The mane six journey into the heart of a recently developed island to rescue a personal friend, but the island is not as barren as predicted and it's inhabitants are not as anyone would ever expect..
When the island first appeared on the radar of Equestria, Princess Celestia forbid travel to the island until she commissioned an expedition team herself. Shining Armor, who only meant to take a faster route home from a diplomatic mission by flying over the island, goes missing. Upon hearing this from Celestia Twilight enlists the help of her many friends to travel to the island to rescue him, along with those who accompanied the prince. Celestia herself gathers a small army as precaution, though her advisors persistently say that the island should be uninhabited.
The hulking figure that greets them when they enter says otherwise.
“Good evening, Prince Shining Armor! I trust your diplomatic errands have been fulfilled?”
“Ah, more or less, Chapel.” Shining Armor responded with tiredness lacing the tone of his sentence. It would be crystal clear to those he spoke to that his meeting with others across the borders of Equestria was less than invigorating for the Prince. Several days worth of stay and a portion of those hours spent signing papers that were several feet in length. If his horn could speak, it would probably forbid him from using the signing spell ever gain. “On the brighter side, they're a very friendly division of Griffins...more so than the natives of Griffinstone.” Shining Armor told his Advisor, who gladly opened a set of doors for both of them that to led to the outside. Only Luna’s past prison was there to illuminate them tonight. “I just hope I don't have any other diplomatic missions that come right after this.”
Chapel hummed in thought, his brow furrowing as a symbol of deep thought. “Well-- to my understanding, Your Majesty, you won't have any other overseas duties for nearly a year.”
“Ah yes, the Summit Of Leaders.” The stallion prince received a nod as confirmation and spotted his chariot in the distance, glinting it's golden coat in the moonlight as if it had been waiting for him. “That is good news. Now I can get back home without anything to be troubled over.”
“I see. In a hurry to get back to Princess Cadence, are we?”
Shining Armor blushed ever so slightly, but nodded to the pegasus. “You have no idea, Chapel. Why, just the other day, Cadence sent me a message about our daughter. Flurry Heart has apparently said her first word in the past few days; Momma, as Cadence described. “ He shrugged in disappointment. “I didn't get to hear this firsthoof, of course...but between you and me, I'd have liked to hear Dada first.”
Chapel laughed to himself just as the Pegasi who would fly the chariot arrived, munching on something they bought in their time there. “Of course sir...Nice Night, Clipper, Flow. “
The two nodded to the advisor, and then bowed to Shining Armor. Clipper seemed to be more aged than his partner and definitely the more experienced. Flow was a younger stallion, somewhat younger than even Shining Armor himself. Regardless of age, they'd both done perfectly in getting the Prince here and left no doubt that they take him home without trouble as well. “I take it you two made good use of our pit stop.”
“Heh, you might say that, Your Majesty.” Clipper’s statement was accompanied by a nod from Flow, who was the first to buckle himself into the Chariot’s straps and harnesses.”You ready to head home?”
“Indeed.” The Prince and The Advisor hopped into the Chariot itself, before Shining Armor turned to Chapel. “I don't suppose you know of any quick routes home, do you?”
“I fear not, Your Majesty. The alternate routes that have been made ever since that new island appeared are the only ones we can take as recommended, only it will be a day's flight.”
“...And what about the unrecommended route?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Princess Celestia's instructions to not set hoof on the island were clear, but if we took the original route…” Shining Armor explained diligently. “ we'd only be flying over the island. We wouldn't be landing or anything, just flying.”
Chapel frowned deeply. “I don't know, sir…”
Clipper turned his head towards them. “We’d be happy to do it, wouldn't we Flow?”
“Of course!” The young Stallion replied.
Darkness. Screaming. Crunching. Falling.
Chapel surrendered with a light huff and sat back against the backrest of the Chariot. "Oh, very well then. It is your decision, My Prince."
The ground rushing up to his body, filling his nostrils with dirt.
Shining Armor patted his back softly. "That's the spirit, Chapel!"
Shining Armor shot up from the hill's slope, gasping for breath.
With his mane slickened and soaked with sweat, he could barely see past twelve feet in front of him, let alone anything else. His hooves clumsily carried him forward, threatening to buckle beneath him thanks to to the endless time spent running. His wide eyes darted at every corner and cranny in the trees, expecting something reveal itself within. His heart hammered faster than the wimgbeat of a hummingbird, pumping adrenaline instead of blood through his veins. He felt the urge to vomit, surpressed it and continued on. He tried not to think about the wall of storm clouds. He tried not to think about the crash. He tried not to think about Clipper's body.
He tried not to think about Flow's body, what was left of of it that is. He failed to keep from thinking about what was eating him. He failed to keep from thinking that he was too young to die.
Pushing the thoughts of bloodcurdling screams and yellow stained teeth from his mind, the unicorn Prince raised his head heavenward. It was morning; he'd failed to notice the rise of the sun since he woke up. A fly noisily buzzed around his head, trying to get at the cut on his cheek that oozed a small amount of blood. Shining Armor began to swat at it, before he realized that he hadn't discovered Chapel's body anywhere near the others. It didn't mean that he was still alive, but it did mean that there was a chance of it. "Chapel! Where are you?! Can you hear me?!"
Seconds passed, and his heart feel in his chest. He was about to presume his advisor dead before a voice carried faintly through the air. "Your Majesty?! Is that you?!" With a new sense of hope fueling him, Shining Armor raced in the direction of the voice as it continued to shout. "I'm over here! Hurry! I'm stuck!"
It didn't take a terrible amount of time for the prince to skid onto a rocky cliff edge, where he gasped at the height. They had crashed somewhere 200 hundred feet above ground level, and much farther above sea level. He could see mountains that dwarfed them in the distance as well as nearby, and there were even trees that were oddly large and diverse. They were almost the size of some mountains and grew in large clusters that might as well have been called forests. When Shining Armor looked farther, he gasped at the realization of not being able to see the ocean from whatsoever. How large was this island?
"Your Majesty?! Is that you over there?!"
Chapel. Shining Armor peered at an outcropping of the cliff that extended farther than his own position, spotting the mangled mess that was once his chariot. He galloped over to the wreckage with urgency and discovered that Chapel was lying underneath the metal mess, pinned to the sandy rock ground. "Chapel! Chapel are you okay?" The Prince knelt down next to the pegasus, examining the blood smear above on of his eyes.
" Prince Shining Armor! Thank Celestia!" Chapel looked as though he would have hugged Shining Armor if he wasn't trapped under the weight of the Chariot. "My wing is broken, but I'm otherwise just fine! I can barely get this thing to budge!"
"L-Let me try." His horn sputtered with a magic flow, which soon encased the Chariot rubble in a film of blue light. Shining Armor gritted his teeth as he shoved and pulled on many, many pounds of gold and steel while Chapel himself strained every muscle in his body. The two believed themselves to be trying so hard that the ground shook at times with their effort. Finally, their combined efforts managed to toss the remains of the chariot off and onto the very edge of the cliff. "...Very good, Sir. I had thought you had perished in the crash..." Chapel remarked sadly, and glanced back at the forest. "Did you find Clipper and Flow? Perhaps they need our help?"
Shining Armor bowed his head ever so slightly, staring at him hooves in dismay. "They...They are dead, Chapel."
Chapel shared his look of dismay and silently said words of respect to himself, while Shining Armor patiently sulked. It was his fault for having chosen to fly through this accursed island, and therefore his fault that two fine examples of loyalty were now dead. He was gently broken from his thoughts by a hoof on his shoulder, and he raised his to head to see a worried Chapel. "We must find a way off this island, sir."
"Of course...We'll need to..." Shining armor trailed off as they were both briefly standing in a dark shadow instead of the heat of yellow rays. Something had just blotted out the sun. "What...?"
WHAMF!
A giant object had shot up into the air beyond the cliff edge, ten times the size of an elephant and many more times as heavy. It's giant dark mass slammed down onto the cliff edge just twenty hooves away from them. They both shrank back in shock and disbelief when they saw that the object was one humongous arm. This was impossible; this arm was larger than the entire body of Tirek at full power--nothing could be larger than him!
WHAMF!
Another arm appeared on the opposite of the first, giant strands of muscle rippling as it caused the rocky cliff edge to crackle and crunch like a potato chip. With a sense of dread, the ponies turned just in time to see a mountain of a head rise up from the hiding place that was the cliff. It didn't stop rising before them until this monster's chin was well over fifty hooves above their heads. Shining Armor's eyes bulged in absolute fear and intimidation at what he was seeing, his mind blankly trying to explain what it was.
Two red eyes painted with yellow irises, narrowed at them and a single huff of breath surrounded them in a hurricane of dust and sand.
Celestia sighed a fresh breath of content with her work, while the sun itself blazed high above her head to signify the morning. It was as beautiful as ever, radiating large waves and smears of pink, blue, purple and of course orange in the sky. The alicorn princess studied the sky more intensely before turning away from her work and walking back into the room from her balcony; her Phoenix squawked softly at her as she passed and earned a soft rub on the head for its efforts. Her walk carried her to the door of her bedroom, which was opened by her magic slowly. The guard stationed at her post turned abruptly to her.
"Your Majesty, is everything alright?" He asked timidly, scanning her face for any sign of distress.
His actions caused the small smile on her lips to grow even wider as compassion for her guard; not just him either. In recent times of small wars with the likes of individuals of other parts of the world, the chances of ponies in her armies living to return lowered ever so slightly. Even with a minuscule drop, her heart would sink-- she loved the guards or soldiers that she personally appointed and took any chance to show them compassion as well as appreciation like any ruler should. When any one of her loyal stallions and mares could lose their lives, it was important for them to know why they died to her and understand why she would do the same for them. Celestia finally shook her head in response to his question. "Yes, Sir Oak. How could there be anything wrong on such a magnificent morning?"
The question was rhetorical, but the close view of the window prompted a response. "I admit, to say that your sun has brought about a good morning for us all would be pitting it too lightly. " He mused and paused a moment to the savor the good of the morning. "You slept well, I take it?"
"Well, Luna was playful last night. You know how she gets sometimes." Celestia told him, her smiling hinting of memories having been made and laughter having been shared. "Visiting my dreams is a loophole for her, since I always advise her against entering anyone else's dreams."
"Caught up on a few things?"
"As usual. It has been a long time since we've spent quality time together and gotten to know each other again. " She offered and began to walk down the hallway with the guard following her closely. "How is your family, by the way? Your foals growing steadily?"
"Yes, your Highness. The eldest is coming up on her second birthday." Sir Oak beamed proudly, as if he could see his charming little girl now before him. Celestia couldn't help but smile a little wider at his expression. "Hopefully, she'll grow up to be a smart young made like her mother...whom she seems more fond of than me, by the way."
The princess chuckled warmly. "Its like you said: growing up just like her mother. What better way to do that than to be around her more?" Before the guard could think of a proper way to answer her little quip, another guard galloped around the corner at astonishing speeds and slowed as she spotted her ruler. The mare used the magic of her horn to adjust her armor anxiously. "Good morning, P-Princess Celestia. Erm, I'm very sorry to interrupt anything your Majesty..." She bowed her head as if she had done something wrong, but smiled softly at her fellow guard. "Good day to you, Sir Oak."
As he briefly acknowledged his younger partner with a nod, Celestia too bowed her own head slightly to the mare. "You have no reason to be sorry, Dear Glide. What brings you here so hastily?"
The made raised her head sadly. "I...it's... Very, very bad news..."
Celestia's smile twitched, then finally faded into nothing as she regarded the sad look in the eyes of her guard. She looked out the window to the sun she had risen and then back to Glide. "Tell me."
The last book levitated into its proper place and Twilight sighed proudly. It had been an excellent morning of book citations, but she'd only been able to perform it all on one section of books during the night. Anypony else, including herself, would have most certainly fallen asleep at some point during this activity...but Twilight had the convenience of expensive, highly caffeinated coffee and her love of books. Even Pinkie Pie could not hope to be as energized as Twilight...
"Hmm...maybe I should rephrase that..." The Alicorn thought to herself, remembering who exactly Pinkie was. Then a bit of a slow shuffle down the stairs was picked up by her ears, and a bright grin exploded beneath her snout. Sure enough, a certain young dragon was rubbing away the last bits of sleep from his eyes and making his way down the stairs. "Good Morning, Spike!"
"Whuzzah? Oh. Hey Twilight!" Spike perked up a little more at seeing Twilight, and then seeing the rearrangement of books. "Someone's had a busy night." He gazed upon the nooks a little longer as Twilight agreed with a him of pride, before looking back to the princess. "Did Starlight help you out?"
Twilight nodded. "A little bit. She left not too long ago to get groceries for our Kitchen." She rubbed her rummy softly with a hoof as the thought came back to her tenfold, for the fourth time in a row. "Speaking of which, I'm a little too famished to wait for groceries. Guess it's my fault for staying up the whole night. Any who, I was wondering if you'd like to come with me to grab a bite...I was thinking...pickles?"
Spike tilted his head, the smile completely gone. "...Pickles?"
"I know. Weird craving, right? Well...maybe it has something to do with reshelving all those pickle books last night." Spike gave her a blank stare and she pouted. "What?"
"We have more than one book on pickles?"
"Yep. I was surprised too. We've got about eight of them."
"That's...weird. Well, anyways..." The dragon walked ahead of her to the front doors of the castle with Twilight in close pursuit of him. "I'm down with getting those. Can we get the extra sour ones this time? We made a made choice getting the spicy ones."
"Don't remind me."
Twilight and Spike both shared a laugh at that, and the doors were opened. They both blinked in surprise at seeing royal guards stationed there before the doors, wearing armor that signified that they belonged to Celestia. One of them that had a hoof raised as if to knock on the door, but he let it down awkwardly upon realizing that he wouldn't get that chance. "Oh! Princess Twilight, I'm sorry for interrupting anything you were about to do."
"Er..." She exchanged glances with Spike. "That's fine. What can I do for you?"
"Well, Princess Celestia wished for us to escort you to her castle. Immediately." The second told her. "She wishes to discuss important matters with you, Princess Cadence and Princess Luna."
The Princess of Friendship gasped a bit too loudly. The last time she'd been called into a meeting with Celestia, Luna and Cadence involved the rise of Tirek and their last resort to save Equestria from him. "Is...Is it Tirek, again?"
"Er, no. I'm certain we'd all be dead by now." He responded with utmost seriousness. "The Princess specifically told us that she wished to explain in person, rather than through us."
"...Very well. Spike, pack a few things please. Leave a note for Starlight." She watched as Spike offered her a serious nod and raced back into the castle. "We're going to Canterlot."
Princess Cadence mentally ran over the list of instructions she'd left for the maid concerning Flurry Heart, her hooves carrying her in a pace around the throne room. It had honestly been like this since forever, and yet Cadence always worried about her daughter and always worried about the threats around her. Even Shining wanted her to tone down on the amount of rubber guards she used for table points and all. She pouted; if only her husband were here to take care of Flurry Heart while this important meeting began. Only Luna appeared to be in the room, watching as Cadence circled her repeatedly with a dumbfound expression.
"...You're not going to attack me are you?" The question caught Cadence off guard so much that she almost tripped as she stopped. "Its just that, circling a solitary pony is the behavior of a predator. I'd hate to see you resorting to cannibalism."
"Very funny, Luna. Very funny." Cadence slowed her walk to a halt before the taller Alicorn. "I'm just worried about Flurry Heart is all...She's so very young. And the world around her can be so very dangerous. Probably not from inside the castles I know...but still..."
Luna shrugged a bit, her ears relaxed a tad more. "I wouldn't say that you're worried for her safety, so much as you're worried someone won't treat her exactly like you do. Either way is reasonable for a mother."
"Well, Shining Armor is the only one who I know would do things exactly like me...but he's still off on that abnormally long diplomatic trip. "
"I thought he was supposed to be back yesterday?"
"I thought so too. " Cadence shrugged. "But now there's all these slower routes because that island that popped up out of nowhere. He could be encountering bad traffic in the air."
Before the other other Princess could reply to this, the doors to the throne room opened and Twilight Sparkle was hurriedly bounding into the room like there was no tomorrow. "Am I late?! Did I miss it?! Is Princess Celestia already here?!"
"No, not yet." Cadence held out a hoof timidly. "You can stop running now."
The purple alicorn skidded to a halt in front of her fellow royals and caught her escaping breath. "Okay...phew. Hello Luna. Hello Cadence. You two are looking fabulous today."
Luna tilted her and glanced down at her reflection in the shiny floor. "Er, we thank you Twilight. We were just talking about your brother before you came in."
"Oh. Shining Armor isn't back yet, right? He must be having horrible traffic." Twilight commented. Her eyes looked over to Cadence, as if she could read one of the many thoughts in her head. "You doing alright with Flurry Heart? Does she miss her dad?"
Cadence smirked a little. "Oh you wouldn't believe it. She--"
The doors to the throne room opened up again and now it was Celestia who was making her entrance. The other Alicorns almost immediately bowed their heads in respect and the favor was returned to them by the tallest of the Alicorns. Celestia stopped before the three without so much as a small smile, so much as a solemn frown. Just a relatively gloomy expression. "Greetings to you all. I'm sorry to bring you in on such short notice."
"Its fine, Princess Celestia. Did you gather us because of Tirek? Perhaps another villain?"
"No, Twilight...Quite frankly, I'm sure how to introduce the situation so I will simply state it. " Celestia offered in gloomy neutrality. " Prince Shining Armor is missing."
A collective gasp was created by the other three Alicorns, but mostly from Cadence and Twilight. The former looked down in disbelief and sadness, while the latter was trying to make sense of what her princess had said. Luna looked upon them and then up to her sister. "Missing? We're certain he hasn't been delayed?"
She nodded once in response. "I've had guards scour every imaginable route from Shining Armor's last location to here or The Crystal Empire or even Ponyville. No pony has has seen or heard from him, aside from several who claim to have seen him head home. Those whom he spoke with on the diplomatic mission have offered help in finding--"
"They must have him!" Cadence suddenly spoke up, her eyes slightly narrowed. "Capturing royalty could provide them with much in time! And that was the last place he was seen."
"Cadence..." Twilight began, forlorn over the news of her brother. " even if we disregarded the several eye witnesses that saw him leave their grounds...why would they capture him exactly there? We would know right away who took him. And even though he's a Prince...his political and economic power isn't as great as yours, or mine or Luna's or Celestia's. Why take him...?"
Soon after, her sister in law lost the angered expression and it fell into sadness again. "Where else could he be?"
"He must be somewhere." Luna spoke up after Twilight failed to think of an answer. "We just have to keep searching for him..."
A knock on the doors of the throne room was answered by Celestia, and a messenger pony rushed in with a later held in his magical grasp. The princesses, excluding Cadence, looked to see him approach. "Your Majesties! We've just received a letter, and it appears to be from Shining Armor!"
Cadence's head shot up in an instant, and her own magical aura snatched the letter so that she could see it in full. When the other Alicorns leaned in to read the short paper, they noticed that there were several missing letters, scrambled words and even missing words...as if the magical signal to send the letter had tampered with the contents itself:
--is Shining romrA.
--- chariot has suffered a crash ------- on --- --rbidd-- dlnias and we have two casualties. -- --ed pleh immediately, there are ----ters all over.
Please phelsu.
Twilight's widened eyes read further than everyone else's, despite struggled to comprehend the level of urgency in the letter. "There are coordinates here." Her mind raced back to all of the mapping books she'd read and all the studying she'd done involving coordinates, then connected it all to a mental image of a map in her head. Several seconds later, her eyes widened even more as the answer came to her. "...I-I figured it out. I know where is."
"You do?!" Cadence asked urgently, dreading the tone of Twilight's voice as she said that
Twilight looked up to Princess Celestia, who somehow seemed to realize it even before she spoke.
Celestia patiently frowned. "Explain it to us in more detail then."
The Geographical consultant coughed timidly, clearly trying to find a good place to start. "Well...as I said, we have no real evidence or facts about the island itself, other than it being surrounded by an impossible storm cloud. It is consistently causing lightning strikes within itself as well as unending rain...without the aid of Pegasi I might add."
"That is impossible..." Luna gasped in curious alarm; in all of her life, she had hardly ever heard of weather created without Peagsi. A phenomenon such as this may as well have been myth to her. "This island sounds like a larger iteration of the Everfree Forest."
"I hope not." Cadence commented worriedly, her wings fluttering in frustration. "That horrible place has too many odd inhabitants as it is...What could my husband have meant by Monsters?"
"I'm not so sure, your majesty. Something would have to already be on the island when it arrived for there to be any...issues." The consultant offered. "But, perhaps they are similar to our own fauna in which they don't posses means of defending themselves against magical attacks. Since Prince Shining Armor is a skilled unicorn, I imagine he's been able to ward off any natural predators on the island--which could mean the predators are relatively small, or the same size as...a timber wolf for example. "
"His letter doesn't say anything against that. But there must be many creatures on this island, for him to have mentioned them so urgently. He may be running out of time even as we speak. " Was Cadence's response, before she turned sharply to Celestia. "I wish to lead a search party onto the island."
The Princess looked surprised at her request. "I...I do not think that would be the wisest decision, Cadence." As an expected scoff was heard, Celestial continued with a more stern tone. "Do not think that this is because of my previous law banning exploration of the island, Cadence! No matter what we have theorized, this island could be more dangerous than our darkest imaginations. Shining Armor would be very displeased if I endangered his wife by letting her go to such a place to begin with, let alone the possibility of you being hurt."
"Well I would never be able to forgive myself if he gets hurt or worse, not when I could have done something to help him! If you want to lead this, then fine! Just let me be apart of it! We'll need all the ponies we can get if we want to find him on such a large island!" She looked to her sister in law, who had been eerily silent throughout the whole conversation. "Twilight? You share my desires, right?"
The purple alicorn looked up from her hooves as if she had been daydreaming, or perhaps recalling a memory. "...well...I understand and completely agree with what Princess Celestia wants in terms of safety. I want all of us to be safe too. " She sighed quietly. "But I also want my brother back, more than safety could hope to deter me from. "
Celestia tried to open her mouth; tried to respond with something that could change both their minds...but even she couldn't think of a single word to help. How could she? The princess looked to her sister to see who side she was on, and a knowing stare was all she needed to sigh to herself. "I can see that I'm outnumbered this, aren't I...? I...I shall arrange for a small army to accompany us to the island as a precaution, but I take it at least one of you have ponies they wish to bring along?"
First the first time in an hour, Twilight smiled softly. "Just a few."
" I STILL CANT BELIEVE WE'RE GOING ON A VACATION! I MEAN, DOES ANYPONY STILL TAKE THOSE?!"
"Yes, Pinkie darling. Its just that nopony likes to tell you for fear of you throwing them a huge going away party." Rarity barely had time to roll her eyes thanks to the compact mirror sitting in her hoof. A single lock of her hair refused to stay put no matter how much she brushed and pushed at it; annoying little thing. "Blast you, STAY THERE!"
"Um, Pinkie...? I'm pretty sure Twilight said this was...erm...not a vacation." Fluttershy squeaked when a small suitcase of hers leaned slightly to the left atop a mountain of other luggage. "I mean...unless you want to look at it that way. It would be more relaxing."
"Chillaxing, Flutters."
"Sure. Chillaxing." For the second time in her life, Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "I...almost forgot. My point was that this is a little more urgent than a usual vacation."
"Oh riiiight! I totally forgot about it somehow." Pinkie giggled and waved her hoof dismissively. "Can you imagine that?"
Rather than let anyone sarcastically respond to that, Applejack swallowed the last bite of her apple and coughed to clear her throat. "Speakin' a what we're really doing, Ah want us t'...y'know...not mention it so much aroun Twalaght. She might be real stressed over this whole search party, an' I don't want her to be constantly reminded of what might 'r might not have happened to Shining Armor. Y'all think we kin manage that?"
"Totally!"
"Of course, Darling!"
"Um,sure."
"What's a Axolotl?"
"Good!" Applejack nodded, pleased at the agreement of her companions and their mutual caring for Twilight. Before anypony else could say anything or think anything, the door to the library opened up abruptly and allowed two familiar figures to wander inside with their backs strapped down with luggage. "Oh! Good Evenin' Starlight! And...Trixie."
"Hey, guys! " Starlight cheekily grinned, before noticing the less than happy stares sent at her blue coated friend. "Trixie here decided to postpone her tours for a while when I mentioned searching for Prince Shining Armor! She's offered to help in all this!"
"You heard right: The Great and Powerful Trixie will generously offer her help to bring back Shining Armor. No need to send me your gratuitous thanks." The showmare rubbed her hoof against herself and inspected it as if interested, before glancing up to see why nopony had thanked her. "...so anyways, I take it you all will be going too?"
"No, we're going to be joining an Art Class." Rarity groaned in frustration when the lone strand of hair puffed out once more after a minute of her hoof holding it down. "UGH! Why won't you just stay put?" A blue glow struck the strand of hair and it suddenly flattened against the curve of her hair as she'd wanted. Gasping, Rarity looked towards Trixie. "You fixed it! What spell was that?"
"A Crisco Spell! Trixie has unruly hair herself." Trixie responded politely. "That keeps it in place and adds a little shine too!"
Rainbow Dash snickered into her hoof, much to Rarity's chagrin. "Oh, she's gonna love that spell! She'll use it everyday!"
Pinkie tried in vain to stifle a laugh. "That is so true!"
"Pinkie?!" Rarity looked betrayed.
The door swung opened once again, this time baring only a young purple dragon who seemed to be caring his own share of luggage. "Guys, outside! Twilight's waiting for us! The sooner we go, the sooner we can get on the train for Canterlot!" Spike announced, and everypony immediately got to work grabbing their individual luggage.
Cadence still frowned. "And you have all the peas and diapers? Every last one of them? Nothing's missing?"
Sunburst nodded dutifully, as well as confidently. "Yes. And her Whammie has been put in an area I can very quickly reach! " He paused. "I also brought some of Twilight's other toys. I think we'll be just fine until you get back..."
Cadence glanced down at the tiny foal hugging her hooves and forced a small smile." Good." She leaned down to nuzzle Flurry Heart, who giggled and nuzzled her back. "Okay Flurry Heart. Mommy will be back soon...and Daddy will too. "
"Teeheehee!" The infant had a general understanding of the terms Mommy and Daddy, at least.
"Please take good care of her." Cadence urgently told Sunburst. " We should back in two days, at the latest."
"Yes, your majesty!" When the Alicorn princess turned to reluctantly leave the room with her luggage, she was a cough from Sunburst. "Your majesty? I know you'll find him."
Cadence smiled at him and left.
"We believe that using these for flight will lead to a safe entry and exit of the island, your majesty. Four layers of chrome steel make for a pretty housing. Attacks will be next to impossible without a cannon." Celestia blinked as she regarded her first advisor, and then the "vehicle" He was suggesting. She was familiar with it; it was a rather large, armored carriage that that had a boxed in compartment for the pegasi flyers and a slot for them to see through when they flew into combat. Combined with the huge carriage room for unicorn passengers, and you had a flying tank on your hooves. "It'll also cut down on the means to travel to the island by a lot of carts." "If I may," Celestia watched as one of her scientific advisors pointed at the armored carriage. "I don't mean to object to using this, but I don't believe this is necessary given that the fauna on the island might not be large or hostile. Plus, the island is surrounded by a massive wall of lighting storms. I fear what would happen to a carriage full of ponies in a steel enclosure..."
"He has a point." Celestia agreed with him and continued. "However, I believe if we cast lightning repulsion spells, we should avoid any chance of electrocution. Going in with these carriages would be better safe than sorry."
"Very well, your majesty. That is very true." The scientific advisor nodded in agreement. "We wouldn't want out large search party encountering trouble...speaking of which, here is something I'd like to show you both."
He presented to them a small mechanical pillar with his magic, showing many metallic compartments and grooves within it. Celestia noted the oddly familiar nose cone on the device. "This is something Princess Twilight helped me construct. In short, it is an explosive device that will be able to give a map of the island's different sections so that we have a better understanding going in, since it is so...unusually large."
The princess perked up worriedly, her eyes staring down at the mechanism. "We're dropping bombs?"
"Scientific instruments, your majesty. And not nearly the magnitude of other bombs." He said. "It'll allow for our quickest search and rescue mission."
She thought hard over the device for what seemed like minutes, before she reluctantly nodded. It could very well damage parts of the ecosystem, but she wanted this search expidition to go as quickly as possible. Everytime she saw many of her gaurd and subjects preparing to head to the island, the more a subtle voice prodded at her brain. "Very well. We will use this as well. See to to that you spread these amongst the soldiers."
"So that's why so many stallions from Canterlot's gaurd are here?" Starlight asked curiously, trotting alongside her former mentor as much as she could manage. Her luggage, while very small in number, wasn't exactly light as a feather. She blamed it on the amount of bug spray and books with useful information about islands, mountains,preserving peace and a few other things. Twilight seemed to have brought a lot of books herself, but her Alicorn physique seemed to make the load feel like nothing. "That makes sense. I mean, I figured that the island might have it's share of predators, but I never thought there'd be anything there that warrants the name 'Monsters'."
Twilight wearily smiled, as if half her attention wasn't on Starlight and she was just now putting in full focus. "Yeah. I'm sure it's nothing too dangerous though. Nothing moreso than what Equestria has to offer." She looked around somewhat gratefully at the busy ponies preparing for the ship's departure, before her gaze returned to the unicorn. "Thanks again for coming with me and everypony else. With you and everypony else's help, I know we'll have Shining Armor back soon."
"I'm happy to help." Starlight claimed truthfully.
"Hey, is that a camera?" Twilight suddenly noted the specifically shaped box hanging by a lanyard around Starlight's neck.
The mare looked down as well. "Oh yeah! Even though we won't be on this Island for too long, I figured that I'd document the things we see using pictures and I'll write down things about them in my journal!"
"D'oh! You're thinking ahead so much!" Twilight wiped a tear from her eye proudly , but soon she noticed something coming onto the ship behind her friend. When the unicorn looked, Twilight and Starlight exchanged exasperated glances with each other, but the latter was the first to speak. "Are you super sure you needed to bring all that luggage, Trix?"
The mountain of suitcases gave a laugh that sounded like Trixie. "Ha! Of course! You never know what you might need on a search party, Starlight!"
"Like strobelights?" Twilight rolled her eyes.
"Exactly!Now will you two give me a hoof already?"
Spike eagerly closed the door behind everypony who entered last and hurried to find his place next to Twilight. It was 9:53 AM, and despite all of the ship's inhabitants getting a nice night's sleep in, nopony seemed particularly energized. Even Pinkie pie was still clad in her pajamas and still warmly hugging Gummy. Princess Celestia, with slight bags under her eyes, stood at the front of the crowd of ponies ready for the beginning of the search party. Her Captain of the Guard was one the speaking however, no doubt to arrange everypony as his Princess desired. "The plan is to make a quick sweep of the surface of the island, dropping sparse amounts of our seismic mappers to understand this place more. Going into an uncharted Island on foot is a bad idea, and you'd be lucky to survive a night with any unknown dangers--"
"Ahem." Celestia tilted her head at twilight briefly, who's posture seemed to sag a bit more.
The Captain coughed and nodded all in one motion. "So, be prepared even when we do create the map of the island. Princess Celestia and I don't want to lose anyone out here because of bad decisions. Understood?" A simultaneous nod answered his question. " Now, we've got a good 10 minute preparation for everypony before we sanction everypony into their flying carriages. We'll have soldiers dispersed in numbers of three alongside scientific and rescue personnel. The luggage we take will be placed into two specific carriages to avoid everypony having to carry everything with them."
A projected behind the crowd flashed to life and displayed a outline or the island, the interior blank and shapeless for now. The island's shape was irregular and sported lots of jagged edges, somewhat like a burned piece of paper. "This island is surrounded by a never-ending wall of storm clouds as you all know. It is constantly spewing lighting, pounds of rain and hail depending on where one would enter from. Princess Twilight has helped us determine that the weakest part of the wall is on the southern end, so we'll get the least resistance traveling through there."
Twilight's wings closed as she finally landed amongst the busily moving ponies, eyes scanning the huddled bodies as they piled into the carriages and dragged along luggage with them. Repetitive sounds of just ingredients metal and scraping leather filled the ocean air, signaling that a portion of the total number of pegasi were strapping themselves into the tug stop. Her eyes traveled from the large military carriages to the view on the horizon.
It was both beautiful and frightening to the young Alicorn, seeing this collossal structure made entirely by nature's fiercest art; lightning painted it's interior with frequent streaks of hot puprle and claps of thunder that boomed louder the closer the giant ship neared. Nothing in the history of Equestria had ever occured in similarity to what she was seeing. Who knew how tall it was? 300, maybe 480ish hooves tall? It rivaled the height of Celestia's castle for certain...but since it apparently formed a ring around the entirety of the island, it's length would go unchallenged by anything made by pony hooves.
Twilight?
The purple horse yelped in surprise at the sound of Princess Celestia's voice in her head, and turned to see the real thing behind her with a sheepish grin. "My apologies, Twilight. Perhaps warning you would have been a better idea? I was just testing our mental communications."
"I see." Twilight shrugged. "And I definitely hope that it doesn't stay that loud for long. I like talking normally...Speaking of which, I guess you are about to board your carriage with Luna and Cadence?"
Celestia beamed hopefully down on Twilight. "Yes we are. Any chance that you'll be joining us? Or would you like to join your friends?"
Twilight snickered softly before turning in the direction of a certain pink mare. "I promised Pinkie we'd be flying into the island on the same carriage. I made the mistake of making a Pinkie promise, and you know how she is about those. " The smirk still remained. "I think she just wants to cheer me up. Tell me we'll find him fast, you know..."
The higher royal frowned slightly. "You believe that, right?"
"Huh? Oh, of course. I haven't doubted for a second, honestly. " Twilight explained, and was about to reassure her more before the Captain's voice was heard through a megaphone. Due to the distance she was away from him, it was difficult ro figure out what he had told everypony. But everypony did start moving faster after he spoke. "W...What did he say?"
"I believe he said that we are about to make the journey past the storm barriers into the island. " Celestia nodded respectfully and began to head away from Twilight. "I'll keep in touch with you."
"Of course, Princess!"
When Twilight neared Pinkie soon after, the light colored mare grinned as wide as ever."Aw, you and Celestia are always super duper friends! I bet you guys are gonna talk the whole way to the island! You know with the telephonetic stuff."
Purple eyes rolled above a smirk. "Telepathic stuff, Pinkie. And we couldn't do that even if we wanted to. It's not exactly going to be easy getting through the storm clouds and into the island. We have to be ready for anything."
"Pfft."
"...Pfft?"
"Yeah, Pfft! You, me and everypony else? We've been through worse than a little rain!" Pinkie Pie said dismissively. "I mean, what's the worst that can happen?"
"MAYBE I SHOULDN'T HAVE ASKED THAT QUESTION EARLIER!"
Twilight didn't try to dignify that mental shout with a comment. She instead focused all of her efforts on not banging against the side of the wall with every veering turn made by her pegasi pilots. She didn't really blame them for making such odd turns, as it was only causing by the threat of purple lightning striking them out of the sky. She could barely see out of her window to glimpse other carriages; the unending rain fogged and blurred everything beyond recognition. Twilight couldn't even remember which carriages housed which of her friends.
A particular carriage floated up shakily next to them thanks to the powerful flapping of wings. "Twalaght? Ar you in this one?!"
"You don't really have to shout." Twilight thought back with a wince. "It kinda hurts my head."
"IS THAT YOU, APPLEJACK?! HI,COUSIN!!!"
"...um, anway...this is quite th' storm we're havin' huh? Rainbow Dash can't even recall helping with a storm this big." Applejack continued.
"Is Spike in there?!" Rainbow's thoughts inquired. "I bet he loves this."
"He's with Trixie and Starlight in one of the lower carriages. " Twilight explained, half saddened by not being near her number one assistant. Well, they'd all be meeting up shortly anyways. " I think the low altitude might actually have been a safer idea than this height."
"Nah, it just depends on the flying skills of your pilot! Like, right now, no pony has been struck by--"
The sky itself tore open as a particularly thick streak of purple hot energy sliced between the two carriages and gave the girls quite a heart attack. Seeing the bolt strike, both carriage pilots veered away and went back to their zigzag patterns to lessen the chances of any lightning coming near them again.
"Ah guess we'll meet up with ya'll soon!" Applejack's carriage veered away into fogginess again.
"Hey, Twilight?" Pinkie asked, her eyes straining to see through the clouds ahead of them. This was impossible, as it seemed the clouds only got darker from here. "How much more of this do you think we'll have to take before we actually get inside the Island?"
The Alicorn shrugged. "Keep in mind that the storm wall was pretty thick. It could be another ten minutes before we even--ah!"
Light suddenly blinded everypony for several seconds, before all eyes adjusted to the blazing sunlight. Such a glow perfectly shined down upon the courtyard of the island; sandy Plains stretching from the obscured beaches and slowly morphing into grassy stretches of land. In the approaching distance, a series of foreign trees began to make their appearance sparsely near a very wide river, teeming with solid karst towers. The small, rocky mountains served as the perfect resting spot for several gulls and other birds, not to mention a high abundance of Moss of other plants somehow. Beyond all that they were approaching and had already passed, the largest volcano anypony had seen loomed in the horizon yet it billowed no smoke.
"...or we could just randomnly end up inside." Twilight finished half heartedly.
"It's certainly a lot more scenic than anypony was expecting, eh, your majesty?" One of the technicians spoke to her, and Twilight blushed as she realized that she hadn't even noticed him or his fellow technician's on board with her for that long.
"Oh, right. Definitely! But I half expected that from a place as large as this..." She said as her gaze wandered back to the rather amazing view of the bigger-than-life island scenery. "So...what now?"
This time, one of the Pegasi pilots spoke up. "Now, we find a place to land and set up shop."
In five minutes time, the multiple flying carriages heard the one thing they'd been waiting hear ever since they arrived and we're now dividing off into different areas of the island to both scout and drop explosives. They flew like giant soaring eagles of metal, wings flapping hard and strong to propel them across countless acres of land and water. Rainbow Dash felt deja vu with this, as if it were actually her doing the flying and she wasn't really stuck inside this metal box left with nothing to do but stare out the window. Her mane flapped and billowed in the wind the more the flew, a direct result of the open door just a few hooves behind her. She felt a rough nudge against her ribs and turned to stare at Applejack, who offered a bright grin. "Aw, c'mon, Dash! Smile a little! Don't tell me this ain't the least bit excitin'?"
"This isn't the least bit exciting." Rainbow Dash let her head flop down on her hoof.
"Well, its definitely not practical for my mane! All this wind is far too strong!" Rarity whimpered and covered her head with an arm, failing to notice her friends stares for a long time. "...what?"
"Okay, let's keep the open doorway clear of any passengers! We're going to begin dropping the cargo off!" One of the soldiers announced aloud, after receiving a mental command from his superiors. His horn glowed and soon one of the explosive devices carried on board was levitated into the air. "Alright, first drop in three, two--"
"Can I do it?!"
Everypony turned to Rainbow Dash, who pointed at the explosive again. "I wanna drop the first one out!"
Applejack tilted her head at her friend's child-like desire to touch the thing and gulped nervously. "I don't think that's such a good idea, Dash. Let's just--"
"Nah, its fine! She can give it a go. " The unicorn levitated the explosive carefully over to her, and he cringe a bit as he bit down on one end and carried it in her mouth. "Um, careful where you bite. Just take it over there and make it fly."
Rainbow teetered and tottered this way and that as she walked towards the door, but she managed to carry it all the way over there. However, just as she turned her head to throw it out of the doorway, she lost hoofing with a yelp. Everypony yelped in shock and horror as Rainbow Dash fell out and disappeared from sight., rushing to see if they might spot her body tumbling down towards the earth. Rainbow Dash promptly shot back up alongside the carriage, laughing hysterically as everypony sighed in relief.
"GOTCHA! You guys should a seen your faces!"
Rarity rolled her eyes, pretending as if she hadn't been legitimately worried. "Not that funny, Darling."
Applejack gave a hearty chuckle. "It actually was!"
A boom down below interrupted them, their eyes traveling down to the giant sphere of explosion beneath Rainbow Dash. The cyan pegasus' eyes widened with fascination at the size of the explosion, and from the sound of other distant booms, it was apparent that other explosives were being dropped as well...
"The readings are coming in now..." The technical advisor announced, his eyes staring only at the monitors they'd set up on the ground. Their screens were at first depicting seismic waves, but those waves were sent into another monitor that was slowly making a 3D representation of the island parts being bombed. Some showed evidence of swamps, some of high mountain ranges and others depicted a few deserts in the island. The only downside was that they had only covered a fraction of the island with everypony's combined efforts, but it was still a start. "Look at this, Princess Twilight! Almost none of this seems similar to the landscapes in Equestria."
"Yes, that's true. A good reason for having these maps printed. " Twilight pointed out, but her eyes caught something on the screen. "Hey, what's that developing under the ground?"
The technician looked as well, his eyes widening. "Hmm. That's a second layer of earth beneath the one we're standing on. Which means this ground is hollow by several hundred hooves!"
"Remarkable." Was all Twilight could think of saying to that. "Just remarkable."
"I'll say. " Spike offered with little interest. "Wonder why it's so hollow, though?"
The Alicorn heard a noise from behind and looked to see Pinkie staring at her tail in disbelief; it was vibrating and shaking uncontrollably, moreso than in the past. "Woah! I'm getting a Twitchy Twitch! You know what that means, right?" Pinkie asked her friend worriedly.
"Well, painfully yes. But maybe its something minor this time. A glitch in our systems! A bomb malfunction? A...um..." Everypony's ears perked up at an odd, rising sound that gained their attention. "What's that sound? Is that thunder?"
In the large clearing just yards in front of them, the answer revealed itself. Deer of varying ages and sizes ran as a collective herd from one line of trees into the one at the other end or the clearing. They seemed frantic in their speed, eyes wide and bodies visibly frightened during their pounding sprinting. Bleats of fear escaped their jaws and echoed in the air long after they left. Nopony said anything for a full minute after that happened, but Twilight was the first to break the silence. "See, Pinkie? A stampede that wasn't even directed at us! Nothing too big after all."
"But..." Pinkie glanced back at her flank. "My tail's twitching even more now."
It was a pleasure to burn.
Well, not really, but it was somewhat enjoyable to watch things explode. The soldier watched the giant ball of fire and smoke disperse into nothing after its large boom shook the earth, vibrating even the air above it. It left a large hole where a huge grove of trees should be placed, no doubt disturbing the peace or the jungles below them. But perhaps if they kept this up, they wouldn't even need to go searching for Prince Shining Armor later on today; he could just follow the sounds. The soldier shrugged to himself at this and tossed out the last of the explosive devices to the land below. He examined the empty crate and looked to the only other soldier in passenger area. "Well, I'm all out of 'em now. I guess we can head back to--"
"LOOK OUT!!!"
The soldier's blood seemed to chill when he heard that utterly distressed sound. The shrieking voice was faint--It came from a carriage not too far away from theirs. Even the pilots turned their heads to squint at the carriage with the screaming solider, wondering what he was screaming about. All of the soldiers that they could see on the inside were frantically pointing ahead and their pilots seemed to have an absolute look of terror on their--
Everypony's pupils dilated, their eyes as wide as saucers. Their voices had completely left them after they witnessed the instant deaths of everypony in that carriage. Things seemed to slow down entirely and it was as if they were watching the carriage fall from the sky in slow motion, crumpled metal and debris and all. The tree's leaves billowed as the whole thing tumbled down, down, down to the ground where it became even more crumpled and unrecognizable. Everything began speeding up again, speeding too fast.
"WATCH OUT! WATCH OUT!" He heard his fellow soldier yell.
He didn't see what hit the carriage-- he just saw the metal acting as the cockpit for the pilots suddenly crunch in on them and silence their brief screams. The soldier would have registered the sound of something wet bursting open and the warm spray or blood over his face and body, but the whole carriage just seemed to jolt to a halt and it caused his body to ram painfully into the metal wall before him. His own screaming mingled with the sound of the other soldier screaming, a chorus that highlighted the entire fall from the sky and the absolute fear coursing through them. They scrabbled their hooves at the walls in midfall, trying to stabilize their bodies before they impacted the ground. They could only see brief glimpses of the green world outside as the spiralled closer and closer to the ground. The force of the impact should have flattened their bodies like pancakes, but the trees seemed to slow their fall down just enough for them to survive.
Billowing clouds of dust blinded the soldiers eyes for several seconds and he could barely make out the shape of his ally barely moving. "Ugh...eeeergh...what...are...are you okay...?"
Due to the silence, he thought he was dead. "...M-My arms are...aaaugh...I can't feel..."
Boom.
The carriage vibrated.
Boom.
"What is that...?!" The soldier muttered to himself, practically whimpering by now.
Boom.
They both yelped when their metal surroundings jolted.
BOOM.
The carriage defied gravity, or so it seemed at first. It began to rise into the air at a slow, foreshadowing speed that frightened them even more. They at first saw only trees after the dust clouds were cleared away by whooshing air, but then they saw a wall made pure of brownish black fur that rippled as if it were living. Their hearts and stomachs dropped the higher they rose, and they rose without stopping for quite some time. A heavily muscled chest, and then big yellow teeth. Teeth with a gagging stench to them. Teeth larger than a minotaur. Teeth that bared at them.
Red eyes that glared at them.
The carriage was held higher now, way above its monstrous head and angled down so that gravity caused them to start sliding down to the open door, to its angry face. The solider trapped the edge of the doorway with his steadily failing strength, but his ally was not so fortunate. He screamed and screamed and screamed all the way out and all the way down. The soldier's arms refused to hang on for much longer and the thing below impatiently huffed hot air at his hind legs, waiting for him to plummet. The pony's heart was about to explode with heartbeats, but it went even faster as he finally slipped from the doorway. It stopped completely as shrieked, seeing the jaws he was destined to fall into open impossibly wide.
Trixie chewed noisily on the pickle and hay sandwhich, eyes closed in etcasy of the taste she was experiencing. Starlight and Spike rolled their eyes next to her and watched as she downed the rest in a few short bites. The tranquility and calm of the moment was interrupted by an alarmed voice blaring in their heads, causing everypony to wince.
"Hawk 5 is Down, Hawk 7 is Down! Hawks within range of Hawks 5 & 7 respond immediately!"
Trixie and Starlight exchanged glances with each other, while their pilots hesitated for only a moment before they responded to Celestia's urgent voice. "This is Hawk 4 responding! We are fine and currently flying--"
"What in Celestia's name is THAT?!" The other pilot gaped ahead, and soon the other pilot was just as panicked as his partner.
Given it's daunting size, it was easily mistaken as a mountain of tremendous height. Perhaps it was even easier to believe that it was just a mountain--just a lifeless shape that they hadn't noticed they were flying towards. Nothing could have been that large without being a mountain, right? It just wasn't possible.
But the beast was there, living, breathing. It had to be somewhere around 200 hooves tall at its full height but it's hunched, hulking form didn't make it look any shorter or any less intimidating. It body was rippling with a grotesquely muscular, apelike body and dark brown fur that covered such a body sparingly. It's hands were thick and huge like giant clubs and it's short legs were thickly built, like it was standing on to two Ursa majors. It's hairless chest was stuffed with years worth of exercised muscle, skind stretched over it tightly like a suit. It expanded and elated in slow, methodical movements that were audible even although the whipping winds so close to the carriages. The night mare's head was that of a gorilla, sporting a skull with a peaking top to it and a square shaped head due to the angle of its jaw. Such a jaw was tensed shut, strongly aiding in the effort to grimace while two beady eyes narrowed. Such eyes seemed to stare deeply into the eyes of anypony who gaze at its face as if it knew they were watching. The beast made a loud, sharp snort through its nostrils and rose to its full height with a pose of pure grace and beastly magnificence.
"What..." Trixie shook worse than a leaf, her eyes wide and filled with fear at what she was seeing. Starlight couldn't help but realize that she was in the same predicament, and that she was actually whimpering the closer the carriage got. Spike was silent, and so still that one might have called him a life sized statue. "W..."
Everypony else in the giant group of carriages seemed to gather in the air alongside them, flying straight towards the giant beast at a hesitant pace. Applejack gaped widely alongside an equally intimidated Rainbow Dash as the mares gazed unblinking at the huge beast. They knew nothing of Twilight's shocked look of disbelief down below, or Pinkie's quaking body or Rarity and Fluttershy's combination of the two from within their carriage. The amount of talking and shouting and whimpering and confusion only rose steadily over the mental link they shared, bringing with it a universal sense of panic. Soldiers from every flying carriage were scared out of their minds seeing and panicked to new levels the closer they got with no instrucrions telling them what to do. Celestia couldn't find it within herself to close her limp jaw as her chariot rose higher and stood at the height of the befuddled creature. Luna and Cadence were just as surprised, if not scared, but were not nearly as silent.
"W-What is that?!" Luna asked fearfully, wings tightly held at her sides as if she had to keep herself from trying to fly away. "Wh-What is that?! The monsters dwarfs the very size of tartarus itself!"
"Celestia what are we going to do...?" Cadence asked, worriedly looking up to the Alicorn she spoke of. "Celestia...? Celestia!"
The flying carriages had to divide on either side of the beast because they were flying so close to it, fearful of the thing suddenly attacking. Celestia gazed at each of the carriages, counting their number and coming up with the fact that there was a good number of ponies in each. More than 90% of them soldiers or gaurds with excellent training and laser spell skills. The Alicorn mumbled something over the winds but then remembered the mental link she had with the carriages. All Hawks, form a perimeter around it! Ready attack positions!
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" Luna shrieked at her sister, her body tensing even tighter than before. "We can't kill that thing! Can't you see the size of it?!"
"We don't have to kill it, we can just scare it off!" Celestia explained and swallowed with worry as a giant ring of carriages surrounded the giant beast. The creature was at first highly confused and uncertain of why the small objects were surrounding it, but she could clearly see its features begin to harden into a deadly scowl. It was becoming frusturated from the lack of sense and the feeling of agression-- Its pupils slowly dilated; black dots at the center of black rings in a sea of blood red. Its teeth bared their yellow, rotting glory and for a moment, the princess hesitated to give the order. With a panicked shout in her voice, she spoke telepathically. All Hawks...FIRE! AT! WILL!
"gRAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUGuuul!!!"
There was a roar as great as the crackling of an earthquake, shaking the air itself with huge vibrations when it opened its mouth to bellow. It's roar was brief, given the way the red streaks zipping from the horns of the unicorn soldiers cut it off. Heavy lazer fire was concentrated at the torso of the creature, and many caused singed spots in the body of the giant ape. Almost half of the unicorn soldiers switched to fire streams, causing the same level of irritation as the lasers did. The carriage faced the issue of aiming properly, while dodging huge hairy arm swings.
"Keep firing! We have to scare it away, at least!" Celestia yelled at random, but no one would hear, especially not the beast giving short barks of pain so briefly. It held its arms up defensively across its face to shield it and unfortunately gave the soldier many places to shoot it. It backed up slightly with a growl of indifference, turning this way and that to try and avoid the red pellets. "Yes! This is working! It's backing--"
"T-bAAAAAAAAAUW!!!"
In a sudden fit of anger, the mammoth gorilla beast lept a short distance up into the air and delivered a well aimed punch to two carriages that were firing their flames in unison. They exploded on impact, but the beast didn't feel the pain as he briefly pounded his chest--the sound of the largest tribal drums known to pony. Now it had the intention of destroying other carriages as well, and knew ways of doing so.
"Pull us out!!" Rarity urged the pilots, who only seemed intent on getting certain angles for the unicorn soldiers to fire from. Fluttershy watched a squeak of horror as the beast squashed a carriage in the palm of its hand and swatted aside three others. "PULL US OUT!"
"This is Hawk 9, we are landing to drop out civi---AAAAAUGH!" The pilot shrieked as two mountainous fingertips grasped either side of the cockpit and squeezed both sides in on the pilots. Rarity and Fluttershy shrieked at the top of their lungs as a fountain of blood and intestine bits sprayed out almost endlessly over them. The unicorn soldiers next to them braced them to the back of the carriage as they spiraled closer and closer to the ground, the sudden stop plunging everyone into darkness.
"Rarity and Fluttershy's carriage went down!" Pinkie exclaimed loudly from her position on the ground, or more specifically next to Twilight. Her Alicorn friend had been worriedly scanning the fight, analyzing how the monster moved and how it thought to an extent. Pinkie's yell brought her out of her thoughts with a gasp. "We have to do something!"
Twilight looked from the fight to her friend. "We can't do anything, Pinkie..." With a sigh, her wings unfurled and then carried her upwards into the sky. Her intention was to search for the royal carriage, where she should find Celestia, Luna and Cadence waiting. "But maybe if I join the other princesses, we can combine our power to stop it."
"T-Twilight! Be careful!"
"You too, Pinkie, I'll come back for you!
Just half a minute prior to this, Celestia frantically looked at the multiple carriages that had fallen and the growing number of soldiers that were dying even as she looked on. She couldn't let this go on the way it was, or else she would lose everypony who set hoof on this island. The princess flapped a short distance into the sky and turned to her fellow royals, who looked eager for instructions. "Cadence. Sister. If we can combine our might, we can stop this thing!"
"I believe the three of us could stop it, but where is Twilight Sparkle? It would be better with four of us." Luna asked worriedly.
A bellow of pain erupted from the beast, the result of its hand being lasered by somepony. With an inhuman screech of fury, it lunged forward to deliver a crushing bite to the metal insect. Celestia turned back to the other Alicorns. "There's no time to wait for her. We must act now! She'll catch on to my plan. I will get it to chase me a short distance away and then turn to give it an energy blast. You two will fly up behind and our combined blasts will be stronger than just mine."
Seeing their agreeing nods, Celestia darted up to the beast's head as it turned around to deal with pests behind it. She shot bolts of lightning out from her horn, striking annoyingly at the back of its head and making it notice her in seconds. Barking loud enough to briefly disrupt her heartbeat, it chased her with a surprising level of speed-- it should have been impossible for a beast that was probably beyond the measure of tons to run around as fast as she flew and yet it's very existence defied logic. Once she gained enough room to turn around, she faced the creature while charging up her energy blast. The beast slowed to a halt as it noticed her rapidly glowing horn, unaware of the approaching Alicorns and their glow as well. "That's it, beast. Keep staring at me..." Celestia growled loudly. Snorting in anger, the monster ape bared it's teeth and turned just in time to notice the two other flying horses. Celestia, panicking now that it knew about their plan, fired her dangerous beam. "NOW! FIRE NOW!"
The combined blasts made it too bright to see what had haplened, but they could the roars of the beast above the noise of the beams colliding with each other. They had hit it, at least, but where exactly? The Alicorns kept up their blasting assault until Celestia gradually decreased the energy of hers. Once the light had completely died away, they gazed with expressions of horror and shock.
"Where did it go?" Cadence frantically muttered, looking all around them for an answer."Where did it go?"
A sense of mutual dread suddenly filled all three of the Alicorns and made them simultaneously look above them. Two giant fists clasped together flicked downwards upon them, along with the rest of the body of the monster. Celestia could only remember recall shielding the other Alicorns before the world turned black.
Twilight didn't try to stifle the gasp that robbed her of all her oxygen, and her eyes never left the thing when it rose back up to its full height with a howl of triumph. This just wasn't possible; the only other creature that was powerful enough to be a threat to three Alicorns was Tirek. But they all had their powers this time, and they had been defeated easily by the beast. She didnt even know if they were still alive. What could stop it now?
"Mmmmmmrfff." It huffed through its flat nose and noticed the squad of ponies settled on the ground, watching the battle with fear. One of those ponies happened to be a familiar pink one. It began to stop towards the group, and Twilight swooped down into action. She appeared her wings as hard as she could to gain speed and to close the distance between herself and the ponies still cowering on the ground. She urged them away with frantic flaps of her forelegs, all while the sound of literary earth shaking footsteps followed her closely.
"RUUUUUN! EVERYPONY RUUUUN!" She shouted as loudly as possible, swooping in on Pinkie while surveying the panicked running that soon occured. She grasped her frightened friend I think her legs and began to flap upwards. It wasn't easy flying while carrying a pony, but it was better than nothing. Her salmon colored friend shrieked at the sight of something to far side of Twilight. The Alicorn joined in her screaming, moving fast to dodge the colossal primate hand scooping up a handful of earth from where they'd previously been.
Trixie was the first to notice the spray of debris and metal components flying upwards to meet them. He screamed for the pilots to pull up, but they couldn't dodge the sizeable rock smashing into the back of the carriage and sending him slamming into the other passengers. Starlight joined in the chorus of terror when their carriage slammed into Applejack and Rainbow Dash's carriage, causing them to corkscrew into the distance at high speeds. The other carriage bounded off a series of sloping hills down below, bending the metal of its structure and nearly killing the passengers with the whiplash.
Princess Celestia couldn't see anything at first, given the intense pain swimming around in her skull. Darkness surrounded her more than it had in her past nightmares or regrets in the years of banishing her sister. Her entire skull seemed to throb, especially at her forehead; as if sheveryone had actually cracked something there. She subconsciously inspected it with a hoof, traveling up the base of her horn and...no. That's not right. Her horn should be longer. And pointier, for that matter.
Her vision finally adjusted, allowing her to gaze upon the horrifying sight of the unconscious Alicorns beside her. They looked almost dead, their bodies sprawled out into uncomfortable positions and their bodies bruised by their own royal armor. It was a small relief that she could see soft breaths going in and out of them, though Luna's breaths seemed weaker. She was the first she rushed to tend to, worriedly caressing her sibling's head. "Luna? Luna, wake up."
As Luna remained unconscious, Celestia noticed that her blue horn had a large crack running down from the tip, no doubt from the imeant and her sister's panicked efforts to shield herself. Celestia's eyes stung as she stroked her sister's mane back. "P-Please. Please wake up." Her plead went unanswered, physically or mentally.
"Mmmmmurngh." She barely registered that Cadence that had awoken until several seconds later when she rushed to Luna's unmoving body. The pink alicorn also had a crack in horn, but a freshly bleeding nose added to the injuries. "...Luna? Why isn't she...?"
"...I-I don't know. She's..." Celestia gazed just a moment longer at the pained, sleeping blue face and turned away slowly. "She's alive. That's all that matters. A-Are you alright? Are you hurt?"
"I turned to the side a little when I used my force field...I don't think I'll be using my wing for a while. "Cadence said with less humor and much more pain than Celestia liked. The former turned to show her bruised wing, strangely bent out of its normal place in her socket and almost hanging given her stance. Her left hind leg had a noticeable limp, but it was very minor. "And what of you? Are...Oh my!" Cadence offered her fellow princess a look of horror mixed with pure surprise. "Celestia! Your horn its...it's broken off."
That was why her horn felt so different when she first awoke; Celestia refelt the area with a hoof and winced at the nauseating pang of pain hitting her head. It must've broken off as a result of her taking the brunt force with her force field. But nothing in history, no single villain she'd ever faced, had the raw strength to not only crack through her forcefield--but her horn itself. "...I'll be fine. It will grow back within the next 24 hours. "
"Well, you have a black eye as well." Cadence anxiously looked around. "Where is the monster? Or anypony else? It couldn't have taken down all of the--"
Cadence was cut off by the sound of a metal carriage smashing into the grassy earth just seven yards off from the Alicorns. They flinched as it slowed to a bouncing halt on its side, but soon moved into action to see if anypony was alive inside after such a fall. Celestia anxiously ripped off what remained of the door with her hooves and peered into the darkness inside, finding two familiar ponies amongst a large group of soldiers. The pile shifted in groaning pain, likely the result of whiplash and the major pileup. The princess, now joined by Cadence, helped to evacuate a few of the soldiers from the carriage. Some of them shakily walked out with mumbles escaping their lips and others ran out fearfully, screaming at the top of their lungs. Eventually the princess had about five other ponies to help out; Rainbow Dash and Applejack were the first to go.
"Princess Celestia! Yer horn!" Applejack exclaimed with shock, near loosing her hoofing on the way out of the carriage. Celestia felt the softest urge to smile; Applejack was kind to worry about a simple horn break, seeing as how the orange mare's face was suffering from a forehead bruise and a gash on her cheek.
Rainbow, her right eye swollen with a black eye and her lip bleeding, joined in with a similar look of worry. "Are you and the other princesses okay?!"
The royal Alicorn finally found it in herself to smile softly, slowly leaning up to begin helping the remaining soldiers in the carriage. "Yes, we are fine and currently--AAUGH!"
The other ponies on the ground shared their princess' yelp of shock when a set of massive fingers pinched around the carriage as if they were picking up a small toothpick. The world seemed to slow down enough for Celestia to suddenly notice all the details in the way it happened. The sound of soil and metal scraping against each other when the carriage was pulled for a short distance, the muffled screams of those still left inside the carriage and the feeling of absolute helplessness she felt when she realized that she couldn't use her magic to pull back against the giant fingers. Her gaze went upwards just as slowly as her world moved, staring at the great and dangerous monster.
The ape flicked the relatively small carriage up towards the others, causing it to strike the one Fluttershy and Rarity were in and send them barreling through several other carriages. When it began its spiralling descent down pounded it's drum-like twice and barked proudly, before noticing another carriage trying to fly past its head. Grabbing it before it could escape, the ape whipped it backwards to strike it into another flying metal pest. An explosion burst in the air before the beast, the result of a last effort fire spell while being crushed alive.
Soldiers from the other carriages rushed past the ponies on the ground with intention of reaching the treeline, but Celestia remained where she was to stare unblinking at this strange abomination of nature. She watchedas it slowly and effortlessly begin to rip a carriage in half with both hands, glaring through a tearing hole with one red eye and pulling it's lips in a snarl that looked like a smile. Was it really giving her an evil grin? Grin or not, she was beginning to understand what the animal was...why it was destroying the carriages without any remorse...
She glared at her enemy, while everypony else began to run for the cover of the trees as well. Her feathers bristled with a rising anger and a flame lit in her eyes. Her horn, damaged as it was, flickered with raw energy and wished it had a tip to be focused through. Cadence had rushed up to her side by now, trying and barely succeeding at pulling her princess back from its rampage.
The thing in question snatched the last two carriages out of the sky as their occupants screamed and fired their magic for all it was worth, gripping the small metal pebbles at the base of its fists. Within a short couple of seconds, those dangerous arms easily rimmed the fist deep into the ground and engulfed them in another harmless explosion. The shapeless fire mountains perfectly framed the head of the monster as it raised its eyes from the ground, snarling evermore. It didn't see the Alicorns just a few yards away, but Celestia felt as though it were mocking her with those eyes of hers.
She returned the glare. She would not stop until the deaths of her soldiers--the injuries of her sister-- were avenged.
It rose back to its full height, jaws opening wide to proclaim it's bloody victory over the pony intruders and echo that pride for miles around.
Painfully and slowly, the world returned to Starlight. It crashed into her brain and turned into an excruciating pulp in her skull, constantly throbbing with short sparks of life. The young mare whimpered at the darkness surrounding her and didn't realize that she still had her eyes closed for at least another minute. Then she wished she never opened them to begin with.
The lifeless face of a soldier lay in front of her, eyes grey and lifeless as a piece of metal severing his neck turned out to be the cause of death. The sight of flesh being displayed so loosely and in such a bloody manner made her shoot back with a repulsed feeling, body protesting to the sudden movement. A sour taste rose from the back of her throat; the majority of her breakfast launched its way out of her mouth and painted the red ground with another sickly color. Her body was weak from the crash and the convulsions upon seeing the damage--it was difficult to imagine that she could have been killed in a way similar to that stallion. It was difficult to think about where the other soldiers were.
She sniffled, looking around through tearful eyes at the massacre around her. The carriage was strewn about like paper, some parts in the trees and some on the ground. She realized that the area of the crash was actually far off from the open Plains they were in originally. She found herself gazing up at large trees, some of them insanely large and insanely tall. Plant growth almost blocked every ray of sunlight from reaching her. Starlight sniffled again and prodded her horn with a hoof; it hurt, but it was relatively fine. She hoped that Trixie had a similar condit--...
"Trixie?!" She she called nervously, her throat still lumpy from the fresh tears. "Trixie, can you hear me? Fluttershy? A-Any pony...?"
When no one answered, Starlight whimpered again and limped around the wreckage to search more. A few fires idly ate away at the trees and the grass on the ground, so she had to step around them and listen above the crackling. The more she walked, the more she noticed a sound beyond some of the wreckage, something similar to her own sounds distress. These were more urgent and yet quieter, mixed with the sound of growling. Starlight in the direction of the noise and spotted Fluttershy in the distance, huddled and facing a dark shape well over her size.
Her yellow wings weakly fluttered and caused her to wince in pain, but she didn't take her eyes off of the bizarre beast patiently waiting in front of her. It looked like some giant abomination of bird, with leathery and tattered wings hanging limply from its wiry limbs. It's body was savagely leaning on it's haunches, while it's slitted eyes stared hungrily at the helpless pegasus. It's awkward, crooked jaws seemed to be permanently open and unable to close due to the jaw structure, allowing for a pink tongue to loll out with glee. The strange bird took a swift peck at Fluttershy's hindleg, which appeared to have a large gash in the side and squawked impatiently when the pony cried in pain and tried scooting back more.
"Hey!" Starlight fired a blast of energy from her horn, trotting forward gingerly so as not to hurt herself. Seeing the bird reel back in surprise and look for an escape gave her more hope. "Go away! Go on! Get out of here!"
She fired off a few more bursts of energy and sent the creature flapping wildly backwards, perching itself on a far off tree and gazing with glowing yellow eyes at the two. Starlight fired off one more to spell to show she meant business and then slowly helped Fluttershy to her hooves. "Fluttershy, are you alright...?"
The pegasus looked as if she didn't know how to answer that question, and Starlight didn't blame her after being attacked by...whatever they'd been attacked by. She looked down at her bleeding leg and swallowed worriedly, eyes flicking towards the bird not far from them. "I tried to talk to it...I...I'm usually good at deterring animals...it...it was so...hungry."
Starlight cast a glance back at the animal. "Maybe it's just because you're injured? We'll have to get a tourniquet on that wound and fast...H-Have you seen Trixie?"
Fluttershy gasped as if she suddenly remembered the blue mare and looked around worriedly. "I haven't seen her. I'd forgotten you both after I woke up...She can't be too far away from us."
"Well, let's get you patched up and then we'll look for her." Starlight offered and frowned as she looked up. The sun was setting even more by now, and everything was getting darker. "I want to find her before something else does. "
A rustle of metal-- a distant grunt caught their ears, and they both flinched. The sound neared them steadily, turning from faint noises to a pattern similar to walking. From the corner of growing fire on one corner of the debris, an equine figure lumbered slowly towards them it's head down. The passing smoke eventually permitted them to see that it was a lone soldier, one that appeared to be carrying a familiar blue body on his back. Starlight rushed forward to meet them both; Trixie seemed unresponsive to her voice and physical movements when she was close enough. She should be opening her eyes. Why weren't they opening?!
"Don't worry, she's still alive!" The soldier sound tired, yet surprised by the mare's speed. He gently shifted his stance so that Trixie's body fell into Starlight's hold with slow ease. "There's a really bad bruise at the back of her head, but she's still breathing."
After verifying his statements, Starlight took a moment to look over the stallion-- he looked like another lucky survivor, given that he only had a black eye. His dull yellow coat was stained with blood, but it didn't seem to be his. "Th...Thank you...Are you hurt at all...?"
"No, I'm perfectly fine, Ma'am...Oh, your leg!" The soldier took notice of an approaching Fluttershy, and unmatched his armor so that he could remove the belt holding it together. With the aid of his horn, he fastened the belt around Fluttershy's leg as carefully as possible and recieved a quiet thanks from the pegasus. "There. We'll have to put some kind of cloth over it to keep it from getting infected."
Starlight spotted the remains of somepony's bag nearby, and she tore a large piece off for the stallion. "Um...Did you find...anypony else alive?"
The stallion stopped his work briefly, eyes distantly focused on his aura surrounding the cloth. "...Just your friend there."
The tone in his voice said a lot more than he let on, but Starlight didn't want to pry. "I'm sorry."
He said nothing in response to that, but he did speak again."You're...Princess Twilight Sparkle's student, right? And you're her personal friend?"
Fluttershy nodded and Starlight went into a bit of detail. "Well, I actually graduated a while back. I'm more like a...Senior in their last year of high school. If, that makes any sense."
"It didn't, but it's an interesting analogy." The stallion shrugged and smiled softly as his tourniquet was finished. "I'm Fire Wisp, by the way."
"Oh! Starlight Glimmer. Wish we could have met under better circumstances."
"Yes...Speaking of that..." Fluttershy urged their attention upwards to the constantly darkening skies. "Maybe we should figure out what to do now that it's getting dark."
"Well, there's going to be a refuel carriage large enough to carry...what's left of us off the island. We just need to get to the north end." Wisp explained to them." Not now of course, but that should be the main goal."
Starlight looked at the fire consuming what remained of the carriage, their orange flicker glowing in her eyes for a moment. "I guess we'll rest here and then start moving tommorow...any other survivors will head in that direction too."
"I'll check some spots to see if there's any luggage left over. I don't remember bringing any food, but maybe somepony else did." Fluttershy looked a bit doubtful that there was anything left from the crash, but she didn't say so. She did glance back at the bird as she began her search. "Um..."
"Right." She pointed out the bird for the stallion to see. "We can't all be asleep with that thing right there. I guess we'll take turns looking for the night."
"And I'll take first watch." The soldier said, almost as if he rehearsed it. Given his job, he actually might have done something like this before. "I'm pretty much a night owl, anyways."
"If you're sure. I'll go next after you, then." The mare responded with the same level of commitment in her voice as the stallion had. She sighed aloud, her eyes traveling towards the sound of a distant roar. Everypony paused at the familiar, terrifying noise. "In any case...we've got a long night ahead of us."
