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Left to right. Up and down. Steadily ahead. Rarity usually wasn’t known for getting sea-sick very easily. But due to her disease, she by default already felt like the ground was made of water. So it was no big surprise that, once they were actually on board, she would not be able to handle her dizziness anymore. The normally white mare gained a green face and was hanging her head over the ship’s railing the whole time. Fluttershy remained closely by her side the whole time, trying to comfort her. What made this all even worse was the fact that due to her nausea, she just couldn’t keep her medicine inside. She would have loved to return to near unconsciousness instead of being fully there for the first time in days, capable of witnessing her pain and sickness. There was nothing they could do for her aside of giving her water and nutrition via injections. The liquid painkiller had already turned out to be too violent for her, only making her nausea even worse. She just had to sit through this part of their journey, hoping it would be over soon.

The others, though, gathered around a table in the middle of the ship. Twilight was studying the map Truesight had given her closely, looking out for obstacles and shortcuts to their destination. She already seemed to have dismissed her recent captivity as just another event during her time as a rebel. Of course, she had intense conversations about the things she had experienced and tried to figure out who that mysterious mare could have been, but none of her friends or allies had even the slightest clue. Having run into a dead end with that mystery, the purple mare decided to focus on their main objective again: Gaining the support of the dragons.

This was probably the most important journey they had been on so far. It would take a large troop of cultist to just bring down one single dragon and that with heavy casualties on their side. A whole army of dragons would be such a force, it deserved to be respected by even the most arrogant of demon. The sheer number of enemy forces would hardly matter anymore against these mighty creatures.

It was pretty clear to all present: Gaining an alliance with the dragons meant winning on The Red Day. Being rejected by them would mean failing and consequentially, dieing. The stakes were incredibly high and so they all were tense and nervous. It especially showed on the purple mare.

“Twilight… Are you okay?” Cadence asked in worry.

“I admit I’m really, really nervous about this,” Twilight replied, rubbing her aching forehead. “We just must get their support. But this is not going to be easy. I wouldn’t even be surprised if they decided to attack us at first.”

“Dragons focus on power. By default, they see ponies as weak, easy prey. But if you let them know that you are strong enough to defend yourself, you will gain their respect,” Celestia explained. “This is one of those situations where you have to show off your abilities in order to be accepted.”

“Is that how you managed to keep dragons away from Equestria?” Fluttershy wanted to know.

“Yes,” Luna spoke in behalf of her sister. “Titles are meaningless to them. Just by saying you are… were a princess, they will not feel any different about you. Dragons are crude beings with crude philosophies.”

“I see. Will keep that in mind,” Twilight assured, then turned her focus up to the steering wheel. “Stay right on course, captain! We should be arriving at the Flaming Islands in three days at this rate!”

“Aye-aye!” the mare controlling the ship replied.

“There is not much else to do until then. We best try to get some rest and take preparations,” Shining Armor suggested.

“Agreed,” Twilight responded. “I’d say, everypony just do whatever you want to do. Make sure you go to bed early. We need to be in good shape in case things go wrong.”

“I’ll just stay up here, watching the ship. Even on sea, you can always get attacked by demons,” Derpy stated.

“Rarity. Do you want to go somewhere else?” Fluttershy asked her friend.

“I’m… ugh... not going anywhere…” the white mare announced.

A few nods followed, then the group dispersed. Twilight decided to go under deck and to her corner in the sleeping quarters. Nopony was around. At this time, they were all on duty. The perfect timing for Twilight to get some much deserved shut-eye. She climbed into her hammock, turned around a few times, let out a couple of yawns and eventually fell asleep.

---

Endless red. No matter where Twilight looked, there was red all around her. She could not even clearly make out what the ground below her was, since she didn’t feel any ground. She was alone and no matter how much she called for her friends, the calls remained unanswered. Faint whispering crept through the air, coming from all directions, yet none at all. Twilight looked around. Nothing was there.

The whispers came closer. Twilight looked around. Nothing was there. She started running, looking for an exit from this place. She couldn’t find one. The whispering became louder, enabling her to understand what it was saying.

“796 years ago, sprouting out of the first red reaper, Lord Malice was born and destroyed the former capital of Equestria.”

It was the voice of Despair, once again stating a fact of the demon war. Twilight stopped running and instead got ready to fight. She had a grim expression on her face, waiting for the demoness to come out of her cover and attack. But nothing happened.

Twilight kept looking around. Nothing was there. The whispering became inaudible again. Her glance rapidly moved around. Finally, she spotted something. Large red eyes, more intense and evil than any she had ever seen before. They did not belong to Despair. The eyes approached her with enormous speed.

Just the fraction of a second before they could reach Twilight, she woke up again. Her own eyes instantly were wide open and she gasped. The purple mare could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Those eyes… They were filled with so much unspeakable hate and evil, it terrified her to the bone. To think that a mare who had fought countless battles and survived waking nightmares much worse than that one got so startled from a set of eyes…

The purple mare soon calmed down again, but even though she tried, she now found it difficult to fall back asleep. After turning around in her hammock for nearly half an hour, she eventually had had enough and got back up again. She decided that, now that she was awake, she might as well go through her things and do some more research. There were a few last samples she hadn’t yet analyzed.

This only occupied her for merely another half hour before she was done. Negative. Still no cure for Rarity. More and more, the Flaming Islands were turning into a last resort. Rarity had been bravely enduring unspeakable agony so far, but nopony knew how much longer she could take it.

Twilight kept roaming through her saddlebags, then let her horn light up to once again levitate up her medicine bottle and consuming one of the pills inside with a floating sphere of water. She placed the bottle back in place and was about to get up when something caught her attention: Incense sticks.

“Right. Roho Maua gave me some of those,” she spoke to herself.

The purple mare instantly found herself reminded of the moment she came to understand that spirits are real and how silly she had been for not having taken Discord serious as a literal spirit of chaos. Twilight began to wonder. Are there spirits everywhere?

Curiosity rose in her and the purple mare decided to try a little experiment. She pulled out the incense sticks and arranged a small improvised altar like that Roho Maua had been praying in front of. Then she sat down and closed her eyes. It had been a while since she last tried to speak to spirits, so she needed some time to remember the chant necessary. Eventually, though, the words came back to her. She lit up the sticks by magic and began to whisper.

This time was significantly different. The spirits trusted their sage, so they were more comfortable with revealing themselves in front of Twilight. But without Roho Maua present, Twilight’s words got no response. But the purple mare had learned to be patient with those immaterial beings. She just kept on whispering, kept on paying. After nearly half an hour, she eventually was heard. A voice was responding to her, repeating her chanting just like the tree spirit in the jungle did. Twilight tried her best to remain calm, just continuing with her chanting and waiting for the voice to come closer.

After a while, she could feel a faint breeze. It was here. Carefully, the purple mare opened her eyes. The smoke of the incense sticks formed the silhouette of a pony-sized being that looked similar to a catfish with very long whiskers. It gently floated in the air, slowly circulating around Twilight. The spirit still seemed very unsure what to think of her. This was probably the very first time a non-zebra used their chantings to talk with it.

Talking to spirits still was a strange experience to Twilight. Once they were there, no words were needed. It was a conversation where silence could say more than a thousand words. The spirit seemed to read Twilight’s intentions, noticed her curiosity and benevolence. The purple mare smiled and she could have sworn that the smile was returned, though it was very hard to tell on the face of a fish. The spirit stopped in front of her face with a few inches of distance, swimming idly in the air. The left whisker reached out and caressed her cheek. Twilight could not feel any touch, but a pleasant warmth and the slight smell of sea water. It seemed to like her.

What happened next confused Twilight. The spirit seemed to inhale and blow itself up like a pufferfish. As it exhaled, it seemed to blow itself, or at least the smoke it was made of, apart. The incense sticks extinguished and the smoke quickly became spread apart so far that it couldn’t be seen anymore. Suddenly, the whole ship tilted forward, causing Twilight to fall over with a surprised yelp.

“Oh no! Did I make it angry? I hope I didn’t just accidentally put the whole ship in danger!” she spoke to herself loudly.

The purple mare jumped back on her hoofs and ran upstairs on deck. The whole crew as well as most of Twilight’s friends seemed just as surprised as she was, holding themselves to any solid object in their reach.

“Miss Sparkle! The seas have shifted! We are being pushed forward with huge speed! I don’t think I have ever seen this ship travel this fast before!” the captain announced.

“Can you handle it? Are we in danger?” Twilight wanted to know.

“No danger here, mam! In fact, we are being driven right through the safe spots between the corals and riffs! The water flow and the wind have turned to our advantage! At this rate, we will be at the Flaming Islands by tomorrow morning!” the captain replied.

“Really? That is amazing!” the purple mare cheered.

“Something tells me that you have something to do with this,” Celestia analyzed, half shouting to be heard in the strong wind.

“Yes, I have been talking to a spirit again! I had no idea this would happen!” Twilight exclaimed back with a half apologizing tone, then turned her attention to Rarity. “Sorry I made this so rough.”

“Actually, I’m fine right now,” her sick friend replied, who now had regained her usual white color. “I don’t know what it is but there is a strange salty herbal aroma in the air. I don’t feel seasick anymore and for the first time in weeks, I can actually breathe fine!”

Twilight smiled happily. The wind blew her mane in front of her face and made it hard for her to see, so she turned around, looking straight ahead. As the ship speeded ahead with easily three times its previous speed, she felt a little excited. This actually felt like an adventure now, approaching the unknown with eager expectations and a smile on the face. She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the same pleasant herbal aroma Rarity had described. Yes. They would succeed. She had friends and not just her close ones. Thousands and thousands were following her, fighting for a better tomorrow. Hope dies last and Twilight’s hopes were far from coming to an end.

---

“Land, ho!” the captain announced the next morning, a few hours after sunrise.

The benevolent weather held throughout the night. This easily made up for the days they had lost in Hollow Shades. Quickly, the whole crew came on deck to have a look at their destination.

There they were. The Flaming Islands. Truly, the name described them accurately. Even though still far away, it was already clear that this was a massive cluster of islands, of which most were created through their own active volcano. These natural chimneys and the huge pillars of smoke coming from them could be seen from very far away already. Twilight could already count about twenty smoking volcanos and as they came closer, they could spot the first dragons circling around them.

“We better pack our things and get ready,” Luna suggested.

The group agreed silently and went back down into the ship, readying their saddlebags. Not even an hour later, the ship stopped at the shores of the closest island. Of course, their presence had already been noticed. There were about fifty dragons sitting on the cliffs and eyeing them up in distrust and confusion. These dragons were not quite as big as the ones Twilight had seen before, so she figured they must still be young.

Memories of the past returned to the purple mare. She once had been disguising as a dragon herself, along with Rainbow Dash and Rarity, in order to watch over Spike on his quest of self-discovery. The adult dragons were all by themselves, but the younger ones seemed to seek each other’s company. Probably a way to protect themselves through strength in numbers. As the crew began to unload the ship, Twilight, Fluttershy and Derpy kept on watching the younger dragons closely. Some seemed to ignore them, digging through the cliffs in search for gemstones to eat. Others were play-fighting with one another. But most remained in position, still watching the ponies, griffons and minotaurs with grim expressions.

“They don’t like us being here,” Fluttershy analyzed.

“Let’s hope they don’t get any weird ideas. Like setting our ship on fire,” Derpy commented.

“We will be fine,” one of the minotaurs responded. “They may not have much respect for ponies, but they do have some for griffons and us.”

“Also, we are a large group,” a griffon added.

Twilight nodded in understanding and stepped down from the ship. The island itself was almost completely made out of a very dark stone, created through cooled down lava. The few other things that could be seen were the occasional mineral or crystal sticking out of the ground. If Twilight hadn’t been raising a baby dragon herself, she would be wondering how they survive without any plants or animals being around. But their natural resistance to fire made it easy for them to live here, while strong volcanic activity constantly brought up new gemstones they could feed on. As the group and their guards started wandering up the cliffs, they could feel the temperature rapidly increasing the further they got away from the shores. No wonder there was barely anything known about dragons. These islands were extremely dangerous for any other species. Rivers and lakes of lava were all around. Fissures jetting out hot steam blocked many of their walking paths. Loose rocks made it difficult for them to find a way around without causing a lethal avalanche.

The dragons, on the other hoof, had absolutely no problems with this environment. They were bathing in the lava pools, using the rivers as water slides. They used the hot steam to clean themselves from the cooling and hardening lava once they climbed back outside. Even when unable to fly, the large rocks falling on them hardly even put a scratch in their thick scale armors. No question, they were perfectly adapted.

The further they went, the more grown up dragons they could spot. Most were flying around or waiting directly at the tip of the vulcanos, apparently hoping to catch some gems as they erupt. Just like the younger ones, the adult dragons eyed them up in suspicion. But they never even got the chance to react to the group. As soon as an adult dragon got distracted by the group or even attempted to approach it, another grown up dragon came launching down from the sky, attacking the other one. Wherever Twilight looked, she could frequently see adult dragons fighting and stealing each others gems. Due to the dense population, there seemed to be intense competition going on. But as much as all this demanded her attention, she could not hold back a frown on her face.

“What’s wrong, Twilight?” Derpy wanted to know.

“None… there are no plants here. No herbs. Nothing…” the purple mare commented.

“Maybe we have better luck on the other islands. This is just the first after all,” Rarity replied.

“For now, let’s try to find a dragon we can actually talk to,” Cadence suggested.

Twilight and the others agreed with short nods, then changed their path. They wanted to get as high up as possible, so they chose to climb on top an inactive volcano. It was a difficult and very steep path, but after half an hour of struggling, they finally ended up on top.

The eyes of the purple mare went wide open. There were easily a hundred islands and over three hundred active volcanoes, spreading as far as she could see. The sky was full of dragons and where the ground wasn’t spitting fire on its own, the roosting dragons did instead. She could not even begin to guess how many there were. Thousands at least. Suddenly, a large blue dragon flew up in front of the group with an angry look on his face.

“Who are you and what are you doing on my island?” it wanted to know with a growl in its voice.

Instantly, the first instinct of most was to back away slightly and feel intimidated. Celestia, Luna and Fluttershy, though, remained unmoved. But the bad history of the yellow mare when it came to dragons could still be seen in her behavior. She may not be able to feel fear, but she was the only one who drew her weapon and got ready to defend herself. Twilight gently tapped her on the shoulder, telling her to sheath her scythe again. They were here for allies, not for fights.

“Hello, mister dragon! You may or may not have heard of us, but we represent the rebellion fighting against the corrupted pony king Blueblood,” Twilight started, a bit intimidated from the angered approach of this massive creature.

“Hm. I haven’t heard of a rebellion. But I did hear about this Blueblood. But that doesn’t explain why you are in my territory!” the dragon answered, still grim in his tone.

“We were looking to talk to the dragons and this was the first island we landed on. We apologize if we intruded,” Luna explained.

“Can you maybe tell us where to find your leader or leaders?” Cadence wondered.

The blue dragon suddenly became quiet. Moments later, a smile grew on his face, followed by a laugh. Without answering the question, he just turned around and flew away.

“Well, that’s not very polite,” Cadence commented.

“At least he doesn’t see us as a threat,” Luna replied.

“I’m sorry… I should keep it together more…” Fluttershy apologized.

“You did nothing wrong. With dangerous creatures like dragons, you can never be too careful,” Twilight spoke, then turned around. “Come on. Maybe this one won’t give us the answers we need, but there are tons of other dragons. One of them just has to be a helpful one.”

---

The little ship sailed from island to island all day, neither getting any information nor being attacked. The last thing Twilight had expected this to turn into was a second wandership like in the Zebra Tribal Lands. Of course she didn’t expect the dragons to be all too cooperative right away, but she at least hoped to get pointers whom to talk to. At the end of the day, she decided to go for a different strategy. Instead of aimlessly sailing around, she wanted to get as deep into dragon territory as possible, finding a place where the adults clustered up and talking to them. Seeing how territorial they were, some doubted such a place would even exist. But near evening, they finally found what Twilight was looking for.

While not exactly a place of meeting, it was a point on a particularly large island which several dragons at once seemed to claim for themselves. The way they looked at each other made it pretty clear for the group that there were invisible boundaries sectioning the individual territories of the dragons. Fortunately for them, the dragons seemed to have come to a common agreement to start outlining their territories from the center. This was where they ultimately chose to go. The one place that was infiltrating the territories of all dragons living on the island, demanding their attention, yet also not crossing any, preventing unneeded provocation.

Twilight’s plan worked out well. Just moments after their arrival on the center spot, three fully grown dragons approached them. Obviously, they did appreciate each other’s presence. Tension filled the air, as if the dragons were just about to pounce. But luckily, their main focus remained on the group.

“You are smart for ponies, dancing right along the borders of our territories,” a green dragon commented.

“I dare to claim myself a quick learner,” Twilight spoke, then bowed down to the dragons individually. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. My friends and I came to ask you for your help.”

“Why does that not surprise me?” a brown dragon spoke out loud with a sinister smile on his face. “Such puny little creatures as you. Of course you want to win the favor of us mighty dragons. Just look at you. Why shouldn’t I just swallow you whole, right here and now?”

Twilight reacted immediately. Her face showed great anger as her eyes turned white and her horn began to glow. This massive brown fire-breathing lizard did not expect to be forcefully slammed to the ground by the magical aura of a creature about a hundred times smaller than it. The dragon’s eyes went wide open while the others observed with an amused grin on their faces.

“I would like to see you try,” Twilight threatened.

“This one actually got strength. Impressive,” an orange dragon commented.

“You little… How dare you humiliate a dragon like this?!” the brown dragon growled.

He forced himself back up, making Twilight lose control over him. The dragon tried to slash the purple mare with his massive claws. But this time, Fluttershy’s distrust towards dragons paid off. She quickly positioned herself in front of Twilight and just as the claw was about to strike them, she swung her scythe and deflected it, even cutting off a claw and causing the dragon to roar shortly in pain.

“Not just this one,” the reaper mare continued. “You would do well to face us with respect.”

“Ha ha! Such strength! Such courage! And spoken with the ferocity of a dragon!” the green dragon commented with a little laugh. “Are you sure you two are not actually of our kind, cursed to be in such embarrassing forms?”

Celestia, Luna and Cadence smiled while Twilight whispered words of approval to Fluttershy for reacting like she did. So far, this went very well! They already gained the respect of the dragons!

“Fine,” the brown dragon spoke while eyeing up his wound, apparently not have expected anything to be able to cut through his scales this easily. “We are listening. What do you itty, bitty, tiny creatures want from us?”

“This world has sunken into a global war. Nearly all regions are being attacked by the cultist ponies and demons of the insane king Blueblood. Our goal is to stop him,” Celestia explained.

“Ah, yes. I heard about that. But before I say anything about that, maybe you would like to specify whom of us you are asking to help you fight this king,” the orange dragon responded.

“Well, as of right now, this request goes to all three of you,” Twilight stated. “I would also like to ask all other dragons to join us.”

“That will take you a long, long time, asking every single dragon on the Flaming Islands,” the green dragon analyzed.

“It would be easier if you could point us to your leader or the group of dragons representing them,” Luna requested.

The dragons looked at each other shortly, then began laughing, just like the one before.

“What’s so funny about that?” Twilight wanted to know.

“This is just so typical for you lesser creatures,” the brown dragon started. “You are too weak to fight for yourselves, hiding behind one of your own to make all the decisions for you. We dragons don’t live in any form of government or rulership. Every dragon is the master of their own territory. Only those strong enough to claim one and protect it against rivals are allowed to keep it.”

“Well maybe you don’t have a leader, but could we ask of you to distribute this request to all other dragons?” Twilight asked.

“Honestly, I don’t see any reason why we should even keep talking. I’m not interested in fighting for something that has nothing to do with me,” the green dragon stated.

“You don’t understand!” Cadence exclaimed. “The war is spreading around the entire world! It is just a matter of time before demons start showing up here, too!”

“So what? This wouldn’t be the first time some stupid creature tried to push us off the throne of the world. Since the beginning of time, the Flaming Islands had always been the home to dragons. Countless empires rose and fell, countless brave warriors tried to conquer us. But none ever succeeded. We are and will always be the mightiest creatures in this world,” the orange dragon stated.

“But you are part of this world! You are completely underestimating the demons! They alone are enough to drown every nation and every government that currently exists in chaos! You can’t just sit here and do nothing!” Shining Armor shouted.

Suddenly, the dragons gained furious expressions. They surrounded the group, causing the minotaurs and griffons to pull out their weapons, as well as Derpy and Fluttershy to get in battle stance. The green dragon slammed his clenched fist to the ground close to the group, causing a small earthquake.

“You need to watch your tongue, pathetic worm! Who do you think you are to dare command us dragons? We have been ruling over the world since the beginning and will be ruling over it until the end. Those demons are nothing! While they may be enough to completely destroy all of you, they are just a joke to us! We will crush them with ease, just like we crushed everything else that dared to challenge us!” he explained sharply.

“But what about this world? Are you really willing to just let them destroy everything aside of the Flaming Islands?” Twilight wondered, now shouting herself.

“Once all this mess is done, we will just fly over and turn them to ash with our mighty flames. There will be plenty of new territory to claim once you little pests are gone. Who knows, maybe in a few thousand years, another worm crawls out of the dirt, grows legs and starts talking.” the brown dragon stated.

“Then all the variety on this world would be lost! Even you will have to realize that this is a horrible fate that needs to be prevented at any cost!” Celestia stated.

“Heh. You ponies are funny, thinking we would care about anything else but our own needs,” the orange dragon spoke, then turned to the green one. “You know, they kind of remind me of Margspakr. That old fool and his sentimentality. Maybe if they are lucky, he will let them move in with him in his cave.”

“Then it would not be the demons killing them, but his endless boring stories!” the green dragon spoke, half laughing.

The group became furious and desperate. The dragons now returned to mocking them. It seemed like there was no way to get their support. But the last words did catch Twilight’s attention.

“Who is this Margspakr?” she wanted to know.

“Pathetic, old and weak. That’s all anyone needs to know of him,” the brown dragon replied shortly.

“Actually, I’m going to tell them all about him. This fool might just be dumb enough to actually support them. Would be fine with me. Another cave I can claim,” the green dragon announced, then refocused Twilight. “He is a bunch of really old bones. One of the oldest still living dragons. The age got his head mushy. He has these really ridiculous thoughts that we should get along with all other creatures of this world and step down from our position as rulers. Only a fool would give up absolute power to make himself even with the creatures squirming in the mud.”

“Where can we find him?” Twilight wondered.

“Oh, he is on the island over there somewhere,” the green dragon stated, pointing into the distance. “He is too old and weak to still keep a territory, so he had to crawl into a cave no one wants. Hasn’t come out in centuries.”

Now, the others as well realized what Twilight was aiming for. Perhaps a dragon this old and wise might know of a way to convince the others to follow their cause.

“Are we done here?” the orange dragon asked with a grumpy tone.

“Well, don’t know what keeps you here still but I’m done,” the brown dragon stated and lifted into the air.

Now, all three dragons flew away, not saying another word to the ponies. This surely went bad, but they at least still got a chance to turn things around.

“So, Margspakr it is then?” Derpy wondered.

“Yes,” Twilight confirmed and turned around. “Let’s go back to the ship and end the day. We will try our luck with this ancient dragon tomorrow.