//------------------------------// // Double Trouble // Story: Tales of the Battle Foals // by Sirdubya //------------------------------// Quantum Tech awoke to suddenly find herself standing in a void of pitch darkness. Not even a shred of light seemed to exist within the blackness, nor did any sound not even ambience resonate from anywhere. All there was…..was a deafening silence. “Huh?” Quantum scanned around with her glasses, but couldn’t get any readings whatsoever. Wherever she was, she was completely alone. “Where…..Where am I? Guys!?” She tried calling out to her friends, but to no avail as her echoes were swallowed whole by the ravenous void. Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly noticed her friends fighting…..nothing. Their augmented weapons were drawn and they attacking with untold ferocity, but…..there was nothing there. It was as if they were fighting something that only Quantum herself couldn’t see. Not even her glasses picked up anything. If that wasn’t strange enough, their battle with the void was completely silent! She could see them, but heard nothing! “Wh-What!? Guys? What’s going on!? Wh-What’s wrong!?” As expected, her calls fell on deaf ears. She was as silent to them as they were to her. Suddenly, her friends started running away in terror from whatever they were fighting and towards her. It looked like they calling out to her, but they still made no audible sounds. “Wh-What!? What are you trying to say!?” Quantum could only stand there in confusion as her friends shouted desperately for….something. Just as they were getting close, a guttural roar suddenly resounded from behind them, startling Quantum and causing her friends to become more frantic. “HUH!?” Quantum became terrified when an enormous green outline of a canine head suddenly materialized into the dark. Its eyes pierced through the endless void like a nail through soft wood. It opened its horrific maw to reveal what could only be described as the jaws of death themselves and lunged towards them. They all tried to run away, but Quantum’s companions were quickly chomped by the bestial effigy. “NOOOOO!” Quantum screamed in horror as she witnessed this occur, and became even more terrified as she saw the beast lock eyes with her! She ran away in a panic, but when she looked back, she found herself staring right down its throat with its teeth clamping down…. ***** “AAHH! !....…….” Quantum was shocked awake and looked frantically. Much to her comfort, she was still in the castle basement. “Oh….Oh my word…..That was a nightmare for the books….…..Goodness……Perhaps I worked a little too late last night…..ugh…..” Quantum could feel her eyes bagging as she groggily stood up and headed upstairs. “I hope I’m not late for breakfast.” When Quantum emerged from the basement, all was silent. Maybe the others had yet to get up? It was still fairly early in the morning, so she went to go see if they were still asleep. Maybe she’d take the opportunity to catch a few more ‘Z’s if they were. She had completed her surprise project and yearned for the opportunity to show her comrades despite it being untested. However, when she got to the hallway that housed their rooms, she found that all of them were wide open! “Ugh…How careless of them!” Quantum looked into each of their rooms, but found they were unoccupied. Now she was confused. “Fire Fight?....Shadow Shroud?.....Turf War?....Spiral?.....Air Slash?.....Crazylocks?.....Kickback, my sweet?.....” She called out for them, but received no response. Now she was growing concerned. “Where are they?” She began searching the castle for them, calling out for them on occasion. They weren’t in the kitchen cooking, practicing in the training field, tending the gardens or anywhere! She was all by herself! Now she was worried and becoming scared. “G-G-Guys!?......If…..If this is supposed be a joke, it’s not very funny!” Quantum was beginning to panic, and had to take a deep breath. It was…okay. Maybe they were just out in the forest gathering food and whatnot and simply couldn’t tell her since she was snoozing. Yeah….maybe that was it! She decided to head towards the backdoor of the castle where she’d wait for to return. They entered and exited the forest from this location. When she got to the door, she was shocked to see that it had been broken down along with much of the wall around it. She gasped. “What the!?” She ran over to investigate. It was clear that some kind of altercation had taken place here, but any trace of the combatants weren’t readily apparent…..except for one little thing….. Amongst the ravaged scene was a series of holes and gashes left in an almost pattern like fashion in the floor with one of Shroud’s kunai just above them. It read ‘…. . .-.. .--.’ Quantum almost immediately recognized this as Morse code, and deciphered it. “H…..E…..L……P……..” Quantum quickly put two and two together when she realized that Shadow Shroud had left her a cry for help. Her friends were in trouble, and she needed to help them! But how could she? She was a physically weak foal with her only weapon being her high intellect, which couldn’t be forged into any sort of weapon or armor……however….. Quantum Tech calmed herself down after a moment and ran back downstairs into the basement. Her creation stood there under a large blanket so that it wouldn’t gather dust overnight. She ripped the cover off and beheld it. She got her game face on as she fixed her glasses. “Now is a good time as any to test this out!” ***** Fire Fight’s head was throbbing as his senses slowly began returning to him. Something happened last night, but….everything was a blur. “Ugh…..what…..what happened?......Guys?” As he began to stir, he could suddenly begin to make out what looked to be a black and white striped mane right in front of him. “Fi…..Film…Noir?” He suddenly recalled the kindly mare who was so compassionate to him before, but felt anything but that from whatever was actually in front of him. “I know nothing of this ‘Film Noir’ ponyfolk, but I do know that I am only concerned with you right now!” Fire Fight heard a voice that reminded him of Zecora but younger, and whoever it was clearly wasn’t happy. When he opened his eyes, he was shocked to see a zebra colt his age glaring at him with his basil-colored eyes! His mane was styled like Zecora’s, and he was wearing an amulet around his neck that was a smooth jewel that matched his eye color with gold reinforcing its edges. His…..what could be called a Cutie Mark by the standards of zebras was an outline of some canine creature opening its jaws as if it was ready to chomp down on its prey. “Wh-Wh-Wha!?.....Who are you!?” Fire Fight asked. He suddenly noticed that he was tied up by his hooves to a wooden post where he hung. He then looked around frantically and saw that all of his comrades were restrained in the same manner next to each other in a line as they too began to stir. “What’s going on!?” He was beginning to panic. The zebra colt narrowed his eyes further. “I am Zebota, a dweller of these woods! You ponyfolk have come and ravaged my home! You have disrespected nature and the tranquility she has blessed this place with and now I must punish you!” The others had stirred by that point and were frazzled. “What are you talking about!? You’re probably doing as much as we are if you live out here!” Spiral Galaxy exclaimed. They all looked around to see a small hut that Zebota had no doubt built for himself as well as a large open shed-like structure with tribal masks laid around each of them as well as a garden of various strange herbs that were no doubt native to the forest. A large river could be seen a good few yards away, and within the shed was all of their gear in a pile!....as well as a seemingly out of place bucket that had tipped over and spilled out a little bit of wheat feed. “See! How much wood did you have to chop down to make all this!?” “Hmph! I only accept what nature chooses to provide for me! You fools see fit to take what you please from her! I will not allow this exploitation any further!” Zebota declared. Fire Fight and Spiral Galaxy tried to use their magic to break free, but they noticed that their horns had been covered in some sort of cloth that inhibited their magic. “HA! Do you take me for a fool!?” “Oh boy…” Shadow Shroud muttered. She looked over at Crazylocks hoping that she could sprout her own horn, but it seemed that Zebota was wise enough to thoroughly sedate her, because she was out like a light……and chopping some serious wood….. Kickback took a deep breath and cleared his throat. “Mr. Zebota? Now Ah think that this all just a huge misunderstandin’. We certainly didn’t mean any harm none, an’ we’re awful sorry if we offended you in some way. Now Ah think you know as well as Ah do that this is not a civil way to settle a dispute, so if y’all would just kindly let us down, we can talk this over.” He said calmly. Zebota glared at him. “No! I see no reason to negotiate with those who would threaten my home! You will all be cast into the river along with your equipment and be carried away from this place!” They all looked at him in horror. Surely he didn’t have the nerve? “You gonna do us like dat, son!? Well guess what! We gonna swim outta dat river and come right back over he’e and kick you damn a**!” Turf War shouted. Zebota chuckled viciously. “Will you now? It seems that you have forgotten….” Zebota’s brooch suddenly glowed along with his eyes. “COME, SHRAPNEL! COME, MY BEAST!” For a moment, there was silence. Only the sounds of nature could be heard resounding calmly around the dire situation that the foals were in. The next moment, something big could be heard running towards them. As whatever it was got closer, its big steps got louder and louder. What finally emerged was nothing short of terrifying. A huge timberwolf suddenly leapt out of the brush and let its momentum slide it just above Zebota after it landed. It howled with dominating ferocity and then looked down at the zebra colt that it dwarfed. It reared down its head to gently nuzzle him while Zebota scratched its chin. “Good boy!” The foals looked on in a panic. This timberwolf…..WAS HIS PET!? “What devilry is this!? How did you tame such a ferocious creature!?” Air Slash demanded. Zebota glared at him. “I will never pass such secrets to you!” he hissed. “But it would seem that you have all forgotten that it was truly Shrapnel that overpowered you when we attacked. You would be fools to challenge our might again!” “N-N-No! Zebota, please!! Let us go! Let’s do what Kickback suggested and talk this out! We don’t need to fight over this!” Fire Fight plead. Zebota and Shrapnel bore their teeth as they fixed their glare onto them. “I already told you! Your fates have been sealed! May nature find the mercy in her heart to spare your lives, ponyfolk.” “Oh crap…..I hope Quantum found my message!” Shadow Shroud muttered to herself. Her question seemed to be answered when the sound of a huge machine could be heard approaching their location.