Back at Canterlot Rainbow Dash was flying as fast as she could to the castle ignoring the other pegasi in the skies. As she landed in front of the castle gates she encountered two guards that were blocking her way.
“Let me in!” She said to the guards.
“What business do you have here?” the guard on the left said.
“I have to deliver this letter to the princess, it’s very important!”
“Nopony is allowed in the castle without an appointment.”
“It’s about the bearers of the elements, so let me in right now!”
The guards perked up at hearing this. Normally they wouldn’t let anypony in without a good reason and this was more than a good reason.
“Alright, you may enter,” The guard said, stepping aside. As the gates flew open and Rainbow Dash rushed in to deliver the letter.
Ten seconds later she arrived at the bottom of the Dias in the throne room.
“And what brings you here, Rainbow Dash?” said the white alicorn sitting in the throne.
Rainbow Dash bowed and said between gulps of air, “Princess... Celestia... I have... a letter... for you.”
The princess grabbed the letter with her magic and slowly began to read it’s contents. After she read it she looked with astonishment at the cyan pegasus and read it again.
“Alright Princess, I’ve finished- hey Rainbow- taking... RAINBOW DASH?! What are you doing here?” a small dragon said as he walked into the room.
“Oh my goodness!” Celestia said after reading the letter for the second time. “We have to get to Ponyville NOW!”
“What’s going on?” the dragon asked.
“There’s no time spike we have to go now,” Celestia said panicking. Her horn had begun to shine as she prepared the teleportation spell taking Rainbow Dash and Spike along with her.
Not much later they reappeared in the hospital entrance.Upon entering the hospital Celestia walked to the counter to talk with the nurse.
“Where is Twilight Sparkle’s room?” she asked.
“Room 696 B, your majesty,” the nurse said with a bow.
“Thank you,” she said to the nurse. During the walk to the room where the injured ponies were, Rainbow Dash told Spike everything that had happened today.
When she got to Rarity’s injuries Spike said, “Those monsters. I’m gonna... just- PAIN lots and lots of PAIN!”
“Whoa, calm down,” Rainbow said trying to keep the baby dragon from rampaging.
Before they knew it they where standing in front of the room door where their friends where resting.
“Look, I know that you’re worried about her, but getting angry won’t resolve anything,” Rainbow said.
They both entered to find that Sweetie Belle was fully conscious and Princess Celestia was looking at the beds that the poor ponies were in. After a while Celestia called Rainbow Dash to find out more details about the strange creature.
After Rainbow Dash explained with more detail Celestia had a sense of dread. She now suspected everything or everypony suspicious.
“Tell Twilight when she wakes up to send me a letter about what has happened I need to hear her side of the story,” Celestia said to Rainbow Dash as she left the room. The visiting hours had just ended so they had to leave, for the element bearers had to recover from the wounds that had received.
Cheerilee led the three fillies to Sweet Apple Acres where they were to stay for the night. When they were inside Cheerilee had offered to tell the news to Big Mac.
“I’m afraid that Applejack won’t be coming home for a while” She said to the red stallion.
“Why?” Big Mac asked.
“There was an accident. She got severely injured, but she will make it.”
“Oh C’lestia, that don’t sound too good.”
“I know but can you take care of the fillies until they recover?”
“eeyup.”
With that, Cheerilee said her goodbyes and returned home.
They prepared the rooms for the fillies to sleep.
After this rough day the fillies where not sure if they could sleep peacefully knowing that their sisters were inches from death. Finally exhaustion overtook them and they fell asleep.
…........................................................................................................................................................
A little after midnight, Herbtail and thirty Shadow Ponies came out of a Dark portal at the edge of the Apple family orchard. Alright, Herbtail thought to herself, now where are those three foals? She saw a building off to the left and trotted towards it. While she was walking she decided that it would encourage her targets if they saw her alone and dismissed the Shadows until they were needed.
When she arrived at the door, she felt for a lock with her magic and found that there wasn’t one. Looks like they are very trusting of other ponies, she thought as she tried to open the door. Damn, guess they aren’t as naive as I thought they were.
When she felt for the three presences, she found that they were on the second story, but, they also were not there at all. Strange, that could only mean... Her eyebrows shot up as she realized that they were using a Wayfinder.
…........................................................................................................................................................
The three fillies awoke to see that they were in a white room that seemed to have no ceiling. The room had only one door and the room looked pretty much empty and some strange symbols were on the walls and floor.
“Hey, what are you two doing in my dream?” Scootaloo asked.
“This is YOUR dream? I thought this was mine,” Sweetie Belle said.
“We’re having the same dream again? What’s happening here?” Applebloom asked.
“I’ve been expecting you ever since I felt your Awakening,” a voice said.
The door opened to reveal a bright light and an outline of a pony. Due to the blinding light, the fillies could not see what the pony looked like.
“You’ve you been expecting us?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“You have a powerful gift and the time has come to use it.”
“What do you mean?”Applebloom asked.
“If you want to protect those you love, I recommend you wake up and use the Keyblade while you can,” The pony said.
“The Keyblade?” the fillies asked.
“Yes, each of you have your own version of the Keyblade, an-”
“But, how can each of us have a Keyblade if there’s only one?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“I was about to explain that,” the voice said with a hint of amusement .The pony summoned a sword of some sort. It looked somewhat like a key, but the fillies could not mistake it for anything but a sword.
“Hey! That’s the one I saw in my dream!” Applebloom exclaimed. It was mostly white with a faint rainbow going up the blade to what looked like a blossom with two leaves forming the point.
“Whoa, cool! That’s almost as awesome as mine,” Scootaloo said.
“Only you could say that, Scoots,” Sweetie belle said as she rolled her eyes.
“Is this one mine?” Apple bloom asked the pony.
“Please take it so we can move on. We have barely enough time as it is,” the pony said.
Applebloom walked up and took it with her mouth.
As soon as she grabbed it, another one appeared next to it. This Keyblade had a white and gold blade with what looked like a wing near the tip. Above the handle were three small saphires and there were six of the small gems running down the blade.
“How did you know what mine looked like?” Sweetie asked the pony.
“I merely asked it if it would show itself,” was the reply.
“Looks like we’re back in the ‘riddles’ section,” Scootaloo said as Sweetie Belle reached for her Keyblade, and like before, when she grabbed it, another Keyblade appeared. It was the same one that Scootaloo used in her dream.
“And that’s why I said that mine was cooler,” Scootaloo said as she walked up to it. “But your’s looks way more awesome than mine Sweetie Belle.” When she touched her Keyblade they were back in Applebloom’s room standing on the bed with their Keyblades ready.
…........................................................................................................................................................
Down in the kitchen, Herbtail had run into the table and was rubbing her chest when she heard three voices coming from the stairs.
“Are you sure that you heard something, Applebloom?” said a young voice.
“Ah know Ah heard somethin’ down here,” another voice said.
“I heard something as well right after we woke up, Sweetie Belle,” a third voice said as the three fillies walked around the corner. They noticed Herbtail right away.
“I presume that you three are the Keyblade wielders that I’ve been sent to kill?” Herbtail asked.
The three fillies responded by summoning their Keyblades.
“I take that as a yes.”
…........................................................................................................................................................
“Why don’t we take this outside then,” the mysterious unicorn asked them while turning around. As soon as she was out the door Scootaloo asked, “Who was that?”
“I think we should go ask her,” Sweetie Belle said.
“Didn’t you hear her? She said she was sent here to kill us!” Applebloom said.
“Yeah, and that pony in the dream said that if we don’t do anything everypony would die.”
“I’m wait~ing,” the unicorn said in a singsong voice.
“Fine, we’ll try ta talk ta her,” Applebloom said.
Once outside, Scootaloo asked, “Who are you?”
“I am Herbtail, Mistress of the Roses and the herald of your doom!” the unicorn said with a haughty smile. “Have at thee!” she shouted as Shadows came into existence.
“Looks like it’s time to take out the trash, girls!” Sweetie Belle said while jumping at the nearest Shadow.
“Hey, I was about to say that!” Scootaloo said as she sliced one in half.
They finished off the last Shadow after two minutes of intense fighting. “Looks like I’ll have to test you myself,” Herbtail said as she summoned her scythe. It was a scythe that had a sword where most of the handle was supposed to be. It had a rose surrounded by black on the flat of the blade and the edge was blood red.
“Come at us, sister!” the fillies said together.
…........................................................................................................................................................
The three fillies started to circle to Herbtail’s left. In reaction to that she made sure to keep them infront of her. Scootaloo tried to attack her but she used her scythe to deflect the attack, the other two followed, but she pushed them back with thorny rose bushes that she had summoned.
“Is that the best that you can do?” she asked. “Rose Of Destruction!” she shouted as her voice echoed with power. Rose petals soon came out of nowhere as they flew towards the three fillies and started forming a rose. The fillies jumped out of the way right before it exploded, and galloped straight at Herbtail with their Keyblades low to the ground, ready to strike.
“You are no match for me,” Herbtail cried, “Thorns of Oblivion!”
Thorny vines sprouted from the ground right in front of Herbtail and more spread out like a wave towards the CMC. They didn’t slow down as they sliced through the wave of thorns and didn’t waver from their path.
“Still trying to pass this test? Well then, Black Rose Storm!”
The stars were slowly blotted out as a dome of roses formed around the fillies, who had stopped. Then glowing, pink petals formed a loose dome around the fillies and after a few seconds, the petals hurled themselves, with a speed that rivaled a sonic rainboom, at the fillies, who sliced each petal as they jumped and weaved around each other. When all the petals were gone the dome of roses shattered and revealed Herbtail about to strike Sweetie Belle.
…........................................................................................................................................................
An inch from her neck, the blade was stopped by Applebloom’s Keyblade.
“Looks like you’ve been beaten,” Scootaloo said cockily as she swung her Keyblade at Herbtail’s spine.
Herbtail managed to dodge the blow enough that it landed on her left foreleg and jumped away from the fillies. “You may have won this battle, but the war is far from over,” she said as she walked though a dark portal that appeared behind her. As soon as Herbtail was through, the portal closed.
After talking about the battle for a few minutes, Sweetie Belle spoke up, “wait, what about your brother, Applebloom?”
“Yer right, we DID forget ‘bout him,” Applebloom replied.
“Why don’t we see if he’s up then?” Scootaloo suggested as she walked to the house.
The three fillies walked up to Big Mac’s room and slowly opened the door. The red stallion was still sleeping. Even while the battle was taking place he had slept.
“What?! He’s still asleep?” Scootaloo whispered.
Suddenly, the stallion jumped out of bed. “Wha- who’s there?”