//------------------------------// // The fourth prophecy-understood // Story: Truths of a prophecy // by Cookiedash //------------------------------// The cutie mark crusaders where wandering about on the first floor, still trying to find Nightmare moon. The sun had completely set by now and there was still no sign of her. They rounded a corner and almost bumped into a guard. They quickly backpedaled and hid, hoping that the guard hadn't seen them. He hadn't. They peeked round. The guard was standing to the side of a large door. Another guard was posted on the other side. "How we gonna git past them?" Applebloom whispered "Maybe we could sneak past them?" Sweetie Belle suggested "We could knock both of them out." Scootaloo said, hopefully "No, wait, look up there." Applebloom pointed to the ceiling, where the ventilation shafts were, "We could use them." "But how are we going to get up there?" Scootaloo asked "Like we did with th' window o' course!" "But we still won't be tall enough." Sweetie Belle pointed out "We could always stand on our hind legs." "Umm, are you sure that's safe Applebloom?" "Course Ah'm sure Sweetie. Now come on!" "You're not going anywhere!" A voice said from behind. The fillies spun around, half expecting to see a guard and half expecting to see Nightmare moon. But they saw neither. Standing in front of them, with a look of fury on her face, was Rainbow Dash. She had managed to get to the building quickly, she flew over the fence and through the window the Crusaders had gone through. The crusaders hadn't been far from the window, just several hooves from it, so it hadn't been too hard to find them. "Oh, uhh, hey Rainbow Dash." Applebloom greeted, guiltily, "What're ya doin' here?" "Looking for you three! You two have scared your siblings to death just running off like that, and you" She said, rounding on Scootaloo "Nearly gave me a heart attack!" She admitted "With what's been going on, I thought you had gotten yourself into trouble!" Rainbow Dash was hissing now. The three could see that she was mad, for a number of reasons, and she had a right to be. "Where's mah big sis?" Applebloom asked "The others are outside, now, what in Equestria do you think you are doing here?" Rainbow Dash asked, her tone softening a bit as she led them towards the window. "We thought we could figure out the prophecy." Scootaloo admitted "So we decided to go back to the castle to find some answers." Applebloom said, leaving out the part of Nightmare moon, "But we couldn't find the castle, instead, we found this building." Sweetie Belle finished. "So you've been wandering around in here, trying to get answers?" Rainbow Dash guessed. The three fillies nodded their heads. "We're sorry." The said in unison. Rainbow Dash sighed heavily, "Well at least you're not hurt, and you did a pretty cool job of sneaking off, finding your way through the Everfree forest and not getting-" At that point a large unicorn guard came up to them from behind and grabbed Rainbow Dash with his magic. "Caught." Rainbow Dash finished, slowly. The three fillies looked back up at Rainbow Dash confused. They had noticed that she had stopped moving all of a sudden, mid-stride. Then, they saw the unicorn behind her. "Girls, run!" Rainbow shouted. The three fillies bolted for the window, but it was shut by the unicorns magic before they could reach it, before they turned and ran in another direction, they saw the face of Applejack as the window was slammed against her muzzle. The fillies kept running, avoiding each of the guards easily, mind, there were only about one or two, but they were big, strong and fast. The guards they had run past were right on their heals now, and trying to grab them. One of them grabbed Sweetie Belle but he released her when, out of pure panic, she shot a bolt of magic at him. Then she carried on running. Behind her, she thought she heard a window smash and the angry yell of Applejack as she gave chase. They heard a strangled cry from somewhere behind them and assumed that that was Rainbow Dash getting free of the stallions magic. The three ran and ran, just managing to avoid getting caught by the guards. They saw the elevator and ducked inside, the door quickly shutting behind them. But, one of the guards held the door open, he was struggling, as the door tried to close, but he was winning the fight. Just as he managed to keep the door open and one of his companions came int, Applejack and Rainbow Dash appeared and knocked both of them out, only to be both stopped by a dark blue aura. A manic laugh came with it. "Nightmare moon!" Sweetie Belle squeaked. A tall, dark alicorn wandered into their view. "Greetings, you three, fancy seeing you again." Then she wrapped the fillies in her magic too. "You let them go!" Rainbow Dash screamed "Now, why would I do that? If I do, they'll just be escaping. I can't let that happen, now can I?" "Let them go! Or you'll be sorry!" Rainbow Dash continued "What are you going to do about it? Colour my flanks?" Nightmare moon mocked. That made Rainbow Dash angrier and she struggled desperately against her magic. "Ya let them go! D'ya hear? Ya wont git away with this!" Applejack shouted, also struggling. "Oh, but I already have." And with that, Nightmare moon teleported them all away. --- Twilight raced through the corridors, she had just managed to get through the window and was now running after her two friends. She arrived just in time to see Nightmare moon vanish with them both and the three fillies. "Wait!" She called, but she was too late. Nightmare moon had vanished. The two guards who had pursued the fillies, lay on the ground, unconscious. Twilight fell back onto her haunches just as Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie showed up. "Where are they?" Rarity asked, frantically "I was...too late..Nightmare moon..took them..away just as I...got here." Twilight said between breaths. "NO! Sweetie Belle! We were so close!" Rarity weeped "Rainbow Dash, Applejack..." Fluttershy said quietly, tears forming in her eyes. "No!" Pinkie shouted, her mane deflating a bit "Rainbow Dash may have the most disturbing mind ever, but she's still our friend!" Pinkie sobbed, "And Applejack." Twilight said "Applejack's fine, her mind's not messed up." Pinkie Pie responded, "But she is also our friend. We have to help them!" "And Sweetie Belle! We can't just leave her and her friends down here either!" Rarity cried, "Don't worry Rarity, we'll get them all back. Right Twilight?" Fluttershy said, looking at her purple unicorn friend. "Y-yes, We'll get them all back Rarity, I promise." "But where are they?" Pinkie Pie asked, "I don't know, I can cast a tracking spell to find them, but I'd have to have something of theirs, something close to them." "Scootaloo's scooter is outside." Pinkie Pie suggested "No, it's too big, I have to be able to carry it." "Well, umm, how about one of Rainbow's feathers?" Fluttershy asked "That would be perfect if we had one." "Well, there is one hear." Fluttershy said, but she went unheard. "Hmm, did Applejack leave her hat behind?" Twilight asked "Twilight, I have one of Rainbow's feathers here." Fluttershy said again, Twilight ignored her "Oooh, I need something of theirs. Without something, I can't track them!" "TWILIGHT!" Fluttershy shouted, everypony looked at her, shocked, "Oh, umm, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" She shook her head to stop herself from apologizing, "I have one of Rainbow Dash's feathers." Twilight looked at her shocked, "How did you get that?" She asked "Well, pegasi tend to molt their feathers at this time of year, just like birds do, Rainbow must have lost this one while she flew over here." Twilight blinked at her. Then again. "Umm, Twilight? COuld you, you know, cast the spell, I mean, if it isn't to much trouble, but, I really want to find our friends." Twilight shook herself free from her daze and smiled at Fluttershy. "Sure." She took the feather in her magic and started to cast a spell. After a few seconds, Twilight felt a magical pull on the feather, she followed it, and Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie followed. "Have you got a trail?" Rarity asked hopefully, "No, that's why I'm just wandering through the halls aimlessly following this feather." Twilight retorted sarcastically. "You're not aimlessly following the feather." Pinkie Pie said, "You have an aim, to find the others! And you do have a trail you silly filly! That's why you're following the feather." Twilight just sighed. The feather lead Twilight to a small room. It was a bit bigger than the one the fillies had been in, but it was still small. A few buttons sat on the wall. All of them said 'dungeons, floor-' and then a number. There were five in total. "Wow, how many floors of dungeons does this place need?" Pinkie Pie giggled. "It's like Nightmare moon is planning on enslaving all of Equestria!" Twilight's face fell. So did Rarity's and Fluttershy's. "Aww, what's wrong guys? That was supposed to make you smile, it was a joke!" Then the implications hit her, and her face fell too, "Oh, she is planning on enslaving all of Equestria, isn't she?" The look on Twilight's face told her everything. Well, at least everything they thought Nightmare moon might be planning. Twilight shook herself and then pressed one of the buttons. The room began to shudder, then, a few moments later, it opened. The magic on the feather still tugged downwards, so she pressed the next button. The same thing happened, the magic seemed to be pulling quite hard, signalling to Twilight that they were not on the next floor down. Twilight pressed the button to the lowest floor. When the doors opened, the magic started to pull forwards again. Slowly, Twilight crept forward. She was in a dingy hallway. The magic tugged to the left. Twilight followed it. Then the magic jerked to the right, pulling Twilight into a room lined with cells. The magic pulled them all the way to the back and against a cell on the left. Twilight peered inside, it was hard to see, because it was so dark, but she could see the shape of a body against the back wall. "Rainbow Dash." Twilight whispered. The figure did not move, "Rainbow Dash." Twilight whispered again, a bit louder. The figure stirred, but not much. "Dashie!" Pinkie called. The figure slowly lifted it's head, sleepily. "Pinkie Pie?" It said. "Dashie! It's us! Where are Applejack and the crusaders?" Pinkie asked frantically, while Twilight tried to open the cell. "I-I'm not sure, Nightmare moon put a sleep spell on us, I think. Where are we?" "We're in the dungeons, Twilight managed to find you with a tracking spell after Fluttershy found one of your feathers." "Where's Nightmare moon?" Twilight asked. "I think she's gone to her office or something, she didn't say anything before she sent us to sleep, other than nopony is going to help us." "Well, she must be pretty stupid then. I mean, why wouldn't we come to help you? Your our friends." Pinkie Pie giggled, "Or she just expected that and set a trap for us!" Fluttershy said. "Don't be silly Fluttershy, Nightmare moon has been stupid this whole time, first, she kidnaps everypony but Rainbow Dash, who comes and saves us all, then, she traps us in a dream dome in the hopes that we won't figure it out and escape, but that failed when Twilight noticed that Rainbow Dash still had feathers she should have lost, and then she tries to stop us from finding out we bear the elements of Harmony, but that fails as well. Now she thinks we won't come to help our friends. I don't think she's going to have set a trap for us if she's been this stupid so far." Pinkie Pie waffled. "Pinkie look out!" Rainbow Dash suddenly shouted, trying to shoot forward to help her, but she was yanked back by chains. Pinkie Pie turned just in time to see an enraged Nightmare moon leap at her and pin her to the floor with magic. "Dare to call me stupid?" She spat. Pinkie Pie laughed nervously, "ummm, no, not at all, your snootyness." That just enraged the black alicorn further "Nopony insults me!" Nightmare moon growled "Then why do you let them?" Pinkie asked, coming up with an idea "What?" "I mean, everypony insults you behind your back, they all call you lame and boring." "I am not lame and boring! And nopony dares insult me!" "It's true, they do. They all say you have a fat flank as well" Rainbow Dash said, joining in. Nightmare moon turned her attention to the pegasus "Do you wish for me to burn you to a crisp?" She snarled "Hey, I'm just speaking the truth." While Nightmare moon was distracted by Rainbow, Pinkie Pie managed to slip out of her grasp. "Hey! Fat flank! Can you catch me? Or have you eaten one cupcake to many?" Then, she ran off. Nightmare moon screamed and darted after her. The others heard a faint call of laughter from Pinkie Pie, "You know what the best thing about bad guys is? They are super easy to anger! They get all mopey and angry when all you have said is that they need to stop eating so much pastry!" Then they heard another enraged shout from Nightmare moon. They chuckled, knowing Pinkie Pie would be alright, and Twilight set about opening the cell again. Then, she began to free Rainbow Dash of her chains. As she was doing so, they heard Pinkie Pie shout again, "FOUND APPLEJACK!" Then they heard a loud clang, that sounded like a cell door crashing to the floor. "That looked like it hurt." They heard Applejack comment. As soon as Rainbow Dash was free, she flew after Nightmare moon and Pinkie Pie like a bullet. The others quickly following. They turned the corner into the hallway just in time to see Rainbow Dash kick Nightmare moon in the face and swiftly move to the side. Pinkie Pie pointed down into one of the other rooms and then ran off again to distract Nightmare moon. Both she and Rainbow Dash kept moving so Nightmare moon couldn't stop them with her magic. It also made them hard targets to hit. Twilight ran down the line of cells and saw Applejack in the one with the missing door. Twilight instantly went to help remove the chains, while Fluttershy and Rarity stood outside ready to help Twilight if she needed it, and also to stop Nightmare moon from getting to her. - Rainbow Dash flew circles around Nightmare moon while Pinkie ran them. Every so often, one of them would dart to a random place and then somewhere else, while the other moved in to attack Nightmare moon. When that stopped working, Rainbow Dash got an idea. She quickly flew down to Pinkie Pie and tapped her lightly on the shoulder, "Hey Pinkie, your it." Then she flew off quickly. Pinkie Pie's eyes lit up and she charged at Nightmare moon, who had been confused by Rainbow Dash's actions. Pinkie Pie used the opportunity to slam her hooves against Nightmare moon and jump off of her to jab Rainbow Dash in the stomach, "Now your it!" Pinkie Pie dropped to the floor and darted between Nightmare moon's legs. Nightmare moon tried to follow her by bending her head down to look through her legs, but when she took her eyes of the pegasus, said pegasus, came crashing down on top of Nightmare moon's head, then flew over her and planted a swift kick on the back before tapping Pinkie "Tag." While Pinkie and Rainbow carried on their game of tag around Nightmare moon, constantly kicking and punching whenever they got the chance, and trying to avoid getting hit themselves, Twilight freed Applejack, and then the four mares searched for the fillies. However. none of the crusaders were in the dungeon. They couldn't find them. So, they came back out and called to Rainbow and Pinkie. "Come on you two! We've got to get out of here!" Twilight called "But what about the fillies, we can't just leave them here!" Rainbow Dash shouted back, still concentrating on her game. "They aren't down here!" "Then check the other floors!" "We can't there isn't time!" "Well I'll make time! Me and Pinkie can keep this going as long as we want, right Pinkie?" "Sure can Dashie!" "No you can't! You'll both tire out! The only reason Nightmare moon hasn't got you yet is because you won't stop moving and she can't keep an eye on you both at the same time!" "Horseapples! Big flank here won't be able to catch us!" "But what if the guards come? Or the fillies aren't here? What if we get caught? We can't risk it Rainbow, we can come back later and have a better chance at getting them. If we get them out now, then we'll all be caught and that's the end of it!" "NO! I wont leave them hanging!" "Rainbow!" Applejack shouted "Ah dislike the idea just as much as ya do, but Twi's right, we gotta better chance at gittin the fillies later. We need ta go now!" Rainbow grumbled for a few seconds more before relenting. "Fine!" She then grabbed Pinkie Pie by the tail and flew over to Twilight, who was already performing a mass teleportation spell. A bright light flashed, when it faded, the six mares were back in the corridor with the unconscious guards. They then ran for the window they had entered by. Along the way, Rarity saw a bit of parchment with squiggles drawn onto it. She picked it up, thinking it might be useful. Then ran after her friends. Rainbow Dash pulled her up so she could get through the window before following. After they had all got over the fence, the six ran for the forest edge as fast as they could. When they broke into the cover, they didn't stop running, not until they had reached a cave. They all ran into the cave and sat down, panting. Twilight lit her horn so that they could all see. Then she noticed the bit of parchment in Rarity's grasp. "What's that Rarity?" She asked, "I'm not sure, it has a bunch of squiggles on it." Rarity passed the piece of parchment over to Twilight, who looked at it with confusion. "It looks like it's another language. Badly written, but still another language. Anypony have any idea what it says?" She passed the parchment round to her friends, each shaking their heads, but, when it got to Fluttershy, she nodded hers. "It's written in Chiropnese, the language of bat's, or bat ponies." She said, "Can you read it?" Twilight asked, again Fluttershy nodded her head. "I can, but, it's badly written and it's hard to read." "Can you still tell us what it says though?" "I-I think so. Umm, it looks like, umm, benevolence, umm, flows..like silk wings....through, umm, air. When the, umm, tree grows, the, uhh,..benevolence will know, and will, umm see all,...urr wounds." "Benevolence flows like silk wings through air. When the tree grows, the benevolence will know and will see all wounds." Twilight repeated, "It's another prophecy!" "And an easy one at that." Rarity said. "Umm, I don't see how that's easy." Fluttershy said "Well, darling, benevolence means kindness, so it's talking about kindness." "And it says, 'flows like silk wings through air' so it must be talking about something that can fly." Pinkie added "'when the tree grows', hmm, there must be a deeper meaning to this part, but, if we keep it simple, then a magical tree might just grow." Twilight said, "And as soon as that happens, the kindness will be able to see all wounds, darling." Rarity finished. "So, umm who's this kindness?" Fluttershy asked, all heads turned to her, but not because she asked the question, "Why are you all looking at me?" "Well Fluttershy, your element, is kindness." Rainbow Dash said, "And you can fly!" Pinkie added "Oh, umm, my." "Well, that was figured out faster than I thought. Now for this tree." Twilight said. "Maybe, it's a magical tree that will grow as soon as Fluttershy comes near it!" Pinkie Pie suggested "That seems pretty logical, from what the prophecy says, but, I don't think think those kind of trees exist." "Darling, from what's happened so far, and what with Pie's almost psychic ability, I wouldn't be surprised if those kind of trees did exist." Rarity said "You're right. Anyway, it's getting late, we should be getting to sleep now. We'll camp here. In the morning we can figure out how to get the Cutie mark crusaders back. Is that alright?" Everypony nodded their heads in agreement with Twilight, "Also, like we did last night, I think we should have night shifts. I'll take first watch." Twilight woke up in the middle of the night. Moonlight shone through the cave entrance and rested on the floor. It lit up a few of her friends sleeping bags. Rainbow Dash's was empty. 'Must be Rainbow Dash's shift' Twilight thought. She got out of bed and quietly trotted over to the entrance. As she got closer, she thought she could hear somepony talking, no, not talking, singing. Twilight stopped and listened. The pony was singing a song that Twilight hadn't heard in a long time. She had also only ever heard it sung by one pony. Princess Celestia. Twilight remembered that, sometimes, on clear nights, she and Princess Celestia would sit together on a balcony, looking out into the night sky. Rarely, on these occasions, Princess Celestia would sing a song. Carefully, Twilight trotted closer to the entrance, she could hear the voice better now. It belonged to Rainbow Dash. Though her voice wasn't the best suited to sing that particular song, she sung it very well. Twilight peered out of the cave. Rainbow Dash was sitting a few hooves away from the cave and had her back to it. It looked like she was holding something in her hooves. She sung the song again. But, it seemed that she only knew a bit of it, as she was only singing the chorus and first verse. "Hello moon, hello moon, I can see you tonight, shining brightly as ever, Hello moon, hello moon, I can see you tonight, shining brightly as ever, Stars dotted round the sky, covering you up like dia~monds, Clouds mist the air, making you barely visible, but I can see your golden, white, glowing face, Shining through the clouds and the layer of the stars, As they blend right into the deep blue night, Hello moon, hello moon, I can see you tonight shining brightly as ever, Hello moon, hello moon, I can see you tonight, shining brightly as ever." Twilight tried to step outside quietly, so as not to disturb Rainbow Dash, but stepped on a twig accidentally, catching the pegasus's attention. Rainbow Dash jumped and spun around, thinking there might be something dangerous trying to enter the cave, but instead, she saw Twilight. She let out a small sigh of relief, but stopped halfway through, realizing that Twilight had probably heard her singing. "Uhh, hey Twi." She greeted "I liked your singing." "I, uhh, I wasn't singing." "Don't lie to me Rainbow, I know it was you singing. Nopony else is out here." Rainbow Dash sighed and looked to the ground. She picked up the little object she had been holding when she heard Twilight step on a twig. She looked at it for a few seconds before tucking it into her mane. "What's that?" "None of your business." "Come on Rainbow, we're friends aren't we?" "Yes we are, and as my friend, I'd like you to not stick your nose into my business." Twilight was about to retort back at her friend, but then stopped. 'If it's personal to Rainbow Dash, then I should let her decide when she wants to talk about it' She thought. "Okay. I liked your song. Where did you learn it?" Rainbow Dash just shrugged, "Did you learn it from school?" Twilight pressed, again Rainbow Dash shrugged, "Did your parents teach it to you? Or a sibl-" Twilight didn't get to finish her sentence, "NO! They did not teach it to me! I have no clue where I learned the song! I just know it! OK?" Rainbow Dash snapped, "Alright, alright, sweet Celestia, there's no need to snap at me, I was just asking a question." "Well I'm not very comfortable with your question, ok?" "Why? I was just asking if your par-" "I don't like to talk about my parents! So shut up about them!" Twilight's expression softened slightly. 'She must have had a bad past with them.' She thought, "Ok, I'll stop." She eventually sighed. She was still curious as to why the pegasus wouldn't say anything, but, like the object, if it was personal to Rainbow Dash, then it was not Twilight's place to press....Maybe she'd ask Fluttershy about it later. "Thank you. Why are you up anyway?" "Couldn't sleep." "What'ya thinking about?" "Everything really..." Rainbow Dash nodded and turned away from Twilight, then she pulled the object back out of her mane, Twilight looked at her curiously. "It's the only thing I have left from my parents Well, apart from my old blanket that has survived everything I put it through." Twilight listened to Rainbow Dash quietly, "I've always kept this with me, I never gone anywhere without it. Even when I do my stunts, I still have it tucked into my mane." Twilight trotted over to Rainbow Dash and sat next to her. "I was left on the doorstep to Cloudsdale orphanage, I was still a foal. The carers who worked there always said I was only a few days old when they found me." "Are you angry with your parents?" Twilight asked, she sensed Rainbow Dash tense up at the question and instantly thought that she had said the wrong thing, but Rainbow Dash quickly relaxed. "A little. I'm angry at them for leaving me, but..." She paused, "Maybe they did it for the best. What if they were the poorest ponies on the streets of Cloudsdale and knew I'd be better off at the orphanage, where I'd get fed and looked after properly. What if they were really ill and couldn't look after me. I don't know." "Well, whoever they are, I'm pretty sure that they love you very much." "The main reason why I'm angry at them? They left me with no name, no leads as to who they are." "They didn't name you?" Twilight was shocked "No, the orphanage did." "You poor thing." Twilight exclaimed, and reached over to hug her friend, who accepted it after a few moments of squirming. "Can I see it?" "See what?" "The jewel from your parents." Twilight replied, pointing to the crystal feather. Rainbow Dash hesitated for a moment, but then held it out. Twilight gently took it in her hooves. It was a key ring, modified into a hair clip, it was glowing slightly. It seemed to glow all the colours of the Rainbow. "It's beautiful." She murmured, then passed it back to Rainbow, who tucked it into her mane. They stayed silent for a few minutes. "I'd better wake AJ now, it's her shift." Rainbow Dash said, getting up. "Tha's alright, Ah'm already up." Applejack's voice came out from the cave entrance, "Oh, hey AJ, how long have you been standing there?" "Ah jus' got up. Wus wonderin' why ya didn't wake me up already, by the looks o' it, ya over stayed yer shift." "Sorry AJ, Twilight woke up, so we were just chatting." "Alright, ya both git back ta sleep. All o' us need as much energy as possible tomorro'" Twilight and Rainbow Dash nodded and headed into the cave and crawled into their sleeping bags.