It had taken a few days of preparation, but now they were finally going to defeat the Everfree.
So far their trip to the abandoned castle had been uneventful. Twilight was armed to the base of her horn with spell after spell, Radiance had shared some of his magic crystals with Applejack and Pinkie Pie, Rarity had made a small anti-magic rune that she was wearing as a necklace, and even Lyra was prepared to blow things up.
That didn’t stop Rainbow Dash from obsessively scanning the surroundings for anything out of the ordinary. The Everfree’s vines didn’t extend this far out, according to Pinkie Pie, but it could have scouts. Or ambushes. You never assume any plan will survive contact with the enemy.
Gilda flew down from the air, looking smug. “Nothing but dirt and rocks for miles, except at that castle. It’s full of trees and creepy black tentacles.
“Gilda!” Rainbow Dash hissed, flattening into a crouch and quickly looking back and forth. “Get back into the air! We could be ambushed at any second.”
“Wow, you’re really tense. Relax, you’re just being paranoid,” Gilda said, settling down on the ground and making a show of stretching out.
“Gilda I am serious. Get back up there right now or I will knock you up there,” Rainbow threatened, stalking over to the griffon with a hoof raised.
“Not to be rude, but I’m picking up magical signatures from all around us,” Rarity said, backing up toward Radiance.
“Gilda get in the bucking air,” Rainbow Dash said, jumping next to Pinkie Pie and landing in a pegasus martial art stance with her back to the earth pony.
Gilda’s eyes widened. “I’m not leaving you idiots. Do you realize what would happen? It’s never a good idea to separate a group.”
“Gilda, you—”
Before Rainbow Dash could finish her sentence, a vine whipped around Gilda’s middle. She struggled against it, but it was too late. Another three quickly joined the first and dragged her down a hole in the ground that closed as soon as she was inside.
“No!”
“Dashie. Calm.”
Rainbow felt a hoof on her shoulder, and looked over to see Pinkie Pie looking at her with an understanding gaze.
“It’s taking her to the same place as everyone else. No matter how bad it gets, just keep a smile in your heart, if not your face, and keep trying.”
“Pinkie, the only time I’m going to be smiling is when we beat this stupid forest,” Rainbow Dash said, settling back into her stance. Those vines wouldn’t catch her off guard.
“Oh Dashie. Pretend that already happened. You beat the Everfree. This is just a memory. Aren’t you happy?”
“Pinkie, you’re crazy. Anyway, we need to get to the castle before your magic juice runs out. How fast can you move while still keeping the vines away?”
Another black root erupted out of the ground and lunged at Rainbow Dash. She jumped to the side, but it just changed direction midway. Then it started turning gray, and its speed slowed. When it reached her, the tip evaporated on contact with her coat. Then the rest of it fell apart into a pile of ash.
“Wha—”
Then another one struck Rainbow Dash from the side. Too late, she realized it had been a feint. The first one had been a distraction, calculated to make to flee to the edge of Pinkie’s anti-magic area, while the second one sneaked up on her. She felt at her side and winced.
A few ribs were definitely broken. If she’d had her magic, this kind of thing wouldn’t even have slowed her down. As things stood, it was a chore just to get back into her guarding stance.
“Dashie! You’re hurt,” Pinkie Pie said with a look of concern. Then she looked at their surroundings and her eyes narrowed. Her entire expression changed until she actually looked scary. Rainbow Dash had never seen her this way.
“You hurt my friends! I’m still going to throw you a party, Everfree, but first I’m going to get an apology out of you. Whatever it takes.”
No more vines lunged from the ground. A cold gust of wind blew through the air. Rainbow Dash shivered.
I’m coming, Gilda, she silently promised.
At least the rest of her friends were alright. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were next to her, surrounding a small area in one of those anti-magic bubbles. To her left, Radiance, Lyra, and Rarity stood in a small circle, while to her opposite side Applejack and Twilight were standing side by side. Twilight looked exhausted. Her head drooped, and she was panting. She’d probably tried to cast a spell. Understandable, but that mare was just too jumpy.
“Alright everyone!” Rainbow Dash called. “We haven’t really been acting like it, but we’re on a time limit. Ponies are dying of starvation or raids, and soon we’ll run out of Radiance’s special crystals. So we need to go. Rarity, you need to be between me and Twilight. You have the map. Radiance and Lyra can guard you.
She waited for Radiance’s small group to shuffle into place, then moved with Pinkie into flanking position, Fluttershy trailing behind, while Applejack and Twilight did the same on the other side. They were much sloppier, but Rainbow didn’t call them on it. She didn’t have time to drill.
Then a pair of vines rose from the earth. They moved together until they almost looked like a giant..spring.
“Everypony run!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
A boulder ripped through the air, barely missing Rarity. Their choice of target could’ve been coincidence. It could’ve. But it wasn’t.
“Pinkie, can you use your other Talents right now?”
“Yup! It makes me suuper tired to use more than one at a time, though.”
“Okay, so what exactly can you do?” Rainbow Dash said, panting as the three groups galloped toward the castle in the distance.
“I can go faster, and I can put my mind into other things, and I can also see things a liiitle bit before they happen.”
“Great. Okay. If one of us is about to get hit, yell out which way to dodge.”
“Okie dokie! Hey Dashie, dodge!”
Rainbow Dash blinked. “Which—”
Not enough time to ask. She ducked to the ground. A chunk of earth whizzed over her head.
“Hey everyone! Big hole ahead!” Pinkie yelled as soon as Rainbow picked herself off the ground.
Rainbow Dash skidded to a stop as soon as she’d gotten back into a gallop. The castle was right in front of them, but a chasm surrounded it.
“Stairs over there,” Pinkie said, pointing with a hoof.
Rainbow Dash followed it with her eyes. Oddly enough, there were stairs leading into the chasm.
“It’s our only way. If there are stairs going down, there’s bound to be stairs going back up into the castle,” she said, then darted toward the others, Pinkie and a panting Fluttershy close behind.
“Follow us!” she shouted.
They followed, all skirting the edge of the chasm in their race to get to the stairs before the vines hit them with something. If only the unicorns could use their magic. Then they could just fling the rocks back. Wait, never mind. Then the vines could just attack them directly.
They were almost there when the next volley reached them. It was easily the largest. Boulders, rocks, even loose chunks of dirt flew at everyone. Every substantial projectile but one missed. A large rock struck Radiance in the leg. The limb collapsed under him, and he teetered on the edge of the chasm. Rarity and Lyra reached him before he fell down entirely and hauled at him with their hooves.
Then another terribly well-aimed boulder struck the group and sent them tumbling over the edge.
“No!”
Rainbow Dash wasn’t even sure who had said it. Maybe it had been her. Or everyone.
But now Radiance, Lyra, and Rarity were gone. Even apart from the fact that they were friends, Rarity had the map. Without it, they were lost.
Without it, Equestria was lost.