Two-Day Trip to Peaks of Peril

“Good morning, everypony! Sleep well?” Star Angle, the tour guide, stretched out as she asked four tourists.

“I had a good night. Peaks of Peril is so cool! Night Lights and I were counting stars in the sky, and did you know that we saw a meteor shower? And the owls! I heard them hooting all night!” The unicorn foal Autumn Rains replied.

The earth pony foal Night Lights shifted his hooves and said, “Actually, I was just too scared to close my eyes. I felt like there were thousands of eyes staring at me.”

Autumn Rains grimaced, “Pffft, grow some balls, Night Lights. Those are the seashell patterns painted on our tents.”

“I had trouble sleeping. When I woke up early this morning, a black bug jumped out of my mouth! I didn’t notice when it got in there. Eww~~” Autumn Rains’ mother Autumn Wind retched a little.

“We’d better get moving, lest those bugs eat us alive.” Night Lights’ father Night Sky quipped.

“The Kirin Village is not far from here. I believe you will feel energized again when we get there.” Star Angle said.

Everypony packed up and moved on.

The group was traversing through a dense forest. The narrow path was covered with moss, making it slippery to walk on. Flowers scattered across the place like stars in the night sky.

“What’s it like in the Kirin Village?” Autumn Rains asked.

“Many Kirins live there. The locals are known for their hospitality and still follow their traditional ways of life.” Star Angle introduced the place to her, “Their society is matriarchal, and they use items in exchange for other ones instead of bits.”

“Wow! I heard about these from our history class! It’d be awesome if we ponies could live like them.” Autumn Rains said.

“Kirins excel at living in nature. They can talk to animals and are capable of pacifying an enraged manticore. They are also masters in some areas of magic, such as levitation, reverse growth, hypnosis, and so on.”

“Cool.”

“Peaks of Peril is currently the most biodiverse place known in Equestria, with over a hundred thousand species of plants and animals combined. If they were to utilize all of them, their lives would be better.”

“Speaking of animals, are there any interesting creatures?” Autumn Rains asked.

“It’s said that there are lake monsters at the center of the forest, but they are timid creatures with great curiosity. They like to lie on the shore, stretching their necks to see what the pony tourists are doing. Apart from that, we also have timberwolves, manticores, Nirik—”

“What’s Nirik?” Autumn Rains asked.

“In the legends, Nirik is depicted as a violent species surrounded by flames. They love eating ponies.”
“Sounds like somepony made this up to scare little kids.” Autumn snorted.

Star Angle remained silent for a while, eyes on the distance, and then he said, “Oh. Autumn Rains, I forgot to tell you there are also Gu.”

“What is that?”

“This is a kind of bug that only exists in the old tale. According to legend, witches like to collect Gu and feed them. In return, these bugs will lay eggs for them. If the eggs were put in the food and got eaten by some unfortunate ponies, then these vicious bugs would hatch inside their bodies and feast on their internal organs. Eventually, as Gu eats their brain, the victim will lose their consciousness and become a puppet for the witch.”

“Don’t scare our kids!” Autumn Wind scolded.

“Mom, I’m not scared. This story is interesting!” Autumn Rains retorted.

Night Lights stepped on a stone and tripped, nearly falling to the ground.

Night Sky helped him up, “Are you alright, my boy?”

Star Angle led the group through a narrow and dark tunnel, pointing at the bright light in front of them, “The Kirin Village is ahead.”

Beyond the tunnel lay the Kirin Village, which sat atop a flat clearing on the mountaintop. The houses here were neatly arranged, and the kirins were busy farming and weaving, creating a paradise-like scene far removed from the outside world.

A taller Kirin came out to greet the group. She waved her hooves and smiled at them, but did not say a single word.

“This is their leader, Rain Shine. Looks like Kirins are preparing lunch for us.” Star Angle pointed to the wisp of smoke rising from the kitchen chimney.

“I’m surprised the leader meets us in person. Kirins are surely hospitable.” Autumn Wind remarked.

Night Lights whimpered, “This place is not fun at all. It doesn’t have any shops! I wanna drink soda, Dad.”

"Stop messing around! There's no soda for you to drink here!" Night Sky growled.

Star Angle showed the tourists around the village. The houses were all covered with incomprehensible symbols painted in realgar. Night Sky stood before one of the buildings, staring at the symbols and rambling about something.

“Dad, I’m hungry! How about we check what we have for lunch?” Night Lights said.

Everypony swarmed into the kitchen. Inside were three kirins. One was grinding beans with a stone grinder. The other two did not utter a single sound, chopping the dishes on the cutting board. There were some peppers, garlic … and strange bugs?! These creatures were cut in half, their bodies still writhing in pain.

“Sorry, I refuse to eat this.” Night Lights felt nauseous.

“Do you plan to make tofu with the beans? Now? It will take ages to finish!” Autumn Rains said.

“I doubt this will be enough for a whole village to eat! It’s not even enough for us!” Autumn Wind said.

Night Sky felt dizzy after looking at the symbols. He misstepped and stumbled, falling directly into Star Angle. Then the tourist guide collapsed, hitting hard on the sharp corner of the stone grinder.

THUMP.

“OH MY CELESTIA! HIS BODY BROKE IN HALF!”

Star Angle did not bleed, for there were no organs left. Countless black bugs were slowly crawling out of his body.