The Dissonant Infection

"So... what's the plan?"

Rainbow Dash cast an expectant gaze over each of the creatures gathered within the bridge of the Halvmane. The majority of the airship had become engulfed in flames and was now little more than a flaming wreck headed straight for the Celestial Sea. By some miracle, the bridge hadn't yet been consumed, but the acrid black smoke that had filled the halls had begun to seep into the room.

It didn't bother Rainbow, Rarity, or Applejack all that much, but the same couldn't be said for the four prisoners Rarity had freed. The grizzled-looking griffon seemed to hold up okay, as did the quiet zebrican mare save for the slight furrowing of her brow at the unpleasant stench of smoke. The two younger unicorn and pegasus siblings, however, weren't holding up so well.

The twins were both attempting to support each other as they coughed and hacked from the smoke filling their lungs. The two hadn't looked to be in the best health, to begin with, and the sight and sound of them struggling lent a renewed sense of urgency to the situation.

"Anypony? Plan?" Rainbow repeated when no one immediately replied, "we kinda need to be out of here like, yesterday."

"Well, we certainly can't return back the way we came," Rarity replied rather unhelpfully, "and all the emergency escape hatches are back down the hall."

"Thank you for stating the obvious, Rarity," Rainbow groused with a roll of her eyes, "anypony else?"

She looked to the zebra, but the striped mare merely shook her head. Frowning, Rainbow turned to Applejack and the griffon. Applejack didn't say anything, but she was clearly giving it some thought as she looked around the bridge. In contrast, the griffon...

"The windows," the griffon grunted, his voice was deep and just as hardened as his visage. He nodded his head towards the large reinforced panes covering the entire front half of the room, "I can't break 'em as I am now, but I've seen how you freaks operate. I reckon you can bust right through the windows no problem, right?"

Rainbow's eyes narrowed at the insult, but Applejack spoke up before she could make any kind of retort.

"Ignore it, Rainbow," the viral mare said, already making for the nearest window, "we got bigger trees to buck an' not a whole lotta time left."

"Your plan is sound, but I cannot help but point out one glaring flaw," came the deep, serene voice of the zebrican mare, "how are we without wings meant to make our escape? Would you carry us all? Could you? Or perhaps you would have us try our luck surviving the cold, cruel waters of the Celestial Sea far below?"

Her tone was calm and melodious but her words were, much to the surprise of everyone around her, rather biting.

"A-And—" this time it was the pegasus mare that spoke, or rather attempted to speak in between painful coughs, "and... wh-what about all those other... other prisoners? Are we just g-going to leave them to die?"

"Flock 'em, they made their decision," the griffon replied dismissively, "if they want to escape they can do it on their own," then, to the zebra, "and it's not like we have many options here. I can carry the unicorn kid, but you'll have to figure out the rest yourselves."

The pegasus mare frowned and turned to look at her own wings. Thankfully the griffons that captured her and her brother hadn't had the mind to clip her wings when they threw her in the brig. She gave them an experimental flap and with that, she knew that even if she could still fly, she was too weak to carry her brother. It would be a struggle just to carry her own weight.

She turned back to the griffon, who stood next to her and raised an eyebrow expectantly. Her frown deepened with dislike for the callous griffon, but she relented, stepping away so that he could take hold of her brother. The brother, for his part, turned to his sister and opened his mouth to protest, but all that came out was another fit of painful coughs.

"I know, Scutum," the mare murmured, "I don't... I don't like it any more th-than you do... but I can't carry you... not enough s-strength."

The griffon rolled his eyes at the display and reached out for the unicorn, but stopped as Rainbow stepped in to block his way.

"I can carry the kid, big guy," she said, giving the griffon a cool look before turning to the surprised siblings with a confident smirk, "ain't no hooves safer than mine when it comes to flying, you can trust me on that."

Applejack, who'd been sizing up the glass as she waited for everypony else to get their affairs in order, barked out a laugh at that—a laugh Rainbow promptly ignored as she spoke to the twins.

"Well, how about it?" she insisted, "better than old gruff an' gritty over there, right?"

The twins hesitated, then glanced at each other. A silent conversation seemed to take place between the two and the mare finally gave a reluctant nod. Seeing that, the griffon shrugged and began walking over to where Applejack stood.

"Suit yourself," he said as he passed by the three, "less baggage for me if he gets hurt."

"There's no need to fear the waters below," Rarity called out to the zebra in what she hoped was a reassuring tone, "due to our rather... unique circumstances, we—that is, Applejack and I—can also bear those of you who have no wings."

The striped mare let her stolid gaze roam over Rarity for a moment. As Rarity waited for a response, the Halvmane lurched violently and a muffled bang and loud hiss resounded from somewhere deeper within the burning airship. After taking a second to collect herself along with everyone else, the zebra sighed and closed her eyes in acceptance.

"I suppose the boorish one is right. We have little choice or time to debate," she finally replied, "I shall set my misgivings regarding your... unique circumstances aside and leave my safety in your hooves."

"Excellent," Rarity replied with a somewhat strained smile, "we'll do our utmost to see you all to safety."

"Great, now if ya'll are done makin' arrangements, Ah think it's about time we abandoned this here sinkin' ship," Applejack called out, taking a few steps back from the largest windowpane as black tendrils wrapped and hardened around her legs, "Ah'm bustin' us out so hold on!"

What happened next happened all at once.

With one swift motion and a loud cry, Applejack whipped around and kicked out with her hind legs towards the reinforced glass. Unable to hold out against her immense power, the entire pane shattered into countless pebble-like shards. Rainbow Dash was the first to act, snapping up the unicorn stallion and shooting straight for and through the makeshift exit.

The pegasus mare, not having expected the sudden increase in barometric pressure, struggled to press forward toward the open air. The pressure proved to be too great for her weakened state and, to her horror, she stumbled and began tumbling backward toward the bridge entrance. Worse still, the heat within the room had increased dramatically. As she fell backward, she caught a glimpse of the hallway beyond the open door and saw a veritable tidal wave of fire headed straight for the bridge.

She cried out when she felt something snatch at one of her hooves and yank her away from the oncoming blaze. The world spun around her and before she could make sense of what was happening, the oppressive, burning atmosphere was gone and she was outside, coughing and sputtering as she desperately tried to suck fresh air into her lungs.

Before she had any time to take stock of her surroundings or even catch a proper breath, a deafening explosion of sound and superheated air wrecked her senses and sent her tumbling about once again. Somewhere far beyond the ringing in her ears, she could hear someone crying out, though who it was and to whom they were crying out to the battered and weary pegasus mare couldn't say.

Having reached her limit physically and mentally, her consciousness faded long before she would've been able to make out the voice.

Roughly half an hour later, Rarity and the rest of the group landed on the nearby shore of a small island—the island in question being part of a minor archipelago a few dozen miles southeast of the Manehattan Harbor. The Halvmane had already mostly fallen apart by the time its fiery remains hit the water. All that could be seen now from where they stood was a billowing cloud of black smoke reaching up into the sky far above.

The fashionista, who'd shifted into a griffon to make use of the vastly improved sight, frowned as she scanned the sea. Her currently avian eyes roamed over what was left of the ruined, smoking hull in the distance, but no matter how hard she looked, she could see no survivors other than those she'd personally rescued. She sighed after a moment and shifted again.

In a matter of seconds, she'd once again donned her pristine white coat and curly violet mane. A light punch to her shoulder made her jump slightly and she turned to find that Rainbow had approached her at some point and was now eyeing her with a dubious expression.

"Come on, Rares, don't even pretend like you give a single buck about what happened out there," she nodded toward the distant crash site, "you and I... and Applejack, I guess... we all know the deal. No use acting like we're still the same mares we used to be."

Rarity scowled in response but found she didn't have the energy to argue and gave another sigh and turned her tired gaze back to the sea instead as she replied.

"We certainly have changed quite a bit, I can't—nor will I—deny it," she said, "but I still do believe that, in some respects, we are the same mares we used to be... at least I'd like to think so."

"You think so, huh?" Rainbow replied, doubt written all over her face.

"Well, you're still the same cocky braggart you've always been, aren't you?" Rarity pointed out with a small smirk, "and Applejack's just as stubborn as ever."

Rainbow opened her mouth to retort but closed it a second later, instead, adopting a thoughtful frown.

"Okay, I guess I can kind of see where you're going," she conceded before looking Rarity in the eye, "but then how do you explain what happened to Fluttershy? It's like she's a completely different mare."

Rarity scoffed at that.

"She's not different, Rainbow Dash, she's just... stronger," she furrowed her brows in disappointment, "I thought you of all ponies would've seen as much, that at her core, she's still the same Fluttershy you've always known."

"I... w-well... maybe," Rainbow winced and looked away, "I just... I dunno... I know it's not really a problem anymore, thank Celestia, but ever since that whole thing with Svanhild, I've been wondering—"

"Hey."

Rainbow and Rarity turned to see the griffon who'd escaped with them making his way over to them. Neither of the mares could read the look on his face, but judging by how purposeful his stride was, it was clear he wanted to talk.

"Ah," Rarity began uneasily, "Mister... er—"

"Arild," came the griffon's curt reply, "Arild Black Talon."

"Mister Black Talon," Rarity finished, "I'm glad to see you've recovered. And the young pegasus mare? Is she—"

"Still out cold, same as her brother. I left the bumpkin and zebra to keep an eye on 'em."

"Ah," Rarity grimaced, "I see..."

Rainbow rolled her eyes, gave an annoyed sigh, and fully turned to face the incoming griffon.

"Alright, go on, ask," she grumbled, "I know you want to."

"Rainbow—" Rarity hissed, but before she could continue—

"Gladly," Arild replied, stopping a few feet from the two wary mares, "what in the Emperor's name are you? You sure as Tartarus aren't ponies, none of you are. Not you two, nor that country bumpkin," he cocked his head and raised a brow, "you're not changelings either. I've seen changelings. I've seen them transform and what you all do ain't nothing like what they do."

"Well... er... that's..." Rarity paused and cast Rainbow a worried glance.

"Rarity, given everything that just happened, I think it's a bit too late to start hiding things now," Rainbow replied in exasperation as she caught Rarity's look, "not only that, but I'm pretty sure just about everypony in Manehattan saw that airship go down.

"And not only that, but I'm also sure the coward that escaped on his own is telling his superiors about us as we speak," she huffed, "It's only a matter of time before we're all on a watchlist or hunted down like criminals or something, then everypony's gonna know about us. What's one more griffon?"

"I... suppose that's true," Rarity admitted. She gave Rainbow's words another moment of thought and nodded to herself, "and it's not like we don't have ways to hide from our would-be captors or hunters if need be."

"Exactly," Rainbow smirked before giving Arild a cold stare, "and if this guy or any of the others want to rat us out afterward, we have... other options."

To prove her point, Rainbow suddenly snapped out her wings and shifted them into long black-bladed whips. Arild merely glanced at the waving, undulating weapons before returning his slightly irritated but mostly impassive gaze back to Rainbow.

"Put those things away, girl, I'm not ratting anyone out," he gave a slow shake of his head and nodded towards Rarity, "no, this is for my own personal curiosity. I'm not ungrateful for what you did for me, so the least I can give you—and the only thing I'm giving you—in return is my silence. On that, you have my word, for whatever it's worth."

Rainbow Dash frowned but ultimately returned her wings back to their original shape without complaint. It looked like the viral mare was hesitant to trust his word, but Rarity was quicker to give the gruff griffon the benefit of the doubt. The two shared a look, their eyes saying all they wanted or needed to say, and Rainbow eventually shook her head before walking away from Rarity.

"Fine, whatever," she said, stepping past Arild to head deeper into the tropical underbrush where Applejack and the others were, "like I said, it doesn't matter to me one way or the other. Talk his ear off if you want, I'm gonna go check up on AJ."

Rarity watched Rainbow until she disappeared behind the trees before taking a deep breath and returning her attention to Arild.

"Well then," she finally said with enthusiasm she definitely didn't feel, "if I'm going to 'spill the beans' as it were, I suppose I should upturn the whole can and start at the beginning... though I must warn you it's quite a long story."

Arild cracked his neck, stretched out his wings, and sat down before folding his arms and eyeing Rarity with a sort of grim anticipation.

"That's fine with me," he replied simply, "it's not like I've got anywhere to be right now. As far as I'm concerned, we got all the time in the world."