Legends of Harmony Season 1 Chapter 8
By AlphaOmega
It was noon at the castle. Twilight and her friends had gathered at the castle to get ready for the journey. It was to be a long road ahead. The other 5 had varying amounts of equipment. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash did not have too much. However, Rarity, and shockingly enough AJ, were carrying a mass amount of items.
"It is a necessity for me." Rarity argued. "My mane does not stay this way without some kind of help!
Applejack's excuse was a little more viable. "I brought all I need to help everyone. I have food, money, and other things we can use. I will carry my weight." She glared at Rarity. "Oh don't worry honey, I will carry my things. Oh BOYS!"
A few stallions from the guard walked in. Celestia was with them. "I don't think these two will be able to help you. They are in trouble for making a mess down at the barracks. Your names?"
The cyan earth pony saluted. "Private Snails, Your Highness!"
The orange pony did the like.
Celestia straightened her face. "I expect more from my guard. Or at least if you want to remain royal guards."
"We do! We are so sorry for peeping!"
Celestia merely shrugged. "I don't know if I can accept that..."
"We will clean the bathrooms! Please! Just don't send us to the moon!"
"What was that?"
The orange pony changed his words. "I mean, please don't fire us!"
Celestia thought hard. Or at least made it look that way. "Very well. Bathroom duty. Dismissed." The two stallions saluted and left. Celestia smirked at the ponies in front of her. "Sorry about that. They are the new recruit. They have great potential but..."
"That is alright princess! Don't worry. We can move on from here." Twilight turned to the other girls. "Wait. Where's Pinkie Pie?"
BOOM!
"PARTY CANNON!" Pinkie fired her cannon into the air. Streamers and the like flew all over the place. "Pinkie!" Rarity complained "I spent a quality amount of time working on my mane! Look what you've done!" Sure enough, bits and pieces of the explosive party favors were in her hair. "Oopsie! Sorry Rari." As Rarity plucked her hair for the streamers, Celestia explained the mission.
"You must travel to the tribe of the Sun. There you will meet an old friend of mine named Hotwsop. He is the head chief. His tribe has guarded an Essence for centuries. They are a none hostile people, unless provoked." She pulled out a bag. "Inside here is several things. I have given you a map. But this is not ordinary map. You can tell this map what you want, so long as it is within 100 miles, it will sense it out and you can move in that direction."
Twilight gratefully took the map. "Thank you, Princess. I promise not to let you down!"
"I know you will not."
"Alright girls!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "Let's get a move on!"
As they neared the front gate, Twilight gave one last look at Canterlot. She had lived there her whole life until she met the ponies who would become her friends. But she could feel a dread in her stomach. If she failed, all of her home may not survive. It truly was a mission she could not fail.
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The figure watched from the nearby alley. How cute, it thought menacingly. They think they will complete their mission. They believe they are doing a good thing. That would be too easy.
The robed figure merely trotted away, a smile on its face. There was much to do in preparation of his return. All that needed to happen was to find a way to get rid of the nuisance elements and then revenge would be dealt.
Yes. Revenge will be mine.
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The countryside was beautiful. The trees sparkled with the morning dew as the birds sang. The road was relatively paved and so the 6 friends could travel without hurting a hoof. The sun was shining brightly, thanks to Celestia. A wonderful breeze blew from the west.
"I spy something white." Pinkie yapped excitedly.
Rarity sighed. "For the millionth time Pinkie. It could be ANYTHING!" They have been playing a game of eye spy for the past hour now. While everypony was enjoying the scenery along with the game, Pinkie didn't quite seem to get the idea.
"But I thought we had to keep picking the same one?"
Facehoof. "Pinkie, again, you-...What was that?"
The gang just stared at her and the surrounding. There were a few trees and animals around, but nothing out of the ordinary. A squirrel jumped from a nearby bush.
"Uh, excuse me." Fluttershy called to the small creature. The squirrel, in turn, turned to the speaker of its' tongue. "Is something wrong?"
There was chatter between her and the squirrel continued as the others cautiously looked around. They were not sure what to expect. Twilight pulled out her staff and began to chant a shield spell. The others continued to search.
Rustle Rustle.
"Who's there?" Yelled Rainbow Dash. No response returned the command.
"Show yourself! We won’t show mercy if you hide in the shows!" Yelled Applejack, preparing to pull out her weapon.
From seemingly out of nowhere, a small ball rolled out. It caught all their eyes.
"What the-"
The small ball quickly turned into a cloud of smoke. The ponies stumbled back in surprise. At that moment, the bandits hiding in the trees chose their moment to strike. Fluttershy quickly grabbed the squirrel for hear of it getting hurt. Twilight erected a shield as Rainbow pulled out her dagger.
Unfortunately, the team of mares were not used to using force. Fluttershy was knocked unconscious from behind.
"Fluttershy!" Rarity yelled. She ran over to her fallen comrade when the bandit came up behind her and took her bag.
"Hey!" She yelled. Her mind fought to save the bag and to help her friend. Meanwhile, Applejack and Rainbow Dash had armed up and continued to fight. None of their attacks landed a blow on the swift bandits.
"AJ! Try tying them up!" Rainbow Dash yelled.
"Ah would if I could!" She retorted. "But from the looks of things, I can't even hit 'em!"
They continued in vain as a group of bandits neared Pinkie and Twilight. "Pinkie! Aim your cannon at them!"
"Okie dokie!"
She positioned the cannon at the front of the shield and fired before Twilight could warn her. As nature goes, the blast of confetti bounced off and knocked Twilight off her feet, breaking her concentration on the spell. The bandits quickly jumped on the opportunity and stole the rest of the bags.
All of this happened in a matter of minutes. As the dust cleared, all the bandits had disappeared, leaving Rarity caring for Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash frustrated, and the rest of the group tired.
"What. Just. Happened?" Rainbow asked in a seemingly calm voice. "How could this happen? Fluttershy! That animal is useless for information! And Applejack you couldn't even hit one of them?!"
"Hey now-"
"UGHH come on everypony! That was horrible! Now they have the map, our weapons, and the food. What do we do now?" Rainbow just huffed in frustration.
"Rainbow!" Twilight yelled. "You know better than to blow up like that! They took us by surprise. The squirrel doesn't know and Fluttershy did her best! We need to-"
Rainbow Dash was inconsolable. She quickly took for the skies.
"Wait don't go Rainbow Dash!" Twilight called out. She made an attempt to run after her, but quickly lost sight. She turned to her defeated friends. They had accepted such a dangerous mission, and hadn't even made it to to the first stop before being robbed. And to make matters worse, they had lost their friend.
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"Hehe! We made away with a good hull!" The masked bandit squealed. "We can sell this armor and weapons easy. But this map looks useless. Can I burn it?"
A big stallion came over and knocked him on the head. "Of course not! We can sell this as a treasure map. You're a dimwit, Dim Light."
The pony stood up. "Watch your mouth Biggy. You may be bigger than me, but don't forget who won the title for strongest."
"I was drunk!" Biggy yelled as he chucked a bottle across the room. "You wanna mess now? Or take it to the Head?"
Dim Light held his glare for a minute before sitting down. Facing the Head of the Thief Guild was a bad idea, and Biggy was his number 1 fan. Light sat down and continued to value his loot.
"I see your hunt went well." Came a voice from the back of the cave room.
Biggy turned. "Oh yes sir. We have been working hard." He quickly called attention to the figure who entered the room. "Hey boys! Get a feast ready for our friend here." The bandits yelled in glee and got ready to prepare whatever food they had.
"Mr. Snatch Steal, it is a pleasure to have you here. How can we help you?" Biggy turned to the Senior Bandit.
"I have come with some news. Those ponies you robbed today are a high value target. We need you to capture one."
Biggy laughed. "Them? Why they were so easy! You can have all 6 if you like."
Snatch waved his head. "We only need one. We are getting paid a considerable amount of gems to do this right."
Biggy's smile grew even wider. "Yes sir! I will work on it right away. But for now, please enjoy what we have to offer."
"I am fine. I have a meeting to attend. Get me one of those mares. ASAP."
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It was nighttime when the mares had finally decided to break for camp. They had traveled all day and had grown extremely tired. They had search for Rainbow for hours, calling her name.
They quickly made camp in a cave. Fluttershy informed them that the animal who lived there, a bear, had moved out. They took refuge inside.
Twilight gathered some who she found and set it on fire with her magic. The others got as cozy as they could.
"What do we do now?" Applejack asked. Her orange coat was wet with mud from the walk through the swamp.
"What else can we do?" Responded an equally wet Rarity who was, surprisingly, handling the situation well. "We must go after our friend."
"Hmmmm I don't know." Pinkie Pie answered. "It could be a trap. Like in those moving picture shows! They capture a hero and then they-"
"I don't think bandits are fast enough to catch Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy spoke.
"But she is right about a possibility." Twilight confirmed Pinkie's suspicion. "We have to move as fast as we can."
"Well we ain't moving in this weather." Applejack said. "Beside why don't we-"
THUD.
"Rarity!" Pinkie yelled. She stood up to run to her but also fell, knocked out.
"Pinkie! What’s-" Applejack did not even finish her sentence as fatigue knocked her out.
Twilight and Fluttershy attempted to stand as well, only to feel as groggy as them. The last thing Twilight thought was "Is this a trap?" as the world turned black.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Several hours later...
"Chief! I found somepony!" The villager yelled. "They are in the cave."
Tusclone walked over to the group of ponies. He waved his stick over them, trying to sense their pulses.
"They are tired and weak. And it seems they have a fever. Take them back to the village and care for them. I will continue to try to find the source of darkness that has befallen the land.
"Chief?" The villager asked.
Only then he realized he had spoken aloud. "Oh nothing child. Just take them back. Get help." The villager nodded and went to get help.
So. It has finally begun. The prophecy of old has finally come. He pushed it from his mind. Perhaps he was just getting paranoid. He glanced at the sky as he exited the cave. Or perhaps he was being blinded by the darkness that was already present.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You are late."
"You expect somepony like me to be early for a meeting? You're lucky I showed up."
The other voice did not return a response.
"Look, if you have- ACK!" His voice cut off from seemingly nowhere. The darkness creeped upon his neck.
"You are lucky I do not kill you now. Will you aid us or not?"
"If you-ACK-stop-UGH- choking me!" He sputtered. The darkness pulled away, but not before one final squeeze.
"That was unnecessary."
"That was a warning."
"One has followed us, according to the scouts. A blue Pegasus. We can apprehend her easily."
"Good. Do it."