//------------------------------// // Chapter six: When a plan comes together // Story: Derpy Hooves: An unexpected journey // by atomicbrony45 //------------------------------// Luna bade her sister goodnight as she prepared to enter the dreamscape for the night, she lay down in her bed and gathered her magic, her horn glowed a soft blue in response and she was surrounded by an aura of the same colour, her physical body started to fade giving her the appearance that she was ethereal. Luna was high above the purple tinted clouds of the dreamscape looking down on the reflection of the world she knew well/ The dreamscape was a strange place, filled with endless horror, pleasure and creatures which fed off of both of these types of dreams, it was Luna's job as princess of the night to guard her subjects from the creatures which fed off and created these nightmares but it was also the easiest and most secret way for her to talk to her apprentices, her assassin's. These assassin's were trained in all manner's of combat, to be the guardian's of all the races of Equis's free will. Over the years of Luna's one thousand year absence the order had collapsed due to lack of communication and unified leadership but when she returned she instantly smelled the corruption festering in the land, like an infected wound. She immediately sought out recruits for the order, normally she would mark the ponies, wolves, griffons, minotaurs or zebras she wished to train at birth but she didn't have the time for that, so she selected those who already had talents which she knew she would need for immediate effect. So she picked ideal candidates for the order from all the races and trained them to become her assassin's, she would only ever pick a being who was unmarried and didn't have any children, after all she wasn't heartless. This made Rainbow Dash an ideal candidate for recruitment; she was strong, agile, charismatic, capable, unmarried and above all loyal. Once you joined the assassin's you were in for life, unless you were getting married or having a child in this instance you were permitted to 'retire' permanently unless your nation was threatened by a great evil. Luna's job tonight seemed it would be easier than it was on most other nights, the dark ones which fed off of fear were less prevalent tonight than she had thought they would be, once she had cleansed Canterlot of the foul creatures she turned her attention to the rest of Equis, methodically clearing every town and city of the foul beings known as the dark ones. Once had cleared everywhere of the creatures and the nightmares that they created, she then turned her attention to her assassin's entering their dreams to guide them in their various tasks and plans, aiding them in the completion. After she had attended to some of the more urgent pleas for help she shifted her focus to the last plea, Rainbow Dash. Luna arrived in the dreamscape version of 'The canny colt inn' in Glaspony, she walked up the wooden stairs into Rainbows room. She walked into the room to see Rainbow and a grey mare tightly hugging each other in their sleep, Luna smiled lightly before walking over to Rainbow and using her magic to enter her dream. Rainbow's dream was a 'normal' dream, she was sitting in a could looking over a forest with a small river running through it, it was peaceful and quiet she enjoyed this peace when she slept. It was so peaceful that when Luna put her hoof on Rainbow's shoulder she jumped up, startled by the contact. "Fear not Rainbow, it's only me" Luna said soothingly. Rainbow sat up on the cloud and looked towards the princess with a soft friendly gaze, "It's good to see you again princess, it's been awhile. I see that your lessons on modern Equestrian are going well." "Rainbow you know you don't have to call me princess, you're my friend so Luna is fine and yes I've been taking my lessons more seriously but I still slip up here and there. But we have no time for small talk. I'm here because you requested my help. What is it that you require?" asked Luna. When Luna had finished Rainbow sat down again and started to explain what their plan entailed. Luna sat there taking it all in, analysing each detail and breaking it down into small memorable chunks. When Rainbow had finished she sat up and stretched once more. "Hmm, I see. Rainbow your plan will succeed but you already know this so that is not what worries you, so what does?" Luna asked with an ever friendly gaze. "My concern is that we're going to be using Derpy as bait. I don't want to see her get hurt in anyway; I care about her you know." Rainbow replied. "Yes I saw the two of you hugging each other before I entered your dream, it was rather sweet." Luna let off a small giggle while Rainbow blushed lightly. When Luna had finished giggling she continued, "Don't worry she'll be fine, I promise you that nothing bad will happen to her. Before I go I wish to tell you something, you see there is a room downstairs where you may find an ally. The room is warded against my dreamwalking with an ancient magic known only to the wisest of the wolves, you may find an ally in that wolf, but that's all I can say. For now I must bid you farewell and a good morning." And with that Luna disappeared and Rainbows dream faded into nothing as she woke up from her slumber. ._._._.()._._._. Rainbow was greeted by the sight of a golden blond mane and the smell of fresh cooking. She leaned over a little bit and gave Derpy a gentle kiss on the forehead. Derpy awoke with a light yawn and the feeling of a kiss on her forehead, she knew Rainbow didn't intend to wake her but she was up now. "Good morning, Rainbow. Sleep well?" she chimed reaching over and hugging Rainbow. "Yeah I did, how's about we go get some breakfast." she replied returning the hug, "We've got a long day ahead of us." "Okay sure, I wonder what Gealach is making today?" replied Derpy getting up and helping Rainbow fix the quilt and make the room look neater. As if on queue there were three sharp knocks on their door and Gealach saying, "Morning ponies, breakfast is almost ready so come down soon." Derpy looked at Rainbow for a second before saying, "Is he psychic or something... nevermind, you go ahead I'll be down in a minute." Rainbow nodded before walking out of the room to the same table downstairs, she sat down as Gealach came over with a pitcher of orange juice. "Say Gealach, whose room is that the one with the mark on the door?" Rainbow asked. Gealach turned and looked at the door for a minute before turning back to Rainbow and replying, "That patron has paid me well enough for my discretion and I'm sorry but I would like to keep it that way, if you want you can go and talk to him yourself and find out more about him but I can't say anything, I'm sure you understand." Rainbow nodded understanding what Gealach was saying, after he had placed the orange juice and the glasses on the table she thanked him by handing him three bits. After he walked over to talk to another patron she got up from her seat and walked towards the door with the strange symbol on it, as she got close to it she could tell that the symbol was magic as it gave of a faint green glow akin to that of the colour of grass. She knocked three times on the door before she got a reply. "Dè tha thu ag iarraidh?" was the response, she got with a rather long drawn out yawn at the end. Rainbow thought for a second before replying, "Tha mi ag iarraidh bheil." There was a moment of silence as if somepony were processing what just happened, after the moment had passed the same slightly gruff voice echoed from the room, "A bheil Gàidhlig agaibh?" "Yes, now could you open the door so I can see who I'm talking to?" Rainbow replied calmly. ._._._.()._._._. Derpy walked down the stairs to see everypony else sitting at the table, everypony except Rainbow. She wasn't concerned though, she was probably just in the toilet or something. When Derpy arrived at the table she immediately took several breakfast muffins and practically devoured them in one mouthful. When she finished savouring every bit of those muffins she actually started to wonder where Rainbow was, she wasn't at the table or in their room so where was she. As if on queue Rainbow opened the door with the strange symbol on it and approached the table, followed by a wolf, Derpy recognized this wolf because it was the one who had played the fiddle for the cèilidh night but before Derpy could speak, Blazing spoke up first, "Hey Rainbow, who's your friend?" instead of Rainbow replying the ash grey wolf spoke in his low growling voice. "I'am Prionnsa Cròic Ceòl but you can call me 'Ash' as I know that my language is quite hard for ponies to speak." At this point Twilights jaw hit the floor, she couldn't believe that she didn't recognize the prince but then again it had been a long time since she last saw him. Everypony turned to stare at Twilight wondering why she was staring rather blankly at the wolf but before anypony could do anything to snap her out of it 'Ash' spoke again, "She's met me before I never forget a face and when I see you purple one, I seem to remember a little excited filly standing next to Celestia. That was how many years ago now? Sixteen, I believe." Twilight simply nodded while she closed her jaw. Everypony else was still confused as to who he really was since he never actually said but before anypony could ask Twilight spoke up, "Everypony meet Prince Cròic Ceòl of the northern woods." As soon as Twilight had finished everypony bowed their heads, they were in the presence of royalty after all but he simply waved them off and said, "No need to bow, I never liked it when others do that. I chose to leave that all behind to pursue the life of a bard. While not as glamorous as being a prince I find the life and the others I meet a worthy trade. Now Rainbow said that you were in need of some aid, tell me what it is you require and I will assist you in any way I can." As Ash and Rainbow sat down at the table Dawn began to explain her plan to enter the wolves den and take back Applejacks wedding band, Ash sat there taking it all in until he finally said, "Well you see this is where our goals can become very similar, you see these wolves have stolen my family signet ring from me and without it I cannot go back to my family without bringing great shame to my name. I've been planning for months you see, I've been hunting the thieves down but I've never been able to catch any of them. But I've been able to follow them to the entrances to their hideout." Ash rummaged around in his old satchel until he brought out a map which he spread out on the table. "This is a complete map of Glaspony and the surrounding areas, every X you see on the map is a secret entrance to the wolves hideout and every O you see is the area where they steal from the most. Today the thieves will be down by the riverside picking pockets and stealing from the stalls, we need to steal a key from one of these wolves to gain access to one of the doors marked on this map. Now which one of you will be fishing?" "Um... Ash, we're not going fishing" Derpy said in a matter of fact tone. "Uh Derpy, it's a slang term for picking pockets" said Twilight slowly. "Oh sorry my bad" Derpy replied with a small grin, "But whose going to do that, the wolves will recognize AJ, Blazing, Dawn and Rainbow so that just leaves us, Twilight." "I think Twilight would be best suited for this task" Ash stated flatly. The others nodded in agreement as he looked around the table, all except Twilight who said, "Oh no, no, no I'am not picking anothers pocket." "You won't get caught if that's what you're worried about. You don't even need to get close to them. You have magic remember" Ash said calmly pointing at Twilights horn. Twilight facehoofed, how could she have forgotten this simple fact. "Okay fine I'll do it" agreed Twilight. ._._._.()._._._. An hour later "Okay Derpy, you remember the plan?" asked Rainbow nervously. "Yeah I remember it, don't worry I'll be fine" replied Derpy as she leaned over and gave Rainbow a small kiss. Derpy walked out into the bustling riverside market and began pretending to look at stalls, hoping to attract the attention of the wolves. Meanwhile Twilight was tailing Derpy making it seem like she was part of the crowd, ready to use her magic to get a key at a moments notice. She kept up with Derpy past the various stalls and populace of Glaspony when she noticed a wolf who seemed to have started to move towards her. She watched him move through the crowd towards Derpy. She kept thinking that he was going to steal from Derpys bag but no, he just walked right past her to a baked goods stall and bought a sweet roll. In putting all her attention on that wolf she had lost sight of Derpy. She started to weave through the crowd looking for a blond mane in the crowd of greys, blacks and browns but she couldn't for the life of her see Derpy but she did see a white wolf put a hood over his face and move very quickly towards one of the stalls. Twilight scanned quickly for where he was heading, then she spotted Derpy. Twilight began cutting through the crowd following the wolf and focusing her magic on the key around his belt. She began to pull it towards her and with a small snap it came loose of it's holders belt and flew into Twilights hoof, she quickly pocketed it and gave a whistle. This whistle gave Derpy the signal that it was time to fly, she quickly rose from the ground just as the wolf was about to grab her saddle bags and began flying back to the Canny colt inn where she was going to meet everypony and tell them of their success. Now they had the key all they needed was to enter the wolves den and get back the rings, tonight was going to be a long night.