Luna braced herself and didn't move until the tremors stopped. They'd barely been enough to rattle the table, and the zebras around her had stopped only for a moment before carrying on, suggesting that it was maybe a common thing to occur in Zebrica. Luna wanted to disagree, and so did the others.

"I'm having visions of a mountain in rubble," Nightmare said after a short moment. "Hopefully that's just entirely my imagination."

"Do you want us to fly up and have a look?" Rainbow asked, only to get a shake of the head from Luna.

"We have plenty to do here, and we have no idea if that connects back to Twilight. Hopefully they're all fine, having completed their task."

"Alright, fine, but what else have we got to do? Ember burned their ships, and Autumn is doing whatever it is she's doing, so what else is there?"

"We have a battle coming, and we must be prepared. Trust that our friends are doing their job, Rainbow, even if we haven't known some of them very long."

"That is a lot easier to say than it is to do. Who knows what Autumn's getting up to?"

Autumn bolted upright, her eyes slowly swivelling side to side as she tried to work out just what the hell all that shaking was that woke her up. It only just felt like she'd gotten to sleep as well after all that'd happened the previous night. The sight of those ships burning wasn't something she'd forget in a hurry, as pretty as it was. Anything burning tended to stick with her.

Autumn rolled onto her hooves and stood, hoping to go and find out what was going on. She hadn't even made it out of the tent when Fern Flare entered, her eyes narrowed and her expression cold.

"What did you do?"

"You mean the shaking? How could you blame that on me?"

"Not that. I don't care about that. What I care about is that there are kirin talking. Quite a few of them, and I know it's your fault."

"Really? Awesome!" Autumn pushed past Fern to go outside, hoping to see kirin joyfully expressing themselves with their rediscovered voices. What she got to see was a lot of worried looking kirin wearing furtive expressions as they still failed to talk to each other. "Oh for goodness sake."

"You've gone too far, Autumn, too far! I'm going to have to tell Rain Shine what you did."

"I see no conceivable way in which that could possibly end well for me. Please don't."

"Well what did you expect was going to happen? We all gave up our voices for a reason, and you know that! Why are you forcing us to have them back?"

Autumn stepped back as Fern started to smoke, "You need to calm down. Control it, like we should always have."

Fern's eyebrows caught fire, but that only drew the attention of other kirin, so with a deep breath she managed to rein her anger in. "This is why we didn't talk."

"But that was the wrong thing to do!" Autumn pleaded. "You controlled it right then, and if you can't, go somewhere quiet and vent for a while until you feel better. We can't give up our joy to lose our anger. Rainbow's can't shine if you don't let it rain."

Fern shuddered, her expression growing darker. "You need to excuse me," she said before turning and walking away somewhere else.

"See? That's the right idea! You're doing great!" Autumn smiled after Fern, confident that if she could do it, then the others could as well. Still, none of the other kirin seemed happy about talking in the slightest, so maybe a slight miscalculation had been made on the positives Autumn was sure this would initially bring. She had certainly miscalculated on how much suspicion would immediately fall on her since Rain Shine was walking right towards her.

"I need to talk to you," the tall grey kirin said coldly.

"About what?" Autumn asked, totally failing to remember to keep up her façade of silence.

"About the fact that I can talk to you, and you to me. Come."

Autumn lowered her head, but acquiesced to following Rain Shine to the largest tent in the kirin section of the camp. To her severe discomfort, the leaders of the dozen or so other kirin villages were there, and none of them seemed particularly happy.

"Ooh, I feel really short here," Autumn said awkwardly as all the village leaders stood at least a head taller than her, even when sat down.

"What do you know about the kirin talking?" Rain Shine asked once she'd retaken her place with the other leaders.

"Me? Not a thing. Why do you think I would know?"

"Because you refused to stay silent back home, and in case you forgot, you were exiled for it. Now you not only managed to find us here, but the very next day most of us are talking, and I can't help but feel that you are responsible."

"Hey, I'm as surprised as you all are. Besides, maybe if you'd have been considerate enough to tell me where you were all going, maybe I wouldn't have come looking for you."

"Stop trying to change the subject," one of the other leaders said, a male in shades of orange and brown. "Are you, or are you not responsible for this catastrophe?"

"What will happen if I am?"

"You will be executed for crimes against kirin kind."

"Then no, no I am not." Autumn smiled at the stallion, but it soon wilted under the weight of his accusing stare. "I don't suppose it isn't too late to say sorry, is it?"

"Guards, seize her."

"You will do no such thing," Rain Shine said as two guards by the door took hold of Autumn. "She is one of my kirin, and I shall be the one to decide her punishment."

"Except her crimes are against all kirin."

"That still doesn't mean that you alone get to decide her punishment! I know for a fact that all of you here can currently talk, except Brew Bud who's been imbibing the wine he stole from the yaks since last night, and cannot currently stand up without assistance!"

The kirin in question raised his hoof in a silent cheer, and promptly fell over.

"Why are none of the rest of you lending your voices to this discussion?" Rain Shine continued, "While you, Leaf Fall, are not sentencing her to death, not when the simple cure for us is to walk through the stream of silence again!"

"And what if we do? Would this Autumn Blaze not try again? And again? The only way to stop her is to end her."

"You will do no such thing!" Rain Shine shouted, her voice picking up an otherworldly tone as parts of her caught fire while black swirled around her coat like ink in water.

"Rain Shine, control yourself!"

"You do not rule all the kirin, you smug prick!"

All of the leaders dived for cover as Rain Shine went full nirik and dove for Leaf Fall, who countered it with his own rage. The two niriks fought in the centre of a building inferno that started to consume the tent. The leaders fled, and Autumn was about to follow them when she remembered Brew Bud passed out on the floor, and with magic and considerable effort, dragged him out after her just as the tent caught fire completely. He thanked her by wetting himself.

"You're... welcome?" Autumn stepped away as the spreading puddle threatened to wet her hooves, then turned her full attention to the fight as the tent, or what was left of it, collapsed in flames.

"Autumn."

Autumn winced and turned to face Fern, who was standing right behind her. "In my defence, I had no idea this would happen. In my greater defence, they're not strictly fighting because of me either. I'm just the catalyst for dragging out bigger issues."

Fern looked around Autumn to where Rain Shine and Leaf Fall were viciously kicking and biting each other. "Is that so? Autumn, are you starting to realise what you might've done?"

"I'm started to realise kirin have all the impulse control of children, if that's the same as what you're talking about?"

"It really isn't. You're an idiot, Autumn, you really are."

Autumn sat and pulled her mane down over her eyes with a sigh, "I know."

"What is going on here?"

Both of them looked around to find General Snowbright and a dozen other ponies had run up to investigate the fire. All of them went a little blank as they saw the two niriks still fighting.

"Are they on fire?"

"It's a long story," Autumn said to Snowbright, making him jump sideways with fright.

"Holy shit, you can talk!"

"Most of us can, now. As I said, it's a long story. Ooorrr... I could explain it in song if you want?"

"No thank you."

"Oh come on!"

"I think they're stopping," Fern said as the flames started to die down. A minute later the two leaders staggered out, both of them battered and bleeding, and both of them looking ashamed.

"What is the meaning of this?" Snowbright asked the two of them once they had made their way up to him.

"A mere disagreement," Leaf Fall said, raising his head to appear a bit more confident.

"A mere disagreement? Really? In my experience, mere disagreements don't cause property damage! The entire camp could've been on fire if this spread!"

Rain Shine hung her head, "Apologies, General. We shall endeavour to make sure this does not happen again."

"Good. Now explain something else to me. How are you talking? Could you always do that? Because that would've been really useful before now."

"We have been sabotaged by one of our own who seeks to see us all become the monsters you just witnessed us being," Leaf Fall said to Snowbright. He pointed at Autumn, "That one there did it, to be precise."

Snowbright raised an eyebrow at Autumn as she grinned nervously, "Yeah, she seems real malicious. Seriously though, is this going to become a problem? We're expecting Princess Celestia today, and we can't have half the camp in flames, especially after losing three ships to Luna's damned dragon!"

"It shan't be a problem."

"Glad to hear it." Snowbright cast one final glance over the smouldering remains of the tent, "I would deem it a small favour if you got this mess cleaned up."

The two leaders bowed until Snowbright was gone, although their serene image cracked a little once he was gone. "Where is the damn-fooled kirin that made this happen?" Leaf Fall asked with a calmness that did little to hide his anger.

"Right here," Autumn replied, raising a hoof.

"Your leader, Rain Shine, has... convinced me that your life be spared, but do not mistake that as thinking you are off the hook. Until we decide your punishment you are not to leave this camp. Am I understood?"

"Yessir!"

"Perhaps you can begin with cleaning up this mess," said Rain Shine, pointing to the smouldering ruin. "You can help her, Fern Flare."

"What? What did I do?"

"You brought her in here and lied about her, so I think you did plenty."

"This is all your fault," Fern grumbled as she shovelled ashes into the bucket Autumn was holding.

"So you keep telling me."

"And it doesn't get any less true every time I do. You messed up really bad, and since I keep seeing more and more kirin talking, you're still messing up."

"Really? Huh. Guess they haven't worked out I put it in the water then."

"You did wh-" Fern stopped and sighed, "Forget it. It's too late now, and it's not like we have an abundance of water to replace it all with." Fern poked at the ground with her spade and growled out a sigh, "I really hope that fight between Rain Shine and Leaf Fall showed you how bad this could get."

"Yes, I know, thank you," Autumn said exasperatedly. "I really don't see why it's so hard to not get over the top angry about things. There has to be something we can do to help?"

"No! Absolutely not! I think you've done enough helping already. You're better off keeping your head down before you find it getting removed."

"Uh-huh," Autumn said noncommittally. Truthfully she'd already made a plan, and it involved asking Princess Celestia to intervene with her mother and ask for the kirin cure. Her failure to produce anything would surely be the last straw for many of the kirin here. They'd definitely want to go home after that.

"You already have a plan, don't you?"

"What? No! What gives you that idea?"

"The fact that you're not asking me for one. Or at least not asking me what I think of your idea, because you're afraid I'll rubbish it, or tell Rain Shine, or do something to stop you going through with it. Which I would, by the way, so if you do have a plan, I'm begging you to please not go through with it."

"Well that's fine," Autumn said haughtily, "because I don't have one."

"That's funny, because I can see you're lying."

"See! This is what I missed when we couldn't talk! Just conversations, and laughter, and a bit of friendly ribbing! The silence was torturous!"

"And I see that crushing the hopes and dreams of our entire people is worth getting that back for."

Autumn quietly regarded Fern for a moment, then sat and groaned loudly. "Fine, so maybe I do have an idea, or maybe I don't, but if it makes you feel better I will run any ideas I have past Rain Shine for what she thinks first. Don't haggle me to go any lower than that, because I just won't do it."

"And do you absolutely promise to talk with Rain Shine first?"

Autumn saluted Fern, "Kirin Scouts honour." The best part of all of this was that it worked into her plan even better than not doing it. "I am so clever."

"Excuse me?"

"Whoops! Didn't mean to say that out loud!" Autumn quickly scooped the remaining ashes into her bucket using her magic, then dropped it in the middle of the burnt square left behind from the fire. "I'mgoingtoseeRainShinenow,'kaythanksbye!"

"Autumn!" Fern shouted as Autumn sprinted away. "Autumn! Get back here!" Fern sighed as she was ignored, "I swear, if you do something to make this worse, I'm going to make you eat this bucket of ash. Including the bucket."

The village leaders had relocated themselves to a new tent when Autumn found them, except for Brew Bud who was sleeping outside in a heap. Thankfully Autumn was spared having to go in as Rain Shine walked out.

"I hope you're here because that mess has been cleaned up?" Rain Shine said as she stopped due to Autumn blocking her way.

"Uh, yes, yes it has, but that isn't really why I'm here."

"Then what is it?"

"I was hoping to ask you something, actually. That General Snowbright said that Princess Celestia is coming here today, and you know how she's like the daughter of that Lady Faust character?"

"I am highly aware, yes. What's your point?"

"I was wondering if you could talk to her about what Faust promised you? Maybe if she gave you what she promised, you could all avoid turning into niriks? It certainly wouldn't hurt to ask, would it? I'd certainly feel a lot better about it if you would, as would a lot of other kirin I imagine."

"And why does it concern you? You're the one that made this problem in the first place, and you haven't even told us why?"

Autumn slowly raised her pointed hoof, "You haven't actually asked me until now."

"Then consider this a question."

"Alrighty, well, I was hoping that by getting you all to talk I could show you that we don't have to let our anger control us, and that we don't need a cure from Faust, and that we certainly don't need to go to war to get it. If she was that nice, why didn't she just give us all the cure in the first place? Surely you can't agree with the kirin fighting?"

"I'll admit that I always had my doubts, but the destruction we could spare our forests by ridding ourselves of our curse seems worth it."

"Is it though? Compared to the destruction this war could cause? Is this really what we're about?"

Rain Shine looked about for a moment, then ushered Autumn away from the tent, a furtive expression on her face. "You are far from the only one with doubts, but you must understand that this war is only a temporary thing, whereas our cure, our future, is forever."

"Is it worth all the dead kirin? There's not that many of us to start with."

"They died for the future of the kirin," Rain Shine said with a sad smile, although it was hard to tell who she was convincing as she said it.

"You don't agree with this, do you?"

"I used to, but now I can feel again, no thanks to you, I must admit that this feels... wrong."

"Then maybe it would be best to ask Princess Celestia to intervene on her mother's behalf for the cure? We'd all be far safer to be around if she fixed our curse, and we would definitely owe her for it, rather than fight in the hopes that she might be able to fix us."

Rain Shine nodded thoughtfully, "You are quite right, Autumn. We were foolish to agree to this without proof that she could cure us. I must admit, displeased though I am by your actions, I do feel myself thinking clearer without my emotions being clouded. I shall talk to Celestia when I am able, and see if we can't bring a little hope to our people."

Autumn bowed to Rain Shine, and smiled as she departed because things couldn't be going better. The kirin would feel betrayed by the lack of an actual cure, and would surely return home. All they had to wait for now was the arrival of Celestia, and it would all come together.

Autumn sniffed the air as the smell of smoke tickled her nostrils. "That can't be good."

She followed the smoke to an argument going on between a kirin and a yak. Nothing actually appeared to be on fire, yet, but since the argument was ongoing, and the kirin smoking, things probably wouldn't get much better.

"Stop treating us like we're not even here! The amount of times I've almost been trampled by yaks not looking where they're going is ridiculous."

"You smaller than us," the yak said back with a distinctly female tone, "you should get out of yaks' way."

"Why? What makes you so much more important than us that you don't even have to bother not accidentally killing your allies. I was in Saddle Arabia, and I saw yaks kill more than a few of the ponies there by accident. Or was it an accident? Are you so caught up in being Faust's chosen that you think we're all beneath you? Do you even care that you'd killed some of us smaller folk by accident? Do you even care that a lot of us hate you for it?"

"Yaks no care if you hate them, just as yaks don't care if you get in yaks' way. Me done talking about this."

"Well I'm not!" The kirin blocked the yaks path as she tried to leave, but was shoved aside by a hoof as the yak carried on. The kirin watched in shock for a second before turning black and fiery, and unleashing an unholy roar as she launched herself at the yak. The hairy yak that caught fire quite easily.

Autumn held a hoof up to the side of her head and looked the other direction as she walked away, leaving the burning yak and screaming kirin to sort out their differences between themselves as some yaks, ponies, and kirin piled in to separate the two.

"I really hope Celestia gets here soon."

It was a couple more hours until the sight of sails came into view, which was a relief because the number of incidents involving niriks was starting to slowly increase as tensions rose.

Autumn decided to wait on the dock just behind Rain Shine, impatiently jogging on the spot as the ship pulled in and Celestia disembarked to a greeting from a displeased Snowbright, who was, in his own words, starting to lose his shit over this.

Celestia turned to the kirin party, who had the decency to at least appear embarrassed by what had happened. "We are sorry," Rain Shine said, surprising Celestia since the last time she'd seen them they'd been silent to a kirin. "We've had some developments that are proving difficult to adjust to."

"Difficult?" Prince Rutherford roared. "You burn yaks' yurts, you burn yaks' food, and you burn yaks! That is more than being difficult!"

"And I'm sorry, Prince Rutherford." Rain Shine looked pleadingly to Celestia, "After being isolated for so long we're finding it difficult to work alongside others, and now that we can talk and feel again, we're letting our anger get the better of us at times."

"I see." Celestia smiled softly, "I wish I could help you all, but I'm afraid we have other issues. The traitors, Luna and Twilight are here with their allies, and our priorities lie with them and the zebras. If you can control your people until then-"

"I don't think we can." Rain Shine smiled apologetically at Celestia for interrupting. "If we cannot control ourselves, we could be a danger to all here. I was hoping you might approach your mother to ask her for the cure to our curse? I realise it would be premature on our agreement to give it to us now, but I'm afraid that without it we present a danger."

"Oh, I see. I'm afraid the only one that can cure you is my mother, and she is not here-"

"Then can you at least tell us what the cure is?" Autumn asked brazenly, taking the opportunity while it was in front of her. "Just knowing would put a lot of minds at ease."

"I'm afraid I don't know, my little p- kirin. My mother has not seen fit to share that information with me."

"Because there isn't a cure, is there?"

Celestia straightened up to gaze down at the kirin questioning her. "What would make you think we would promise something we couldn't actually give you?"

"The fact that Faust made us work for the cure, rather than give it to us and ask us to fight in return. When the war is won, and the kirin likely reduced in number, it'll be too late for us when she tells us there's not actually a cure. We'll have fought for nothing, and would be too weak to do anything about it."

Rutherford stamped a hoof at Autumn, who retreated a little behind Rain Shine. He was far from the only one appearing upset by her accusations. "You dare question Nirmata?"

"Please," Celestia said soothingly, "there's no need to get upset. She's rightfully concerned about her people. Let me assure you though, there is a cure."

"How can you be sure if you don't know what it is? Unless you're lying, and you do know, but if you are, why? Aren't we going to like the cure?"

There was a small twitch in Celestia's composure as more and more kirin started whispering to each other. Whoever this kirin was, she was far too inquisitive, and had backed Celestia into a corner. Whatever she did now would be questioned and doubted, leaving her with only one option as she saw it. The truth.

"Very well, I shall be honest with you. Yes there is a cure, but not as you would like it. The cure is for future generations. Through magic, my mother would make it so that your children, and children's children would be free of the curse. Unfortunately it is not something that can be done to you, but it can be achieved through you. You kirin alive now are going to be the last generation of kirin afflicted with the curse, while all future kirin would be free of it. Is that not worth fighting for?"

Autumn remained resolute as a susurrus of fresh whispers spread through the kirin. Frankly the whole thing sounded like an exaggeration to her, and like another false promise designed to buy the kirins' loyalty. It was of some relief to her that a decent number of the whispers she heard matched that, although a great many more didn't. It also did nothing to stop the kirin becoming niriks right now.

"Now that's taken care of," Snowbright cut in, "let's get to the command tent so I can give you a briefing of the situation, Princess."

"Lead on, General Snowbright."

With a final smile, Celestia was led away in the company of Snowbright, Prince Rutherford, and the kirin leaders, leaving plenty of others behind while the ship was unloaded, bringing more pony soldiers, as well as supplies. Autumn stood there for a while until a sharp poke on her side caught her attention.

"Are you satisfied now?" Fern asked angrily. "Because I'm not. I felt better thinking there was a cure for us as well."

"You don't really believe any of that, do you?"

"I don't know what to believe any more, but I do know who to blame for that, Autumn."

Autumn held up a hoof as Fern walked away, then let it drop slowly. At the very least she could be happy that Fern was controlling her anger over this.

"With our boats burnt our ability to receive supplies is limited, the zebras are gathering their forces as we speak, and any element of surprise we might've had is gone," Snowbright half shouted, his frustrations boiling over. "Now this kirin thing is just the cherry on the icing of a very big cake made of shit."

"Mind your tone, General," Celestia said icily.

"Begging your pardon, Princess, but my plan to attack Zanzebra as soon as we had the numbers was vetoed in favour of making a spectacle involving yourself. A decision that might well cost us dearly if we have to fight our way through every zebra in this blasted country to get there!"

Autumn idly picked some dirt out of the cleft of her hoof as she waited for Celestia to reply. So far listening at the tent hadn't provided much of use to her, but as she had no other ideas to go on she kept at it.

"Can we still do it?" Celestia asked after several long seconds.

"Against these primitives, sure, but the arrival of the other three princesses does make things interesting. Not to be rude, Princess, but you can't stand against all of them together. Not to mention Trixie Lulamoon, or their dragon."

"I realise that. I would also remind you to not underestimate the zebras. Their weapons are just as deadly as yours."

"They lack magic, so I'm not particularly worried."

"They lack magic as you understand it. Again I will remind you to not underestimate them."

"As you wish," Snowbright said with a hint of sigh. "What do you think we should do?"

"Are the zebras still unprepared for an attack?"

"As far as we can tell."

"Then we should attack now while they're still unprepared, and before Luna has more time to plan against us. Prince Rutherford, esteemed leaders of the kirin, prepare your forces to march on Zanzebra."

"Finally!" Rutherford cheered. "Time to show zebras what yaks are made of!"

"Blood and guts, like the rest of us," said a voice Autumn didn't recognise, but figured was one of the other kirin leaders. "Remind your yaks that there are others on the battlefield before you charge in blindly and trample half of us to death."

"Stay out of yaks way, and no problem."

"That is not a solution!"

"She is right, Prince Rutherford," Celestia said in an attempt to defuse the situation before it literally caught fire. "I know you and your yaks wish to prove themselves, but that cannot come at the expense of your allies. Accidents can and will happen, but the blatant disregard your yaks showed for your pony and kirin allies in Saddle Arabia was beyond the pale. Do not make it so that my mother regrets letting you fight for her."

"Nngh, very well, I will tell yaks to be careful of ponies and kirin."

"That's all we ask. Now go, prepare your peoples to depart for Zanzebra. We leave at sun rise."

Autumn cursed inside her head as the tent emptied, and was about to leave herself when she heard hoofsteps pacing about on the thin wooden flooring.

"You have more to say, Princess?"

"There have been problems back in Equestria. The experimental tank was destroyed by Luna, and the ponies that built it have gone missing. Then when I went to apprehend General Shining Armour and Director Fleur, Twilight Sparkle was there already, and distracted me long enough for them to escape. How do they seem to be everywhere? How have they gotten to Zebrica before me?"

"Does it matter?"

"Not terribly, but it vexes me how they do it. An army couldn't stop you when you invaded Equestria, and yet a hooffull of individuals somehow manage to hurt us again and again without fear of what we might do to them. This isn't a state of affairs that can continue."

"I agree," Snowbright said smoothly. "A victory here would do a lot of good for morale, which is why we can't afford for Luna, Twilight, and whoever else to stop us. Perhaps if Lady Faust were to join us?"

"My mother is busy with important work," Celestia told Snowbright, but the way she said it suggested she wasn't very happy about it. "I don't know entirely what she's doing in the Everfree Castle, but it seems to be occupying more and more of her time of late."

"And what if we lose here?"

Celestia didn't answer for a while, although the pacing continued. Several seconds must've passed before she spoke again.

"You had best hope that we don't."

The choice lay before Autumn to sneak out of the camp and warn Princess Luna about the oncoming attack, or to stay where she was until the completion of her task. One of those options was a lot easier than the other, but since Luna was probably already aware of the Mareitanians preparing to move, the first option was already rendered pointless.

Of course there was the massive, overwhelming problem that Autumn didn't know what to do, in the slightest, at all. Her master plan to get the kirin talking had run up against the issue where she hadn't known what to do past that point, and now it was actually past that point she was stumped.

Worst of all was that hadn't gotten to sing even once. Okay, maybe it wasn't the worst part, but it was definitely in the top five.

"What if Celestia is telling the truth?" Autumn asked herself out loud, the idea popping into her head as she watched the sun setting. She'd wanted to believe that Princess Luna was being honest in saying that there was no cure for the kirin, but what if she was wrong? Sure there was the issue where there was no way to fix the kirin now, but future generations would be free from becoming niriks.

"What if they're both right? Celestia's cure is what Luna says Faust will do. That would still be bad."

Autumn rolled onto her back and groaned, "Why is this so hard? What if... what if... what if someone came along and finished my sentences with actual ideas? Why is convincing the kirin to go home so hard?"

"Because you're going about this all wrong."

Autumn's head shot up, trying to see who it was that spoke. A moment later her hoof crept into her view.

"Hey," it said.

"You almost gave me a heart attack, for crying out loud."

"Sorry."

"Why do you look like that anyway? Don't you normally have a horn and, you know, eyes?"

"We're in hostile territory, so I'm travelling in disguise."

"Ah," Autumn nodded thoughtfully, "good thinking. So what do you mean that I'm going about this all wrong?"

"Well, think about it. Trying to convince the kirin hasn't gotten you anywhere, so how about you try to convince the yaks and ponies that they don't want the kirin to fight with them?"

"And why should I listen to you? You don't even have a brain."

"Oh yeah?" Autumn's hoof sniffed haughtily, "Well at least I don't talk to my hoof."

"Because you'd only be talking to yourself, hey hey!" Autumn shared a quick laugh with her hoof. "Seriously though, I do find your suggestion quite intriguing. Please, tell me more."

"Alright, well, tensions are already running pretty high between the kirin and yaks, and there's probably something similar going on between the yaks and ponies. All you need to do is make that worse, to the point that the yaks demand that the kirin not be allowed to fight with them. Seeing as how there are more yaks than kirin, and you're going to upset the ponies as well, they'll have no choice but to send the kirin home."

"That is pretty devious. I don't know though, you have been a pretty bad influence on me in the past..."

"Do-it do-it do-it!"

"Okay, you've convinced me. But if this goes wrong I'm blaming you."

"Fair deal."

"So how am I going to do this?"

"That's easy. Go piss some yaks off, and be sure to get really angry while you're doing it."

The yak camp was in full swing with packing up their stuff, although it was quite amusing how Celestia expected them to use this stuff, and yet still be ready to go for dawn. Autumn suspected that it was because saying 'at dawn' was a lot more dramatic than saying 'after breakfast.'

So far very little attention had been given to her as she wandered around the camp, and Autumn was beginning to think that yak prince, whatever his name was, had convinced his yaks that having others around wasn't the end of the world. That was a problem, but one that could be solved by trying a little harder.

"Hey yaks! What's that awful smell? Is it you?"

Autumn cringed at the sudden amount of attention that brought to her, but since that might've been the idea all along, she pressed on with whatever the hell it was she thought she was doing.

"Honestly, you smell so bad I can't tell if your mothers gave birth to you, or pooped you out! Is that why you're all so angry all the time? Because you have to smell each other?" Autumn pinched her nose and stepped back as a yak stomped up to her, "Not too close please."

"Why you here insulting yaks in yak camp?"

"This is your camp? I thought these were just big piles of dung!" Autumn grinned as the yak scowled at her, "You seem upset. I would ask if you want to talk about it, but that would make me subject to your breath, and I don't hate myself nearly enough for that."

The yak bellowed at Autumn, and charged at her. Autumn in turn leapt up onto the yak's forehead and bounced clean over him. "Ewwww! Your smell is on my hooves now!"

"Get her!"

Autumn held her breath and pushed her rage to the surface in a burst of purple flame that stalled the yaks for a moment. She inspected her burning hoof, then slowly and intently pressed it to the side of the yurt closest to her, sending it up in flames.

"You know, I bet it wouldn't have gone up so quick if it wasn't saturated from your massive yak farts!"

Autumn turned and ran as the yaks all went for her, and bounced around causing merry destruction wherever she went. She wouldn't dare to say it out loud, and certainly not to another kirin, but being able to burn all this stuff on purpose was extremely cathartic.

Eventually her pursuit dropped off as the yaks put their efforts into extinguishing the fires, although there was still plenty chasing her. That was totally fine as she was now in the pony part of the camp, with lots of ponies around. Putting out her own flames, she sucked in a breath.

"Some crazy kirin just set fire to the yak camp!" Autumn shouted as loud as she could. "You should go help them!"

Having alerted the ponies, many of which were actually running to help, Autumn disappeared into the crowd to lose the yaks following her. She hung around a bit, waiting for the yaks to give up trying to find her, then calmly walked away back to the kirin camp. Not without setting fire to a few things on the way of course.

It was pretty quiet in the kirin camp, although there was quite a bit of concern over what was happening in the other parts of the camp. Autumn walked amongst it all, trying her level best to keep a smug smile off her lips, even as she subtly suggested to a few kirin that didn't recognise her that everything was fine, and that they shouldn't worry about it. That of course only made it better when a large number of yaks turned up accusing the kirin of starting the fires.

"I can assure you we did no such thing," Rain Shine assured Prince Rutherford. "The last thing we want to do is cause any harm or damage to you or the ponies."

"Yaks all saw kirin do it! Said we all smelled, then set fire to everything!"

"You're just accusing us because you hate us! You hate everything that isn't a yak!" Autumn shouted, taking care to do it from behind some other kirin. To her dark delight a fair number of kirin agreed with her quite loudly. This couldn't have been going better.

"You dare accuse yaks of lying?"

"Yeah!" Autumn shouted back, having moved elsewhere in the crowd to throw off suspicion. "What are you going to do? Smash us?"

"Will whoever is doing that please stop!" Rain Shine snapped back towards where Autumn was. A quick burst of fire from her had the yaks backing off, although you could see in their eyes that their conviction was strengthened by it.

"Even you can't control yourself," Prince Rutherford accused Rain Shine. "Kirin too dangerous to be here!"

"Bingo," Autumn said to herself. Her smile only grew as General Snowbright came up, looking rather displeased.

"Where's the kirin that set fire to our camp?" he asked Rain Shine.

"General Snowbright, are you accusing us of starting fires as well?"

"It's not accusing when it's true. One of your kirin was seen coming out of the yak camp, reported it being on fire, then set our camp on fire while we were helping the yaks. I demand an explanation!"

"Our kirin have all been here! You know we don't enter your camps unless we have to!"

"You couldn't even avoid burning part of your own camp down earlier!"

Autumn bounced with giddy anticipation as the other kirin leaders joined the argument. The way this was going, it only had to be a matter of time before the kirin threw in the towel and went home. No phoney-baloney cure had to be worth putting up with this.

"Stop lying," Snowbright said sternly. "I'm already planning to discuss your future with us with Lady Faust once we get back to Equestria, so I highly recommend you don't make it worse on yourselves by lying to us!"

"We're not... lying!" Rain Shine roared. Flame spread over her as her coat turned black, and all Autumn found herself able to do was watch dumbstruck as she went to attack Snowbright, only to get smacked away by Prince Rutherford, which only angered more kirin into losing their cool and attacking.

"Uh, guys? This isn't- This isn't what I meant-"

The ponies and yaks fought back. Of course they fought back, which only pushed more kirin over the edge into niriks. If there was anything with more destructive capability than a couple thousand kirin going nirik in a small, highly flammable space, Autumn had yet to see it, and really, really hoped she never did.

Autumn sat in the middle of the unfolding disaster and pulled her mane over her eyes, "Ooh, I am so exiled after this."

"You got that right."

"Fern?"

Fern Flare gave Autumn a small smile, "Hey."

"Why aren't you going nirik like the others?"

Fern shrugged, "Guess I'm just not angry enough. To be honest, I haven't had so much fun in years."

"So... did I do good?"

Fern shook her head as she observed the army of niriks attacking the ponies and yaks while setting fire to everything. "Not even close, but for what its worth, I do believe you when it comes to Faust's cure. Not that it probably matters any more, but I'll do my best to convince Rain Shine of that."

"Don't you need help for that?"

"Not from you. If you stay here, eventually all those niriks are going to remember the one that led them to this point, and that would be you."

"Right."

"I really suggest you get out of here, and I really suggest you leave it for a good long time before coming anywhere near the village again."

"Yeah." Autumn sighed as a burning yak barrelled past them, "That's probably a good idea. Bye Fern. Thanks for believing me. Oh, and try and get the others to learn a bit about anger management. Just throwing yourselves back into the stream of silence isn't going to help."

"I'll try. Now seriously, go."

Autumn nodded listlessly, taking one last moment to enjoy being with her people, even if they weren't at their best right now. Then she turned and ran as fast as she could into the savannah in the dark, back towards where she remembered the zebras having their camp. She didn't stop until the night suddenly became solid enough for her to bump in to.

"Ow," Autumn muttered, rubbing her horn. She looked up to find the night watching her with two turquoise cats eyes that reflected the fires burning in the camp. Below those eyes were some fangs that glinted brightly.

"All going according to plan I see."

Autumn covered her eyes with her hooves and groaned loudly just as a blazing ball of light lit up the sky like the sun.

"Ugh, and there's Celestia," Nightmare sighed, shielding her eyes from the light. A few moments later a large number of niriks could be seen fleeing from the camp into the savannah.

"Seems like I missed out on some fun. Oh well, I guess we better be getting back to camp."

"So it can be safely assumed that the kirin will no longer be fighting with the Mareitanians?" Luna said to Autumn as the kirin stared out over the savannah towards the enemy encampment. She frowned as she got no answer, "Autumn?"

"Hmm? Oh, sorry, I was just reflecting on how badly I screwed that up."

"You achieved your goal, did you not?"

"Not like that! I wanted to convince them to stop fighting! Not get them to-" Autumn waved at the still smoking remains of the Mareitanian camp, "-that! Oh, why did I listen to my hoof? He always has the worst ideas."

Luna and Nightmare shared a look. "At least this works well into our favour," said Nightmare.

"Indeed." Luna looked up as leathery wings flapped overhead, signalling the return of Ember. "How does it look over there?"

"From my point of view, pretty good. Half of their camp is in ruins, and there wasn't a kirin to be seen, so mission accomplished." Ember patted Autumn on the back, "Good job."

"I can never go home again."

"Yeah, well..." Ember shrugged, having nothing to say about that. "Too bad we don't actually have an army to attack with right now, because we could've finished them off."

"Unfortunately not," said Luna, "but we will, soon."

Author's Notes:

I tried to put a song in, but I just couldn't come up with anything I liked. Still a fun chapter to write though.

No chapter next week because of reasons. Those reasons being that I had a week off work and have done zero writing. Seems like a good reason to me.