Chapter 3
The Journey Gets off to a Rocky Start
Although the Everfree forest was not what anyone could call a safe place, in fact it would be a place anyone would say a wondering mind might land you a place in a predator's stomach, everyone in the group were overcome by the forest. The mages by a quiet wonderment at the wild yet majestic forest, and the ponies would seem to be taken over by bouts of nostalgia at random. The gawking and reminiscing didn't leave much room for anyone to talk, though there were many questions on the minds of the mages.
A bit past a quiet little stream, Arctic decided to get a conversation rolling.
"So," he said to no one in particular, "what exactly is our plan?"
"Well," Twilight Sparkle explained, looking over her shoulder, "around the center of the forest, there's a castle that should provide good shelter during the night, after that, it should be a simple matter of casting a navigational spell and comparing that to a map to get our bearings."
"Quick question," Cinder said, holding up his hand, "why is there a castle in the middle of Everfree Forest? Doesn't seem like prime real estate."
"Well," Twilight continued, "this castle was the ancient castle to the Alicorn sisters, Celestia and Luna, however it was abandoned sometime after Luna gave into insanity. Right now it's just an empty castle, but when we arrived there the first time, it was actually the resting place for the Elements of Harmony."
"So why did Celestia abandon it?" Pastel asked.
"From what I gathered, I think there was just too many painful memories of what used to be."
"Hmm," Arctic nodded, "all right one last question... what in Solar's name is that rumbling?" Stopping, they all noticed that there was indeed a rumbling, coming and going every few seconds, shaking the ground.
"I'm... not sure." Twilight said, glancing around.
Suddenly there was a tearing noise to their right, like whole swaths of tree and bushes were being uprooted. Pony and mage alike stiffened and stared towards the source of the sound, which seemed to be behind an almost implementable looking thicket of trees and other assorted flora. All the mages, reached into their cloaks, fumbling for their wands in preparation for what was ahead. At that moment, a giant stone arm reached through the thicket, grabbed a handful of trees, and tore a hole through the thicket to it's left, like it was just opening some curtains. Through the new hole in the thicket stepped a giant stone figure, with a big, round, featureless body, and legs the size of tree trunks. It seemed to stare at the group with it's nonexistent eyes and started lumbering towards them. The whole group started backing up.
"W-what's that?" Fluttershy asked, quivering behind the bulk of the group.
"I-it almost looks like a Stone Golem from Alkarzar... but it's totally featureless." Sparks said.
"Is it living?" Shade asked, still backing away.
"No," Twilight said suddenly, "I couldn't feel it before, but it's definitely being held together by magic. However it doesn't feel like any Unicorn magic I've studied before."
"Probably animated by Human magic then." Shade said, scratching his chin.
"Okay then, what's my chances at being able to melt that thing down?" Cinder inquired.
"I'm not sure," Twilight responded, "but it'd be a risk."
"Plus," Pastel added, "you'd probably burn down some of the forest if you tried."
"Well, whatever we're going to do," Rainbow Dash interjected, "it's getting closer, and we don't have a lot of room to move." The group glanced around themselves, taking note that the sides of the narrow path was all tightly packed thickets.
"Okay," Sparks said, "farther down the path, is there somewhere with more room to move?"
"About a hundred feet down," Twilight responded, "there's a clearing, but we have to get there first."
"Alright then, on the count of three, we all make a break for it, agreed?" Shade said.
"Why wait for a three count?" Arctic asked.
"It's so no one gets confused and lef- Hey! Where's Torrent?" Shade suddenly asked, noticing a sudden lack of the blue robed mage.
"S-she took off down the path as soon as Twilight mentioned the clearing." Fluttershy said.
"Aww, screw it," Shade groaned, "Run!"
---
The mages and Ponies ran into the clearing, panting. Glancing behind them, they couldn't see the giant, but the rumbling from it's footsteps could still be heard.
"Alright," Cinder panted, "it doesn't seem to be that fast. Maybe we can just run the rest of the way to the castle."
"But then," Shade panted back, "then we'd have to keep on the move, there's no way we'd get any rest. It's going to catch up to us sometime. By the way, where in Solar's name is Torrent?!"
Looking around, the saw the mage standing in middle of the clearing, staring up at the sky as if thinking. Shade stormed over to her.
"Thanks," Shade grunted, "for just ditching us back there Torrent!" The other mages and Ponies gathered behind Shade. "Torrent I thought you were more responsible then that! Why in the world did you just lea-."
"I have a plan." Torrent said.
"Huh?" Everyone else asked.
"I have a plan." Torrent repeated.
Shade stared at her for a second before turning towards the others. "Cinder, watch for the giant. Okay, Torrent, what's the plan?"
"The ol' freeze and smash."
"Uh-uh." Arctic said, shaking his head. "I know I can freeze small stuff, but that thing is way to big, it'd take way too much energy."
"Not if I drench him in water first." Torrent said matter-of-factually.
"Okay then," Sparks said, "where in the world are you going to get this water?"
"Look up."
Above head they could see that the sky was filled with dark clouds.
"Guys, he's coming." Cinder said.
"You're going to get water from the clouds?" Shade asked, ignoring Cinder.
Torrent nodded her head.
"Won't that take too much energy too?" he asked.
"You seem to be forgetting that we have a couple of Pegasi on hand." Torrent said, smiling.
Shade glanced at the two Pegasi. "You two have experience moving clouds, right?"
"I do it all the time back in Ponyville." Rainbow Dash confirmed.
"Um," Fluttershy murmured, "I don't actually work with clouds too much, but I should be able to help."
"This... might actually work." Shade muttered.
"But, that thing isn't going to hold still and let you do that. I mean, not unless you can anchor it somewhere." Pastel said, glancing toward the clearing entrance.
"Actually," Shade said, holding up a finger, "I should be able to handle that."
"Okay guys," Cinder said, turning to face the group, "if we're going to go with whatever plan you've got, we need to do it fast." The rest of the group glanced past Cinder. The giant had entered the clearing and continued lumbering towards them.
"Alright," Shade said, clapping his hands, "Torrent, do you mind me hijacking your plan a bit?"
"Not at all." Torrent said, readying her wand.
"First, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, you girls fly up and bring down as many clouds as you can, Torrent and Arctic, you guys hang back and get ready to freeze the guy. Twilight, you're adept at shield and teleporting magic, right?"
"I'm not as good at shields as my brother, but I can definitely do them, and I'm especially good at teleportation."
"Good, then I'm going to need you to get me behind the giant and shield me while I start working on anchoring him. Meanwhile, Applejack, Pastel, Pinkie Pie, Sparks, Rarity, and Cinder will keep Mr. Smashy off Torrent and Arctic. Try not too get crushed guys. You ready?"
There was a general sound of agreement.
"Alright," Shade said, turning to face the giant, "let's do this then."
"Grab On!" Twilight said, a magenta glow surrounding her horn. Shade complied, settling his hand on the curve of her back. In a flash the two disappeared, only to reappear a second late behind the giant, it none the wiser. Twilight seemed to have not have been bothered at all by the magic, but Shade seemed a little disoriented, although he quickly shook it off and drew his wand. He quickly leapt forward, stabbing his wand an inch into the ground that was covered by the giant's shadow. He started muttering while Twilight trotted forward, standing next to him with her horn glowing, ready to throw up a barrier if need be.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, meanwhile, had zipped up to the cloud bank, and were busy gathering up as many clouds as they possibly could. Below, Torrent and Arctic stood, holding their wands, Torrent above her head and Arctic pointing his, a stick of wood that looked to be covered in frost, in the general direction of the lumbering behemoth. At the tip of both of their wands, a blue energy seemed to be gathering, Torrent's a darker blue then Arctic's.
Everyone else, meanwhile, had fanned out in front of the giant, diverting it's attention just a little bit. The giant seemed to calmly observe the deterrents before it, before seeming to focus the cotton candy pink mare slightly to its left. Suddenly, it leapt forward, much faster then it's gait had suggested it was capable of. It brought one of it's huge fist down on pink pony, shaking the ground for miles around. For a few horrible second the mages and ponies thought that Pinkie had been flattened into a pancake, before she suddenly popped out from behind Pastel, scaring the living daylights out of her.
"That was close." Pinkie said, staring at the spot that she had been standing. Besides her mane being a bit more ruffled then usual, she looked none the worse for ware.
"H-how did you do that?" Pastel asked, trying to regain her composure.
"Do what?" Pinkie asked innocently.
"Never mind," Pastel said, turning back to the giant. "Careful guys, he's faster then he looks."
Suddenly, a small bolt of electricity seemed to snake out of nowhere, striking the giant in the undefined torso. While it did leave a scorch mark, the giant seemed more annoyed then anything else. The giant turned toward the direction of the bolt, and there stood Sparks, her wand sparking with static, a mocking, smug look on her face.
"What, too shocking for you?" Sparks asked, grinning at her own bad joke. The giant just stared at her and then started to take a step. Suddenly, the giant leapt forward, trying to use it's original slow speed as a distraction from it's ability to explode into action. Sparks however, ready for it, leapt backward to dodge the heavy, deadly fist. The giant seemed to ready itself to leap again, when a fireball about the size of a human's fist rammed the giant, distracting the giant from the mage.
"Hey, try not to ignore the rest of us there, rocks-for-brains." Cinder said, preparing another fireball. He stood in a relaxed stance, betraying a certain comfortableness in situations such as he found himself in now. The giant turned to face Cinder, but stopped halfway through the turn. The giant had finally noticed that two of it's quarry weren't accounted for. The giant turned to face the way it had came and found the missing two. It saw Shade, knelling with his wand stabbed into the ground. Around the wand, the shadow of the giant swirled in a inky whirlpool. Next to Shade, Twilight stood, her horn still glowing with magenta light, her stance betraying a certain fright, but also a steady determination. The giant started walking towards them.
"Oh no." Pastel breathed. "Shade, he's coming!" She shouted, before shooting off a purple beam, attempting to distract the menace. The beam glanced off the giant's back, leaving nary a mark, the giant paid her no heed, continuing it's slow march towards Shade and Twilight. No matter what hit, Spark's bolts, Cinder's Fireballs, or Pastel's beams, the giant would not be deterred.
"He's coming Shade," Twilight whispered to the gray robed mage, "are you almost down with your spell?"
"Another minute," Shade muttered curtly, eyes squeezed closed, his voice filled with tension, "then we need to wait for Torrent and Arctic. Try and hold him off for a little bit." He returned to his obscure muttering, his voice taking on a new urgency.
The giant leaped forward, ready to smash Twilight and Shade. For Twilight, time seemed to slow down. She'd seen the explosive speed the giant could summon up when it was ready to kill, but it was totally different to be the target. What had seemed as slow as a tortoise now bared down on her like a speeding train. She almost believed that her magic wouldn't be fast enough to intercept the fist. But she knew she needed to get her shield up quick, not just for herself, but for the mage that knelt next to her, relaying on her to protect him, for her and his friends who needed the spell he was preparing to survive. With a spark of energy, a barrier formed an inch from the point of her horn, encasing he and Shade in a light pink force field a second before the fist met the barrier. Twilight had been expecting a lot of force, but what she got exceeded her expectations. She felt the impact reverberate through out her body, leaving Twilight shaken and breathing heavily. The barrier had a hairline fracture, she wasn't sure it could take another hit like that. But the giant brought his fist up again, ready to smash again. Twilight closed her eyes waiting for the inevitable. She heard the whoosh of the first swinging down, she readied herself for the impact. The impact came, but oblivion didn't.
Twilight cracked her eyes open, surprised she was still there. A layer of crystals had coated the barrier, leaving the barrier just enough buffer to hold. Twilight looked around, wondering where the crystals had came from. About 10 feet behind the giant, Rarity stood, her horn glowing a light blue, a look of concentration on her face.
The giant seemed just as surprised as Twilight at the sudden appearance of the crystals, and was surprised even more when a clear orange platform appeared underneath it's feet, lifting it off the ground, leaving about enough room for a pony to slide under the platform. Taking advantage of this, Applejack and Pinkie slid under the platform and pushed the platform with their hind legs, exhibiting surprising strength in the awkward position. The giant flailed it's arms in an attempt to stay up right, but it toppled over regardless, landing with an earth shaking thump.
"Thanks girls." Twilight said, panting heavily and taking the chance to drop the barrier.
"No problem, sugar cube." Applejack replied, dusting herself off. Suddenly, Rainbow shot over to Twilight and Shade, her wings flapping faster then usual.
"Arctic said he and Torrent are ready when you guys are." She informed Twilight and Shade.
"Good timing," Shade said, rising up slowly, "I just got done with the spell." His eyes snapped open, and what Twilight saw surprised her. His eye, normally brown, had taken on a dark shade of gray, an unsettling change and something she'd have to ask him about later. He also seemed to ooze a confident, almost cocky, aura, as if he knew he held immense power within and he knew exactly how to use it. The shadow still swirled around his wand, but when he flicked his hand, it splashed onto the ground and seemed to writhe and bubble. With another flick, the shadow shot across the ground, settling under the giant, who was attempting to stumble back to it's feet with little luck. With one final flick, four giant inky shackles shot out of the shadow, clasping around the wrists and ankles of the giant, before quickly retreating back into the shadow, slamming the arms and legs of the giant back into the ground, locking the giant in place. It struggled against the shadowy restraints, but to no avail.
Meanwhile, Arctic and Torrent stood surrounded by a veritable cloud bank. The energy at the tips of their wands had taken shape, for Torrent a giant water drop and for Arctic a Snowflake. Their eyes had taken on unnatural shades of blues, which worried Fluttershy, who hovered about five feet away from the mages. She glanced at the main action just in time to see the giant being shackled, and let out a startled gasp at the sight.
"I think that's the sign." Arctic said, a little smile touching his lips.
Torrent didn't say anything, she merely leveled her wand, pointing it at the now prone form of the giant. as if reacting to the lowering of the wand, a great deluge of water poured out of the clouds and gathered at the end of the wand, around the ethereal water drop. With a grunt from the Torrent, the ball of water shot towards the giant, eventually hitting and soaking it and the area around it. With this done, Torrent's eyes returned to their normal color and she collapsed, only managing to not crack her head because Fluttershy barely manged to catch her.
"Oh my goodness, is she okay?" Fluttershy asked, lowering Torrent slowly to the ground.
"She'll be fine." Arctic said, focused on the now soaking wet giant. "But, I might need you to do the same for me." With out explaining what he meant by this, he grunted, the snowflake seemed to dissipate, appearing over the giant a second later. The snowflake slowly descended, and, when it touched the giant, there was a flash of blue light. After the light dissipated, the giant had been frozen solid, it's thrashing ceasing. Arctic let out a little laugh before he started falling back, Fluttershy barely able to catch him in time.
"There's the freeze," Cinder said, backing up away from the giant-cycle, "now we just need the smash."
"I've got that covered," Shade said, his eyes still gray, "just gather 'round and get a shield up Twilight." The group dashed to stand behind Shade, weary about what he was about to do. As Twilight put up her slightly worse for ware shield back up, Shade flicked his wand up, and with that the shadowy shackles flicked up into the air, bringing the frozen giant with them, to about 10 feet, and with a flick downward, they slammed into the ground, bringing the giant crashing into the ground, it shattering into glittering chips of ice, leaving no sign that there had been a giant there.
With the giant now gone, Shade slumped, his form suddenly becoming haggard.
"It's been a while sin-" Shade didn't get to finish the sentence before he himself collapsed. Pastel stepped forward quickly, catching Shade under the arms.
"Whoa there." Pastel grunted. "You're going to have to take it easy, as are Arctic and Torrent. You guys haven't done magic that intensive since that one time those Manticores nearly destroyed three villages."
"We need to get going before something else comes along." Cinder said, glancing around like he expected something else to jump them right then and there. "I'll carry Shade, and, whoever thinks they can, can carry Arctic and Torrent." Soon Shade was riding on the back of Cinder, resting and out cold, Arctic on the back of Applejack, and Torrent on Rainbow Dash. The group continued on their journey, going with more caution then before.
---
Finally the group saw the giant crumbling castle. They were weary just from the first day of their quest and they were ready to bring the day to a close. The three who had collapsed had regained consciousness, although the still seemed a bit lethargic.
"Hurry," Shade mumbled slowly as they started crossing the rope bridge, "before something else pops up."
"I could move faster if I didn't have to carry you." Cinder grunted, still shouldering his weight.
"Are they going to be okay?" Rainbow asked, looking back at Torrent, who weakly held onto the flying Pegasus.
"They'll be fine," Pastel said, assuring Rainbow Dash, "they're just a bit groggy from using that much magic."
"Well, I hope they'll be ready to go tomorrow." Twilight said, being the first one to step back on solid ground.
"Well be fine," Arctic insisted, barely holding onto Applejack. "we just need to rest for a night."
"Shh," Sparks hushed suddenly, bringing the group to a stop, "do you guys hear that?" Straining, they could hear the silent pad of what sounded like canine feet, and the sound seemed to be coming from east of the castle.
"Oh, what now?" Applejack said, getting ready to run or fight if needed.
As if in answer, a brown blur burst out of the forest, only stopping when it was about ten feet away from the group. Now that it had stopped, they could see that it was a medium sized wolf with shaggy brown fur. The wolf was staring at the group with an intelligent glare. A magenta glow surrounded Twilight's horn, ready for whatever was about to happen, but Cinder stopped her with an almost dazed wave of his hand.
"Track?" Cinder asked, staring at the wolf. The wolf snorted derisively and with a flash of light, it was replaced. In it's place stood a girl with tan skin, brown, unkempt hair, and crossed arms. Her eyes were an unsettling golden color and they seemed to stare holes through both pony and mage alike. She wore a mottled green cloak.
"Nice to see you too Cinder." Track said, the corners of her mouth turning up a bit.
"What are you doing here?" Cinder asked, shifting uneasily.
"King Asher seemed uneasy about you six heading into hostile territory and asked me to head here to make sure you knew what you were doing. But I see you've already faced some hardships." She said, motioning toward the barely conscious mages.
"You should see the other guy." Torrent joked from the back of Rainbow Dash.
"Are you supposed to try and convince us to come home, Track?" Shade inquired.
"If I deem it necessary, then yes." Track confirmed.
"Whoa, hold on here!" Applejack said suddenly, bringing the conversation to a halt. "Who in the wide land of Equestria are you?"
"Allow me," Sparks said, stepping forward, "wielders, I'd like you to meet Track, leader of the Royal Scouts of Alakarzar."
"Greetings." Track bowed shallowly.
"Howdy, and you're here to convince them," Applejack indicated the six mages, "to head back home with you?"
"Again, if I deem it necessary, yes." Track responded.
Pastel sensed that she was about to deem it necessary. "Hey, Cinder," Pastel said, moving close to him, "how about you talk to Track while we get Shade, Arctic, and Torrent into the castle."
"Wha, oh yeah sure." Cinder said distractedly. He slowly lowered Shade until his feet touched the ground and let Pastel move to support him.
"He might be a bit heavy for you." Twilight said, looking between Shade and Pastel, "hold on, I'll help." With a quick spark, Shade was in cased in a magenta orb and levitated off the ground.
"Thanks, Twilight," Pastel said, stepping toward the castle, "have fun talking to Track, Cinder."
"Yeah, sure." Cinder said, still seeming a bit dazed.
Leaving Cinder behind, the group entered the decrepit castle and hurriedly set about setting camp. Pastel used her magic to set up three make shift cots for the semi-lucid mages to rest on, while Rainbow Dash and Sparks investigated the castle, making sure they were the only ones there. Rarity and Applejack, meanwhile, set about building a small fire for that night's dinner, although Rarity eventually left Applejack and Pinkie to cook the food, although she was slightly worried when she heard Pinkie ask if they could try some obscure Buffalo cuisine. Most Buffalo dining mostly involved a semi-recognizable mush, and was not know for it's taste unless you yourself was a Buffalo.
They'd cordoned off a area for the fire, so when Rarity exited the area, she saw that Sparks and Rainbow weren't back from scouting the castle yet, Cinder seemed to still be talking to Track, Twilight was busy studying a map of the Everfree Forest, and Pastel, along with Fluttershy, was keeping careful watch over the resting mages.
"Cinder's not done talking yet?" Rarity asked, trotting over to look at Twilight's map.
"I think he and Track have a lot to talk about." Pastel said, not turning to look at Rarity.
"Castle's clear." Rainbow Dash said, trotting out of a side passage with Sparks right behind her. Rainbow looked around and noticed the lack of a red robed mage. "Is he still talking to that wolf girl?"
"Uh-huh." Twilight muttered, scrutinizing the map.
"Planning our route tomorrow?" Sparks asked, floating over to look at the map herself.
"Yes, though the way Track talked, there may not be a need to. She seemed intent to bring you guys home." Twilight said, tracing a small path on the map.
"You won't have to worry about that." A voice said, surprising mage and pony alike. Cinder stood in the doorway, holding it open.
"You mean you convinced her that sneaking into Shangdai was the right thing to do?" Sparks asked, surprise in her voice, "Wow, I'm impressed."
"Well," Cinder said, walking into the room, "I didn't convince her, per say, but she did realize that she probably wasn't going to convince us otherwise."
"Where's Track?" Shade asked, attempting to sit up, though Pastel gently pushed him down again.
"She said that she needed to continue the investigation back in Alkarzar." Cinder informed him. "But she did say she'll be keeping tabs on us."
"Hmm, did she say anything else."
"Um," Cinder's cheeks took on a red hue, "some private stuff."
Torrent laughed from her cot.
"Torrent, hush." Sparks chided. Torrent's own cheeks turned red although she turned away from the group before anyone else could see, except for Rarity, who, while confused, said nothing.
"Well," Shade said, attempting to sit up again, although Pastel just pushed him back down again, "I think it's time to set up shifts for tonight."
"Mush's on everypony." Pinkie called, popping her head out from behind the curtain they'd set up.
"After dinner?" Cinder asked, walking toward the area.
"Fine," Shade sighed, "after dinner." Shade attempted to get up, yet again, just to be pushed down by Twilight's magic and Pastel at the same time.
"Rest." They ordered simultaneously. Shade just huffed, leaned back and closed his eyes.