//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Land of Dreams // by JoyceCarleton //------------------------------// The light faded and Twilight found herself in the middle of a vast forest. It was very dark, but she thought she could see a glimmer of light over the horizon. She looked around briefly and could tell that she was quite far away from the ruins. There was nothing to see but trees around her. She looked down at the ground and saw the map. It now looked in even worse shape than the other one she had. The map probably didn’t have enough energy to bring her to the ruins. It was useless now but she deposited it into her bag nonetheless. She moved forward and hoped to find something to help her in her journey soon enough. She walked on for hours, and the light in the forest did not change even a bit. She was starting to get really hungry, but she wanted to find a clearing to rest first. She remembered from the journal that there were supposed to be bears and Timber Wolves in the forest. Another hour went by and the forest had still not thinned. Her hunger getting to her, she had no choice but to rest under a tree and take a break. She took out a couple of the apples and munched on them. After she finished the second apple, she heard something coming from the forest. She went on alert and her horn glowed faintly. The rustling got closer and she prepared herself to face the beast, charging a magical blast. The creature burst out from the undergrowth and Twilight just barely held herself back from firing at a brown rabbit. The rabbit looked at her curiously and then slowly approached her. Twilight stopped charging her attack as the rabbit stopped by her magic, sniffing it. Twilight took an apple out of her bag and gave it to the rabbit. It sniffed the apple a few more times before taking a bite. It chewed the first bit very slowly before swallowing. And then, it began to quickly eat the rest of the apple and looked up at Twilight appreciatively. Twilight smiled at the rabbit and took out another apple for herself. She slowly ate it as the rabbit finished its own. Briefly, Twilight thought about what Fluttershy would be doing in this situation right now, and instantly felt depressed over how she was gone now. Twilight dropped the rest of her apple and lowered her head. The rabbit slowly came closer to her and nuzzled her leg. Twilight looked at the rabbit and it continued to try to comfort her. More rustling came from the forest, and this time, Twilight could tell it was bigger than a rabbit. Twilight turned around to try and figure out where the sound was coming from when a pair of Timber Wolves suddenly sprang in close to the two. Twilight quickly picked up her bag and ran. The Timber Wolves pursued her and although she was able to put some distance between them because of her nimbleness, her unfamiliarity with the forest was starting to hinder her. It was dark, and she stumbled over an exposed tree root. She could hear the Timber Wolves growling right behind her and she forced herself to not look back. She looked to the side and saw the rabbit running as well. A small gap appeared at the side and the rabbit briefly looked at Twilight before running into it. Twilight followed after it and just barely squeezed through the immense tangle of branches and vines. The two Timber Wolves got caught up in it and were having difficulty trying to just free themselves. The rabbit continued running ahead and Twilight followed. They ran for another five minutes or so and the two finally stopped running. Twilight took some time to catch her breath. “Thanks, you really saved me there!” Twilight said to the rabbit. The rabbit just looked at her and nodded. Twilight took a look around where they were and saw a light breaking in from another massive tangle of undergrowth. Twilight moved in closer to it but she was too large to fit through. When the rabbit saw her trying to get through it, it tugged at Twilight’s leg and started leading the way around it. Twilight followed the rabbit again and eventually came across a larger gap. Just barely, she squeezed through the opening and after a few moments inside, she came out the other end. Before her, there was light. At the horizon, she could see the sun just barely peaking up out of it. It looked like it was just about to rise or set, but that simply wasn’t possible, was it? Well, there wasn’t a whole lot of time to dwell on that, though, because there was something far more important in the foreground. Before her lay the ruins she was looking for. Massive piles of stone, mostly rubble, lay across the flat earth and colonies of vines wrapped itself around all of the stone columns she could see. Twilight looked back down at the rabbit near her side and thanked it again before beginning her exploration. ** After speaking a bit more with Fafnir, Tiamat left and flew around for a bit. Then, he started wondering what happened to Shadowbolt. He flew to the usual place in the clouds she tended to rest on and when he didn’t find her there, he went in search of Spitfire and Soarin’. They told him that they hadn’t seen her. He knew she went to see Matias, but he definitely did not want to ask him about her. Left with no other choice, he let it be. ** Built in a separate section of the weather factory was the machine the Princess had built. It looked quite plain; it simply looked like a cube filled with a purple solution. Attached to the walls of the cube were several thick wires that hooked up to another machine that had a small screen and a large panel of buttons and switches. Like the rest of the weather factory, this room was also very dimly lit and the operator of the machine could barely be seen. “Are you ready, Shadowbolt?” the Princess asked from the shadows. Her voice sounded very strange. “Yes, Princess!” “Okay, strip down and slowly sink into the solution.” Shadowbolt did as she was told and the cool solution sent a chill down her spine. “Do not worry about holding your breath, you can breathe in the solution. After you are fully submerged into the solution, I am going to activate the machine.” Shadowbolt nodded and let her head sink beneath the surface. The Princess activated the machine and energy started to flow through the wires. As the energy began to pulse throughout the cube, Shadowbolt felt the solution rapidly heating up. She also felt several sharp jolts of electricity. She yelped a tiny bit and almost panicked as the solution flowed into her mouth. She almost flew straight up back to the surface before realizing that she was fine. She bore the pain of the shocks and thought she could feel herself sweating from the heated solution. The jolts started to become more consistent and a constant surge of electricity starting to travel throughout her body. Shadowbolt gritted her teeth as the solution started to get even hotter. The entire solution began to glow and she felt a throbbing pain develop above her head. The pain rapidly escalated to the point where it felt like her skull was about to split in two. She screamed but the noise was completely muffled in the thick solution. The pain started to resonate throughout her entire skull and the electric current became even stronger. Along with this came even greater heat. Along with the now-flashing solution, she became blinded and began to lose consciousness. She screamed again to try and keep herself awake but the pain continued to grow worse. Shadowbolt felt one last powerful burst of pain from her head before blacking out. A few hours later, Shadowbolt awoke in the infirmary. She felt relieved to no longer be in that painful solution, but she could still feel a throbbing pain on the top of her held. She tried to massage it with her hooves when she felt something. If felt hard, like bone. She tapped it a bit and could feel the pain shoot up a bit. She quickly tried to get out of bed but instantly fell over when she stepped onto the ground. She flapped her wings, but they were too weak to carry her. She lifted her head up and looked around the room. In the corner she saw a mirror. She crawled her way over to it and finally got a good look at herself. On top of her head now was a cyan horn. Gently, she touched it again and it still felt tender. She slowly worked her hooves to the base where the horn sprouted out and felt around it. She was slightly bald around the base of the horn and actually felt a little bit hot. She narrowed her eyes at herself and tried to concentrate, but nothing happened. Suddenly, she started feeling very sleepy and her head started to sway. She turned away from the mirror and slowly tried to make her way back to the bed but collapsed just as she reached it. She tried to grab onto the sheets to stop her fall, but ending up pulling the blanket off the bed and over her. She had no strength to try and get back up and fell asleep on the floor. ** Twilight tirelessly searched through the ruins for any sign of the chamber. She picked through the many large mounds of rubble to try and uncover it and had to use her magic to pick up the larger boulders. As she worked, the rabbit stayed close by, looking on with curiosity. Twilight entertained the thought of the rabbit being able to find the chamber for her as she looked over to the horizon. The sun was still stuck in the same position as when she had started. She had no idea how long she had been working for, but she had been ignoring fatigue and hunger for at least an hour now. She rested by the next pile of rubble she needed to excavate and took out an apple pie from her bag. She broke off part of it and gave it to the rabbit. They ate in silence during their short break before Twilight resumed her work. There was no time to waste; everybody was counting on her to return with the means to end the war. She cleared several more piles of rubble when she heard howling nearby. Twilight quickly ushered the rabbit to follow her up a pile of rubble as she charged an attack. She had already used up a lot of her magic so she figured she only have about three shots at best. She looked all around her from her high position, searching out the Timber Wolves and finally saw them emerge from the forest. There were only two of them so she figured they were the same pair. Before they caught sight of her, she fired off her magical blast and hit one of them dead on. Its fur of bark caught fire and the blast knocked it back into the trees. The other Timber Wolf immediately began charging at Twilight as she charged up another blast. She fired it off right as it started to climb up the pile but it dodged. The blast broke apart one of the boulders and the pile began to shake. The Timber Wolf leapt at Twilight as she stumbled over the shifting pile, falling backwards. The Timber Wolf ended up going past her and landing on the other side of the pile. The unstable pile shook a bit more from its landing and the rocks started to flow downwards. Twilight started to charge her blast again as the Timber Wolf started climbing towards the top of the pile. It made its way to the top and spotted Twilight crouched down. The Timber Wolf ran down the side and Twilight fired her blast. The blast hit one of the Timber Wolf’s legs, breaking it off. However, the blast also struck the pile of rubble again, and caused another boulder to break apart. The giant pile of rubble collapsed on itself and Twilight tried to jump off the pile before being buried underneath the avalanche like the Timber Wolf. She almost made it. She made it to the ground but part of the pile fell onto her back, trapping her hind legs as well. The impact hurt her spine, but didn’t break it. However, she was now out of magic and unable to free herself. Then, from out of the forest, came the burning Timber Wolf. Most of its back was on fire and was quickly eating away at its body, but its eyes were very much alive with rage. It snarled as it caught sight of the trapped unicorn. It was too damaged to run without breaking, but its four legs were still intact so it could simply walk towards her. Twilight tried to free herself but the rocks were too heavy to move off in her position. The Timber Wolf edged closer and Twilight tried to muster up any amount of magic but could only cause her horn to spark. Then, the rabbit threw an apple at the Timber Wolf. It hit it in the head and it looked over towards the rabbit, but it would not waste its time. It wanted to kill the pony. The Timber Wolf leaned in take a bite out of the pony as the rabbit threw another apple at it. This time, the blow caused the Timber Wolf to lurch forward slightly and Twilight’s spark managed to jump onto the Timber Wolf’s flames. The flames instantly grew larger and burned up its entire torso. The burning wood fell to the ground and the wolf's lifeless head fell next to Twilight’s. Twilight’s heart rate was yet to return to normal though, as the fire continued to burn and started to surround her. A few sparks flew off from the burning body and fell onto the head that lay next to her. The head caught fire and she swatted it away, but the fire around her still inched closer. The rabbit threw another apple at the fire, and although this did nothing to put out the fire, it did give her an idea. “In my bag there is a bottle! Quickly, throw it over here!” Twilight frantically pointed at the bag the rabbit was rummaging through. The rabbit took out another apple. “No! Not another apple! A bottle!” The rabbit put the apple down and took out an apple pie. “No, not food! A bottle!” The fires came in closer and Twilight tried to fan the flames away, but to no avail. Finally, the rabbit took out a bottle of water and she nodded furiously while holding out her hooves. The rabbit threw the bottle of water and she caught it. She quickly opened it and poured the water on the fire around her. She managed to put it out mostly, but there was still the main fire from the Timber Wolf’s body and it was still spreading to the rest of its body parts. “Quickly, another one!” The rabbit took out another bottle and threw it over to her. She poured out all of the water and finally reduced the fire down to a small camp fire. She then threw the bottles at the remaining fire, smothering it. Twilight finally breathed a sigh of relief. The rabbit misread the cue and threw another bottle of water that hit her on the head. She just picked up the bottle and smiled at the rabbit. Twilight would not be able to free herself until recovering her magic after resting, so she motioned for the rabbit to come over and thankfully it brought the apple over to give to her. She took it appreciatively and the rabbit kept her company until she fell asleep a little while later, still under the same frozen sunset. ** In a forest far from where Twilight was, there was a hunt going on. Just moments earlier in the morning, the scouts alerted the camp and they quickly packed up and fled. The zebras of the camp split up and tried their best to escape their pursuers. They broke up into groups of three or four and the other groups could hear the cries of their companions as they were captured nearby. The zebras knew who they were up against and the best answer was to simply run; sacrifices had to be made. After nearly an hour of running, one group of four zebras finally slowed down, believing to have evaded the enemy. “We mustn’t rest too long, for our pursuers are not truly gone.” “Aye, Zecora, but we need to recover a bit of our strength first.” The zebras found a nearby stream and drank from it. “Do you think we’ll all be able to meet up again?” asked the third zebra. “Don’t talk like that, have some faith,” said the fourth zebra. “I’ve been running pretty low on that lately,” said the third. “The times are dark and terrible indeed, but we must stay strong for all of our friends in need.” “We’ve been going at this for years and nothing’s changed!” said the third. “When will this finally end?!” “Never,” a deeper voice replied. The zebras looked around and saw a Minotaur coming out from the bushes. “Run!” The zebras fled, but the fourth zebra did not escape in time. The Minotaur pounced on him and smashed his body into the ground. After killing him, the Minotaur began to chase after the rest of the group. As exhausted as they still were, the Minotaur was not a very good runner and the zebras managed to lose him soon enough. However, there was no time for rest after hearing some howling. They heard some rustling coming from the side and they immediately began running again. After a moment, the Timber Wolves burst out from the bushes and went into pursuit. They were not something easy to get away from even under ordinary circumstances. The third zebra took out something from his bag and threw it behind him. As it hit the ground, it rapidly released a cloud of gas and when the Timber Wolves went through it, their skin of bark began to dissolve. The rest of the pack fell back and tried to find another way to continue the chase. The zebras ran on and after dropping a couple more gas bombs, they managed to finally get away from them. “I didn’t think they would bring out so many for just one camp,” the third zebra said, panting. “Aye, but with most of Equestria under their rule, the Legion can send out as many units as they want.” “Maybe it really is hopeless…” “Nay, we still have a chance. We’ve spent years developing our brew to use in the future battle. Your new herbicide is especially volatile.” “Well, it only works on things like the Timber Wolves.” “Enough talking about our plans; we best get a move on to escape our enemy’s hands.” “Aye, the forest’s end is just an hour away.” The three zebras began making their way out of the forest and half an hour went by fairly peacefully. After that, though, they could hear the howls nearby again. The third zebra quickly checked his bag and counted only two more gas bombs. “Zecora, take this,” he said, passing her a journal. “It has all the recipes I’ve been working on for the past several years. If we run into trouble again, make sure that you get away.” “Aye, here’s mine as well,” the other zebra said, passing on his journal to Zecora too. “To trust me with your books means much to me, but do not give up hope on leaving this forest with all of us three.” “That’d be nice, but it’s going to be difficult to say the least. Say, Zecora, just how amazing how are those ponies, anyways?” “Many tribulations they have faced, and many troubles they have erased.” “Well, tell them ‘hi’ for me.” The Timber Wolves burst out from the bushes and the third zebra through a gas bomb at them. It caught a few of them but the others weaved around the cloud. The zebras started to run again but they were quickly gaining on them. Then, the third zebra intentionally tripped. Before the other zebras took notice, the Timber Wolves all pounced at him together and he threw down the last gas bomb right as their jaws were about to clamp down on him. The cloud caught all of the Timber Wolves and started to eat away at their bark skin but that did not stop them from savagely attacking the zebra. “Run!” The zebras turned forward again and ran off as the dying Timber Wolves carried out their vengeance. For the next couple moments, the two zebras ran while having to ignore their fallen comrade’s screams of pain as the wolves tore him apart. The zebras ran on for about another twenty minutes before they encountered another obstacle. The Minotaur crossed their path and they had to change directions. Their sides were hurting and they were gasping for air between strides but they persisted until they escaped from the Minotaur. As they got closer to the edge of the forest, they took one final break, their vision starting to blur because of the exhaustion. Just in case anyone tried to sneak behind them, they went next to a large, dark tree and decided to rest there. They could not even take two deep breaths before something horrible happened. The tree they carelessly went towards suddenly grabbed one of the zebras. Zecora stepped back a bit and could finally see it clearly. It certainly looked just like a tree with its branches, leaves, and layer of black bark, but it was something far more sinister. It had two sunken eyes and a gnarled and twisted mouth. The tree had four large branches that acted like arms and it tried to snatch Zecora away but she dodged it. Then, the tree began to move towards her, using its roots like the tentacles of an octopus. Zecora got further away and started looking for something in her bag. “Nay, just run, lass! Run!” Zecora wanted to say something before leaving her last companion, but the Minotaur suddenly reappeared. Zecora turned tail and ran. As she ran, a spike made of bark started to come out of the trees mouth. The tree grabbed at it and broke it off, now holding onto a spike about a foot long. The tree then threw the spike like a javelin at Zecora. Zecora got behind a tree but the spike tore right through the tree anyways. Fortunately for her, the spike passed just above her. Zecora continued to run and the Minotaur was about to pursue but the tree held out one of its arms. The rest of the spike receded back into the trees mouth. It then began to talk, but its mouth did not move. “Such a resilient creature. How ironic she will only grow to know greater despair by living,” the tree said in a deep masculine voice. “Heh, that zebra has no idea what she is in for, General.” “Aye, your end is coming soon! Your reign will not last, I say!” the zebra spoke. The tree brought the zebra right before its face. “Oh, I didn’t crush you, yet? I’m so sorry about that; I’ll take care of it right now.” The tree squeezed its hand and the zebra writhed in agony as he felt his back breaking. The vertebrae finally snapped and the zebra let out a gasp. “Say, zebra, I’ve had my fun now. Would you like me to let you go now?” The zebra said nothing, just gasped some more. The tree tossed the zebra aside. “Going soft, General?” “Watch your words, Iron Will; even joking has its limits with me.” “Ah, sorry, sorry!” The tree slowly made its way out of the forest and Iron Will followed after it. An hour after they left the forest, a Fleet pegasus flew towards the tree. “I have a letter for General Black Forest!” “Alright, give it here.” The pegasus gave the envelope to Black Forest but it had difficulty trying to open it with its large fingers. “Iron Will, open this letter for me.” “Yes, General!” He took the letter and opened it up. Black Forest took back the letter and brought it to its face. Iron Will was also curious about the contents of the letter, but Black Forest could not change its facial expressions and he did not want to risk being nearby if it was bad news. After some time, Black Forest handed the letter over to Iron Will. “Pegasus, do you have something I can use to write a letter?” “Yes, General!” The pegasus took out a quill and paper. “Iron Will, I need you to write a letter for me. Address it to Lieutenant-General Ursus and inform him to cease all of his current activities. Tell him that I want all of his forces beneath Cloudsdale as soon as possible.” “Yes, General! Uh, should I say why?” “That’s where we’ll all be gathering before the final battle.” “Final battle?” “Yes, final battle. I’m looking forward to it.”