//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - "...You're Absolutely Right!" // Story: Unlikely? // by WillowWing //------------------------------// As she walked along the road to the Everfree forest, Rarity fought to control her racing mind. The presence of her two friends close behind her was reassuring, of course, but there was always the chance that they would be too late to help her if something bad happened, or the danger would hurt them as well. There was, however, nothing that could be done about the situation other than what had already been established, and Rarity herself wasn’t as helpless as many might think. Soon, too soon in Rarity’s mind, the dark edge of the forest loomed before the friends, a stark contrast from the grass and rolling hills around Ponyville. Glancing behind her, Rarity saw that the other two mares had already vanished into a small crop of bushes several yards from where road and forest met. Already feeling very alone, the white unicorn slowed her pace, sweeping her gaze left and right across the tree line. The note hadn’t said exactly where to meet this mysterious stranger, so she was a little nonplussed when no one was sitting there waiting for her. She glanced in the general direction of her friends’ hiding place, but flicked her eyes back to the trees as a flash of movement caught her eye. Plucking up her courage, she addressed the movement. “Yoo-hoo? Rarity is here, just like you asked… Now, if you would please show yourself, we can have a civilized conversation.” Her voice was astonishingly steady, betraying almost none of the trepidation gradually building in her chest. There was something about the atmosphere the note had caused, that, mixed with the foreboding forest and movements in the trees, made Rarity want to turn tail and flee back to her safe, comfortable home, no matter what she was supposedly missing. She opened her mouth to speak in the direction of the trees once again, but the words caught in her throat as a low, quiet laugh rolled across the empty space between her and the trees. “Hmm… I didn’t think you would actually be daft enough to show up…I suppose I was quite wrong.” To Rarity, it seemed as through the voice was a palpable presence, curling around the unicorn’s ears and into her head, freezing her hooves into place, no matter how much she struggled to move them. Her eyes, though untouched by the strange, paralyzing aura, stayed plastered to the trees; she half hoped that something would show itself, though the majority of her rational brain just wanted to leave the situation alone. “I suppose you want to know what you could have possibly misplaced.” Rarity’s eyes raked the treeline as she heard the voice once again. This time, she pinpointed where it was coming from and locked her gaze there, her breath coming in short gasps as she waited for the owner of the voice to show itself. It sounded male, deep and smooth, though quite unlike most other male ponies she had heard. Was it possible that the voice belonged to something more sinister…a Manticore or Hydra maybe? Forgetting that these creatures couldn’t speak even if they wanted to, these and many other dark thoughts drifted into Rarity’s mind, and she suddenly wished for Rainbow Dash and Twilight to come save her from the horrible power of the voice and it’s owner. If only she could see him… As if on cue, an oddly bright figure stepped out of the thick trees. It took several seconds for Rarity’s brain to register that what she thought was shining white fur of some kind was actually a cloak, which was draped across the shoulders and back of a pony-shaped figure. Its head and face were shrouded by a large hood, which had thrown off her perception, and had made the figure seem disproportionate and bigger than it actually was; that particular detail was quite unneeded, as the actual creature was almost twice as tall as Rarity at the shoulder. The creature kept its head down as it spoke, and motioned back to the trees, as if drawing out some unknown force. “This, my dear, is what you have overlooked. Though I suppose if you haven’t noticed by now you shan’t miss it that badly.” The voice was very matter-of-fact now, as something drifted slowly towards Rarity out of the trees. The unicorn’s sapphire eyes widened and she opened her mouth to shout, though she still couldn’t move. Before she could speak, however, another voice interrupted. “Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash crashed out of the bushes as she screamed and sped towards the floating bundle, which was, in fact, Fluttershy, out cold and suspended upside-down, limbs hovering at weird angles like a grotesque, terribly life-like puppet. Dash, who going almost fast enough for a sonic rainboom at this point, screamed once again, this time in pain, as she was suddenly stopped in mid-air only a few feet from Fluttershy. She was panting but was apparently just as helpless as the other unconscious pegasus, because only her eyes flicked to Rarity, wide with hurt and fear. Rarity shrieked now, directing her fury at the cloaked figure. “How dare you! Let my friends go, you monster!” Directing all her energy at her feet, Rarity managed to take several shuffling steps as her horn began to glow. A growl issued from the cloaked figure and it reared, casting off the robe to reveal an even whiter coat underneath. Rarity stopped trying to move and simply gaped as the creature spread huge, feathery wings; it was a pure white alicorn, mane, tail, horn and coat all gleaming in the sunlight. Its eyes were quite disconcerting, as they were completely black, save for a white circle that served as a pupil. The Cutie Mark was a large black circle, though what this meant, Rarity didn’t know, and certainly was in no place to ask. A maniacal, sharp-toothed smile spread over the alicorn’s face as he watched the ponies’ dread gradually build. “Hahaha! You have no chance against me, my little ponies. Now…this isn’t quite going as I had planned, what with your little magic using friend sneaking around…” Twilight stopped dead in her tracks, a few feet behind the alicorn, hidden under the eaves of the forest. “I think I’ll just take this and be on my way…” Fluttershy began to drift back towards the trees, and the snow-white creature turned his back to leave. “If you want to see her again, come find me. I’ll give you a hint…you’ve been at my hiding place before, where you first found out your worth.” A heavy gust of wind blew around the small group as the alicorn took off; he was soon invisible against some large, fluffy clouds in the distance, and Fluttershy had disappeared as soon as she reached the darkness of the forest. Rainbow Dash fell to the dirt road and lay there, winded, unable to get up or speak. Rarity was likewise stunned, though she found she could finally move her feet. Twilight, however, galloped over to Dash and lifted her with magic, the strain of doing so showing in her eyes. “Rarity!” The white unicorn snapped out of her daze as Twilight shouted. “We need to get Rainbow back to Ponyville! Help me.” Rarity nodded slowly and melded her own magic with Twilight’s, who immediately began to run back to the little town. Falling into step with the other unicorn, Rarity finally voiced what she was sure they were both thinking. “It was…an alicorn… Only the princesses have horns and wings. We have to tell Princess Celestia, before-” Rarity was cut off and both unicorns started as Rainbow Dash’s grating voice ripped into their thoughts. “No! We don’t have time!” The pegasus broke free of the magic that held her and shot into the air, only to be stopped by Twilight grabbing her multicolored tail in her mouth. “Let…me…go! We’ve got to save Fluttershy! Right…now!” Rarity scowled and helped Twilight yank the overexcited Dash back to earth. “Dash! Listen to me!” Twilight was shouting at this point as she slapped her hooves on either side of Rainbow Dash’s face. “You can’t just go chasing after somepony like that! We need to plan!” Rainbow, who had never seen Twilight like this, became suddenly serious. “This is a huge deal. Like…gigantic. We can’t leave Fluttershy with him… Who knows what he’ll do to her...” Though she appeared steely on the outside, Rainbow Dash was inwardly frantic, her mind filled with horrible visions of how her timid friend would be treated with the seemingly insane alicorn. Twilight saw this easily, and calmed herself with a few deep breaths before speaking soothingly. “It is a big deal, but we’re not completely clueless. He hasn’t hurt Fluttershy yet, so he probably won’t do anything to her any time soon. We know he wants the rest of us as well, or he wouldn’t have bothered showing himself to Rarity; he obviously wanted to catch her off guard and capture her at the forest, but that didn’t work. And we know where he is.” “Oh really? And where would that be?” Dash’s voice was slightly sarcastic, as if she didn’t believe that Twilight really knew anything. “The Moon Castle, where we defeated Nightmare Moon. Where you first found out your worth? He must mean when we found the Elements of Harmony. That has to be what he wants. With them, he could overthrow Celestia and Luna…and…” Twilight finished speaking and bit her lip. “But…that’s so obvious…either he’s really stupid, or up to something.” Rainbow Dash snorted. “I don’t care what he’s up to. We have to go find him! We’re going to have to confront him eventually. If he’s found a way to harness the Elements’ energy, he already has Fluttershy. He’s obviously strong, so who knows what he could do with her extra powers?” Twilight rested her head against one hoof as if she had a headache; Dash and Rarity knew, however, that she was thinking very hard about what to do next. “I really hate to do this…but Rainbow, you and Rarity go find Pinkie and Applejack and go after that creep. I’ll go get Celestia in the hot air balloon. Hopefully we can all meet at Moon Castle, and stamp this out before it starts.” Rarity finally spoke at this point, her voice quiet and halting. “Applejack isn’t here. She went to Appleoosa to visit Braeburn for the week.” Twilight blanched at this news; Applejack was one of the strongest of the bunch, and she would be sorely missed. “Well, that’s just great timing… Go find Pinkie Pie then. I’ll start getting the hot air balloon ready right away.” Rainbow Dash saluted and turned to Rarity. Stay here. I’ll come back with Pinkie.” Rarity nodded as Dash zoomed off, leaving her signature rainbow trail in her wake. Twilight touched Rarity’s horn with her own before galloping off in the same direction as Dash and left the other unicorn with her thoughts. Rarity sat and closed her eyes once her friends were out of sight. This was way too much for her to accept in such a short period of time, and she definitely wasn’t ready to embark on some huge adventure into the Everfree forest, especially not one with a mysterious alicorn at the end of it. These thoughts, like most of her others that day, were shoved out of Rarity’s head as Rainbow Dash shot back up the road, carrying a squealing Pinkie Pie under the armpits. She dropped the hot pink mare beside Rarity and flopped to the ground. “That. Was. Awesome!” Pinkie whooped and grinned at the other two. “So, where are we going?” Rarity sighed deeply before she answered. “Into the Everfree forest. An alicorn has kidnapped poor Fluttershy, and we’re to track her down while Twilight goes to warn the Princess.” Pinkie Pie’s smile faded slightly and she tilted her head to the side, confused. “Wait…what? Rarity, silly, you’re not making any sense!” She giggled, but stopped quickly as Rarity and Dash remained completely serious. “Um… Well then, if you two aren’t crazy, I guess we should get going! Gotta save Fluttershy!” She began bouncing off down the road, leaving the other two ponies dumbstruck. Rainbow Dash was the first to speak. “Wait up Pinkie!” Once they caught up to her, Rarity gazed at the still smiling Earth pony, her eyes filled with questions. Dash, once again, spoke first. “So…you’re okay with that? Just going into the Everfree and chasing this guy?” Pinkie widened her smile until her eyes were reduced to slits and nodded. “Of course! I always believe my friends, and if one of us is in trouble, it’s up to the rest of us to save them, right?” Rainbow Dash and Rarity glanced over at each other and inexplicably broke into waves of giggles. “You know Pinkie Pie? You’re absolutely right!”