//------------------------------// // Chapter One: Capture // Story: A Rather Large Adventure // by BradyBunch //------------------------------// The sun rose softly and warmly, illuminating the entire face of the peaceful land of Equestria. Birds poked their heads out of their nests, flowers bent in the soft wind, and the first ponies in the small rural town of Ponyville woke up to the everyday miracle of a raised sun, done each and every day by the ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia. With the raising sun came up roosters crowing the news that it was now morning. In the town, it was only a few ponies that stuck their heads out of the windows, but in the nearby apple orchard, a pony called Applejack and the rest of her family were out in the fields working hard. Near the Everfree forest, a demure pegasus pony called Fluttershy was already up and tending to her pets and her animal friends. High in the sky, a blue pegasus called Rainbow Dash, cocky but hasty, decided to sleep in after opening one eye slowly. In the town itself, a pristine white unicorn called Rarity awoke with a charming yawn and gracefully stepped out of her opulent bed in a clothing boutique. Only a few blocks away, in a building that looked like a confection all in itself, the proprietors, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, were laying out their items of sugary sweetness for others to come in and buy, with a pink, eccentric, fun-loving earth pony overseeing the baking jobs in the back kitchen. And north of the town itself, in an opulent crystal tree castle, panic was setting in. The source of the panic came from the note that had arrived from a goofy blonde-maned Pegasus the day before. Dear Princess Twilight, King Ironhooves and his lovely wife, Queen Strategus, formally invite you to the royal coronation of their majesties. At the coronation ceremonies over the course of a week, we hope you will be able to come to Saddle Arabia and deliver a speech in their honor. Because of several concerns levied against the king-to-be, we would ask that you come alone. You will be treated to the full splendor of all that we have to offer in our fair land. Sincerely, Sky Steel, royal Adviser. Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship, looked over the letter once again as she hurriedly packed. News rarely came from the mysterious land of Saddle Arabia, so when any news came from the obscure land south of the griffon nation, it was important. Twilight had contacted her friends about it the instant she had gotten it, and they had all risen to the task spectacularly. They had responded with gifts, which were now lying in her trunk. "Spike, do you have all the necessary cards for the speech I have to give?" Twilight called as she rearranged the contents of her suitcase. Again. "Right here, Twilight," came the reply. From the other room, a small purple dragon staggered in carrying a stack of cards that was bigger than he was. The cards flew out of his claws in a violet haze and Twilight packed them in another box, as her suitcase was already so packed there was no room for them all. "Aww, why do you have to go alone?" Spike moaned. "I've always wanted to go to Saddle Arabia." "Spike, as a Princess of Equestria, I am also an ambassador to all foreign nations. King Ironhooves and Queen Strategus are a little cautious and touchy, so in order to win their trust, I have to go alone. Plus, I need someone to watch over the castle while I'm gone." She took out a book, The Tourist's Guide To Saddle Arabia, and laid it on top of her suitcase, over the dress Rarity had made, the apple fritters made by Pinkie Pie and Applejack, the wing trimmers given by Rainbow Dash, the reference of fauna Fluttershy had provided, and the spellbook given to her by Starlight Glimmer. Looking at the gifts gave her a glowing warmth as she reflected on the nature of her closest friends and the unconditional support she knew they had for her. An hour later, all of them were congregated on the train station to say goodbye for a week. They were all enthusiastic, though none could compare to Pinkie Pie. "THISISGOINGTOBESOAWESOMEYOUGETTOMEETNEWFRIENDSANDBRINGTHEMBACKANDWECANHAVEMOREWELCOMETOPONYVILLEPARTIES!!!" Pinkie screamed, catching her in the equivalent of a bear hug. Her other friends were significantly more tame as Rarity said, "Good luck at the coronation, darling. 'Tis a shame I shall have to miss it." "I'll be fine, Rarity. I only need to behave myself and only speak when spoken to. King Ironhooves and Queen Strategus are new and unfamiliar to the job of ruling. As long as I give a good impression to them, I should be okay." "Bring back souvenirs, okay? I like souvenirs," Rainbow Dash spoke, flapping a yard above everyone else. "Me too," Starlight Glimmer added with a smile. Her life had taken a turn for the better ever since she had been accepted into Twilight's closest circle of friends. "It'll be fascinating learning about other cultures by their artifacts firsthoof." "Especially gems and textiles," Rarity spoke up. "I've heard absolutely amazing things about their clothing. It's reported to be as strong as armor, yet free like a summer bird!" Spike agreed with a shake of his head. "Um, you don't have to get anything for me... if that's okay," Fluttershy peeped. "If you really want to, that's fine, but I'm not asking anything of you." "Of course I'm getting things for you, Fluttershy. What kind of friend would I be if I got gifts for everyone else and not you?" Twilight smiled. "Yay!" Fluttershy said, then, realizing she was a bit loud, she whispered, "I mean, yay." The stationmaster came out. "The train leaves in five minutes. All aboard that's coming aboard." He glanced at his gold watch and went inside the office on the station. "That's my cue," Twilight said, hugging each of her friends for the last time. Then she came aboard the train, her suitcase floating behind her. "Now you be careful and have fun now, ya hear?" Applejack called out. "I will!" Twilight called back as the doors behind her closed. She quickly found a seat in the train car, then started to wave out the window at her friends, who were all waving back, though not as emphatically as Pinkie was. The train lurched forward with a bellowing whistle and Pinkie started to run alongside the train, yelling unintelligible things at the train until she ran out of platform. She still continued to yell things, however, long after Twilight was out of earshot. Twilight smiled and sighed longingly at the spot where her friends were until the train rounded a curve and disappeared. How was she so lucky as to have gained the friends she now had? The friends that were so eager for her to perform her best for anything she had to be called to do... they had changed Twilight's life forever by simply being there for her whenever she needed them. Twilight finally opened her suitcase, pulled out The Tourist's Guide To Saddle Arabia and an apple fritter, and started to read the compelling book, starting on The history of ancient Saddle Arabia. She needed all the knowledge she could get in order to talk straight with the new King and queen. In ancient times, Saddle Arabia was populated by only two great warring tribes, the Rada tribe and the Noxxa tribe. Little is known about either of them, and it is assumed that both of them perished long before any sign of sure civilization... Twilight glanced up at the clock in amazement. Six hours? She had been reading that long? She closed the book, blinked hard, and looked around. She was the only one in the train car, last except for the caboose. One hour ago, the conductor had announced they had crossed into Saddle Arabia, and as Twilight had looked outside the window at the time of the announcement, she could see... nothing. Crests of sand stretched as far as the eye could see, with sparse drybrush here and there, and a few Nodding Donkey oil wells, scattered much like a farmer would scatter seed. The air in the train car was hot but dry. Twilight sighed, put the book away, and lay on the seat, simply listening to the soothing, hypnotizing click-clack of the train's wheels over the rails. Presently she felt a lurch, and she felt the train start to slow down. Had they arrived at the capitol already? Impossible. There was no city on the horizon. A rest stop, perhaps? Twilight looked up and saw no rest or resupply station outside the window. Then, inexplicably, the train cars ahead of her began to increase their distance. Twilight's eyes bulged, then she rushed to the door leading out to the train cars, unlocked it, and practically ripped the door off its hinges. She looked for the train connectors holding the cars together- But they weren't there. She could see the train cars ahead of her move further and further away as her car slowed down more and more. The doors to her car opened and the conductor asked, "What's happened, Princess Twilight?" "Something bad," she grimly replied. Partially confused, partly shocked, she tried to activate her magic to move their car back to the main body of the train and reattach them, but- Nothing. Twilight scratched her head in confusion and tried to reactivate her magic again. Try as she might, she could not even activate her horn, much less cast a spell to bring the train back. I take it back, Twilight thought in horror. Something really bad has happened. She stumbled and closed the train doors. Suddenly the sound of an impact on the roof made both their eyes look up as a black-armored insect claw ripped through the top like paper. They screamed. Something really, really bad has happened! she processed. The claw began to tear through the roof with a nightmarish screeching sound until it was wide enough to crawl through, then the creature the claw was attached to dropped down. Twilight was petrified at what she saw. It had six sharp legs and dragon wings, with black chitin covering a sickly yellow skin. It had spikes along its equine frame and had horns and fangs. It had six completely yellow eyes and held a curved saber in one of its claws. The strange creature took hold of the conductor and held the sword to his throat. "Scream, and he dies," he rasped. What could she do except stay silent and back away? By now the train's cars had come to a complete halt and three creatures similar to the first had descended. Twilight hyperventilated as one of them grew closer and she could smell rust and what she strongly suspected was blood coming off of him. What were they? What were they doing? Suddenly she noticed one of them come to her suitcase of prized possessions. "Hey!" she yelled, ignoring the order to be silent. "That's mine! My friends gave me those! Let go!" Upon hearing this the creature grinned and stomped on it with a sharp claw, tearing a hole in it. He spat on it with a look of pure disgust. The creature kicked it across the car and the ruined possessions tumbled out. "NO!" Twilight screamed in pain at the sight of it. The creature closest to her told the others, "Throw the Train Master out. In the desert he's as good as dead." He then turned his attention to Twilight. His yellow eyes bored into her violet ones. "And now, Princess of Filth, you are a guest of the Noxxa nation--with the proper hospitality of a prisoner." He raised a claw and it impacted on Twilight's head. And Twilight remembered no more after that. Sakh glared at the violet body on the ground. His claw hurt where he had hit her. "Are you sure this is her?" the Nox behind her asked Sakh. "We were told to capture an Equestrian Princess. She looks much too young and weak to be a princess." "Of course it's her, you idiot!" Sakh spat. "Marshal Malice told us to look for a purple alicorn. This is her--wings, horn, purple body. Are you turning blind on me now, Ka?" "No, Sakh. Of course not," he muttered. Sakh turned to his three other Noxxa colleagues. "You three carry that vermin. I will lead the way back." They turned and marched out of the train car, and the last one out hurled the train conductor to the earth. They then spread their dragon wings and took to the sky. As they flew, Sakh noticed that his colleagues were slowed. But that was to be expected, as the three of them were carrying that high-and-mighty pony garbage. They were a bit rough in handling her, but Sakh didn't care about that. So what if she felt pain? All that mattered was that she was alive. The Noxxa nation had endured. They had done so in secret, unseen from the rest of the world, but they had nevertheless grown, pushed aside any who stood in their way. Moving even further south of present-day Saddle Arabia, Sakh was proud of having belonged to the nation that would rise up in secret and destroy all that was beneath it. They flew for a long time. Their dragon wings, which were normally highly durable, began to get stiff. Every so often the Princess would start to stir, but a good-placed kick to the head each time this happened prevented her from waking up. They flew so high that even in the hot desert, the altitude made them shiver with chilliness. Sakh felt proud. For being the one to single-clawdedly capture a Princess of Equestria, he would be bestowed with fame and honors--maybe even a medal or two. He would be a national hero. He started to dip as his concentration faltered. Easy, he said to himself. Keep your mind on the present. If not, you are distracted. And distraction is failure. Many hours later, so long that Sakh did not count them and the sky was turning a dark blue in the distance, the ground below him turned from the normal tan color of the desert to an ugly grey-black sand. Sakh grinned. They were in his country now. There would be no rescue, for the nation was protected from the influence of outsiders. Nopony who knew the Noxxa nation still existed would know where to come. Ahead of him, the lone city of the Noxxa capital, Krasrax, rose out of the earth like a stake driven into the heart of the earth. The city was in the shape of a wagon wheel--circular in shape, with many small buildings, hovels, and factories in the outer circumference. At the center of the wheel was a tall metal tower rising a mile out of the ground. Under the direction of Marshal Malice, the leader of the Noxxa, the tower had been painted an unwholesome dull red, to further give the illusion of a stake buried into the heart of a giant. Sakh and the three others came near the top landing bay, and the diminutive landing crew signaled the all-clear to land. They all hovered in the open-air launching bay, negligently shrugging off the disgusting princess. She fell five feet to the ground with a thud and did not move. "Get a crew to carry off that... manure," Sakh said, gesturing at the princess. He then trotted off to the guards at the door leading out to return the one thing that made the successful capture of the princess possible. As he neared the guards, one of them extended a claw. Giving him an annoyed look--Sakh knew exactly what he wanted, so why bother reminding him--Sakh reached into a fold in his armored chitin and drew out a polished black diamond the size of an apple. He laid it in the claws of the Nox guard, who folded them over it protectively. He then deposited it in an iron box and went out of the doors into the tower to return it to its proper place. The other guard nodded, giving Sakh permission to proceed through the door into the tower, which Sakh did. Now, in the dark corridors of the red tower, Sakh allowed his mind to wander as to the great rewards waiting for him. The riches, the splendor--maybe he'd be knighted by Marshal Malice. He was so distracted by his thoughts of grandeur that he did not notice the small thick blade flashing in the dark until it was already in his back. He gasped in sudden pain and lashed out instinctively, but there was nothing there. Only a dark shadow that leaped away like a cat into the corners to watch with satisfaction at the evil creature dying at his will. The shadow was fast, but it could have been anything. The Noxxa way of death is to return like ashes to the earth where it had come from. His body began to disintegrate, and as soon as he realized that, he was already a pile of dust.