Act I

Trixie looked down at her card and scoffed at the label, ‘G9.’ “The Great and Powerful Trixie demands she gets a window seat!!”

“Trix, Trix, calm down. We can switch seats if you want?” Starlight suggested, handing Trixie her card that read ‘A7.’

The azure showmare quickly accepted the card, and handed her own to Starlight. “It’s a deal.”

“Ooh, ooh! Guys, I get to sit in ‘C5!’ Isn’t that the coolest!?” Silverstream shouted in glee.

Terramar waved his card in the air, a smile plastered on his beak. “Hey, we get to sit in the same row, sis!--”

Suddenly, the airplane’s speakers chimed an oddly familiar tune. As soon as the little song ended, the supposed captain exclaimed in a feminine voice, “Welcome aboard the Equestrian Airlines flight eight-seven-five! I am pleased to inform you all that we will take off in promptly five minutes.” She paused and added, “Why don’t you explore around here while the crew and I spruce up the plane, huh?”

Gallus shrugged and hopped out of his seat, which was labeled ‘H8.’ “Eh, might as well stretch before we get a week’s worth of leg cramps and jet lag.”

“Airplanes give us cramps?” Ocellus asked in a panic from the far back of the plane. “Why did no-creature tell me this!?”

Sunburst, who was also at the back of the plane inspecting the counters, patted the changeling’s back. “I think it was his attempt at a joke, Ocellus.”

Yona didn’t budge from her seat at all. “Even if griffon’s joke was false, Yona still won’t get leg cramps because yaks are best at not feeling pain!”

“...I knew you were going to say that,” muttered Gallus as he and Smolder explored the first class area, which was surprisingly empty.

“Must be a small flight,” Sandbar remarked from behind the griffon and dragon.

Gallus smirked. “Or maybe the tickets were too expensive for first class.--”

The airplane speakers chimed the annoyingly repetitive tune again. “Sorry to interrupt, passengers, but please take a seat, as we are ready for take-off!”

And so, everycreature rushed to their seats.

Ten Minutes Later...

The speakers chimed again. “We are now at a stable altitude of thirty thousand feet above sea level, passengers! Oh! Do you all smell that?”

Everycreature sniffed curiously, realizing something delicious was coming from the direction of the plane’s rear.

The captain clasped her hooves together. “That’s right! Our crew presents to you: free lunch! Enjoy!”

Two stallions trotted down the aisles, gently tossing seaweed-sandwiches to everycreature on-board.

“Seaweed!!” Silverstream squee’d with delight. “I love it.”

Smolder took one bite and spit it out on her napkin, sniffling slightly. “That does not taste good.” She looked behind her, which was where Ocellus was seated. “Hey, Ocellus? Uh.. what’s in this--” The dragon gestured to the sandwich. “--besides the seaweed?”

Ocellus took the sandwich in her magic and licked the untouched side carefully. “It’s a no-crust seaweed sandwich, and I’m pretty sure it’s seasoned with a mixture of sea salt and pollen.”

The dragon’s nose twitched. “..What type of pollen?”

“Uh.. it looks like dragon-sneeze pollen. Why?-” Ocellus gasped. “Oh. Oh.”

“That isn’t good,” mumbled Terramar.

Trixie frowned at the sight of Smolder’s eyes squinting while her nose continued to twitch. “The dragon’s sneezes will burn down the plane! We must find something to prevent her from sneezing!”

Silverstream raised her claw. “Hey, doesn’t Smolder always bring allergy pills with her?”

Starlight nodded. “I don’t know if that will work, but we can try, right?” She turned to the other passengers and cleared her throat. “Everycreature, search every storage cabinet for Smolder’s allergy pills! If we don’t find them.. then this place is going down!”

The passengers each nodded curtly, and began the search.

Sunburst checked a few large cabinets, but each of them were empty, save for Trixie’s magic supplies; Yona imitated a stepping stool so that Sandbar could reach one of the hard to reach cabinets, but only Silverstream and Starlight’s luggages were in there; Gallus, Silverstream, Ocellus, and Terramar were blazing through the lower compartments and found each of their own baggages plus Sunburst’s, but not Smolder’s; Starlight double checked the already-searched compartments just in case; and Trixie lazily searched through the rear end of the plane, until she saw-

“TRIXIE FOUND IT!” she screeched, blindly tossing it towards where Smolder was, but missed, accidentally bonking Ocellus on the forehead. “Oops.”

Smolder, whose left fingers were pinched on her nose so she couldn’t sneeze, opened the box with her free hand, and shoved the appropriate dose of allergy pills down her throat. After Smolder completed swallowing, she freed her nose and sighed in relief. “Thanks, guys.”

Yona saluted and walked towards her seat. “No problem, dragon friend! Yona and everycreature got your scaly dragon back!”

“Yeah!” added Silverstream while Ocellus and Gallus both nodded in confirmation.

An Hour Later...

As Sandbar was close to nodding off, those darned speakers chimed that annoying tune.

“Good night, passengers! We have one hour to go, so feel free to rest up and stretch your legs--” Suddenly, the airplane’s lights flickered out. “Oh my, it appears we’re having some trouble with our electrical tanks. Please stand by as we try to fix them!”

As soon as the speakers turned off, Trixie shrieked, “OH MY CELESTIA!!”

Gallus groaned. “What is it now?”

“T-there’s something on the right wing of that plane!” the azure unicorn shouted in fear.

Everycreature instantly rose out of their seats to check.

Indeed, the silhouette of a tall, noodle-like serpent-dragon was staring at them from the other side of the window. Its porportions were intended to be wacky, but it’s eyes were full of pure malice. It spoke calmly, “You won’t make it out alive, little creatures.” The creature then chuckled darkly as the airplane’s light flickered randomly.

Everycreature had barely stepped away from the window before Yona screamed, “SNAKES!!”

Sure enough, rattlesnakes were climbing up the airplane’s walls, ready to pounce on anycreature.

Silverstream smiled and walked towards the snakes. “Oh! Look at you cute little snakey wakeys!” she cooed. In response, the rattlesnakes’ tails rattled like their namesake and jumped at Silverstream. One bit Silverstream’s right wrist, and she winced in pain.

Terramar gasped. “Sis, no!”

The pink hippogriff kept her position on the floor just in case. “Wait, should I get up? I think the venom will get to my head quicker if I do that, right..?”

“I don’t think it works like that, Silverstream,” Ocellus muttered sadly.

Gallus’s face stayed unreadable as he stared at Silverstream and then glanced around the airplane. “Guys, I think one of the bathrooms are open. You should take cover there; I’ll go search the storage cabinets for some anti-venom.”

Each creature nodded and rushed for the open bathroom.

“Will you be alright, Gallus?” Sunburst asked as he opened the bathroom door.

Gallus curtly nodded as he lifted up Silverstream onto his back. “Just go, we’ll be fine. I promise.”

Terramar stopped in his tracks and locked his pleading eyes with Gallus’ surprisingly calm ones. “Be careful with Silverstream, alright?--”

“Come on, the snakes are going to get in here!” hissed Trixie as she used her magic to drag Terramar into the bathroom and shut the door.

Author's Notes:

Oooof.

Act II

Ocellus quickly locked the bathroom door behind her, holding back her fearful tears. She turned to Starlight, accidentally letting a few of those come loose to streak down her cheek. “D-do you think they’ll be okay?”

Starlight smiled in a motherly way and pulled Ocellus into a small hug. “I’m sure Gallus and Silverstream will be alright, Ocellus.”

“Well..” Smolder murmured honestly, “I know for a fact those snakes aren’t normal; and I’ve seen a lot of snakes in Miss Fluttershy’s classes.”

Sandbar, Terramar, and Yona each gave their own murmurs of agreement.

Sunburst hummed in thought. “You know, Smolder may be on to something.. I felt a weird pulse of magic emanating from the rattlesnakes earlier.”

“I felt it, too!” exclaimed Starlight.

Trixie opened her mouth to contribute, “I...” She drew out the vowel in uncertainty and then frowned. “..Don’t understand what you’re both getting at.”

The peach unicorn sighed. “It doesn’t feel like dark magic.. But it does feel-”

Sunburst added, “-oddly..-”

The two unicorns finished in unison, “Chaotic!”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, chaos magic!” she said mockingly before turning serious. “It doesn’t exist!”

Starlight frowned. “Well, maybe it-”

Ocellus gasped and interrupted Starlight. “I’ve got it!”

“What changeling friend got?” asked Yona.

“Thank you for asking, Yona!” She smiled. “Now, do any of you remember that one history class about the villains from the pre-Celestial Ages? You know, the one in Headmare Twilight’s class?”

“No offense, but what does a history lesson from four years ago have to do with us being in danger on an airplane two days before Hearth’s Warming?!” Smolder shouted, small bits of smoke flaring from her nostrils.

Ocellus deadpanned, “If you’d let me finish, maybe you’d find out.” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, remember reading the passage about a villain named Discord?”

Sandbar nodded. “Yeah, about how he used his chaos powers for evil, and then the Princesses used the Elements to turn him to stone.” He gasped in realization. “Wait, are you saying--?”

Ocellus nodded. “Yep. Somecreature resurrected him from his thousand-year stone-sleep, and now he’s free to roam modern Equestria.” She winked and giggled, signaling it was a joke. “But that’s just a hunch, guys. I doubt that would really happen.”

Terramar blinked and realized it was a bit quiet outside of the bathroom; a little too quiet.

“Hey, guys, I think it’s safe to get out of here,” the hippogriff suggested.

Everycreature murmured their agreements, so Terramar slowly unlocked the door. He then opened it completely, glanced around the surrounding area, and nodded to the rest of the group that it was safe.

One by one, everycreature tiptoed out of the bathroom and relaxed at the peaceful atmosphere of the place.

All was silent until finally, Sandbar remarked, “Hey, the lights are back up!”

Indeed, the electrical engines seemed to be working again.

Ocellus nodded while smiling. “And those rattlesnakes are gone, too!”

That was also correct. No rattlesnakes were to be seen in the airplane.

Trixie trotted to her seat and took a peek out of the window. All she saw was the right wing of the airplane, and the night’s pitch-black background behind Luna’s beautiful moon.

“Huh. That shadowy creature has disappeared as well.” Trixie flipped her mane and turned away from the window, smirking. “A disappearing trick gone-right, if you ask moi.”

Terramar gasped in realization. “Speaking of disappearing, where are Silverstream and Gallus?!”

Sandbar frowned. “I.. don’t know, dude..”

Ocellus solemnly looked to the floor. “Maybe they’re.. already gone..?”

“No!” shouted Terramar, “They can’t be gone! I know they’re okay!”

Suddenly, Starlight spoke up from the rear end of the plane, “Uh.. actually..” She pointed at something in front of her, to which nocreature could see what.

Everycreature trotted over to see what Starlight was staring at, and instantly were in shock. There lay a lifeless Silverstream and a barely-alive Gallus.

The blue griffon lifted his head slightly in Terramar’s direction. He had a hard time breathing, but he got the message across clearly: “I’m sorry.. I broke.. your promise, Terramar..

“I wish I.. could’ve done.. more..

“But.. Silverstream was gone so.. quickly...”

Gallus paused for a few moments and looked up towards the ceiling, and calmly whispered, “I’m coming.. Mom, Dad..”

And with that, the griffon became still, just like the pink hippogriff beside him.

Silence followed this moment.. until Smolder took a step forward.

The dragon breathed a heavy sigh. “We’re gonna need to store their bodies somewhere safe until we land in Ponyville.”

Starlight and Sunburst each nodded. The two unicorns used their magic to lift the corpses safely into a locker, which was the only place suitable to keep them at the moment.

When they did this, Ocellus murmured a small prayer, all the while trying not to break down in tears there; and Yona crossed her heart before undoing her braids, as it was yak tradition when someyak - or in this case, somcreatures - very special passed on; Trixie was too stunned to do anything to help.

As for Terramar, he sat in his own seat, dumbfounded. That orphan griffon had just given up his own life to keep a promise and save his friend. Now if that wasn’t loyalty, Terramar didn’t know what was.

Starlight and Sunburst had finished storing the bodies by the time the airplane’s speakers started chiming that tune.

Smolder groaned. “Does it have to play that song every time?”

“Hello, my lovely passengers! I have two pieces of news for you all!” The captain cleared her throat. “First off, we fixed those pesky electrical engines.

“However.. there is a new problem: we are losing a significant amount of our oxygen supply.

“But don’t worry, everycreature! I can assure you that we have oxygen masks ready for you.”

As if on cue, oxygen masks simultaneously popped out of the small compartments above a few selected seats.

All at once, everycreature rushed around the airplane trying to supply themselves with a mask to survive. Sadly, after all this commotion ended, everycreature noticed that Yona wasn’t able to get herself an oxygen mask.

The yak desperately tried to breathe, but to no avail. It was no longer than that when she passed out.

Everycreature gasped as they witnessed what happened.

“Yona!” shouted Ocellus and Sandbar in a worried unison.

The two rushed to lift Yona up, and - of course with some help from Starlight - succeeded in hauling her onto her original seat. The yak lay there peacefully, not breathing.

After that, Sandbar and Smolder were walking towards the airplane’s rear to spend a few moments in private to process everything that had just happened--

Up until Trixie let out a blood-curdling screech, signaling everything was just going to get worse from here.

Author's Notes:

Happy New Year, everybody!

---

Ocellus is crackin’ up on her conspiracy theories, am I right? She could be a detective if she wanted to pursue that career, like daaaang.

But yeah, there goes three of the young six in one chapter. Well, I had to get rid of some creatures, right? I mean, there isn’t death without erasing some of my favorite characters, heh..