NaNo2014: Shadows of Friendship: Part 22

((Second update today, yesterday's writing went up @ 1:20am or around there...))

“But...” Further discussion was cut off by the bird swooping in for another attempt. Twilight heard Fluttershy yelp and Applejack snap, “No yer don’t, yer feathered menace!” before there was sound of hooves connecting with something hard.

With a painful screech the bird went tumbling down the ledge, nearly hitting Twilight on its way down and fell further again, below the fog line. The unicorn peered over the edge, trying to see it but there was too much mist in the way for her to see what had happened.

“Twilight? Yer okay?” Applejack bellowed down to her, sounding worried. “Where’re ya?”

Twilight thought for a moment then sent up a flare of light, an emergency beacon that had been the first thing that Celestia had ever taught her, just in case something happened. At the time she had not seen the use for it, but now, with her friends out of sight, she recognised that it would help.

The burst of purple light that her power manifested bathed the area in a slightly eerie glow, but allowed the ponies on the trail to see each other. Pinkie Pie waved down to Twilight who could not help but smile ruefully and wave back.

Applejack started tying her rope around herself as Twilight tried to work out how far up the side of the cliff she could get via her ledge. The answer was not very far and the unicorn let out a frustrated huff. She had been learning a teleportation spell when Celestia had stopped her studies for the holiday and she was not sure how confident she was that she would be able to cast it and not put herself a couple of foot to the left or right. Appearing in the middle of the rock face would be a gruesome way to go and would not aid anyone and placing herself in midair would be just as bad.

Twilight’s train of thoughts derailed when Applejack threw the other end of the rope down to her. “Tie it roun’ yerself.” The earth pony filly called down, “I’ll pull ya up.”

Twilight was not too sure about it. She knew Applejack was supposedly very strong, Pinkie had mentioned her strength being impressive several times and part of being an earth pony was being stronger than the other two types, but she was not sure that it would be enough to manage her weight. Still she followed direction, trusting her friend and let out a startled yelp as her hooves left the floor.

She was a few yards off of being safely on the higher ledge when there was a deafening screech and the bird was on them, seizing the rope and dragging both Twilight and Applejack into the air. Neither pony knew what to do as they were pulled higher and higher into the air, easily losing their other friends in the fog. The only one that managed to keep up with the bird was Rainbow Dash and even she struggled a little with her injuries.

Twilight kind of wanted to demand that the bird put them down, but she had no idea how far it was to the floor below and she did not have wings. Her Alicorn form did but she did not know how to cause the change and she refused to risk another pony’s life on a whim. Applejack seemed to be of a similar mind as she remained silent right up until they passed a ridge and the bird let go, dropping them both. They only fell a foot before they connected with solid ground, but it felt like a blessing to both ground bound ponies. A tainted one as the huge bird landed in front of the and squawked at them furiously, pecking at the air just in front of them, but a blessing none the less.

“What is tha’ bird?” Applejack asked as she narrowly avoided being pierced by the huge beak, which snapped the rope connecting the two ponies.

Twilight laughed, a nervous, slightly hysterical laugh as she realised she did not know. Once again she did not know something important. This whole day so far had been full of things she did not know or could not remember and she was going a little bit crazy because of it. She was the one with the answers, she never ever either did not have answers or could not find them out. “I don’t know, I really don’t know...”

“I do.” Rainbow called as she hovered between Applejack and Twilight, glaring at the huge clearly carnivorous bird before her, “It’s a winged-beast. A duel monster, just like those Silver Fang. Must be the third task.”

They did not have a chance to discuss further as the duel monster in question took off, the down draft nearly knocking both non-winged ponies off of the ridge and sending Rainbow Dash tumbling through the air. Twilight saved her from being pierced by the sharp beak of the worrying quick, but not very agile bird by blasting the winged-beast with a bolt of her magic. It let out a screech and tumbled a few feet and by the time it had righted itself, so had Rainbow.

The pale blue pegasus swooped over the heads of Applejack and Twilight as she tried to row for height, only to find that she did not have the strength left in her to manage more than a few yards higher. That was fine though as Applejack managed to tie the cut rope together and make a lasso that she used to catch one of the creature’s legs as it chased her. Twilight grabbed her as she started sliding forward and tried to prevent the bird taking off with them holding onto the rope by conjuring a heavy weight that she tied to the end with her magic. It helped a little, giving Rainbow a chance to buck the bird in one of its eyes, causing it to let out an agonised screech and lash out at everything in range. The rope snapped again and both earth pony and unicorn went tumbling as the now half-blind duel monster tried to eat Rainbow.

The pegasus was no foal and knew she could not outrun the bird as she was. Instead she took cover in a narrow cave that provided enough cover that the winged-beast would not be able to get her.

“Hey!” Twilight yelled, casting another beam at the duel monster and fumbling for her deck, aware of at least one thing within it that could fly, “Leave her alone!”

“I think yer made it mad.” Applejack commented nervously as its head snapped around and it narrowed its one good eye at them, as if deciding that it really did not like them and they looked tasty. The screech it let out as it turned towards them, deciding to come back for Rainbow Dash, was deafening and all three ponies covered their ears with their hooves to try and block out the high pitched squawk. 

That gave the bird the opening it needed, allowing it to rake the ridge and seize Twilight in its talons. The unicorn let out a terrified and pained cry as she was once again wrenched from the solid ground, this time crushed in a painfully tight grip.

This was it. She had not only failed to beat Nightmare Moon’s trials, not only failed Princess Celestia when she had been counting on her, but she was going to die here. She could not breathe with the talons squeezing her so hard and even if she could, the fall when the bird dropped her would kill her.

“Hey!” Twilight let out a sharp squeak as Fluttershy of all ponies flew up in the bird’s face. She could not see what was going on, but she could hear that the normally placid and sweet pegasus was furious, “You do not hurt my friends!”

The winged-beast hovered in place, its grip loosening slightly as it squawked at her furiously.

“No. You put her down right now!” Fluttershy snapped, her tone sharp and stern. Twilight could almost imagine her pointing at the ground with her hoof.  

The bird shook its great head and yet its grip loosened again and Twilight found herself having to adjust herself so she did not slip between the claws and fall to her doom.

“Put. Her. Down.” Fluttershy demanded again. The unicorn was stunned as the bird actually chirped, the tone sounding apologetic as it moved towards the rock below. Fluttershy descended with it, moving into Twilight’s field of vision and look she was giving the creature explained its sudden obedience. Twilight herself would not want to disobey the pegasus if she was looking at her the way she was staring at the winged-beast.

It slowly and carefully released Twilight onto the ground and bowed its head apologetically before taking off, the down beat blowing everyone back as it took off into the sky. Twilight was surprised to see a rather frazzled looking Rarity and a slightly less bouncy than normal Pinkie Pie were there too.

NaNo2014: Shadows of Friendship: Part 21

“You’re welcome.” Fluttershy smiled at her, “Now, hold still. Applejack, can I have a hoof please?”

“Uhh…” Applejack glanced at Twilight and Dash, both of whom nodded, though one did not look too happy while the other looked unsure. Then she cantered forward, moving to Fluttershy’s side. “What’dya need?”

“Just a little strength.” Fluttershy replied directing Applejack to the right places to hold the joint. The orange earth pony followed her lead, full aware that Fluttershy had nursed birds that had dislocated their wings before and sure this would not be much different. “Now, ready?” She asked the injured pegasus, who looked worried.

“Ready for wha…ahh!” Nightnigale cried out in pain as the surprisingly strong but timid pony, with Applejack’s assistance reset the dislocated limb and leaned against Applejack for a few moments to prevent her legs buckling as the earth pony let go. “Hay and horsefeathers!” Nighingale gasped as she pulled herself together.

“Sorry.” Fluttershy actually looked embarrassed as she checked the appendage was back in place properly and that it could extend correctly again, “But I don’t have anything to dull the pain with me. My medicines are back at my cottage.”

“Th...That’s fine.” Nightingale shook her head as she let Fluttershy check her wing and noting that while it hurt, it was nowhere near as bad as the pain she had been in while the joint had been out of place. “Thank you for what you’ve done. I owe you one.”

With that she took off, leaving the party from Ponyville behind. Fluttershy let out a relieved sigh as she watched Nightingale lift off and vanish out of sight above the trees they had just come through. Then she turned to the Alicorn their friend had become, expecting to have to talk her down still. That turned out to be unnecessary. The mare before her seemed confused but much calmer than the pegasus would have expected of her.

The pale yellow filly considered the Princess before her carefully. She did not look exactly the same as their friend. Her coat was a couple of shades darker for a start and the wings were a new addition, though Fluttershy could not help but internally wince when she saw them, for as little as she like flying she could not help but remember the horror stories of pegasi who had gone crazy because they had been grounded by such injuries. It was the eyes more than anything that indicated to Fluttershy that this Twilight and the ‘normal’ one were not the same. She had to pay close attention to her animals if she wanted to work out what was wrong with them, since none of them could talk and the eyes were normally the best way to read an animal’s true mood.

The normal Twilight’s eyes were wide and bright with curiousity and, most importantly, purple. While the Alicorn’s were narrowed with suspicion and if she was reading them right, a little fear, though what such a powerful pony was frightened of was beyond Fluttershy and red, very red, like the rubies that Rarity had dug up the other day for one of her fabulous jewellery pieces.

She did not get a chance to ask though as the puzzle flashed and suddenly it was Twilight Sparkle she was looking at, though she seemed confused for a few moments, as if trying to regain her bearings. Then the unicorn spotted Dash was on her feet and a huge smile crossed her features and relief shone through.

“You’re okay?” Twilight asked as she cantered over to Rainbow’s side and looked her over, as if needing to check she was okay for herself. The pale blue, rather soggy pegasus let out a slightly shaky laugh and nodded.

“Yeah, takes more than a little water to keep me down.” She looked a little less confident then she sounded, but it was enough for Twilight for now. “At least we know you can transform without passing out.”

The unicorn tried not to frown at that. She had guessed that she had changed form somehow again, but once again she could not remember it. She did not say anything though, the others had enough in their minds without worrying about her. It was quite plausible that the stress of the transformation was why her mind blocked out what happened while she was an Alicorn, but she needed to find a way around it. That was something she did not have time to work on now, though, not while they were in the middle of Nightmare Moon’s ‘game.’  

“You sure you’re alright to carry on?” Twilight pressed, concerned for the pegasus only to get a scornful look in return.

“I’d better be, there’s no going back, remember?” Rainbow reminded her, “We’re trapped until we win. Besides, I think I saw a path that will take us straight to the castle while I was outstripping those pegasi.”

That caused a cheer amongst Rainbow’s friends. They were all getting tired, having stayed up all night and been busy preparing the previous day and there was not one amongst them that did not hope to get this finished soon and get back to civilisation and their nice warm beds soon.

“Lead the way, Rainbow.” Twilight told her, causing the pale blue pegasus to salute her with a cheeky grin before she lifted off, clearly favouring one side as she went. Applejack and Twilight shared a worried glance as Rainbow started gliding in the direction that they needed to go but neither said a word in order to prevent the others becoming concerned. Instead they followed Rainbow as she flew overhead.

The path the filly took sent them up a narrow cliff path and more than once they had to watch their footing as the edge crumbled away to reveal a rather nasty drop. Not for the first time did Twilight envy the pegusi their wings as Fluttershy took to the skies the first time she nearly slipped and stayed there and Rainbow Dash stayed above and kept guiding them forward.

She was not the only one who wished she had wings, Applejack admitted about halfway up the cliff face, looking a bit nervous as she peered over the edge into the mist below that was a strange mix of the black and purple of the Shadows and the white of pure, natural fog. “Not that I mind heights.” The orange earth pony explained as they climbed, even Pinkie being careful as they went, “But I prefer ma feet on the ground, or at leas’ on somethin’ solid, yer know?”

Twilight did know and she nodded her agreement as Rarity piped up, “This isn’t my idea of fun either, darling.” She added, nerves clear in her tone, “Why build a castle out here in the middle of nowhere?”

“It’s been ‘bout a thousan’ years since it were used, right, Twilight?” Applejack asked, startling Twilight who had not thought the others had been paying that much attention to what she had been saying on their way through the first part of the forest. She nodded and the earth filly turned back to the white unicorn, “So its probably overgrown by now. Bet it were something special when the Princesses were ‘ere.”

“Wouldn’t envy the gardeners though.” Twilight muttered. She did not realise that she had been speaking out loud until she heard Fluttershy giggle and Rarity snigger in a rather unladylike fashion. She blushed, embarrassed, but none of the others seemed to mind. Instead it lifted the mood a little as they traversed the dangerous terrain.

About halfway up the path, Rarity thought to ask a question that no one else had dared, “Twilight, dear?” She asked, her tone hesitant, “Are you really an Alicorn or a unicorn?”

“Unicorn.” Twilight told her firmly, certain of that fact. She had been a unicorn her entire life and she had never heard of any pony doing what she could do and change themselves into an Alicorn and back again. There had not been anything in her books that had suggested that it was even possible to do the change once, yet alone twice. “I was born a unicorn but I think...” She bit her lip, trying to work out how to explain her theory to the others without sounding quite mad.

“Is it your pendant?” Pinkie asked without preramble. The pink earth pony was as blunt as ever and Twilight welcomed it as it meant someone elsehad brought up the theory that it was something to do with the ancient artefact she was wearing. “Cause it flashes every time you change or get really mad or upset.”

“I think so.” Twilight nodded, “I only finished it last night, so I don’t know everything it does, but it’s quite possible. Especially when you consider the legends around it.”

“Legends?” Fluttershy asked nervously, having been keeping close enough to hear every word.

That led Twilight into explaining all the stories that dam-sire had told her, though she tried to stick to the better ones. She was really getting into one of them when Rainbow yelled down, “Watch out!” and they heard the cry of a huge bird.

The group on the cliff did not get a chance to react before the source of the call was on them, raking the path with its humongous great talons. They were lucky in one respect. The huge blue feathered creature was too big to grab any of them properly, but they were still swept in different directions as they were knocked about.

Twilight let out a startled and horrified cry as her back legs left the relatively solid floor behind and she slid down the cliff face a few feet, leaving her on her own on the ledge below her friends and unable to see them for the thick fog.

“Dun worry Twi,” Applejack called down to her, “We’re comin’ to get ya.”

“No!” Twilight whinnied back unable to hear the bird except for a slight whistling in the air and not wanting her friends to risk themselves for her, “Head up, I’ll join you.”

NaNo2014: Shadows of Friendship: Part 18

“Might. We might get to see the Princess.” Rarity reminded Rainbow, “She didn’t promise but I do agree with you. There’s six of us, we should be able to handle her nasty little tasks. As long as there’s nothing sticky and gross.” Rarity shuddered in overly dramatic horror at the idea, making the other ponies smile slightly.

“Do you think she can really steal souls?” Fluttershy asked, her whisper of a voice carrying well in the worryingly silent forest.

“Yeah and what was that thing?” Dash demanded, swooping overhead as best she could but finding flying difficult amongst the branches. On occasions she had to come within millimetres of the ground to avoid them and Twilight found herself wishing that Dash would just walk for a little bit, for her own safety.

“M...My dam-sire,” Twilight licked her lips and tried to pull her focus back onto the facts when she caught herself stammering, “Treasure Trove, he used to tell me stories about things he had learned on his many excursions to the part of Saddle Arabia that used to be Equigypt. He told me horror stories about what happened to others who tried to complete my puzzle, some were driven crazy, others saw things, strange creatures of mist and shadows, yet another fell into a coma from which they never woke up...supposedly they thought it was the Princess’s Curse, but I’m wondering if it was the Shadows rather than the Princess. After all ghosts don’t exist.”

“Hold up, you knew all of that and you were still working on it?” Dash looked impressed, “Pretty brave.”

“What are the Shadows anyway, sugar?” Applejack asked, glancing over at the unicorn who seemed to know so much. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“Neither have I.” Twilight admitted, disliking the fact and already planning to write down everything so she had some sort of reference for the next time this happened. If it something went wrong again, which she had an odd feeling it would, she wanted to be ready for it. “But my teacher left me a letter and...”

As Twilight explained the contents of the letter, they continued walking, heading further and further into the gloom. It was cold and Twilight had a slight headache as she told them everything that Celestia had told her, figuring that forewarned was forearmed. The silence around them was oppressive too, the weight of it weighing on their minds as they slowly slipped into a rather fearful and wary march.

It was far too quiet for their peace of mind. The Everfree Forest was supposed to be full of creatures, both friendly and less so. That they could not hear anything amongst the trees except for the sound of their own hooves was distressing. There was not even the sound of the wind whistling through the trees to break the sound of their hooves stomping the hard, dry mud on the floor and it was getting to all of them as they entered a copse of gnarled and twisted trees.

“I can’t take it anymore!” Dash was the first to break the silence. Her frustrated cry echoed through the trees and seemed to bounce off of the roof of foliage over their heads, “The quiet is driving me nuts!”

“Easy Rainbow.” Applejack, who had seen this coming from the explosive pegasus sighed, “We’re all gettin’ wound up, but yelling won’ help no pony.”

“It makes me feel better.” Rainbow grumbled, actually landing for the first time since they had entered the forest, surprising Twilight who had begun to doubt that Rainbow actually knew how to use her hooves since she spent so much time up in the air. “And...” Rainbow trailed off as the nearby bushes rustled, causing the first sound that wasn’t caused by them in what felt like hours.

“Hello?” Twilight asked nervously, her voice trembling slightly as the bushes rustled again, “Anypony there?”

A low, threatening growl was the reply as a group of creatures with fur not unlike the stallion who had met them at the entrance and white, almost glowing teeth, stalked towards them out of the bushes. They were canine in shape, at least vaguely and the shadows rolled off of them as they moved forward.

“A...Are those timber wolves?” Rarity asked with a frightened squeak as she backed up, crashing into Fluttershy, who shook her head.

“N...No, th...they’re not...” The pale yellow pegasus pony shook her head, taking a few steps back. “The...they’re different.”

“Whatever they are they ain’ gettin’ past me.” Applejack promised as she got between Fluttershy and the advancing beasts.

“Or me.” Rainbow Dash swore, taking to the air for a second, her wing tips just brushing the canopy before she swooped down and launched herself at the wolves, scattering the pack. One of the shadowy wolves tried to attack Fluttershy but Applejack dove into the fray knocking it aside as Rainbow’s second swoop sent another tumbling back into the underbrush.

Twilight launched an offensive blast of magic, the purple beam striking the nearest one, knocking it away but not seeming to hurt it. The dazed creature crashed into another one, sending them sprawling like dominos. Pinkie Pie could not help herself and started laughing at the ridiculousness of it.

Shockingly the noise seemed to hurt the creatures, all of whom let out a whining noise and cowered, backing up slightly, though the moment she stopped, confused, they started advancing again, snarling louder than before, this gaze firmly fixed on the pink pony who had caused them such discomfort.

“Laughter!” Twilight realised, “It’s an Element of Harmony! The Shadows were beaten by Unity! They’re the same thing!”

“These big scary dogs are frightened by a little laughter?” Dash questioned, wanting to make sure she had heard that right.

“Hey, don’t complain if it works…” Applejack shot back, knocking another canine monstrosity back. The Shadows coating it began to dissipate at the strike, revealing a shaggy silver fur that reminded Twilight of something she had seen earlier.

“If we just need to laugh…” Pinkie actually looked serious for all of about three seconds before she pulled out a huge cannon from Celestia only knew where and fired it, letting loose a mass of streamers and confetti that festooned the trees and wolves alike, Rarity and Rainbow could not help but burst into giggles at the sight of this shadowy silver creature decorated with neon streamers and coated in multi-coloured confetti. The sound of caused the wolves to recoil again, shaking off the confetti but unable to strip themselves of the streamers.

Their attempts caused Fluttershy to let out a soft giggle that sounded embarrassed for the poor wolves and forced the monsters further back again.

With enough of the darkness gone from the creatures, Twilight recognised them as Silver Fang. A beast type duel monster with fourteen hundred attack points. The silver unicorn filly in town had used the creature in her duel earlier. The dark tainted Goddess had to have summoned them to attack the group of ponies traversing the woods.

“If Nightmare Moon can do it…why can’t I?” Twilight asked herself, drawing a card using her magic and becoming amused when it proved to be the Dark Magician, a card she had had in her deck for almost as long as she had played the game. “Alright,” She took a deep breath, knowing that if this did not work, she was going to look like a fool, “Dark Magician,” She called, putting a little of the magic she could pull from the Puzzle into the card, “I summon you, in attack mode!”

There was nothing for a few moments, then a dark swirling vortex appeared which deposited the unicorn stallion on the card in their midst. The unicorn, whose coat was a sandy, creamy gold, was clad in armour of a purple that was not far from being the same shade as Twilight’s coat and clung to his form. His short tail, which was a slightly bluer purple than the armour, poked out from within, while a robe of a different shade of purple went over that. His mane was hidden by a pointy hat of the same purple as the armour and part of which doubled as a face guard and he held a green, metallic staff with his right foreleg, much like the royal guards held their lances in the palace. The stave had an emerald embedded in one end, probably as a focus as his sharp green-blue eyes scanned his surroundings. They rested on Twilight for a moment and widened, before he bowed to her deeply, practically touching the floor with his muzzle.

“Um…hi.” Twilight knew the others were watching her and looked embarrassed as the stallion before her straightened, though he maintained a deferential pose, “Attack the Silver Fang, please?”

The Dark Magician nodded and threw his staff up into the air, catching it between his teeth before slamming it into the two members of the pack who had tried to sneak up behind Pinkie Pie. The pair loosed a pained howl and shattered into a million shards of an oddly brown light which temporarily flash blinded the ponies, causing them to miss the duel monster taking out another three, though Twilight sensed the magic he used to blow one of them away.

When their vision cleared, there was only one Silver Fang left and he had his teeth clamped around the magician’s staff, trying to tug it away from him.

Twilight forced out a peal of laughter and the beast let go, backing off with a howl of pain that vanished into the ether as the Dark Magician blasted it with a pulse of what was clearly Shadow magic. Once it had dissolved completely into the mist on the ground, the stallion turned to look at Twilight. She surprised the male unicorn by bowing back to him with a smile, “Thank you.” She told him softly, “You can go now, if you want.”

The unicorn seemed to take a moment to decide something, then nuzzled her gently but reassuringly, reminding her of her brother, Shining Armour. Then he bowed again and vanished in a swirl of black energy.

There was silence for a moment from the other fillies who had accompanied her, then Rainbow Dash swooped over, landed at her side and looked her in the eye as she told her, “You have to teach me that.”