//------------------------------// // The fourth prophecy-complete // Story: Truths of a prophecy // by Cookiedash //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash woke up to the sun beating down on her fur. She sat up and looked around. Most of her friends were already awake, only Rarity and Fluttershy were still sleeping. Just then, Applejack walked into the cave. "Mornin' Rainbow. Ah was jus' comin' ta git ya'll sleepy heads up. Twilight wants ta git movin' already." "She has a plan to get the fillies back?" "Nah, Twi wants ta git this prophecy done first. Say's that it might be better if we do, have a better chance at succeeding." "...Fine, I hope Scoot's is ok, she's used to looking after herself but..." "Ah know. Ya think o' Scootaloo like a li'l sis. Ah'm worried 'bout Applebloom an' Rarity 's worried 'bout Sweetie Belle, so we know how ya feel." Applejack shook Fluttershy awake gently, while Rainbow Dash woke Rarity. "Alright girls, we have to get going. If I'm correct, then we have to complete all of the prophecies before we can defeat Nightmare moon." Twilight said, "So, we have to complete them all before getting back our sisters?" Rarity asked worriedly, "Possibly, but don't worry Rarity, I'm sure they are fine. Anyway, if we complete the prophecies first, then we have a much better chance at getting the girls out." "But what if it's too late by then?" "It won't be" Twilight reassured, then, seeing that Rarity was still worried, she said "If it makes you feel better, we'll go straight back and try to rescue them after we have this prophecy done, ok?" Rarity relaxed a little bit, but not much. "Ok, then, let's get moving." The six mares started out again, deeper into the forest. "Twilight, do you have any idea where we're going?" Rainbow Dash asked "Of course I do." "Then where are we going?" "We're going to find this magical tree that is going to grow and give Fluttershy her powers." "An' that is where exactly?" Applejack asked "In this forest, it has to be." "Twilight dear, don't you have a more specific answer? We've been walking for hours." Rarity whined. Twilight stopped, forcing the others to do the same, and looked at them, "Sorry, Rarity, I'm just really stressed right now, we need to defeat Nightmare moon, and we can't do that if we haven't completed all of the prophecies." She apologized, then, they carried on walking. Soon, they came to a small clearing in the forest. Soft, mossy grass, covered the ground and light shone through the gap in the trees. "Twilight, can we stop and rest, my hooves are aching terribly!" Complained Rarity, "I'd like to rest too, if you don't mind." Fluttershy asked meekly, "Well I can keep going for ever!" Pinkie Pie shouted, whilst bouncing around the clearing. "Alright, we'll rest here for ten minutes, then we need to get moving again." Twilight decided, the others wandered into the clearing and flopped down. A few animals went over to Fluttershy and started talking to her, Rarity set down a few blankets and lay down on one, Applejack joined her. Rainbow Dash sat herself on a branch of a large tree, Twilight sat beneath in the shade. As they were about to leave, they were ambushed by several armored ponies, bat ponies. There were eight, in total. They all leaped at the girls, each taking one on, Rainbow Dash and Applejack took the extra two on as well. A bat pony flew at Twilight from the side, taking her off guard, the bat pony pinned her down, but Twilight blasted him with a shock wave. He got up quickly and flew at Twilight again, she fired several magical bullets at him, he dodged them all and slammed his hooves into her chest. Then, as she was powering up another attack, he flicked her horn to disable her magic. Twilight skidded across the floor, then jumped up. She tried using her magic, but that just gave her a headache, so she went for a more physical attack. She ran straight at the bat pony, who ran at her. Just as they were about to collide, Twilight dodged to the left and slipped her right foreleg under his hooves, tripping him up. Rainbow Dash was tackled by two bat ponies, one from each side. The larger bat pony forced her into the other and all three began to tussle on the ground. They rolled around each other, trying to pin the other(s) to the ground. The two bat ponies eventually managed to hold their positions on top and pinned Rainbow to the floor. Then, as the larger bat pony held her down, the smaller one took out some rope and attempted to tie Rainbow's wings together. Using the advantage of being lifted off the ground so that her wings could be tied, Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and propelled herself into the air, knocking the two bat ponies over, then she swooped down, grabbed the rope and tied the smaller bat pony up with it. While that bat pony tried to untie herself, Rainbow Dash tackled the bigger one, pinning him to the floor before stopping on him, then, while he was winded, she picked him up and dumped him on the still struggling smaller bat pony. A mere 3 seconds before they were ambushed, Pinkie's Pinkie sense sensed that somepony was about to jump on them, so Pinkie Pie just managed to dodge when a bat pony came hurtling through the bushes at her from behind. Taken by surprise by Pinkie Pie dodging, the bat pony lost his balance and rolled to a stop. Then, as he got up, Pinkie Pie jumped on top of him, forcing him to the floor again, she then jumped off and started to bounce around him, almost randomly. The bat pony watched her for a few seconds, trying to find the pattern, as soon as he did, he leaped at Pinkie's next target. Unfortunately for him, Pinkie was ready and instead of leaping where she was supposed to go, she leaped at the bat pony. She hit him mid-leap and pushed him to the ground. Just as she was about to repeat the pattern, her Pinkie sense acted up, then Rarity slammed into her from behind. The two collapsed in a heap, and before they could get up the two bat ponies attacking Rarity and Pinkie dog-piled on top of them. Whilst being squashed under the weight of all three ponies, Rarity saw Rainbow Dash Flying towards them from her left. Pinkie Pie saw Twilight racing in from her right. Rainbow Dash bucked the top bat pony off of the pile and Twilight shot the second one with a fire beam, then she lifted Pinkie off of Rarity. Applejack then ran up to them and bucked away the bat pony that had snuck up on Rainbow Dash, knocking him unconscious. Then, they all heard a scream. It wasn't Fluttershy. The bat pony that had ambushed Fluttershy was surrounded by: five rabbits, two foxes, twelve birds, three squirrels and a bear. Fluttershy was clinging desperately to a tree branch, still trying to recover from the initial shock of being ambushed. Pinkie Pie hopped over and joined in with the animals, then, the bat pony tried to fly over the bunnies, but was shoved down by the bear, the, all the animals, and Pinkie, attacked. They kicked, scratched and bit the poor bat pony, who, after managing to escape their grasp, flew away frantically. Seeing one of their own defeated so easily, the others retreated too. The one tied up, being carried away. After recovering from her shock, Fluttershy thanked her animal friends and checked them all over to make sure they were ok. As the last animal was checked and given the ok, Fluttershy felt something. It wasn't like a tap on the shoulder, rather like feeling hungry. Instantly, even if she didn't realize it, she knew what it was. Somewhere in the forest, a tree sapling had pushed it's way out of the ground and into the world. Looking around, Fluttershy could then see every single wound that her friends had sustained. Quite a few of them were pretty bad, but one of the worst was one of Rarity's injuries. Rarity's magic core had been squashed. A magic core is something all 'magic animals'* have. It sits behind the right lung, next to the heart. It is what allows the animal to use magic in some form or another, in unicorns and alicorns, this comes out as pure magic. If it is damaged, then the animal cannot perform magic. When, a unicorn's horn is flicked, the magic core vibrates, temporarily stopping the magic usage. When damaged, while fixable, the injury is not felt by the animal and can be fatal if not treated within a few days. Fluttershy rushed over to Rarity and got her to sit up as straight as possible and hold her breath. Taken aback by the jester, Rarity protested, but soon gave in and did as she was told. Everypony else watched in confusion. Fluttershy held a hoof on Rarity's chest, where the magic core is and pressed gently. She then got Rarity to exhale, then hold her breath again, the motion was repeated several times before Fluttershy felt the magic core relax. She saw the injury fade, but it was still there. She explained the situation to Rarity and told her to not use magic no matter what, otherwise, she may never be able to use magic again. Twilight walked up to Fluttershy, a confused expression written over her face. "Fluttershy, what was that?" "Oh, umm, Rarity had a squashed magic core." "How do you know?" "I saw it." "But-" "It sort of...glowed. Everypony has glowing spots, where their injuries are." "Have you always been able to do this?" "No, it, umm, just started." Realization dawned on Twilight, but that brought up another question. "The prophecy has come true." She muttered to herself, "But where's the tree?" "Alright everypony. I think we should settle down here for the night." Twilight decided. It was several hours after the attack and the girls had been walking back towards the castle, like Twilight promised, they were going to try and get the fillies back, "We'll carry on in the morning, there isn't much we can do now, it's too dark to keep moving." Everypony else let out a sigh of release and began to unpack their stuff. "Rainbow, c'n ya git us some firewood?" Applejack asked. Grumbling about how Applejack should do it herself, but too tired to argue, Rainbow Dash went to collect the requested firewood. When she got back, Applejack had set up a small circle of rocks, to stop the fire spreading, Rainbow dumped the wood in the circle and Applejack lit the fire. Pinkie pie handed out marshmallows and Rarity insisted they do not tell scary stories, which the others agreed to, some more reluctant than others. They all agreed to have a night watch again, each of them taking a shift. During Rainbow Dash's shift, she felt that something was watching them. She could hear the rustling of the bushes and the sound of something moving. Slowly, she stood up, and listened. She could only hear the sounds of the forest for a few seconds, then... Pad. It was so light that she could barely hear it, but it was there alright. It was shortly followed by another pad. then another. Something was definitely moving out there, something big. The something seemed to be watching them, walking about in the bushes, waiting for something. Rainbow Dash was tense, she knew exactly where it was, she couldn't see it, but she knew it was crouched in the bushes directly in front of her. She dared not look away to wake the others, for fear of it attacking at that moment. Cautiously, she spun her ears round in all directions, trying to listen for anything else that might attack. This could be the beasts coming to take them away, sent by Nightmare moon. The something moved, it moved towards her. This could be a manticore, having spotted an easy meal. The something crept closer, being careful not to disturb anything. This could be a chimera, trying to defend it's territory. The something kept coming closer, just walking, not taking any advantage and jumping in for the attack. That must mean it's an evergator, hunting for sport. Rainbow Dash crouched low, ready to pounce on the attacker. The bushes rustled, signalling that the attacker had moved into range. Rainbow Dash jumped, prepared to land on top of an evergator, but, instead, she landed on the wooden paws of a timberwolf. She blinked in confusion, then, looked up and saw the even more confused eyes of Paul. Paul tilted his head at Rainbow Dash who blinked back, her mind still trying to process who it was she was looking at. Then after several seconds, she got off of him and apologized. Then, asked in annoyance why he snuck up on them instead of just walking over to them. Paul explained that he didn't want to scare Rainbow Dash and thought it was best if he showed his presence before walking over. For the next few hours of the night, Rainbow Dash and Paul discussed what had been happening. They didn't bother waking Rarity for her shift and both stayed up for morning.