//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: Truths of a prophecy // by Cookiedash //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash sat down on the floor and calmed herself down. She assessed her situation. "Ok, a creepy black alicorn by the name of Nightmare moon, has returned and kidnapped my friends and everypony else in Ponyville. Princess Celestia is missing. I'm still here, if I can find out where Nightmare moon has gone, I can find and save everypony. There are these huge beasts, about the size of manticores, that follow Nightmare moon. I'm gonna need some help to find Nightmare, ...Maybe this is what Twilight wanted, to get me out of the way so somepony would be able to save them. Hmmm, now, if I needed to find a mysterious creep who was trapped in the moon for a thousand years and now wants to make the night last forever, where would I look?" She asked herself. "The library." Rainbow answered her question, sighing. "Great, just great, I'm needed to find Nightmare moon and save my friends and the only way I can do that is if I study. Ughh, well lets hurry this up." Quickly Rainbow flew over Ponyville to the library. The town was deserted. Everypony, but her had been taken. A few ponies had tried to escape already, but they had either been knocked back by Nightmare moon's magic or by the beasts. Rainbow Dash walked into the library, it now held an eerie silence. "Wow, I never realized how many books this library actually has, great. This is gonna take forever!" Rainbow Dash groaned. "Hmmm, mare in the moon, mare in the moon, m, m" Rainbow frantically searched through the 'M' section of the library, but none seemed to have what she was looking for. "ughhh, great, now where do I look." Rainbow Dash pondered this for a few moments. " The mare in the moon is an old ponies tale, I wonder if it would be in some book about ancient legends." She thought. Now Rainbow looked through the 'A' section of the library and eventually came across a book she hoped would have some answers. "YES! Finally! 'Ancient legends and other tales.' Now, contents.... AHA! Mare in the moon, page 365. Woah, how many legends does this book contain? Right, page 365, the mare in the moon." The book held a surprising amount of knowledge, going from how she was Princess Luna, Princess Celestia's little sister, to how she was imprisoned in the moon, it also contained the prophecy that stated how she would escape, and when. "Right, so we need these 'Elements of harmony' to defeat Nightmare moon. Now I need a book on the elements of harmony. Right, To the 'E' section! Ok, 'The elements of harmony, a reference guide' Awesome! now, according to the book there are 9 elements, but only 6 are needed. Hmm, these 'elements of harmony' Kindness, laughter, generosity, honesty and loyalty, plus a sixth to create the main 6 and three others to finish the 9, are located in the castle of the two sisters, which is located in the Everfree forest. So, that's where Nightmare moon will be! I have to get there before she finds the elements! But how am I supposed to get through the Everfree forest, past all her beasts, inside the castle and to the elements of Harmony without being seen and without help?" Rainbow Dash pondered. "I guess, I could fly over until I spot the ruins, but the trees might block my view, I'd have no clue where I was going If I went through. Hmm, I really need to stop talking to myself." Rainbow Dash was sitting on the floor in front of a bookshelf, deciding which way would be best to get to her destination. She had been sitting down for about half an hour when she finally made up her mind. "Right, I'm gonna fly over the Everfree and try and spot the ruins, If I cant find it, then I'll land somewhere deep in the forest and look from there" It probably wasn't the best idea, but it was all she had. "Ughh, this place should be easy to find! It's a castle! It should stick out above the trees! Granted the place has probably fallen down, but there should still be some sign that there once was a castle!" Rainbow had been scouring the Everfree forest for about an hour now, and there was no sign of the castle. As Rainbow was coming down to land in a small clearing in the Everfree forest, something swiped at her side. It set her of course and she fell a few feet before righting herself and looking around defensively to find her attacker. "Aright! Put 'em up! I ain't afraid of you! Who are you?" But whatever had attacked her was now not in sight. Just then, Rainbow heard something behind her and she instinctively ducked away before turning around. Upon doing so, she saw one of Nightmare moon's beasts, but this one had wings and was slightly smaller. Quickly, Rainbow flung herself at her attacker, punching it in the snout. The beast was some sort of flying goat with a lizards tail and two bat wings. The beast swung an attack at Rainbow but she managed to dodge. When she turned around to charge again at the beast, she stopped. The goat horns on either side of the beasts head were glowing slightly, like how a unicorns horn glows when said unicorn was using a spell. Rainbow was confused for a moment, but the confusion was blown away when a searing pain hit her back. Rainbow Dash fell downwards into the forest. She tried to flap her wings and right herself, but, to her dismay, her right wing was broken. "NO! MY WING!!" She cried, then she carried on yelling as she fell. She hit the ground hard and everything blacked out. Rainbow woke up under a bush. Thorns, twigs and brambles were digging into her skin and some were matted into her mane and tail. She was covered in mud and her body ached like mad. "Owwwwww" Rainbow whimpered as she crawled out of the bush. As soon as she was out she took a good look at herself and put everything in a list of importance. Her mane and tail were a mess, bottom of the list, she had nettles stinging her all over, middle-top of the list. Brambles and twigs dug into her skin, top of the list, her right wing was broken, top of the list, her side hurt massively, though she couldn't see any bruises or cuts thanks to the mud, top of the list, and she was covered in mud, middle-bottom of the list. "Right, I better rid myself of the brambles and nettles first" Rainbow said to herself whilst setting about her task. "Then, i need to get rid of all this mud and check myself for any cuts." Rainbow felt panic starting to rise up in her. Once cleaned and satisfied that she only had a few bruises she set to her next task. "Right, my wing is broken, I can't fly, great, just my luck. Now, I need to get moving to find my friends. What was that thing anyway, it had magic! It looked like once of Nightmare moon's beasts but, it had wings and magic! Ughh, Right, where am I?" Rainbow Dash had been walking for what felt like hours, it had only been 20 minutes but to Rainbow Dash, it was hours. She didn't really know which way she was going or which way the castle was but she had to keep moving. So far she hadn't run into any beasts, Rainbow wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad sign. *Sigh* "I guess I could go looking for the beasts, there are probably more where the castle is, but, I want to avoid them. ughh. i wish AJ or Rarity were here, they'd probably know what to do. I guess Pinkie might as well, but she might know more than anypony should know. Fluttershy might know, I doubt it though, Twilight would definitely know, don't know how though, she seems pretty eggheady. Ughh, Why did it have to be me doing this! I'm awesome at fighting, flying and, well, I'm awesome at pretty much anything, but, being an egghead and working out which way I'm going without flying or finding my friends by studying, nu-uh, I'm not awesome at that. Nor am I awesome at dress making, caring for animals, baking, ughh, there are so many things I'm not awesome at, though I guess those things aren't the awesome and cool things in life, so, they don't matter." Rainbow Dash mumbled to herself. She wasn't paying any attention to her surroundings so she almost jumped out of her skin when she heard something a few feet away from her on the other side of the bushes. She crouched down low and listened to what it was. It sounded like a few large creatures accompanying some other smaller creatures. She peered over and saw five huge beasts with all the ponies from Ponyville. Dash stifled a gasp. Three of the beasts looked like the ones that had attacked them in the town hall, except, they were bigger and looked stronger. The other two had wings, like the other beast she had seen earlier. Rainbow looked to the crowd of ponies and managed to spot Twilight and Applejack quickly, Twilight had Spike on her back, he was looking around nervously. Rainbow cautiously moved closer whilst staying hidden. She followed the group, taking the muddiest path to cover up her colours. After a few minutes the group stopped and one of the beasts sniffed the air. Rainbow ducked down quickly, into a bush. She was coated head to hoof in mud and brambles. The beast sniffed again and this time moved slightly closer to where Rainbow was hiding. She held her breath and stayed as still as possible. After a few moments the beast went back to its position and the group carried on. Rainbow let out her breath very slowly and then carried on following the group. She noticed Spike looking in the direction of her hiding spot so quickly and carefully she caught his attention and put a hoof to her lips. She had no clue whether Spike actually saw her and her command or whether he just saw a mud covered pony, maybe not even that, but at least he didn't say anything. Rainbow dash kept following the group for a while, she was starting to get fed up. It had been several hours plus the amount of time she had been unconscious since the others had been captured, so just where were they going? After about another hour, the group started to go down a tunnel in the ground. The three larger beasts stayed outside to guard the entrance, while the smaller two went in with the group. 'Damn' Rainbow thought to herself. She waited a little while watching the hole for any signs of anything coming out. Nothing. "Right" Rainbow whispered to herself, "I have to take out these three big guys somehow. If I could fly, I could probably surprise them from above, but I can't fly. I guess I could try sneaking past them, hmmm, they'd probably catch me, arghh, what the hay, I could just leap into action like I always do, grab their attention and run, then, once I've lost 'em I'll come back and save my friends! Yeh! It'll be awesome!" So, Rainbow Dash instantly jumped out of her hiding spot and caught the beasts off guard, punching each of them in the face before jumping back and shouting "Betcha can't catch me!!" and running off. The beasts were slightly stunned, this mud covered, thing, had jumped out of nowhere punched them and then raced of teasing them as she did! They quickly snapped out of their dazes and ran after Rainbow Dash, who was by now, quite a considerable distance away. Rainbow Dash looked back to check if they were following, she couldn't see them but she could definitely hear them giving chase. "HA! THIS IS AWESOME!" Rainbow shouted. She looked behind her again and this time he could see the forelegs of the beasts as they squashed everything that fell in their way. Putting on more speed, Rainbow increased the distance between her and her pursuers, once she was sure they couldn't see her again, she took a sharp right into the forage and made a beeline back to the cave. When she got there, the two beasts inside didn't seem to have come out, that or they had already come out and were looking for her. "Heh, good, nothing beats Rainbow Dash in a race!" Then, quickly, she ran down into the tunnel. quite a bit of the mud had come off showing patches of cyan fur and a rainbow mane. This made her easier to spot, but the tunnel was dark and had a lot of shadows. The tunnel was huge, it went on for ages, eventually, Rainbow came to a corner. She peeked round and saw the two beasts that had accompanied her friends down the tunnel. The only difference was, these two were HUGE! They were bigger than the first three. About three times the size of a manticore! Near them were Rainbows friends. They all looked exhausted and most beaten, some were asleep. Rainbow Dash winced at the sight. She watched the beasts for a while, every so often one of them would glow a blue-ish purple very slightly and get bigger. One of the beasts held a torch, the flame on it flickered and lit up the patch of tunnel they were sitting in. The beasts guarded both sides of the tunnel so no-pony could escape. Rainbow Dash stopped looking round the corner at the beasts and looked the other way. Another path lead down there. Dim moonlight lit up the far end signalling that that was an exit. This path was slightly at an angle so, if she timed it right, she could nip down there without being seen and have a look where they were outside. She looked back at the beasts, both of them were watching the group. Quick as a flash, Rainbow darted to the other tunnel. The soft dirt stopped her hooves from making a sound. She made it to the other path without the beasts noticing. Carefully, she ran to the exit and peeped out. In front of her stood the ruins of the castle. 'YES!' Rainbow Thought to herself. She briefly thought about going in to find the elements, but her friends may have moved by that time, and what if she gets caught, what if Nightmare moon had already found and hid the elements. So that option wasn't great. Swiftly, Dash made her way back to the group. They were still there, good. She looked around and noticed a few stones on the ground. She looked at the beasts, they weren't looking her direction, so she picked up a stone and chucked it to the other tunnel, the one she had come from. The stone made a quiet thud as it landed, but it was too quiet to attract the attention of the beasts. Dash picked up a slightly larger stone and threw it with more force. It created a louder thud, but still not enough to gain the beasts' attentions. 'Third time lucky' Dash thought to herself. This stone, made contact with one of the others when she threw it and a clacking sound echoed throughout the tunnels. Both beasts perked their ears up and this and sat alert. Carefully, Rainbow threw another stone, aiming it for the others. A direct hit, another clack sounded throughout the cave and the beast immediately gave chase down the tunnel that the noise had come from, the one that nopony was in. Quickly Rainbow moved to the group of ponies who were left alone, unguarded and too exhausted to move. Rainbow quickly spotted her friends, Twilight had her head in her hooves muttering something under her breath. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were asleep either side of Twilight, Spike was with Rarity, trying to comfort her whilst she cried. Fluttershy sat quietly and unmoving behind Twilight. "Hey, Egghead, you awake?" Rainbow asked. Twilight's head snapped upwards towards the sound of Rainbow's voice, Fluttershy turned around, Rarity and Spike glanced over, Pinkie and Applejack stirred. -------------- "R-R-Rainbow Dash??!!!" Twilight stuttered. "The one and only!" Rainbow Dash grinned. "OOF!" She grunted as she was tackled to the ground by yellow hooves. "RAINBOW DASH!" Fluttershy cried loudly, which wasn't that loud. "Hey Fluttershy! Glad you're ok. same, to you to Twi, AJ, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Spike." She grinned, only for it to falter as Fluttershy hugged tighter. "Careful 'Shy. Anyway, we need to get out of here, those beasts will be back in a minute." "Right." Twilight agreed. "Everypony get up, we're getting out of here." "Twilight, go out of the left tunnel, over there, see? That leads to right outside the castle. Get everypony out there and I'll meet you in a minute." Rainbow instructed before galloping of down the tunnel that the beasts went down. Twilight wanted to ask her what she was doing, but then decided that getting everypony out was more important. "Everypony follow me! Quietly! Down this tunnel!" Twilight called, not too loudly. After a few minutes everypony was out and next to the castle, Twilight then decided that it would be best to take everypony inside, away from where the beasts were. Then when everypony was inside She, Spike, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy went to wait outside by the tunnel entrance. They heard what sounded like rocks collapsing somewhere nearby, but it didn’t pose a threat to them. After a few minutes, an exhausted Rainbow Dash came out, then she smiled at them weakly and asked, "You guys ok? and where are the others?" "Oh, we're fine, right guys?" Twilight said, everyone else nodded "And everypony else is inside the castle." "Ok, We need to get the elements of harmony to defeat Nightmare moon." Rainbow explained. "They're supposed to be inside the castle somewhere, there are nine, but we only need six. Kindness, Generosity, Loyalty, Honesty and Laughter plus the sixth which is not known. I don't know what the other three are, but we don't need them to defeat Nightmare moon."