was scared.

I was scared for us. In the past few hours, I’d learned that (probably) the only reason we were alive was because Hawkeye didn’t actually want us dead. He’d had to keep up a public appearance, so he’d done the bare minimum he could so that no one would question him. He’d know than killing us would’ve been wrong, and had acted accordingly to that.

Ivy had no such qualms. If she knew that we were still alive and at large, she’d send out the Mages with orders to kill us without a second thought. Luckily, as far as we knew, she thought we were dead, safely locked away in Has’rou, but that didn’t eliminate the danger.

If she ever found out that we escaped, our lives would be over. Simple as that.

I was scared for others. Hawkeye was against the policy of killing anyone who came into contact with a Wolf, and I’m sure, with time, would have weakened or even eliminated the laws regarding it. I’m sure the only reason he hasn’t already is because the public would eviscerate him for it, I thought, closing my eyes.

On the opposite end of the spectrum was Ivy. She saw the laws as good. Right. Just. And as a famous pony once said, why fix something that isn’t broken? If she made any changes at all, it would probably be to add safeguards to the law, to make it harder to get rid of.

We’d be affected by a decision like that, for sure. Our lives would be forever in danger, but something like that would affect so much more. Every single creature that met a Wolf in the future would feel its effects… hopefully very briefly. The law might still be repealed eventually, but in the meantime, hundreds, or even thousands of lives would be pointlessly ended.

And that’s only considering one aspect of what she could do.

Swallowing nervously, I looked down toward the still chaotic crowd in front of us. Ivy had resumed her routine of sympathetically making eye contact with individual Wolves, waiting for the courtyard to settle down, to rationalize the revelation they’d heard just moments before.

“And the foundation begins to crumble,” Hawkeye muttered sadly.

After a few more moments, Ivy slowly raised one of her paws into the air. Instantly, the assembled Wolves became silent, turning their gazes towards the podium. I could see their confusion as plain as day, coupled with a need for more information. The exact combination that Ivy needed.

“It’s shocking, I know,” she resumed, sweeping her gaze over the crowd once more. “I can already see denial in some of your faces. To those of you who that applies to, I ask you to hear me out.

“By the time I’ve finished, I can guarantee that you won’t think of your former alpha the same way ever again.”

A small, worried murmur ran through the crowd. Ivy took a deep breath, appearing to compose herself before going forward.

“I suppose I should start at the beginning,” she continued. “Keep in mind, this is only what we know about right now. There could be other things that turn up as we continue to investigate this matter. Earlier, I mentioned that secrecy is a critical part of our role in the multiverse. Remember that; it’s important.

“As far as we can tell, the roots of his betrayals have always been around. Hawkeye has been notorious for some of his beliefs, specifically the ones about some of our laws. He’s opposed killing creatures that come into contact with us in the past, believing that there was a better way. We all thought that that was a political stance and nothing more, myself included, and for the majority of his rule, as far as we can tell, that’s what it was.

“But, in recent years, it’s grown into something else. Something more sinister. Something more dangerous. Something more… action oriented.

“Something that ended up compromising the secrecy of the Wolves on a scale that we have yet to comprehend.”

A shocked set of exclamations ran through the crowd at that, and I felt like I could feel its curiosity ramp up a few degrees. Ivy kept a straight face throughout the outburst, but I imagined that she was smiling on the inside. After a few more seconds, she raised her paw into the air, and the noise level settled down once more. “I ask you to keep your verbal reactions to a minimum,” she continued. “That way, we won’t be here all day.

“I know that claim is shocking. I know that some of you are already rejecting it, thinking that Hawkeye would never do something like that, and maybe you’re right. Maybe his mental state started going downhill as he got older. We have evidence for that, too, but let’s address that later. For now, let’s talk about exactly what happened and how we ended up in this position.

“It started rather inconspicuously. A pair of Civilians started to grow close. They ended up becoming mates, and before long, they had their first pup on the way. Everything seemed to be going perfectly- they had friends and family who supported them, the pregnancy was going smoothly, and they already were making arrangements for the pup to have a nice, easy life…

“Then, one night, around when the female was due to give birth, they vanished without a trace.

“Their neighbors contacted the Protectors after a week where they didn’t see the two Wolves at all. When they arrived on the scene and entered the house, they found... nothing. None of their possessions were missing, nothing seemed out of place, there were even dirty dishes in the sink from their last meal still sitting in the sink! The one thing that seemed a little odd was that there was a faint signature in the air, one that suggested a dimensional rift had opened there recently.

“Now, in a situation like that, there’s a lot to unpack. Where did they go? What caused them to vanish like that? What opened the rift? Was it dangerous? Could it harm other Wolves in the future? It seems like it would make sense to get someone on that case as soon as possible, to help get answers to those questions and assess the risk, right?

“Hawkeye put that case down as the lowest possible priority to get to and shelved it for two years.”

A disapproving mutter rose up from the crowd. “Already, that says something about him,” Ivy went on, ignoring the noise. “Don’t believe me? Check the records. We still don’t know exactly why he did that. Perhaps it’s more proof of his mental faculties crumbling, but that doesn’t matter right now. What does matter is that the anomaly did eventually get investigated.

“Hawkeye put one Mage on the job: Jackson. He was especially skilled in the art of spellcraft, so much so that I couldn’t even match his skill, and I was over ten years older than him! For those of you who don’t know, spellcraft is the art of understanding how magic works. While that means that spellcraft masters can often whip up brand new, excessively creative spells on a whim, it also means they’re good at reconstructing spells from magical residues and signatures left behind when one is cast. The act of opening a rift is technically a spell, so Jackson was the perfect Mage for that job.

“He didn’t fail to deliver. Even after two years of the magical traces fading, he was able to reconstruct the rift after only three days. It surprised all of us, including him. Feeling confident, he entered the dimension that the portal led to and found the two Civilians. He brought them back to Paradise for interrogation and stepped back through the rift, presumably to look for evidence as to what they were doing.

“Minutes later, he was dead.

“Jackson had one problem- he wasn’t very powerful. Normally, he could make up creative, low power spells to compensate for that in a fight, but when confronted with pure brute force, he simply couldn’t keep up. That’s why whenever he got an assignment that could require a battle, he generally brought another Mage along as backup, and that worked fine.

“But this time, he was alone.

“After ten minutes and several flashes of heat coming through the rift, Hawkeye entered the dimension, worried. Seven minutes later, he came back through with his tattered, charred, bloody remains.

“No Mages were in that room when that happened. That account of events came from a Protector that was guarding the room. He had orders to stay where he was. I’m sure that if someone else had gone through the rift, we would have caught onto what actually happened.

“And by that, I mean that the official statement about Jackson’s death was a pile of lies. It stated that in that dimension, he encountered a creature that fit the definition of a dragon, but much, much larger than anything previously encountered. The idea that the Civilians had befriended the dragon and that that was why it didn’t attack them was also floated in it. It went on to say that Hawkeye was able to fend it off to retrieve Jackson’s remains, but had to quickly escape because the dragon was so powerful. And for a while, that story seemed to be legitimate. Most of the details lined up, and so, for years, the story became accepted and forgotten.

“It all started to unravel just over a week ago. Pay attention, everyone, because this is important.”

“Reah saikeiro furae,” Tranquility muttered softly, her wing-hug tightening around me. “Tyarai swo graoi pui kesa jal nidai zauch…”

I stretched my neck up to her cheek and gave her a reassuring nuzzle. “It’s gonna be fine,” I mumbled softly. She sighed softly and rested her head on mine, not responding.

Ivy closed her eyes and sighed. “Another consequence of Jackson’s death was that the dimension he died in was put down as forbidden. Not even the Wanderers could enter it. The official reason listed for that ban was that the dimension was too dangerous, like Varst’poui or Has’rou, but that simply wasn’t the case. One inexperienced Wanderer found that out last week.

“This Wolf had joined the ranks of the Wanderers just days before this happened. He was eager to do his best, to serve our civilization and the multiverse to the best of his ability. He was, and still is, a model of what I’d expect a Wanderer to be.

“His problem is that he was foolish. He didn’t think about some of the decisions he made with the care he should have. On his first day, he ended up jumping into a dimension that nearly got him killed, and even that didn’t tip him off that he should be more cautious. He’s what some of you would call thick-headed.” She paused, almost as if she was expecting some laughs, but none came. “In the end, that thick-headedness alerted us to the worst thing that any Alpha has done in the past thousand years.

“Last week, this Wanderer, not realizing or not caring that the dimension he had locked onto was forbidden, jumped into the same place that Jackson had died. What he found wasn’t some sort of deadly, dangerous place with massive monsters. What he found was a rather peaceful dimension with a whole array of unique flora and fauna. This dimension could have easily been a location for a Wolf city with how life-giving it was!

“But this Wanderer found something else. Something that shocked and appalled him.

“In the location where his portal landed, he found a Wolf pup, one who was engaged in casual conversation with two of the dimension’s natives.”

Gasps ran through the assembled Wolves. I watched some of their mouths drop open in shock, their minds seeming unable to process that information fully, while the rest seemed to be some degree of horrified or surprised. Wow… it’s that big of a shock? I thought, my eyes widening.

“I’m not done,” Ivy said softly. “The Wanderer, being a good, lawful Wolf, started to address and berate the pup for breaking our secrecy laws. The pup, surprisingly, didn’t seem to react to his words at all… almost as if she didn’t care what he said. Then, in accordance with our laws, the Wanderer moved in to kill the natives, to protect our secrecy. He drew his sword, reared back, and swung it at the closest one… only to find his strike blocked by a wall of golden energy. And in that moment, the Wanderer discovered something absolutely shocking.

“The pup that he had found was a Mage, and furthermore, rejected our society’s rules and ideals.”

Ivy thrust her paw out in front of her, and a small tendril of magic blossomed out of it, rising up into the sky. It grew into a flat sheet of golden energy, and upon that sheet, an image formed. It showed Cam in the middle of a fight, caught right in the midst of unleashing a roar of fury. The vine-like patterns on her fur were blazing like a pile of lit thermite, and her eyes were a solid, blazing white. The fuzzy silhouettes of several other figures were visible, including several which looked like the Mages we fought. A bolt of lightning was blasting out of Cam’s paw and striking one, in fact. In the back, I could see thick tree trunks surrounding the scene. It’s the Infinite Forest! I realized. Instantly, I knew exactly when that image was from. I could almost feel my chest start to hurt again…

“Is that me?” Cam whispered. “I look awesome!”

The crowd didn’t think the same way.

Shouts of fear and shock erupted from it, and I actually heard several pups start crying from seeing the image. Almost every Wolf seemed to be quite scared of the image, and for a moment, I didn’t understand why, but then it hit me. They didn’t have magic. Sure, some of them had training with a sword, but that couldn’t do anything against a magical attack. If Cam came after them, there was little that they could do. And Ivy had purposefully chosen a picture that made Cam look ferocious and animalistic to show to the crowd. It was yet another testament to her skill at manipulating a situation, and it made me feel sick.

Ivy closed her paw, and the image faded away. The crowd settled down, once again staring at her. “The Wanderer had discovered the first instance of a rogue Mage in all of Wolf history. This pup firmly believed that we Wolves were an evil, twisted society. She fully believed that we were maniacs, like a cult species, and that we were out to get her. She was wrong on many levels, of course, but that didn’t matter. What did matter is that she was immediately hostile towards the poor Wanderer, and that placed him in a bad situation.

“He did the best possible thing he could’ve. He got out of there as quickly as possible and ran to the Den. They were right in the middle of a meeting when he burst into their chambers, shouting about a rogue Mage. The other Mages and I, as well as Hawkeye, were in that meeting. As soon as the Wanderer stopped gasping for breath and told us what happened, Hawkeye ordered that we go and capture this pup.

“Pay attention to that phrasing. He wanted us to capture this rogue, potentially extremely dangerous Mage. Not kill her. Not make sure that she couldn’t harm any Wolves in the future. But capture her alive and bring her to this city.

“Already, that put Paradise’s entire population at risk, but it had another side effect. Not one of us Mages could utilize anything near our full fighting power when dealing with her. That enabled this Mage to fight back against us, and fight she did. In almost every encounter I had with her, some sort of blows were exchanged, and she proved to be powerful and resourceful.

“So powerful, in fact, that she was able to do the unthinkable.

“I’m sure that what happened could have been easily prevented if we’d been allowed to use the full extent of our powers, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Because of Hawkeye’s instructions, this rogue Mage was able to kidnap one of our own, Reed.”

Another wave of gasps swept through the crowd, with every single Wolf showing some degree of horror at that revelation. Fearful whispers began to permeate the air, and I didn’t need to know exactly what they were saying to know that it wasn’t good.

“That’s right,” Ivy continued, her voice cutting through and silencing the noise. “And not only that, but the Mage managed to make his magic inaccessible to him, leaving him virtually helpless against not only her, but the dangers of the multiverse.

“That’s important. We chased this rogue through many incredibly dangerous dimensions, including a dimension composed almost entirely of matter that was as hot as the cores of stars, one that can freeze a Wolf in under an hour, one that poisoned anyone that was in it, one composed of one of the most dangerous flammable materials out there, and even the Sentient Vines. One time, we found them locked in battle with an entire race of creatures who had lethal magic-like abilities.

“You might be thinking to yourselves right now: ‘Them? But I thought Reed couldn’t use his Magic!’ You’d be right. I say ‘them’ because the rogue had two non-Wolves with her; natives of the dimension she was found in.

“Reed was incredibly lucky to have even survived that ordeal. That doesn’t mean he made it out wholly okay, though.

“I’m not sure exactly what the Mage did to him while she had him captive. All I know is that when we caught up to the group just a few hours ago, he had his magic back. He then proceeded to attack the other Mages and I, surprising us enough that he was able to take the rogue and her companions and escape.”

Ivy paused, almost as if she was expecting another outburst, but none came. Every single Wolf was staring straight ahead with wide, horrified eyes. Several of the pups that looked to be about Cam’s age appeared to be on the verge of tears. Unfortunately, I knew exactly why.

One enemy they couldn’t fight back against was bad enough. What about a second, stronger one?

I knew the truth. Cam or Reed would never attack any of the Wolves here (or anywhere), but the Wolves didn’t know that. Ivy was presenting what happened in a way that could only be interpreted badly. We were made out to be the bad guys, the evil ones… the monsters. Everything about her speech was tailor-made to push that image, and it worked. Listening to her, I almost felt scared of Cam, and I knew for a fact that she wasn’t like that.

The worst thing about it, though, was the fact that nothing she had said was technically untrue, as far as I knew. If any Wolf were to go looking into the matter for themselves, the details would line up. Unless they actually found us somehow, they would believe everything she had said.

And we could do nothing about that. These Wolves, when Ivy was done, would probably all be terrified of us if they ever saw us. She wasn’t even done, and they were scared speechless!

It was enough that I just wanted to break down completely.

“I can see it in your faces,” Ivy said. “You’re shocked and appalled, not just because of the Mage, but because of me. ‘This happened this morning!’ you’re thinking. ‘Why aren’t you out there trying to stop them? With every second you waste, they could be getting closer to attacking us!’ You’re right in that assumption, but fortunately, I have a good reason for not pursuing them.

“Reed, the two non-Wolves, and the rogue Mage are no more.”

I could see the crowd visibly relax, a few sighs of relief making their way to my ears. Ivy nodded softly, a small smile stretching over her face. “Or at least, no longer a threat.

“The Mage forgot to account for everything. In magic, there’s something known as a magic signature. It permeates any sort of spells that a Wolf casts. It can be used as an identifying feature, sort of like how a strand of fur can be used to identify a Wolf. Every single Wolf has one, and we Mages use them in our missions quite often.

“In rare cases, we use it to pinpoint the exact location of Wolves in the multiverse. Now, a magic signature takes time to get. It’s not like a code, where you can just read it off and recite it. No, it’s much more complex, with multiple layers, several types of magic, and even a sort of magical encryption worked in.

“I’d been working my way towards acquiring the rogue’s magic signature during our pursuit of her, but in the end, I didn’t need to. All Wolves have a signature, after all. And as a requirement for our job, all the Mages have to have each other’s signatures memorized.

“Whatever the rogue did to Reed to block his magic also blocked his signature from being usable, but when she removed the barrier, it became accessible again. So, when he fled to another dimension, I was able to instantly know where they were.

“And then the chase was on. In under a minute, we hopped through five dimensions. Reed undoubtedly realized what was happening, and I began to grow worried. He wasn’t stupid. He would know exactly how to make his signature unusable again. And it seemed like my fears were justified. When I entered the fifth dimension, I heard him shout ‘Do it in the next one!’

“And then, the best possible thing happened.

“I’m fairly sure it was an accident. No sane Wolf would have ever done what he did purposefully. But accident or not, it was a blessing. It resolved the problem in a better way than I ever could have, and saved the Wolf society from danger.

“Reed jumped into Has’rou, pulling the non-Wolves and the rogue with him.” A few soft gasps were heard, and I saw a bunch of Wolves’ eyes widen.

“I almost jumped in too, but I caught myself before I opened the rift. Immediately, I called the other Mages to me, and we headed back to Paradise.

“You might be wondering the same thing I was: How could all of this happen?” A few Wolves nodded. “Nothing, and I repeat, nothing even remotely similar has ever happened in the history of the Wolves. In all honesty, this shouldn’t have ever occurred.

“When I got back to Paradise, I received an answer. It would be an understatement to say that it was not what I was expecting.

“Let’s back up for a moment. About three years ago, I realized something. Our system of government had a major flaw: the Alpha wasn’t accountable. We, the lesser Wolves, had no way to know if he or she had our best interests in mind, if he or she was sound of mind, or if he or she was planning something sinister. That was a major problem in my eyes, and it didn’t sit well with me at all. In response, I did something borderline treasonous.

“I planted a magical spying bug of my own design right in Hawkeye’s bedchambers.

“It was designed to pick up his voice and send it to a small storage center I’d hidden in another dimension, to let us know if he was muttering things under his breath that could hint at something bad. I’m fully aware of what a terrible thing to do that was, but I felt it had to be done.

“For years, I got nothing significant. He’d say things to himself, but those were harmless little thoughts. Every now and then, he’d get angry about something, but once again, it was just little things, like a court trial he was appalled at or a book series doing something he didn’t like. Let’s be honest, who wouldn’t be mad at those sorts of things?

“I thought it was a testament to his leadership that even in private, he wouldn’t say anything incriminating or insulting. It turns out, that stuff was lurking just beneath the surface, waiting for the right thing to set it loose.

“Flash forward to this morning. I got back to my chambers, summoned the storage center to me, and began to replay the last week of Hawkeye’s private conversations.

“Instantly, I heard this. It answers almost every question I had about this situation. Prepare yourselves, because you’re not going to like this.” She thrust out her paw, and a straight line of magic shot up into the sky. It began to vibrate, and the recording Hawkeye told us about began to play.

There was something different about it, though. Hawkeye had told us exactly what he said when he was explaining what happened back in Quaa’st. If he was to be believed, this version was edited.

“Why?!” it played. “Why did they have to find her?! Why couldn’t she have just lived a normal life?! Why couldn’t she have stayed hidden, safe in her safe world?!” A snapping sound echoed through the space around us, followed by a crash. “Stupid… That was stupid, Hawkeye. Sixty-eight years old and still throwing tantrums like a pup… it was surprisingly therapeutic, though. I should vent like that more often. But the question remains… why did they have to find her? She didn’t deserve what we put her through. We took that poor girl’s parents away from her and tried to take her, too… and forced her to kill someone. All because of the STUPID laws we have to follow, written ten millennia ago by xenophobic, secretive morons. And I tried to help her by letting her go five years ago, without the Den’s knowledge, but now, I have to send the Mages after her, just to save face…”

A moment of pure silence followed before Ivy sighed. “And the pieces start to fall into place…

“For those of you confused as to what that means, allow me to enlighten you. It means that Hawkeye lied about Jackson’s death. It means he sided with a rogue Mage, one who showed no hesitation about literally ripping a Wolf to pieces. It means he let this Mage run free in a dimension with sapient creatures, not only risking the crucial secrecy of the Wolves, but also endangering all of you!

“And most importantly, it shows that he despised the laws regarding our secrecy, showing that not only did he have no regrets about what he had done, but he would do it again.”

Another moment of silence passed; then the atmosphere shifted from scared to furious. And then the growls started.

First, it was one Wolf, then it was two, and it spread from there. A low, rumbling growl spread through the air, rising in intensity. This wasn’t a playful growl, either. This was the kind of growl I’d heard from timberwolves; the one that says “I’m angry and I will hurt you.” These Wolves were furious, and it was absolutely terrifying. I felt my fur stand on end, I pressed closer to Tranquility, my heart rate rising.

Not all of the Wolves were growling, though. A good portion of them, probably a fourth of the whole crowd, were in disbelief. They looked like they didn’t want to believe what they just heard, grasping at straws to hold onto how they saw Hawkeye before. They had a lost, sad, shocked look in their eyes, sort of like a puppy who had just been abandoned on the side of the road.

I was shocked, too. I didn’t expect Ivy to manipulate the recording when the original would have easily sufficed. Just like everything else in the speech, though, it was molded to push across her message. She cut out the parts about Cam’s age and the trauma just to make her look more like a monster, and by extension, make Hawkeye look like a monster for siding for her. And the editing was meticulous. It sounded like she went in and adjusted the pitches of Hawkeye’s voice to make the edited parts sound more natural. She’s pulling no punches, I thought.

And apparently, going the extra mile payed off. The sheer level of rage in the air was enough to make me feel unsafe just from being near it. I could tell Tranquility was feeling it too; I felt her breathing quicken significantly, and her wing hug tightened even more. I was certain the others were being affected as well.

The atmosphere of hate just reinforced how screwed we were.

“Your anger is justified!” Ivy yelled over the noise. It started to quiet down, but the aggression remained. “I feel it too! I’m absolutely horrified that our Alpha, the Wolf we trusted to lead us, would betray us in such a horrific way! I almost can’t believe it!

“But unfortunately, it’s exactly what happened. As soon as I learned about it, I gathered up the other Mages, and we went to do what needed to be done. The Wolves couldn’t have a leader who was willing to do something like that. We went to confront him and remove him from the throne.

“And I’m sure you all have heard some version of what happened next. Hawkeye and the Mages fought in the halls of the palace, the battle coming to a head when we broke our way into this very courtyard in front of a crowd. There, I told the congregation an abridged version of the events, Hawkeye jumped into the void, and that brings us to now.

“We don’t know exactly why Hawkeye did what he did. Maybe he was starting to have issues in the head in his old age. His temper flared up rather dramatically, and what sane Wolf would ever side with a murderer, especially one who’s been proven to be vicious?! Maybe he wanted this society to fall. Or maybe, and this is the scary option, he did what he believed was right. If that’s the case, then who knows what other terrible things he could’ve done while in office?

“Why he did it doesn’t necessarily matter. What does matter is how his actions could have affected you. You could have died from this! Your pups could’ve died from this! I don’t think I even need to say anything else to show how horrible this decision was!” The Wolves started to growl again.

“And this isn’t limited to Paradise,” Ivy continued, her voice cutting through the sounds with ease. “Every Wolf city could have been affected by this! Paradise is the most heavily fortified one. The Mages live here, the Protectors patrol the streets regularly, and the Wanderers’ main complex is in the palace. If the rogue had come here, we would’ve had at least some of a chance.

“Imagine what would have happened if she had gone after anywhere else.”

As the growls continued to rise once more, Ivy didn’t silence them. Instead, she started nodding, a dead serious expression on her face. “Even with the threat neutralized, we could still be affected! That pup was left alone for years and was found conversing with non-Wolves! She could have communicated with hundreds, maybe thousands of others! And if they told their friends, and they told their friends, then soon enough, a whole dimension could know about our existence! And if they know how to cross realities… the Wolves could be in some serious trouble!

“And it’s only through sheer luck that we discovered this! If only a few things had gone differently, you could all still be under this terrible threat! That thought is one of the scariest things I’ve ever heard, straight out of a nightmare, and it’s not even a thought! It’s real life!

“And WHO caused this?!” Ivy yelled, leaning over the podium she stood at and sweeping her eyes over the crowd. “WHO put you all at risk?! WHO endangered and possibly compromised our very society?! WHO sided with a psychopath and then did the BARE MINIMUM to stop said psychopath so that he could ‘save face?!’

“I’ll TELL you who! It was the Wolf who we trusted to lead us! To guide our society with wisdom and care! We praised him for his work! We loved him! And he turned around and did THIS to us!”

Ivy paused, closing her eyes and taking several deep breaths, appearing like she was calming herself. The growls started to die out, with every single eye being trained on her. After a few seconds, she reopened her eyes and sighed.

“If that doesn’t spell out betrayal, I don’t know what does.”

Not even a full second passed before the audience roared with anger.

A cold feeling of despair settled in my stomach as the jeers went on. I’d known it was coming- we all did- but that didn’t make the moment suck any less. Ivy had succeeded in every possible definition of the word. Even if we were alive and Ivy had no reason to suspect that was the case, we still were in trouble. If for any reason at all she suspected we were still alive, we’d have to start running once more. And there’d be nothing to stop her from killing us on the spot this time.

And that wasn’t all. I’d just watched Cam, the Wolf who went through Tartarus with us and who I had grown incredibly close to, get eviscerated in a horrible way. She’d watched her image cause pups to start crying. The crowd had been relieved to hear that she was dead. She wasn’t showing anything, but I couldn’t imagine what that was doing to her seven-year-old mind, especially after the ordeal she’d been put through.

I shuddered softly, pressing up against Tranquility. “Well, that’s that,” I muttered softly.

“Yeah,” she said back, sighing defeatedly.

Ivy let the crowd yell for thirty more seconds before raising a paw, cutting the din off. “But fortunately, we did find out. The threat has been neutralized, for the most, and we can move forward. I know that some of you are worried about how we’ll recover, how we’ll figure out exactly how bad this situation is, and how we’ll choose a new Alpha.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m the best Wolf to go to for that information.” A few cries of protest were heard from the crowd, but Ivy waved her paw dismissively. “I do have someone here who’s much better suited for those things, though. Please welcome Amber, head and spokesperson of the Den, to the microphone.”

A smatter of polite applause floated up from the assembled Wolves as Ivy stepped off of the podium and a petite, grey-pelted Wolf took her place. She appeared to be a bit older than Ivy, with visible wrinkles around her eyes and streaks of silver running through her neatly-styled hair. My mind instantly jumped to the Mayor of Rockville, with Amber’s stern, kind look reminding me of him.

“Hello, Wandering Wolves,” Amber said strongly, her voice reverberating through the courtyard. “I don’t think I need to elaborate on the terrible things that Hawkeye did. Ivy did an excellent job at explaining that situation, and I feel like you don’t need me to reiterate the impacts of his actions.

“What you don’t know, though, is the steps that we’re taking to fix and control the damage done. I’ll do my best to fill you in on that front. Hopefully, it’ll be enough to undo this catastrophe.

“The Den has assumed all of the Alpha’s responsibilities until a new one can be appointed. This includes command of the Wanderers, control of the Mages, the approval of new laws, and executive ability to issue emergency legislation. I can assure you that we are taking full advantage of these abilities.

“The Wanderers have been placed on high alert to look for any mention of the Wolves in any place in the multiverse. A good portion, about half, have been ordered to supervise any dimensions with civilized or sapient creatures specifically for that purpose. If they hear anything at all, they will immediately report it to the Den, and we will take the appropriate action. If, in fact, the creatures that the rogue Mage was found among can actually cross dimensions, we will know.

“We have the Mages doing several different things. Ash has been dispatched to the dimension where the pup was found to seek out and neutralize any creatures who know about the Wolves. He’s going to find out the true extent of the problem and report it back to us. I’m hoping it’s not as bad as it could be, but you never know.

“Willow and Cypress are currently combing through Hawkeye’s possessions and personal spaces and magically analyzing them. They’re doing that for a couple reasons. The first is to look for evidence of any other secret things Hawkeye has done, to see if there’s any other disasters we need to be worried about. The second is to look for any reason he would have felt it necessary to do this. We’re doing our best to solve these mysteries, and as soon as we have answers, I can promise that the public will know.

“Ivy is going to be assisting the Den with any major decisions regarding this occurrence. She’s got much-needed experience in dealing with the rogue, and we need that to move forward.

“Among other things, the Den will be crafting a formal process and policy regarding removing an Alpha from the throne. It may be a rare occurrence, but if the Wolves end up with an Alpha that doesn’t have our best interests in mind, we need a way to fix that without a violent coup taking place. While it may have been the right thing to do, the fight this morning was not an experience that we want to repeat.

“As for the process of choosing a new Alpha, that’s a bit more complicated. Usually, an Alpha will name a successor before he passes, one who he or she feels would be the best choice for leading the Wolves. If he or she is unable to do that, the throne will then go to his or her’s eldest offspring.

“Neither of those scenarios are applicable to this situation, and even if the first one did apply, that choice would be thrown into serious doubt because of these revelations. That being said, the process for appointing a new Alpha is a bit more complicated than usual.

“The Den will have heavy deliberations as to who will be the best choice to take us forward. We’ll be taking input from the public and consulting many, many Wolves on their opinions. This process could take two weeks or a year, but no matter how long it takes, I can assure you this.” Amber leaned forward slightly, her eyes narrowing.

“We will not let something like this happen again. Whoever we choose to lead the Wandering Wolves will be a sound-minded, intelligent, reasonable individual, one who will defend us from threats, not create them. This Wolf will understand the importance of our laws and the importance of their actions.

“This Wolf will make sure we stay on the right path. And I can assure you that it will not be a Wolf like Hawkeye, probably someone on the opposite of the spectrum.

“Hawkeye’s philosophy has proven to be dangerous. We won’t let someone dangerous lead us, I can promise that. Have a nice rest of your day.” She stepped away from the microphone and nodded sharply, turning around and stepping off the podium.

The cheers and shouts that followed were deafening.

They only reinforced the feeling of dread in my bones.

Author's Note

First of all, I would like to apologize for taking so long to get this out. I had a bit more life to deal with than I expected, and this was a long, frustrating chapter to write. The process went something like this:

Ooh! I wrote a detail! Did I get detail right? (Proceeds to reread several chapters in order to make sure.)

Yeah... not too fun.

But yeah! Evil doggo did an evil and our heroes couldn't do anything about it. More on that in the next chapter, which hopefully won't take as much time to write.

Thestral Language Guide

As usual, if I screwed up grammatically, then let me know in the comments and I'll fix it.

Thank you so much for coming back to this story!
~Pyrepinna

Side note, why is foreign music so good to write with?

Chapter 28: Weh Pourehasti du Quri Surai...

Fear. Defeat. Uncertainty.

That’s a combination of feelings most Equestrian’s aren’t used to. We live in a (relatively) safe nation, with powerful protectors making sure that any threats are dealt with. Famine is unheard of. We control the weather, after all. Because everyone has a talent, there’s almost always a job for everyone, so money troubles aren’t widespread. Don’t get me wrong, they’re present, Tranquility’s an example of that, but they’re significantly less of a problem than in other nations, like Griffonstone.

I’d certainly never felt the pressures of stuff like that. I’d grown up in luxury, with food being plentiful and money not being something I had to worry about. When I’d graduated high school, a job opportunity had basically presented itself to me. Sure, I’d had individual moments of sorrow and strife, but nothing that lasted.

I felt all of that change as the Wolves started cheering.

During Ivy’s speech, I’d been subconsciously holding on to some vestige of hope, the last strings of a fraying rope that was the notion that we were going to be fine, that something was going to save the day, that the Wolves were going to spot the flaws in Ivy’s speech, that somehow, maybe, everything would turn out for the best. It was a stupid thought, but still, I’d clung to it, and I knew that the others had been too. It was like alohaidurast. Our minds knew that there was no hope, but our hearts didn’t.

As the speech ended, that hope was crushed, and our minds and hearts became one once more.

There was no going back from what had just happened. All of the Wolves had heard Ivy’s speech, Ivy’s version of things, and even if they hadn’t, word of it would reach their ears soon enough. There wouldn’t be a soul who would object to harsher laws regarding non-Wolves or more measures to make sure they remained secret. And if we were ever found out… there wouldn’t be any opposition to our cold-hearted murders.

We’d failed in a battle we didn’t even know we were a part of. Tranquility, Cam, and I started out this whole mess with the goal of getting out alive. Thoughts of other things weren’t present in our minds. Our lives were on the line, and that was all that mattered at the time. Slowly, things got more complicated, but that was still our primary focus. In the end, we gave our enemy exactly the information she needed to put others through the same thing we went through. We made it out alive, but we didn’t make it out okay.

“It’s over,” Hawkeye said sadly, standing up slowly, and I found that I couldn’t agree more.

“I don’t believe it,” Reed whispered softly, his eyes wide. “Half a century of good, safe prosperity under your rule, and they turn on you just like that?”

“You heard what Ivy said,” Cam mumbled. “It was like we were gonna kill them all! Why wouldn’t they be scared of that?” Tensing up, she turned towards me and Tranquility, fear in her eyes. “You don’t think I’d do that… right?”

“Of course not!” Before I could even think about it, I’d moved forward and swept her into a tight hug. I felt Tranquility move beside me, extending a wing over the both of us. “Nothing she said was true, okay? It was bogus. Completely and utterly bogus.”

“Right,” she muttered. “Then…” Even though she trailed off, I knew what she was about to say.

‘Why?’

“Try not to think too much about it,” Tranquility whispered quitely. “Some people will stop at nothing to get what they want. Even… even if it means trampling over others to do so. You just happened to be in the way. We all were.” She sighed, bowing her head “I’m just so, so sorry that you had to deal with that…”

“I’ll second that notion,” Reed said. “She was ruthless. You could tell she was dead-set on having everyone walk away with a specific takeaway.”

“Too true,” Hawkeye muttered. “Did you hear that? ‘This is only what we know right now. We don’t know how far the damage extends.’ All of that was meticulously crafted to be as fear-inducing as possible, and she even went as far as to change what I said. Cam’s right. Why shouldn’t they be afraid?”

“That doesn’t matter,” Jasmine said. “What’s done is done. We need to focus on what we’re gonna do now.”

“C-can… can we go home?” Cam whispered softly, looking up at me. “She doesn’t know we’re alive. Can we just go back to what it was like before? I don’t wanna deal with this anymore...”

I felt a sinking feeling in my heart before we even answered the question.

“No,” Reed whispered sadly.

“Why not?” Cam said, her ears turning back slightly.

“Ash is going to be there,” Hawkeye said curtly. “If he sees you, or any of us for that matter, any remote chance that you had at living a normal life goes straight out the door. He’s going to be on especially high alert, too. Going back home is going to be impossible.”

Cam didn’t respond, but I felt her press a little more against my chest, a small tremble running through her body.

“What are we gonna do now?” I asked, looking towards Reed.

“I… I don’t know,” he said softly, breaking his gaze away from mine. “I’m not sure what we can do. Wolves are everywhere in the multiverse, and even if we jump into a dimension that they haven’t found yet, they’re going to eventually.” He sighed quietly, closing his eyes. “I just don’t think we can hide out for long.”

“You’re right about that,” Tranquility grumbled. “We’re screwed six ways to sunday.”

Cam let out a small snort of laughter. “Where did that come from?” she asked, a small spark of amusement returning to her voice.

“Immature teenagers, most likely,” she replied.

“I’m gonna use that now,” she said before pressing against me again. “I just hope I get the chance to…”

A rush of sadness shot through me. That last bit didn’t sound like it was meant for anyone else to hear, but it said a lot.

It was easy to forget she was only seven…

I gave her a gentle squeeze and sighed softly, not saying anything.

“It’s over,” Hawkeye said quietly. “There’s too much going against me.” He turned back towards the open courtyard, watching the Wolves filter out of the exit. “You heard them. You saw them. I certainly did. The ones who support me… who like me, are a minority, and even they’re uncertain of that.” He sighed, looking back towards us. “I couldn’t see a single calm face in the crowd by the end of that. My supporters were effectively cowed by end of that, cowed into going along with that anger. That means that they’ll be afraid to express their views in public, too… making it borderline impossible for my reputation to recover.

“We’re going to have to hide. I’ll find a dimension that Wanderers almost never go into and the Mages have no reason to visit. Once we stake out a spot to stay, I’ll throw up wards, powerful ones that’ll leave us virtually undetectable… and we’ll build a new life.

“Our old lives are effectively gone. We can’t go back. The only thing we can do is move forward and make a new start. I’ll make sure we’re safe. It’s the least I can do after effectively putting you through this mess.”

I felt Cam’s body start to shake a little.

“It’s not the best sounding solution out there,” he continued, despite our defeated silence, “but it’s the best one we have-”

“Bull.”

Hawkeye froze up, a surprised look etched into his face. “I’m sorry?” he whispered softly.

“That’s bull, plain and simple.” Jasmine slowly stood up and walked towards him. “I’d think you’d know why, but that’s apparently not the case, giving your interpretation of what just happened. I’m surprised that you think so little of your subjects!”

“Jasmine, I know that you’re optimistic- and I’m glad to see that hasn’t changed, even with your ordeal- but you need to think more in reality,” Hawkeye chastised. “This is one of the only favorable options we have!”

“That’s bunk!” Jasmine retorted. “Your view of how those Wolves reacted is so far off from the truth, and you’re basing that answer on it! Do you want to know what I saw?”

“Enlighten me,” Hawkeye said, one eyebrow raised.

“I didn’t see a set of individuals down there,” she said. “I saw a mob. Ivy stirred up the atmosphere and polluted it with so much fear and hatred that it was almost impossible to not react the way they did. I felt the pull of anger during that. I started to doubt my preconceptions of what happened, and I had to actually remind myself that Reed wouldn’t have sided with Cam for no reason! I know that he was feeling the effects as well, and he’s the one who shouldn’t have at all!”

Hawkeye rolled his eyes. “You can’t tell me that that wasn’t a clear message that I’m not-”

“That was mob mentality, not rational thought!” Jasmine yelled, cutting him off once more. “They were going with the flow and weren’t really thinking about it! They got caught in the moment! I’m shocked that you can’t recognize that!

“Do you know what’s going to happen now? They’re going to go home. For days, this speech is going to be the talk of the nation, and no Wolf will be able to go a day without hearing something about it. That means that it will be on the forefront of everyone’s minds.

“Now, that’s important because your Wolves are a lot smarter than you give them credit for. At some point, they’re going to start realizing things about that address. Why was there so much focus on things that could happen, for instance, instead of things that did happen? Why was there a lack of information about the rogue, with the only thing being said about her being ‘She’s dangerous, and she will kill your children!’? Why would Hawkeye do such a thing?

“Slowly, as they begin to think about it, things will start to unravel. It doesn’t even have to be by much. All there needs to be is a little seed of doubt, and that will stay there for as long as it needs to. This isn’t the perfect scenario that Ivy wants it to be. It could all come undone with just a little trigger.”

“How d-do you know?” Cam whispered softly.

A soft sigh floated up from Jasmine’s lips. “Because I’ve seen this sort of mob mentality before. I was sent to monitor a dimension that’s creatures had public killings. I’d watch as friends and family cheered on a close relative’s decapitation, and later, they’d regret their decision. It was harrowing to watch, but it gave me a perspective on an aspect of psychology I’d never seen before. I’d never expected it to manifest in Paradise, though…”

“You… may be right,” Hawkeye said grudgingly. “Even so, what are we going to do? Just because something is more favorable doesn’t mean that it’s automatically a good situation.”

“Become the trigger,” Reed said softly, his eyes widening slightly.

“Exactly,” Jasmine confirmed with a curt nod.

“What?” I asked, tilting my head in confusion.

“If Wolves start to realize what actually happened instead of being convinced of Ivy’s version of the events, we’ll be able to start organizing something against her that has support behind it,” Reed said slowly, his voice growing more and more enthusiastic as he went on. “Furthermore, if Hawkeye retakes the throne, there won’t be as much hatred towards him, if any at all. And the best part is, the seeds for this are already there!”

“Yep,” Jasmine said smugly. “Ivy planted them herself.”

“All we need to do is set this… chain reaction of sorts off and help guide it?” I asked.

“Bingo,” Reed and Jasmine said simultaneously.

“We’ve got two trained Mages, an untrained one, and an Alpha,” she stated confidently. “Even if I need to catch up on some things, and even if Cam needs to be trained more, there’s still not a better group than us to do this. The Wolves look up to us naturally, so convincing them will be a bit easier.

“We need to do this, too. We already know that Ivy was willing to trample anyone, regardless of their well being, to get to this spot. That was obvious even before I vanished. Now that she’s likely going to end up in a position of power, she’ll waste no time in making things how she thinks they ought to be, once again paying no heed to how others are affected. This is going to affect the multiverse on a large scale, and not in a good way. That’s why, in addition to your theory being complete and utter bunk, sitting around and hiding away isn’t an option.”

Hawkeye was silent for a some time. “Say you’re right,” he said, his speech slow and hesitant, “and this is the right thing to do. What’s the first step?”

“Wait.”

“Excuse me?” he said, seeming a little appalled.

“The things Jasmine mentioned aren’t instantaneous,” Tranquility said softly. “They’ll require time to take effect.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t be doing useful things in the meantime, though,” Jasmine quickly added. “We can use it to formulate a course of action, for starters. We can also start to train Cam, just in case things come to the point where we need to fight.”

“I… see,” Hawkeye grumbled unhappily. “I assume that we’ll still be hiding for a time, then.”

“Yep, and it’d be great if you set up those wards you were talking about earlier,” Jasmine said.

“Of course,” he said curtly.

“Does… does that m-mean I might be able to go home?” Cam whispered quietly, lifting her head off my chest and glancing at Tranquility.

She smiled. “I can’t say yes, but there’s a definite possibility,” she answered.

Cam didn’t respond, but I felt the small tremors that had been wracking her body start to cease.

“If training’s the thing we have in mind, the Infinite Forest would be a great place,” Reed said. “It’s got all sorts of things.”

“I agree,” Jasmine said quickly.

“So we’re doing this?” Tranquility asked.

Hawkeye paused for a second. “At the moment, I don’t see a better option,” he said, “so yes. Infinite Forest it is, then.” And with that, a thin black line whipped out from his paw, enveloping the five of us before we could blink.

I can confirm that dimensional travel isn’t something that one wants to experience while startled and stressed. Even with that added discomfort, though, a small glimmer of hope started to bloom in my chest.

Author's Note

Guess who's still alive?

Yep, that's right. New chapter! Things are developing and starting to wrap the first arc to a close. We'll soon be moving into calmer waters, folks. Hold onto your seats for just a little longer.

I hope this chapter elaborated on some characters well, though. I've got big plans for development and things, and I'm trying to set that up.

I'm just mostly satisfied that I got to use the word "bunk" in one of my stories.

Once again, I'd like to apologize for this chapter taking so long to get out. I wish I could say that it was my work again, but it wasn't this time. To be honest, it was more that I had a sudden lack of motivation to write this chapter. It took a little bit of a push to get me to write, and I'm not entirely happy with how this turned out, but it's better than nothing at all.

I just hope it's better than Chapter 25 was. Reading that makes me cringe.

But anyway, I hope that you guys had a good time reading this. As always, if I messed up grammatically or with punctuation, comment and I'll fix it. Comments in general are appreciated, too, and I love any and all feedback that you guys give me.

Thanks for coming back!

~Pyrepinna

Chapter 29: Realizations

A familiar musty smell filled my nose as soon as we dropped out of the rift, setting my heart beating at a slightly faster pace. Small tingles ran through my chest, faint remnants of my last memory of this place, but I ignored them.

I became much more preoccupied with the fact that we were falling.

I tried to open my wings, but a spark of pain reminded me once more that they were still broken and bound. A small, strangled squeak wormed its way out of my throat as branches began to whip past the edges of my vision, air beginning to roar in my ears. A quick glance downward announced that the ground was over twenty feet below me, sending a jolt of adrenaline through my veins.

Before I could really comprehend what was happening, though, I felt my velocity decreasing, and a soft, golden glow tainted my vision. In seconds, we lightly touched down on the forest floor.

“Sorry about that,” Hawkeye said softly, a golden glow surrounding his paws fading away. “Force of habit.”

“What?!” Tranquility gasped, her eyes wide.

“Reed, Jasmine, we need to set up wards,” he said curtly, completely ignoring her. “Help me.” He paused, looking towards us. “Cam, non-Wolves… do whatever, I don’t care.”

A small burst of indignation ran through me, but I didn’t say anything. Instead, as they walked to the edges of the clearing, I rolled my eyes and sat down, taking in our surroundings.

We’d emerged in a different spot of the forest than the one we were previously in. Here, the trees were denser, but the trunks were a little thinner than the other ones. The branches weren’t any shorter, though, and they wove together, forming a thick mesh of wood and leaves that replaced the sky above us. As a result, the amount of light that filtered through the canopy was drastically reduced, throwing the area into a sort of perpetual twilight.

That had some interesting effects of its own. The types of flora that were present were substantially different than the first location. There, flowers and other daytime plants were more common, making it look more like a rainforest. Here, strange fungi-like structures ruled the biosphere, with flowers being few and far between. It seemed that the fauna had changed too, as I swore I could hear crickets.

There were some things that hadn’t changed at all, the smell being one of them. I could also feel that the humidity was still overwhelming, almost like I was in a poorly constructed sauna. We had landed in another clearing, too. It seemed like Hawkeye had the foresight set us near another creek as well, as I could hear running water somewhere nearby.

Those things, combined with the adrenaline of our sudden drop, made me a little shaky. I sat down, my heart rate speeding up marginally. It felt like Ivy and the others were going to step out from behind a tree at any moment, and the chase was going to resume again. It didn’t feel… real that it might be over.

My heart grew heavy with that thought. Even though we were no longer being actively pursued, we’d still lost a battle. Ivy had gotten away with trying to kill us and made off like a bandit with exactly what she wanted. A small pang of guilt ran through me as it hit me that I had been a factor in that victory. She’d used my image as a means to get that crowd riled up and against Hawkeye. That… hurt. Badly. She’d tried to kill me, and still had the ability to get away with manipulating that for her purposes. I let out a soft sigh and shook my head, trying to rid my head of those thoughts, but it didn’t work.

And then the flashes started.

Golden bursts of light began to flicker through the clearing as Hawkeye, Jasmine, and Reed began to throw up the wards, and a faint golden barrier began to spread outwards, past the clearing and into the woods beyond. In a way, it was beautiful- a great show of coordination and teamwork, even in the wake of what we’d just been through, combined with a cool light show.

My heart didn’t see it that way.

As soon as the flashes began to flicker through the clearing, my fear shot through the roof, and my chest started to physically hurt. I felt like I should bolt, like I should run away as fast as I could and hide, and it took everything I had to keep myself in place. My breathing sped up to the point where I was hyperventilating. I started to become light-headed, and that only made my fear worse, and I started to panic-

And then a set of leathery wings wrapped around me, blocking my vision. “Close your eyes and try to breathe,” Tranquility whispered urgently, shifting her body so that I could press my face into her chest.

I did. As soon as I couldn’t see the flashes, I started to calm down, and my head started to clear. After about thirty seconds, I was back in working order.

I started to pull my head away, but she tightened her grip on me. “Don’t look up just yet,” she said. “They’re not done.”

“Okay,” I said shakily. On a whim, I extended my own forelegs and wrapped them around her. “Thank you… how did you know what to do?”

“I’ve been on the receiving end of what just happened to you so many times that it would be amazing if I didn’t know how to help someone who’s having a panic attack,” she said. “I should be thanking you. I just copied what you do.”

“That’s not right,” I protested weakly.

“No, it is,” she reasserted. We lapsed into a comfortable silence for a few more moments before I felt her shift. “I think they’re done.”

I lifted my head off of her chest and straightened up, but didn’t remove my hooves from around her. “What just happened to me?” I whispered.

“Something set you off into a panic attack, sort of like what happens with me and… fire,” she answered uncomfortably. “I think I know what, too.”

“Really?”

“Yep.” She smiled sadly. “It looks like I’m not the only one with trauma issues now.”

I felt a twinge of sorrow at that, and I leaned forward, giving her a reassuring nuzzle. Before I could say anything, though, a soft, golden glow became visible on her fur.

Turning around, I was greeted with the sight of Cam in full concentration mode, her tongue poking out between her lips. The vine-like magic patterns on her fur were glowing slightly, betraying exactly how hard she was working. As I watched, an ethereal glow surrounded her paw-toes, and she extended her arms out into a position that was like she was holding an invisible ball. The golden aura stretched towards the middle of the space between her paws, and as I watched, a glowing ball began to form, growing to be about the size of a grapefruit. Once it stopped increasing in size, it started to pulse erratically, and Cam’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. Suddenly, its glow dimmed and brightened in rapid succession, and she smiled, the fur patterns vanishing. “Perfect.” She stepped back, and the ball floated up into the air, its brightness increasing to the point where it bathed the entire clearing in a bright, sunlight-like glow.

Noticing Tranquility and I starting at her, she smiled sheepishly. “What?” she asked. “It was dark.”

“Amazing.”

I jumped slightly and whipped my head to the side. Jasmine, Reed, and Hawkeye had apparently been watching as Cam had been making the light, and Jasmine’s jaw had dropped open. “Have you ever cast that spell before?” she asked.

“No?” Cam responded, tilting her head to the side. “I’ve never needed to.”

“So you made that up right now?” Reed asked.

“Yes?”

“That’s incredible!” Jasmine gasped, turning to Hawkeye. “When I was her age, I was struggling to even learn basic spells, let alone make up my own!”

“Cam’s talented,” Reed said, smiling approvingly. “She’s able to that in the heat of battle, too.”

“Holy Void.”

“This is good,” Hawkeye said, a hint of satisfaction is gaze. “You’ve already mastered using your magic naturally. That makes training you much easier. You’re full of surprises, Cam”

“Sure,” Cam said, her gaze glazing over slightly. “Hawkeye… can I ask you some things? I’ve been wondering about some things, and you’re the only one who’d know about them…”

“Absolutely,” Hawkeye answered. “Let’s walk and talk. You can throw up some of those light balls around the area while we do.” She nodded cautiously and walked towards him, and the two of them made their way out of the clearing. I could hear a conversation begin as they walked out of earshot.

An uncomfortable silence dropped over the clearing, and I looked at Tranquility, not sure what to do. She shrugged, and I turned around, fumbling around for a conversation topic.

“So… Reed, what was up with that impromptu skydive earlier?” I asked awkwardly.

He let out a nervous laugh and walked over to me, sitting down. “It’s a tradition,” he said. “Whenever the Alpha jumps into a Wolf city, he’ll appear about thirty feet above the ground and levitate himself down. Sort of a ‘I come from the heavens!’ thing. It’s meant to inspire awe, and I’m sorry that you were thrown into it with no preparation.”

“It’s fine,” I said, a soft smile spreading across my face. “That’s kinda funny, actually.”

Another silence fell over the clearing. I felt Tranquility get up and walk over to Jasmine, and they started to talk quietly. I stared at them for a moment before turning back to Reed, a curiosity bubbling up in my mind.

“Reed, who’s Jasmine?”

A range of emotions flashed across his face, from shock to anger to just plain discomfort. He looked away from me and sighed. “That’s… complicated.”

“I’d like to know,” I said. “That is, if it’s not too much trouble. We’re going to be staying with her for a while, after all.”

“Oh, it’s not trouble at all, it’s just… how should I approach this?” he asked nervously, looking back towards me. “Well, to oversimplify this to an absurd degree, she’s my mate.”

It took a few seconds for me to register what he said.

“She’s WHAT?!” I gasped, my jaw dropping open. “Oh my goodness! That’s amazing! I don’t even know how you must feel right now! Wait, I can’t even imagine how you felt when she vanished, and to have her back-”

“Shh!” Reed placed a paw-pad over my mouth. “Calm down. It’s… not as great as you might think.”

I backed up slightly. “Why?” I asked, confused.

“I… I need to start at the beginning,” he said. “For as long as I’ve been alive, Jasmine was there. We were born half a year apart, and the crazy thing is, her parents weren’t Mages either! The odds of two Mages being born to non-Mages in that short of a timespan are… astronomical, to say the least. It was almost like a sign of something.

“Our parents certainly thought it was, and Hawkeye agreed that it might be beneficial to have us know each other, so we were raised with each other close by. And, lo and behold, our personalities fit together like two pieces in a puzzle. If you heard our parents talk, they’d say that we were made to be best friends.”

“That’s amazing!” I said, smile stretching across my face before quickly vanishing again, a new thought flitting into my mind. “Did… something happen?”

“No, not really,” Reed said, a small smile playing at his lips. “Our friendship was something straight out of a cheesy book for kids. We would always have so much fun when we played, and our disagreements were minor and inconsequential. It was perfect.

“And, when she was eight and I was nine, she wanted to try dating.

“Wolves go through two separate stages of maturing. Our romantic urges awaken when we’re around eight, which is when we start dating, and urges of a more… carnal nature awaken when we’re about seventeen or so- that one varies significantly depending on a variety of factors. When Jasmine hit the first milestone, she found that her feelings were directed towards me, and I could say the same for her, so we decided to try that out.

“Once again, it worked perfectly. We grew to be infatuated with each other. We’d train together, watch movies together, basically do everything together. We even started sleeping together, innocently, of course, and one of the clearest memories I have from those years is being dragged out of her room by my ear the first time her parents found out about that.” I let out a small snort of laughter, and he smiled a bit more widely before continuing.

“We decided to become mates when we were sixteen. That’s unheard of. Partners usually wait until their early twenties to take that step, but we knew we were ready. And, once more, that went off without a hitch.” I raised my eyebrow at that, and he sighed. “I said it was like a bad children’s book to begin with. Are you really surprised?

“Unfortunately, nothing really works out like that. One year later, Jasmine was officially initiated into the Mages.

“It wasn’t surprising that she got in before I did. She’s always been more gifted in the areas of magic and quick thinking than I was. The problem was that she wasn’t prepared for what that entailed.

“Jasmine was raised with a strong focus towards duty. You’ve seen that already. She’ll put her physical and mental wellbeing to the side if she’s asked to do something, and that’s part of what got her initiated so fast. Ivy loved it. She praised her for so faithfully carrying out the tasks she was assigned.

“The problem is that no one cared enough about how she felt about those duties. That had terrible, terrible consequences.

“I remember that she was sent to explore a moderately dangerous dimension that had recently been discovered for her first assignment. The problem with that is that she was inexperienced. That dimension had sapient life in it, and she stumbled right into a group of them. She…

“She did her duty.

“That was the first time I’d seen her cry. After she delivered her report to the Den, she came home and broke down completely. I was there for her, horrified at what had happened. Eventually, I helped her calm down, and we made peace with what happened together.

“I wish I could say that was the only time that happened. It was like that every few missions.

“It would either be something she saw or something she did, but it would do terrible things to her. It messed her up, and even though I tried my best to fix things, I couldn’t do it all the way. Eventually, I got initiated, and I started to experience the same things she did… but I never took it as hard as her. It’s not something I’m proud of, but it’s true.

“After about a year, she stopped being so distraught, and I thought she’d found a method to cope. I was wrong. She had determined it to be her duty to stop making me worry about her. I found a journal she’d been writing in, and it told me so much… I confronted her about it, and it was the first big spat we ever had… but we still came out of it stronger than before.

“And then Has’rou happened.

“I was heartbroken… I was so stricken with grief that I almost couldn’t function… and I had to do something… so I did the worst possible thing… I moved on. I tried to block out any memories from surfacing of her and… moved on.”

“But she’s back now!” I said excitedly. “Can’t you… pick up where you left off? Rekindle the flame?”

“I…” He trailed off, refusing to meet my eyes. “Did you notice anything about our childhood together? Our story together?”

“You two share an absolutely amazing bond, and when you’re together, you’re stunningly lucky?” I said, smiling.

“No,” he said, but then rolled his eyes. “Okay, yes, but at the same time, no. What I was going for was the fact that we grew and matured and virtually the same rate.

“It’s been six years, Fall. I’ve grown. I’ve changed. She’s been in a stasis of sorts. She’s the same Wolf she was those years ago, if a bit more scarred, and I’m… not. I don’t know what’s going to happen-”

“So you’re saying that she’s the same Wolf you were in love with and that’s a bad thing?” I asked, tilting my head in confusion.

“No!” He winced. “Well, yes, but it’s not that simple.”

“You’re wondering if she’ll still love you.”

He was silent for a few moments. “That’s the general idea, yes.”

“I think she will,” I said confidently. “And before you say anything to the contrary, here’s why.

“She still loves you. As you said, she’s basically the same Wolf she was six years ago, so she’s going to still be ‘infatuated’ with you. Besides, even if that weren’t the case, she’s been your best friend since basically you’ve been born! Just because you changed a little doesn’t mean she’s going to throw that all away!

“You’ve been together all your lives. This isn’t going to break you.”

He looked back at me, meeting my eyes. “You really think so?”

“Based on what you just told me, yeah,” I said confidently.

“But… how should I go about ‘rekindling’ this?” he asked quietly, his gaze drifting over towards the still talking Jasmine and Tranquility.

“Do what Tranquility and I have discovered works best when talking about problems,” I said. “Just talk about it.

“I know this isn’t going to come instantly. No one is born in love. It took me forever to gain feelings for Tranquility, and I’m still not exactly ‘in love’ with her. It’s been over a decade, just so that you’re aware. It’s not going to be easy, but that doesn’t mean that it’s going to be impossible.”

I offered him a smile, and he smiled back. “Thanks,” he said softly. “I think I’ll try that.”

We lapsed into silence again, but this time, it wasn’t an awkward one. For a few moments, we sat there, thinking to ourselves, before Reed suddenly straightened up.

“Someone’s coming,” he said, sending a burst of adrenaline through me.

We froze up, listening, and a second later, I began to hear the frantic crunching of leaves. Before I could truly comprehend that, though, a small figure raced into the clearing, barreling into me and knocking me over. I felt small arms wrap around my barrel, and before I could process that, I felt a hot liquid start to soak into my chest fur.

In an instant, I knew who it was. “Cam?!” I gasped. “What happened?! Are you oka-”

“T-they’re D-DEAD!” she wailed, more tears soaking into my coat. “My- d-d-dead!” With a keening wail, she broke down completely, sobs wracking her body.

It only took me a few seconds to realize who she was talking about.

A terrible sadness filled my heart. I quickly pulled myself into a sitting position and wrapped my forelegs around her, starting to rock myself softly. Tranquility quickly ran over to us and embraced us in her leathery wings, blocking out the outside world and letting Cam sob in peace

When I looked past Tranquility, I saw Hawkeye standing at the edge of the clearing, staring at us sadly. I shot a glare his way and went back to rocking Cam, trying to calm her down…

Even though I knew it was no use.

Tranquility let out a soft sigh, closing her eyes and nuzzling her. I felt something stir in my soul, something I hadn’t felt since the Crystal Mists.

Tranquility took a deep breath and began to sing.

“Konturo un parouh, our homes are long gone,
Tuareh un ceireh, we have to go on,
We have to move past this, to rise up and shine...

“Shei uros wau po kha dech du kesa krien."

Author's Note

SURPRISE! ANOTHER CHAPTER!

Are you shook? I’m shook. Mostly because I managed to actually write this whole in one day. I thought I’d get halfway through and burn out, but apparently not!

I feel good.

Anyways, this marks what I would consider to be the end of the first story arc. I don’t know how we got to this point, but let’s keep going!

And now we know who Jasmine is. Sorry for not addressing that sooner.

On a completely unrelated note, there’s a point where I have to wonder why I asked the legitimate question “Why does TripAdvisor have my fanfics?”

I’m not kidding. In the statistics, it says that the Australian TripAdvisor has referred someone to this fic. I have NO idea how this happened. I also know one of my other fics has had someone come over from the Mexican TripAdvisor, so this isn’t a one-time thing.

I’ve gotta ask, do you guys know why this happened? If anyone does, PLEASE tell me. I’m confused and very intruiged.

Thestral Language Guide

As usual, if I messed up grammatically or with punctuation, let me know and I’ll fix it. Also, can you tell me how you feel about this chapter in general? A lot of stuff went down and I want to know if I did it right.

Thanks for reading this chapter!

~Pyrepinna

Chapter 30: Thoughts, Messes, and Memories

“Tell me, Hawkeye, do you know what tact is?” Tranquility whispered, seething with anger.

“Of course,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I ruled a kingdom for decades. I’ve learned to deal with all sorts of Wolves in the most effective ways possible.”

“Good! Perfect! Amazing,” she hissed through clenched teeth. “It would be positively grand if you actually used it.”

I winced softly, glancing away from the two of them and into the forest. Truth be told, I was feeling the same way that she did, but didn’t want to admit it.

Cam had cried for what seemed like hours. We’d gotten a vague picture of what happened from the little snippets of sentences she’d been able to get out amid her full-body sobs. What seemed to have happened was… not good.

When the two had left, she’d started asking him about various things. Most of them were insignificant, but a few had some weight to them. Hawkeye had been answering them in a curt, honest, and straightforward way, which had been boosting Cam’s confidence. Eventually, she asked about what she had wanted to in the first place.

Her parents.

Hawkeye answered her in a curt, honest, and straightforward way.

She didn’t fully process it at first, blurting out a shocked “What?!” He took that as her needing more clarification and proceeded to repeat what he had said before, with the added addition of exactly what had happened to them. During her meltdown, Cam had shouted that it seemed like it didn’t matter to him at all. As soon as his words got through to her, she’d sprinted back to the clearing.

She cried herself to sleep.

“All I did was answer her question,” Hawkeye said softly. “How she reacted was beyond my control.”

Tranquility’s nostrils flared, and her pupils shrank down to the size of pinpricks. “Don’t… Don’t you DARE try to pull that crap with me,” she hissed, her eyes narrowing dangerously. “That sort of logic is something I’d expect from someone Cam’s age! I don’t know exactly what you did out there, but I know you could have handled that better.”

Hawkeye met her gaze, his expression morphing into a neutral one. Tranquility’s didn’t change. For a few seconds, they stared at each other, neither backing down. Eventually, Hawkeye broke eye contact, letting out a sigh. “I’m… sorry,” he muttered softly. “Today has been hectic, more hectic than anything I’ve ever been through. I’ve had a lot to… process. I-”

“Excuses don’t matter once the damage is done,” Tranquility said sadly. “It might save you in a courtroom, but it won’t here. Right now, what matters is what happened to Cam. To be perfectly frank, I couldn’t give less of a crap about why you acted the way you did. I only care about if she’s going to be okay. To be honest, that’s what you should be focused on too.” I nodded softly, leveling my own glare at him.

He glanced over to me. His gaze flicked downwards to my lap, and I knew why. Cam had stayed there for the entirety of her meltdown, and she was still there, sleeping fitfully. As he watched, a shiver ran through her body, and her face contorted into an unpleasant frown.

“I apologize,” he said softly, his ears folding down. “I’ll… do better.”

“You’d better,” Tranquility muttered softly, turning away from him and walking over to me.

Hawkeye sighed and walked towards the edge of the clearing, an uneasy look on his face. Pausing, he looked back towards the center of the clearing, his eyes drifting to where Cam’s light spell hung. With a blank look, he turned around and walked into the forest. Jasmine and Reed shared a look before walking after him, leaving us alone in the clearing.

For a few moments, everything was silent. Tranquility sat down beside me, her tail thumping wildly against the ground. I could feel a seething anger radiating off her form, almost like heat from a fire.

“Are you alright?” I asked quietly, giving her a soft nuzzle.

“Physically? Yes,” she grumbled, the thumping lessening slightly.

“But otherwise?” I probed.

“Otherwise, I want to blow something up,” she hissed. “How could he?!”

“I… I don’t know,” I responded softly, letting my head rest on her shoulder.

“Why didn’t he realize? Shouldn’t a kid asking about their parent’s death shake someone out of whatever stupor they may be in? And why in the name of Celestia did he not comfort her afterwards?! He just… he watched!” She sucked in a deep breath and let it out shakily. “I… I’m mad. There was no excuse for what happened… and I know what stuff like that can do to a pony…”

“Why?” I asked, nuzzling her again.

“Fall, it happened to me.”

I froze up, my eyes going wide. “Oh…”

“I suppose that’s not entirely accurate,” she said. “But something similar did.”

“At the orphanage, right?” I whispered softly. “You mentioned it back in… Has’rou. When you were telling me about what… what had happened.”

A small shudder ran through her body. “That’s… correct,” she said, choking out the last word between clenched teeth. “But it was… worse than what happened here.”

“How so? I asked, my heart pounding a little faster.

For a few moments, she tensed up, a deluge of thoughts seeming to run through her mind, before sighing softly and slouching down. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she mumbled softly.

A sense of disappointment pulsed through me. “But-” I began quietly, lifting my head off her shoulder, but another sigh cut me off.

“Fall… this isn’t something that I want to discuss right now,” she said. “Cam’s the problem right now, not me. I said that before. And besides, I’m not sure that it would go over well if she woke up and saw me crying.

“That’s not even considering what it would do to me. In all honesty, if I had been in a normal state of mind after Has’rou, you wouldn’t have gotten anything related to… to that out of me.” She paused, swallowing nervously. “It’s… those years of my life are the worst things that have ever happened to me, including this whole debacle and Has’rou. You’ve never had something like what I went through happen to you. You don’t know what it does to someone. I’ve been avoiding talking or even thinking about this for years. Just because you know about it now doesn’t make it easier.”

For a moment, the clearing fell into silence again. I pulled back from her slightly, being careful not to jostle Cam.

In that moment, I realized something. I was disturbing a beast that I knew nothing about. No one besides Tranquility knew anything about it.

I was out of my depth.

I sighed softly. “I’m sorry,” I mumbled softly.

She looked towards me, a flash of regret sparking in her eyes. “No, it’s…” she began, trailing off. “I said it myself. You didn’t know. You still don’t know. I… I shouldn’t have reacted that harshly.”

“You call that harsh?” I giggled. “That was just you being honest.”

“Still, you were just trying to help,” she said softly. “I… pushed back.”

“Understandably.” Leaning in, I planted a soft kiss on her cheek. Instantly, my heart rate jumped “And I’m still gonna help you.”

“Not now, though,” she said, twin spots of red appearing on her cheeks. “I… need time to prepare first.”

“In addition to everything else happening,” I added.

“That too.”

My eyes slid downwards to rest on Cam’s form once more, another surge of sadness and anger. A grimace had formed on her face, and her paws were twitching. I had a hunch of what she was dreaming about, and if it was correct, it wasn’t going to be good.

Then again, it wasn’t going to be great in any situation…

“Please let it have been an accident,” I muttered quietly. Tranquility’s ears perked up.

“What?” she asked softly.

“What Hawkeye did,” I said. “It needs to be an accident. The alternatives are things… that I don’t want to consider.”

“I think it was,” she said, glancing off into the forest, “but that doesn’t make it okay.”

“Agreed,” I said, trailing off again. For a few more moments, the only sound around us was the rustling of leaves in the trees.

Then, I heard a sharp gasp. Cam jumped in my lap, her eyes flying open.

For a few moments, no sound ran through the clearing, the forest seemingly holding it’s breath. Seconds later, Tranquility cleared her throat. “How did you sleep, Cam?” she asked, a small waver in her voice.

“Okay?” she mumbled, a hint of confusion in her voice. “I don’t remember falling asleep.”

“You did,” I said softy. “What did you dream about?”

“Dunno,” she said, hopping off my lap and stretching. “Don’t remember.”

“How do you feel?” Tranquility asked tentatively.

“Kinda sick,” she responded, sitting down. “I’ve got a headache, and my stomach hurts a little.” She paused. “Did I pass out or something? The last thing I remember was asking Hawkeye about the Den-”

She froze, her eyes going wide.

A sinking feeling rose in my chest.

“Was it a dream?” she whispered shakily, slowly turning her head towards us. “What he said?” She swallowed, a waver coming into her voice. “Guys, please tell me it was a dream…”

Tranquility and I said nothing, looking away from her sadly.

“This i-isn’t funny,” she whispered, her voice hitching. “W-was it a dream?”

Slowly, I stood up and walked over to her, my heart starting to pound. I pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry,” I whispered softly.

A high pitched, keening whine was the only answer I got before tears started to soak into my fur once more.

After that, time seemed to blur together. Tranquility quickly came over and enveloped us in her wings, and we stayed like that for what seemed like forever. Cam’s sobs seemed less intense this time, but that didn’t make them any less painful to hear. Once again, I felt my anger at Hawkeye reemerge. He could have made this less painful for her, I thought sadly.

Eventually, I felt Cam’s face peel off of my chest. Still sniffling, she looked up, meeting my sorrowful gaze. “W-why?” she whispered softly, a pleading look slipping into her stare.

“What?”

“Why would t-they do that?” she said, her voice slightly stronger. “T-they w-wouldn’t…”

“Wouldn’t what?” I asked softly. A second later, I cursed myself internally, realizing exactly how bad that question was.

“T-they wouldn’t k-kill themselves!” she wailed, her eyes filling with tears once more. “I-I know t-that!” She paused, sniffing slightly. Her eyes slid closed, and she took several shaky breaths. “I-I know that.

“I-I only h-have a few memories o-of them. It’s not m-much, but it’s a-all I’ve got. T-they w-were always so… s-so… I d-don’t know how t-to describe it! They w-were just t-there for me! I-if I got myself into t-trouble, t-they’d save me a-and then teach m-me how to avoid it! T-they were u-understanding, p-patient… I m-mean, they had t-to be, I-I was young, but still!

“T-they taught me so m-much. How to survive, h-how to hunt, how t-to make a c-cooking fire and then k-keep it under control… I l-loved that one. I d-don’t know why I r-remember all of that; m-maybe it’s some s-sort of W-Wolf t-thing. T-the thing is, most o-of those l-lessons don’t have a memory a-associated w-with them. I-I know h-how to open a r-rift, but I don’t remember when or h-how I learned to do so!

“A f-few of them do, t-though, and that’s w-where m-most of my memories a-around my parents a-are from. T-that’s to say, a-about three. With the f-fire, I remember seeing my m-mom’s beaming f-face. I remember my d-dad laughing a-as I tried t-to catch a mouse f-for the first time, a-and I was laughing too. But t-the third…

“It’s the c-clearest. They w-were teaching me a-about the Wolves.

“That o-one’s the c-clearest. I d-don’t know how it s-started, b-but they told m-me everything t-they knew about P-Paradise, the c-class system, and t-the flaws i-in the civilization. They t-told me w-why they l-left and w-what that meant. W-what would happen i-if we were c-caught. I g-got scared by that, a-and asked w-what they would d-do if things d-did go bad.

“M-my mom s-smiled sadly a-and looked at Dad. She s-said that, n-no matter w-what happened, t-they’d be there f-for me. They’d f-fight for me.

“I-it’s the clearest m-memory I h-have. W-when they were t-taken and I w-was l-left alone, I t-told myself that t-they’d come back. T-they said so! They s-said so…” she paused, her ears folding flat back against her head, “a-and now t-they’re DEAD!” Another wave of sobs began to course through her body, and I pulled her a little tighter against my chest.

“It’s gonna be okay,” I whispered quietly, at a loss for what to say. “You’re going to get through this.”

Cam stiffened against my chest, her sobs coming to an abrupt halt before resuming again. “N-no…” she choked out. “I-it’s not gonna b-be okay.” She looked up at me, her eyes wide. “It’s n-not gonna b-be okay!

“T-they g-gave me e-everything. T-they sacrificed e-everything. T-they gave up t-their home, f-friends, t-the stuff they owned… all for m-me.” She paused, swallowing. “I-I know how t-that feels. I-in the end, t-they gave up t-their lives… f-for me.” Her gaze grew vacant and distant. “I-I can never r-repay them. I couldn’t e-ever repay t-them. W-what t-thanks do t-they get from me?” Another pause. “I c-can barely r-remember them. E-everything around t-them is b-blurred. I r-remember w-what they taught me, b-but I can’t r-remember them!” Full-body tremors started to run through her, and her eyes suddenly locked onto mine with a ferocity I’d never seen before. “D-don’t you U-UNDERSTAND?! THEY G-GAVE UP E-EVERYTHING THEY O-OWNED! E-EVERYTHING THEY H-HAD! T-THEY THREW A-AWAY T-THEIR OLD L-LIVES TO L-LIVE IN A-AN UNKNOWN D-DIMENSION L-LIKE SAVAGES! T-THEY DIED F-FOR ME! A-AND I CAN’T E-EVEN REMEMBER T-THE COLOR OF T-THEIR EYES!” She tried to say something more, but her voice caught in her throat. She threw herself against me and started to wail.

Time seemed to blur together after that. I sat there for an indeterminate amount of time, stroking her back and rocking her gently. A cold pit had settled in my stomach, one that just represented… helplessness. I didn’t know what to do. Just like with Tranquility, I was out of my depth.

I glanced towards Tranquility. She was staring down at Cam with an expression of sorrow and… something else, something I didn’t recognized. Her gaze met mine, and she sighed softly. In that moment, I saw something else, something that I hadn’t noticed before.

Protectiveness.

A fierce, defensive aura seemed to radiate from her, one that was subtle, but once noticed, stood out like a glowing creature at the bottom of the ocean. Most of it was directed towards Cam, but some was focused on me.

I’d never noticed it before. Something had set it off, and I didn’t know if it was going to stay or go away. Almost like an instinct, my gaze fell on Cam again. Her cries seemed to echo through my brain…

I realized I had some of that protectiveness in me too.

Tranquility glanced at me once more, and an understanding was reached.

“Cam.”

She looked up at me, her stare laden with pain, guilt, and sorrow. I felt my heart drop at that, and I tightened my embrace around her.

“I… don’t know what you’re going through right now,” I began, nervousness starting to run through my mind. “I haven’t lost someone yet, much less my parents. I can’t even begin to fathom how you must feel.

“To put it simply, I don’t care that I’m not qualified here. I don’t care about my lack of experience. I’m going to try to help you through this, and I know Tranquility will do the same.

“Cam… I originally thought of you as… a means to an end. I thought that you were going to help us get home, and that was it. It wasn’t flattering, it wasn’t good, but it was how I felt. Now… that’s changed.

“We’ve gone through Tartarus in the past few… heh, time’s sorta blurred together. I don’t know how long it’s actually been. Point is, it’s been… bad. I’ve seen you at your best and your worst. I’ve gotten to know you. That means to an end thing? That’s gone. Long gone.

“I don’t know how to say this, but I feel like we’ve grown into a bit of a unit. Tranquility, you, and I… we’ve bonded in a way that I’ve never experienced before. I’m not exactly sure how to put it into words. The point is… I care about you.

“Come Tartarus or high water, I’m going to be there for you. So will Tranquility. We don’t care what happens, or what you do, or what you say. We’re… in a way, we’d like to try to be parents of sorts to you.” I paused, realizing how potentially bad that could be. “That’s not to say that we’d be replacing your original ones, however. That’s something that can’t be replaced, ever.

“You’ve saved our lives. We’d… we’d like to be a part of yours, more than we already are.”

For a few moments, Cam said nothing, her tear-filled gaze growing vacant. I felt my heart rate spike, and a sense of apprehension overcame me. Then, ever so slightly, her small hug around me tightened, and without saying anything, gave a tiny nod. Tranquility smiled and nuzzled her, and a sense of relief spread through my heart.

We stayed like that for a long time.

Author's Note

I feel like I rushed this, but at the same time, it's the only place that this discussion would have worked (in my mind).

ANYWAYS, have a new chapter! This one hopefully has feels! I'll be honest, this was an absolute mess to write. It took a week of continuous writing to get this into a state where I thought that it was good enough to publish. One of my friends pointed out some glaring flaws in the way I had things planned, and that threw me for a bit of a loop.

It's odd. I don't really know how to feel about this chapter and how I executed it.

The next chapter might take some time to get out. That's mostly because I have approximately zero idea what I'm going to do with it. I'll figure something out, though.

Anyways, like always, if I messed up grammatically or with punctuation, let me know and I'll fix it! Also, if you have any criticisms or questions, leave a comment and I'll respond.

Hope you liked this!

~Pyrepinna

Oh my God. This hit one-hundred thousand words. I'm what some people would refer to as shook.

Chapter 1: Supercell

“This is really nice,” I said softly, scooting closer to Tranquility as we sat in the uppermost branches of a tree, looking up at the night sky.

“This…” Tranquility began, smiling softly. Just the sound of her voice right then made my heart skip a beat. She sounded so content, so happy… those soft words contained the essence of what some ponies strive for their entire lives, peace and happiness. She was at her best right then, in the low light of the moon and stars. Her smile…

“This is what I live for,” she said softly, continuing. “The night is so beautiful for me… you have no idea how amazing this place is for me. In Canterlot, there were streetlamps everywhere at night, so ponies could find their way around… here, there’s no light pollution… I can see everything!” It was if a spark went off in her eyes as she waved a hoof above her, drawing my gaze to the sky above. She was right, the sky was a lot better than in Canterlot. I personally wasn’t really all that invested in it, but if she was… I scooted a little bit closer, to the point where we were almost touching. If she noticed, she didn’t tell.

“And there’s nothing here but us and the crickets, so it’s so quiet…” she whispered, still looking up. “I’m glad we chose to come here. It’s the perfect way to end this lazy day.” What she said was true, it was perfect, and the day was rather calm and nice. My weather shift was literally just us having fun. There were no storms scheduled, and we were supposed to keep an eye on things, but nothing happened, so we spent the time throwing hooffulls of cloud at each other. And when I got home, Tranquility suggested I spend the night outside with her, as I didn’t have work the next day. And so far, it was a wonderful idea.

“So should I go nocturnal or something?” I whispered back.

“No, silly,” she replied, giggling, before a wince crossed her face. “Shifting out of your preferred sleeping schedule is… painful.”

That’s right, thestrals are naturally nocturnal. When she was in Canterlot, the school system didn’t accommodate that at all. I remember that her foster family painted her room like the night so that she could wake up in the morning, and even then she always looked like she was on the brink of falling asleep. It really was hard on her and her grades… although it was rather easy for her to get on the weather team when she told the manager that and I confirmed it. Still didn’t make up for the toll it took on her.

“What if I’m not in my preferred sleeping schedule right now?” I asked softly.

“Then you’re a silly, deluded fool,” she replied, pressing my snout.

A playful frown crossed my face. “I will take those titles with honor,” I said, slowly extending a wing to wrap around her.

“Oi, lovebirds!” a voice shouted at us. I snapped my wing back to my side and a furious blush covered my face, while Tranquility seemed rather unaffected by it.

“Yes, Gentle Gust?” she asked. “What do you need?”

“You,” the aforementioned pegasus said, alighting on the branch we sat on. “And him,” she added, pointing to me.

“What’s going on?” I asked, my tone a little harsher than I wanted it to be, but Gust interrupted a moment between us.

“We don’t know,” Gust said, “but the manager called literally everyone. Apparently the monitoring instruments picked up something huge.”

That couldn’t be right. It was such a nice day! There was no way a storm could have formed that fast. Yet the manager called everypony...

“How huge?” Tranquility asked.

“She didn’t say, but she was scared,” Gust said. “You know how calm she usually is, right?” I nodded; our weather manager is one of the most cool-headed ponies I’ve ever met. Even when someone on the weather team got seriously injured, she kept her cool. If she was…

“She’s panicking.”

Oh, that’s bad.

Tranquility stood and spread her wings, stretching. The moonlight softly played across their surface, highlighting the strange white patches on them. “If he called everypony, that’s not good, especially in the middle of the night,” she said calmly.

“Hold on, I’ve been awake for over sixteen hours!” I interjected. “Will it be safe for me?”

“I don’t think it matters,” Gust replied. “She called EVERYONE. No exceptions.” And just like that, she left, flying down through the forest, weaving through the trees like a pale specter. I stood as well, grunting, and stretching my wings.

“We need to get going,” Tranquility said. I sighed and nodded, looking down. She noticed, peering at me curiously. “Is something wrong?” she asked, folding her wings again and walking over to me.

“I just…” I began, looking up. “Blame it on my lack of sleep, but I feel… this was an important moment for me, and now it’s gone.” I looked down and away from her.

“Fall…” she said, stepping over to me. “I’m sorry, nothing can truly be planned for. I’m saddened as well.” She nuzzled the back of my head, causing me to freeze up and blush, which she thankfully couldn’t see. “And besides, there’s always another night. Just wait until firefly season.”

“That’ll be something else,” I said, standing up and smiling at her, my blush thankfully having faded. I don’t know how well she can actually see in the dark, but I don’t want to find out.

“We’ll do this again sometime,” she said, spreading her wings. “Once this is over.”

“Tranquility?” I said softly. She froze and turned to me. “Thank you.” I said, smiling.

She smiled back at me. “You’re welcome,” she replied before taking off silently. I followed behind her in her slipstream. It’s always a little unsettling to see her fly. Because she doesn’t have feathers, there’s no rustling when she flaps her wings, just a barely audible whooshing sound. It’s almost like she’s a ghost with how silent she is. I don’t mind. In fact, I’m a bit envious. She could play so many pranks…

I heard a soft gasp from her, and she pulled up sharply. “Tranquility? What is it?!” I shouted, following her up.

We broke through the canopy of the forest and stopped. “What’s happening?” I asked.

“Look…” she said, pointing ahead of us, towards the rising moon.

Oh, that was definitely a storm.

A gasp escaped my mouth when I followed her gaze. A gigantic mass of pitch-black clouds was… billowing towards us, almost as if some deity had spilled a jar of ink into the sky. And it was moving fast. Really, really fast. I couldn’t see much, but as I watched, the clouds spread over the moon, plunging us into darker darkness.

Then I started to hear the muffled cracks.

Lightning began to lance through the storm with alarming frequency, throwing the world into stark relief every time a bolt broke through the clouds. Looking to my left, I say Tranquility muttering under her breath, eyes wide with fear. It was fair to assume that she was… swearing, as she described it, in the thestral tongue. I’m not exactly sure what she was saying, as she told me there’s no direct translation between her swears and Equestrian. She told me to imagine they were like the word… peeved… but much worse.

“Airote,” she swore. “We’re going to break up that?!” I could hear something in her voice, something I heard very rarely from her… fear.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “It’s a little big, but nothing we can’t handle, right?” Confidence was evident in my voice, and I puffed out my chest a little.

“It’s not moving towards us,” she said, fear evident in her voice. “It’s growing.”

“Oh.”

We moved a bit faster after that revelation.

It took us five more minutes to get to the weather base. We landed in front of the wooden door and pushed our way into the building. It wasn’t really an office building, per say. Our weather manager, Soft Breeze (also known to her frequent frustration as Breezy) actually converted the first floor of her house into her workspace, while her basement was storage and the second floor her living space. Gust wasn’t kidding, literally everypo- everyONE, considering Dawson the griffin was there, was called to report, and no one looked particularly happy about it. I could hear unhappy conversations everywhere. We had to push through a lot of ponies to get to the meeting area(her kitchen/family room). Breezy was nowhere to be seen. Tranquility and I trotted up next to Dawson, who gave us a glance before going back to scowling at the manager’s office.

“Dawson,” Tranquility said, lightly prodding his side.

“What do you need,” he said is his deep bass voice. It’s always really cool to hear. I can only imagine how he sounds when he sings.

“Get ready,” she said. “I could see the storm as Fall and I flew over here. Breezy had reason to call everyone.” I nodded frantically to help emphasise her point.

“Enough reason to pull me out of my bed?” he replied irritably.

“It covered the moon in about two seconds,” I said. “It got really dark, but I could still see because of all the lightning.”

He whistled slowly. “Dang,” he said. “Is this even safe?”

“Breezy thinks so,” I said. “And she’s the one paying us.”

“Our medical bills will be much more expensive than one day’s pay,” he grunted, starting to stretch his wings.

“QUIET!” A commanding voice shouted, bringing the room to a complete silence in an instant. I jumped a little, turning around to see where the voice had come from.

My jaw dropped to the floor with what I saw. Breezy was trotting down the stairs in a state I never thought I’d see her in. Her mane was a mess, and she was nursing a bruise on her forehead with an icepack. Her coat was ruffled as if she hadn’t brushed it in weeks, and her feathers looked as if they hadn’t been preened in ages. The most shocking thing, however, was her eyes. Her eyes were wide with panic, her pupils dilated to be smaller than a bit. I wasn’t the only one taken aback by this. Murmurs and whispers spread throughout the team as ponies took in her appearance. Even Tranquility’s eyes widened a bit.

“Say nothing, forget how I look, and focus,” she hissed. The whispers cut off instantly and everyone stood up a little straighter. Taking to the air, Soft pointed at the window. “I’m sorry to have pulled you out of bed at this time of night. I am fully aware that it is one in the morning, but this is serious. About an hour ago, our instruments picked up a wild storm. I normally wouldn’t have pulled you out of bed for that, but this storm grew fast enough to sound the emergency alarms, startling my and causing my to hit my head. There, now you have an explanation for the bruise. I immediately called Gust, who spent the last fifty minutes rounding you all up.” Gust grinned and took a little bow. “Thanks to her, we’re all here. Now, this storm will cause damage if we don’t break it up. Huge amounts of damage, comparable to the hurricane that hit six years ago.” That statement caused worried murmurs to break out.

“I can vouch for that assessment,” Tranquility said.

“Really?” Breezy said.

“Yes,” she confirmed. “The storm is growing at an alarming rate. There’s absurd amounts of lightning, and I could see trees bending slightly in the wind from my position in the sky.” More murmurs sounded, this time with traces of fear.

“Hush it, now!” Breezy shouted, quieting everypony once more. “This will go quicker if I can finish, and we don’t want the storm growing any bigger than it already has!” No one said another word. “Now, this is a big storm, but it’s just a storm. It’ll be broken up if we do the normal routine: cut it up in rows until it doesn’t have the ability to continue, at which point the storm will break up. Split up into groups of fifteen, now.” At her command, everyone quickly split up. I stuck close to Tranquility. In thirty seconds, the whole team was split into four groups of fifteen, with Breezy in front of us.

“Good!” she said. “Now, you may not be able to hear me in the wind, so when we get out there, each of your teams will fly into a row, with the rows spaced fifteen feet apart. You will give two bucks, one to rid the clouds of lightning, the other to break the cloud up.” We all nodded, and she smiled. “Good luck, guys. Let’s do this.” And with that, we marched out the door.

The second we did, we were hit by a blast of wind.

The storm had moved in while we were inside. Rain hadn’t started pouring down yet, but lightning was starting to strike the neighborhood. With unspoken agreement, we all took to the air, fighting the errant and wild wind.

My group was the one second closest to the outside of the storm. Breezy flew right in the middle and started to give the signals. Buck one went well. Buck two… not so much.

We broke the clouds, but the ones we de-charged had moved, so almost everyone got a shock, including me. Now, getting struck with lightning, combined with having been awake for way longer than I should have been, wasn’t the greatest thing for me. The blast stunned me, and I just kinda hovered there in shock. I drifted out of my line and towards the center of the storm. I was vaguely aware that Tranquility was following me, shouting and trying to get to me. I was also vaguely aware of a roaring sound.

I think that what snapped me out of that trance was when I drifted past Dawson’s line and they suddenly broke formation and began flying away as fast as they possibly could. I regained control of myself, and suddenly the roaring became a lot louder.

“FALL! FLY! FLY AWAY NOW!” Tranquility screamed at me.

“What?” I murmured back, still dazed. I turned around, and suddenly it became very clear why she had shouted at me.

A massive tornado was heading my way, sucking up debris and trees. It was bigger than anything any team of pegasi could ever create, and much, much more powerful. I’d never seen a wild tornado before, but I knew the protocol. If you saw one, fly away and alert someone.

The problem was that I was already in its pull.

I started to fly as fast as I could away from it, but I kept inching backwards. Tears formed in my eyes. My thought process at the time was something along the lines of I’MGONNADIEI’MGONNADIEI’MGONNADIEEE! And I just kept getting closer and closer to the tornado.

Eventually I couldn’t fight it. My wings were getting fatigued. The last thing I remember before everything went black is that Tranquility screamed and dove towards me.

Author's Note

I got a chapter out in THREE DAYS?! Unheard of!

So yeah, this is the catalyst for everything else that happens in the book. Fall fell into a tornado and Tranquility followed. :facehoof: *Slow clap*

On the subject of the thestral language, it's pretty much my excuse for me to swear without actually swearing, although it will be used for things other than that. So, if I use the thestral language, I'll put a translation down in the author's notes.

So...

“Airote”- Pretty much the equivalent for shit, but not a direct translation, more along the lines of “terrible waste.” It can also mean “Deserted” The reasoning behind that translation is that in the past, before the tribes united, thestrals were a very, very poor society with very few of them left, due to a lack of resources given to them by the separated pony tribes. They had to be VERY careful with any resources. Any waste was a threat to their lives, so that grew into a swear term. Is used in shock, as humor (sometimes), and (very rarely due to its connotation) as an insult.

As normal, let me know if there are any errors and I will fix them. Thanks for reading!

~Pyrepinna

Chapter 2: Lost

I don’t know how long I was out. It must’ve been a long time, because I regained consciousness during a rather beautiful sunset.

A terrible chill was the first thing that I felt. It seemed as if frost had settled into my very core. I was shivering fiercely, and a groan slipped out of my lips, as it was the only thing I could do at that time. They say that Tartarus is filled with flames to torture its inhabitants. I say that if it was filled with the deepest chill possible it would have been more agonizing. I certainly would have ended my own life to take the pain of the cold away.

The next thing I felt was that I was wet, soaking wet. Well, that would explain the chill, I thought grimly. Why am I wet? The answer to that question eluded my grasp.

Then I heard Tranquility’s voice, and with discernible effort, cracked my eyes open. She was pacing around me, eyes wide with fear and shock. She was also soaking wet. As my eyes swam into focus, I became aware of several more things. I was lying on a hard, rocky surface, belly down, and my tail appeared to be caught in some sort of moving water. We were in a place that I didn’t recognize at all. There were spots of red everywhere along the rocks I lay on. Tranquility was bleeding from several cuts along her body… and a chunk of her ear appeared to be missing, with the wound bleeding profusely, dying part of her mane and one half of her face crimson red. She didn’t seem too bothered, though. She was up and walking, which was better than me. And she appeared to be speaking rapidly in the thestral language, but I wasn’t sure because my hearing was still really wonky.

It was at that moment that my body decided to make me aware of my own injuries.

A host of various pains registered in my mind. It seemed that I had been cut up worse than she had, as evidenced by the lines of agony that could be found in many places around my body, although it appeared as though nothing important was hit. It felt like there was a puncture wound in my left hind leg, but that wasn’t the worst injury. It felt as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to the back of my head. I seriously hoped that I didn’t have a cracked skull. That was all really bad news. The good news is that the shock of suddenly feeling all that pain jolted me to full awareness.

A strangled yell forced its way out of my throat as tears started to run down my face, causing some shallow cuts to sting even more than they already did. Tranquility froze and ran over to me. “Fall!” she shouted, panic evident on her face.

“Tranquility…” I slurred through the tears, trying to crawl closer to her.

“What is it?!” she shouted, her loud voice driving spikes of pain into my head, making me groan again. “Are you okay? Is there something seriously wrong?” She started to look me over, ignoring her own injuries in favor of trying to find what was paining me so much.

“Cold…” I responded, new shivers wracking my body and aggravating several of my cuts, causing me to gasp.

“Oh!” she said. She wrapped her hooves around my barrel and rather roughly hoisted my limp form up and into a tight embrace, her leathery wings wrapping around me. This jolted my head, and a massive wave of nausea raced through me. I leaned away from her and voided what little was left in my stomach, more tears pouring down my face. Although it was unpleasant, I did see that we were on the banks of a fast-moving river, and we were surrounded by trees. When I finished, she gently pulled me back into the embrace, tucking my head under her chin and running her muzzle through my mane. “Oh, Fall…”

I didn’t respond, instead leaning into her. The embrace was causing me pain, but it was so blessedly warm that I didn’t care. The chill slowly started to abate. I slowly came to the realization that Tranquility was holding me, even after what had just happened. She was holding me tightly… My crush was holding me. I stiffened up and felt a blush rising to my face, despite everything else going on. I have my priorities straight and in order, for sure.

Tranquility noticed and looked down at me, worried. “Your cheeks just turned a very interesting shade of blue,” she remarked, prompting me to giggle. My blood was blue. I was that cold, and it seemed just absurd enough to be funny, even in the terrible situation we were in.

I don’t know how long it took for me to warm up to normal temperatures, but it was enough for the shadows to grow long and the sun to sink below the horizon, and enough for Tranquility’s ear to stop bleeding, although I could tell she’d bled on me. I didn’t care, as I’d done the same. Eventually, I lifted my head off of her chest and nuzzled her neck, trying to keep my mind off of my injuries, although it didn’t work as that caused more nausea to rise and I nearly vomited again.

“Not cold anymore?” Tranquility asked.

“Nope,” I whispered back, not wanting to speak loudly.

“Good,” she said. She then tucked my head back under her chin. “Don’t move… I think you’re concussed.”

“Great…” I replied. It would explain why I felt so nauseous so suddenly, and why I was having trouble articulating words. “How?” I asked, beset by curiosity.

“How what?” she asked.

“How are we alive?” I said. “I fell into that… monster of a tornado.”

Tranquility shuddered, and I felt something wet and warm start to fall into my mane. “Y-you did…” she said, her voice hitching. “And I don’t know how we’re alive.”

“Are you crying?” I asked, concerned.

“Yes…” she said, nuzzling her head into my mane once more. “F-fall, just as you were about to hit the funnel cloud, a rock the size of two of our hooves whirled around and smashed into your head, knocking you out and sending you into the debri cloud. It was terrifying…” she broke off, more of her tears falling into my mane as she fought to regain control of her emotions. “I didn’t want to lose you like… nevermind. I dove in after you and rode the wind currents, getting beat up by the debri in the process. A shard of rock cut part of my ear away… but I didn’t give up. Eventually I found you… you were in a bad state. You were getting cut up more and more every second… I covered your limp body with my own, praying you weren’t dead…” I gently nuzzled her, trying to provide some comfort, but it didn’t really work.

“The tornado turned away from our neighborhood,” she continued. “I don’t know how long we were in it, but eventually it hit the Ponytomac river. It soaked us both, and I think that combined with the wind is why you’re so cold. It dissipated and dropped us in the middle of the river. I dragged us onto a piece of wood that the tornado also dropped in the river. We’ve been on that for hours…” she sighed, her breath teasing my mane. “And you didn’t wake up. I tried to get you to… I thought…” she started to cry a little harder, lightly shaking me. Her cries were oddly silent. I continued to nuzzle her. Eventually, she calmed back down, but she was still obviously stressed and still scared for me.

“I’m sorry…” I said.

“It wasn’t your fault,” she responded.

“Still sorry,” I cheekily replied, getting a soft giggle out of her. “So… where are we?”

“I don’t know,” she responded. “When I dragged you on shore, I flew up to see if there were any towns nearby, so I could get medical help. All I could see was forest, forest, and more forest.”

A sense of dread started to fill me. “We’re… lost?”

“Yes…” she responded softly, dread also in her tone.

“Oh no…” I started to feel tears welling up.

“And…” Tranquility began, shame in her voice. “I lost our sense of direction…”

I started to cry softly, and she did too, and we wept for some time in that embrace of ours. We were scared out of our minds. Neither of us had any survival skills, and I was injured badly… there was no way we were going to live.

Tranquility regained her composure before me, sighing and looking up to the darkening sky. That’s when I heard it. A soft piano melody began to drift through the air around us. I recognized it, a song was starting. I felt no tugging in my heart, so I knew I didn’t have to sing, but Tranquility did. She rested her head on mine, and began to sing.

“Konturo un parouh, we’re lost and alone,

Tuareh un ceireh, far away from home,

No way to go on, no way to make it through,

Tuareh un ceireh, konturo parouh.”

The piano track swelled and took the melody from Tranquility as tears began to run down her face once more. I felt saddened as well, even though I didn’t know what half of the words she sang meant. They obviously had deep meaning to her, and despair was so evident in her voice… and her voice was so beautiful… The background music softened, and she began to sing again.

“Life was wonderful, our futures were secure,

I had found true friendship, I had found a cure,

Then we’re blown away, I don’t know what to do,

Tuareh un ceireh, konturo parouh.”

Tuareh un ceireh, konturo un parouh. Those phrases began to resonate with me on an instinctual level, the magic of music reaching into my heart. I felt pain, the pain of others who had said that before. I don’t know how I knew that, but the music in Equestria always did things like that. At the same time, I knew that our pain was equal to the pain of the many other who had said that before us. I couldn’t fight it. I buried my face in the crook of her neck and began to weep softly. And she kept singing.

“Both of us are injured, me permanently,

My best friend, Fall Streaks, is hurt seriously.

We lay on the riverbank, alone, us two,

Tuareh un ceireh, konturo parouh.”

Even as I cried, I felt strangely comforted. Something about this arrangement was nice, with the both of us relying on each other for support. It was a bit weird, but even the vibrations Tranquility’s voice created were comforting, something familiar in this unfamiliar landscape.

“And now we weep..., and we pray...,

As the stars... end the day…

In this thing there is nowhere for us to turn to,

Tuareh un ceireh, konturo parouh!

Konturo un parouh, we’re lost and alone,

Tuareh un ceireh, far away from home,

No way to go on, no way to make it through,

Tuareh un ceireh, konturo parouh.”

Her voice dropped down to a whisper, and she lowered her head to rest on mine.

“Konturo un parouh, we’re lost and alone,

Tuareh un ceireh, far away from home,

No way to go on, no way to make it through,

Tuareh un ceireh, konturo parouh.”

And just like that, the song ended. As far as songs go, it was a fairly short one, but that was because it didn’t need to be any longer to get the point across. And it did. Both of us were left quietly crying on the riverbank, despairing at our situation, lamenting our misfortune. I’m just glad I didn’t have to sing. I didn’t need my terrible voice ruining the moment of the song.

“Wow…”

Both Tranquility and I stiffened at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. We were in no state to defend ourselves, being cut up and battered (and in her case, really, really tired), so hearing that scared us both to the bone. Tranquility gently pulled out of the embrace we were in and stood in front of me, where she heard the voice come from. “Who’s there?” she said, baring her teeth, which is something she never did. Thestrals had sharp, pointed canines that were longer than most ponies. In the low light, they probably looked like fangs.

Something small stepped out from behind a bush that Tranquility was facing. I didn’t see it, but it caused Tranquility to relax her stance. “What is it?” I asked.

“It looks like a baby diamond dog,” she said, “but it’s not.”

“That was really beautiful, miss,” the aforementioned creature said softly. It sounded like a filly, so I assumed it was female.

“Thank you,” Tranquility responded quietly.

“It was really sad, though,” the creature said, walking towards us on all fours. I could see it a little more clearly. Tranquility was right, it wasn’t a diamond dog, although it appeared to be of the same species group, for it looked to be canine in nature. It looked to have a well-groomed golden coat and big, cute eyes.

“Yeah…” Tranquility said, not moving.

“Why was tha-” the creature’s voice cut off, and it’s eyes widened in shock. “Gods above!” Before either of us could react, it rushed at us and began looking us over thoroughly, taking in every mark on us. Tranquility reeled away from it, and I gasped and jumped to my hooves. “What happened to you?!” it exclaimed. “It looks like you guys have been through a- ack, what is the name of that pony invention I saw once… a blender!”

“Nature’s blender,” I muttered, trying to get my racing heartbeat under control. Having an unknown creature rush at us in that state was terrifying.

“Could you please back away?” Tranquility hissed, baring her teeth again.

“Sorry!” it said, prancing away from us. “You two look beat up!”

“A tornado would do that to you,” I said, sitting down.

“You lived through a wild tornado?!” the creature exclaimed, shocked.

“Apparently,” Tranquility replied.

“Never mind! You guys need help!” the creature said, worry plain in it’s voice. “Follow me! I have medical supplies back at my camp!” it said, starting to walk away from us.

Tranquility didn’t budge. “Should we trust it?” she whispered.

“It’s the only option we have to get help,” I whispered back. “We have to.”

“Come on,” it said, beckoning to follow.

“Okay…” Tranquility said. She then walked over to me as I was standing up, and in one smooth motion, slid under me and lifted me onto her back, grunting. I blushed at this, but knew better than to protest, and wrapped my hooves around her neck. We walked over to the creature, who was smiling at us.

“There you go!” it… no, she said. “It’s only a short walk from here.” She began to walk away from us again, and this time, we followed.

“Thank you,” Tranquility said.

“It’s no problem!” she responded. “I haven’t had anyone to talk to in ages. Oh, and by the way,” she said, turning to face us with a cute smile on her face. “I’m Cam.”

Author's Note

Suddenly doggo! :pinkiegasp: :pinkiesmile: :pinkiehappy:

God, this is fun to write! I haven't been able to churn out writing like this in a long time.

But yeah, new chapter! I hope I did well on it (I'm a little tired right now), but I'm not sure, so if you guys could spare the time to leave some feedback in the comments, I would love it.

And now, for your edition of THESTRAL LANGUAGE GUIDE!

“Konturo un parouh” - A saying used to describe when a thestral is in a dark place. The direct translation is “lost and alone”

“Konturo” - Lost

“Un” - And

“Parouh” - Alone

“Tuareh un ceireh” - Often goes hand-in-hand with the phrase konturo un parah. Direct translation is “broken and battered.”

“Tuareh” - Broken

“Ceireh” - Battered

On a completely different note, tomorrow is November 8th! This is formally known as Election Day in the United States and informally known as Depression Day America. How are you guys going to be spending it? I known that I'll be watching the news while laugh-crying at this terrible situation.

But yeah! As usual, let me know if I've made any errors and I'll correct them.

~Pyrepinna

P.S.- This chapter is brought to you from thirty-six thousand feet in the air!

Chapter 4: Morning

I woke up to the scent of Tranquility’s mane filling my nose. Without thinking about it too much, I nuzzled deeper into her mane and pulled her closer to me. I blushed at the implications of our arrangement, and started trying to remember what had ended up with us sleeping together.

And then I remembered. I remembered how we fell into the tornado and ended up lost, battered and bruised on the banks of the river. I remembered Cam and her eccentric personality, along with her proclamation that she was coming with us. And I remembered we had NO clue where we were.

A wave of fear welled up inside of me, bringing tears to my eyes. I was still scared, even with what Cam brought to the table. I didn’t know if we would live to see our home again, our families, our friends… I pulled Tranquility a little closer to me, hugging her tightly enough that she squeaked and woke up.

“Fall… can’t breath,” she gasped. My face went bright red and I relaxed my grip on her.

“Sorry!” I apologized quickly.

“It’s fine,” she said. “I’m feeling like I need to squeeze something too. Just give me a little warning next time.” She pressed her muzzle up against my neck and sighed. I nodded and rested my head on hers. We lay like that for a few more minutes before I sat up and yawned. She followed, still leaning on me. I smiled and nuzzled her, failing to notice a certain pup sneaking up behind us.

“GOOD MORNING SLEEPYHEADS!” Cam screamed, causing both of us to jump and snap to full awareness. I yelled and flared my wings out in a defensive stance, while Tranquility hissed and bared her teeth. Cam broke out into laughter again. “You guys are too much,” she gasped through her mirth.

“You’re a jerk,” I mumbled, sitting back down. A headache started to build behind my eyes. I blamed her for it, wincing.

“Mhm, better believe it, boo boo,” she said, a huge, smug grin on her face. “I’ve been awake for hours. What took you guys so long?”

“Habit,” Tranquility said. She didn’t sound too pleased, as an undercurrent of annoyance ran through her speech. Her gaze was soured. She slumped back against me, ears pointed back in annoyance. It gave me a strange sense of deja-vu.

“Fine, sourpuss,” Cam grumbled. “Get yourselves up and moving, I need your help if we want to head out today.”

“With what?” I asked, my headache growing.

“Drying out and packing up the grove,” Cam said. “We’re picking everything and bundling it up.” With that, she left, bounding over the circle of brush that surrounded her camp. I sighed, and Tranquility did the same.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I didn’t sleep well last night,” she grumbled. “My sleeping habits still remained the same, even after the feirote we went through yesterday.”

“Oh,” I said. I didn’t understand.

“I still wanted to be nocturnal,” she whispered.

That would explain the deja-vu. This was what she acted like when we were in school together, always tired, annoyed, pissy. Because of her nocturnal habits, she never slept well, and always had to fight to stay awake in school, as she felt she should have been sleeping then. I didn’t mind it. It actually allowed us to get closer together, as I would be a pillar of support during her tougher times, but it was really hard on her. I gently wrapped my wings around her and nuzzled the top of her head. “I’m sorry…” I murmured.

“It’s fine,” she said. “I just need to push through… just like school.” The hurt was evident in her voice.

“Not alone,” I whispered. “You’re not alone. Not this time.” She didn’t respond, but I did feel her lean a little more on me. A few seconds passed, both of us thinking.

“I’m sorry,” Tranquility eventually said, bringing me out of my reverie.

“What?” I responded, confused.

“About last night…” she said, looking down. “I was weak… and I probably made you uncomfortable. When I woke up, I could see a blush on your face…” I tensed up at that, which was the wrong thing to do. “See?” she said. “It was unpleasant for you.”

“No, it wasn’t,” I quickly said. “I actually didn’t mind. It was really nice, actually…” And I wouldn’t mind if we did it all the time, I added silently to myself.

“Then why were you blushing?” Tranquility asked curiously, causing my heart to skip a beat.

“Um… w-well…” I began.

Cam jumped back over the brush. “Jeez, you guys take forever,” she remarked. “Do I need to break out more explosions?”

Saved by the Cam.

That’s a phrase I never thought I’d say.

“No, you don’t,” Tranquility hissed, a growl rising in her throat, giving Cam pause. I wasn’t fazed, I’d heard that before. I tightened my embrace a little.

“Oh-kay then,” Cam said. “Oh! You guys need food!” I nodded to that. Cam ran over to the box (I assumed it was her stores) and pulled something out, tossing it to me. I caught it. It appeared to be a mix of different leaves, an improvised salad. It had hints of orange and blue in it, so I eyed it warily. “Eat your veggies. They’re good for you,” Cam droned in an overly monotone voice, causing Tranquility to raise an eyebrow. “Oh, you wouldn’t understand. Now, I’ll be right back. I need to kill something for you and I,” Cam said, pointing at Tranquility.

“What?” she said, confused.

“Y’know, kill something for food,” Cam said, with a tone that sounded like she was explaining something to a young foal. To her surprise, Tranquility gagged. “What?”

“I don’t eat meat,” Tranquility responded, disgust laced through her words. “Whatever gave you the idea that I did?”

“Um… the fangs,” Cam said, as if that should have been obvious.

“Fair enough,” Tranquility conceded. “But I’m unable to eat meat.”

“Okay then,” Cam said, shrugging. She got out another salad and tossed it to Tranquility, then lept back over the brush. I looked at Tranquility, who was eyeing the salad warily. I shrugged and took a small bite. I chewed for about half a second before my eyes widened. It was good! I enthusiastically dug in, and soon, Tranquility followed my example.

We were about halfway through our meal when Cam returned with a dead rabbit in her mouth. I nearly threw up from the sight of it. It was repulsive enough on its own, but the fact that Cam looked so unbelievably pleased with herself didn’t help. She walked past both of us with her head held high, her eyes brimming with happiness, and a gigantic gleeful smile (that was dyed crimson red) spread across her face. Tranquility and I just stared in mild shock at her. She walked over to the site of the campfire, humming a happy tune, and spit it out.

She looked exactly like a housecat who had brought a little ‘present’ inside.

“What…” Tranquility finally managed to stammer, still in mild shock.

“My breakfast!” Cam squealed. “Isn’t it great?”

“Horrific,” Tranquility said, wrinkling her nose.

“Sickening,” I supplied.

“Repulsive,” Tranquility added.

“Bloody,” I noticed.

“Nauseating,” supplemented Tranquility.

“Dead,” I said.

“Great isn’t exactly the first word we’d use to describe it,” we finished.

“Rude,” Cam said, grinning even more. “I didn’t question your eating habits.” With an obviously exaggerated “Hmph!” she trotted over to her stores, grabbed something, and used it to light the fire again.

“What are you doing?” Tranquility asked, scooting away from the fire.

“Cooking,” Cam said, grabbing several plants from her stores, along with several crude knives and an improvised pan. Catching our incredulous glances, she shrugged. “What?” she asked, grinning. “I’m not a savage.” She then grasped two of the blades and raised them above her head. “You may want to look away for this part.”

I didn’t. I will never be able to unsee some of the things I saw that day.

Eventually, once she finished… preparing… the rabbit, she put it in the pan after sprinkling some of the plants onto it (or what remained of it). I leaned on Tranquility, shaken up, shaking, and nauseous. She had wisely looked away, but instead of making fun of my foolishness (which is what literally anyone else would have done), she provided silent assurance by gently nuzzling me.

“Jeez, you ponies are too sheltered,” Cam commented, idly leaning on her box as the rabbit started to sizzle.

“Cam, can you hush it for a moment?” Tranquility hissed. “Can’t you see he’s seriously bothered?”

“Yep,” Cam replied, lazily stretching over the box. “The difference between you and me is that I don’t care.”

“Why you little airotai…” Tranquility whispered, rage thick in her voice.

“What?” Cam asked, completely unconcerned. “It’s just life.” And with that, she slid off the box and walked over to the fire, ignoring Tranquility’s furious glare.

Silence reigned in the clearing as Cam finished cooking her meal and ate it. I could tell Tranquility was still angry, but I didn’t do anything, as I was still processing everything that had happened. At least I didn’t feel sick anymore…

“I need your guys’s help,” Cam said, extinguishing the fire once more.

“Why would we help you?” Tranquility grumbled.

“Because, whether you like it or not, you need me,” Cam replied. “And I wanna get the grove packed up by today.”

“I don’t give a flying-”

“Okay,” I stammered softly, shakily getting to my hooves. Tranquility turned to me with a shocked glance, while Cam gave her a smug grin. “What?” I asked. “It’s not like she didn’t warn me. It was my fault I saw that.”

“You can’t say that she didn’t take some perverse pleasure from watching your reaction!” Tranquility protested.

“Literally anypony else but you would have,” I said.

Cam giggled at that. “That is true, boo,” she giggled.

“You can’t just…” Tranquility stammered.

“I can,” I said, giving her an apologetic smile. “It’s what she had to do, and she did warn me ahead of time.”

“Fine…” she huffed. “Celestia, you guys are giving me a headache.” I leaned back down and nuzzled her, which she returned with a weak smile.

“So… are you two gonna kiss, or what?” Cam deadpanned, one eyebrow raised. My cheeks exploded with crimson, while a hint of ruby graced Tranquility’s own. She shrugged. “What? It’s a valid question! You two are so close to each other, both physically and mentally, that I’m a bit surprised you haven’t already.”

“It’s not like that,” Tranquility protested. “We’re just friends!”

Sadly, I added mentally.

“With benefits?” Cam wryly suggested. My blush spread to the rest of my face and I let out a strangled whimper, sliding to the clearing floor.

“NO!” Tranquility yelled, her blush growing as well. “Why would you-”

“You two were sleeping together last night,” Cam said, rolling her eyes. “I may be seven, but I have enough experience and have seen enough things to know what that insinuates.” A groan forced its way out of my mouth and I covered my face with my hooves. Tranquility sighed and shook her head. Cam giggled again. “Fine, fine, I’ll stop…”

“Thank you,” I whispered, mortified.

“Oh, calm down,” Cam said dismissively, waving a paw. “We still have the rest of the day for embarrassment.”

“Loving the headache,” Tranquility murmured, shaking her head.

It took me about five minutes to get myself back into working order, but a blush still tinged my cheeks. Tranquility didn’t help that much, as she spent much of that time giving me reassuring nuzzles while Cam watched and silently giggled. Eventually, though, I stood back up and smiled, showing I was all right.

“All right!” Cam said cheerfully. “Are we good?”

“Define good,” I joked.

“Great!” Cam said, cutting off Tranquility as she tried to form a response. “So, like I said before, we’re packing up the grove. If we all work together, we’ll be able to do it quickly. I spent the morning setting up several places to put the different plants. We need to set them in piles by species, so I can flash-dry them effectively.”

“Okay?” I said, a little confused. I blamed my concussion and the events of the day.

She sighed. “Put the similar plants where they’re marked to go,” she explained. “I’ve already taken care of the poisonous ones, so you can just uproot them- and make sure you get the roots- and stick ‘em in the marked pit.”

“Simple enough,” Tranquility said. I nodded to that, my confusion having faded. Instead of responding, Cam walked over to her tent and started to collapse it, compacting in into a small, long tube. She then proceeded to shove it inside the box.

“How…” I stammered, my jaw dropping.

“Bigger on the inside,” Cam explained, grinning. “A lot bigger.” She then hefted it onto her back and set off, expecting us to follow. We did, but my mind was elsewhere. That statement raised a lot of questions for me. Did the Wandering Wolves have magic? If so, how much? And if they didn’t, how did Cam manage to do that? I held my tongue, however. I had a feeling I would get the answer to those questions relatively soon, although I didn’t know why.

While I was thinking, we reached the grove. Several of the plants had been cleared out and placed in shallow pits, with small tunnels dug next to them. There were thirty other pits and tunnels scattered around the grove. Each had a plant already placed in it, marking what was supposed to go in the shallow excavation. I looked around and swallowed nervously, realizing that we had a lot more work ahead of us than I had anticipated.

“No use standing around,” Cam commented. “Chop chop!” And with that, she hopped into the grove, and we got to work.

Author's Note

CAM IS SCARY! EVERYTHING IS SCARY! I'm gonna hide now. :fluttershbad: :fluttershyouch:

So yeah, new chapter! I originally planned for this chapter to span the whole day, but I wanted to get this out to you guys without taking any longer than I already had. And I'm not sure how great the latter half is (Some things went down in real life that threw me into a bit of a funk). We learn that Cam is... Cam is turning out to be a little bit of a bitch, isn't she? :twilightoops: I promise I'll explain some of that (besides the fact that she's seven and sassy).
In other news, I finally have some idea of where I want this story to go! The problem is, it's really, really bad (in my opinion), and I'm not sure if it would get the best reception if I implemented it (but I really want to). So, if you guys don't mind some (possibly) MASSIVE spoilers for Cam and the story, then PM me so I could give you my idea and you could give me some feedback on it.
And with that, it's time for your edition of THE THESTRAL LANGUAGE GUIDE!

“Airotai”- The technical definition for this is “one who wastes” but has grown into a terrible insult between thestrals and a derogatory term that can mean “Deserter”, on the same scale as a pony referring to a thestral as a “batshit”.

Yeah, Tranquility got pissed at Cam.
So yeah! Let me know if there are any typos, and I'll fix them!

~Pyrepinna

Chapter 5: Discoveries

“This is just grand,” I muttered, uprooting a glowing vibrant green plant and dropping it unceremoniously into a pit, where many other shoots and growths like it lay. It left a foul, bitter taste in my mouth, one which I had grown to get used to over the course of the half-hour we’d been working.

“Yeah, suck it up,” Cam grumbled, grabbing two pitch-black growths and pulling them out of the soft earth. She was lucky in the fact that she had paws in which she could grasp the plants. She would place her paws around the stems, close her eyes, and a second later, easily pull them out, without a speck of dirt still on them. Tranquility and I were forced to use our mouths to forcefully pull the shafts out of the earth and then shake them to rid them of the remaining dirt. It was an unpleasant task, as most of the plants had less-than pleasant tastes.

“You do it with your mouth and see how it goes,” Tranquility retorted, having just spit out a grey flower. A grimace crossed her face, along with a hint of green.

“I’d rather not, though!” Cam replied cheerfully, dumping her load in the appropriate pit.

We continued in silence after that. I thankfully moved on to a sky-blue flower which tasted a LOT better, but Tranquility didn’t, her foliage being one of the more numerous types in the grove. I could see her face getting greener and greener, along with her anger growing. Lack of sleep never did good things to her.

And then I felt it. A soft tugging in my heart caused me to freeze up, the bundle of flowers falling out of my mouth. My ears folded back. Why NOW?! I screamed mentally. Tranquility froze as well, and in that moment, I knew that we’d be doing this together.

“Guys?” Cam asked, a tinge of worry coloring her voice. “What’s wrong?”

With the few seconds I had left, I turned to her. “Cam, I am so, so sorry,” I whispered. And then I heard it.

The beginnings of a song.

As far as songs went, I’d definitely heard more complex ones. This one seemed to have a fairly simple beat, with a fairly simple kick drum that sounded like something from an electronic trap mix. Then a staccato, whistle-like synth started in. It seemed as if we’d be singing the whole time, with that simple loop taking a backseat to showcase our voices.

I seriously wished I knew some of Tranquility’s swears.

And then I felt it, I was going to be singing first! Cam saw the panic flash across my face and tilted her head in confusion. Why shouldn’t I have been panicked? I had no idea how Cam would react to my terrible voice, and she was unpredictable! But it was too late. I took a deep breath, and began to sing.

“Yesterday, we were battered,

Lost and alone, every second sadder,

And then a savior found us, by the riverbank

For our health, we have her to thank.”

Cam let out an embarrassed giggle at that. I was more focused on how I sounded. There were less than six pitches in that sequence, and I managed to hit a stunning zero of them. I was worse than usual, and it was mortifying. Luckily, Tranquility took the melody from me at that point.

“Now today, we are with her

A tiny pup, with golden fur,

She’s rather callous, in anything she’ll say.

She’s proven that throughout the day.”

Cam snorted and let out a giggle of amusement at that. “Nailed it,” she added, grinning. I walked over to Tranquility, as the magic of music dictated that we were going to duet next, much to my disappointment. My harmony can be described as… atrocious.

“We’re moving out, she’s coming with

Leaving soon, packing forthwith

Cam’s helping, even with her quirks,

If only packing up wasn’t so much work!”

Bursting out into laughter, Cam fell over, grinning. Unable to tell whether it was the song or how badly I mangled that section of the song that was making her laugh, a furious blush spread across my face. Tranquility and I broke into a series of movements as we hit the chorus of the song.

“Pick the plants, ignore the taste

Rid them of dirt, do it with haste!

Drop them in pits so they flash dry

If the flavor don’t make you die!

Pick the plants, ignore the taste

Rid them of dirt, do it with haste!

Drop them in pits so they flash dry

If the flavor don’t make you die!”

Cam’s laughter increased to the point where she was rolling on the floor, crushing a few plants in the process. The song (thankfully) ended there, with my face bright red and Tranquility smiling softly. “That was one of the more… lighthearted songs I’ve sung,” she remarked, nuzzling me. I smiled in spite of the embarrassment I felt at the moment.

“Wow…” Cam gasped, slowly regaining control of her body as her laughter subsided. “That was hilarious… and rather insightful. But the real question is,” she said, getting to her paws, “what was that?” She pointed at me, giggling again. “That was impressively bad!”

“I’m tone-deaf,” I grumbled.

“A tone-deaf pony?!” Cam screeched, her eyes going wide. “That’s actually kinda cool,” she admitted.

“Cool?” I questioned. Never before had I heard that term used to describe my condition.

“Yeah,” Cam said, smiling. “I’ve never heard of a tone-deaf pony before. It’s gotta be pretty rare.” She then giggled again. “Yes sir, you’re one of a kind,” she sang, smiling as if that was incredibly funny.

“What’s that from?” I asked.

“One of the author’s favorite musical artists!” Cam replied, giggling. Before we had a chance to respond to that cryptic statement, she went back to uprooting the plants in the grove. “Now get back to work!”

In total, it took another three hours for us to pick and sort the grove. During that time, there were no more songs, but I did encounter a variety of different tastes, from bitter to sour to incredibly spicy. The combination would have probably made me sick if I had, but the last plant we picked was conveniently a mint patch, and Cam said we could eat some of it, and that helped a lot. Eventually, Tranquility and I sat down next to each other as Cam moved her way over to one of the pits. She tied a piece of crude twine around the plants inside, bundling them together, but leaving a length string hanging outside the pit.

“What are you doing?” I asked as she moved over to the small tunnel next to the pits.

“Flash-drying,” Cam said, pulling a small vial out of her tail and transferring it to her paw.

“How?” Tranquility asked, genuinely curious.

“One of my favorite concoctions,” Cam said cheerfully, pulling the stopper on the vial she held. It lit up like a firework, but before it could burn her, Cam dropped it in the tunnel. “Thermite!” A roar sounded from underneath the pit, and sparks began to fly from the tunnel. A blast of heat hit the plants, making the moisture in them evaporate. I also saw the very floor underneath them begin to sag. Just when I was sure it would break, the roaring and sparks stopped. Cam moved in and snatched the length of string, dragging the bundle out of the pit and over to her box. She then stuffed it inside, humming.

“What in Celestia’s name was that?” Tranquility gasped, ears folded back.

“Thermite is a little mixture I found out about, and I’m glad I did,” Cam explained. “Just get some iron oxide- that’s rust- and some aluminum powder, mix it together, and boom! Thermite. It burns at over four thousand degrees fahrenheit and is absolutely perfect for this! It also has the side effect of being completely awesome.” With that, she moved on to the next pit, pulling out another vial and completely ignoring how Tranquility had begun to shake. I pulled her into a hug, even as Cam set the next pit off.

Cam saw us after the third pit. She dragged the bundle of plants out of the pit and sighed. “Okay, what is the big deal with you and fire?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I…” Tranquility whispered, her voice trailing off.

“It’s just fire,” Cam said. “Cooks stuff, provides warmth, burns stuff…” She sighed. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“It is,” she whispered, her shaking redoubling. I hugged her tighter and nuzzled her head, worried.

“Why?” Cam probed.

“I don’t… I can’t...” Tranquility stammered, turning around and pressing against me, her eyes shut tightly.

“Cam, stop-” I began.

“Do I need to read your mind?” Cam asked, cutting me off.

“What?” I said.

“Y’know, see your thoughts, memories, all that jazz,” she explained, rolling her eyes. “Do I need to do that to find out?”

“You can do that?” Tranquility murmured.

“In theory,” she answered. “Haven’t actually tried it.” And just like that, she pranced off to the fourth pit, ending the conversation. Tranquility watched her pull another vial out and shuddered. I wrapped her in my wings and placed my hooves over her ears, smiling encouragingly. She nodded and closed her eyes, tucking her head below mine.

Each time the thermite went off, I could feel her shudder.

Eventually, Cam finished up, having gone through all the pits. Tranquility was a mess, terrified and trembling. I was trying my best to comfort her. I wondered what had her like this, but I kept it to myself. Now wasn’t the time to ask.

Cam seemed to realize that she’d gone too far as well. She closed up her box and walked over to us, her perpetual smile nowhere to be seen. A sigh forced its way out of her mouth. “Sorry…” she murmured. Tranquility didn’t respond. Instead of trying to apologize more, Cam wriggled between us and hugged her. I froze up as a tension spread through the air, unsure of what to do.

“What are you doing?” Tranquility asked quietly, her voice betraying no emotion. She’d only used that voice a few times, and I hadn’t heard it in years. It was the voice that she used when she was on an emotional teeter-totter, and the response of the pony that the voice was directed at dictated which way she would fall.

“Is snuggle time now,” Cam said. “You need snuggles.” She then buried her head in Tranquility’s chest.

Tranquility’s mouth stretched into a small grin at that. I smiled as well, as I could feel the the building strain fade at those words. Cam giggled before hopping out from in between us. “I think we can stay here tonight,” she said. “But the question is how we’re gonna stay warm. Can I light the fire or no?”

Once again, Tranquility shuddered. “No…” she murmured. “I’m sorry…”

“What to do then…” Cam muttered. “It’s fine, by the way. But I do want to know why.”

“I can’t tell you,” Tranquility refused. “It’s not a story for foal- pups, sorry, to hear. And I haven’t even told Fall…” I hugged her a little tighter. Whatever happened must’ve been bad…

“I’ve seen worse things than you probably have,” Cam replied. “Hit me with it.”

“No, you haven’t,” Tranquility hissed, starting to shake again. Cam winced and walked back over to her box, poking her head inside.

“You doused the fire last night, didn’t you?” I asked.

“No, I took the flames out of the equation,” Cam said. “It was still burning and giving off heat, just no flames to set other things on fire. I learned that lesson the hard way.”

“And yet you still casually light thermite,” Tranquility remarked.

“I spent half a year perfecting that technique, it’s safe,” Cam retorted. “Now what are we gonna do for heat? What you two did last night?” We both blushed.

“Blankets?” I suggested.

“Let me know where I can find cloth in the middle of the forest and I’ll get back to you on that,” Cam snarked. “And that was a serious question. Are we all gonna have to sleep together?” A second later, her face flushed red. “That came out so wrong.”

“Where did you get your tent?” Tranquility inquired.

“Stole it,” Cam replied casually. She noticed our horrified looks. “What? The ponies packed up and left and forgot it! It was easy pickings!”

“The word ‘stole’ implies something else,” Tranquility said. “‘Scavenged’ would have been more appropriate.”

“And just like that, my interest in the conversation is gone,” Cam said, closing her eyes and grinning.

“Couldn’t you just bundle yourself up in the tent fabric?” I asked. “Like a burrito.”

“SUSHI ROLL!” Cam yelled, her eyes going wide. “Yes! That would work! And you two will cuddle?”

“We will mutually sacrifice our dignity in favor of using our naturally generated body heat to stay at a comfortable temperature, yes,” Tranquility deadpanned, causing me to snort with laughter. “Anything but the fire.”

“Kay,” Cam responded, giggling.

We idly chatted for another half-hour, bantering. Tranquility (sadly) climbed out of my arms and sat across from me. Our conversation was mere fluff, nothing significant, more a distraction from our situation. Over the course of it, Tranquility’s wariness and shaking faded, much to my relief.

“Why are you getting that now?” I asked.

“Lightfall is in just a few minutes,” Cam replied, pulling the supports out of the tent and tossing them back into the crate. I assumed that ‘lightfall’ meant ‘sunset.’

“But we’ve only been awake for a few hours!” I exclaimed.

“And you slept for ages,” Cam said. “Well past noon. Well, you did, at least. Tranquility was off-and-on for the whole time.” She giggled. “It was quite amusing. And insightful.”

“How so?” Tranquility inquired.

“FedEx,” Cam replied, smirking and confusing me.

“I don’t know what that means,” Tranquility said.

“And that’s the way it should be!” Cam yelled happily. She went back to pulling supports out of the tent and tossing them into the box.

“What’s a FedEx?” I murmured, canting my head slightly to the side in confusion. Tranquility sighed and shook her head.

“I think it’s best not to question it,” she said.

True to Cam’s words, the sun began to set just a minute later. As soon as it did, she tossed us another bundle of leaves, the same thing we’d eaten in the morning, and brought out some dried meat for herself. We ate in silence as the stars came out above our head. Some of the glowing motes I’d seen the previous night flew in, flitted around for a few moments, then left.

“What are those?” I asked.

“Insects,” Cam replied, smiling. “They like the flowers that grew here. I expect they're a bit disappointed they’re gone now.” She went back to eating, smiling softly as a bright blue one landed on her ear.

We finished our dinner in a few more minutes. I leaned against Tranquility and smiled. She leaned her head back against mine. Cam grinned again. “FEDEX!” she yelled. I opened my mouth to answer, but was cut off abruptly.

At that instant, a sense of wrongness pervaded the world. I felt the strange sensation of my entire body being slightly stretched towards one place, as well as gravity shifting slightly towards that place, dragging me a few scant millimeters towards the strange distortion. I let out a soft cry of pain as the stretching reached its peak and aggravated my abused head. A black seam appeared in the air, and a bipedal silhouette stepped through it. The rift closed, and just like that, everything returned to normal.

Cam’s perpetual smile vanished in an instant, replaced with something similar to horror. She shot to her paws and raced to get in front of us, putting herself between us and the strange, dark figure.

The sound of her paws softly hitting the forest floor must’ve been picked up by the creature, because its head whipped around towards us. Moonlight flashed off the creature’s eyes, lending a glint of silver to its black form. It slowly began to walk towards us. Cam didn’t react, but Tranquility and I started to shake. It paused on the edge of the grove. And then it began to speak.

“Well…” it grunted in a voice even deeper than Dawson’s. “This is quite interesting.” My voice seized in my throat, and I pressed into Tranquility even more.

“Hello,” Cam said, her tone neutral. There was no trace of humor or happiness in that word, a stark difference from what she normally was like. If anything, this scared me even more.

“What do we have here?” the creature said, smiling and narrowing its eyes, revealing sharp teeth. It jumped down from the edge of the grove and began to walk towards us, reaching behind itself and pulling something out of a sheath with a metallic rasp. I assumed it was a weapon. “A pup… and two natives… sentient, by the look of them.” It paused, then quickly swung what was in its grasp at Cam, the tip of it stopping a few inches from her chin. “Why are you with them?” it asked softly.

Cam didn’t respond.

“Why?” it inquired again.

Cam didn’t move.

“You know the rules, pup,” it spat. My heart began to pound even faster.

Once again, Cam did nothing.

The creature pulled the sword back away from Cam and raised it well over its head. “I’m sorry, but I have to enforce them.” The moonlight reflected off the flat of a blade, and my heart stopped. Before Tranquility or I could do anything, the creature swung the sword at me, aiming for my neck.

Before I could scream, Cam reared up on her hind paws and stuck one of her forepaws out, one of the toes folded down. A curved dome of golden fire blossomed out from her paw, spreading in front of the three of us. Once it formed fully, it changed to look more like water, with eddies and currents running through it. I saw the weapon clearly for the first time, a thin sword, made of some blue metal. Before I could fully comprehend that, the sword smashed into the shield, rebounding with a loud crash and causing me to cry out. The creature tried again, swinging the sword harder. The tip lodged in the shield, almost poking through. Cam twitched her paw, and golden lightning crawled up the sword, but before it could reach the creature, it dropped the blade, which launched back out of the shield. The creature caught it and stumbled back. My mind caught up to my eyes and my jaw dropped in shock. What…

Cam took a deep breath in and let it out. She stuck her other paw out in front of her and formed the shape of the letter L with both of them. Her eyes drifted shut, and I let out a gasp. Glowing gold lines started to spread down her arms, crawling along like vines and creating pulsing, plant-like patterns along her golden fur. These spread to the rest of her body, crawling down her chest and her legs, up her shoulders and neck. They spread across her head, and when they reached her face, they created a symmetrical, spiraling pattern that surrounded her eyes and snaked down her snout. When she opened her eyes, they were golden-white with power. She slowly turned one of her paws upside down. When it fully inverted, the two Ls formed a box of sorts, and in the center, a symbol burst into existence, glowing with a blinding light.

The glow threw the rest of the clearing into stark relief, including the creature. It appeared to be a bipedal wolf, mottled grey in color. It grasped the sword in one of its paws and held the other paw out to shield its silver eyes. It was wrapped in a torn, brown cloak, which covered its ears and muzzle, giving it the appearance of a ghoul or ghost of some sort.

“I’m sorry,” Cam said, a small smile playing at her lips. “What rules?”

“You’re a…” the wolf stammered.

“Yes,” Cam said, her smile vanishing.

“Why?” it asked.

“Because I don’t like destiny,” Cam replied, her eyes narrowing and the symbol blazing a little brighter.

“The Den will hear about this,” the wolf snarled, squinting. “The Alpha will know.”

“The Den couldn’t care less about me if they tried,” Cam retorted. “And say hi to Hawky for me, if the old geezer’s still alive. Tell him Cam sent you.”

“You dare…” the wolf hissed. “You dare insult the Alpha?!”

“I dare,” Cam replied, steel in her voice.

“You… may the void erase you,” the wolf whispered.

“Right back at you,” Cam replied. The wolf snorted and stepped away from us. He drew his paw through the air, creating another seam that induced the sense of stretching and wrongness. Only when the seam had closed did Cam extinguish the strange, golden symbol and light, plunging the grove into darkness as my eyes worked to adjust to the sudden change of light.

“Cam?” Tranquility whispered. “What in feirote was that?”

The only response she received was the sound of soft sniffles, and then Cam began to cry.

Author's Note

CAM IS SCARY! WOLF MAN IS SCARY! EVERYONE IS SCARY! I'm gon hide nao. :fluttershbad: :fluttershyouch: :fluttershysad:
So yeah, have some confusion! I SO wish I could draw, this would be so cool to see in color. This is a segway into some setup for the story.
I have to say this. THERMITE IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS! DO NOT USE IT WITHOUT APPROPRIATE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS! IN FACT, PLEASE DON'T USE IT AT ALL!
There. I am not responsible if you hurt yourselves.
Yes, I'm aware the song is sub-par.
So, no thestral language guide. Instead, I took some photos of the hand symbols Cam used (I hope these aren't gang signs...) {EDIT: Pictures aren't working...}
The Shield:

The Glowing Lines:

The Symbol:

I'll try to sketch the symbol when I have a chance.
So yeah! Let me know if there are any typos!
~Pyrepinna

Chapter 6: Explanation and Evacuation

I started to blindly feel around in the dark, trying to find Cam. I too had questions, but something was seriously wrong. I could hear Tranquility doing the same, her hooves sometimes bumping into mine. Cam’s cries continued to get louder, bordering on full-on wails.

I found her first, my hooves brushing over her tail. I quickly swept her up into a tight hug, gently rocking her. Tranquility found me and started to rub Cam’s back. She buried her face in my chest and started to bawl. “Oh, sweetie…” Tranquility murmured softly, continuing to gently massage her back.

It took Cam a full twenty minutes to calm down, her tears matting my fur during that time, and even then, she was still sniffling, shaking, and tears sometimes slid down her face even after she stopped crying. Whatever that thing was, it scared her really, really badly. I felt a little angry at that thing, but I was mostly really, really worried for her.

“Are you feeling better?” Tranquility asked as Cam pulled her face off of my chest.

“N-no,” Cam whispered, her voice hitching. She leaned back aga inst me, not caring about the mats in my fur. I reached up and started to pet her, stroking the top of her head, trying to help.

“Can you tell us what’s wrong?” Tranquility asked softly.

“I’ll try…” Cam whispered. I nodded and started to rock her again.

“I n-need to explain something about the Wandering Wolves,” she began softly. “Our name implies a-a little more than what m-most would assume…” She took a deep breath. “We wander… reality… w-well, realities…”

“I’m not sure that I understand,” Tranquility murmured.

“You s-saw…” Cam said. “The other Wolf stepped through a rift to a-another dimension.” I gasped softly. I wasn’t sure what to think about that at first. I sorta froze up, which was the exact wrong thing to do. Cam noticed and started to cry again. We quickly worked to calm her back down, which took five more minutes.

“She’s strung really, really tight emotionally,” Tranquility murmured to me during that time. “She’s so scared…” I nodded and went back to nuzzling her.

After she calmed down again, I continued to rock her. “That was another Wandering Wolf?” I asked softly.

“I-It was,” she answered, shaking softly.

“It didn’t look anything like you,” I observed, causing another shudder to run through her.

“And that’s p-part of the p-problem!” Cam wailed, tears running down her face again. I quickly began to stroke her head again. “I-I’ll get into that later…”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Tranquility asked softly.

“I… I didn’t w-want…” she trailed off.

“It’s fine…” I said softly. “You can continue where you left off.”

“R-right,” Cam stammered, closing her eyes. “We w-wander dimensions… we’re supposed to be p-protectors of dimensions… k-keeping the realities separate, resolving c-conflicts that arise…”

“What do you mean by ‘supposed to be?’” I asked.

“I’ll e-explain soon…” she replied.

“You’re sort of the… guards of reality,” Tranquility said.

“Y-yes,” confirmed Cam. “That’s what we’re supposed to do. But… it’s n-not that simple. We have a… confusing society. There are ranks…”

“Oh…”

“Not all of us are Wanderers- t-thats what the other Wolf was- some of u-us are Civilians,” Cam explained shakily. “That’s the lowest r-rank. Then come the Laborers... they do menial tasks, like janitorial work and civil service… then the Protectors, the ones who g-guard the cities the Civilians live in. Then the W-wanderers, who wander around dimensions, mapping out unknown ones and k-keeping tabs on the known ones.. They generally find the p-problems f-first…” she trailed off.

“Cam?”

“The p-problems...” she whispered, pointing at herself.

“Cam!” Tranquility shouted. “That’s not true!”

“It is!” Cam wailed. “L-let me finish!” She took a couple more deep breaths before speaking again. “A-above that are t-the Warriors… they fight to resolve the dimensional c-conflicts. They’re trained t-to use their powers t-to…” she trailed off again, shuddering. “It’s not pretty. Above t-that is the ruling c-class, the ones who m-make the laws and r-rules. We c-call them the Den,” she said, practically spitting the name. “I don’t like them. A-above that is… the Alpha. Basically the k-king or queen.” She sighed. “We’re b-born into our r-roles and can’t c-change them, no m-matter what we do… we’re stuck where we are the day we’re born. Feelings don’t matter in the Wolves.”

“That’s so sad,” I murmured.

“What rank are you?” Tranquility asked.

There was a pause before she spoke again. “N-none of those…” she whispered shakily.

“Huh?”

“There’s a-another one…” Cam said. “Between the Den the Alpha. They’re r-really, really r-rare, and I’m one o-of them…”

“What are they?” I asked.

“Mages…” she whispered softly, holding out her paw. The same symbol that we saw earlier lit up again on the center pad, but glowing much less. “All Wandering Wolves c-can jump through r-reality, but M-mages are the only ones who have t-true magic…”

“You have magic?” I asked.

“S-sadly…” Cam confirmed, her trembling increasing. She extinguished the symbol.

“Why is that such a big deal?” I inquired.

“The second we’re b-born, we’re supposed to be taken to the A-alpha. M-mages all have golden c-coats, so it’s e-easy to tell that w-we are one,” Cam said. “W-we’re supposed to be the A-alpha’s little p-personal knights, ones who can d-do what he c-can’t. Because of that, we’re exempt from the r-rules of our society… Such as t-the one that we have to kill any species b-besides ourselves that finds out about us.” I gasped softly.

“That’s terrible,” Tranquility whispered.

“I know…” Cam murmured back.

“Then why are you here?” I asked.

“That’s a b-bit of a story,” Cam whispered. “We don’t h-have the time-”

“We always have time,” Tranquility whispered. “You can tell us.”

“O-okay,” Cam said. “I’ll make this really q-quick… I was born to C-civilians. My p-parents were poor… p-poor enough that they couldn’t afford a h-hospital room for my b-birth.” I gasped softly at that. Tranquility started to rub her back again. “In the end, that’s w-what saved me. T-the second they saw m-my golden coat, they made t-the decision to flee the city we lived in, t-the capital o-of our society: Paradise. They made an unsecured r-rift and j-jumped in, t-taking me with them.” She sighed. “It w-wasn’t for my sake. The Den t-takes the parents o-of Mages and… sees if they can p-produce more.” Tranquility’s ears went completely flat at that, and I paled a little. Cam shook again and continued.

“That d-decision could h-have ended very b-badly. An u-unsecured r-rift could have put them a-anywhere… but we ended up h-here. For the n-next two y-years, we lived h-here. I w-was taught what I k-know, and s-spent the time b-bonding with my parents. Then…” she shuddered. “The Alpha had o-one of his M-mages track d-down where the rift w-went… he came through. B-before I could react, he took my p-parents and t-tossed them back through the rift. He then w-went after me…” she stopped, taking a few deep breaths. “I-I lost it. I lost i-it c-completely.

“I killed him,” she whispered, fresh tears sliding down her face. “I let my magic l-loose and ripped him apart.”

Neither of us said anything. I hugged her a little tighter to my chest, while Tranquility began to stroke her mane. I didn’t know what else to do. I had just learned I was in the presence of a killer, but the way she reacted showed she was torn up about it.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

Cam nodded. “T-the Alpha knew the second he d-died. S-some sort of spell… it doesn’t m-matter. H-he stepped t-through the rift. I t-tried to kill h-him too… but m-my m-magic just s-slid off him… He stopped as soon as he s-saw me. H-he introduced h-himself as H-hawkeye and a-asked me w-why I-I killed his a-agent…” I could feel her breaths getting shorter and shorter, with little whines punctuating each one. I quickly began to rock her more. “I-I t-told h-him… n-not just w-why, b-but what I-I’d h-heard and w-what I thought… m-my magic s-spiraled out o-of control again, e-eating up a-anything in the a-area… c-creating the g-grove… H-hawkeye l-listened a-and when I w-was finished p-prommised to f-forget a-about m-me and l-leave me a-alone and n-now he’ll know a-and w-won’t b-be able t-to i-ignore m-me and the o-other M-mages w-will come t-they’ll k-kill y-you and t-take me and IDON’TWANNAGO!” she screamed, falling back into full blown wails. Tranquility took Cam from me and started to rock her, whispering soothing things and nuzzling her quickly. It only helped a little, her wails continuing. It took her a full half hour to calm down this time.

“I’m so sorry, Cam…” I said. She sniffled softly.

“W-we have to go,” she whispered.

“Huh?”

“D-did you not h-hear me?” Cam hissed. “He’s gonna come back. The other M-mages will b-be with him. T-they’ll kill you. They’ll t-take me. M-my s-stupid emotions have a-already cost us too much time…”

“They would do that?” I whispered.

“Y-yes!” Cam hissed. She struggled out of my arms and fell to the floor with a groan.

“Are you okay?” Tranquility asked.

“I don’t f-feel good,” she groaned. Nonetheless, she struggled over to the box and hoisted it onto her back. “It doesn’t matter if I-I’m okay!”

“Yes it does!” Tranquility said.

“We don’t h-have time!” Cam yelled

“Cam…” she said softly as Cam dropped the box, grunting.

"We have to-”

In that instant, the sense of wrongness returned, except worse than before. I felt as if I was being stretched in all directions, and actually floated off the floor a few scant inches because of the strange gravity. Cam gagged from the sensations, her eyes widening and pupils contracting.

In that instant, five cloaked figures appeared from black seams around our little camp.

Cam immediately reared up onto her hind paws and stuck out her forelegs. Light blazed from her paws, and a golden dome encased the three of us, and not a moment too soon. The five figures stuck out their paws, and multicolored lances of energy flew down their arms and off their paws, striking the shield. Cam grunted, but the barrier held. The cloaked figures dropped their paws. “Well…” one of them said, raising an eyebrow. “I thought it was impossible to withstand even two of those.”

“T-too bad,” Cam responded. “M-maybe it’s b-because I’ve been allowed t-to d-develop my magic to its fullest p-potential.”

“Or you’re lucky,” another said.

“Need help,” another added.

“We can provide said help,” all said.

“Not m-my kind of h-help,” Cam replied. “Our time i-is u-up,” she stammered, addressing Tranquility and I. “You c-come with me or die.”

“It’s not like that,” one of them purred. “You two won’t be involved in this anymore… that’s all.”

“It’s a l-lie,” Cam stammered. The figures raised their paws again and blasted the shield with the same attacks as before, causing Cam to cry out in pain.

“It’s not…” they said.

“Cam, get us out of here!” I yelled, jumping to my hooves. Tranquility followed, eyes wide. Cam nodded.

“Get close to me,” Cam hissed, tears running down her face. We ran over to her just as the figures blasted the shield. Cam screamed, and the shield dropped. The figures moved in, but before they reached us, Cam slashed at the air in the middle of us, creating a rift. I felt the same strange sensations as before, but this time, the gravity distortion pulled us into the rift, along with Cam’s box.

It felt… strange, that’s all I can say. I felt as if I was being pulled through a plastic drinking straw, but it wasn’t painful at all, just… disconcerting. I felt like I had been put into a vat of dry ice as well, with it being so cold it felt hot. The only gravity in the area was inside of me, as it felt like I was imploding. Time felt distorted, too, as it was like the jump took forever and yet no time at all. According to Cam, it took about half a second.

We dropped out of the rift in the middle of an ocean, except it was filled with some sort of purple liquid. We were surrounded by small islands, covered in strange foliage that I didn’t recognize, with strange leaf shapes (if they could even be called leaves) and odd, twisting stems. Cam waved her paw and changed the direction of our fall, causing us to plow into one of the islands. I landed hard, the impact jolting my head a little. Tranquility managed to flare out her wings and catch herself, while Cam didn’t make any attempt to catch herself and plowed into the soft sand of the island on her side, hard. I stumbled for a moment before steadying myself.

“Cam?” I asked. “Where are we?”

She gave no response. She just lay there in the sand, unmoving.

Author's Note

Suddenly magic doggos! :raritystarry:
And so the main plot begins! It's... gonna be tricky to do well.
I really dunno what else to put in the authors notes this time.

~Pyrepinna

Chapter 7: Recovery

“Cam!” I yelled, stumbling over to her. As I got closer, I could see the rising and falling of her chest, indicating she was alive, and a wave of relief swept through me. I slowed down to a walk as I reached her. Her eyes were closed, giving the impression that she was sleeping peacefully, except for the pained and tortured expression on her face. It was the look of a broken pony, one who had lost everything at no fault of their own. As I watched, a tear slid down her face and dropped onto the sand below. I sighed softly.

“Is she okay?” Tranquility asked softly, trotting up beside me. I shook my head and reached down, scooping her limp form up and into my arms. Her eyes slid open, and a soft grunt of pain escaped her lips.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“No... “ she hissed. “M-maybe some broken ribs…” I immediately changed my hold on her, cradling her on her back. “D-doesn’t matter…” she murmured softly

“Cam, you’re hurt!” Tranquility protested.

“I know…” she sighed. “I-I…”

“Yes?” I said. Cam didn’t go on, instead closing her eyes and leaning into me. I sighed and sat down, Tranquility doing the same. I gently nuzzled her, but she didn’t respond. We stayed like that for a while, until Cam shifted in my arms.

“Describe what’s around us,” she murmured. I did, explaining the strange purple ocean, the odd foliage, the unusually soft sand, and the reddish sky with no defined sun. I told her about how the air smelled strange and tasted a little like seafood. Cam groaned at that. “Get me to my box, now,” she commanded. I did, placing her next to it. She stumbled inside, and after a moment, tossed two things out. Upon closer inspection, they appeared to be masks of some sort. “Put those on,” she said. I did, tossing the other to Tranquility.

“Why?” I asked, confused.

“I created an unsecured rift, one that could have dropped us anywhere in any reality,” Cam said. “We landed in the Iodine Seas, a reality that’s pretty much saturated with elemental iodine. It’s toxic in large quantities, so keep the mask on, don’t eat anything, and don’t drink the water.”

“Oh.”

It took Cam a few more minutes to come out of the box, and when she did, she was dragging a bundle of supplies with her. She dropped it and opened it up. I recognized the healing balm that she’d used on us, but there were a lot of other things I hadn’t seen before. Cam stuck out her paw and levitated a small roll of plant fibers into the air. The balm also floated up, and Cam began spreading the balm on the roll, which I saw was an improvised bandage. She then wrapped it around her chest several times, before splitting about half off and tying the two ends together.

“For my ribs,” she explained. She then levitated the remaining bandage over to me and wrapped it around my head, tying a similar knot. “And that’s for your head.”

“I thought you said the balm wouldn’t work!” Tranquility said.

“I’d never had to treat a concussion before,” Cam said. “I wasn’t sure if it would, but now I have to try. He’s gonna need his full health from now on, so we’re trying that.”

“Why?” I asked. Cam sighed.

“I just jumped us out of your dimension,” she said. “It’s gonna be a while before we get back… if we get back…” Tranquility stiffened at those words. Her head slowly turned to look at Cam, her cat-like pupils dilating to be little more than black lines that divided her eyes in twain. I froze up. I’d never seen her act like this.

“What do you mean… ‘if?’” Tranquility whispered softly. My ears folded back when I heard her tone. It was a soft, neutral drone, not betraying anything. Her serious voice.

“I’m n-not sure if I can get us back…” Cam whispered.

“You… you’re not sure?” Tranquility whispered. “You’re not sure if we’ll be able to get back to our home? Our friends? Our family?” Her voice raised in volume with each successive word she spoke, her breaths getting shorter and shorter. “W-we won’t be able to get back to our lives? I-I built my life there. Everything I care about is back there. And you just took us away from that?” Her eye started twitching. “You took away my life, is what you’re telling me. You stole awa-”

“I KNOW!” Cam screamed, cutting Tranquility off and shocking her into silence with the sheer volume of her yell. Tears started to slide down her face again. “I KNOW! I-I’M SORRY! I-IT WAS T-THE ONLY THING I-I COULD DO! I-IT W-WAS-” Her face took on a green tinge, and she turned away from us and vomited. When she finished, she collapsed in the sand, sobbing brokenly.

I walked over to her and picked her up again, letting her sob into my chest. This time, Tranquility kept her distance, immense guilt spread across her face. I gently rocked and stroked Cam, trying to help her calm down.

Eventually, she did, although I had no clue how long it took. She lifted her face off my chest and looked at me with bloodshot eyes. “W-water…” she croaked.

“Where?” I asked.

“Box…” she answered, whimpering. I nodded and gently set her down. I walked over to the box and stuck my head in. Not even half a second later, my jaw dropped.

Inside the box was an absolutely cavernous room, about ten stories tall, I think, and as big as a professional theatre. The walls were an off-white color, and there were no windows. Shelves lined each wall, and there were rows more filling the space in-between them. A lot of the shelves were filled, but countless others weren’t. How the hay am I gonna find water in here? I thought, stunned. Just as I thought that, a ceramic jar floated off a shelf and flew over to me, hovering in front of my face. I reached out and cupped in in my fetlock before transferring it to my mouth and pulling my head out of the box, still stunned. I walked back over to Cam and gave her the water, which she drank greedily.

“What was that?” I asked softly.

“Personal dimension,” Cam answered.

“Do all Mages have those?” I inquired.

“I dunno,” Cam whispered, wincing. “Probably.” Drinking the rest of the water, she lay back on me. “Well, I can confirm that some of my ribs a-are broken… screaming caused pain, and dehydration plus bad pain wasn’t great, so I threw up, and that hurt real bad…”

“I’m sorry,” Tranquility whispered.

“I… w-we need to have a talk about our situation,” Cam said, leaning up against me.

Tranquility warily trotted up to us, ears folded back. “I… I freaked o-out… I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“I… understand,” Cam said. “I’m… don’t t-think I’m not s-sad… and freaked o-out too. Part of t-the reason I’m not sure I can get us back is because I have no e-experience with dimensional travel. I-I’ve lived in that spot for all seven years of my life. I… I planted seeds for all the plants we picked before you guys got up because I thought I would help you guys get home and then come back… a-and now I can’t.” She closed her eyes. “I-I wasn’t k-kidding or joking or lying. The Mages would have killed you guys w-without a second thought. T-they’re technically above the rules, but they’re so c-convinced of their legitimacy and correctness that they w-would’ve done it anyway. T-this was the only o-option…”

“I’m sorry,” Tranquility said again, sitting next to me.

“It’s f-fine…” Cam said. “I-I would’ve reacted the s-same way.”

Tranquility looked to the sky above us. Through her mask, I could see her lips trembling. I couldn’t say that I wasn’t sad also, but Tranquility was taking it much, much harder than I was. Sure, I had friends. Sure, I had family. Sure, I would miss them. But the way I saw it, I was with the one pony who I truly wanted to be with. So, I was scared and sad, but not too much. But Tranquility…

She was distraught enough that a passing remark about the mere possibility of not being able to get home made her snap at Cam, who had just completely broken down over what had happened with the Wolves, and said that she might have had broken ribs. Something about being away from home, possibly permanently, hurt her deeply. I didn’t know what, though, but there was something. I resolved that I would talk with her later.

I was caught up so deeply in my thoughts that I barely missed the soft words that slipped out of her lips.

“Konturo un parouh, we’re lost and alone…

Tuareh un ceireh, far away from home…

No way to go on, no way to make it through…

Tuareh un ceireh, konturo parouh…”

As the last notes left her lips, tears started to slide down her face. There was no sound to her sobs. The only reason that it was evident she was crying was the shaking of her chest. I extended my wing and wrapped it around her, and she leaned against me. I leaned back, holding her up, being both a literal and figurative pillar of strength for her, for Cam too. Cries started to escape her too, and soon, they were both crying. I picked Cam up and started to rock her, while nuzzling Tranquility and rubbing her back with my wing. After a few seconds, an impulse came over me, similar to the magic of music. I opened my mouth and began to whisper.

“Konturo un parouh, tuareh un ceireh, jai yeiruah, jai yeiruah.

Konturo un…”

I repeated that phrase, the words which I did not know the meaning of, for a long time. It helped both Tranquility and Cam marginally. Eventually, Cam settled down, and Tranquility smiled at me.

“You have… the worst Equestrian accent,” she said.

“I’m not surprised,” I replied, nuzzling her gently. She giggled for a moment before the smile slipped from her face. I sighed at that.

“Cam… I have a question,” she said. “Two, actually.”

“Shoot,” she said.

“When you said that it was normal for parents in the Wandering Wolves to abandon their kids when they turned two… was that a lie?” she asked.

“Y-yes,” Cam said. “I didn’t want to tell the truth…” She didn’t notice, but I felt a lot of tension leave Tranquility when she said that. She slumped against me a little more.

“Second… what happens now?”

Cam sighed. “I… I expect we start moving, and quickly.” She shuddered. “They can track where the rifts go… I expect that within twelve hours they’ll have t-the Mages here, trying to kill you and catch me…” she sighed. “W-we’re gonna have to… jump dimensions until we make them lose our trail or we get back to Equis.” A second later, she let out a sad laugh. “I mentioned something about an adventure, didn’t I. Heh… didn’t think it would be this kind. I’m sorry…”

Instead of responding, I wrapped her in my other wing, a silent gesture of comfort. She sighed and slumped down. “Seven… the age of the end,” she whispered.

“It can’t be like that,” I said.

“I… I built my life on Equis, like you guys,” Cam said. “M-my whole life just came crashing down. I made my grove there. I learned potions there. I made my deal with the Alpha there. It’s my home too. And now… I’ll… probably have to spend the rest of my life running. So yes, it is like that. The end begins now.”

“Weh pourehasti du quri surai, weh pourehasti du zhaigai,” Tranquility whispered, her eyes widening in comprehension. She took Cam from me and started to pet her. Cam nodded, closing her eyes and shuddering, a grimace crossing her face. “Yeiruah?”

“I-I.. I-I think s-so…” Cam whispered back. She started to sniffle again. Sighing, Tranquility pulled her into a tight embrace, her leathery wings completely encompassing her golden fur. A few seconds later, the sound of sobs began to emerge from Cam’s hidden form.

I got up and walked behind Tranquility, sitting down and draping my wings over her shoulders. I could feel her flinch at the contact before she slumped against me. “You okay?” I asked.

“Tired…” she responded softly. I extended my wings more, creating a sort of blanket around her.

“Then rest,” I murmured, tucking her head under mine. “You’ve been up for a while.” She nodded slowly and closed her eyes. A few minutes later, her breathing slowed and evened out, and she went limp against me. Cam’s cries, however, did not cease.

“Cam?” I murmured.

“Y-yeah?”

“It’s gonna be okay,” I said. “We’re gonna be fine.” Cam didn’t respond, but her cries abated slightly. Soon, she too was asleep.

I closed my eyes as well, and a rush of emotion swept through me. There was fear, of course. It was the filler between the others, permeating everything like an unpleasant odor. There was worry, there was concern, there was sadness, and underneath it all, there was a hint of curiosity. The combination made me feel slightly sick. As I drifted off to sleep, I found myself thinking one thing.

Fate, don’t make a liar out of me.

Please.

Author's Note

Well then... hello depressing chapter.
It gets better, guys. There is some funny and cool stuff in this.
So yeah, we learn what I meant by "Adventures" of a Tone-Deaf Pony. This plot development is... questionable, but I know what I'm doing... I hope.
In other news, I finally have the rest of the story planned out! The idea came to me late at night, so it's UNDOUBTEDLY good! I find the best ideas come at night. I always keep a notebook and pencil by my bed so that I can write ideas down. I definitely recommend doing the same, so that those gold ideas don't slip away.
And with that, it's time for... THE RETURN OF THE THESTRAL LANGUAGE GUIDE!

“Jai”- Not

“Yeiruah”- Forever

“Weh”- The

“Pourehasti”- Crumbling

“Du,”- Of

“Quir,” Fields

“Zaigai,”- Lives

“Surai,”- Established.

“Weh pourehasti du quri surai, weh pourehasti du zhaigai”- Another thestral saying, again relating to when the species as a whole was poor and suppressed. The direct translation is “The crumbling of fields established, the crumbling of lives.” The phrase has taken to be synonymous with the importance of having a home, and what can happen when that place of security is taken away.

Y'know, in Google Docs, the Guide is now two pages long. We're in chapter 7. How long do you guys think it'll be by the end?
Happy Thanksgiving to all you fellow 'muricans out there! (although I'm uploading this a little late)
~Pyrepinna

Chapter 8: Taken

I woke up feeling… off, like something wasn’t quite right in my system. It was like a common cold, but ever so slightly worse. As a result, I wasn’t in the best mood when I opened my eyes.

My crankiness abated somewhat when I saw that Tranquility had turned over in her sleep and pressed her face up against my neck. I could feel some matted fur there, so I could tell she’d been crying. Without thinking, I wrapped two of my hooves over her. Unfortunately, this jostled Cam, who had moved on top of Tranquility, probably when she had turned over. She was nestled in the base of Tranquility’s wings, which I unfortunately bumped when I hugged her.

“Mrf…” Cam mumbled, raising her head. “What is it-” she broke off, starting to cough violently. Tranquility jumped at the harsh sound, raising her head suddenly and catching me in the chin with a yelp. The sudden pain distracted me, as I was going to help Cam, but instead ended up rubbing my chin.

After a few seconds, Cam stopped coughing. “Shoot…” she said, her voice hoarse. “We’ve been here too long. The iodine is starting to poison us.”

My heart rate skyrocketed at that, and my muscles seized up. Cam sighed and stuck out her paw. The symbol that seemed to always appear when she used magic blazed bright, and a small arc of lightning jumped out of the center pad and struck me in the forehead, shocking me both figuratively and literally. “Hey!” I yelled, my worry forgotten. “What was that for?”

“You were about to have a panic attack,” Cam said, rolling her eyes. “Pain stopped that pretty well.” She slipped off Tranquility’s back and walked unsteadily over to her box. “But we do need to get out of here. Help me.”

“Can I hear a ‘please?’” Tranquility grumbled.

“Fine, mom,” Cam droned, shrugging. “It’ll only give the iodine a little more time to kill us. A little more gas gets into our lungs. But whatever. It’s your funeral.” I sighed and slid out from under Tranquility, walking over to her and lifting her box onto her back. Tranquility muttered something under her breath and stumbled over to me.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Feel sick,” she groused, looking away from me with a sour expression on her face and her ears folded back. I draped my wing over her and nuzzled her.

“I’m a little off as well,” I murmured.

“Get your face away from my ear before you puke on me,” Tranquility grumbled. I pulled my head away from her, a little hurt.

“That’s the iodine’s effect!” Cam cheerfully crowed, raising her paws. Ethereal energy began to swirl and wrap around her paws, and she closed her eyes.

“Then get us out of here!” Tranquility yelled. “We’re getting poisoned!”

“Very slowly!” Cam shot back. “And I need a little time. I’m trying to get a fix on a safe plane of reality!”

“Can you hurry it up?” Tranquility hissed.

“No!” Cam yelled. “I’ve never done this before!”

“Why?” I asked.

“I’ve never travelled dimensions before!” Cam yelled. “The box appeared on its own, and I stayed in Equis all my life! Yesterday was the first time I created a rift! I’m trying to lock onto a safe dimension my dad told me about. It’s hard, so shut up and let me concentrate!” And with that, she closed her eyes and grimaced, the magic around her paws glowing a little brighter.

Tranquility sighed and leaned on me. “Great…” she mumbled, slumping down a little. I followed her down, sliding to the sand and moving so that she rested her head between my front legs. “I really, really don’t feel good…”

“I’m sorry,” I murmured, leaning down and nuzzling her.

“You’re helping,” she said, pressing against my head.

“I am?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said. “You’re distracting… in a good way.”

I smiled and rested my head on hers. She let out a happy hum, despite feeling sick. She likes this, I thought. She likes… my comfort… and touch? My smile slipped off my face. She’s comfortable with me to the point where she fell asleep with me… twice!

“You okay?” Tranquility asked. “You just froze up again.”

I didn’t respond, pulling my head off hers. I looked into her eyes, and saw concern for me, as well as care… Wow…

“Fall?”

I took a deep breath, steeling myself. Here we go. “Tranquility, I-”

“CRAP!” Cam screamed, swinging her paws down in frustration, the magic she had been controlling flying loose and blasting two smoking craters in the sand next to her. Her paws clenched into fists, and she growled, giving her the appearance of a small demon.

“Cam?” Tranquility asked. “What happened?”

“I lost control of the stupid spell,” she hissed.

And ruined my moment. I was SO CLOSE! I thought ruefully.

“So what now?” I asked, trying not to let my hurt slip into my voice.

“We pray to whatever holy being you believe in,” she grumbled. “Because we’re doing more undetermined jumps until I can get a hold on that spell.”

“But you only tried it once!” I said.

“And I was fighting tooth and nail to keep it under control, and I failed anyway!” she yelled. “It’s too advanced! We’re doing”

“Okay…” I murmured, getting to my hooves. Tranquility followed, pressing against me. Cam raised a paw and drew it through the air, tearing a black seam in the air. The strange sensation converged on us again.

“Now, let’s g-”

Five black seams tore in the air around us, just like last night. Tranquility groaned as the stretching aggravated her sickness. The five cloaked figures stepped out of the seams, and they closed.

“Well…” one said, grinning. “You have rather interesting dimensional choices, young lady.”

“Shut. Up,” Cam hissed. “You know I had no control over where I went. Don’t mock me.” The golden lines spread up and around her body once more, and she raised her paws. “I can hold you off. And our rift is open.”

“We know you had no control,” another said, stepping forward. “Your magic has no control. We’ve trained in the magical arts, you haven’t.” Cam started to giggle, which then turned into a full on laugh. “What’s so funny?” the Mage asked.

“Oh…” Cam grinned, her playful smirk from when we first met her returning to grace her face. My heart lept; this was the Cam that we knew. The one who didn’t care and did what she wanted to, not the brooding, crying mess she’d become. “Some things don’t need to be controlled.” The golden lines along her body flared to blinding brightness, and a wave of pure golden energy exploded out of her. It passed through us before we could blink, but it slammed into the surrounding Mages with the force of a train, sending four of them flying with pained howls. Three landed in the water. One landed farther away on the island and didn’t get up again. Only one managed to interpose a shield between him and the energy before it impacted.

Before I could even process that, Cam lashed her paws out at us, ropes of magic snaring around our barrels. She yanked on them and pulled us toward her, even as she jumped into the dimensional rift. We flew into it after her, but not before I heard one word.

“NO!”

That grating scream tore at my ears as I vanished into the seam. I had a scant second to feel fear before all thoughts of the noise faded to the back of my mind as the strange sensations of dimensional travel assaulted me.

We dropped out of the rift in the middle of a gigantic desert, with sand and huge dunes as far as the eye could see. I managed to catch myself and land on all fours, a little bit of pride warming my heart. Tranquility promptly fell on me, causing me to collapse and snuffing that pride out like a dying candle.

Cam landed softly next to us, her box sliding off her back. “Sorry about tha-” She broke off, her eyes widening and an expression of horror spreading over her face. “STAY DOWN!” she yelled, her magic surging, the lines reappearing and her eyes flaring a bright golden-white. A shield spread over her, and a second later, a powerful bolt of magical energy smashed into it. I whipped my head around and gasped.

A Mage had somehow made it through the rift with us, leaving it’s cloak behind. It stood in a natural bipedal stance. Taught muscles lined its form, marking it as a trained warrior, and quite dangerous, as evidenced by the nimbus of magical energy that surrounded both of its forearms. It launched another screaming magical bolt at Cam, who somehow absorbed it into her shield. A millisecond later, she fired a crackling bolt of golden electricity at the Mage. He threw up a shield, but the bolt smashed through it, making contact with his body. Runes flared to life, and a shield covered his body, the lightning curling around it.

“It’ll take more than a little lightning to bring me down, pup,” the Mage gloated.

“No, it won’t,” Cam replied smugly, her grin widening. She shot another volley of lightning at the Mage. The Mage didn’t respond, instead firing several more bolts of magical energy at Cam. Her symbol flared bright on her paws. She dodged two and blocked the last one with a paw, absorbing the energy once again and diverting it into a haze around her body.

“How did you do that?” the Mage asked, changing the gesture he was making with his paws.

“That lightning isn’t as useless as you think,” she replied, her grin widening. She drew her paw back and made a punching motion. The aura surrounding her body condensed and flew down her arm, taking the shape of the same bolt that she had blocked with her paw. It shot off her arm and smashed into the Mage. His shield didn’t hold, and he was driven into the sand, gasping. Before he could recover, another lance of lightning lashed out and struck him. He howled in pain, his muscles spasming. Cam grinned and dropped back down onto all fours, the lines vanishing and her eyes returning to normal.. “Have fun with that, boo.”

“What… did you… do?” the Mage hissed.

“Borrowed a trick from your Alpha,” Cam replied. “Something Hawky did to me when he first met me.”

“You met the Alpha?” the Mage gasped.

“Five years ago,” Cam replied. “When he first saw me, I tried to kill him, just like I killed that other Mage.”

“You…” the Mage said, trailing off and his eyes widening in fear. “You killed Jackson?”

“Sadly, yes,” Cam said, her eyes drifting down. “I did. He took my parents. When Hawky came through the rift, I thought he was gonna take me… so I tried to kill him. He completely overrode my magic and made it impossible for me to cast any more spells. I spent years working on something similar… that lightning slowly sucked away your shield and replaced it with my magic. That magic also seeped into your natural reserves, so when you fired that bolt, it was part of my magic… so I took control of it and shot it back of you. And when it broke your shield, I hit you with part lightning, part inhibitor spell.”

The Mages eyes widened. He scrambled to his feet and stuck out his paws, but nothing happened. “What?” he whispered. He slashed his paw through the air, but nothing happened. “What did you do?!”

“Blocked ya magic!” Cam yelled cheerfully. “You can’t cast any spells, and you can’t jump dimensions. So I can do this-” a tiny bolt of lightning zapped his nose, “and you can’t do ANYTHING!” I giggled. There was so much glee in her voice.

“Why?” he whispered.

“Two reasons,” Cam said, becoming serious again. “First, I don’t want to kill you. Killing one mage… wasn’t the greatest for me… and not an experience I wish to repeat.” She winced, her eyes betraying some pain at the memory. “Second, I can’t let you go.”

“Why not?” the Mage asked.

“You’d lead the others straight to me, and the second I set you free, you’ll attack me!” she yelled.

“Yeah, fair enough,” he conceded.

“So you’re staying with us,” Cam said, grinning. “I’m Cam! What’s your name?”

There was a pause before the mage answered. “Reed,” he replied. “The newest Mage, and the most devoted to the Alpha. I will find a way to escape, rouge.”

“That’s nice,” Cam replied.

“And those two are…” Reed began. “Witnesses?”

“Friends,” Cam said.

“I’m Fall Streaks!” I said.

“Tranquility.”

“They have to be killed,” Reed said to Cam.

“You kill them, I kill you,” Cam said coldly. “Mutually assured destruction.”

“They can’t possibly be all that important, to be more important than me!” Reed complained.

“Guess what, boo, they ARE,” Cam hissed, smiling at him sweetly. She turned to us. “He followed me here. Can I keep him?”

“Yes…” Tranquility and I said, Tranquility giggling.

Reed growled. He lunged at Cam, arms outstretched. She stuck her paw out behind her, and a bolt of lightning shot out and caught him straight in the chest. He plowed into the sand with a pained squeak. “He’s gonna need to be trained, though,” Cam remarked. Tranquility moved into full on laughter.

“Feeling better?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Tranquility said, grinning. “Must be the fresh air.”

“It is,” Cam said.

“I hate you…” Reed grumbled.

“Get used to it,” Cam said. She reached into her box and pulled out three packets of leaves, along with four ceramic water jars. “Now eat and drink.”

“I won’t accept anything from you,” Reed hissed.

“Starve then,” Cam said, shrugging. “I’m trying to be nice, okay?” She then tore into one of the packets. “I wasn’t gonna eat, but whatever.”

“Cam, that’s leaves,” Tranquility said. “You’re carnivorous.”

“Omnivorous,” she corrected. “I just like meat better, but I have less of that in my stores.” She then stuffed a pawful of leaves in her maw to prove her point, glaring at Reed. I shrugged and grabbed my share of what had been brought out. Tranquility followed suit.

A few minutes later, Cam finished. “Right, so as soon as you guys are done, we’re leaving.”

“Whyf?” I asked, my mouth full.

“We’re in the Great Sands,” Cam said. “It’s like a desert back home, where most everything dies in it and there’s no resources at all.”

“So stay here for a while,” Reed grumbled.

“No,” Cam replied. “But deserts usually get super hot, right? Here, it feels like a chilly autumn day.” I nodded. “Imagine how cold it’s gonna get at night.” I gasped, remembering my basic science classes. Deserts lose a lot of their heat at night, so most life was nocturnal. “So stuff your faces and let’s get out.”

I obeyed her instructions and ate what was left in one bite. Tranquility watched me with a sort of horrified fascination. “I’m not hungry anymore,” she eventually whispered. Reed whistled, impressed.

“Let’s go, then!” Cam said, jumping to her paws. I got up and brushed the sand out of my tail and coat, Tranquility doing the same. We looked at each other.

“We’ll get each other’s underbellies later,” I said.

“Fair enough,” she said.

“You guys do what?” Cam squealed.

“It’s hard to get there!” I protested. “I’m not flexible, like a cat.”

“Eh, fair enough,” she said. And with that, she slashed at the air, and the four of us went through the rift.

Author's Note

Aww, Fall... you were so close, and yet so, so far. One day, you'll tell her.

So yeah, new character! This one is a pretty great example of my writing style. Why did I do it? Because I thought it would be cool.

So, no language guide.
~Pyrepinna

Chapter 9: Food

The first thing I felt when we dropped out of the rift was an incredible blast of heat, like I had been thrown into a kiln while it was in the middle of firing clay. It could have been a lot worse, however. We dropped out of the rift a few thousand feet above a giant, roiling mass of scorching hot liquid, orange, red, and yellow in color. It was like lava, but far too… liquidy to be that. There was smoke everywhere, reeking of sulphur and phosphorus, similar to a natural hot spring, but worse. The instant we hit the heat, my fur started to smoke and blacken, the pristine ice-blue color taking on a dirty-white shade, while my bright-white mane turned a soot-grey, with the bright, sun-yellow streak dirtying to a dark mustard yellow. Tranquility let out a scream of pure terror before Cam slashed her paw through the air, creating another rift that we fell into.

We weren’t in that dimension for more than a quarter of a second, but it did that to us. If we had been in there any longer… I think we would’ve been cooked.

The second time, the rift dropped us in the middle of a jungle-like area, except that the trees (or whatever they were called in this dimension) stretched up to the sky farther than the eye could see. The bases looked to be at least three hundred feet wide. It smelled like a zoo. I wasn’t happy with that. I hate the smell of zoos.

Tranquility dropped out below me, so I landed directly on top of her, much like she did to me when we dropped into the last dimension. She let out a pained and terrified squeak, trying to bolt out from under me and failing. I slid off her and gently rubbed her back, and she tried to bolt again, spreading her wings to fly. That’s when I noticed the burns covering them, the normally navy and white skin turned an angry red.

“Cam!” I yelled. “Balm, now!” She obeyed, tossing the jar to me. I began to gently spread it on her wings, trying not to be too rough.

In a few minutes, the burns had vanished, and Tranquility was no longer on the verge of bolting, although she did still have the panicked look in her eyes. I looked around at the others and came to the conclusion that we all looked like we’d been hit with lightning.

“What was that, Reed?” Cam hissed. “I’ve never heard of that dimension before.”

“Neither have I,” he replied. “Congrats. You discovered a new reality.”

“Fat lot of good it did us,” she grumbled. “That place was covered in plasma, like the surface of a star! Actually…” a grin spread across her face.

“What?” Reed asked.

“Your friends are gonna have a fun time going through that one,” Cam replied with a smirk, causing Reed to pale. Cam ignored that and turned to us. “What happened to you guys?”

“Tranquility’s wings crisped,” I replied. “And she had a panic attack. I’m fine.”

“That bad?” Cam asked. “Shoot.”

I didn’t respond. Instead, I pulled Tranquility into a tight hug, smearing the soot that covered both of us. I could feel how tight her muscles were through our touch, how tense she was… “What happened?” I whispered.

“I-I… m-memories…” she whispered back.

“Okay…” I whispered soothingly. Extending my wings around her, I started to rub and press her shoulders.

“W-what…” she murmured.

“Massaging you, or trying to,” I said, nuzzling her. “It’ll help you calm down.” I hope.

“Okay…” she whispered. I unwrapped her from the hug and gently pushed her to the ground. I then began to knead on her back. Cam glanced over at us and gasped.

“What?” I asked.

It wasn’t her who answered, but Reed. “Are you two mates?” he asked callously. I faltered in my rhythm for a moment before resuming as normal, a blush rising to my cheeks.

“No, we’re just friends,” I replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Touching like that is… reserved for mates,” he replied.

“Not where I’m from,” I replied, pressing a little harder on Tranquility’s back. “We do anything to help a friend in need. And she needs this.”

“Okay,” Cam and Reed replied.

“It’s just weird to see,” Cam said.

“Just like you killing a rabbit,” I replied. “Not everything is the same across cultures.” And with that, I looked back down and continued my massage. “Oh, and we don’t refer to couples as ‘mates.’”

“Noted,” Cam said.

A few minutes later, Tranquility motioned for me to stop, and I lay down next to her. “Do you want to talk about it?” I asked.

“No…” she whispered. “I just need time…”

“Okay,” I whispered, draping a wing over her protectively. She snuggled up next to me. “Cam, how much time do we have before we need to jump again?”

“We can spare a few hours,” Cam replied.

“Good,” I stated. I then nuzzled Tranquility again, while Cam’s paws began to glow.

We stayed there for thirty minutes, enough time for the humidity in the air to soak into my coat, giving me the sense that it was about to rain, although it never did. We heard strange animal cries, some loud, some soft, one that sounded like a maniacal laugh. Cam put up some protective wards because of those, ones to warn us if something was getting near. At one point, I got up and used my wings to brush the ash and soot off Tranquility, restoring her coat, tail, and mane to their original color, although they did look a little more ragged than they did before. Cam tossed me a crude brush, made out of dulled porcupine quills and roughly carved wood, and I started to run it through her mane. After a few minutes of that, she had calmed down completely.

“Thanks…” she murmured, standing up. With her mane brushed for the first time in days (and for the first time since she went through the tornado), she looked positively beautiful, with her long-cut navy blue two-tone mane swept back past her tufted ears and curling around the front of her body. My heart quickened a little bit looking at her.

“Anything,” I replied a little too quickly. I could only imagine how I looked compared to her, maybe like a model next to a coal miner or chimney cleaner.

“You two done with your bonding session?” Cam asked. “Cause this is the Infinite Forest. There’s tons of edible stuff here, along with drinking water. I’d like to restock our supplies for a long trip and maybe get something Reed’ll eat.” She walked over to Reed and patted him on the head, while he stared ahead, annoyance plain on his face. “Cause he’s a picky eater!” she crowed, grinning.

“Step away from me,” he said, voice low. “And I am not.”

“Sure you aren’t!” Cam cooed, bouncing away from him.

“Infinite Forest?” I asked.

“Those trees go up forever,” Cam replied, grinning. My jaw dropped at the thought.

“Deforestation could be solved by cutting one of these down,” Tranquility remarked. “Just one.”

“True,” Reed remarked. “Is that a problem where you’re from?”

“Yes,” Tranquility said.

“It won’t matter to you anymore if you die,” he supplied. Cam sighed and shocked him with her lightning. “Hey!”

“No death threats,” she scolded. “That’s my job. Now get your sorry self off the ground, cause you’re gonna work for me.” She trotted away from him.

“How can a tree have an infinite height?” I asked, stunned. “Infinity is a concept, not a number!”

“Different dimension, different laws of physics!” Cam said.

“That’s not right…” I whimpered. Tranquility giggled and got up, following Cam. I shook my head and followed them.

We walked around the base of one of the trees, one with a slant tipping towards and over us, which was an arduous task, as we had to climb over the massive roots that surrounded the entire thing. My mind was trying to comprehend the possibility of an infinitely tall tree, so I tripped a few times. Once, I slid down the side of a particularly large one on my belly with my legs splayed out behind me, Cam laughing the entire time. Tranquility covered her mouth with a hoof to step her giggles as I climbed back up.

“You looked like a confused and dirty baby bunny,” she remarked when we resumed walking. I chose not to dignify that remark with a response.

It took us five minutes in total to reach the other side of the tree. Cam scampered up to the trunk and started to walk up the slanted bark.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Getting a view so I can find the river,” Cam replied. “I know there’s one here, my dad told me that.”

“He’s right,” Reed replied.

Cam froze. “Do you happen to know where it is?” she asked.

“Yes,” Reed said. “I’ve been here multiple times for my assign- ACK!” he broke off. Cam had shot down the tree and climbed up onto his head.

“Then take us to it!” Cam yelled happily. “TAKE ME PLACES!”

“Get off me!” Reed yelled, causing Cam to clamp down on his head.

“We’re going to the river, the river, the river, you’ll take me to the river, don’t make me zap your face!” Cam sang cheerily, lighting her paw and letting crackling electricity run up and down it, throwing the gigantic smile on her face into a creepy light.

“I hate you,” Reed hissed.

“I know, boo,” Cam replied sweetly. “Now mush.”

Reed turned us away from the tree and back towards the place we landed in. I smelled the ash I had cleaned off Tranquility. I wrinkled my nose (burnt fur smells terrible) and stepped a little closer to Tranquility. She sighed and closed her eyes, stretching a wing out to my shoulder. I returned the gesture, and we kept walking.

Ten minutes later, after climbing over and around many obstacles, we reached the river. It was massive, easily a thousand yards across. The roar of water surrounded us, a constant noise that I had heard earlier but tuned out. Cam reached into her box and started levitating empty ceramic jars out, dipping them in the river before placing them back in. “You guys go look around for food,” she said. “I’ve got this.”

We spent the next three hours scavenging. Tranquility and I flew up into the trees and gathered things we’d discovered were edible, from nuts to the leaves to the tree bark to some fruits that tasted really good. We got a lot of those. Cam managed to wrangle an enchantment to make one of the ceramic jars have an infinite amount of space inside it (I didn’t even try to comprehend it that time, just groaned and walked away) and held it in the river for hours, letting copious amounts of water flow into it. But, the spell had taken a lot out of her, so her eyes were drooping and she looked really tired. All in all, during that period of time, we set ourselves up for a long trip, possibly making it years before we needed to resupply.

Thirty minutes later, whatever passed for a sun in this dimension set, and Cam pulled the jar out of the river, tossing it into her box. She then crawled between my front legs and unwrapped the bandages on my head, levitating new ones and another jar of her balm out of her box. She re-applied the bandages.

“What are you doing?” Reed asked. “What is that?”

“Healing balm,” she replied. “I made it. Helps heal injuries faster, and Fall’s concussed.”

“You made that?” he asked, stunned.

“Yeah, along with some other potions, balms, concoctions, and trinkets,” Cam replied, reapplying her own bandages, giggling. “Darling, you don’t know the half of my toys.” She froze. “But your friends will.” She trotted over to her box and started pulling vials out, along with that twine of hers and some reddish-brown powder.

“You would be a great asset to the Wolves and the Mages,” Reed commented. “Powerful, talented, and amazing. Why not come with us? Why do you hate the Wolves so much?”

“You’re scum,” Cam replied instantly, dumping the powder into one of the vials and levitating another vial filled with liquid out, tying the two together. “You’re gonna kill my friends, reduce my magic, not let me make my potions, and enslave me.” She sighed. “Like you enslaved my parents.”

“I’m sorry?” Reed said, his eyes narrowing.

“You mentioned something about me killing… Jeffy-done or whatever that Mage’s name was,” Cam said, starting to make another bundle of vials. “I did it directly after he came through a rift, knocked my parents out with a spell, and tossed them through a rift. They’d told me what you do the parents of Mages,” she hissed. “Keep them in captivity. Make them breed to see if they produce another one.”

“That’s not true,” Reed protested.

“Don’t lie to me,” Cam growled, the magical lines on her body starting to glow faintly. “With that single move, your idealistic Wolf society tore the life that my parents had tried to build down. And then stomped on the remains of my happiness and burned them.” She turned to face him. “I love my parents. Still do. I cherish the bond I have with them, unlike you apparently did. I care about my family. You don’t understand, because the Den and the Alpha have crushed it out of you.

“I say you’re scum because it’s true. You don’t care about me, you care about what I can do for you. I don’t want to be a part of that.” She let out a snort and turned away from him.

“How selfish.”

“What?” Cam whispered, freezing up.

“That’s selfish,” Reed said, standing up. “We Wolves are the guardians of the multiverse. We help keep the peace of the dimensions.” A small smile played across his lips. “We solve problems, sealing rifts and helping the lives so many creatures… we always have done this. To sacrifice your duty for the sake of your happiness… that is selfish!” He looked down on her. “You are blessed, Cam! You can make a huge difference for so many creatures, so many lives! Say that the dimensional barriers of a world are coming undone in a horrific apocalypse! I’ve helped solve something like that three times, saving the lives and happiness of billions!” He sighed. “That is what the Wandering Wolves and Mages do, not what you think! We don’t destroy, we build and repair.” He looked straight ahead. “We care about dimensional happiness.”

“It would have helped if you cared about mine,” Cam hissed, tying another two vials together.

“We do….” four lilting voices said, the scent of burnt fur filling the air.

Author's Note

Ooh, differing viewpoints!
So yeah, we get insight onto how the other Mages see themselves, and how the Wolf society is presented to it's citizens. It was, I'm just gonna say it, weird to write this. For starters, politically, I definitely side with Reed on the thing that other's happiness can be more important than my own. And yet, he's the antagonist. And Cam's self centered and selfish, but she's the protagonist. I guess I'm representing two extremes? I don't know. It's weird for me.
But yeah, they restocked on supplies, Cam got ideas for some trinkets, and we get yet another thing about Tranquility's fear of fire. Why is she so scared, anyway? We'll find out... way in the future. I know exactly what I'm doing with that (I hope), as it's an idea I had before I started writing this story, before the characters had names, before Fall was even a thought in my head. It'll also serve another purpose...
Unfortunately, no thestral language guide (Unless I forgot I added a new word. I'm tired and I don't edit these things before I post them. Sue me.)
So, a problem has presented itself to me. Fall being tone-deaf is losing prevalence in this story. I have some specific points where it'll be important, but other than that... How do you guys recommend I work into the chapters?
So yeah! If there are any conventions errors, let me know and I'll fix them (as I mentioned before, I don't edit my chapters before I post them. This is all one take, people.)
~Pyrepinna

Chapter 10: All-out

“The lords of timing smile down on me once more,” Cam groused, placing her box onto her back and gathering the vials near her paws. She then reared up onto her hind paws. “You heard all that?”

“Yes,” the four responded. “It’s good to know that you have not abandoned us or your ideology, Reed.”

“Never have,” he replied with a grin. “But the little one did completely block my magic.”

“I have a name,” Cam grumbled.

“We don’t respect you enough to use it,” the four said, their eyes narrowing. One of them stepped forward, her paw crackling with a halo of energy.

“You surprised us,” she said. “That last dimension was new. I’ll admit, it nearly got us.” She brushed her fur with a paw, sending a rain of soot and ash cascading off of it, revealing its natural golden color. “It didn’t. And since you’ve clearly demonstrated how you feel about being reasonable… I’m afraid we’ll have to stop being lenient.” She thrust her paw out, the halo flying off and taking the shape of a fiery bolt, lancing towards Cam with a roar.

Cam threw up a shield, her magic solidifying once more as the ethereal golden paths that lined her body made their appearance. The bolt slammed into it, and unlike before, the magic that formed it bent inwards, almost like it was about to break. Cam’s eyes narrowed, and beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. “That was… new…” she murmured, keeping the shield up.

“Kappa class stun spell, the most powerful one we can muster,” the Mage replied. “You barely managed to block that one. Imagine four.” She grinned. “Oh, and in some cases, just one stun spell of that level can be lethal. It’s truly a shame that you forced us to this.” My heart skipped a beat.

“Now, maybe we d-don’t have to go that far-” I began, stepping towards them Mages.

They didn’t even look at me. The one who had just attacked Cam fired another spell, this time in my direction.

There was something different about this spell. Instead of taking the shape of a golden, colorful fire, it lanced off of her arm like a flighty shadow, not bullying through the air, but riding the subtle currents. It had almost no color, like something I’d see out of the corner of my eye in the middle of the night. No sound announced its presence, not even a soft zapping sound like all the other spells I’d seem Cam used.

All in all, it was terrifying.

Cam saw it and completely dropped the shield she had covering herself. A new one bloomed into existence right in front of me.

It was one second too late. The shield blocked part of the spell, but the rest flew directly into my chest. In the next second, the most intense pain I’ve ever felt flooded my body.

I crumpled to the ground, a scream of pure agony tearing through my vocal cords and out of my mouth. It felt as if I were a sand castle, breaking away into tiny pieces, every tiny speck breaking away. It was the worst around the area of impact, with my entire chest feeling like it was melting and burning away in a vat of lava. I couldn’t breathe, as my lungs were subjected to the same feeling. I felt the ever-present flow of blood in my body halt, and realized that my heart had stopped. A feeling of cold dread settled in my mind, and I started to let out weak, panicked gasps. Tranquility sprinted over to me, and a second later, Cam let loose.

Bolts of energy started flying over our heads, large, powerful ones. Tranquility hunkered down over my limp body, while at the same time pressing an ear to my chest. A second later, she stiffened, her eyes going wide. She quickly scrambled into a sitting position and placed her paws on my chest. She then thrusted down, putting all of her weight into the motion, compressing my chest and forcing what little air remained in my lungs out of my mouth. My ribs screamed in pain, but I couldn’t make any sound. Tranquility continued to compress my chest, desperately trying to save me.

My head fell to the side, towards Cam. She was blazing like a miniature star, her eyes and the magical paths that covered her body emitting a blinding golden light. The other Mages were dancing around her, leaping through the air and firing their spells at her. None of them touched her. Whenever a bolt or lance came within a five-foot radius of her, the air seemed to warp and twist, diverting the spell away from her and towards the Mage who fired it. As a result, she looked like she was fighting underwater. Her attacks consisted of foot-wide bolts of lightning, zapping towards the Mages and making contact instantly. However, unlike her fight with Reed, the bolts exploded on contact with their shields instead of wrapping and curling around them. As a result, the shields did not progressively weaken, and they blocked every bolt.

Despite Tranquility’s effort, a tingling sensation began to crawl up my limbs, and I started to lose the sensation of pain in my chest. I must’ve gone limp too, because she started to press harder and faster, tears streaming down her face and dripping onto me. I tried to say something, but only succeeded in moving my mouth. Blackness started to creep up and around my vision, and my hearing was slowly replaced with a ringing roar. A second later, Cam appeared next to me, with Reed tied up in golden magic. She threw the vials she’d tied together at the four mages. A second later, I heard the roar of thermite, and Tranquility’s eyes widened, her ears folding back. She didn’t cease her chest compressions, though. Cam looked at us and froze. She slashed at the air, and we fell into a new rift.

I won’t go into detail, but with my condition, going through the twisting and warping of a dimensional jump was not fun and exceedingly painful.

We dropped out of the rift in the middle of a vast, technicolor sky, swirling with all sorts of bright colors, sort of like a sherbet ice cream that foals would flock too. We were falling, but there was no ground in sight. Cam wrapped ropes of magic around us and tied them to herself, along with securing her box. She then yanked on my rope and brought me right next to her. Just as my vision went completely dark, she shocked my chest with her lightning. My body spasmed, and I felt the steady beat of my heart shakily restart. Color crept back into my vision, and I gasped for the first time in over two minutes, air flooding into my abused lungs, which I promptly expelled in a hacking, painful cough, my bruised chest not being ready to handle it. I coughed for a long time, nearly blacking out again, while Tranquility made her way over to us and cradled me in her arms, crying silently (I assumed in relief, it it wasn’t in relief I would have been seriously worried). Eventually, I settled down to a wheezing breathing.

“Hurts,” I croaked, my voice sounding like a frog… that had been run over by a carriage, trampled by at least fifteen ponies, picked up by a vulture, dropped by said vulture onto a volcano, where it got hit by a gas geyser, flung into the air by said gas geyser, been picked up by another vulture, and finally gotten put out of its misery when the volcano erupted. In other words, I sounded terrible.

“I know…” Tranquility whispered, nuzzling through my mane. Cam let out a choked cry and climbed onto my chest, putting her face on my shoulder. We were all falling, so there was no gravity and it didn’t hurt.

“Thank C-celestia,” she sobbed. I wrapped a hoof over her.

“I’m fine,” I whispered. She broke down completely, and I started to rub her back. A few minutes later, she calmed down, but was still crying. She picked her head off my chest and looked into my eyes.

“Fall…” she cried. “T-that s-spell that h-hit you was meant to kill you.” Tranquility froze, then resumed nuzzling me, a shell-shocked expression on her face. “I-I blocked most of i-it but it s-still did that… if it h-had hit you fully…” she didn’t finish, and she didn’t need to. Tranquility buried her head in my mane. Reed didn’t look at us, floating off to the side and not saying a word.

We floated like that for a while before Cam started applying healing balm to my chest. For once, I welcomed the strange feeling it brought, as it soothed the horrible pain in my chest. It wasn’t long before I could breathe normally again, and with the pain gone, the pure emotional shock of what just happened sank in. I started to shake softly, wrapping my hooves around Tranquility. She didn’t protest, letting me do so, reciprocating the gesture. Cam curled up on my head and sighed.

“Now you see,” she muttered.

“What?” Tranquility whispered shakily.

“You saw firsthand what I was saying,” Cam said. “The Mages don’t care about me or you or anyone. They will kill you. They nearly succeeded with Fall.” She turned to glare at Reed. “That’s why I hate you and your ilk, Reed. You’re so flipping devoted to your stupid ‘righteous cause’ that you don’t care about the sapient beings you hurt or kill in the process. Look at Tranquility. She has an incredible fear of fire, and yet in the midst of me throwing thermite she didn’t stop trying to save her friend. What if he had died?! WHAT WOULD THAT HAVE DONE TO HER?!

“SHE’S INNOCENT!” she screamed. “SHE DOESN’T DESERVE THIS! FALL DOESN’T DESERVE THIS! I DON’T DESERVE THIS! NO. SENTIENT. CREATURE. DESERVES THIS!” She paused, taking a deep breath. “But you don’t care, do you? As long as you protect the secrecy of the Wolves, straight up MURDER is acceptable!” Reed opened his mouth to respond, but Cam cut him off. “Don’t even try to defend yourself. That’s what that is. It’s not some holy defense, it’s not a righteous deed, it’s murder. Don’t look at Tranquility and Fall, two ponies going through real trauma, and tell me it’s not.” She turned away from him.

For a few minutes, he remained completely silent. Then he opened his mouth. “I-”

Cam stuck out her paw, tears starting to spill out of her rage-filled eyes. A muzzle of magic clamped down on his face, snapping his jaw shut. A blast of lightning shocked him next. “Don’t. Speak.” Reed looked away, obviously in pain.

“Cam, release him,” I whispered.

“What?” she asked, shocked. “But Fall! He’s just gonna spout some stupid, baseless rhetoric about how it’s ‘the right thing to do’ or something like that! I don’t want to hear that crap! It’s better this way.”

“Cam, language,” I replied. “But that’s not right. A muzzle is cruel, and lightning is dangerous. So please, release him and apologize.”

“But-”

“No buts, Cam,” I said sternly. “Dispel the muzzle and apologize.”

Her ears lowered and her eyes narrowed, but she waved her paw. The muzzle evaporated, and Reed looked back towards us. “Sorry,” Cam grumbled, turning away from him. He looked up at me, an unidentifiable emotion plastered on his face and his jaw hanging slack, before closing his mouth and looking away, his eyes glazing over as if he was in deep thought.

“Was that so bad, Cam?” I asked.

“Yes,” she grumbled. Reed remained silent.

I gave her some time to cool down and looked around. We’d been falling for quite a while, enough that the strange gasses that we passed through had changed colors and the healing balm had completely worked, and yet there was still no sign of the ground. Tranquility noticed that as well, a puzzled expression crossing her face. “Cam, where are we?” she asked.

It wasn’t her who answered, but Reed. “D’leuth,” he replied, his voice distant-sounding. “One of the few dimensions that we’ve discovered that doesn’t conform to the matter laws of the multiverse. Most realities are made up of the same materials, elements, and compounds. What sets them apart is their laws of physics and how they make use of the compounds. However, about twelve percent of dimensions are made up of different substances, stuff that we can’t even comprehend. Think of the atom. Now imagine a world made up of substances that aren’t composed of atoms.” He noticed my bemused expression and chuckled. “Exactly. Don’t think about it too hard. This is one of those dimensions. There is no ground.”

“Wow…” I murmured.

“What other dimensions like that are there?” Tranquility asked.

“There’s Tre’saki, the dimension of paradoxical space,” Reed began. “That one’s not fun to be in, although not harmful. There’s Quaa’st, the dimension of light. It’s personally my favorite, as everything is made out of some light-like substance. There’s Varst’poui, the dimension of death…” He shuddered. “Void help anyone who goes in there. Nobody’s ever made it out. There’s Re’la, the dimension of untime. There’s Pqua’llre, dimension of color. And there’s…” He paled slightly, his face becoming gaunt and strained. “Has’rou.”

There was something about that name that was… different. It didn’t sound any stranger than the others, but it instilled a sense of pure, primal fear in me. The others were affected as well, with Tranquility squeaking softly and Cam tensing up on my head.

“The dimension of memorybreak.”

“What’s that?” I whispered, scared.

“An unpleasant concept,” Reed said. “I’d rather not talk about it unless I have to.” He looked away pointedly. “Let’s just hope that we don’t end up there. It was discovered when a group of Warriors had their rift diverted to an unknown location and didn’t come back. We had another Mage track where they went and go in with a vitals and emotions transmission spell on her, so that we would know if we needed to perform a rescue.” He sighed. “I was watching the feed from the spell. As soon as she entered the dimension, she felt a huge spike of panic, one that a creature would feel when confronted with an unfamiliar situation. She calmed down, but then she felt another spike of panic, and then…” He sighed. “Fear. Pure fear, almost enough to break the enchantment. Then came massive spikes of sorrow, panic, more fear, sadness, and remorse, all at the same time. And then… the spell cut out.” My jaw dropped, and Cam shuddered. “We have speculations on what happened, true memorybreak being the prevailing one, but nothing for sure… The Alpha banned all travel to that location and marked it as a non-matter dimension. No one that we know of has ever come out.”

“Oh,” Tranquility squeaked.

“That’s morbid…” Cam said. “Subject change?”

“Please,” the three of us said.

We spent a little more time chatting idly, trying to work off the stress of the day. Cam pulled out more vials and began to make more thermite grenades. The fact that we were falling wasn’t a problem because there was no air resistance. Reed claimed they wouldn’t be useful, and Cam retorted that she didn’t care because it was fun. For some reason, this made Reed withdraw from the conversation, which I found a bit odd but didn’t question. At one point, he turned around to say something, but Cam made a stupid remark, so he turned back around. We didn’t bring up memorybreak or Has’rou again.

After some time, Cam sighed, her expression turning sour. “Why?” she asked softly.

“Why what?” I replied.

“I just realized something,” she stated. “It’s been, at MOST, three days since I met you guys. Already, my life’s collapsed, you two have nearly died, Fall twice, we’ve jumped through FIVE dimensions, and we picked up Reed.” She sighed. “Three days. Is this going to be our lives?”

“What?” I asked.

“This insanity might become the norm for us,” Cam said. “We’re basically outlaws, even though I’m the only one here who’s actually done anything wrong. And since we have Reed with us, and I’m a Mage, they aren’t going to stop chasing us until we get captured or something kills us all.” She let out a dry laugh. “So I ask: Why? Why us? Why did the universe decide to wallop on us?!” She let out a choked sob and pressed her face into my chest, starting to cry.

I didn’t know what to do besides my usual gesture of comfort and hugged her, but it didn’t seem to do much good. If anything else, it made it worse. I started to think about what she had said. My first reaction was to push away what she said as being false, go back to thinking we’d make it home fine-and-dandy and go back to our lives. But the more I thought about it, the more what she said made sense. It was logical and sound.

And that terrified me.

Weh pourehasti du quri surai, weh pourehasti du zhaigai. For the first time, a strange inkling of understanding came over me as I repeated the thestral phrase mentally. It was about loss, the loss of a home. I wasn’t fully sure of the meaning, but I got the gist: When a pony loses their place of security, it can destroy them. For the first time, I truly realized that we had virtually no chance of returning to the humble town of Deerwood, Mareland.

Feelings and emotions welled up inside of me at the thought of never seeing any of the ponies or people I knew again. Never seeing my parents, or Tranquility’s family, or Breezy and Dawson and the weather team again… a wave of fear, grief, and anguish rose up inside of me. And then I looked down at Cam. She was still bawling, crying her eyes out as I hugged her. She didn’t have any friends. She lost her family. But she was so broken by the loss of her home that she was taking it much worse than I was. And there was the fact that she was faced with losing her freedom, along with us… She cared about us more than she showed, and she was taking the fact that I nearly died really hard. No, she blames herself for it, I realized. But why? And then I realized something.

Cam was truly a child. Not just in her young age, but in her mental age as well. She’d been living on her own for five years, but that didn’t really change the fact that she still was very young. The fact that she had been alone may have made it worse, in fact, as she had to deal with her own emotions with no one to turn to. Has she been turning to us for that missing comfort? I thought. It was certainly a possibility, and if it was true, it explained why she was taking my brush with the Reaper so hard. And if it was true… She needs me right now, I realized. But how would a child react if the adult broke down because of his own emotions?

In response to that question, I stuffed all my negative emotions deep down inside me to be dealt with another time, and began to whisper soothing things into Cam’s ears.

Eventually, Cam dozed off. The ropes tying us to her did not vanish, so I told Tranquility and Reed that they could doze off as well. They did, leaving me the sole creature awake. I looked around the colorful landscape and started to take deep breaths, calming myself down.

It worked until a screaming bolt of magic flashed down from above us and punched a hole through my mane.

Author's Note

Fall does a deep think.
Don't have time to write an author's note.
~Pyrepinna

Chapter 11: Identity

I didn’t even have time to scream. More bolts started to rain down on us, some of them deadly. It was then that I screamed, and I scream very loudly. Cam instantly jolted awake, no trace of sleepiness on her face, while the others jumped. A golden shield flared to life over our heads. Tranquility blinked blearily before fully realizing what was happening and yelping, flailing her legs in the air. Reed didn’t really react at all, except for looking up with a troubled expression on his face.

Cam reached into her box and grabbed a snowball-sized, dark purple sphere. She tossed it up high into the air, grimacing and plugging her ears. A second later, a massive explosion ripped through the air, sending a rippling shockwave through the gases that surrounded us. More importantly, it created a vacuum of displaced matter, which immediately collapsed back in on itself. A trio of Mages came with that matter, smacking the three of them together in the center of the vacuum and bringing them into full view. Cam didn’t give up her opening, sending a bolt of magical energy flying straight into the Mages, scattering them once more. They quickly regained control of their bodies, however, floating down to surround us.

“Impressive,” one of them commented, smiling softly. “You’re… creative… with your tactics.”

“Everyone loves my toys,” Cam remarked. “Do you want some?”

“They’re a bit too… violent for my tastes,” the Mage said dismissively, smiling apologetically.

“Too bad!” Cam chirped cheerfully, producing another orb, this one sky-blue, and tossing it at her. The Mage barely managed to interpose a shield between herself and the ball before it exploded. When the fire faded, she lowered it, sighing.

“I tried to politely decline…” she murmured softly.

“I refused your denial,” Cam stated smugly. “I’m a little kid. I can do that, and you can’t do anything about it.”

“Stop being soft on the pup, Willow,” a different Mage groused.

“I’m sorry,” the Mage, who I now knew as Willow, said. “I just want to not fight… You know that, Ash.”

“That’s not how things work on this assignment,” Ash grumbled. “It’s no wonder Hawkeye doesn’t usually give you tasks like this.” For some reason, this caused Willow to look away, her ears drooping slightly.

“Where’s Ivy?” Reed asked.

“She’s in Paradise,” the last one softly responded. “Reporting to Hawkeye.”

“I see…” Reed responded. “So the three of you will…”

“Try to stop you,” Willow said, raising her paw. “Probably fail, but try.” Cam frowned ever so slightly, and Tranquility glanced at me. Something seemed… off about the situation.

“Okay…” Cam said. “You’re right, by the way. You’ll lose.”

“But it’s our duty,” the three of them said, two looking proud, one looking slightly ashamed.

Something’s definitely not right, I thought, narrowing my eyes slightly. The Mages seemed… unfocused, somehow. It didn’t sit right with me, the way they were talking. Before, they were completely in sync and spoke with the same lilting tone. Here… they weren’t. The fact that they had actual emotions in their voices threw me for a loop. I slipped closer to Tranquility. She saw my troubled expression and shrugged.

Cam reached into her box and sighed. “I will never understand you…” she said. “You guys are fighting a pointless endeavour, an uphill climb, whatever you want to call it. I’m not attacking, you are. Why don’t you just leave us alone?”

“Time,” Ash said.

“I’m sorry?” Cam asked, raising an eyebrow.

“In time, a way to take you in will present itself,” he elaborated. “Or, in time, you’ll wear yourself out, or jump into a deadly dimension. You can’t keep this up forever, you know.”

“But I can sure try,” Cam said with resounding finality. She retracted her paw from her box, and with it came a halo of different objects. There were some spheroids, a set of vials that I recognized as thermite vials, a set of vials that I didn’t recognize that were filled with a red-orange liquid, a few blades of varying shapes and sizes, and some other convoluted items that I didn’t have the words to describe accurately (the best I can do is a rounded trapezoid with a bunch of wires sticking out of it, made out of clay). Tranquility gasped softly, and I pressed a little closer to her. “And I got the toys to do so.”

“What are those?” Willow asked.

“Well, you know what these are,” she started, levitating the thermite up. “These are knives…” Up came the blades. “Mostly for defense. The balls are bombs, and these babies…” She let out a cackle while holding up the misshapen objects. “These are awesome. They’re also deadly, so don’t make me use them.”

“What are they?” inquired Willow, leaning forward.

“This is a P.S.B.,” Cam explained, levitating one up. “It stands for ‘Paralysis Shrapnel Bomb.’ I originally created it to help me hunt. It helps bring down large animals. It’s magic resistant, because some Equestrian animals have magic defenses. It works like this: First, I chuck it at you. It goes right through your defenses and sticks to your body. As soon as it makes contact, it releases a wave of electric energy that completely overwhelms your nervous system and knocks you out, paralyzing you temporarily. Next, a complex web of spells that I’m VERY proud of analyzes your body and organs and determines which ones are vital to your survival. Then, it rolls along to an easily accessible vital point- say, the neck- and it rolls over to it. Finally, it explodes, sending a controlled blast of shrapnel directly into the vital area and completely destroys it, killing you instantly.” My mouth dropped open, and fear started to take hold of me. Tranquility didn’t react visibly, but I felt her tense up. “I’ve used it to bring down deer, a hydra, and a manticore.” She grinned. “It’s never failed before, but I don’t want to kill you, so it’s a last resort.” She glanced over at us, noticed our fearful reactions, and rolled her eyes. “I like meat, okay? Of course I have something like this.”

“It’s still scary…” I whispered.

“Sorry,” Cam said. “But it’s a thing. Deal.”

“You’re quite terrifying,” Willow remarked.

“Thank you!” Cam gasped, a huge smile spreading across her face. “I try.”

“Quit the talk!” Ash said. “There’s no way that the P.S.B. thing actually works. Just fight the kid until Ivy gets here.”

“For the love of-” Willow began, standing up straighter and clenching her fists.

Ash cut her off by firing a blast of magic at Cam, which she deflected by warping the gases around her to change the path of the bolt. “Oops…” he whispered, fake surprise on his face. “I guess I joined the batt-” Before he could finish, Cam slashed at the air, creating a rift and pulling the four of us into it.

The first thing I saw after I recovered from the stretching and warping of the rift was a gigantic expanse of white. The air felt like a heavy fog, and I could see eddies in the strange mist. I fell for a few feet before landing on an extremely smooth, glossy-white surface. After spending so long falling in the last dimension, having something under my hooves felt odd.

Tranquility landed next to me, grimacing. Cam and Reed landed a little farther away from us. Cam whirled around to face him, scowling. “Explain,” she demanded.

“What?” Reed stammered.

“Something wasn’t right,” she growled. “Those three were bickering. Bickering! That let us escape! Furthermore, they all seemed… unfocused, and I actually learned their names! What happened?!”

“Ivy wasn’t with them,” Reed answered.

“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked.

“Let me finish…” Reed said, exasperated. “What you saw today was something very few creatures outside of the Mages see.” My eyes widened slightly. Reed smiled slightly. “Normally, when we go out on a task, we have a spell put on the five of us that connects our minds together, like a telepathic link except a little more thorough. It’s why we can act so connected. Only two of the Mages can actually cast that spell, and only one of them has mastered it. Those two are Ivy and Ash.

“Ivy is the one who can proficiently cast and maintain it, so she’s the unofficial leader of the Mages, with Ash as her second. She reports to Hawkeye and makes the tough decisions. And when she’s gone, Ash takes her place, although his leadership is disputed. When they attacked us while we were sleeping, he probably had the spell active. But, since he can’t maintain the spell, when the counterattack hit them it probably broke off.”

“So what we saw was…” Tranquility said.

“You saw their true personalities,” Reed confirmed. “Normally, we function as one, with Ivy calling the shots, but today, that wasn’t the case. As-”

“That’s stupid,” Cam interrupted.

“What?” Reed asked.

“I said that’s a stupid tactic,” Cam explained. “If you guys function as one, then you leave out the creativity members of a group can bring into a scenario. That’s part of the reason you guys haven’t beaten me yet. Your fighting style is stylized, stiff, and orthodox, whereas I’m always full of surprises.”

“You also leave out the friction that working in a group causes,” Reed explained. “I’m not sure if you noticed, but the Mages aren’t exactly the most… compatible with each other.”

“I noticed,” Cam said, a grin spreading across her face. “How could I not?”

“Exactly,” Reed said. “On our own, we constantly antagonize each other, and as you saw, and that translates over to our fighting. The spell is the solution. And besides, we can send our input to Ivy, and we’re allowed some leeway. That’s how I followed you through the rift.”

“I still think it’s stupid,” Cam mumbled, turning away from him.

I walked over to Tranquility and sat next to her, resting my head on her shoulder. She instinctively leaned her head over to rest on mine. I closed my eyes, what I had just heard running through my mind on repeat. We hadn’t seen the equine side of our enemies, just a persona created by one of them. It was a little shocking to think about. I’d grown comfortable with the image that they had been presenting to me. The lilting voices and hooded faces presented an easy image to fear and hate. Reed’s personality had shaken that up a little bit, but when I saw that the others didn’t change, the image held firm. But this admission…

We weren’t striving against monsters, like I’d previously assumed. Our adversaries weren’t soulless creatures. We were fighting creatures, who, if things were different, might have been my friends... I shifted and raised my head up off Tranquility’s shoulder, staring straight ahead.

“Ooh!” Cam exclaimed. “Idea!’ She reached into her box and brought out a ball of soft, grey material. She then began to sculpt and mold it into an assortment of smaller shapes.

I looked at Reed, making my decision. “Can you tell us about them?” I asked softly.

“What?” he said, turning to me. “About who?”

“The other Mages,” I elaborated, leaning back onto Tranquility.

“Sure…” he answered, raising an eyebrow. “May I ask why?”

“Because…” I began, trailing off as I tried to find the words to express my thoughts. “Because I think it’ll be best. I thought before that we were striving against sociopathic monsters, but you just shattered that belief, so I’d like to know more. I don’t want us to lose sight of the equinity of our enemies, because then we might end up doing something we will deeply regret.”

Something about that statement shocked Reed to the core, as evidenced by the fact that he froze up and his eyes widened slightly. “O-okay, um…” he stammered. “Well, let’s start with Ivy.

“She’s a witch, to be sure, but she’s the best at what she does by a long shot. She’s the senior Mage, born back before when Hawkeye was Alpha. She’s what we call a pureblood, born to two Mages, and she prides herself on that. Determination runs in her veins, and she’s never failed an assignment before. She’s the one who shot the lethal spell at you, Fall.

“However, her determination isn’t always focused on her job,” Reed said, a grimace crossing his face. “Often, it’s directed at one thing and one thing only: power. I said she was a witch because it’s true. She doesn’t hesitate to increase her personal status and power, even if it involves backstabbing us. I’ve been on the receiving end of that once, where she completely overrode my mind through the spell link and manipulated my actions to cover up a mistake she made. I passed it off as my own mistake for a while before I realized what had actually happened. But I didn’t report it, because if I did, something would have happened to me.

“She’s also clever- devilishly clever. That facade we presented when we confronted you was of her design, which she cultivated over her years of experience. It’s designed to unsettle our enemies and throw them off just enough to give us an advantage. It works, too. She also can make decisions on the fly, good ones.

“She’s also created an emotional disconnect between herself and everyone else, making her utterly incapable of feeling empathy or remorse. Well, almost everyone else… I think it has something to do with the fact that her mate, another Mage, was killed, some four years ago on the job. He misjumped into Varst’poui, unfortunately. It really destroyed her, and she became… hardened and cold. It’s part of why she’s so vicious.

“Unfortunately, that doesn’t do much for her remaining family life. She has a son. His name is Jay, if I remember correctly. He’s a sweet little thing. Last I heard, he was coming up on his ninth birthday. He’s technically another pureblood, but for some reason, he can’t cast spells, and instead of having gold fur, he has a russet coat. This didn’t matter before his father’s death, but after it, Ivy started to hate him for it. Because of that, he disagrees with his mother on pretty much everything, including her fundamental values.

“Speaking of values, Ivy is what we call an orthodox Wolf. She strictly follows the traditions of the Wolves, such as the rule about keeping our secrecy, and disapproves highly of anyone who so much as thinks of questioning them. She’s mentioned in passing before that she wishes the rules were stricter.

“Despite all that, she remains on good terms with Hawkeye, partially because she’s a complete social chameleon. Whenever she’s dealing with him, she puts on a charismatic, business-like personality to disguise her true self. And that’s… all I really have to say about her, I suppose,” Reed finished.

“That’s so sad…” I murmured softly, my ears folding back.

“It’s her own fault,” Cam said. “I dealt with my grief when my parents were taken and didn’t become a sociopath. I can still care about people… don’t think that she’s completely innocent of blame. Her own personality has to have played a part in her change.”

“That’s true,” Reed said. “She didn’t develop new traits. Her old ones were simply accentuated.”

“But still…” I said, trailing off as I tried to find words to express how I felt. I felt a connection to this Ivy, strangely enough. I felt sorry for her. No creature deserves to go through something like having their husband die.

“I understand,” Tranquility said. “Perhaps we should move on.”

“Yeah,” I confirmed.

“Okay. The next one to talk about is Ash,” Reed said. A scowl crossed his face, and he let out a short bark of laughter. “Leave behind all feelings of sympathy, ye who enter here. Ash is a complete and utter scumbag.

“Ash has a bad temper and a short fuse. You saw that today when Willow started to talk with you. He loves having complete control of a situation, and he also has a tendency to abuse said power. When things don’t go his way, and even sometimes when they do, he gets super mad and antagonizes those under his command. It’s petty, really. And when his outbursts cause things to go wrong, he gets even worse.” His scowl deepened. “He especially enjoys going after Willow. I personally think that he takes perverse pleasure from it

“There’s nothing really that remarkable about his history. He was born to Warriors and trained under Ivy’s father and evolved his magic style into something truly his own, something similar to what you did, Cam. The difference is that what he created revolves around time. That seems innocent at first, but think about it. What if the moment of your painful death was stretched out to last days?” I paled slightly, while Tranquility started to shake softly. “You understand,” Reed said sadly. “He can be a monster. And he has been before.

“He’s a radical orthodox. That means he’s even worse than Ivy, but he doesn’t really show it. Those two get along really well, to the point where they’ve started to spend their free time together. I think that he might actually be the only one who can emotionally connect with Ivy anymore. He might become her new mate, actually. That would be… scary.

“He’s not as power-hungry as her, rather, he’s more focused on changing the Wolf society. The problem is that his stances are so drastic that almost no one can even come remotely close to agreeing with him. However, that doesn’t matter to him. If he can, he’ll make our laws worse.

“He’s also a general liar and a sleaze, who will take advantage of anyone to suit his goals. He’s the most convincing liar I’ve met, able to spout a falsehood so convincingly that I feel like I should believe it. If someone calls him out on it, he will stick with the claim until the person who is trying to prove him wrong gives up. He is personally my least favorite Mage,” he finished.

“I can see why,” Cam commented, holding her paw over one of the objects (a cube) she had sculpted. The symbol on her paw began to glow, and a halo of energy surrounded the cube.

“Those are the two worst ones?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Reed said, a smile coming over his face. “The other two are much better.”

“Good,” Tranquility said. “I was thinking Fall’s statement about us going up against soulless monsters was going to gain credibility.” Cam giggled softly, and Reed rolled his eyes.

“They aren’t heartless, they just view the world differently than we do,” Reed said. “There’s a difference. Respect that.”

“I can still say they’re terrible people,” Cam said dismissively.

“And I’d agree,” Reed said. “But moving on, let’s talk about Willow.

“Willow is a real sweetheart. She’s very kind and mellow. You saw how she tried to politely deal with Cam. By the way, I’m not happy with how you talked to her,” Reed said, turning to face Cam. “She didn’t deserve that.”

“When it comes down to it, she’s an enemy all the same,” Cam responded.

“Cam!” I said, giving her a disapproving glare. She wilted slightly under it. “That was rude.”

“Sorry,” she mumbled. I motioned for Reed to continue.

“Willow’s a complete pacifist,” he started again, his gaze becoming a little more distant. “She hates violence and always tries to diffuse a situation before it can turn to fighting. That’s what she was trying to do with you, Cam. Hawkeye usually sends her out on missions that involve disputes between Wolves, which happen quite often, believe it or not.

“Her real talent, however, lies in her soft side. Her emotional intelligence is through the roof. She’s someone who can listen to your problems, comfort you, and be trusted to never tell anyone else. I’d know- I talk to her frequently. I’d say she’s my closest friend.

“Despite all that, somehow, she’s still single.” A goofy grin spread over his face. “And I am one-hundred percent okay with that.”

“Someone’s got a crush,” Cam teased.

“Yeah, I do,” Reed admitted, not a trace of blush present on his face. “I would like to become her mate.

“Anyway, she’s got something in common with you, Cam: she was born to Civilians. However, her parents did what they were supposed to and brought her to Hawkeye. Because of that, they actually got to raise her themselves in a place of security. She trained under Hawkeye, and because of that, her magic is extremely developed. She’s also created a range of emotional spells, ones to help soothe the hurts of the soul.

“As a result, when Ivy is away, she watches Jay. I think that’s part of why he disagrees with his mother so much. He’s been exposed to two worldviews and chose Willow’s over his own mother’s. That should say something about her.

“However, her soft side can turn to strength when someone pisses her off. You saw how Ash pushed her limits until they broke. She’s actually probably yelling at him right now for letting you get away. When she goes all out… she’s unstoppable. But overall, she’s a sweet, kind, amazing Wolf,” he finished, gazing off into the distance.

“That you wouldn’t mind sinking your teeth into,” Cam said.

Reed blushed slightly. “Well, yeah…” he said, an awkward grin spreading across his face.

“That’s enough, Cam,’ Tranquility said. “I’d imagine that a crush is an awkward thing to have discussed right in front of you.”

If only you knew, I thought ruefully, looking away from her and off into the mist.

“Fine…” Cam grumbled. “What about the other one? I didn’t catch his name.”

“That would be Cypress,” Reed said. “My older brother.”

“You have a brother?” I asked.

“Who’s also a Mage?” Cam added. “Are you a pureblood?”

“Nope,” Reed said. “Son of two Protectors. It was by sheer luck that I was also a Mage. However, we could not be more different.

“You already know me. I’m outspoken, callous, and firm-standing. I’m a leader, or at least I try to be. He is most certainly not any of those things. He’s sweet, swayable, quiet, and submissive.

“Let me start this off by saying that Cypress is not evil. I think that you would describe him as… misguided. He tries his hardest to do the right thing. He’s got a really good heart, but he believes that the laws of the Wolves are righteous and just. As a result, he’s one of the most dedicated of the Mages, taking to every order Hawkeye gives with an almost religious zeal. Don’t hold it against him; he really means well.

“Aside from that, there’s nothing too remarkable about him. We trained under the same Mage until he was killed ten years ago,” he said with a noticeable wince.

“The Mages just don’t live that long, do they,” Cam commented callously.

“Not really…” Reed whispered.

“Cam…” Tranquility whispered, a warning tone in her voice. Cam sighed and turned away from her, her ears drooping slightly. Tranquility trotted over to Reed and draped a wing over him. “He meant a lot to you, didn’t he,” she murmured.

“He did…” Reed sighed. “But that’s not important. The point of mentioning him was to say that Cypress took to magic a lot better than I did. He’s more powerful, but more hesitant to fight. He’s quite similar to Willow- actually, they could be copies of each other, except that his beliefs are more firm and he has no compunctions against killing. Oh, and he’s not a girl.”

“That would make a difference,” Cam commented, snickering.

“It would,” Reed agreed. “So, he’s basically the goodhearted, misled one. Please don’t hold it against him, he really is a nice guy…”

“I won’t,” I promised.

“Thanks,” he said softly. “And that’s pretty much the Mages.”

“They sound… normal,” I said, thinking back on what he’d said. “It seems like it’s evenly split between good and bad.”

“That’s objective, but whatever,” Cam said. “I agree.”

“But there’s five of us,” Reed stated. “How is it an even split?”

“Because I’m not sure about you,” I said. “You’re a grey area.”

“Yeah,” Cam said. “Anyway, I’m done!” She grabbed one of the objects that she’d been enchanting. “Anti-magic bombs!”

“Why would you need those?” Reed asked.

“To break up your little mind-link spell!” Cam cheered. She tossed one to Reed, who caught it with a gasp. “It’s like holding a nullstone, isn’t it! Your friends are gonna have fun with these. It’ll be fun to see how they react to individuality, because they’ve obviously never dealt with that before.” With a giggle, she retrieved it from him and dumped it, along with the rest, in her box. “There’s no way I’ll need the P.S.B. now!”

“That wasn’t a bluff?” Tranquility asked.

“Nope, those actually work,” Cam said.

“Isn’t that a bit… excessive?” she inquired.

Cam responded with a no, and those two dissolved into a discussion over the morality of the P.S.B. I sat back and watched with a sort of bemusement, along with Reed. I glanced over at him, my smile fading.

“Reed, can I talk to you?” I asked softly.

He looked over at my. “Why?” he asked.

“I’m confused,” I explained. “About you.”

“Okay…” he mumbled softly, scooting over next to me. “So what’s confusing?”

“Simple,” I said. “Who’s side are you on?”

“I’m sorry?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

I turned to face him, my face taking on an uncharacteristically serious look. “I’m getting really confused as to who you’re trying to help. You just gave us a bunch on information that could be used against the Mages. Cam already created something that’ll be used against your friends from that information, and you don’t seem to care. And there’s the fact that you could have literally walked back to your friends on several occasions, but you didn’t. Are you our enemy or not?”

“I’m with the Mages… I think,” he said, pensiveness crawling over his expression. “I’ve seen some things in the past few days that’ve made me question myself, but I’ve also seen stuff that’ve reinforced my beliefs. I’m just… thinking right now, but I think I’m against you. So yeah,” he said, a grin spreading across his face. “We’re enemies. Hate me.” I let out a soft laugh. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

“I just think that you’re probably not that bad of a person,” I said, smiling. “It’s a shame we’re on different sides of this. If things had worked out differently, we might actually be friends.”

“Heh, yeah…” he mumbled, still grinning. We sat there in silence for a few more minutes, the mist swirling around us. Then, he turned to me. “Can I ask you something?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said.

“What are you to Cam?” he asked. “She somehow listens to you, despite being… well, Cam! I mean, yesterday, when she clamped that muzzle over my face, you told her to take it off, despite the fact that I arguably deserved it, and she did. You and Tranquility are able to keep her tongue in check- well, sort of- and you can scold her. Are you guys her foster parents?”

“Not really,” I said sheepishly. “I mean, we’ve only known her for a few days, not even a full week. I actually thought about that back in the last dimension. I think she has a subconscious need to have a parental figure in her life, and in the absence of her parents, we fit into that slot. So… we’re her temporary guardians. I guess we’re gonna fill that role until she can be reunited with her parents.”

“Um…” Reed murmured, looking away from me, an uncomfortable expression spreading to cover his face.

“Reed?” I asked.

“That’s… not going to happen,” he mumbled softly. My heart sank at those words, but I kept a normal expression on my face.

“What does that mean?” I whispered, keeping my voice low.

“Her parents…” he began, closing his eyes. “I knew them. I went to talk to them after Jackson brought them in. They were… really, really spiteful at first. After a while, however, they opened up about their feeling towards our law. They never mentioned Cam, though. They kept that secret… anyway, I told them about why I thought they were a good idea… we ended up having a really, really good debate. At the end of the day, they said that they would have to think about what I said, and her father said that he rather liked me.” A sad smile spread across his face. “It really touched me… The next morning, I was the one to bring down their breakfast.” He opened his eyes, and to my surprise, I saw tears building in them. “T-they had saved their knifes from their dinner and… slit their throats overnight.”

My composed expression faltered and crumbled into one of shock and horror. “They actually…” I whispered.

“Suicide,” Reed said softly. “They committed suicide. Cam’s never gonna see her parents again, even if she gets out of this chase.”

“Oh…” I whispered. Suicide… it was a rare thing in Equestria, a shocking, horrifying novelty. Nopony really even considered it because of the impact that it would have on their friends and family. I guess that wasn’t the case for the Wolves. Maybe they weren’t as social creatures as us. But it would still impact Cam if she knew…

Her hatred of the Wolves largely stemmed from the fact that they had taken her parents. If she learned they were dead… I don’t know what it would do to her…

“We can’t tell her,” I said, regaining my composure. “It would be so bad for her…”

“I know,” Reed said. “I won’t. But think of this… you might end up being her permanent guardians.”

I nodded stupidly, still completely shocked. “I’ll talk to Tranquility,” I whispered.

“Good choice,” he said.

A little while later, Cam nodded off in Tranquility’s arms. I walked over to her and explained the situation. She reacted in much the same way that I did, her mouth dropping open and her ears folding back. For some reason, she started shaking as well. Once that stopped, I explained what I had realized about Cam, that she might subconsciously see us as parental figures.

“That… makes sense,” she murmured.

“Now that her parents are gone… we might have to replace them,” I said.

She was silent for a while before she looked up at me. “I’d be okay with that,” she said, conviction in her voice.

After that, I got super tired. I hadn’t slept when everyone else had, after all. Tranquility let me nod off next to her, which was nice. I actually had a really refreshing sleep, which was nice.

I woke up to the sound of singing, with Tranquility standing protectively over me.

Author's Note

Okay, firstly, I would like to apologize for the lateness of this chapter. Basically, in the last week, my workload absolutely skyrocketed to the point where I couldn't work on this chapter extensively until today. I'll try not to let that happen again.
That being said, this story may end up getting updated over slightly longer intervals of time in the future. I hate my work....
But at least the chapter is 5,000 words long, right?
Anyway, yeah! I gave the Mages personalities! I personally think that's a good idea, as it gives quality to the enemies. What Fall said about not forgetting the humanity (or equinity) of your enemies holds true in real life as well. I try to abide by that, and I think the world would be a better place if anyone did.
God, I can be preachy.
But anyway, yeah! It also allows for some great possibilities, plot wise. I've said it before in the comments, but this dimension-jumping arc is only the first part of this story. It's gonna get better (hopefully).
And Reed is having second thoughts? What a total surprise that literally no one saw coming! (sarcasm intensifies :rainbowhuh: ) I really need to get more subtle.
But yeah, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please tell me if I dun goofed with something grammatical and I'll fix it!
~Pyrepinna

Chapter 12: Music

“Who’s there?” Tranquility hissed, baring her teeth. The singing, a soft, lilting voice, humming a slightly mysterious tune, didn’t answer. My ears folded back against my head and my heart started to race.

“W-what’s going on?” I whispered shakily.

“I don’t know,” Cam growled. “Reed says he doesn’t either.”

“I don’t,” Reed whispered. “No life has ever been reported in the Crystal Mists.”

“Is that where we are?” Tranquility asked.

“Yeah…” Reed said. “It’s a place for contemplation and reflection, because of how soothing and quiet it is.”

“This isn’t soothing, it’s really creepy,” I whispered, scooting out from under Tranquility and pressing against her side. She pressed back, a reassuring gesture that I was quite thankful for.

As soon as I said that, the singing stopped. The others had a moment to glance around in confusion before the voice floated through the mist again.

“Sorry…”

That was the single most terrifying apology I’d ever heard in my life. The voice sounded female, and yet, it didn’t sound equine at all! It sounded more like a breeze winding through a weeping willow tree, or an entire school choir speaking at the same time. It just wasn’t natural. My poor heart started beating at an unhealthy pace, and I actually started to feel pain in my chest.

At least I got the general impression that the voice was issuing a sincere apology. That was a plus.

A silver glow became distinct to my eyes in the swirling mist. It was a soft light, with an appearance similar to that of a streetlamp in a heavy fog. It wasn’t really all that strange. However, I didn’t know what it was.

That fact made the silver glow absolutely terrifying.

Tranquility started to hyperventilate as the glow began to get brighter. It’s getting closer! I thought, my pupils contracting and my legs starting to shake. Reed got behind the two of us, almost like we were living shields. Cam rushed to get between us and the light, her paws lighting up and a shield flaring into existence to cover us, which was a small comfort.

The light started to take shape as it got closer. It looked like it stood on two legs, but it didn’t actually appear to touch the ground. It looked sorta like a minotaur, except… frailer. Cam’s eyes narrowed, and lightning began to crackle around her paws and up her forearms.

The shape paused in its advance. Cam grinned at that. “You have three seconds,” she declared. At the same time, she levitated a white sphere out of her box.

“What?” the voice asked, confusion evident in its tone. “I don’t follow. Three seconds until wha-”

“Too late!” Cam yelled, tossing the sphere towards it. It let out a sharp exclamation that sounded oddly like a badly played flute before an explosion rocked the world around us. Oddly enough, it didn’t affect me at all, or Tranquility as far as I could tell, but I still screwed my eyes shut. Cam’s shield didn’t even bend a little from the force. However, it left a scorch mark on the white crystal beneath us and blew all of the mist away from us. Strangely, it didn’t come back to fill the area we were in. “Oh, and it was three seconds to identify yourself, dearie,” Cam said teasingly. I opened my eyes and gasped.

The thing appeared to be some sort of specter. It floated a few inches above the ground in a bipedal stance, with no distinct hooves, talons, or feet that I could see. It did, however, have transparent hands, each with four long and spindly fingers. I couldn’t fully see its body. It had covered it in swirling black and white light, similar to the aurora borealis. However, the most striking feature about it was its face.

It was beautiful and sad, perfect, yet flawed. I felt a strong sensation of heartbreak and hopefulness just by looking at it. Tranquility gasped, and I felt her go limp against me. I broke the eye contact and caught her before she hit the ground. Cam and Reed had similar reactions, with Reed grunting and looking away from it with a troubled expression on his face Cam gasping and shutting her eyes.

“Are you okay?” the creature asked. “What’s- Oh!” The sound of a musical chord echoed through the air. “Okay, you can look now,” it said, its voice losing the layered quality and soundind normal.

I opened my eyes and gasped. The creature now looked like… “You’re a pony?” I asked softly, eyes wide. It had a long, unstyled curly pink mane and a coat with a color similar to waffle batter. Curiously, it had no cutie mark.

“What?” Cam gasped. “I see a Wolf!”

“I do as well,” Reed said, squinting.

“Thestral?” Tranquility offered. “I see a thestral.”

“I conform to your species in this form,” the creature explained, walking towards us.

Cam raised the shield again, halting the thing’s advance. “Who and what are you?” she asked. “I’m not letting you get closer until I know you don’t pose a threat.”

“My name is Moonlight,” it said softly.

“Okay…” Cam said. “Go on…”

“I’m a song,” she said, smiling softly.

Instantly, suspicion filled my mind. This was soon followed by confusion. A SONG?! I thought. How does that make sense?

“I’m not joking,” Moonlight said, smiling softly. “I am the personification of a piece of music. Everything that went into it, everything that it is, and everything that it tries to convey is expressed through my very existence. That’s part of why you were so overwhelmed when you gazed upon me; everything that the musician meant with that song was impressed upon your very soul.”

“Poor heartbroken musician,” I murmured softly.

“How?” Reed asked, raising an eyebrow. “That seems rather unlikely to me.”

“Do you think we know?” she responded. “Whenever a new song is created, a new one of us appears.”

“So there are more of you,” Reed murmured. “Do you just… mingle through the multiverse?”

“No, there’s a city,” Moonlight answered. “Here, in fact.”

“That’s a lie,” Reed said, with conviction in his voice. Cam’s arms began to crackle with electricity once more. “We’ve been jumping into the Crystal Mists for millennia, and we’ve never seen any sign of a city.”

“Tell me, are you aware of how large the ‘Crystal Mists’ actually are?” Moonlight asked. “It’s an infinite expanse of white crystal and water vapor.” I groaned softly. “You Mages- yes, I know what you are- have never come near the city of Symphony.”

“Not one?” Reed asked.

“Never,” Moonlight said. “I’m not lying to you, believe it or not.”

“Does that mean we can hide here and… not be found?” Tranquility asked, eyes widening. My heart skipped a beat. The possibility that we might have a place to hide, where we could maybe start a new life, gave me a sense of hope that I hadn’t had since before we left Equis. Granted, we wouldn’t ever get back to our previous life, but it would at least let us have a semi-normal existence.

“Yes- wait, hide?” Moonlight said, whirling around to face her. “Why would you need to hide?”

“Because the Mages are after me for trying to live my own life,” Cam said. “They don’t like my non-conformist tendencies. So they’re out to get me and kill them.” She pointed at us. “It kinda sucks.”

“That seems a bit far-fetched,” Moonlight said, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s not,” Reed said. “I was chasing after her before she captured me.”

“You’re… captured,” Moonlight asked, her eyebrow creeping a little higher.

“Yeah,” Reed said. “It’s fine. They treat me well.” A guilty expression came over his face, and he muttered something too quiet for me to hear. Moonlight, however, apparently did.

“I understand,” she said softly. “I suppose it is possible for you to seek asylum in Symphony.”

“What would we have to do?” I whispered.

“Nothing,” Moonlight answered softly, smiling. “Music runs strong in you.”

“It does?” Tranquility asked. “What does that mean?”

“Magic of music,” I explained. “At least, that’s what I think it means.”

She giggled softly. “Oh yeah, it definitely runs strong is us,” she said. “Especially him.” She pointed at me.

“Shut up,” I grumbled, looking away from her. In spite of my reaction, a small smile crawled across my face. That lighthearted teasing about my tone-deafness was something I’d gotten used to and grown to like. It was one of the ways that Tranquility showed she liked me. Yes, it was teasing, but it never got cruel.

“Anyway,” Moonlight continued, seemingly oblivious to the exchange between us. “Symphony is just a little ways away. Only a few hundred yards, actually.”

“Really?” Reed asked. “How have we never discovered this before?”

“We thicken the mist,” Moonlight said. “We don’t want the Discordant to find us, after all.” She started to walk away from us, motion for us to follow her.

We did, starting to trot after her. “The Discordant?” I asked. “What’s that?”

“Nothing important,” Moonlight dismissed. “An old superstition that turned into a tradition. Certainly nothing to worry about.”

“Oh-kay,” I said, curiosity rising within me. I ignored it for the time being, though. We continued onwards.

After a few more seconds, the mist started to noticeably condense around us, and it became harder to breathe. Moonlight smiled softly. “Hold your breath,” she said, her voice sounding muted. “We’re reaching the divide. Crystal shards are scattered in the mist, and if you breath them in, it’ll wreak havoc on your lungs.” I sucked in a big gulp of air and started to trot faster.

The mist continued to thicken to the point where I actually couldn’t see anything in front of my muzzle. Tranquility seemed to have the same problem, and she wrapped her tail around mine. I assumed it was because she didn’t want to get lost, but it didn’t stop a blush from spreading across my face. I became thankful for the fact we couldn’t see, because I didn’t want her to notice that.

After about twenty seconds, the mist lightened up, and Tranquility untwined our tails. “We’re past it,” Moonlight said. I drew in a gasp of air.

“Didn’t get enough air?” Tranquility asked.

“What?” I said, confused.

“Your face is red,” she explained.

I glanced away from her. “Yeah, that’s it,” I muttered as we continued to walk. Cam giggled softly, and Reed shot me a knowing glance. I stuck my tongue out at him and gave him a glare. If you tell her, I’ll kill you, I thought. He nodded softly and looked away.

The mist continued to lighten. “Close your eyes,” Moonlight instructed. “Keep walking in a straight line.” We all did. I wondered why we had do, but didn’t question it. I didn’t know how Moonlight would react if I questioned her, and she was our best hope for peace, so I decided that going along with what she said was the best choice.

We walked for a few more seconds before I felt something stop me in my tracks. “Open your eyes,” Moonlight said softly. I did, and as soon as my eyes registered what was in front of me, my jaw dropped.

“Welcome to Symphony,” Moonlight proclaimed, sweeping a hoof in front of her.

The first thing I noticed was how unbelievably big the city was. It didn’t cover a sprawling expanse of land. The area of crystal it covered was actually that of a small town. Rather, it was how tall it was. The crystal had been dug out some several thousand feet, and the buildings were built on that base. Not only that, but they were so tall that I couldn’t actually see the tops of then.

The second thing I noticed was the futuristic quality of the city. The entire thing was made of a shiny, silvery metal, the crystal, and a pitch-black substance that I didn’t recognise. It was arranged in twisting black-and-white stripes, with dots of the silver metal placed seemingly at random throughout both. It lent the entire area a surreal atmosphere that would have been at home in a comic book.

The third thing that became apparent was the sheer amount of people there. They flitted through the air like a swarm of flies, to the point where they all blended together in a sort of haze. As I watched, they all started to transform into ponies, probably having noticed Moonlight’s transformed state. Soon, it wasn’t a bunch of floating specters floating through the city, but a bunch of ponies, lending to the comic book atmosphere even more.

“I hope you like it,” Moonlight said, a small smile playing across her face. She started to walk away from us, not even waiting for me to pick my jaw up off the floor.

Author's Note

What, you expect me to make everything in the multiverse against those four? Nah. I can be nice...ish.

So yeah, the singing isn't evil! In fact, it's a friendly spirit! This should be a nice little break from the horrors of the multiverse, right? I mean, Symphony is a pretty awesome place!

So yeah, another late(r) update. I feel like my furious writing pace from last month is fading away, so the three-four day updates might become weekly. I'm sorry, but it's just reality.
Besides, when I force myself to write, the quality is really bad. I don't want to turn out badly-written chapters. You guys deserve better than that.

Anyway, as always, let me know if I made some conventions mistakes in the comments and I'll fix them. Or just leave a comment regardless. I love getting comments from you guys.

~Pyrepinna

(P.S: I might try to get a chapter out by Christmas. I'll depend on what my day looks like tomorrow.)

Chapter 13: Crescendo

“Jeiroh,” Tranquility whispered softly, staring unabashedly ahead at the city. “Uros ero kahra losceroh soln.” She giggled softly, shaking her head. “Re gerla Equis sce farsca weh miorah du kemoshi losceroh harah suwastieh.”

“Sure,” I said softly, not comprehending what she said. My mind was still trying to fully process what my eyes were seeing, so I didn’t exactly spare much thought towards her statement.

“What’s their deal?” Moonlight asked Cam, pointing at us.

“Back where we come from, this kind of city only exists through the imagination,” Cam explained.

“I’ll say, it’s a bit shocking for me as well,” Reed said. “The city of Paradise, even with all the information that the Wolves have picked up from jumping around the multiverse, isn’t this… elegant.”

“We do pride ourselves on designing beautiful things,” Moonlight said, standing up a little taller. “After all, most of us are beautiful creations… most of us.” She sighed. “Some of us... later. I’ll tell you once we’re inside the city.” She glanced at Tranquility and I, rolling her eyes. “That could take a while.”

“Nah, I can get them focused,” Cam said, a grin spreading over her face. She reached into her box. “Where did I put the flashers?” she muttered loudly.

I didn’t fully register that comment at first, but Tranquility did, whirling around to face her. “Don’t you dare throw another explosive at me, young lady,” she commanded, eyes narrowed.

“Another explosive?” Moonlight asked.

“Welcome back to the real world, Tranquility,” Cam chuckled. “How was your zone-out session?”

“I… sorry,” she said sheepishly, an awkward grin spreading across her face. “But that’s not an excuse to say you’re gonna throw a firecracker at me!”

“It is for me!” she said cheerfully. “Now go wake up Fall before I do it my way.”

“We need to have some serious talks about how you treat us,” Tranquility muttered, walking towards me. She draped her wing over my back, startling me and causing me to jump a little. “Sorry,” she whispered.

“It’s fine,” I said, turning to look at her. “I just… got lost in the view. This is…”

“Just amazing?” Tranquility asked, completing my sentence for me.

“Yeah,” I answered, leaning in and nuzzling her. “That’s it.” She nuzzled me back, eliciting a hum from me.

“You two…” Cam said, rolling her eyes. “Sorry to break up your moment, but Moonlight wants to go. And besides, it’ll be better inside the city.”

“I suppose,” Tranquility murmured, standing up. I got to my hooves as well, smiling.

“What did you mean by ‘another explosive?’” Moonlight asked as we began to walk.

It took us a total of twenty minutes to walk around the pit to the entrance of Symphony. Tranquility and I spent no small amount of that time staring at the city. It just didn’t seem possible, looking more like a patch of frozen seaweed than a set of skyscrapers. Moonlight and Reed spent the whole time talking about the technicalities of the Crystal Mists, while Cam hopped up on my back about halfway through and started to rummage through her box, which she placed on Tranquility’s back.

When we got to the entrance, there were several more of the creatures waiting for us. They directed us onto a floating metal platform, which broke away from the edge of the pit and started to float through the city, delighting Cam and stunning Tranquility and I. We were able to fly on our own, of course, but seeing something that was solid metal begin to float through the air was kind of amazing. It was actually kind of amazing. And then there was the fact that the architecture of the city was even more wonderful up close. There were subtle patterns etched into the materials that played with our eyes as we passed the building, like those hologram birthday cards. However, instead of a specific design becoming visible as we passed, ripples of light seemed to wash over the buildings. It was really, really cool to watch. Reed was staring as well, and Cam climbed up onto my head to get a better view.

“It’s amazing,” Tranquility whispered softly, sitting down and leaning on me.

“I know,” I said softly.

The platform took us to the middle of a city before sharpy shooting upward, taking us along the curve of one of the buildings. Reed reached his paw out and let it run across the wall. A second later, he gasped.

“What?” I asked.

“It’s lined with magic,” he whispered. “Powerful magic.” He held out his paw, closing his eyes. A second later, he sighed. “I felt some of it flow into me, but I can’t overpower the blocking spell. You do good work, Cam.”

“I try,” she said smugly, snuggling deeper into my mane.

“It’s lined with privacy riffs,” Moonlight said.

“Why?” I asked. “What’s a privacy riff?”

“A privacy riff is a set of notes so complicated that we can’t see through it, and every building is devoted to living space,” she answered. “Would you want someone staring into your window?”

“Every building?” Cam asked.

“Yes,” Moonlight confirmed. “There are millions of us, and more are constantly appearing. Every few years, we have to double what we have.”

“Wow,” I said.

“Privacy riffs… runic magic,” Reed said. “The… People of Song are an arcanarunic species. Interesting.”

“That’s not a word, but whatever,” Cam said.

The platform kept rising for another minute or two before it abruptly stopped. We didn’t fly off, surprisingly. Moonlight walked forward and pressed her hoof up against the side of the building. A ring of light pulsed out from it, and four panels slid back to reveal a dark, square doorway. Moonlight stepped through it, and I gasped.

As soon as she passed through the doorway, violet and blue light blossomed throughout the dark space, revealing a large, two-level living space. A bookshelf rested in the back-left corner of the first level, and that was pretty much it. There were no other objects that I could see, but somehow, the room was still stunning. The designs on the buildings outside continued onto the walls, floor, and ceiling, but the violet light played upon them even more, highlighting subtle patterns that weren’t visible outside.

“Come on in,” Moonlight said, smiling softly. We did. As soon as we made it inside, the panels slid closed, cutting off the light from outside and plunging the room into a dim, soothing purple glow. “Welcome to my house,” she proclaimed.

“Now I’m a bit jealous,” Reed commented. “Add a bit more decorations and this place could surpass the Alpha’s house.”

“Why would we need possessions?” she asked softly, floating up off the floor. “It’s better to have space.”

“I guess…” Cam said, placing her box next to the bookshelf.

“It’s amazing,” I whispered softly. “Are all the homes here like this?”

To my surprise, Moonlight winced. “Not all of them,” she mumbled. “Only Songs like me get lodgings like this.”

“Songs like you?” Tranquility asked, canting her head to one side. “What does that mean?”

“Um…” Moonlight began. “Sit down, why don’t you.” We did, with Cam climbing onto my head again. I didn’t really mind it, for some reason. “Not all Songs are created equal,” Moonlight said sadly.

“That can’t be true,” I said.

“It is,” Moonlight said. “Let me explain. Do you remember earlier how I said that I was made out of everything that went into my song’s creation?” We nodded. “Well, a lot went into me. There was time, effort, emotion, and care. My melodies were well-thought out, edited, and polished. My composer had a purpose in mind when crafting me, and he stuck with it to the end.”

“So?” Cam asked incredulously.

“I’m very, very lucky,” Moonlight said. “All of that allowed me to become complex, with a high intelligence and quick mind, and most importantly, an actual personality. Not all of us are that fortunate.”

“So some of you guys aren’t too deep, big deal,” Cam dismissed.

Moonlight’s eyes narrowed, and a feeling of tension and anger beset the room. My ears folded back, and Cam burrowed a little deeper into my mane, trembling slightly. Tranquility spread her wings slightly, and Reed raised a paw as if he was going to cast a spell. “Yes, it is a ‘big deal,’” Moonlight whispered, her voice gaining its quality from when we first met her. “And don’t ever imply that it isn’t again. You don’t know what you speak of.”

“Sorry,” Cam squeaked, hunkering down even more than she already was. I dipped my head down and slid her out of my mane, catching her and pulling her into a soft hug, and I. Moonlight relaxed slightly and looked away from us.

“A-anyway,” she said, grimacing. “As I was saying, I’m one of the luckier songs. My composer really cared about me.” Her eyes narrowed. “Unfortunately, not every composer cares about their compositions.

“It wasn’t much of a problem back when I was written. Back then, a piece of music was an undertaking, taking a lot of time and effort to do correctly. Because of that, only a few people who were serious about music wrote songs. Almost every song that was created was like me. But a few decades ago… that changed.

“I don’t know why, but songs started pouring in at a much, much faster rate. At first, we were happy, but then we started noticing problems. The Songs would come in… incomplete. Missing body parts became common. A lot of the time, the new songs would only be able to express a few emotions. Sometimes… they wouldn’t even have a mind, their body being an empty shell.

“The Whole Songs looked into the matter and found something disturbing. These incomplete Songs were being made by the same artists every time, and they appeared very frequently. We came to the conclusion that songs were being… mass-produced… without thought, effort, or care being put into them.”

“Why is that a big deal?” Cam asked softly.

“You don’t understand how much actually goes into creating a song,” Moonlight answered. “It takes blood, sweat, and tears to get finished if the composer cares. There are screwups and times where the artist just doesn’t want to continue, but they push on anyway, just to see their message or dream get through. It’s most of what the People of Song are, and if that’s taken away, we’re nothing.” She fixed Cam with a piercing stare. “To put this in perspective for you, imagine that you were running away from the Mages, except this time, it’s not because of your morals, it’s because you simply can’t comprehend any other option.” Cam pressed a little harder against me. “Stuff like that is the harsh reality for many Songs, and for others, it’s even worse,” Moonlight stated sadly. “It’s the most unfortunate and sorry fate that can befall a creature, in my opinion. And that’s why it’s a big deal.

“Once this started happening, the Whole songs divided the city up into sections. The lower tiers of the buildings are for the Incompletes, and the upper floors are for us. The Incomplete living spaces are just that: incomplete. They have poorly maintained, small, gritty rooms. I pity them…

“One of the most heartbreaking things for us to watch here is a musical artist who starts out creating Whole songs devolve into making Incomplete ones. We’ve seen it time and time again, but I think that the most profound time was with the explosion of the dubstep genre. The main artist who started it burst out into the mainstream, full of care… and then others started to make his kind of music. Just to keep up… he stopped caring and tried to pump out songs as fast as possible.” She let out a small chuckle. “Incidentally, when a dubstep song was first created, it was the biggest Discordant scare we’ve ever had.”

“That’s the second time you’ve mentioned the Discordant,” Reed said, leaning against the wall. “What exactly is that?”

“It doesn’t really matter,” Moonlight responded.

“But it’s a good way to get off this depressing topic,” Tranquility said.

“Good point,” Moonlight conceded. “The Discordant is an old legend. It tells of a creature who is completely and utterly cut off from the magic of music. Some creatures don’t sing, but they’re still connected to the magic. This creature, however, sings, and sings loud. It’s said that the song of the Discordant will completely destroy a Song, something that’s thought to be impossible.” Moonlight rolled her eyes. “It’s a bunch of hooey if you ask me.”

“Cool,” Cam said, slipping out of my arms and walking over to her. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier. I didn’t know…”

“It’s okay,” Moonlight responded. “I should have realized that when you said that, so I’m sorry for snapping at you.”

“That’s fine,” Cam said, her smile returning. She walked over to her box and started to rummage through it.

“Cam, can you come over here?” Tranquility inquired.

“Why?” she asked.

“We need to talk,” Tranquility said. Cam’s ears folded back a little, and she sighed.

“Can I get some food first?” she asked.

“Yes,” Tranquility answered. Silence beset the room for a moment before Reed shifted slightly.

“So… the People of Song have mythology and lore?” he asked, leaning forward slightly.

“Yes,” Moonlight responded.

“Can you tell me about that?” he asked hopefully.

From there, Moonlight launched into an enthusiastic retelling of the surprisingly extensive myths that permiated the Song society. Cam got herself a few pieces of jerky and walked over to Tranquility, who began to quietly speak to her. Over the course of their conversation, Cam’s ears drooped even more, and she looked towards the ground. I frowned slightly and trotted over to them. As soon as I got within earshot, Cam sighed and climbed into Tranquility’s arms, who began to gently rock her.

“Sweetie, I’m not saying for you to get rid of your confidence or snarkiness, I’m just saying that you might want to be a little bit more careful with what you say,” Tranquility murmured softly.

“But… I’ve never done that before,” Cam responded softly. “And it’s fun to say what’s on my mind, or cut down stupid statements…”

“Is it worth it if you hurt someone that you care about?” Tranquility asked softly.

Cam paused for a moment before leaning forward and burying her head in Tranquility’s chest. “No…” she murmured softly. Tranquility didn’t say anything, instead wrapping her wings over her. I walked over to them and wrapped my own wings around them. Tranquility sighed and rested her head on my shoulder.

“She’s not used to being reprimanded or corrected,” she murmured softly. “I think that was hard for her.” I nodded softly and hugged her a little tighter.

“But it was necessary to tell her that,” I said.

“It was,” she whispered.

Reed and Moonlight eventually wound down their conversation. Reed seemed very happy with what he heard. In that time, Cam drifted off in Tranquility’s arms.

“Is Cam okay?” Moonlight asked.

“She’s just asleep,” I responded.

“Oh,” she said. “I thought she was hurt. We Songs don’t need to sleep, so her lack of motion was unusual.”

“Okay,” I responded.

“Do you guys need to sleep?” she asked.

“Eventually,” Tranquility responded. “And I’m feeling a little tired right now.”

“I am as well,” I said.

“Then sleep,” Moonlight said. “I’ll just go outside.”

“Thanks,” Tranquility said, laying down and rolling onto her back so that Cam could sleep on top of her. I lay down next to her and pressed against her side, closing my eyes. Within a few seconds, I fell into a peaceful slumber.

Author's Note

Cam isn't used to being told that the way she does things is wrong, and she took it hard. Don't worry, it'll get more tolerable.

So yeah! New chapter, and this one was a bit late again. Christmas was hectic, and so was New Year's Eve. Speaking of which, HAPPY NEW YEARS! Hopefully, this year will be better than 2016. *Checks news.* Oh, you have got to be FU-

Another reason that this chapter was late is that I was working on another, non-fanfiction project of mine. It's about halfway done, and I think that you guys might enjoy it. If I remember, I'll stick it in the author's notes of this story. I will DEFINITELY make a blog post about it. I'm excited about it.

Speaking of things that I'm gonna stick in the author's notes of this story... I DREW CAM!

Or her head, at least. Her symbol that appears when she uses magic is in there, too. Believe it or not, I actually do okay-quality sketches. Unfortunately, they're not as good as what my friends can do. But one of them might actually do some art for me for free, which is absolutely awesome, so that might show up in later author's notes.

And now... you've missed it, but it's back... THE THESTRAL LANGUAGE GUIDE!

“Jeiroh”- Wow.

“Uros”- A

“Ero”- Chance

“Kahra”- Wrapped

“Losceroh”- In

“Soln”- Gold

“Uros ero kahra losceroh soln”- Another thestral saying. The direct translation is ‘A chance wrapped in gold.’ However, the phrase was coined to communicate that, whenever someone is given a chance, they should take it, no matter how ridiculous it seems.

“Re”- I

“Gerla”- Suppose

“Sce”- Is

“Farsca”- Behind

“Miorah”- Rest

“Kemoshi”- Reality

“Harah”- Its

“Suwastieh”- Technology.

Quick question, do you guys want me to copy-paste the ENTIRE language guide into every author's note for a chapter with the thestral language, instead of just the new words/phrases? Would that be easier for you?

But anyway, enjoy the new chapter, and enjoy the new year! And as usual, tell me if I screwed up with my conventions!

~Pyrepinna

Chapter 14: Forte

The first thing that I noticed when I woke up was that Tranquility had moved away from my side, leaving it cold. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. Reed had apparently fallen asleep and curled up like a cat in the middle of the floor. Cam had moved away from me and over to him, stretched out across his back. And Tranquility…

She was sitting in front of the wall that we had entered through, facing away from me and not moving. The violet and blue light playing across the wall threw an ethereal halo around her silhouette, giving her an unearthly aura. I slowly rose to my hooves and walked towards her.

She didn’t give a single glance as I walked up beside her, not even when I gave her a soft nuzzle. She just sat there with a small smile on her face, staring ahead. “Tranquility?” I whispered softly.

Instead of answering, she reached over and gently lifted my hoof up to the wall, pressing it against the smooth surface. A ring of greyscale color washed out from it and spread across the wall. As it passed over the wall, it turned transparent, like a window, looking out over the city. I gasped softly, my eyes widening.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Tranquility whispered quietly, leaning to rest against my shoulder.

“What?” I mumbled, turning to look at her.

“The city,” she answered, smiling softly and turning back to the window. I turned my gaze back to the window as well, my eyes taking in the sights once again. Once more, the sheer beauty of the area hit me in full force, causing me to go a little weak in the knees. The People of Song were flitting around the buildings, waving to each other and having conversations. The patterns engraved on the buildings shimmered. And for the first time, I noticed something else.

The best way I could describe it was that is was like a hum, but… not. Instead of hearing it, I felt it, not in my body, but in my mind. It evoked a subtle feeling of… contentedness in me. It seemed familiar for some reason, but I couldn’t place why.

“It is,” I whispered softly, a smile spreading across my face.

Tranquility gently pressed against my side and gave me a gentle nuzzle. “I know,” she murmured breathily, a radiant smile gracing her face. “I understand how you felt yesterday. I almost can’t believe it.”

“That it exists?” I asked.

“No, that we might get to live here,” she answered softly.

“Oh,” I said quietly.

“Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” she asked, a hint of excitement and childlike glee in her voice. “Every day, waking up and being able to fly through this amazing city… always meeting new people and making new friends…”

“I don’t know…” I murmured.

“Why?” she asked.

“I’m not disagreeing that it would be awesome,” I said. “But I don’t think I’d enjoy it as much as you would.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because… you don’t have as much to go back to on Equis,” I said softly, my ears drooping a bit.

“I don’t follow,” she said softly.

“You only had a few friends on the weather team,” I murmured softly. “You, Gust, Lilly, and…”

“Rose,” she murmured softly. “You forgot Rose.”

“I knew almost everyone there,” I said. “They were my friends. Some of them… they felt like my family.” I let out a soft laugh. “My non-Canterlot family.” You’re one of those ponies, I added silently. “I also knew our neighbors… and now I won’t see them again.”

“Oh,” Tranquility murmured.

“And then there’s my family…”

“I’m sorry,” she murmured softly.

“Don’t be,” I responded. “I won’t enjoy it as much as you, thought, because that’s gonna wear on my mind for a while.”

“Hey,” she whispered. “You still have me, right?’

That might make it worse, I thought. She was a reminder of home, after all. But I didn’t say that. I just leaned a little more on her, resting my head on her ear, the one with the chunk missing. “Yeah,” I murmured. “I do.”

“Just KISS ALREADY!”

That shout startled me, Tranquility, and Reed. I let out a sharp yelp, Tranquility hissed and flared out her wings, catching me in the side, and Reed scrabbled backwards until he smacked his head into the wall. Cam sighed dramatically and shook her head.

“Really, this is getting annoying,” she grumbled. “You guys are so flippin’ close to each other that you could ask each other out and nothing would change. Just kiss already and be done with it! Do you have any idea how annoying this is?” She threw her arms up in the air as my cheeks turned red. “Y’know what? Why stop there? Just go all the way and-”

“CAM!” Tranquility shouted, a furious blush spreading over her face. “Remember our talk yesterday!”

“Look, if I’m not gonna say it, who will?” Cam asked flippantly, smiling innocently.

“Please never do that again,” Reed whimpered, clutching his head. “At least wake me up first.”

“Sorry…” she mumbled, turning back to us. “Speaking of which, I woke up on top of him. What’s up with that?”

“Would you have rather been left on the floor?” Tranquility asked, a little annoyed.

“You could’ve just carried me…” she said.

“Because you would have taken so well to that,” I grumbled softly.

“Excuse me!” Cam exclaimed, whirling around to glare at me. “I might be a little harsh at times, but that does not mean that I won’t appreciate a healthy dose of cuddles every now and then!” With an exaggerated hmph, she turned around and sat down, her nose turned up in the air.

“Is that so?” Tranquility asked, a hint of mischief in her eyes. “So you won’t object to this?” Lunging forward, she grabbed Cam and swept her into a tight hug.

“Ack!” she gasped, straining against the embrace. “Can’t breathe! Let go! Let go!” Tranquility released her, giggling softly. Cam scrambled over to me and climbed up my back, her hind paws on my wing joints and her front ones on my shoulders. It hurt a bit, but it was tolerable. “Never do that again,” she hissed, glaring at Tranquility.

“No promises,” she whispered back.

I’m fairly sure that Cam was about to jokingly launch herself off my wings and towards Tranquility, but before she could, the four panels that formed the doorway to the outdoors slid open, and Moonlight fluttered through. “You’re awake,” she observed. “You slept for twelve hours.”

“That’s a good sleep,” I remarked softly.

“Yeah,” Tranquility said, her eyes narrowing and her gaze becoming distant.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I just realized that my sleep pattern that I adhered to back in Equis has been thoroughly decimated,” she said. “I’ve been sleeping at the same time as you.”

“Oh,” I said. “Truth be told, both of ours have probably been knocked off-kilter.”

“Yeah,” she admitted. “It just feels a bit strange.”

“I wouldn’t know about those sorts of things,” Moonlight interjected happily.

“And you are so fortunate that you don’t,” Reed grumbled. When we gave him a questioning look, he shrugged. “As a Mage, I usually don’t get good sleep.”

“Ouch,” I whispered.

“I understand,” Tranquility said. “I’ve been in that position before, during my foalhood and schooling.”

“That must’ve been terrible,” he said.

“It was,” Tranquility and I said at the same time.

“Both for me,” she began.

“And for anyone around her,” I finished. “And she was miserable because of it. As her friend, it was terrible to watch.” She flinched softly and nodded in agreement. “Basically, the fact that we have to sleep sucks.”

“Oh,” Moonlight said.

“So what are we gonna do today?” Cam asked, climbing down from my back.

“I spent the last few hours conversing with the other Whole songs,” Moonlight said. “They’ve agreed to give you shelter here.” Cam let out a happy squeal, I did a hoofpump, and Tranquility let out a high-pitched squeak. Reed didn’t react, not visibly at least. “I thought that we’d get you settled and set up.”

“Sweet,” I said.

“This is actually happening…” Tranquility whispered.

Moonlight brought the same platform that we rode into the city up to the doorway of her room, and we all loaded onto it once more. It didn’t rise any more, instead floating towards a different building in the center of the city. It was moving a bit more slowly this time, more like a normal flight speed. I smiled softly, letting the wind sweep through my mane.

“What’s this?”

With those two words, the hum I’d noticed earlier rose sharply in intensity. It’s the magic of music! I thought, shocked. I should have guessed it, considering where we were, but is was still a little jarring. Fortunately, it didn’t feel like Iike I had to sing, being more like an amped-up version of the sensation of being an observer to a song.

A fast paced, energetic set of chords sprung up out of thin air, sounding like a string orchestra plucking their instruments frantically. The People of Song flew up to surround the platform, curiosity written on their faces. Tranquility started tapping her hoof in rhythm with the song, Reed raised an eyebrow, Cam grinned, and I smiled softly.

“What’s this?” they sang, swirling around the platform. “These four cannot be Songs!

What’s this? And how could it go wrong?

Never before has anything else come here,

Talk of the town, these four have reached every ear,

I guess it’s true, we welcome you, but,

Forgive us if we get suspicious, it’s just that this whole thing seems a teensy little tiny bit amiss, what’s this?”

With those final two words, the singing split into chords, and the People of Song scattered away from the platform, smiles on their faces. The began to weave around each other, staying near the platform. I giggled softly at the curiosity and confusion on their faces. They looked like foals who had stumbled across something perplexingly exciting, like a caterpillar or a steam humidifier. Tranquility stood up and strode confidently to the front of the platform, taking a deep breath.

“What’s this? We’re here and mean no harm,” she sang, her voice loud and clear. A strong vibrato resonated in her notes, causing my jaw to go a little slack. “Dismiss your feelings of alarm,

I suppose you, haven’t seen others before,

Don’t run away, ourselves you’ll learn to adore

And soon you’ll see, and you’ll agree,

That we will be an asset to your community and that we won’t impede upon your ever peaceful bliss, that’s this!” She held that last note loud and clear as the Songs let out a cheer and swirled around our platform.

“This is new,” the songs with deep voices sang, holding their last note, while the high voices sang “A lot to chew,” before they came together to sing “And it’s nothing like before!”

“It’s unfamiliar, strange, exciting, tantalizingly inviting, unbelievably enticing,

It’s enough that all we can ask is- what’s this?”

The Songs broke their formation and began to fly around us randomly. The background music stayed constant though, so I knew the song wasn’t over. It did drop down to quiet staccato notes, though.

Separating into small groups, the Songs began to softly speak to each other, casting glances our way. The music swelled again, and their words took on a melodic tune. Individual phrases began to reach our ears.

“Can they not look at our true selves? Is that why we’re hidden?” one female voice sang.

“Who was briefed about these four? Did you get told? I didn’t,” a gruff male voice grumbed.

“Could they be the Discordant?” a child-like voice asked.

“No! Didn’t you hear her sing?” someone responded.

“Do you think we’re being used? Forgive me if I’m not enthused,” a smooth male voice sang.

“You never are!” the other songs yelled, turning to face the one who sung that, who grinned sheepishly.

Cam strode to the front of our platform and climbed onto Tranquility’s back. “Please hold off your judgements and your worries,” she sang in a surprisingly clear voice for someone her age. “I know that we are new.

But though I can be a tad abrasive, the four of us are good.

Accept us like you should… I would!”

“This is new,” the songs sang again. “A lot to chew, and it’s nothing like before!”

“It’s unfamiliar, strange, exciting, tantalizingly inviting, unbelievably enticing,

It’s enough that all we can ask is- what’s this?”

It was then that the platform stopped suddenly, just as the music ended with a staccato chord. I blinked, shaking my head. I had been so focused on the music that I hadn’t noticed we had reached the building that we were heading towards. Just like with Moonlight’s room, four panels slid open to reveal an entryway. However, the interior of the room was different.

Instead of being a two-story open space, it was divided into several rooms, with stairs leading to the second level. Just like our house back in Mareland, the bedrooms appeared to be on the second floor, with an eating space and family room on the first. There were two light blue couches in the family room, and a table with some oddly shaped chairs in the kitchen. A twinge of homesickness hit me, but it was quickly drowned out by excitement.

Cam squealed and bounded off Tranquility’s back, running up the stairs. “This one’s mine!” she shouted, presumably about her bedroom. I chuckled and walked in after her, with Reed following at a more sedate pace. Tranquility followed last, in a slow, trance-like walk. The panels slid closed after she passed, and I watched the songs disperse through the clear surface.

“I’m gonna go see what she’s up to,” Reed said, walking up the stairs and leaving Tranquility and I alone.

We sat in silence for a moment before I felt a familiar pull inside of me, one which I had hoped not to feel. Guess the song wasn’t over after all, I thought wryly as a soft piano began to plink in the background.

“Weh pourehasti du quri surai, weh pourehasti du zhaigai,” Tranquility murmured softly. “Konturo un parouh, ka vuroh.” She took a deep breath and began to sing.

“Konturo un parouh, we were lost and alone,

Tuareh un ceireh, far away from our home.

But now that is over, we’re settling down,

Konturo, ka vuroh, ka vuroh parouh.”

I smiled softly and took a deep breath, sensing that my time to sing was coming. Normally, I would have been scared to sing, but there was no one else around besides Tranquility, and I knew I wasn’t going to be belting my lyrics. This was something private, intimate even, with Tranquility and I, and that made my fear vanish.

“I thought we were done for, we’d run ‘till we died,

But now things are different, I feel warm inside,

We’ve been hidden away, the Mages won’t find,

Our new home where we’ll live, we’ll leave them behind.”

It was about as off-tune and mangled as song could be, which was only to be expected from me, but I didn’t mind, and neither did Tranquility. We turned towards each other and pressed our foreheads together. What came out of our mouths next was one of the closest moments we ever shared.

“Konturo un parouh, we were lost and alone,

Tuareh un ceireh, far away from our home.

But now that is over, we’re settling down,

Konturo, ka vuroh, ka vuroh parouh.”

Our little duet was quiet and hushed, but it was ours, and that was what mattered. I mangled the harmony, of course, but it didn’t matter. We were so enraptured that we didn’t notice that the panels that formed the doorway slid open and closed about halfway through the verse.

The music faded away to the sound of soft, pained gasping. A rush of panic filled the two of us, and we broke away from each other and turned to the door. Moonlight was lying on the floor, agony written all over her face.

“Paraituswa feirote!" Tranquility shouted, her eyes going wide and her ears folding back.

“What happened?!” I yelled, rushing towards her. We locked eyes, and to my surprise, she scrambled away from me, pressing herself against the wall. Confusion filled my mind, and I froze. “Moonlight? Wha-”

Before I could answer, a flash of black and white consumed her as she transformed back to her original, bipedal form. I dropped my eyes down to the floor before I could look at her face, but I could still see her through the reflection. She rushed over to the wall and slammed her hands into it, causing the four panels to burst open. A second later, a black seam opened up on her face where her mouth should be.

I had just enough time to feel a spike of primal fear before an ear-shattering note blasted out from it, causing me to cry out in pain and fall to the floor.

Author's Note

So yeah, new chapter, with a song, and all that...

If you want an explanation as to why this was so late, check my blog. I'm too lazy to retype anything. I have a feeling I was gonna say something clever in this, but I'm blanking right now. By the way, Google Docs upload is still broken. I went through and reformatted everything.

Thestral Language Guide

Comment if I screwed up grammar-wise.

~Pyrepinna

Chapter 15: Decrescendo

There was nothing I could do. As soon as I crumpled to the ground, I slammed my hooves over my ears, but it didn’t help. The sound penetrated my flimsy defense like it wasn’t even there. I could feel it tearing at my eardrums, and it hurt. The fear I had felt for an instant before skyrocketed, filling my mind with the instinctual thought that I was going to die, that I had to run. But I couldn’t. I was stuck on the ground, writhing in agony. In the back of my mind, I registered a thud that seemed to signal Tranquility had collapsed as well. Tears began to leak from my tightly shut eyes.

And then the sound doubled in intensity.

And tripled.

And multiplied even further.

Searing agony ripped through my entire body, and I let out a scream, tearing at my vocal chords. Somehow, I managed to pry my eyes open through the pain.

The Songs that were flying around our building had frozen and changed back to their original forms. As I watched, the ones who hadn’t opened the seams on their mouths did, and the note increased even more. What’s more, once the other songs heard it, they did the same. It spread across the city like a wave, and soon, there wasn’t a song in sight that wasn’t emitting that torturous wail.

My eardrums burst with a pop, and I screamed again. Blood began to leak out of my ears and the sound became distorted, but it didn’t stop the waves of pain racing through me. Panic set in, and my breath became short and muted. I thought that, since the pain didn’t stop, something else was going to burst, something more vital to my survival. My panic built and built as the pain increased, and I braced myself for the inevitable-

And it never came. The noise faded to a tolerable level, or at least I assumed it did. My hooves fell away from my ears, and I started to gasp. A second later, I felt something worm into my ear. Another flash of panic ran through my mind before it registered a familiar sensation- the sensation of my flesh crawling. Healing balm, I thought with relief. A few seconds later, my eardrum was repaired, and I could hear the sound of someone shouting my name.

“...all! Fall, are you okay?!”

“Ish,” I grumbled, opening my eyes. Tranquility was right in front of me, close enough that her sigh of relief tousled my mane. I gently blew on her face in return.

“Oh, thank goodness,” she mumbled softly. “That affected you so much more than it did me… I was afraid that…”

“I’m fine,” I mumbled softly. Tranquility stood up and grabbed my hoof, pulling me to my hooves. I immediately started to sway, so she pressed against my side.

“Lean on me,” she whispered. I nodded, doing just that.

Glancing around, I noticed several things. We were inside one of Cam’s shields, she was standing on her box, and her body was once more covered in the glowing vine-like pathways that spread across her body when she was using a lot of magic. But for the first time, she appeared to actually be strained, with her eyes screwed shut and sweat beading on her brow. The realization shocked me. So far, whenever we had been in danger, she had been able to fight off whatever was threatening us, with the exception of the first time we had encountered the Mages. But if she was actually having trouble… we might not make it out alive. And that was terrifying to think about.

Reed seemed slightly scared, too, but he didn’t show it. Instead, he let out a nervous laugh. “Weaponized D sharp,” he said softly. “What did you do?”

“I-I don’t know!” I said. “Moonlight was o-on the floor, and I ran over t-to help, an-”

“Help is not what you would have done to me,” a voice hissed, sounding like twenty foals overlapped over each other. The wailing ceased, and I turned to the side and saw Moonlight. “I never expected I would be the Discordant’s first target.”

“Discordant?” I asked. “Wha…” I trailed off as I realized what she meant. “N-no…”

“You decieved me…” she said. It wasn’t with anger, or as a taunt, or with any emotion at all. It was a statement with conviction.

“No… I c-can’t be…”

“You deceived us all,” the People of Song whispered. “No wonder you were on the run.”

“I’m not w-what you think I am…” I mumbled. “I-I’m just tone-deaf.”

But the People of Song didn’t listen. They parted to allow a hoard of different songs through. These ones, however, were different. They had glowing nimbuses of gray energy surrounding their hands. “Creature of lies, deceived us all,” they sang.

“Twisted our magic, tried to cause our fall,

But the Music is stronger, and we all are wise

The Discordant, the Discordant now dies!”

We didn’t even have time to utter another protest before they shot the energy at us.

Before it could reach us, Cam blasted the floor with her magic, causing it to cave in. When we didn’t get hit by any more bolts, I thought they had stopped. But then, something started to feel off. Almost as if we were… tilting.

Reed was the first to realize what was going on. “Cam,” he said, a deathly serious tone in his voice. “Blow out the wall.”

“Why?” she asked. “We’re safe in here.”

“No, we’re not!” he shouted. “They’re blasting out the foundation of the building! If we’re trapped inside, we’ll die when it falls-” at that moment, an unearthly groan echoed through the building. I felt the floor slide beneath my hooves, and then tilt even more. The skyscraper toppled, with us still inside.

Since we were near the top, it took a while to fall. Everything took on a weightless quality as the four of us started to float in the middle of the room. It seemed like something out of a dream. Then, Cam screamed, I and I remembered it wasn’t. I extended a wing, snagged Cam’s tail, and brought her into a tight embrace. The plan was to use my body as a cushion for her fall. It worked… but not without a price.

When the building did hit the ground, I had about a second’s warning before I did. It was enough for Cam to extend a sheet of magic along the floor to try to soften our fall. But it wasn’t enough.

When I hit the floor, I landed on my wings. I felt the bones crumple and snap, and a wave of agony wracked my whole body. I think I actually blacked out for a second, but I couldn’t be sure. What I remember is that Cam crawled out of my arms and lit up the room with her magic.

“Is everyone alive?!” she yelled.

“Ish,” I grunted, trying to stay as still as possible. Still, pain lanced through my body at every move I made.

“I’m fine,” Tranquility said.

“Same here,” Reed said. “It is just not a good day for you, is it, Fall.”

“Oh, you think?” I growled. “How are you alive?”

“Rolled,” he explained. “This isn’t my first time falling off a high place. Comes with the territory, as they say. I was more concerned about the building collapsing on top of us.”

“What happened to Fall?” Tranquility asked, trotting over. When she saw me, her face paled, and she turned away from me. “Cam, can you mend bones?” she inquired shakily.

“Yeah, why- oh no,” she gasped, catching a glimpse of my state. She rushed over to her box and began to rummage through it. “I can’t do much right now, so I’ll give him the best painkiller I have.”

“How bad does it look?” I whispered.

“It bears a striking resemblance to a crushed tin can,” Tranquility shakily responded.

“That good, huh?”

“Eat this,” Cam said, sprinting to my side and shoving something in my mouth. It had a similar texture to rubber and tasted like it, too. I managed to swallow it. A few seconds later, I could feel the pain in my wings start to fade. “It should take effect immediately,” Cam said. “And if it doesn’t-”

“Shut up,” Reed said, a sternness in his voice I hadn’t heard before. We all did. A second later, I heard a soft, thumping noise coming from our left.

“What’s that?” Tranquility asked. Cam’s ears folded back against her head, and she started to shake. The glowing lines on her body made themselves visible again. Her eyes became slightly glassy, and she glanced in the direction the thumping was coming for. A second later, her jaw dropped.

“They’re blowing apart the building!” she shouted. Her magic surrounded me and lifted me to my hooves. She blasted a hole in the wall on our right. “RUN!”

And that’s exactly what we did.

We sprinted as fast as we could away from the thumping, but it just kept getting louder and louder. It didn’t help that my wings were protesting my every move, which slowed me down. After about thirty seconds, the thumping started to take on a crunching quality, and my rump and legs began to get peppered with shrapnel.

“TURN!” Cam screamed, blasting a hole in a wall on our side. We swerved through it and into the open air. Cam immediately blasted lightning directly above us, and I heard several unearthly howls as the bolts presumably made contact with Songs.

Unfortunately, this had the side effect of alerting all of our enemies to exactly where we were. They turned around and started blasting the grey energy at us.

Cam stuck out a paw, and the air contorted enough to warp what was behind it. The bolts reversed directions, screaming towards their creators. They scattered and dropped down to the crystal floor, standing opposite of us.

“This has been an experience for us,” one song said, stalking towards us. “It’s showed us how… lax we’ve been with our battle training. You’re exceptionally good at surviving.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Cam grumbled, raising her shield. “Y’know, is it an option that we can just warp out of here peacefully?”

“You will come back again if we let you go,” another said. “The Discordant and his allies must perish.” I squeaked at that and scrambled to get behind Cam, who sighed.

“Oh sure, put the kid on the front line!” she yelled.

“I can’t f-fight! You can!” I shouted back.

“YES YOU CAN!” Cam screamed. “Your voice is their bane! Use it!”

“But it’ll kill them!” I yelled. “I don’t want to-” I yelped and ducked as a bolt of magic flew over my head.

“YOU MAY NOT HAVE A CHOICE!” Cam screamed, firing a bolt of lighting at the Songs. It spread through their ranks like a virus, branching out from each Song it made contact with, but I barely registered that.

Will I have to use my voice? I thought, mildly shocked. Will I have to… kill something? It was unthinkable to me. Ponies, in general, were peace-loving creatures, to the point where we would see creatures who had tried to overthrow Equestria walking free and among friends. It was part of the reason that our relationships with dragons and diamond dogs were so strained. We simply couldn’t reconcile killing something to survive.

But I didn’t have much time to think about that. The Songs recovered from the lightning blast very quickly, and as soon as they did, they began launching rapid-fire blasts of energy at us.

The air twisted and warped as Cam worked to deflect the wall of blasts moving towards us. Rivulets of sweat began to run down her face, and she let out a strained yell. I looked at the enemy, but something else caught my eye.

There were four cloaked figures standing atop the lip of the pit we were in. As I watched, they stuck out their paws and fired thin, weaving spells at us.

“CAM! SHIELD, NOW!” I screamed. She heard me and raised a wall of golden energy in front of us. Luckily, the bolts fired by the Songs were blocked as well.

“WHY?” she yelled.

“MAGES!” I shouted back. She tensed up momentarily before letting out a sigh.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” she grunted.

“We have to get out of here,” Tranquility said.

“I’ll warp us. Get in close,” Cam said, tension evident in her voice. “I can’t hold this for much longer.” Even as she spoke, the Songs increased their assault.

“You won’t have to,” Reed said. “Drop it in three, two, o-”

Suddenly, the Songs stopped their assault. A single Song launched himself at the shield. I had time to let out a startled gasp before he punched through it. Before I could react, he grabbed my leg, squeezing it tight enough to hurt.

“Got you now,” he said. Energy started to gather on his free hand.

I didn’t have time to think. So I didn’t. I did the one thing that my instincts told me to.

I let out a loud, powerful note.

It was short, and it was bad, with my voice cracking halfway through it. It was powerful, though, and I belted it with all my heart. And it was enough.

The Song holding my leg let out a scream of agony and disintegrated before my eyes.

I had just enough time to feel a cold feeling sink into my gut before Cam slashed at the air, created a rift, and dragged me through.

We landed in what appeared to be a sunny, grassy meadow, with tons of wildflowers everywhere. The temperature was perfectly comfortable, and it smelled of nature.

I didn’t care. What I had seen before was burned into my mind. All I could think about was that scream, that I had caused it…

That I had actually ended a life.

A hollow feeling sunk into my mind, and I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I kept telling myself that it wasn’t true, that it couldn’t have happened… but it did. I could still feel where he gripped me.

None of the others noticed. “This looks nice,” Cam commented.

It was then that the foliage attacked us.

Author's Note

I felt bad that the last chapter was so late. Have another chapter... IN THE SAME DAY! :pinkiegasp:

And now we're gonna move on to the next mini-arc, and I honestly don't know how well I'm going to do with it. I'm just gonna say it will be difficult to pull off correctly. Wish me luck, eh?

~Pyrepinna

Chapter 16: Aftermath

The flowers split down their centers, revealing a set of hidden spines similar to those of a Venus flytrap, except they seemed sharper, stiffer, and were dripping some sort green, syrupy liquid from their tips. A horrifying hiss filled the air as other flowers split, the transformation spreading away from us like a wave. The hollow feeling inside of me vanished temporarily, as for the second time that day, I was beset by the feeling that I was going to die.

“NEVER FLIPPIN’ MIND!” Cam shouted, running towards us and levitating her box with her. “NICE, MY RUMP! THERE IS SO MUCH NOPE INVOLVED WITH THIS PLACE!” With that, she fell to all fours and sprinted to me, scrambling onto my back and jostling my crushed wings, causing me to yelp.

“You just had to jinx it,” I muttered, pain in my voice

“WARP US OUT OF HERE!” Reed yelled, dropping to all fours for the first time since I’d met him and running to my side, dodging several strikes by the flowers. Cam reached out a paw and prepared to slash through the air, but before she could, the bottom dropped out of my stomach.

“WHERE’S TRANQUILITY?!” I screamed. Cam froze, and so did Reed. It was silent for a few seconds. I was almost about to shout her name before the hissing of the plants skyrocketed, followed by an agonized, terrified shriek coming from behind us. I spun around and sprinted towards it, not caring about the danger or pain from my back. Oh no. No no no no no! I barely registered Cam blasting away the plants that lunged at us.

We burst through a tight thicket of the plants, and I gasped, fear coursing through my veins. One of the vines had managed to sink it’s spines into Tranquility’s leg, and had hoisted her five feet into the air. Several other plants were poised to strike. She knew this and was struggling fiercely, trying to wrench free with tears dripping from her eyes, but couldn’t.

Cam stuck out her front paws, and lightning blasted through the stem of the plant that was holding her. She fell to the ground. Cam immediately started to blast the other plants poised to attack while I ran over to Tranquility.

The plant hadn’t released her, despite being literally cut in half. I reached down and pried its jaws off her leg, which she protested with a sharp cry of pain. Blood began to gush from the wound, so I covered it with my hooves, but it didn’t help very much. Reed sprinted over to us, and Cam created another rift, pulling the four of us through it and away from that death trap.

We dropped out of the rift in the middle of an incredibly thick cyan gas, thick enough that it stopped our fall. I was still pressing on Tranquility’s leg, and she was gasping in pain.

“CAM!” I shouted. “Balm, NOW!”

She swam through the air with her box in tow. The second she reached us and got her balm out, I let go of Tranquility’s leg, and she immediately slathered the balm up and down her leg. Within seconds, her gasping faded to whimpers, and in thirty seconds, the wound closed completely. I noticed Reed looking away from us, his face a bit pale.

“Are you okay?” I asked, leaning in close to her face.

She nodded, opening her eyes. “Re wua,” she whispered, her voice shaking. “Yekaruia, ge beail.” She closed her eyes, a few tears leaking out and running down her cheeks. “Reah paraituswa TEICH CAI!” she yelled, trying to stand up, but failing. She ended up swimming through the gas, going about thirty feet before stopping and sitting up. I was about to go after her before I was painfully reminded of my condition… by Cam climbing onto my back and starting to mess with my wings.

“Crap…” she muttered. “Reed, can you set bones?”

“Yeah,” he answered, turning back to face us. “I’ve had a bit of experience with it. Why?”

“I need you over here,” Cam said. “I’ve got some experience with this too, but there’s no way I can do this alone.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, seeming a little shocked. “You’d trus-”

“Reed, get over here before I electrocute you,” Cam hissed, her voice deadly serious and her eyes narrowing into a glare.

“And the magic is gone,” he grumbled, making his way towards us.

“I took that away the first time we fought,” Cam snarked, moving out of his way. “So what do I need to do?”

Reed pulled me closer to him and started to run his paws over my broken wings, sending fiery bolts of pain lancing through my tortured nerves. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough to make me grit my teeth and let out a low whine of pain.

“It would’ve been better if you’d given him an anti-inflammatory drug, Cam,” Reed commented.

“Excuse me for being more concerned with whether or not he could get out of there alive and non-incapacitated,” Cam grumbled.

“I’m right here, you know,” I grunted sourly.

“So what do we do?” Cam asked, completely ignoring me.

“Luckily, I don’t feel any fragmenting, and it seems like everything just piled up nicely, so it’ll be a little like putting together a jigsaw puzzle,” Reed said cheerfully. “Except a lot more painful. Truthfully, it looks a lot worse than it is.”

“Grand,” I muttered.

“So, if you trust me, I’ll maneuver his bones back into position and you’ll keep them in place until we can get some sort of splint around them,” he explained.

“Healing balm coated bandages will go on first, followed by a resin-based outer cast,” Cam said. “I’ve been through this before. And yes, I trust you enough to set his bones.”

“Grand,” Reed said. “By chance, do you have any anesthetic?”

“Nope,” Cam answered. A thrill of fear ran through me. “I’ve never needed it, not even when I broke my leg. I’m a tough girl.”

More like completely mental, I thought, starting to go pale.

“We’ll just have to hope he passes out,” Reed said. “By the way, do you want your wings out while they heal or folded at your sides?”

“F-folded,” I said shakily.

“Kay,” Cam said. “Reed, let’s start now.”

“Wai-” I managed to gasp before the most intense pain I’d ever felt in my life hit me.

I passed out. And thank Celestia, Luna, and whatever other deities might be out there and watching over me that I did, because I did not want to be awake for that.

When I came to, the first thing I felt was an agonizing ache in my wings, a persistent fire that seemed to burn and tear at my muscles and nearly made me pass out again. The second thing I felt was a hard casing on the appendages. Guess they set them corectly. I could feel the breaks, but nothing seemed grossly out of place. What’s more, I could feel the ache slowly fading.

The third thing I noticed was that Reed and Cam were in the middle of a discussion.

“You’re kidding.”

“I’m not,” Reed said. “It’s a little stupid when you think about it.”

“No, really?” Cam asked sarcastically. “We manage to jump into a safe dimension and the place we land in is the only dangerous place?”

“Yep,” Reed said.

“What?” I mumbled.

“Oh! You’re awake,” Cam exclaimed, rushing over to me with something in her paw. “I’d imagine you’re in quite a bit of pain. We didn’t exactly get it right on the first try-”

“Spare me the details,” I grumbled.

“Okay,” she said. “Basically, we had to shuffle things around a bit more than we initially thought. It might’ve damaged you a bit, so I got you another painkiller.”

“I don’t need it,” I said. “The pain is fading, and I’d like to know exactly when I’m healed.”

“Okay then,” Cam said. “Suit yourself.”

“I’m much more interested in the conversation you two were having,” I grunted, sitting myself up. “Fill me in, please?”

“Sure,” Reed said. “I was filling Cam in on where we landed. We landed in the Peaceful Plains, a dimension that, for the most part, follows its name. However…”

“We landed in the one part that didn’t?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Reed said. “We landed in the Sentient Vines, a subdivision of the Plains that’s nearly killed more than one Mage.”

I sighed and leaned back, the gas providing a cushion of sorts. “We have the best luck, don’t we?” I murmured.

“I blame Reed,” Cam said.

“Hey!”

“I mean,” I continued, “First, Tranquility and I got thrown across Equestria by that storm… then that Wanderer found you and forced you out of your home, Cam… then Reed got kidnapped by us, which is bad luck for both sides of this.”

“I honestly don’t mind too much,” Reed said. “It means I don’t have to deal with Ivy.”

I let out a soft chuckle at that. “Maybe not as bad luck, but it still sucks. We jump through a few more dimensions, and we finally get to something that we can call a home, with nice creatures who welcome us… and I turn out to be one of their legends and the bane of their existence. So we have to fight our way out of that, and I…” My voice caught in my throat, and wave of guilt crashed through me. I killed someone. The memory played unbidden behind my eyes. I saw him grab me, and, as if slow motion, the moment he realized what was going to happen. I could see the fear spark in his eyes, and the shock… and the short moment when the agony hit him. The fear vanished to be replaced by pain… and then he vanished. Another wave of guilt, and this time, horror, ran through me, making me feel nauseous. “A-anyway…” I continued, trying to quash the rush of emotion so the others wouldn’t notice. “We make it o-out and we land in that mess. It’s like someone has it out for us.”

“They’re probably mad we’re not dead,” Cam said. “But we don’t care, do we? Because we’re gonna live.”

“True that,” Reed said. I nodded, not trusting myself to speak without my voice hitching again.

“And we’re gonna keep going strong,” Cam said.

“Yeah…” Reed said.

Until we all die, I thought morbidly. Another thought occurred to me. “Where’s Tranquility?” I asked.

“She’s still over there,” Cam said, pointing to her left. “Hasn’t moved, not even while we were setting your bones.”

I narrowed my eyes slightly. That’s not right. “I’m gonna go check on her,” I said.

“Be careful,” Cam said. “I don’t want to fix your wings again.”

“I will,” I said. With that, I started to work my way through the cyan gas, trying to get to her. I hope nothing’s wrong.

It was slow going, partially because I had no idea how to get through the air. Eventually, though, I made it to Tranquility and sat down next to her. She didn’t react, so I didn’t say anything. Eventually, after a few minutes of silence, I decided to reach out. “Hey,” I said softly.

“Hey,” she mumbled.

“Rough day, huh?” I asked, leaning towards her. She didn’t lean back, though, so I raised myself back into a normal position, a little disappointed.

“You have no idea,” she whispered, her voice breaking a little bit. This set off a few alarm bells in my head. Tranquility was usually very good at dealing with her emotions, and if she was having trouble speaking, something was seriously wrong.

“What’s going on?” I asked softly, scooting a little closer to her. She didn’t respond, looking away from me. “Tranquility, I want to help. What’s the problem?”

She muttered something under her breath.

“Tranquility, we’ve know each other for years,” I said. “You can tell me what the problem is-”

“You.”

I froze, breaking off in the middle of my sentence. I almost didn’t believe what I heard. I didn’t want to believe what I heard. I didn’t even know what to say. “Wha…?” I murmured dumbly, my eyes going wide.

“You asked, I answered,” Tranquility said softly, turning to face me. “And you are the problem.”

“Why?” I asked, feeling something start to break inside of me. It was bad enough that the day had gone the way it had, but this… it just started to break me.

“Simple,” she said, anger building in her voice. “You are the sole reason that we got thrown out of Symphony.”

And just like that, the broken feeling started to vanish, being replaced by anger. “Now hold on!” I said. “That was not my fault!”

“Really,” Tranquility deadpanned. “So… your singing causing every single one of the Songs to turn against us wasn’t your fault?”

“You know I can’t control it,” I hissed, tears starting to build in my eyes.

“But you could’ve done something!” she snarled, tears forming in her eyes as well. “You could’ve tried to talk them down! You could’ve tried to hold back your voice!”

“How would I have known?!” I shouted, my anger building, and the cracks in my heart spreading. “Moonlight said-”

“I don’t care,” Tranquility hissed, tears starting to run down her cheeks.

“Why is this such a big deal?” I asked, trying to calm down and trying to salvage the conversation. I can fix this, I thought.

That was the exact wrong thing to say.

Tranquility reeled back as if she had been physically struck, her nostrils flaring and her pupils shrinking to pinpricks. “Why is this a big deal?” she whispered, stalking towards me. “Why? WHY? I’LL TELL YOU WHY!” she screamed, shoving me backwards hard enough to jostle my wings and cause me to gasp. “WEH POUREHASTI DU QURI SURAI, WEH POUREHASTI DU ZHAIGAI! KI ZEI UROS ERO PO JEOIA UROS KEIKA REIRAOH! JOR DAE-”

“TRANQUILITY!” I screamed, shutting my eyes. “STOP, PLEASE! Please…” I went limp, curling up in a little ball. “I-I can’t c-control it. Y-you know that… I don’t u-understand w-why you’re so m-mad, or what I did… b-but please stop. Y-you’re not the only o-one hurting…” I gently raised my head to look at her, tears in my eyes. “I-I broke m-my wings. That t-terrible wail hurt me so much…” I closed my eyes, tears starting to flow from beneath my eyelids. “Tranquility, I… I killed someone. I-I actually e-ended a life… and it hurts. I-I see it… It makes me f-feel sick…” I trailed off, not wanting to continue.

A silence stretched on for a few more seconds before Tranquility let out a heavy sigh. “Weh pourehasti du quri surai, weh pourehasti du zhaigai,” she murmured. “It means ‘the crumbling of fields established, the crumbling of lives.’ It’s supposed to symbolize that, without a home, a life will deteriorate and crumble. That’s why I’m so mad… it’s proving to be true. I suppose that it isn’t your fault we got kicked out of Symphony…” My heart leapt in my chest. “But…” And it fell just as hard. “You’re the easiest thing to blame for it. I’m in alohaidurast. My head knows you’re not to blame, but my heart… doesn’t. Because of that… I think you just need to leave me alone for now.”

And just like that, what little resolve I had left in me crumbled, and my heart shattered. Tranquility, my best friend, my crush, my pillar of support in rough times… was telling me to go away and leave her alone. A lump formed in my throat, and I fought the urge to break down in tears. “How long?” I managed to choke out.

“I don’t know, Fall… I really don’t know,” she said, turning away from me.

“Okay,” I whispered. “Okay…” When she didn’t respond, I got up and turned away from her. “I-I’ll go now…” And I did.

I didn’t really think about my destination, wandering through the blue air for a short time. I just had to get away, to keep moving, to not think… but eventually, my heart caught up to me. I stopped moving entirely, letting the gas support my body. For a moment, I stared blankly ahead, an emptiness filling my heart and soul, before it all came crashing down on me.

It was my fault, despite the fact that I couldn’t control my voice. If I hadn’t been there, Tranquility and the others would have been fine. And now, I was reaping the consequences.

My best friend was mad enough at me that she told me to leave her alone, something that had never happened before. I’d somehow hurt her deeply enough that it came to this. Some people might call it an overreaction, but I felt that it signified that our friendship might be coming to a close. And… that hurt. It really, really did.

What’s more, I blew our only chance to be safe, probably shortening our lifespans by at least four decades. The others might’ve laughed and joked about it, but now, it dug into my heart like a rusty knife, tearing at my resolve and my will to live. And what was worse…

I had killed that poor Song.

Words can’t describe the rush of pure pain, regret, guilt, and shame that rushed through me as I thought about it. Because of me, something was dead. Because of me, a future was cut short. Because of me… the world no longer had something it probably cherished. I gasped as if I had been physically struck. I was a murderer. And I would live with that burden for the rest of my life. Nothing could erase that stain upon my soul. And what’s worse, I didn’t have Tranquility to help shoulder my burden anymore, and even if I did, she probably would have started to drift away from me because of the fact that I did that.

It’s all my fault, I thought miserably. That realization was too much for me to bear, and I did the only thing I could.

I started to cry.

Once the tears started, they didn’t stop. It all came out in a blubbering mess as I broke down completely. I wept for our situation. I bawled for what I had caused. I wept for what I had done to the others. I wept for the life that I had taken. I wept for my shattered relationship with Tranquility.

But most of all, I wept for my broken heart.

At least I wasn’t the only one.

Author's Note

It was a normal day at the author's household. He had several of his friends over, and they were playing Mario Kart together peacefully. They were, at least, until a heavy pounding on his front door echoed through the house.

"I'll get it," one of the friends who wasn't currently playing said, getting up from his position on the couch and walking to the door. Meanwhile, the poor door started to shake on its hinges, scaring away the cat who was lying in front of it. It was truly impressive that the cat was frightened, because he had been deaf for some time. The friend looked out of the small window on the side of the door and whistled.

"Who's there?" the author asked.

"A whole bunch of people," the friend said. "Did you invite them?"

"No, I only invited the people who are already here," the author responded. "What do they look like?"

"Well, I don't recognize them, but they've got pitchforks and torches, and they look pissed," the friend said. To his surprise, the author let out a booming laugh. "What's so funny?"

"It's probably my readers," the author explained. "I'd imagine they'd be mad after what I did in the last chapter of one of my stories."

I'm not sorry, by the way.

Now do you understand what I meant when I said that this mini-arc was gonna be hard to write? Believe it or not, I get emotionally connected to my characters, so this is gonna be difficult for me, too. But I urge you to keep reading.

Thestral Language Guide

~Pyrepinna

Please don't kill me.

Chapter 18: On the Move Again

“Don’t touch the liquid,” Reed said, teeth chattering. “Cam, get us some heat, now.” He crawled over to me and wrapped me in a tight embrace.

“On it,” she said confidently, yanking her box over to her side and starting to frantically rummage through it.

“L-liquid?” I mumbled.

“Liquid nitrogen,” Reed answered. “There’s lakes of it. We landed in the Great Freeze.”

“No kidding,” Tranquility said sarcastically. A second later, her eyes widened. She started to frantically flap her wings, and I could see ice forming along the leather. She launched into a stream of pain-laden exclamations in the thestral language, a fair portion of which sounded like swears. I could feel my feathers and coat starting to get bogged down by ice as well, but unlike her, I had no nerves that ran through my wings other than the limb itself. I didn’t feel pain from it, but I imagined that she was in excruciating agony.

“Cam, we need something now!” Reed yelled.

“I know!” she yelled, shoving her head and one of her arms inside her box. The lines across her body flashed brightly, and she pulled her head out. A bright glow emitted from her paws, and a stream of wood flew out of the box, landing in a pile a few feet away from us. Something else shot into the pile as well, and I heard the tinkle of breaking glass. I wondered what it could be before a familiar roar ripped through the air around us. Thermite! I thought. I wrenched out of Reed’s grip and ran away from the pile.

“What’s the-” he asked, but was cut off as the wood burst into a pillar of flame. “By the void!” He scrambled away as well, but ran over to Cam instead. “Throw up a shield! Trap the heat!”

She did, a glowing dome spreading over the area the four of us were in. Within seconds, the temperature rose to a comfortable warmth, and in a few more, it became sweltering. The ice along my wings and coat melted, leaving me soaked. The temperature continued to climb, though, and pangs of fear started to rush through me. We’re gonna get cooked alive! I thought.

Fortunately, the thermite burned itself out, and the temperature stopped rising. The wood pile settled into a steady burn, just enough to maintain the temperature, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Cam shook her head. “We just had to jump into-”

“CAI ZEIGJE!”

I jumped and spun around, the shout startling me. Tranquility had fallen to the ground and curled up in a small ball, her eyes wide with tears streaming out of them, leaving wet tracks on her dark fur. A constant trembling wracked her body, violent enough to be called borderline spasming.

“Cai zeigje!” she yelled again, fear prominent in her voice. “Cai koum ta ga liferoa du feirote-” She broke off as her voice hitched in her throat, and she started to gasp as if her throat had been partially blocked.

I started towards her, wanting to help, but froze up, my mind flooding itself with doubts. She told you to leave her alone, they said, their insidious voices keeping me rooted to where I stood. What if, in trying to help, you make it worse? What if you ruin your friendship permanently through good intentions? Those doubts grew more and more pressing, filling me with indecision.

Reed quickly strode past me, making a beeline for where Tranquility lay. Dropping to his knees, he placed a paw on her chest. “Listen to me,” he instructed, the tone in his voice making it clear that he didn’t want to be disobeyed. “You need to calm down. Take deep breaths. In… out… in… out… in…” Tranquility listened without question, and within seconds, I could see the trembling in her muscles subside. After about a minute, she appeared to be completely calm.

“T-that was terrifying,” she said shakily.

“Why?” Reed asked.

“T-the ice felt like it burned,” she answered. “It… it’s not important.” She broke eye contact with Reed, but in the process, saw the fire. She gasped and scrambled away from it, hitting the shield. “Why is that there?” she whispered.

“Because it’s the only thing keeping us from turning into popsicles,” Cam said. “I’m sorry, but it’s what I had to do.”

“Okay,” Tranquility said. She started taking deep breaths again, calming herself down, but she didn’t move away from the shield. “Where’s Fall?” she asked eventually, looking around. “Is he hurt? Is that why-” She broke off as her eyes met mine. “Oh,” she said, her voice curt. “He’s fine.”

I don’t know exactly what the others said after that. That single word had contained actual malice and hatred towards me. I fell back onto my haunches, my mouth hanging slack slightly. A slight cracking sound echoed through my ears as I felt my heart continue its route to shattering. I was so shocked that I couldn’t even muster the mental fortitude to cry. Instead, an overwhelming emptiness consumed me, leaving me feeling empty and fragile.

I felt as if I was made of glass, like a single hit could break me. In a sense, it could. I was dealing with things I never had dealt with before. Tranquility was mad enough to hate me, which was worse than before, and I didn’t know why. I felt responsible for the terrible situation. And, overshadowing it all, looming over my soul like a foul storm of guilt, was the burden I bore, the burden of taking a life.

I was vaguely aware of heated words being thrown between the other three, but I couldn’t understand them. I began a slow struggle, an uphill climb to get back into a functioning state of mind. Eventually, the argument stopped, and that sped my ascent. I regained control over myself just as a new conversation started up.

“So…” Reed said. “I have a few questions, Cam.”

“Shoot,” she mumbled, sounding disheartened.

“What did you throw at the Mages?” he asked.

“A stink bomb.”

Reed’s eyes widened a bit, and I felt a small twinge of amusement. Tranquility let out a soft chuckle before it was cut off abruptly, her face transitioning from a smile to a neutral poker face. “You’re kidding,” Reed eventually said.

“Nope,” she responded.

“Why would you throw a stink bomb of all things?” Reed exclaimed, throwing his arms up into the air. “That’s the most perfectly useless thing you could have done!”

“Exactly,” Cam said. “I don’t wanna waste my useful stuff on them if we’re not gonna fight. I could have also thrown a flash-bang at them, but this was more annoying. And if I can be a nuisance to them, then I will. Partially because it annoys them, and mostly because it’s funny as all living crap to me.”

“You’re something else, kid,” Reed said, shaking his head.

“If only the Mages would realize and respect that,” she mumbled. “It might make them leave us alone.”

“I’m starting to,” he said. “Anyway, second question. What kind of spells did you put on that box?”

“None, why?” she answered.

“That makes no sense!” Reed exclaimed. “There’s no way it’s not enchanted! That amount of wood should not have been able to fit in that!” He waved an arm towards the fire. “How did that fit in there?”

“It’s a gateway to my own personal dimension,” Cam explained. “It just showed up in my clearing one day. I assumed it wasn’t a big deal. Don’t all Mages have their own dimensions?”

“No,” Reed whispered. “We don’t. That’s really weird.”

“Really,” Cam said. “That’s odd.” She looked back to the fire. “Should I add more wood?”

“Hold on,” he said. “That doesn’t bother you at all?”

“Not really,” Cam responded. “It’s served me well for almost five years and hasn’t tried to kill me yet, so I’m not exactly concerned about this.”

Reed leveled a bemused stare her way. “Have you considered the possibility you might not be entirely sane?” he asked.

“Yes,” Cam said, a grin spreading across her face. “And I absolutely love it.”

After that, the conversation dwindled down to nothing. Every now and then, Reed would try half heartedly to start up a new topic, but no one seemed to be in the mood to talk. As a result, we sat in silence. A painful, awkward, torturous silence.

Every now and then, Tranquility’s eyes would meet mine, and we’d both flinch away. Each time it happened, a fresh wave of pain rushed through me. Each time, tears would form in my eyes, but I blinked them away before they could run down my face. If the others noticed, they didn’t comment on it… for a time.

Eventually, after the seventeenth time that it happened, Cam sighed and stood up, her paw glowing. I felt my hooves lift off the ground, and I gasped. “Excuse us for a moment,” she growled, walking to the edge of the shield with her magic dragging me behind her. She roughly plopped me down next to her. “When are you gonna pull yourself together?” she hissed.

“H-huh?” I murmured.

“What you did earlier was not okay,” she said, crossing her arms. “Your best friend was having a severe panic attack and you just stood there! Guess what kind of message that sent to her. It says that you don’t care! I know that’s not true, but it’s what she thinks, and I know because she told me. Dick move, man. You better have a good explanation for it.”

“I…”

“Don’t you dare pull that stuttering crap,” she growled. “Whether you realize it or not, you actually hurt Tranquility pretty bad with that little stunt. I-”

And that was all it took.

Tears started to flow from my eyes, and I started to cry. For the second time in a few hours, I completely broke down, slowly sinking to the ground and covering my head with my hooves. Cam had just confirmed some of my fears, and it felt absolutely terrible.

Because of how I had covered my eyes, I didn’t see Tranquility watch as I broke down, or the look of confusion that passed over her face. I didn’t see Reed start to talk to her. I did notice, however, when Cam lay down in front of my face.

“Jeez,” she said. “You have a knack for turning all of my assumptions on their head and making me feel terrible.”

“I-I’m sorry!” I wailed. “I-I d-don’t want y-you to f-feel bad, o-or Reed, or T-tranquility! I-I didn’t d-do anything b-because I was a-afraid I-I would m-make it worse a-and I w-was trying to f-figure out if I would b-but before I-I could R-reed solved it and n-now it is w-worse and it’s all my fault a-and I’M SORRY!” I couldn’t find it in me to say anything else, so I continued to cry.

Cam didn’t say anything for a while. Eventually, though, she let out a sigh. “I’m gonna have to play therapist again,” she muttered. “You are taking this way worse than Tranquility did. What’s going on?”

I told her everything. It all came rushing out once more, in a big, blubbering mess. More than once, I had to stop myself as my emotions overwhelmed me and rendered me inarticulate. Cam didn’t react much, listening and nodding occasionally. It took a fair amount of time to tell, and by the time I was close to wrapping up, I had run out of tears once more.

“A-and overshadowing i-it all is w-what happened i-in Symphony!” I bawled.

“What happened there?” she asked.

“I-I… I k-killed…” I broke off, finding myself unable to continue as guilt surged through me, accompanied by a wave of nausea.

It was enough, though, as Cam’s expression went from neutral to one of shock, horror, and pity. “Oh,” she whispered. A second later, she pounced on me, wrapping her arms as far as she could around my barrel. “I’m so sorry…” she whispered. “I-I didn’t know…”

I nodded, trying to regain control of my vocal chords. I felt a huge lump in my throat, one that blocked any attempt at speech. Eventually, though, I wrestled it down to a manageable size. “R-reed said y-you might be a-able to h-help…” I choked out.

“With dealing with it?” she asked. When I nodded, she sighed. “I can tell you how I did, but it might not work for you. It actually took me a few days to fully comprehend what I had done, and when I did, it hit me like a hammer blow. I contemplated tying myself to a rock and jumping in the river, drowning myself to escape the pain. A life for a life, y’know. But in the end, I didn’t do that, and neither should you. I ended up creating a small stone, one with the memory of his face powerfully enchanted in it. If I touch it, I see it. I keep it in my box, as a memory, and as a permanent apology.”

“T-that’s…” I mumbled.

“It’s my solution,” Cam said. “But it’s something unique. In the end, I think you’ll have to come up with something of your own, something that means a lot to you, to make peace with it.” She ran a paw through my mane. “I’m so sorry, by the way. You’re too nice and too kind to deserve this. No one deserves this.”

“O-okay…” I mumbled.

“Even what happened earlier was a product of that kindness, if I understand what you told me correctly,” she said. “You didn’t want to make things worse for Tranquility, and so you tried to think out whether or not it would help if you tried to calm her down. It just took some time, and Reed stepped in before you could resolve that little debate.”

“Mhm,” I mumbled.

“I’ll tell Tranquility that,” Cam said reassuringly.

“T-thanks…” I stuttered. Cam didn’t say anything else, and neither did I. We spent a few minutes in silence as I struggled to reel in my emotions. Eventually, though, I got them under control, and let out a shuddering sigh.

“I-I’m still afraid,” I mumbled.

“Then let’s go back to the others,” Cam said, lifting me up into the air with her magic. “The best way to overcome your fears is to face them, after all.”

“Or chuck some stink bombs a-at them,” I said as we started to move.

“That too,” she chuckled.

When we got back to the group, Cam set me down, and I immediately dropped my eyes to the floor, not wanting to catch Tranquility’s eye. Cam walked over to her and began to whisper in her ear, presumably telling her what I had said. I tuned it out, but after a while, I felt a set of eyes on me, the gaze laced with confusion.

I looked up, and saw it was Tranquility. Our eyes met, and she didn’t flinch away. Instead, she sent me a questioning look, one that seemed to say “why?” I tried to send back an apology, but I don’t know if I succeeded. In the next moment, our shield shattered, sending a wave of sub-zero gas sweeping into our little bubble.

Our fire was snuffed out, and a second later, a bolt of magical energy smashed into the wood, sending the embers spraying everywhere. Cam’s paws glowed, and something shot out of her box, flying towards where the bolt came from. A second later, a muffled boom echoed around us, followed by startled, fearful exclamations. My heart skipped a beat, and my blood ran cold. Mages! Before my fears could manifest further, though, Cam slashed through the air, creating a rift, and pulled us through.

We landed in another desert-like area, but the sand was reddish-brown and very, very fine. We actually sank a few inches into the ground. It smelled vaguely… old, like an antique carriage.

“I don’t recognize this,” Reed said. “We need to be careful.”

“Of course we do,” I muttered. Not being careful got us into this whole mess.

Author's Note

I honestly didn't know what to do with this. I hit some key points that I wanted to address, but this chapter just ended up being... meh. At least it was to me.

Thestral Language Guide

I'm sorry for the meh of this chapter. The next one will hopefully be better.

Comment if I messed up grammatically. My keyboard has been going to crap recently, so there's probably something in there.

~Pyrepinna

Chapter 19: Downhill

“You said you don’t recognize this place, Reed?” Cam asked, looking around. “Because if I heard you right, I’m a bit scared. The last time you said something like that, we nearly got burned to a crisp. I don’t want to go through that again.”

“You’re not the only one,” Tranquility mumbled.

“Unfortunately, you heard me correctly,” Reed said sheepishly as he sat down in the red powder, kicking up a little puff of dust with the motion. “This place is completely new to me, so I have no idea what to expect.”

“Grand,” I mumbled.

“Weird,” Cam said, crouching down and scooping up a pawful of the powder. “This stuff seems familiar…” Sticking out her paw, she activated her magic and brought her box to her side, levitating several jars out of it. She then began to scoop the dust into them.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Collecting some of this stuff,” she answered. “If I remember it, it’s probably because it was useful. It might be a rare ingredient that I only found once, something that I used in some of my better potions, like my most powerful poison, or my best acid.”

“Let me guess,” Tranquility droned. “You made bombs out of those.”

“Heck no!” she yelled. “I don’t want there to ever be a possibility of those things splattering on me. A good hit of the poison would kill anything in seconds, and I’ve used half a cup of the acid to taint a small pond enough to burn through the esophagus of anything that drank from it.” She smiled. “Those few days were good eatings.”

“That’s a devious method of hunting,” Reed said. “If we ever get out of this predicament, I’ll relay it to the Alpha.”

“Coolio,” Cam said, resuming her collection of the powder.

“I’ve got one question,” I said. “Is the acid green?”

Cam froze for a second before slowly turning towards me, a deadpan expression dominating her face. “No,” she said. “It’s clear, like water. Why the heck would it be green?”

Tranquility let out a soft chuckle, and my heart soared. I helped cause that! I don’t know why, but the fact that I had helped cause even a fleeting spark of happiness in Tranquility was immensely gratifying to me at that moment.

“Acid is commonly represented as glowing green in comic books,” I explained. “It’s a cliché.”

“That’s stupid,” Cam declared. “If anything, I’d want it to be red.”

None of us questioned it, opting to let Cam continue with her dust collection. A few tense minutes of silence passed, with none of us willing to breach it. I’m sure that we all had questions we wanted to ask, or topics we wanted to explore, but no one wanted to breach the blissful nothingness that surrounded us. We took solace in the comfort of emptiness.

Eventually, though, Cam did speak up. “They’re getting faster,” she said, levitating the jars into her box.

“Huh?” I mumbled.

“The Mages,” she clarified. “It used to take them at least a day to lock onto the dimension we had warped into. It took less that two hours last time. Why is that, Reed?”

“I hoped that you wouldn’t notice,” he muttered. “It’s because they’re starting to identify your signature.”

“Signature?” Cam asked, seeming genuinely puzzled. “What’s that?”

“Your magic signature,” he explained. “Think of it like a paw print of sorts, something that can be used to identify a Mage. We all have one. It’s sort of like a residue, if that makes sense, something that’s left behind each time you use magic. If Ivy memorizes it, she’ll be able to use it to lock onto exactly where you are almost instantaneously, each and every time that you make a jump. The fact that the time that it takes her to find us has shortened so much is a sign that she’s getting close.”

“And when she gets there…” Tranquility whispered, a horrified expression coming over her face.

“There’ll be no more running,” Reed said solemnly. “The only way to beat them then will be to… to kill them all.”

“Oh no,” I whispered, another wave of guild running through me. The thought of ending another life was devastating. To think that it might be inevitable…

“Of course, there’s absolutely no way that you’ll be able to beat the four of them working together,” he said.

“You don’t know that,” Cam said. “I’ve beat them before. It’s how we’re here, right? I’ve fended them off long enough to escape.”

“Cam, trust me,” Reed said, his voice taking on a serious tone. “There is no way you would win.”

“Sure,” she said dismissively. “Whatever you say.”

We lapsed into silence again, more tension in the air. This one didn’t last long, however. “It’s nice to know we’ve got a ticking time bomb over our heads,” Tranquility whispered softly. “That’s comforting.”

“It’s reality,” Reed said, shrugging.

“Reality sucks,” she said, closing her eyes.

“But you have to deal with it anyway,” I whispered. “We all do.”

Cam stood up, brushing the red powder out of her fur. “I agree,” she said. “But it’s pointless to blame reality. I say we blame whatever godly creature has it out for us. That’d be more fun.”

“And also completely pointless,” Reed pointed out.

“Look, you have your coping mechanisms and I have mine,” she flippantly replied.

“Coping mechanisms?” I asked, tilting my head to the side. “What are you coping with?”

“All of this,” Cam said, her posture wilting slightly, like air being let out of a balloon. “It’s a bit deadening, this whole situation. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this’s been getting at me, too. I’ve gotten more and more melancholy, and I’ve tried to cover it up, but it’s not working. And now this…” She sighed. “I’m honestly not feeling too great.”

I gently walked over to her and swept her into a hug. “Why didn’t you tell us?” I mumbled.

“I didn’t want to bother you,” she whispered back. “You’ve got enough on your plate…”

“But that doesn’t mean that you should neglect yourself,” I said. “So now I’m going to hug you, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

She let out a sigh and snuggled up to me. “Thanks,” she mumbled softly.

“You’re quite welcome,” I whispered.

A soft sigh drew my eyes away from Cam and up towards Tranquility. She was staring at the two of us, a blank expression on her face. Behind her eyes, though, I could see a war raging, her mind locked in ferocious battle. In a way, it was similar to what had happened to me in the Great Freeze. The difference here was that there was nothing at stake.

One one side of the war was her rational mind, screaming that I hadn’t meant anything by freezing up when she had needed help, that it was because I had cared about what she said. It seemed rhetorical at this point, having been brought up a few times. The reasonable side also pointed out that I couldn’t control my voice.

The other side was attempting to beat the living Tartarus out of her logical thoughts.

Her heart was hurt, and as a result, was viciously denying and tossing away any attempt to soothe its ache through reason, convinced that the only way to heal was to spite and scorn me. I couldn’t fault that, as I’d felt the same way before towards other ponies. The only way that it seemed to be resolved was through time. But when time is running out…

Both sides appeared to be evenly matched, and because of that, all Tranquility could do was give me a helpless stare. I returned it with a non-verbal apology, a look to say that I was sorry, and that I understood. I didn’t say that it was an emotional blow to see her in this state, especially over me. I don’t think I needed to, though.

“We need a hero,” Cam mumbled.

“What?” Reed asked.

“Someone who can get us out of this whole mess,” she said. “Someone who’ll fight for us, not out of pity, but because they truly believe that we’re doing the right thing by resisting. We need someone powerful, one who can fend off the Mages and cut the head off the terrible beast that is our inevitable doom.” A faint trembling started to run through her body. “I-Is that too much to ask?”

“What?” Reed asked, his eyes widening slightly.

“I want t-this to be done!” she yelled, pressing harder against my chest. I tightened my hold on her, trying to provide some source of comfort, but it didn’t seem to help. “E-every day, we get farther and farther away from home! It’s n-not even my fault! I was born this way, I didn’t choose to be a Mage! I just wanna live my LIFE!” Her tirade ended with a shriek, and she pressed her face into my chest fluff, gasping as if she was in pain. I started to gently rub her back, just like I had back at the beginning of this whole journey. It seemed to help, though, as she calmed down substantially. “We need a h-hero, to end this. I-I don’t know how much more I can take before I do it myself.”

Surprisingly, it wasn’t me who moved to soothe her, but Reed. He gently walked over to us and places his paws on Cam’s back. “Shh…” he whispered softly, starting to knead her shoulders. “Relax. It might seem daunting right now. It might seem like you won’t make it through… but you will. It’ll all be over soon… and your hero could be on his way right now. Keep hope, Cam. It’s one of the things about you that I truly admire.”

“I’m trying…” she said. “Guess I’ll try a little more, eh?”

“That’s the spirit,” he whispered, continuing to knead her shoulders. Slowly, even more tension left her, leaving her more and more relaxed.

“Since when are you a therapist?” I asked.

“I’m not,” Reed whispered, leaning close to my ear as if he were telling me a secret. “I’m just using what Cypress taught me. He would do this whenever I got hysterical as a pup, which happened quite often. He’d tell me the things I wanted to hear, while at the same time not lying. He also rubbed my shoulders like what I’m doing to Cam.”

“It seems to work,” I said.

“Cypress has a way with people,” Reed said, a hint of bragging in his voice. “Of course it does.”

“I don’t doubt tha-”

“Is it getting hotter in here?” Tranquility asked, her ears slowly folding back against her head. “Not figuratively, I mean literally.”

“I don’t thi…” I said, trailing off. It was subtle, not noticeable unless you were looking for it, but the temperature was rising.

Cam noticed it too. “Fall,” she whispered, “let me go.” I did, and she walked to the center of our group, standing next to her box. “Get close to me,” she instructed. “I don’t know what’s going on.”

We did, and for a few moments, it was silent, and it seemed like nothing was going to happen. Then, something else became apparent.

“The horizon is glowing,” Tranquility observed, her voice tinted with fear.

“That it is,” I confirmed.

“It’s glowing orange,” Cam added. “And it’s still getting hotter!” I’m sure she was going to say something else, but in the next instant, the horizon exploded.

A wave of blindingly bright yellow fire burst over the horizon, accompanied by a roar that sounded like a thousand tornadoes rushing towards us. It moved at a blindingly fast pace, the miles separating us from it vanishing at an alarming rate. The temperature skyrocketed, and I felt my coat start to smoke. Tranquility screamed, my blood ran cold, and Cam slashed through the air, creating a rift that sucked us away from the advancing wall of flaming death.

The rift dropped us on a floating island, made of a pristine white stone-like material. The surface of it was completely smooth, smooth enough that I almost couldn’t walk on it without slipping. Surrounding us were more islands similar to ours, with colors looking like something straight out of a color-inverted photograph. Even the sky shared that ghostly color scheme. We appeared to be the only things that had normal coloration.

To be completely honest, it was a bit stunning, and in its own way, beautiful.

I was brought out of my little reverie by the sound of strained, crazed laugh. It was the laugh of someone who was at the limit of what they could take, someone who was on their last stand.

“O-of course it’s thermite!” Cam exclaimed through her mirth. “W-why wouldn’t it be? I mean, the universe is out to kill us a-already, so why not do it with something I a-actually like?” Her laughter rose to a fever pitch, and she collapsed onto the ground. “It’s funny b-because it SUCKS!” she screamed, her laughter giving way to tears.

I walked over to her and scooped her up, rocking her gently as she cried her feelings out. Poor girl, I thought softly, closing my eyes. In truth, I was feeling much the same way. Everything was piling up, pushing me down, and if it pushed much harder, I was going to break. I couldn’t show it, though. I needed to help Cam.

As she sniffled and cried, another thought popped into my head. What about Tranquility? If this was affecting Cam this badly, I couldn’t even imagine what it was doing to her, with her fear of fire and everything that came with it. I looked around until I caught her eye. “Tranquility?” I asked. “Are you okay?”

“I’m trying not to think,” she replied, her voice completely devoid of any emotions. “Thinking will lead me to a pit that I won’t be able to get out of. I’ve been feeling worse and worse ever since we left Symphony, and I think it has to do with me thinking about it too much. If I thought about the last dimension too, I think I’d crack. It’s too much… everything is too much.” She let out a soft sigh and sunk to the ground. “I can’t deal with it right now. I’m gonna sleep… and hopefully, when I wake up, this will all have been a dream.”

“Sleep well,” I whispered. “I hope the same thing.”

She nodded and closed her eyes. “If I fall off the island, catch me,” she mumbled.

“But my wings are broken,” I said. “I can’t fly.”

A small grimace crossed her face, sending a stabbing pain into my heart. “Oh,” she said softly. A second later, her breathing evened out, and she fell asleep.

A little after that, Cam fell asleep in my arms, having cried her way into the dream world. I set her next to Tranquility, draping one of her wings over her, and went back to where I was before. Reed and I made small talk for a while, our conversation touching on many trivial things, which led to me learning that we jumped into a dimension called Skymix, before the topic of sleep came up. Since the Mages were still a threat, and they could find us at any moment, we agreed that somebody had to stay awake, to keep watch for them. It struck me as a bit odd that Reed would agree with me on that, but I didn’t have the mental fortitude to question it at that moment.

I volunteered to stay awake, although I wasn’t sure why. It felt like something I should do, I suppose. Reed agreed and curled up a little ways away from the other two, saying that he would stay up next time, to let me sleep. He then slipped into slumber…

And I was left alone.

Without any distractions, my sleep-deprived mind began to wander. It took a journey across many topics, causing fear, happiness, and sadness. Eventually, though, it settled on one thing: Tranquility.

It may have been my lack of rest, but I felt a sudden spike of courage. Thoughts of how we had drifted apart over the past few days filled my mind. Memories of the glares directed my way surfaced, along with recollections of the hurt and confusion that had plagued me. To hay with it! I thought. We’re not going to get anything fixed if we let this stew. We need to talk it out. With that thought in mind, I confidently strode over to Tranquility’s sleeping form.

I sat down next to her and reached out, poking her back. “Hey,” I said softly. “Wake up. I want to fix this.” She gave no response, appearing to have slept through it. “Come on,” I mumbled, poking her a little harder. “Don’t be like that…” But even as I increased the force of my prodding, she didn’t react.

“Tranquility…” I said, feeling my heart start to ache. “I know that I hurt you.” Getting up, I started to pace around to her front. “I’m not sure why, but I know that I did. I want to fix that… I want to make things the way they were before. So please,” I said, sitting down in front of her head. “Let’s just ta-”

I broke off in shock. It was all that I could do. For the first time since I had walked over, I noticed some things I hadn’t before, and my body filled with paralyzing fear.

Her hooves were twitching violently, the spasms spreading up her legs and nearly reaching her body. It looked like she was being electrocuted. This wasn’t a simple dream twitch. No, it certainly wasn’t. It was a sign that her body was locked in war.

The white patches in her wings had turned a sickly, pale green. The veins were a darker shade, showing that something was amiss.

But the worst part was her eyes. Oh Celestia, her eyes…

They had slid open. The left one had a green tint to it, the yellow orb taking on a lime green color. The right one looked like it had burst a blood vessel in it, but instead of being filled with red, a dark, sickly green had spread over the eye.

But those were all trivial when compared to her dead, lifeless stare.

Author's Note

Cliffhanger!
That is all.
~Pyrepinna

Chapter 20: Hero

I let out a horrified shriek, falling onto my rump and scooting away from her, my heart pounding and my breath shortening to short, panicked gasps. A pounding rose up in my head, each throb bringing a burst of heart-stopping panic. I didn’t know what was going on, but I did know something was seriously wrong, and that made the unknown absolutely terrifying.

If I didn’t know what the problem was, I couldn’t fix it. When the problem looked like it could kill the most important pony in my life…

I’d say I had a reason to be scared out of my mind.

The pounding in my head intensified to the point where it was painful, the terror and hysteria that came with it overwhelming me. The world started spinning, and I dropped to the ground, my throat closing up. My breaths turned into choked gasps, and I started to get light-headed. My alarm skyrocketed, the choking sensation sending instinctual bolts of panic running through my nerves-

And then Reed was there, talking in firm, reassuring tones. I couldn’t understand him, my panic having distorted any outside input, but his presence alone seemed to calm me slightly. He placed a paw on my chest and started to rhythmically press on my chest, pressure being applied and released at an interval of three seconds. It took a few seconds to realize what he was telling me to do, but I did figure it out. Breathe in… breathe out… breathe in… I did, and after a few seconds, my airways opened up enough to let me get a deep breath. A few seconds after that, I started to be able to hear him again.

“... it… keep going… keep breathing,” he said firmly. I nodded and did as he said, feeling more and more of my control return. With that, though, came something else.

Every second I waste is a second that Tranquility gets worse! I screamed mentally.

I got my hooves under me and scrambled to stand up, slipping on the smooth ground. Eventually, though, I got up, swaying drunkenly. Cam was staring at me in mild shock, and Reed with concern, and Tranquility was still on the ground, spasming.

“Jeez!” Reed exclaimed. “Try to calm yourself! I don’t want you having another panic attack-”

“N-no!” I choked out, my throat sending out spikes of pain. “T-Tranqui-” My voice gave out, and I broke out into a coughing fit, falling to the floor as another spike of panic tore through me. When the coughing subsided, I started taking deep breaths again, trying to get into a speaking state. Reed started to run his paw through my mane, trying to calm me down.

“Don’t rush it,” he said soothingly. “Let it come naturall-”

“Oh CRAP!” Cam screamed, causing Reed to jump. I scrambled to my hooves again just in time to see her sprint towards her box and away from Tranquility, the abnormally pale color of her face jumping out like a speck of snow in a clear summer day. She started to frantically rummage through it. “No. No no no nononononononoNO!”

“What’s happening?!” Reed yelled, his ears turning backwards.

“I don’t know, but Tranquility’s in a REAL bad state!” she yelled. Reed’s face went pale as well as she turned her full attention back to the box. “I’ve gotta wake her up. I need something powerful… where is my dang concentrated mint?!”

“I-It’s not gonna w-work!” I yelled, my voice thankfully not breaking. “I-I tried to wake her up! She’s out cold! You h-have to give her something to HELP her!” I screamed, tears starting to run down my face.

“I have to get her awake first!” Cam yelled. “I need more information!”

“No you don’t!” I bellowed, my voice getting clearer. “She’s in serious trouble! Give her something, anything! Flood her with painkillers, antibacterals, antitoxins, anything you can! I DON’T WANT HER TO DIE!”

“Anything I give her right now could harm her as much as help her!” Cam screamed. “I need to know what I’m dealing with-”

“SHE’S MY BEST FRIEND!” I screamed as loudly as I could. “I’VE KNOWN HER ALL MY LIFE, AND NOW I THINK I’M LOSING HER! EVERY SECOND WASTED IS A SECOND SHE GETS CLOSER TO THE AFTERLIFE! YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING, ANYTHI-”

“STOP IT!”

The shout didn’t come from Cam or I. It came from Reed, and it was filled with so much commanding authority that it broke my tirade off without so much as an extra syllable to spare. We both turned towards him, and to my surprise, I could see tears forming in his eyes.

“Fall’s right,” he said softly. “She’s not going to wake up, no matter what you try.” A spike of pain shot through my heart, causing me to gasp aloud. “You’re not going to get the information that you need, Cam, and besides, none of what you have is going to work.”

“H-how do you know?” she whispered viciously.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Because I know what this is,” he whispered. “I’ve seen it before. I know how it works. It’s different than anything you’ve ever encountered before in your lives.” He fixed both of us with a stare. “And I know how to cure it.”

A rush of different emotions filled me. There was relief, shock, hope, and suspicion, all mixed into one stimulating cocktail. I didn’t know what to say, but in the end, Cam said it for me.

“Explain,” she whispered. “Now.”

“O-okay,” Reed said shakily. “I will. Tranquility got this condition when she was bitten by that plant back in the Sentient Vines. The green toxin that drips from their fangs was put directly into her bloodstream, starting this whole process. Cam, you did the worst possible thing by sealing the wound with your healing balm.”

“Why?” she asked defensively.

“Because of the method in which the venom kills its victim,” he answered. “It slowly converts the blood surrounding it into more of the toxin, which transforms more of the blood, and so on. It’s part of why I wanted her to calm down so badly in the Great Freeze. Her increased heart rate lead to the spread of the venom.” He let out a soft laugh. “The method is actually a genius maneuver. The venom contains the plant’s seeds, so when the victim dies, its offspring have a fresh source of food to grow off of.” My blood ran cold. “Sealing the wound is bad because it locks the poison in the bloodstream, letting it do its job uninterrupted. But I know how to fix it. Ash had the same thing happen to him a few years ago. But I need two things.

“I need your trust, and I need my magic.”

Time seemed to slow to a crawl around us as the full implications of that request hit us. It meant that he would be able to escape. It meant that we would be trusting him with one of our lives. But most of all…

It meant that he was trying to join our side. And if we abided by his request, we would be acknowledging and welcoming him as one of our own.

“Why should we give it to you?” Cam asked, her voice a low whisper. “You knew about this. You just admitted that you knew, and you knew from the beginning! You let it spread this much, and now you want to stop it? That seems a little bit suspicious to me, boo!”

“Yeah!” I added. “Why not tell us as soon as she was bitten?”

His looked down in apparent shame, a sigh escaping from his lips. “Because I was still unsure about who I wanted to side with in this whole affair,” he said. “I wasn’t sure, and I didn’t want to make a move that decisive. But as you and Tranquility drifted apart… I saw something.” He raised his head and fixed my eyes with a piercing stare. “I saw care. I saw exactly how much every one of you meant to each other. The way that it hurt the both of you to be apart, the way Cam tried to help fix the rift between you, it all led back to that. And then I realized something.” A small smile appeared on his lips. “You cared about me too. Every act of kindness you three showed me was evidence of that, no matter how small it was. And that meant a lot to me. And then I realized something else, something even more shocking. I was fighting to kill compassion and break up the bonds between you. I was fighting to murder good creatures. I was the bad guy! And that made me think, and I reached a decision.

“Care is not an enemy I want to fight. I want to save Tranquility. I want to stay with you, not as an enemy, but as an ally.

“I want to go rogue. I want to be the hero Cam wishes for. And I will be, if you let me.”

The silence left behind after his speech was so thick, I felt that I could reach out and touch it. It was truly compelling. And reviewing what he had said, I realized the truth of his words.

He meant every one of them.

“Cam, give him back his magic,” I said confidently, hope surging up and piercing through the panic inside of me.

And she did.

In the blink of an eye, she had crossed the distance that separated the two of them and placed her paw on his chest. A shimmering layer of magic became visible around him, and a second later, it burst away from his fur, vanishing.

Almost immediately, his forearms exploded into a blinding golden light. Tranquility’s shaking body was lifted off the ground and levitated into his lap. He let his magic fade and placed two of the toes on his paw on her neck.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“The treatment is fairly simple,” he said. “We just need to get all of the toxin out of her blood. To do that, I’m going to open two small cuts in one of her major arteries so I can access the bloodstream. It hasn’t started destroying tissue yet, so we still have time.”

“I could do that,” Cam mumbled.

“You don’t have the training to maintain telekinesis, an isolation spell, and a sterility spell at the same time,” Reed said. A second later, he gasped and lifted his paw off her neck. “Found one!” Two golden knives extended from his paw, slicing her neck open, and she began to bleed.

Instead of spilling down her fur, though, the blood from the cut closest to her body arched up in a small loop and went back down into the other one, creating a seamless flow of blood. It was a dirty dark green, an unnatural color that made me want to vomit.

Reed closed his eyes, and his paws began to glow brightly once more. At the top of the arch, the liquids began to separate into two separate streams. The first was green, the toxin Reed had told us about. It was diverted into a container of his magic, where it started to collect. The other was bright red, her natural blood. It continued through the loop and re-entered her body.

This process continued for about ten minutes. Even after the green liquid stopped visibly separating from her blood, he kept it up. When I asked about it, he chuckled.

“The circulatory system is huge,” he explained. “I have to get all of this gunk out, from her heart and arteries, all the way down to her capillaries.”

I didn’t know what a capillary was, but I nodded anyway and patiently waited for him to finish.

Eventually, Reed lowered his paw onto her neck again. A small glow emitted from underneath it, and when he lifted it off her neck, the incisions were nowhere to be seen. He sat back and wiped his brow. “Wow, that’s taxing,” he said. He then levitated the pool of green venom over the edge of the island and let it fall. “I’ve put a spell designed to boost blood production on her. It’ll help compensate for the amount of blood she lost. When she wakes up, it’ll deactivate.”

I nodded and strode over to him. Before he could say anything, I tackled him in a tight hug, tears starting to flow from my eyes once more. “T-thank you,” I whispered. “Thank y-you so m-much…”

“You’re welcome,” he said, a smile gracing his mouth.

“Hey Reed,” Cam said, a grin crossing her features as well.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Welcome to the group.”

After that, all we could do was wait. Reed spent some time on the edge of the island, testing out his magic to get used to it again, while Cam and I sat right next to Tranquility’s limp form. The minutes flew by in silence, none of us wanting to say anything…

And then Tranquility’s eyelids twitched.

My heart soared, and her eyes fluttered open. She let out a soft groan and raised her head, blinking a few times. A grimace crossed her face, and gave a soft sigh. “Re ceirho ta airote,” she mumbled, shaking her head.

“Oh thank Celestia!” I yelled, pulling her into a tight hug. I closed my eyes, relief that she was all right sweeping through me.

Then I remembered her instructions, the ones that told me to stay away.

I quickly let her go and saw she was eyeing me with a confused expression. “S-sorry,” I mumbled, standing up. “I-I’ll be over here…” I quickly strode away from her and towards the edge of the island.

I lowered my head, sadness creeping into my heart. I guess it’s not gonna be that way, I thought. It was soul-deadening to realize that Tranquility hadn’t seen me go into hysterics over her. She hadn’t seen me scream at Cam to do anything to save her. Even after I put my heart and life on the line by making the call to free Reed, she still thought I didn’t care about her.

And that hurt deep inside.

I heard a conversation start up behind me, but I didn’t pay attention, too consumed in my own sadness to think about doing that. I mulled over that truth for a while, sadness slowly consuming me once more. I tuned out the outside world, feeling tears well up inside of me. Why? I asked mentally, directing it at anyone and anything. I just wanted an answer.

Then I felt a soft, leathery wing drape over my back.

“Hey,” Tranquility said, shakily sitting down next to me.

Shock drove away all other emotions. I didn’t expect for her to actually come talk to me of her own free will. “Hey,” I said dumbly, unable to think of anything else to say.

Silence filled the air around us before she let out a soft sigh. “Cam told me everything,” she said. “You risked everything for me.”

“Not everything,” I said.

“To me, it meant everything,” she said.

“So you know now,” I mumbled. “You realize how much I care about you, even through our fight.”

“Yes… and no,” she said, causing my heart to rise and fall. “I’m still confused… and I think I know why. I need to hear something from your mouth, in your own words. I know it to be true in my head, but my heart doesn’t.”

“Ask anything,” I replied instantly.

“Why didn’t you help me in the Great Freeze?” she whispered.

I paused for a moment before sighing. “I wanted to,” I started. “Believe me, I wanted to. I just didn’t know how I could. My first instinct was to run over and wrap you in a tight hug, to calm you down like I’ve done before… but then I remembered that you had told me to leave you alone. I didn’t know how you would react if I didn’t follow that… and I froze up, trying to reach a decision. Reed stepped in before I could, though.”

“I see,” she said. “Thank you.”

“For what?” I asked.

“For clearing that up,” she said. “It was the only thing keeping me from doing this.” And with that, she pulled me into a bone-crushing embrace, tucking her head beneath my chin. “After today, I realized you never would have hurt me on purpose, or done something like what happened intentionally. I should have realized that long ago.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I wrapped my hooves around her body and rested my head on top of hers. As I did that, the dark clouds of sadness and misery that had been plaguing me vanished, save one. I felt as if a great weight had been lifted off my shoulders… and it was liberating.

I don’t know how long we stayed like that, but I do know that it was one of the best moments of my life. We’d endured hardship, and pulled through it, our bond having grown stronger because of it. I felt a hint of blush rising to my cheeks, and I smiled. Maybe I’ll tell her soon, I thought.

But after all the bliss of rekindling the fire we shared faded, there was one question on my mind. “Tranquility?” I asked. “Why did you get so mad in the first place?”

She tensed up before pulling out of the hug. “Weh pourehasti du quri surai, weh pourehasti du zhaigai,” she said. “I told you what that means, right?”

“Yeah,” I said. “It highlights what not having a home can do, right?”

“Yes,” she confirmed. “That phrase holds so much meaning to me… and I got mad because I felt you didn’t care about that.”

“Not to be rude…” I said. “But why? You were fairly eager to get out of Canterlot, your long-time home…”

“My house in Canterlot was not my home,” she said. “Canterlot ceased to be my home after…” she trailed off, shutting her eyes and grimacing, like she was remembering something painful.

“After what?” I prompted.

“It’s something you don’t know about,” she whispered. “And I’m not sure I’ll ever be comfortable with telling anyone about it. It’s the worst part of my life, and I’ve hidden it down inside me for years. I will say, though… it has to do with these.” She extended her wing.

“Your wing?” I asked.

Shaking her head, she lifted a hoof and pointed to one of the white patches in the leather. “These.”

Confusion filled my mind, and I tilted my head to the side. “Wait… those aren’t natural?” I asked.

“No, they’re not,” she said, drawing in a shuddering breath of air. “I’m sorry… I don’t want to say any more.”

I had questions. I had so many questions… but I took one look at how she was reacting and I let it slide. “Okay,” I whispered, bringing her back into the hug. We stayed like that for a little longer, and before long, I felt the need to say something else. “Thank you,” I whispered.

“For what?” she asked.

“For forgiving me.”

After that, we walked back towards Cam and Reed, side by side. Reed was using his magic to put on a holographic puppet show for Cam, which she appeared to be enjoying immensely. When he saw us, though, he let them fizzle out. “I guess you two kissed and made up?”

“Yeah,” I said. “What now?”

“Now we wait for Ivy,” he said, a scowl crossing his face.

“You don’t have to,” a female voice growled. Four hooded figures swooped in and landed on our island.

Author's Note

A good doggo has appeared!

Truth be told, I finished this yesterday, but was unable to upload it because of sleep. Somehow, I managed to write three-thousand words in one day... I can be determined, especially when I know exactly what I want to say.

So yeah, Reed's good now, Tranquility's better, and she and Fall have made up, bringing this mini-arc to a close! Now, they'll have a better chance against the Mages! I told you guys to bear with me, and look where we are! I know what I'm doing... I think.

Also, did you guys like the fact that her sickness came from those plants? I thought it was a good idea, but I'm not sure how it came across.

Thestral Language Guide

Let me know if there are errors with this in the comments. My keyboard has been dying recently, so there are probably a few.

~Pyrepinna

Chapter 21: Signature

“This isn’t what I expected to see,” Ivy commented, a frown growing on her face. “I expected tears. I expected for Cam to attack us as soon as we appeared. I expected her to be a corpse.” Glaring at Tranquility, she let out a soft growl. “I don’t understand why none of that came true.”

“Honey, you can’t always get what you want,” Cam said, a smirk spreading over her face. “You take what you get and you don’t throw a fit. Didn’t your parents teach you that?”

“Shut your mouth,” she growled, her paws starting to glow dimly as she curled them into fists. “Something’s not right.” Growling once more, she moved her glare to Reed. “Perhaps someone’s getting a little too loose with his tongue…?” she asked, her last word trailing off into another growl.

Reed didn’t answer with words. Instead, he stuck out his paws. A thin wall of shimmering magic interposed itself between the four of us and her. “I’ve gotten a little too loose in more ways than one,” he said, a small smile adorning his face.

A small thrill of excitement ran through me, potent enough to actually make me shiver. Reed was standing up to the other Mages, truly taking our side- and it was absolutely thrilling. Tranquility felt the same way, it seemed, and she pressed up against my side.

Ivy’s eyes widened slightly, the other Mages showing similar reactions of shock, and that excitement vanished, replaced by fear. In she past, they’d showed that they had no qualms against using lethal force against us, and the thought that they might do it again crossed my mind. My ears turned back slightly, and I stepped a little farther away from them, certain a fight was going to break out at any second-

And then Ivy smiled. It was a genuine, warm smile, one of satisfaction and contentedness. That single expression ground my entire train of thought to a stop, confusion flooding through me. Out of all the reactions that she could have given, that was the one I had least expected.

“Ash,” she started, “you owe me fifty slash when we get back to symphony.”

“I don’t believe it,” the aforementioned Mage gasped. “I thought there was no way he’d actually turn against us!”

“But he did, so you’re gonna pay up,” she said smugly.

Ash let out a grumbling sigh. “I’m sorry for not questioning the loyalty of one of our members,” he growled. “For believing in him.”

“Belief only gets you so far in life,” Ivy said. “That’s something I’ve realized.”

“You’re kidding me,” Reed said, breaking his shocked silence. “You bet on whether or not I would break my loyalty to the Alpha?”

“Yep,” Ivy answered, not a shred of remorse in her voice. “And it seems I won. That is, if you’ve actually changed sides and become one of them.”

“I have,” he confirmed. “I’m rogue now. I’d turn in a letter of resignation, but it’s a bit late for that, don’t you think?”

“Yeah,” she said. Then, to my surprise, she sank into a deep, respectful bow. “Thank you, Reed.”

I tilted my head to the side, more confusion running through me. What? I thought. Why isn’t she mad? Why was there a bet in place? What’s going on?

“Thanks for what?” Reed asked suspiciously. He tried to hide it, but he was just as confused about the situation as I was. Nothing was adding up, and it set me on edge.

“For doing exactly what we needed you to do,” she answered, her smile morphing into a sinister grin.

I actually didn’t fully register what she said for a few seconds. It gave more time for the implications to build up force, and when my mind caught up to my ears, they hit me like a speeding cart.

Ivy was suggesting that Reed had been a spy of sorts, conducting a subtle operation to make the Mage’s jobs easier.

I didn’t want to believe it. Ever since we’d captured him, Reed had been growing more increasingly doubtful of his philosophy. A few dimensions back, he’d even said that he was unsure about which side he was on. And just half an hour ago, he’d broken down those barriers between us and saved Tranquility’s life. What Ivy was suggesting… was unthinkable.

But as I thought about it, doubt started to fill my mind. He’d only been with us for a few days, and to change lifelong beliefs on such a short notice…

Cam rounded on him as I shakily stumbled away, Tranquility sticking by my side, small trembled running through her. “Was it all a ruse?!” she growled, lightning starting to run up and down her paws.

“Oh no,” Ivy said, her grin growing bigger. “It isn’t. I suspect that he is well and truly on your side. It just so happens that that is exactly what we need.” She threw her arms up into the air. “It’s amazing! I don’t even have to sow discord between your ranks to know that this whole debacle will be over before the clock hits noon in Paradise!” A small chuckle wormed out of her lips, and her paws glowed. A golden aura lifted off herself and the other three Mages. “We don’t even have to fight you as one! It’s been forever since a joint assignment was this easy!” Her chuckles grew into full-on maniacal laughter as she doubled over, holding her sides. I felt a twinge of fear, and started to move away from her,

“That’s enough of that,” Reed grumbled, twitching his paws. The shield he had created flashed brightly, and the laughter went dead silent, but we could still hear the other Mages whispering to each other. He turned to us. “I don’t know what she’s on about, but don’t let it get you down. I think it’s a bluff, to try to undermine our stability.” At that, Ivy actually fell over, her cackling appearing to overwhelm her sense of balance. Reed grimaced, and the barrier flashed again. “You don’t need to hear this... “ he mumbled, seemingly addressing her, before turning back to us. “But we need to talk. This is going to end in a fight. That, I know. When it begins, Cam needs to cover the three of you in her strongest shield possible.”

“Come on!” she yelled. “We just teamed up. We should take them together! I’ve been able to hold them off before-”

“No,” Reed said, his voice carrying a finality that broke her off without a single noise of protest, similar to how he’d broken up our shouting match earlier, except even more intense. “I’m not letting you join in on this. I’m going to be blunt- the only reason that you were able to hold them off was because they let you. In a real battle, you would’ve been knocked out, dead, or splattered across the floor like a rotten fruit before you could have even blinked.” Cam’s eyes widened in shock. “In this… it’s likely I’m gonna go all out. And if I do, the excess magic flowing off of our attacks might kill you. If that’s the case, you need to hunker down under a shield, protect yourselves until I can find an opportunity to warp us out-”

“Reed?”

That whisper cut through his lecture like a hot knife, bringing his speech to a sudden, abrupt halt. A thousand emotions seemed to cross his face in the blink of an eye, starting with shock, ranging from anger and denial to sadness and hopefulness, and ending on resignation. “Yes, Willow?” he said back, turning towards the Mage.

To my surprise, she had tears in her eyes, displaying exactly how upset she was over this development. “Are you really gonna go to their side?” she asked, her voice surprisingly clear despite her distress.

Reed let out a soft sigh. “Yes,” he answered. “And I’m not sorry.”

That served as a blow to her resolve. “Why?” she asked, a hint of a tremor in her speech.

“Because I want to do the right thing,” Reed said, walking closer to the edge of the shield. “We all do. After spending time with our enemy, seeing how they acted, hearing their cause and actually thinking about it… I realized that fighting them was the wrong thing. You would’ve done the same thing if you were in my position. I know that to be a fact.”

“S-so be it,” she said, her voice actually hitching. “I didn’t expect our friendship to end this way, Reed.”

“It doesn’t have to!” he protested quickly. “All you have to do is respect Cam’s decision to go off on her own and not pursue her anymore. You don’t even have to join our little group- you just have to abstain from the fighting. If you and the others do that… I’ll come back to Paradise.”

The silence in the area became palpable, the world seeming to hold its breath for us. Willow remained quiet for some time, appearing to actually consider the offer… and then Ivy said something, having recovered from her fit of mirth. A visible wince crossed her face, and she sighed. “I can’t…” she mumbled, letting her head fall to her chest.

“I’m so sorry,” Reed said softly.

The two of them remained silent for some time before Willow looked up. “Can I have something from you?” she whispered. “It’s stupid, trivial even…”

“Just ask,” he responded.

“One last hug?”

Reed sighed, dropping his paws and letting the shield he’d created vanish. “Of course,” he answered, stepping towards her. She did the same. They met each other in the middle of the island, stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, and tenderly embraced each other. Willow rested her head on his shoulder, shutting her eyes and sending a few small tears dripping onto his fur. Reed whispered something in her ear, closing his eyes as well… and tightened his hold on her.

I almost missed the dim flash that came from his paws.

They remained like that for a few moments more before Reed pulled away, letting Willow’s motionless form crumple to the ground.

And in the next instant, all Tartarus broke loose.

Cam barely had time to scramble towards us and cover our area in a thick dome of magic before the attacks started flying. Ivy opened by unleashing a roaring torrent of dirty-golden flame, melting the ground the instant it came into contact with it. Reed stuck out his paw, a golden aura shimmering around it, and when the fire hit, it split the wave in two, parting it around his body. It seemed that was only the warm up, though, as Ash and Cypress quickly moved to join the fray.

It became a blur after that, not because of time, but because the air began to distort slightly because of the amount of power being exerted. What I could see, however, was one of the most terrifying things I’d ever witnessed in my life.

They didn’t fight using magic bolts like they had against us. Instead, it seemed like they used a combination of pure, unstructured magic and the world around us, with snake-like tendrils of energy lashing out like whips to strike the islands around us, sometimes breaking and even shattering them. Once, Reed actually used that to his advantage, grabbing the shattered chunks in his magic and hurling them at the others, driving them back.

It also gave some insight into how the Mages worked together. Ash, Ivy, and Cypress were clumsy, with their attacks often smashing into each other, knocking them off course or cancelling each other out. It was the only reason Reed was able to hold his own against them. I’m sure if they had the time to re-cast that mind-linking spell that Reed had told us about, they would be able to crush him, but he didn’t give them the opportunity. It was a startling revelation that I was surprised I actually noticed.

I realized that all later. In the moment, all the chaos surrounding us was absolutely terrifying.

After the first attacks began to fly, I shrieked and fell to the ground, covering my head with my hooves. Cam did the same, starting to sweat from the exertion of maintaining the shield, and Tranquility fell on top of me, wrapping her hooves around me. I rolled over and did the same, and we held each other through the terror, trying to seek some measure of comfort in each other. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, and a terrible, primal fear pervaded my mind. What I was caught in had the potential to kill me, and that hit me like a cannonball.

I didn't want to die so soon after rekindling my friendship with Tranquility.

Eventually, though, the other Mages began to get a feel for each other’s fighting style, and the scales began to tip in their favor. With each new attack, Reed was driven back further, sweat starting to pour down his face. He glanced back at us and threw his paws up into the air, the pads flashing bright gold. The surface of the island warped, and a wall rose up between us and the Mages, causing a lull in battle. Before it could resume, though, Reed lashed a paw out towards us. To my surprise, a whiplike rift seemed to sprout from it. It pierced through our shield and swallowed the three of us, and the strange warping of dimensional travel beset me once more. This time, though, it seemed subdued, more controlled.

We emerged in the middle of a flat, purple-and-white striped area. It seemed to curl up at the horizon, wrapping up and over our heads to come back around behind us, like we were inside of a giant sphere. I felt my hooves touch a carpet-like surface, reminding me of the more expensive homes I’d been to when Tranquility and I were moving.

Reed landed upright, but immediately fell into a sitting position, gasping. “Jeez,” he wheezed, holding his side. “I’ve gotten rusty. Do you see why I didn’t want you in that?”

“Y-yeah,” Cam whispered. “How did you d-do that?”

“Years of training,” he answered.

“It was really cool!” she said, a smile growing across her face. “Teach me, please?”

“If I ca-”

A warping sound echoed through the area, and a black seam opened next to us. Ivy fell out of it, an unconcealed grin on her face. A thrill of fear ran through me, and I scrambled to get behind Tranquility, who spread her wings defensively and bared her teeth.

“Sorry that took so long,” Ivy said cheekily. “I had to get Willow up and moving again. That was a jerk move, by the way. She’s probably crying.”

“She had her chance,” Reed snarled. “One which you ruined. I am not responsible. And I am not dealing with you right now.” Before she could respond, he extended another whiplike rift, swallowing the four of us once more.

This time, we landed in a strange, flashing world, the ground and sky flashing through a host of colors so quickly that it gave me a headache just from looking at it. I shut my eyes, but it didn’t stop my body from feeling the world twist as another rift opened up a second after ours closed.

“Going somewhere?” Ivy asked coyly, emerging from the rift.

Reed let out a startled exclamation and created another portal, sucking us through. When we landed in the next dimension, one that I didn’t fully have the time to look at, it didn’t even take a second for Ivy to catch up with us.

“Reed, this is disappointing,” she said. “You should know running is pointless by now.”

He raised an eyebrow, staring at her for a second, before his ears fell flat against his head and his eyes widened in shock. “No,” he whispered.

“Oh yes,” Ivy responded, a seductive tone in her voice.

Fear started to build in me. I didn’t know what was going on. I had no idea how Ivy was able to find us instantly, and from Reed’s reaction, it wasn’t good. I felt like I should know what was happening, though, like it had slipped my mind.

“What’s happening?!” Cam yelled. Instead of answering immediately, Reed created another rift, dropping us into another dimension, one filled with a flexible, glass-like material.

“She’s got my signature!” he yelled, sending a bolt of shock and realization running through me. “My magic signature! She’s track-” he was cut off as another rift formed next to him. Before Ivy could come out, he created another one, pulling us into a swelteringly hot, orange landscape. “I’ll drop us in a place where we can hide,” he said quickly. “When I do, take my magic away again! It’s the only way-” A black seam opened next to him. “Do it in the next one!” he yelled, creating a rift and pulling us through.

There was something different about this jump, though.

About halfway through, I felt a sudden yank on my side, and the stretching and warping of dimensional travel became borderline painful. The bluish-white patterns that surrounded us took on a reddish tinge, and a spike of primal terror filled my soul. Before I could truly comprehend it, we dropped out of the rift.

The first thing that I noticed was that everything was pitch black, the kind of darkness that could make a pony go mad. The odd thing was, I could still see everyone else as if the had a spotlight trained on them. It lent the area a surreal, spooky atmosphere, one that sent my heart racing.

We fell for a moment before landing on a dark, hard stone, the impact sending bolts of pain lancing up my legs. A feeling of nausea overtook me, and I gagged, hearing Tranquility do the same. I didn’t vomit, though. When it passed, I stood up straight, feeling a chill sink into my bones.

Cam rushed over to Reed, her paws glowing with magic, but he shook his head. “Wait,” he said. “This isn’t where I was aiming to go.”

“What?” she gasped. “Where are we, then?”

“I don’t know,” he said, furrowing his eyebrows. “I’ve never been here before. Let me check if it’s been discovered.” He closed his eyes, a small shimmer of magic running across them. He was silent for a few seconds.

Then, all the color drained from his face, leaving him looking like a pale-white specter. His eyes shot open, wide with panic, and he scrambled to his feet, starting to furiously slash at the air.

“What is it?!” Cam yelled.

“Help me!” he screamed back. “We HAVE to open a rift, NOW!” The sheer amount of distress and panic in his voice startled me, making me reel back as if I had been physically struck. I’d never heard him sound so horrified. He was usually so calm, and if he had been struck him this deeply, something was seriously wrong.

“Why?!” Cam yelled, sprinting toward him and starting to claw at the air as well. I felt panic start to rise in me, my instincts screaming something was wrong. Suddenly, I felt as if I was being watched.

“HAS’ROU!” Reed screamed, putting more and more effort into his furious slashes. “WE JUMPED INTO HAS’ROU! IF WE DON’T GET OUT NOW, WE NEVER WILL!” With an animalistic roar, he brought both of his arms down, and I felt the sensations that came with dimensional portal descend upon us. “GO! GO NOW!” Tranquility and I scrambled to our hooves and sprinted towards it, while Cam and Reed sped our travel with their magic…

And then an ethereal screeching sound echoed through the dimension. The rift glowed a bright blue, highlighting its jagged shape… and closed, shrinking down to a sliver of light before vanishing altogether. A spike of terror raced through me, and I slid to a halt, feeling despair sink into my gut.

“But where’s the fun for me in letting you go?”

Instinctual fear spiked in my mind, rooting me to the ground. The grating, buzzing, and unbelievably loud voice somehow touched a chord in my soul, sending paralyzing, heart-stopping terror coursing through me. The others weren’t spared, as Tranquility let out a strangled gasp, Reed yelped, and Cam sprinted towards me with her box in tow, grabbing onto and hugging my leg. But that was only the beginning.

A deafening wet, sliding sound echoed through the area, emanating from behind me. I spun around, my fear compounding, and felt my jaw drop open.

A blood-red eye was staring down at us, streaked with darker blood-vessel like structures. There was no difference between the iris and the white. The pupil was even darker than the vessels, bordering on black, but it seemed to cast a red spotlight on the four of us, and when it looked at me, an urge to curl up and start sobbing from sheer terror descended upon my mind like a dark storm

“After all,” the voice said, a hint of amusement pervading the buzz, “I get visitors so rarely. It wouldn’t be good if they left the party as soon as they showed up. It’d be best if they never left at all!”

Author's Note

Remember Has'rou, the dimension mentioned back in either Chapter 10? Yeah, that wasn't a throwaway detail. I've been getting better at using those.

So yeah, everything went to crap again! Whoopie ding! To be completely honest, I've had this idea since day one, and I'm SO happy I finally get to execute it. Yes, I'm cruel. No, I'm not changing this.

I have a feeling that this isn't gonna go over too well, so I ask you to bear with me once more. I think I know what I'm doing with this development, and I can say that this serves two, yes two purposes.

I look forward to your loving reviews of this decision in the comments section.

~Pyrepinna

By the way, the next chapter might take a little longer to come out. I need to make sure that I do it right.

Chapter 22: Has'rou

I’d brushed hooves with death twice during our journey. Each time I had, it brought a spike of startling clarity to my mind, serving as a reminder of how truly fragile I was. It made me subconsciously realize that I could die at any moment, through someone putting their will towards my end or even just a simple accident. It made me feel hopeless, like there was nothing I could do to prevent my demise, even if I didn’t realize it. It might’ve been a factor in how depressed I’d gotten when Tranquility and I fell out.

For some reason, that subconscious hopelessness became apparent to me as soon as that blood-red eye trained its gaze on me.

It was nothing compared to the sheer feeling of defeat that crushed me at that moment.

I felt as if a million bricks of despair had been dropped onto my shoulders, driving my heart to the ground and squeezing my hope right out of it. For the first time since we’d left Equis, I felt like we just couldn’t continue on, like it would be best to submit and take whatever was thrown at us.

Then, Cam squeaked and hugged my leg tighter.

And resolve filled me.

I didn’t fully understand why, but that little squeak of unadulterated terror filled me with determination. No one was going to hurt us. Nothing was going to harm my friends… or Cam. It occurred to me that I wasn’t exactly sure how to feel about her anymore, but I shoved that to the back of my mind. I stood up a little straighter and stared straight into the eye, a hint of anger blossoming in my mind.

“Actually, I’m fairly sure we made a wrong turn somewhere,” I said confidently. “We weren’t planning on attending your little party, and I’d appreciate it if you let us go on our merry way.”

I don’t know where that confidence came from, but it felt good.

The other reactions were mixed. Cam looked up at me with a mixture of shock and awe, loosening her death grip on my leg. Tranquility stood up a little straighter, seemingly reaching a similar state to what I’d found, and Reed facepalmed, letting out a soft whine. As for the voice…

“That was… different,” it said, the grinding, wet buzz taking on a curious tone.

“W-we are different,” Cam said, pulling away from my leg and standing between us. “We aren’t just gonna fall, or do whatever you want us to.”

“Shut up…” Reed whispered urgently. “Just stop talking!”

“No, it’s fine,” the voice said, amusement creeping into it. “It’ll just take some… adapting. Eventually, I’ll get you to join my little pity party. After all, all the others were just as reluctant as you… and they haven’t left yet!” Light flooded the area around us, and the bottom dropped out of my stomach.

The spectacle that lay before me was one I would never be able to purge from my mind.

There were hundreds of creatures, all arrayed in a grid-like pattern, similar to a statue garden, except that every single one of them was alive and breathing. Each one of them had an expression of unimaginable mental torture twisting their features. They all had tear streaks on their faces, with fresh ones spilling out of their eyes constantly… and the eyes themselves all conveyed a single, terrible message.

They showed pain. Pure, unbelievable pain.

I felt my confidence vanish without a trace, leaving despair in it’s wake. We’re screwed, I thought, feeling my legs start to tremble.

“They’re alive,” Reed whispered, horrified. “Every single one of them… they’ve been kept alive.” He took a hesitant step forward. “The Warriors… I can see them-” his voice caught in his throat, and he pointed straight ahead. “Jasmine!”

Following his finger, I saw a cloaked Mage. She was lanky and tall, her cloak making her appear bigger than she actually was, but that wasn’t what struck me the most. Her hood covered her eyes, but it didn’t stop her tears from flowing. Her mouth and throat were convulsing in a way that made it extremely apparent she was crying.

“What have you done?” Reed whispered, a tinge of anger in his voice. “What are you?”

“Your host,” the voice answered. “That’s all you need to know.”

“Why would you do this?” he asked, his voice growing stronger.

A low grumble echoed through the area, sounding a bit like laughter. “You four truly are the odd bunch. Inquisitive, suspicious, and reluctant. To answer that question, it’s from my amusement. I find it… intriguing, the way you creatures react to being confronted with your worst memories. It’s quite fascinating, really.”

“So it is memorybreak,” he said, his ears pressing flat against his head. “That’s what happens here.”

“I suppose we should get to the formal induction into my group, yes?” the voice asked, completely ignoring him. ”After all, if one appears odd on the outside… what could they hold within?”

“A-actually,” I stammered, raising a hoof shakily. “I’d prefer if we skipped tha-”

The red eye snapped towards me, locking it’s piercing, malicious gaze with my own. I felt something slip into my mind, a mental probe of sorts, worming its way through my thoughts like a virus. Unbidden, terrible memories began flashing in front of my eyes- an elementary school teacher hitting me, my parents having a bad fight, my many spats with my friends, and, overshadowing it all, the memory of the poor Song disintegrating before my eyes.

I stumbled backwards, blinking frantically, and the probing vanished. Panic and confusion raced through me, sending my heart rate through the roof. What just happened? I thought, starting to shake slightly.

“Interesting… you’ll be a tough case,” the voice murmured.

“What did it do to you?!” Tranquility yelled, running towards me and wrapping me in a hug.

“I d-don’t know,” I stuttered. “M-memories started f-flashing in my mind, b-bad ones…”

“Stay strong!” Reed yelled. “It’s trying to use them against you, to consume you in despair-” He broke off with a yip as the eye turned its attention towards him. He immediately shut his eyes and placed his paws against his temples, a faint shimmer of magic running along them.

“Unusual,” the voice commented, the buzz teeming with fascination. “You’ve made peace with most of your mistakes… but that’s not too much of an obstacle for me. You’ll join the rest… I’ll just enjoy making you submit more than I usually do.”

“Get out of my head,” he growled softly.

“Yeah!” Cam yelled, running up next to him, fear prominent in her voice.

“But of course!” the voice said, switching its gaze to her, causing her to squeak and trip, plowing into Reed’s side. “It comes with a price, though. An eye for an eye, tit for tat, you know? If I leave him alone, you better be willing to let me take a peek at your soul. And what a character you are! Letting your mistakes pile up, all the bad memories being shoved to the back of your mind, all so you can put your little sarcastic mask on? It’ll be all too easy to make you give in.”

Dread settled in my gut, a cold, dark mess that made me feel slightly sick. We don’t stand a chance, I realized. For all we tried to stand up to whatever that thing was, it didn’t seem bothered. In fact, it was toying with us, building on our fears, amplifying them, all for its amusement. We were nothing, and we could do nothing to stop what was coming. A sense of resignation joined the dread, and I clung to Tranquility just a bit tighter.

“Kuclo rel!” Tranquility yelled desperately. “Sul sce teiqua uros fenroilas, teich dae, uros fenroilas! Kuclo, dae hursaik, hursaik genrolas!”

“Strong words,” the voice said, breaking its hold on Cam. She started sniffling and crawled into Reed’s arms, shaking slightly. The eye flicked over to stare at Tranquility, and she went limp against me with a small squeak. “Let’s see if you’re one to talk-” The buzz broke off, and the eye blinked, widening slightly. “What’s this?”

“W-what’s what?” Tranquility asked shakily.

“I didn’t even brush your mind and I felt something,” the voice said. The eye appeared to squint for a few seconds before shooting open again from what appeared to be shock. “Oh-HO!”

“W-what’s it talking about, Tranquility?” I whispered.

“I don’t know,” she answered back.

“Severe emotional trauma at a young age,” the voice began in a whisper-like drawl. “It was neglected and shoved to the back of your mind, not because of fault of your own, but because you were told that it shouldn’t be brought up because it wasn’t important. Since then, it’s only grown worse, with mentions of several triggers compounding and condensing the scarring. The trauma has its fangs deep in your mind, and it’s shown in your recent interactions with your peers.”

“W-what?” Tranquility whispered, her pupils shrinking. I stared at her, begging for an answer as to what was going on, but it never came.

“It all serves to make you the simplest one to break,” the voice finished, glee permeating the buzz. “It’s been forever since I’ve encountered someone like you! I won’t even have to accentuate anything!”

“Thanks, I g-guess?” Tranquility stammered.

“It only seems logical to go after you first.”

My blood ran cold, and Tranquility paled in my grasp. “W-what?” she asked.

“It’s nothing personal,” the voice assured. “I just find that the creatures that are harder to make submit are the most FUN to break. You are going to be the easiest to make snap in your group, by far. And they say you should save the best for last… so you’re gonna have to be first. It’s just logic. You just have to come to terms with it, you filthy little batshit.”

My hooves flew to cover my mouth, my ears folding back and my eyes widening. No! I thought, horrified. The word batshit was a terrible slur towards thestrals, on a scale that most ponies couldn’t even comprehend. Tranquility briefly explained the history of it to me, and it was enough to make me feel insulted by it. It was coined by the gryphons back during the days of the three tribes. Something happened between them and the thestrals, probably a minor territory dispute, and the gryphons tried to commit genocide against them. They started using the term as a way to mock the thestrals before killing them. It stuck, and using that word against a thestral became associated with saying that they didn’t deserve to live. And to have that terrible phrase be used against Tranquility… it was maddening. A cold rage began to build in my gut, and I got to my hooves, glaring at the eye.

Tranquility, though…

She reeled back as if she’d been decked by a Royal Guard, letting out an audible cry of pain and stumbling back, shock in her eyes. My anger vanished, replaced by confusion and concern. Even though the phrase was the worst possible thing that could be said to a thestral, it didn’t seem right that Tranquility would have reacted so strongly. There was something I didn’t know about in play, and that was absolutely unsettling.

“Weh pourehasti du quri surai, weh pourehasti du zhaigai,” the voice buzzed, the eye fixating on her once more. “I do believe I understand why you cling to that phrase so much. I think the appropriate response would be… Peirehas quri ruscero ka scuro? Yes, that seems right.”

“You l-lie,” she hissed, starting to tremble as tears ran down her face.

It was then I realized something, something that made my heart skip a beat.

This creature, this entity, whatever it was, was a master at what it did. It could see into our minds, read through our memories like a picture book, and decide what was best to say to break us. Everything he’d said to Tranquility had a purpose, from calling her a batshit to saying things in her own language, and we could do nothing. We were simply playings to the creature, and that caused a feeling of hopelessness to sink into my soul.

“It does!” Reed yelled frantically, trying to calm Cam down. “It is a lie! Don’t listen to it! Stay strong!”

“I lie, you say?” the voice asked curiously. “What can you do to stop me, call for mama? You KNOW how that ended up the last time you tried that solution…”

Tranquility shook her head, more tears flowing down her face. The trembling in her legs increased to the point where she actually collapsed, crumpling to the ground. I scrambled over to her and pulled her into a tight embrace, desperately trying to help… but it didn’t seem like it did much at all.

“S-stop,” she whispered, shakily covering her ears. “P-please…”

“But where’s the fun in that?” the voice asked. “You’re being awfully resistant towards this… you’re trying to kill my fun. That makes me not like you very much… I might even hate you. What’s to stop me from doing the same thing as the last person that hated you?”

Tranquility froze, her gaze snapping to meet the eye’s. “No,” she whispered. “You wouldn’t. Y-you couldn’t!” A flash of alarm filled me as the voice started to laugh.

“But I can,” it chuckled, taking on a sinister tone. “Because in the end, there’s nothing you can do stop me, just like there was nothing you could do when it happened the first time. And since you doubt my capabilities so much… I think I will. And this time, it’s truly your fault. So watch it, Tranquility, and know that this is because of you!”

And with that, all of us except for Tranquility burst into flame.

It didn’t seem like real flame though. It was a pale, ghostly version of what I’d seen in real life, and didn’t appear to affect anything on us. The worst it did was give off a light tickling sensation, something actually a little pleasant. I could liken it to a poorly constructed illusion spell, which is probably what it actually was.

But it was enough.

Tranquility’s eyes went wide with pure, primal horror and fear. I saw her gaze become slightly glassy, as if she was unconsciously remembering something, and she let out a piercing scream, one filled with all of her terror, shock, and pain. It drew on longer and longer, lowering in intensity as her lungs ran out of air to give, until she finally had to take a breath. She broke down sobbing, her body going limp against me. When I caught a glimpse of her eyes, they had the same tortured, lifeless stare as all of the creatures who had been captured by the monster we faced before.

“NO!” I screamed, pulling her tight against me, shock and disbelief running through my veins. I didn’t want to believe it, but the voice had somehow driven Tranquility into the state it had with all the others, consumed by negative emotions to the point where she was unresponsive. It had done it with only a few pointed sentences, too. If I were a more self-centered pony, I would have been flooded with fear, fear about what would happen to me, but I wasn’t concerned about that. I was scared out of my mind for her. What did she remember?! I thought frantically. What could have done this?! Can it be fixed? PLEASE let it be fixable! More fear began to build. We’re all gonna end up like this. We’ll be worse than dead!

“Too easy,” the voice said nonchalantly. “Now… who was next?” The eye snapped over to Reed and Cam, fixating on the latter of the pair. “I believe it was you-”

“No,” she whispered, pulling out of Reed’s tight embrace. Her face was matted from her tears, but she still stared up defiantly at the eye. “Nobody’s next. We’re getting out of here.” A silence reigned for a few moments, with Reed staring at her, confused.

“Really,” the voice deadpanned.

“Yeah,” Cam said, her voice gaining a little power, and a small smirk appeared on her face. A small burst of hope rose up in me, and I pulled Tranquility’s limp, crying form against me a little tighter. “Because I realized something. We’ve got a way out of here. And that’s your fault, ‘cause you made my mind go in that direction.”

“You bluff,” the voice said dismissively.

“Nah, I don’t think I do,” Cam said. “I’m not gonna become a vegetable today. See ya later!” With that, she flashed out her paws. A powerful golden telekinetic aura surrounded Reed, Tranquility, and I, and before I knew it, I was yanked off my hooves and towards Cam. She jumped into the air, her box sliding underneath her, and fell into it, vanishing. A second later, the three of us followed. As my head passed through the entrance, I heard the voice gasp in surprise.

We fell into a thin corridor between two empty shelves. I never loosened my hold on Tranquility, though, even when we hit the ground.

“What happened to her?!” Cam yelled, running towards us.

“Memorybreak,” Reed whispered, horrified. “True memorybreak. That thing turned her worst experiences against her and used it to crush her. I’ve never seen it before…”

“So this is m-my fault,” Cam whispered, tears building up in her eyes.

“What?” Reed asked, aghast at the very suggestion. “No! Why would it be?”

“B-because I-I didn’t get us out of there fast e-enough!” she wailed, the tears starting to flow. “I-I forgot about this p-place and a-as a result T-tranquility had t-this happen and it’s my f-fault!” She leaned against the shelves and slid to the floor, sobbing.

“Sweetie, no…” Reed said, walking over to her and picking her up. “That’s not true… you’ve had a really rough day. Let’s walk and talk about it, okay?” Cam nodded, not making any move to get out of his grasp. The two of them walked away from Tranquility and I, leaving us alone.

I started to nuzzle her, going over her face, neck and chest, but it didn’t change anything. She still silently cried, staring blankly off into the distance. A feeling of hopelessness started to build within me. Please be fixable! I thought frantically, tightening my hold on her.

“T-tranquility,” I began, my voice a feeble, stuttering whisper. “I-I don’t know what t-that thing did to you. I d-don’t know what it showed you, o-or what most of w-what it said meant… but that d-doesn’t matter. I-I don’t care what it did. I-I just want you back… I just got you b-back, and I don’t want to lose you a-again!” I pulled away, looking into her eyes… and saw nothing. There was no change.

I couldn’t help it. I began to cry, letting my head fall forward. It was just too much. I’d gotten a taste of hope when Reed had saved Tranquility and we’d made up… only to have that hope snatched away when Ivy had chased us through the multiverse, using Reed’s signature to track us down. Then, we’d been dragged into the worst possible place we could’ve ended up, and now we were trapped in a box, with Cam crying her eyes out over something that wasn’t even her fault, Tranquility in an unresponsive, depressed state with me desperately trying to revive her, and Reed trying desperately to hold us all together.

I cried for a long time, letting my tears soak Tranquility’s chest. Eventually, I stopped, a cold, dead feeling settling into my soul. The sound of the world around me seemed to become muted, and the sound of my heartbeat became amplified. I leaned forward onto Tranquility a little more, the cold feeling growing and starting to deaden my other senses.

I was almost too consumed by my sadness to hear it.

“F-fall…”

Author's Note

God, that was annoying to reformat.

Thestral Language Guide

~Pyrepinna

Next chapter... some things get explained.

Prologue

Let me lay out a scenario for you.

Imagine that you live in a world of magic and wonder, song and dance, friendship and love. This is a world where song is an integral part of every person’s lifestyle, where spontaneous musicals sprouted out of nowhere and led to beautiful melodies that would touch someone’s heart and soul.

Then imagine you were tone deaf.

Well, that scenario’s pretty much my life. Hi, I’m Fall Streaks, a weather pegasus in Equestria, and I can’t sing.

Yeah, yeah, get the giggles out now. Telling ponies that here is sorta like telling someone that you’re colorblind. Only a few will go “Oh, that’s cool,” and the rest will pretty much say “OH MY SWEET HOPPIN’ CELESTIA SING SOMETHING RIGHT NOW!” or some version of that.

Here in Equestria, being tone deaf is EXTREMELY rare, to the point where I think that I’m probably the only living pony with this condition right now. And it’s really more of a minor inconvenience than anything. If there’s a song, everyone else around me plugs their ears. It’s rather funny. I stick out like a lush, green tree in the desert when I sing. The difference is that nobody wants to see me and the tree is probably on fire.

Don’t be sad for me, I wasn’t bullied or anything during school. Actually, I was at first, but then I learned I could use my voice as a weapon, and they never bothered me again. Well, a new kid did, but that triggered a song and he ran away screaming. I’ve never laughed harder than I did that day. So I’m fine with it. It gives me a sense of power.

I just wish the bullies didn’t switch to bothering my friend after I sang. She really didn’t deserve that.

But yeah, tone deafness. Whee! It hasn’t affected my life in any way, and I have a well-paying job on the Rockville weather team, enough that with our salaries combined, me and my roommate could afford one of the homes in the Deerwood neighborhood. Oh, and you know that friend I mentioned earlier? She’s my roommate.

I swear to Celestia, if you make a single remark about us sleeping together, I will put my hoof in your face at high velocity.

Her name is Tranquility. She’s a thestral, and she works the night shift.

Don’t you laugh at that. It’s just that she has better night sight than all of us, so she commands the night shift and tells us what to do.

We’ve known each other since we were seven, when she and her foster family (who are AWESOME) moved into our neighborhood in Canterlot. It’s kinda funny. For three years, I had NO idea she was a bat pony, because something happened to her that traumatized her enough that for years she wore enchanted bracelets to make her look like a normal pegasus. She’s never told me exactly what, however. I’m not surprised, though. Back then, before Princess Luna returned, Canterlot was fairly anti-thestral. That was part of the reason she was bullied; she sounded like a thestral. Speaking of which, she has this SUPER hot- cool accent.

You heard nothing, okay? Nothing.

She’s not a normal thestral, either. Most thestrals have dark leather on their wings, she has some bluish white patches, which makes her really easy to see in moonlight. So yeah, she’s awesome. And when she sings…

I’m super jealous of her in that regard. Her accent sounds so, so good when she sings, and her voice is so amazing…

So jealous. And so in awe.

That’s it, awe. Not anything else.

But yeah, that’s the two of us. We’ve been living in Mareland for some time together, almost seven years, after we graduated from high school. We got out of Canterlot as fast as we could, as it wasn’t right for us at all, especially Tranquility. She had stopped wearing her bracelets in her senior year and had her house vandalized. She really seemed shaken up after that, although it was just some paint. So we moved here together and it’s been really nice. A lot of ponies like us, which is better than what we could say for Canterlot.

You probably wonder why I’m telling you this, yes? Well, that’s because of what happened to us. You see, not everything in Mareland was a perfect utopia. Unlike Canterlot, Deerwood is a lot more rural. We lived right next to an expansive forest, where I could take long, relaxing walks. It's really nice, actually. There is wildlife everywhere! I’ve seen foxes before, although they ran away from me when they saw me. It makes me wonder how smart they are. It’s not like I’m gonna hurt it! But they all ran. Except for one, but that happened later.

But, like I said, Canterlot was a lot more urban, so a lot of stuff changed. Unlike Canterlot, Rockville had a LOT of space when it came to housing. We had a backyard, and a two story house. A backyard!

Unlike Canterlot, the ponies were friendly. Unlike Canterlot, there was species diversity.

Unlike Canterlot, it had a strange habit of attracting and creating wild storms.

Powerful wild storms.

For instance, a year after we moved in, a powerful hurricane passed through and dropped a tree on our house, nearly killing me, as it landed right on top of my room. I was fine, but it was really scary. I remember that I woke up at the sound of a loud crash and saw the ceiling had bulged toward me and had cracks running through it. I sprinted out of my room and ran into Tranquility, who hugged me and told me what happened. It was something else. We stayed in the basement after that happened.

A few years after that, a tropical storm flooded an area near our house. I remember seeing our neighbor’s dog swim over their fence. The dog was fine. He was having a lot of fun.

But those were storms that we couldn’t do anything about at all, so we had to wait them out and hope it didn’t get too bad. But the one that started this whole thing wasn’t like that at all.

This one formed and came in before anyone could do anything about it. It was huge, unexpected, and it was bad. Real bad.

Y’know what, let me tell you about it...

Author's Note

And so this story begins! I've had this idea in my head for a while now and only just got around to writing it. I tried before, but it came out to be dark. Really, really dark, and I didn't want that. Sure, there are going to be some darker elements in this story, but I want it to be a little more lighthearted. This'll also be a bit of a challenge, as I myself am not tone-deaf and am working on obtaining perfect pitch. So this is basically my take on how I think it would feel.

So, about the update schedule on this. Basically, there isn't one, as I'm not exactly sure if I'll be able to sit down and write stuff on a schedule. I'm no ShortSkirtsAndExplosions, sadly.

So yeah! Tell me how you feel about this in the comments! Let me know if I made any typos, and I'll fix 'em.

~Pyrepinna

Chapter 3: Cam

“It’s nice to meet you, Cam,” I said as we resumed our walk. I was a little wary of her, naturally, but she appeared to be our only hope at the moment. “I kinda wish it was under a little better circumstances, though.”

“Nah, then I wouldn’t have come out to talk to you,” Cam said, waving a paw. “The Wandering Wolves generally stay away from other races. I’m not normal, though.”

“Is that what you are?” Tranquility asked. “A… Wandering Wolf?”

“Bingo!” Cam shouted cheerfully.

“I’ve never heard of those before,” I muttered, wracking my mind for a memory of that name.

“What did I just say?” Cam replied. “We tend to stay away from other races. I’m fairly sure that nothing knows about us but us. And you guys, of course.”

“Then why did you come out at all?” Tranquility asked. I could tell her wariness was fading and being replaced with curiosity.

“Because screw the rules, that’s why!” Cam yelled happily, startling a few birds from their resting places. “Oh, and also because of the song.”

Tranquility tilted her head to the side in confusion, while I was overtaken by a sudden giggling fit. “Cam, how old are you?” she inquired.

“Seven.”

My mouth dropped open. She was seven?! She acted like a teenager!

“How long do Wandering Wolves live?” Tranquility asked.

“Eh, same as ponies,” Cam said dismissively.

“Do your parents know you’re out here?” Tranquility asked, shocked and a little worried. I was too. There’s no way a seven-year old should be out in the woods alone.

“My parents left me to fend for myself when I was two,” Cam replied carelessly. “I’m on my own out here.” She didn’t notice, but I felt Tranquility flinch when she said that, although I wasn’t sure why.

“That’s… not right,” I said, feeling a little sickened by the prospect. Or that may have just been my head bothering me.

“It’s normal for us,” she said. “I’m still here, ain’t I? What’s the big deal?” Another flinch from Tranquility. I thought it may have had something to do with her status as an orphan. We never really talked about her parents, though.

“I… okay,” I said, still a little confused. Tranquility remained silent.

“Oh!” Cam exclaimed. “I almost forgot! What are your names?”

“Fall Streaks,” I said.

“Tranquility.”

“Nice to meet you guys!” Cam said. We didn’t reply to her, still processing what she’d said. It was a lot of information to take in. It’s not everyday you meet an undiscovered species that can speak Equish and offers out of nowhere to help you. And there was what she said about her parents… it was confusing, to say the least.

The rest of the walk passed in silence, except for Cam softly humming the melody of the song Tranquility sang (of which I had yet to name). Our path led deeper and deeper into the woods, taking us off any game trails and into the rough undergrowth. I heard Tranquility gasp a few times as sticks and branches poked her, sometimes in her wounds. I was protected because I was on her back, but it was still unpleasant to hear.

Cam didn’t seem to be bothered. She would push through anything without a second glance, still humming. At times she’d pause and look around, and then set off again, still humming. It showed exactly how well she knew this area. It was actually rather impressive to me, as I couldn’t even keep track of three turns before I lost how we made it to where we were. That may have been because of my concussion, but it was still much better than I could have done.

“What’s with the- ah! turns?” Tranquility gasped, wincing once more. “The fastest way to get to any place is a straight line!” I admit that I was curious as well about that.

“Okay, do you want to run into dragons?” Cam said. “‘Cause that’s how you run into dragons. And I can’t fly, so this is how we’re doing this.”

“Dragons?” I whispered, but no one heard me. I was TERRIFIED of dragons. I’d never encountered one before, but I had a deep-rooted fear of them. I remember seeing one at a distance, when it burst through the roof of a building in Canterlot, and I think that’s what did it for me. If I had seen a dragon in my state… I would have probably keeled over from the panic.

“Not to mention the quicksand, manticore, and poison joke!”

Okay, those I could deal with.

We continued to walk for some time. I rested my head in Tranquility’s mane and closed my eyes, her scent and the rocking of her walk starting to lull me to sleep. I was about to drift off to an unpleasant slumber when Tranquility suddenly gasped and stopped abruptly, squishing my nose into her neck and jolting me back to a nauseous awareness.

I raised my head with a groan, only to have my jaw drop. There were numerous glowing plants scattered all around us, with glowing motes floating around a few. It lent a soft, warm light to the area. This illuminated an entire grove of other plants, some flowering, others not.

“What is this?” Tranquility gasped.

“Ingredients,” Cam said.

“Huh?” I stuttered.

“I make potions,” Cam said. “It’s sort of a talent for me. I’ve always been able to do it, and I’ve conducted a few productive experiments. I grow all of the ingredients I use here.” She gestured around the grove, smiling. “I’ve been growing things here for four years.” That was really impressive.

“It’s beautiful,” I whispered.

“I kill it all!” she said cheerfully, startling me.

“She’s so cute, and yet she’s as shocking as a lightning bolt,” Tranquility remarked. I had to agree with her. Cam was shaping up to be crazy, or at least a little abnormal. “Just like a young foal,” Tranquility said, smirking. “At least we can assume that she’s being truthful with her age.”

“What?” I said, my own logic derailed. “But foals…”

“I’m the one who grew up in a family with younger siblings,” Tranquility explained. “Trust me, foals are scary. Once, my little brother was playing the game ‘Mousetrap’ and when he trapped the mouse, he shouted ‘I’M MURDERING! I’M MURDERING!’ He was five. Foals are scary.” That statement wasn’t actually too hard to believe. Her foster brother was rather violent to the point of hilarity.

“He sounds pretty great!” Cam said, starting to move through the grove, motioning for us to follow. “Come on, we’re really close to my home! Watch out for the golden flowers, they’re highly venomous, and trust me, you don’t need any more health problems right now.” We continued on, staying well away from the aforementioned plants.

In just a few moments, we made it to her… camp. I’ll call it a camp, because that’s what it looked like to me. It was in a small clearing, surrounded by thick brush and tall trees, effectively hiding it from both the ground and sky. There was a small tent-thing over in the corner, where I assumed she slept, with another, smaller, box-like structure next to it. There was a pile of sticks in the middle of it, and… that was pretty much it. I supposed it was… enough, but it was a little underwhelming.

“Welcome to my house!” Cam said, trotting over to the small box-thing. Tranquility set me down and walked close to the center of the clearing. I immediately lay down and sighed, not wanting to put weight on my battered legs.

Cam let out a squeal. “HEADS!” she shouted, grabbing something in her paw and tossing it behind her. It landed directly on the pile of wood, and almost instantly, it burst into flames. Tranquility, who had made her way over to pile, gasped and bolted to the edge of the clearing next to me, tail between her legs, eyes wide with fear, and ears pressed tightly against her head.

“Tranquility?” I asked, worried.

“I don’t like fire,” she whispered, voice shaking.

I lifted my head and gently nuzzled her chest, trying to provide some modicum of comfort (although I’m not sure exactly how well it worked) as Cam ignored her discomfort and continued to rummage through the box, muttering things like “Nope,” and “Don’t need that” and “Save that for later,” and “I forgot about that! Hehehe…” Eventually, though, she pulled her head out of the box, holding two ceramic jars. “You two, get over here,” she said, waving the jars. “Healing balm. it’ll seal those cuts right up, no scarring at all. I’ve used it many, many times.”

That sounded good to me, so I got up and walked over to her. She smiled and began to spread the balm over me. I started to feel a weird, tingling feeling, as well as the unsettling sensation of my skin regrowing and knitting back together. In the firelight, I got the first good view of Cam. She looked a lot like a golden-blonde wolf cub, with a tuft of hair similar to our manes swept back around her ears. She had a long, foxlike tail that ended in a tuft of white. Her paws appeared to be quite dexterous.

Meanwhile, Tranquility hadn’t moved from her spot, a scowl crossing her face.

“It’s working, Tranquility,” I said. “Come on!”

“I don’t trust healing spells,” she hissed, her wings fluttering.

“It’s a good thing that this isn’t a spell, then,” Cam said. “It’s an all-natural potion that I made myself. Get over here or I’ll throw it at you.” Tranquility didn’t budge, frowning even more. Cam sighed and walked back over to her box, grabbing something. She stuck it in the second ceramic jar and rolled it towards Tranquility. It stopped about a foot away from her.

“Some throw,” Tranquility snarked. A second later, the jar exploded, flinging the balm everywhere and all over her. She shrieked and fell over, eyes wide with panic once more. Cam fell over as well because she was laughing so hard. I just sorta stared at her in shock, the strange feeling of the balm sealing my wounds fading to the back of my mind. Cam is insane, I thought.

“AIROTE!” Tranquility yelled, her shock turning to anger as she got back to her hooves. “Dae ungar ga FEIROTE rou-”

“Mhm, yeah, you’ll thank me later,” Cam said, turning back to me and continuing to apply the balm.

“Paraite dae,” she hissed, sitting down and starting to scrub the balm off her fur, her cat-like eyes brimming with anger. She then launched into a series of startled exclamations at the feeling of the concoction working.

In just a few minutes, all of my wounds had faded, and Tranquility had calmed down enough to start speaking Equish again, although she was still clearly stressed. Cam walked over to her and began to use her paws to clean the balm off her.

“It’s odd, it didn’t fix your ear,” she remarked. “It closed the wound, but the chunk is still missing.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had a permanent reminder of a grievous injury,” Tranquility muttered.

“What?” I said, confused. She’d never mentioned something like that before to me. She didn’t respond to me, instead looking away from me. Whatever happened must’ve been painful (in more than just the physical sense) to her if she didn’t want to talk about it to me. We’d always been very open with each other, talking about secrets freely and trusting each other with most everything.

“Everything else healed nicely, though,” Cam said cheerfully. “That wasn’t so bad, was it? Do you want a sticker and a sucker for your good behavior?”

“Don’t patronize me,” Tranquility responded coldly. “Do you have anything for Fall’s concussion?”

“He’s concussed?” Cam said, a flicker of worry passing over her perpetually cheerful face. “Um… coffee to keep him awake?”

“Airote,” she hissed.

“Coffee?” I questioned curiously.

“How did…” Cam began, before shaking her head. “No, scratch that. How did you guys end up here, in the state you did? Where are you from? Ack, I have so many QUESTIONS!” she yelled, startling me. She then began to push me towards the campfire. “Okay! Let’s all tell campfire stories! You guys first, then me!” She then pushed Tranquility right next to me, ignoring my blush and her obvious fear of the flames.

“What do you need to know?” Tranquility said nervously, leaning away from the fire.

“Did you listen to what I just said?” Cam replied, annoyed. “Explain your situation!” So Tranquility did.

She told Cam everything, and I got another glimpse at exactly how terrified she was. Throughout the story, her voice got more and more strained, until at the part when I got hit with the rock she started crying. I wrapped a wing around her and she continued, but her voice was broken up with cries. It got me to the brink of tears, both at our situation AND at how distressed she was. I tried to provide comfort, but it didn’t do anything, and that bothered me.

Cam wasn’t unaffected either. Throughout the explanation, her face slowly lost its smile, and I saw her eyes become filled with concern and worry, emotions I didn’t expect to see on her given how callous she’d been to us since we’d met her. She slowly scooted around the campfire and hugged Tranquility’s other side. I could tell that she was also tearing up.

Eventually, Tranquility finished her explanation, crying silently. I pulled her into a hug, wrapping her in my wings and letting her cry into my chest. I needed to ask about why her cries were silent, but now wasn’t the time.

“So… you guys have no idea where you are, or how to get back home?” Cam whispered.

“Pretty much,” I said.

“That’s so sad…” she said, before her ears perked up. “You guys are gonna have to go on an adventure to get back home!”

“That’s really not-” I began, before I was cut off.

“An adventure!” she squealed. “That’s so cool!”

“I really don’t think-”

“And you’re gonna see cool things and do cool things and it’ll be great!” Cam said, positively squealing with excitement. She then froze and turned around and stared at me. “And I’m coming with you.”

“What?” I said, shocked. “But you’re just a foal!”

“Pup,” she corrected. “And I know how to handle myself out here, unlike you. And besides,” she said, standing up and beginning to pace around us. “I’ve lived in this area all my life. I have a grove for potion ingredients that I’ve grown, after all. But I’m not supposed to do that,” she said with finality. “I’m a Wandering Wolf. It’s time to put the wandering part to use.”

“While that speech was impressive, isn’t it you who said, and I quote, ‘screw the rules’ earlier?” Tranquility inquired, her sorrow fading.

“Yeah, but I’d like to try this one,” Cam respond.

“I’m not sure-” I began before I was cut off again.

“Even if you say no, I’ll follow you,” Cam said, grinning.

“That’s a bit hard to refuse,” Tranquility replied, smiling softly.

“But everything you did here…” I said weakly.

“I’ll just dry out my stores tomorrow, pack up, and leave,” Cam said. “Simple!”

“Okay,” I responded with a sigh. I wasn’t sure exactly how to feel about this development. On one hoof, we would get a skilled member into the group who could help us through tough situations. That would be amazing for us, and would DEFINITELY help us get back home faster. On the other hoof… Cam was that member. A young pup who didn’t care to be respectful, took delight in being shocking, and wouldn’t take no for an answer. And we still didn’t know much about her, although we did get a little bit of backstory from her little speech.

“I’ll be okay with this… I think,” Tranquility added, clearly unsure about what to do.

“It’s settled then!” Cam said. I nodded sleepily before a huge yawn crossed my face. Cam and Tranquility both noticed.

“Maybe we should sleep,” Tranquility said.

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“I don’t have any spare bedrolls,” Cam said sheepishly.

“That’s fine,” Tranquility replied. “I can sleep on pretty much any flat surface.” I snorted with laughter at that. I’d seen her passed out in the bathtub before, along with the kitchen floor and the banister on our stairs. It was rather impressive.

“Well then,” Cam said. “I guess you guys’ll be fine, then. See you in the morning!” And with that, she ran over to the box, tossed something on the fire that snuffed it out, and ran into her tent, leaving Tranquility and I alone.

The second Cam left, Tranquility’s mood shifted from happy to scared and sad. She leaned on me again. I didn’t do much, but I let her. For a while, we stayed like that, thinking about what was going to happen to us. Even if we had Cam, we were still in danger from monsters and just our simple inexperience in the wild. I began to feel scared for us. I rested my head on Tranquility’s and sighed. She let me, troubled as well. We stayed like that for a little longer.

I slowly lay down, and she followed me, pressing up against my side. “Tranquility?” I whispered. “What are you doing?”

“Some of the things that happened today reminded me of something terrible…” she whispered back. I didn’t pry into it more, it was clear she was VERY troubled by whatever happened. “Can I… sleep by you?” she asked softly, strain evident in her voice. “I need some sort of comfort…”

Instead of answering, I turned on my side and pulled her into an embrace, tucking her head beneath my chin. I blushed, but she couldn’t see it. We drifted off to sleep like this, worried about the future, but comforted in the fact that we had each other to lean on.

Author's Note

Cam is scary. Foals are scary. Everyone is scary. I'm gonna hide now. :fluttershyouch:

So yeah, new chapter! As you can probably see, I'm having WAY too much fun with this. Cam is such a fun character to write! We get a hint of backstory for Tranquility (what secrets can she be hiding?). And also, yeah, yeah, the name Wandering Wolf is stupid, deal. With that out of the way, its time for THE THESTRAL LANGUAGE GUIDE!

“Dae” - You

“Ungar” - Scared

“Ga” - The

“Feirote” - The direct translation for this swear is unavailable, as there is no Equish translation. It refers to the worst afterlife a thestral can have, which is nothing after death.

“Rou” - Out

“Paraite” - A swear referring to the act of sexual intercourse.

In other news, politics happened. Please don't comment on my story about it. Instead, go to my blog post to discuss it.

Buuut yeah! If there's anything I typo'd on, let me know!

-Pyrepinna

Chapter 17: Counselling

I didn’t think it was possible to run out of tears, but I did. As my sorrow consumed and filled my soul, weighing down my shattered heart and spreading over my mind like a foul disease, my eyes ran dry, and I started to sob dryly. It’s all my fault, I thought again. I’m fairly sure that I would have gone down an even darker path if I hadn’t felt a paw on my shoulder.

I jumped and whirled around, a strangled gasp worming it’s way up through my throat. I relaxed slightly, though, when I saw who it was. “Oh, h-hi, Reed,” I mumbled, going limp again. “W-what’s going o-on?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Reed said, lying down next to me. “Cam noticed something was wrong when she saw you over here, unmoving. She sent me to talk to you.”

“Why not come h-herself?” I mumbled callously, causing him to wince, which sent another pang of guilt and shame through me.

“She went over to Tranquility and said something about ‘dude connection,’” he answered, rolling his eyes. “And there was the threat of being hit by a bolt of lightning…”

“I t-think I understand,” I said, a small bubble of mirth rising in me before it was crushed mercilessly by my heart.

“So talk to me,” he said. “If not for your sake, for mine. Electrocution isn’t a pleasant experience.”

Nice to know that you care, I thought viciously before shame rushed through me. He’s just trying to be funny… Here I was, getting an offer for help, and all I could do was take potshots at the offerer. It’s no wonder Tranquility told me what she did. I’m a bad pony, I thought miserably, starting to hyperventilate. Have I been this way my whole life? How many other ponies have I done this to? If I had been in a better state of mind, I would have recognized that I was heading into a downward spiral and cut myself off, but as it was, I didn’t. And each thought cut into me like razor blades, shredding my esteem and emotions. How many have I hurt? Is that why I was bullied in Canterlot? Oh Celestia, how badly did I hurt my FAMILY?

Reed leaned forwards, stuck his paw in front of my muzzle, and made a snapping sound with the toes. The sheer novelty of it shocked me out of my thoughts, and I stared at his paw cross-eyed for a few seconds, speechless. “How did y-you do t-that?” I asked eventually.

“Not important,” he answered, withdrawing his paw. “What is important, however, is whatever’s got you like this. You were going down a dark road there.”

“N-no, really?” I said sarcastically.

“I’ll ask you again: What’s going on?” he inquired, placing a paw back on my shoulder. “You can talk to me.”

I froze up for a moment as a battle rose up in my head, with two sides fighting for dominance. On one hoof, my rational mind said that I should tell him, spill my feelings and take advantage of the offer, let him know exactly what happened. But, on the other one, my instincts were telling me not to. He’s the enemy! they seemed to scream. He’ll use it against you the first chance he gets! Don’t do it, you fool!

I kicked those instincts to the curb. Sometimes, a pony needs to reject their fear and do what’s needed, and this was one of those times.

“It’s a-about T-tranquility,” I started, a pang of guilt stabbing into my gut at the mention of her name.

Reed winced. “Did you tell her about how you felt and get rejected?” he said, apologeticness present in his tone. “Because if so, that sucks.”

“N-no,” I said, looking away from him as sadness rose in me. “N-not exactly, at least…”

“Can you explain that?” he asked.

And I did.

I told him everything, and much like my tears, when it started coming out, it didn’t stop. About halfway through it, my eyes found some hidden reserve of water, and fresh liquid spilled out of my them and over my face, re-soaking my fur. It was about then that Reed started to pat my back as a gesture of reassurance and comfort. It worked… sort of, but at the same time, it made me feel even worse.

Usually, when I worked myself into a state like this or I got depressed, like when my grandmother died, Tranquility was there to comfort me, hold me as I cried, to run a hoof through my mane, to whisper soothing things in my ear. At the moment, I longed for her touch, her embrace, her comforting presence. She was my pillar, and I was hers. But now, my pillar was gone, and Reed’s method of comforting me served as a cruel reminder of that, no matter how unintentional it may have been.

“A-and s-she’s right,” I stuttered, finishing up my explanation. “I-it is my f-fault. If I-I hadn’t been there, y-you three would b-be safe in Symphony. A-and she e-even said that she s-shouldn’t b-blame me, b-but she told me to go a-anyway, s-so I m-must’ve hurt her somehow, a-and that got me thinking b-because I said s-something hurtful t-to you earlier a-and I t-think I might’ve d-done that t-to her and t-then I started to w-wonder how m-many times I’ve d-done that a-and I realized that I-I’m a bad p-pony-”

“Fall,” Reed said, his calm voice cutting through my tirade like a hot knife and grinding it to a halt. “Take a moment to calm down and think, please. You’re just hurting yourself right now.”

I nodded dumbly and closed my eyes, starting to take deep breaths. I hadn’t realized it, but I had started to get light-headed, and I had driven into another downward spiral. As I calmed my body, I started to review what I had said. Reed thought that I was harming myself by thinking those things… but as I went back over each statement, they all shared a common theme.

“It’s all true,” I mumbled.

“What?” Reed asked.

“E-everything that I s-said is true,” I said, reopening my eyes and staring at him. “I-it’s all my f-fault… and I h-hurt my best friend…” I sighed, turning away from him, falling silent once more.

“It’s not,” he said. “At least not from what I’ve seen.”

I didn’t hear him, though, my brain having moved into an even darker place. “It is, though,” I mumbled halfheartedly. “I’ve s-started to think that it m-might’ve been better if I’d d-died in that t-tornado.”

Now normally, I had a fairly decent filter. I was able to catch anything potentially offensive, scary, or threatening before it came out of my mouth. At that moment, it was nowhere to be found, and as a result, whatever popped into my head, I said.

I got to watch the aftermath of that as I saw Reed’s face visibly pale, his pupils shrinking and any trace of a smile melting off his face. Another pang of shame filled my soul. I caused that…

He was silent for some time before he let out a halfhearted chuckle. “A tornado, h-huh?” he said, the hitch in his voice betraying how shaken up he really was. “I don’t think I’ve heard that story. Care to explain?”

“S-sure,” I said. I launched into a brief recap of what had happened on that fateful night, starting with my and Tranquility’s excursion into the woods. I had to stop several times, the memories of my last time with those friends overwhelming me, but I did make it through.

“She d-dove in after m-me,” I said. “That was the l-last thing I-I remember b-before everything went b-black.”

Reed nodded, a smile playing against his face once more. To my confusion, he actually started to chuckle. “W-what’s so funny?” I asked.

After a few more seconds, he stopped laughing. “Sorry,” he said, leaning back into the gas. “I just realized something. This is your first time dealing with something like this as an adult, isn’t it.”

“L-like what?” I said.

“Someone is mad at you for reasons you can’t understand,” Reed explained.

“It’s a g-good deal m-more than that,” I mumbled.

“No, it really isn’t,” Reed said. “You think it’s because you hurt her, and you might have. You think it’s because of what happened in Symphony. You think it’s because you’re a bad pony, but that’s just your mind trying to rationalize her anger.”

“H-how do y-you know?” I asked. “Y-you don’t understand…”

“But I do!” he said.

“H-how?” I inquired, disbelieving.

“Because I understand something you don’t seem to right now,” he said. “Tranquility cares far too much about you to let this ruin your friendship. Fall, she dove into a tornado, something that could have killed her and actually left her permanently scarred, for you. Back when Ivy hit you with that spell, she disregarded her own safety to save your life. Someone doesn’t do that for a person that they don’t really, really like, or even love. Sure, this sucks right now, but just keep in mind that it won’t last forever.”

“B-but…” I stammered. “How can y-you be sure?”

“Because I’ve been in your situation before, with Willow,” he said. “I speak from experience."

“B-but still…”

“If you’re upset about how you think you’re a bad pony, let me stop that thought right in its tracks,” he said. “Who has been nothing but nice to me the whole time I’ve been with your little party? You! Who said that it would be nice if we were on the same side, a comment which made my whole day when I heard it? You! Who stood up for me in D’leuth when Cam put that muzzle on my face! You! Who asked me about the Mages because you didn’t want to lose sight of the fact that they weren’t monsters? You! So don’t give me that ‘bad pony’ crap!” I shrank away from him, something he noticed. He took several deep breaths before continuing. “I’m sorry about that, but I don’t want to see you feeding yourself that poison. We all hurt each other at times, but that doesn’t mean we’re bad.

“Look, I understand that it doesn’t make sense right now,” Reed said, placing a paw on my shoulder. “Heck, I don’t even understand why Tranquility was so mad at you. There's probably something we don't know, but that doesn’t matter. The heart feels what it feels, and when it hurts, it hurts. The heart doesn’t always listen to reason, either, so it might be some time before it realizes that. Just keep in mind that this isn’t gonna last forever, and that she does care about you. Is that okay?”

“It i-is,” I mumbled. “B-but R-reed… I…” I swallowed, closing my eyes. “I-I still am… I-I killed one o-of the songs…” I whispered.

Anything he was preparing to say died in his throat. “Oh…” he mumbled. “Oh… I’m so, so sorry. I don’t think I’d be of much help to you… I haven’t had to do that before. You might want to talk to Cam… she might be able to help. All I can really say is… think about the circumstances. I have a good feeling you wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t done what you did.”

“T-that’s true,” I said. B-but would that be a bad-

“Don’t even think about that,” Reed said, seemingly reading my mind. “Don’t do that to yourself. We want you around…”

“Tranquility d-doesn’t,” I whispered.

“Fall, what I did I tell you earlier?” Reed said, shaking his head softly. I didn’t answer, but I lowered my head.

You said she cares, I thought sadly.

“I take it from your silence that you remember,” Reed said. “Look, I’m not asking for you to try and believe everything I said, because that would probably make you feel worse. I just want you to think about it, understand?”

“Yeah…” I mumbled.

“Good,” he said, standing up. Then, in a surprising move, he wrapped his arms around my waist and picked me up.

“What are you d-doing?” I protested.

“Carrying you back to the others,” Reed answered. “I’m not gonna make you walk when you’re like this.”

“I- okay…” I mumbled, going limp as he started to move.

“Serious question,” he said. “Do you need me to tell Cam to put a protective shield around your chest, throat, and face, so that you don’t harm yourself? What you said about how you thought you should’ve died scared me. I don’t want you hurting yourself.”

“I… maybe,” I answered. “I don’t t-think so…”

“If that changes, let me know,” Reed said, a serious tone in his voice. I didn’t answer, and our conversation drifted away. We continued the walk in silence.

Cam and Tranquility actually had the same idea as us, and were about to get up when we reached them. Reed set me down before they noticed us. He then moved up and tapped Cam’s shoulder. “Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” she responded, sighing slightly.

“What is it, Ree-” Tranquility said, turning around, before breaking off as our eyes met. I could see they were slightly bloodshot, and there were tear tracks running down her face. Guilt flooded through me, and I flinched away from her, looking off into the distance. She did much the same, but I fancied I could see a bit of pain in her eyes.

“Jeez,” Cam said. “Reed, how bad was it on your end?”

“Well-” Reed began, but he was cut off by a warping sound, followed by a strange distortion of gravity. It was a feeling I knew all too well after the past few days: the sensation of a dimensional rift.

It seemed the Mages had found us again.

My suspicion was proven correct when I saw four cloaked figures appear in the air and start to move towards us. One of them put herself in front of the others, pulling down the hood of her cloak and exposing her tight-lipped smile. When she got within ten feet of us, she stopped, the others spreading out around us.

“Well, well, well,” the one in front said. “What do we ha-”

One of Cam’s paws flashed up, and a bolt of lightning blasted out of the pads, ripping through the air towards the Mage. She barely managed to raise a small shield in time. “Wow, just skip the pleasantries, why don’t you. What was that for?” the Mage asked.

“Cut the crap, Ivy,” Cam hissed. “Over the past few hours, I’ve become sufficiently done enough with you that the mere sight of your face made me deem it appropriate to shoot you in the face with lightning.”

“Well, that’s a bit rude, don’t you think?” Ivy asked politely, raising a paw in a condescending gesture. She acted calm, but I could see annoyance in her eyes.

“Of course it is!” Cam confirmed. “The difference between you and me is that I don’t care.” The glowing lines started to spread up and around her body once more, and she raised both of her paws, and a small frown crept onto her face. “You may ask why. At one time, I might have told you that I did it simply to watch your reaction, but that’s not the case anymore. I’ve changed a fair bit. I’ve learned from those around me and from my own mistakes. The reason why I simply cannot find a crap to give about you within me isn’t because I want to watch you squirm, it’s because you deserve it.” Lightning started to run up and down her paws, it’s hissing crackle filling the air. “And let me explain why.

“You’ve torn my life apart and taken Fall and Tranquility with me. Reed once told me that the Mages serve to protect the happiness of the multiverse, to serve all creatures and to make things better for everyone. Well, just look at Tranquility and Fall. Does that look like happiness to you? You’re trying to kill them for being accidentally caught up in this mess. I don’t respect that, so I don’t respect you.”

“You’re one to talk,” Ivy said.

A small smirk appeared on Cam’s face, and one of her paws began to glow. “Yeah, I am,” she said. “I admit I have faults. But the thing is, I don’t have to listen to your rebukes. You have no hold over me.” In one smooth motion, she swept her box to her side, withdrawing a neon-green sphere. At the same time, she slashed through the air, creating a rift. “So suck it. Bye!” And with that, she tossed the sphere at the Mages and pulled us through the portal.

We dropped onto a surface that felt a bit like a feather-pillow. It was a bright yellow color, however, and had a springiness like that of a trampoline. It smelled a bit like a freshly-cut lawn, and I could taste something similar to hay on my tongue. But something else became apparent, something that I noticed when I took a breath.

It was freezing.

Painfully freezing.

Author's Note

I somehow managed to fill two thousand words with a discussion. I have gotten better at writing!

So in this chapter, we learn a bit more about how Fall was affected from this fallout. Tranquility really had this little episode at the worst possible time, didn't she... but we got some bro-talk! Reed's turning out to be a really nice dude!

And Fall's depressed.

I'll say it again, this needs to happen. I'm not sorry for it. Just bear with me.

Let me know if I screwed up grammatically in the comments. I found so many errors when I was reformatting this that I know there's gotta be more.

~Pyrepinna