Flash Flood

by Brony757live

Chapter Two: Athena

The deserts and tundras of Hyperborea were treacherous and barren. Spike now realized he would never have made it this far without his guide, Athena. Especially now, at night, in a darkness that never seemed to end. "Where are we going, exactly and why is it so dark?" Spike asked, fright evident in his speech. He wasn't so sure that he wanted to be here anymore, but Twilight needed the information that he was here to gather. As Twilight put it, there was the question of what monsters lurked in Hyperborea, what ingredients were there to sample, what secrets lay beneath the frozen surface and desert-filled landscape. Personally, Spike didn't want to know.

"We are going to the dragon den you seek. It is only natural that you feel scared and meek." Athena said, aware of Spike's inner turmoil.

"Why do zebras talk like that?" Spike was happy to let anything distract him from the mission at hand. Besides, he was genuinely curious.

"Talk like what? Have I said something?" Athena asked obliviously.

Confused, Spike decided to let it go. "Nevermind... so, what kind of dragons will we see at this... den?"

"Many different kinds, some of them yellow, some orange, bright reds, deep blues. They come in all manners of various colors, shapes and hues."

Spike would've sighed in exasperation, if not for the overcoming fascination he now held for the dragons Athena spoke of. In the distance, he could just make out a dim red glow that was likely the marker of a den.

"Fire and lava are common things inside of dragon dens." Athena said, practically reading Spike's mind. "They provide warmth and protection for the inhabitants. This far north you would need the warmth, especially now, for it is the time of year that the darkness lasts. As for protection, the lava is necessary for safety from dragonslayers that frequent Hyperborea." Athena noted casually.

In his earlier excitement, Spike had calmed down about being in a treacherous new land. But after hearing that, he was in a cold sweat. "Dragonslayers!?" He whispered.

Athena nodded. "Indeed, dragons are a plague to the zebra lands. They cover the area with ash, burn forests down, and consume entire lakes with thirst. For these reasons, they are not welcomed in these lands and are routinely rooted out. But do not worry, we are far north enough that these dragons are usually not bothered by dragonslayers, I simply noted lava's protective properties as a fun fact."

Spike settled, and a frown formed on his face. "Well you didn't have to scare me like that if dragonslayers don't even come up this far!"

"I said they don't usually come up this far. You might want to keep your voice down." Athena stated calmly.

They continued to roam the tundra laid out before them, unaware of the dangers that now slinked between the pathetic bits of foliage behind them. A silent argument had broken out between the beings following the two adventurers. Small gestures of unspoken words littered the night, the only evidence of them being a slight glimmer of scales.

May we attack? Grayeyes asked, becoming impatient.

No, the little one is with Athena, we cannot. Yellowtail said with a glaring gesture of pain towards anyone thick enough to question his or Redwing's will.

Why do you defend her, she matters not. Grayeyes continued, ignoring Redwing's right hand.

Redwing stopped, noticing the change in Athena's hoofsteps. They were swifter now, more desperate to achieve their goal. Grayeyes unwisely spoke again, and Redwing struck him down. Because, she is not dragon-born, I will slay only dragon-born! I will not let our clan fall into chaos again! Redwing was tired, and Grayeyes was grating on his nerves.

Redwing gestured towards Grayeyes who then suffered more abuse, this time from his peers. Redwing was aware of his packs' hunger for violence, and so he decided to take the opportunity to unleash them upon the blubbering fool. He continued to watch as Athena and the little one scurried away, listening to the musical beat of scales ringing against his impetuous deputy.

Yellowtail slowly approached him. Redwing, we must kill this dragon-born, if we do not the pack will grow more restless.

But Redwing stopped him there. I am aware of this, but are you aware of why these foreigners have come here?

Yellowtail stopped and thought. He was not aware, but now he questioned the possibilities.

Redwing could see his right hand's mind at work, and took the moment to return his gaze upon Athena. He did not know why they had come here, but he would soon find out.

Yellowtail had since forgotten the two, now exchanging movements with a courier. The conversation didn't last long, and Yellowtail bore a glimmer in his eyes. Good news, rare news, had just arrived that would surely cheer his commander up.

Word from Hazeheart has just arrived sir. Yellowtail said, moving excitedly to Redwing. He says that the relic snatcher has been caught and is trapped within the ruins. Her sanity wont last long, and once they're through with her she'll be more than willing to tell us the location of the other artifacts.

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Twilight Sparkle was still sleeping in her bed. It had been a few hours since the initial disaster and she was getting some needed sleep. Snoring loudly, she dreamt of happier times in Ponyville; the day Rainbow Dash got her first pet, how happy her brother Shining Armour was the day he married Cadance... A smile grew on her tired face. But it wouldn't last.

A glow expanded quickly throughout the night and lit up her room. Twilight awoke groggily to the sight of Celestia and the sun.

"Twilight I don't have time to explain, Spike sent me a message to give to you. I haven't had a chance to get it to you till now, I'm sorry for that." Celestia laid the message down on Twilight's bedside table and, with a flash, disappeared as quickly as she had come.

Twilight's dilated eyes struggled to focus as she enveloped the scroll from Spike in her magic and read the words it contained.

A letter to Twilight Sparkle

Dear Twilight,

I have made it to one of the dragons' dens of Hyperborea with the help of Celestia's contact Athena. Surprisingly, she doesn't really remind me of Zecora. Athena, I mean. I haven't yet gotten the information you wanted, I just wanted to tell you how far I'd gotten and that if I don't get a letter to you again soon then something's gone wrong. I'm not sure what will happen, but I don't think the dragons here will be friendly. You remember the dragon colony, right? I don't think these guys will be much better. Anyway, nothing has really been easy this far anyway. I hope everything is going well where you are.

Sincerely,
Spike

Twilight put the letter on her desk to read again later. She missed her number one assistant... But she couldn't focus too much on that now. She struggled to go back to sleep, but couldn't. Hesitantly, she got up from her bed and trotted to the window. Ponyville was still a wreck, but the debris that had cluttered the once magically lit village was mostly cleared and the river was now fully pushed to the side of Ponyville. The only areas that had been hit were Sweet Apple Acres, parts of the Everfree Forest, and Ghastly Gorge, though the trees that were torn up from the Everfree forest caused considerable damage to the houses on the outskirts of town, including Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie would have to stay with Fluttershy for a while... Mr. and Mrs. Cake and the other homeless ponies will have to stay in the Ponyville Inn, if they're not already in the hospital, until their houses are repaired.

Twilight bore a large grimace on her face, as lucky as they'd been with saving most of the town, and as great as all of the progress they'd made was, it saddened her that the poor place had been so misshapen and that her friend Applejack's home was destroyed. Taking a deep breath she made her way downstairs to make herself some breakfast, trying to calm down all the while.

Applejack stopped by Twilight's house to talk about sorting the new arrivals of volunteers. Twilight knew she was perfect for the job, so she agreed. Now she was compiling a list of names and details of volunteers. The huge number of volunteers that were at the hospital had dwindled now, a fact that chilled Twilight to the bone. So many lives lost, if she had only done something sooner...

Since then Twilight had gotten another letter from Spike. In this one he had mentioned a pony that he described as a valiant crusader after a relic in some ruins near the dragons' den he had explored. Upon escaping through some underground caves she met up with him and Athena accidentally. Together, they escaped a band of tomb raiders and dragon slayers that had apparently been following them both for some time. Now, he was on a steam boat headed for Equestria. Twilight wasn't sure what to think of that, but she was glad to hear that Spike was at least okay and headed home.

Twilight returned to her list. Organizing kept her mind off of what had happened to Ponyville.

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Rainbow Dash was confused, she wanted to be sure that this new -relationship- would work, whatever it was. But she wasn't sure whether to be bold or subtle. Spitfire was the kind of mare who took charge, it wouldn't be fun competing for the right of stallion. She paced through her living room. The events of last night spun through her mind, the sex had been especially great. But, was that it? Not that there was anything wrong with that, a casual relationship would be easier than a serious one. But was that what she wanted? She didn't usually take the easy route, and neither did Spitfire. So, was this the real deal? Or did Spitfire have lots of flings like this? She paced faster now. Was that all she was? A booty call? She hadn't had many relationships in flight school and the thing with Spitfire had been only the third time she'd ever actually had sex. What if she tells everypony that I'm easy? Calm down, you were tired - and she's seriously hot.

There was a knock at the door. Rainbow answered swiftly and without thinking. Fluttershy jumped, she thought Raindbow would be asleep...

"Oh, um.. hi." Fluttershy squeaked.

Rainbow was a little taken aback, she wasn't sure whom she was expecting, but it wasn't Fluttershy.

"Hi. What are you doing here?" Rainbow said.

"Oh, well, um, I was just wondering if you could help me with, um... You see, it's not really me that needs the help, it's Applejack. She said that she needed some kind of help with some seeds, you should ask her." Fluttershy finished, clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation.

"Well tell her I'll be there soon, I didn't sleep much last night anyway." Rainbow fell short of a smile or a grimace, her face formed more of a blank expression than anything else.

"Oh, um, okay. Bye." Fluttershy left then, head down.

She needs to be more confident. Haha, listen to me, I'm one to talk.. Rainbow thought. Rainbow's stomach growled. Heh, good thing I'm going to AJ's... Rainbow left her cloud and headed for Sweet Apple Acres.

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Fluttershy worked her way back to the Everfree Forest, grabbing two large bags of feed from her house. The familiar forest was greatly defined by the rising sun which tinted the leaves that fell silently onto the forest floor in a bright red tint. Animals hopped, crawled and walked all over the place, looking distraught. "Come here little ones, I brought you some food." The animals gathered near Fluttershy, gradually eating the entire first bag of food she'd laid out hungrily. At first Fluttershy made sure to monitor the amount of food each animal got, but eventually settled her eyes on a peculiar flash in the distance. The bag of food finished, some of the animals pushed at her legs, begging for more, but Fluttershy was surprisingly too distracted to notice. In the distance she could still see the dimmed flashes of blue light, pulsing in an almost rhythmic pattern through the brush. But she had little time to stare before the larger animals started pushing against her, forcing her attention. "Okay." She gave in, dumping the second bag on the ground. "Now I know you're all hungry, but you need to eat more slowly darlings." Forgetting the light, Fluttershy went back to taking care of the misplaced animals.

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Rainbow Dash arrived at Sweet Apple Acres where the farm had been hit hard. Some trees were missing - pulled up from the roots - and the fields were completely drowned. Rainbow stopped gawking and started to look for Applejack. AJ was currently dragging a large sack from out of the old water-logged barn that was still somewhat standing. Rainbow flew down to assist her. AJ wasn't even fazed when Rainbow swooped into her view. AJ stopped tugging on the sack, which was far too heavy for her to carry while RD sat directly on top of it. "RD what are ya doin'?" AJ asked in a n agitated tone.

"Oh, you know, just hangin' out." Rainbow said with a wry smile.

"Look I don't have time for funny business I need to get the ol' barn emptied so it can be torn down, then I have to organize the volunteers that are coming in with Twilight." Applejack huffed, removing the sack from underneath Rainbow Dash who gracefully flew off of it.

"Well Fluttershy told me that you had a job for me, something about seeds." Rainbow looked expectantly at Applejack.

"Well I can't have ya do that until I get the fields un-flooded. But what ya can help me with is demolishing ma barn. Whattaya say?"

"Alright, some action!" Rainbow swiftly flew higher in the air, rubbing her tired eyes all the while. I need to get higher,. She did an immediate u-turn once she cleared the cloud cover, but faltered. The sun was strong today, heat radiated off the sun with the intensity of a Fluttershy stare. The clouds glowed with a golden layer of pure energy. RD flew in place for a few moments, taking it all in, letting the vibrant waves recharge her as they lit her fur and mane in a warm sheen. At this altitude the air was much colder than on the ground and each foggy breath she took froze her nostrils and cleared her mind. Steeling herself, Rainbow Dash swooped below the clouds and flew like the violent shock of a lightning bolt. Her eyes teared up quickly and it became harder to see. But she couldn't clear them without moving her arms and losing speed, so she pressed on. The sound of air rushing past her was like a thousand drums, and the mach cone formed around her tiny cyan body. Bright colors sparked behind her as she entered the first stages of the sonic rainboom. There was a flash of white and an enormous thunder of noise. Streaks of rainbow colors zoomed through the early morning sky. The ground sped quickly to Rainbow's view, and the soggy barn became a small bulls-eye on the limitless map of Equestria. With the explosive power of a small meteor, Dash ran headlong into her target. The barn shattered and the mare trotted out of the crated she left in her wake, relatively unharmed.

Applejack viewed the carnage from a nearby trench, thoroughly impressed.

"Excellent work RD! Now you should probably go home, you look awful tired after that."

"I'm fine, I think" Rainbow Dash replied, rubbing her head. "Hey, maybe I could get a bunch of pegasi to remove that water from your fields, we could funnel it like we did when we were getting water for Cloudsdale."

"That'd be great RD, I'll tell Twilight to send a bunch of 'em over to Sweet Apple Acres when she finally gets everything organized. In the meantime, you really should get some rest, you look plum tuckered out." AJ said, concerned for her friend.

"I guess so, see ya later AJ" Rainbow resigned, liking the idea of some wholesome sleep. She thanked Applejack and trotted away, saving her flying energy for when she was closer to home.

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"So, what do you think? Can you do it? Maybe I should get Twilight..." Mayor Mare said with a bit of skepticism.

"Of course I can, I have moved on from my childish antics of before. I know real magic now, I'll get rid of this beast single-hoofedly for I am the Great and Powerful Trixie and I need no help from the likes of Twilight Sparkle." Trixie exclaimed loudly.

"Well, you've been doing that flashing for hours now without results, why isn't it working!?" Mayor Mare asked impatiently, though it was good to get away from the crisis in town.

"It's a very complicated spell that is supposed to take a long time! Do you know how hard it is to shrink something this large!?" Trixie asked, pointing at the still-unconscious hydra.

"Okay, fine, just don't wake it up, we have enough problems as it is." Mayor Mare sighed.

"Just, go back to Ponyville, I can handle this." Trixie confidently stated.

With that, the Mayor left for Ponyville, leaving Trixie to her work.