Hoofed by Your Own Petard

by Tortfeasor

Be All Thy Sins Remembered

Disclaimer: This disclaimer is 20% more Twilightlicious than the last one.

“Are you sure you’re all healed up? I don’t like the waiting, but I think we’ll all like it a lot less if your wounds open up again in the middle of the Everfree Forest.”

Three days, if Twilight wasn’t seeing it with her own eyes she would have never believed that Applejack could be back on her hooves with just three days of bed rest. Twilight thought that if it was her in that bed she would have been there somewhere between three weeks and three months.

“I’m fine Twilight,” Applejack said quietly, probably so Granny Smith couldn’t hear her talking in her Manehatten voice. “I just want another go at that annoying featherbag. No way I’m going to let an overgrown bird get the best of me.”

Twilight smiled, that was Applejack all right. She watched as her friend made a few final adjustments to the pile of curls on top of her head before nodding and turning away from the mirror.

Everypony was waiting downstairs for them. Rarity and Sweetie Belle had moved a little ways from the group and were engaged in tearful, dramatic, and totally over the top theatrical farewells. Twilight wouldn’t have it from her friend any other way.

“You got everything packed up Big Macintosh?” Applejack switched back to a drawl to speak to her family.

“Eeyup.” Twilight was still convinced there was a whole conversation in that one word she was somehow missing.

Apple Bloom came into the room with Applejack’s saddlebags in her mouth. The filly could obviously barely hold the weight but it was just as obvious that she wanted to help her sister out in whatever way she could.

“Thanks sugarcube,” Applejack took the saddlebags from her sister. “Now you don’t make any trouble for Big Macintosh and Granny Smith while ah’m gone ya hear?”

Apple Bloom nodded, clearly too chocked up with emotion to speak. Instead she hugged her sister and began to quietly cry. Looking away from the obviously personal moment Twilight was torn between a desire to see her family and the fear of how tough such a reunion would be. Even if Shining Armor were perfectly normal the prospect of saying goodbye to him and her parents with the very real possibility that she would be coming back dead was something she didn’t know if she could face.

“Well,” Rarity sniffled, having disentangled herself from Sweetie Belle. “I suppose we have to leave at some point. Otherwise we’ll never… well, you know.”

It still hurt to not talk about what they were doing or where they were going in front of others, but deep down they all knew it was for the best and they endured. Sighing at one more straw on her emotional back Twilight levitated her saddlebags onto her back and grunted at the weight. They hadn’t wanted to take the food Applejack’s family had offered since they could all see hard times coming if the sun didn’t come back. But they were unlikely to see anywhere they could get food for awhile, and so far as they knew they weren’t just the best, but only hope to beat Nightmare Moon.

“All right girls,” Twilight said, “let’s go visit this Zecora and see if she can point us in the right direction. Make sure to be careful though. Even if she is on our side there’s no telling if Trixie or Gilda hasn’t gotten ahead of us to lay an ambush.”

“We know Twilight,” Rainbow Dash groaned. “You’ve only been saying that every time we go over this plan for the last three days. At this rate we’re all going to be seeing ambushes in our nightmares.”

Twilight had the good grace to look ashamed. “Sorry girls, I’m just worried about this. We’re so close to actually pulling this off and I don’t want us to trip on the finish line.”

They all walked out into the yard and with a last wave the six ponies started heading towards the gate.

“Y’all be safe now, ya hear?” Granny Smith called after them.

“I wouldn’t dream of getting hurt again Granny Smith!” Applejack shouted back in her Manehatten voice before turning to the others and continuing. “She’s been trying to make me drawl for years, and I’ve been having fun with her like that for just as long.”

“Well let’s go see Zecora now,” Twilight said, “I don’t know about you girls, but as much as I enjoy your company I’m ready for this to be over.”

They left Sweet Apple Acres and turned towards the small, nearly overgrown, path that led into the Everfree Forest. Apple Bloom had told them that Zecora occasionally came into Ponyville to buy certain things and that since she only knew of this one path into the Everfree Forest that this would be the most likely path to Zecora’s home.

They walked for nearly an hour before coming across signs that somepony, or rather some zebra, lived nearby. The path became much clearer, plants were cut back, the dirt was packed harder, and there were large and rather macabre masks hanging from trees. Clearly a sign that visitors were not particularly welcome.

“I guess this must be the right path,” Applejack looked askance at one of the masks as she walked past.

“Whee!” Pinkie Pie bounced along. “Soon we’ll have a new friend! I’m so excited!”

A few more minutes of walking brought them to a particularly large tree out of which a house had been rather obviously made. Or at least Twilight didn’t think that doors and windows and dried herbs grew on trees without outside intervention.

“Why what have we here? Six ponies who it seems have no fear.”

Canterlot was as worldly a city as any but Twilight had still never seen a zebra before. She looked rather like a pony, though the stripes were odd, and while it was accented she seemed to speak the common language of Equestria.

“Hello,” Twilight said, “we don’t want to bother you. We were just wondering if you could give us some directions and we’ll be out of your, um, mane.”

Twilight had neglected the fact that Zecora didn’t wear her mane in a normal fashion. Rather it was shaved but for a narrow strip that she wore held up in a mohawk.

“Do not think you can earn my trust so soon. For I do not know if you serve Nightmare Moon.”

“We’d never work for Nightmare Moon!” Rainbow Dash flew up into Zecora’s face with an accusing look on her face. “How do we know you don’t work for her?”

“I assure you that I speak the truth. But to know your heart I need part of your tooth.”

Zecora moved with almost unbelievable speed and before anypony could react she was standing back where she started with a small white chip resting on a hoof. Rainbow Dash grimaced and reached a hoof into her mouth. Snapping it back when she realized one of her teeth was no longer whole.

“I will soon know if you speak true. Then I will fix your tooth with a potent brew.”

Rainbow Dash looked very much in a fighting mood, but magenta and blue glows surrounded her tail as both Twilight and Rarity grabbed onto her to keep the situation from going downhill.

It was several long minutes of waiting but eventually Zecora emerged again. “What you say is no lie. Hope in these times brings a tear to my eye. Now to re-grow your tooth just take a drink, and your mouth will be whole sooner than you think.”

Rainbow Dash took the proffered mug with a suspicious look, but after some not so gentle prodding from her friends she tilted it back and emptied the contents.

“Hey,” she said, feeling around her mouth with her tongue at the same time. “My tooth is all better now! Thanks, maybe you’re not so bad after all.”

“Many a powerful thing can be found in the right jar. Now if you will, tell me who you are.”

“Oh, right, I’m Twilight Sparkle, the pegasus you just helped is Rainbow dash, and this is Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy.”

“Who comes to my home I can now see. So please, ask what you would of me.”

“Yes,” Twilight said, “you know that we aren’t friends of Nightmare Moon. And we’re trying to defeat her or bring back Celestia so the sun can come up again. We think there’s something in the Everfree Forest that could be the key to either of those. But none of us has ever been in the Everfree Forest before. So we were hoping you might be able to show us the way to the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters.”

“Ah, into the forest you seek to go very deep. But beware that many who venture fall into eternal sleep. With my own eyes this place I have not seen. But perhaps its location is knowledge I have been able to glean.”

“All right!” Pinkie Pie pumped a hoof into the air. “We’re gonna be on our way, and that calls for a party!”

Rarity sighed. “What she means to say is we’d be ever so grateful if you did have a map or directions to the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters.”

Zecora went back into her hut and came out several minutes later with a roll of parchment.

“My knowledge of the forest I have drawn. I hope it will help you bring back the dawn.”

“This must be it!” Twilight saw a particularly inaccessible part of the forest that Zecora had never been to. “Thank you so much. I promise we’ll use this to end the night.”

“One last warning I must give you to you. I have seen many soldiers here passing through.”

“That’s no surprise,” Twilight grumbled, “but thanks for the warning all the same.”

Twilight would have loved to stay and learned more from and about Zecora. But every minute they dallied was another minute of eternal night and another minute for Trixie and Gilda to make getting into the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters closer to impossible.

They followed the path Zecora indicated deeper into the forest. At first it was well trod and easy to follow in the moonlight. Quickly though they reached the parts of the forest where Zecora didn’t go so often and before long after that they were breaking their own trail through the brush.

“Ugh,” Rarity shuddered, “all this mud is never going to come off my hooves.”

Applejack gave her a look totally lacking in comprehension. “I thought you didn’t mind the dirt. Isn’t that part of being a miner? You know, working in the dirt.”

“Dirt that I know very well. Dirt that I know how to avoid as much as possible, and that I’ve had years to learn how to get the rest out of my coat.”

Soon though the overhead branches started getting so thick they could barely see past the end of their noses. It did however have the positive side effect of keeping Rarity from seeing, and therefore complaining about, the mud getting all over her. At least until she tripped over a root she couldn’t see and covered herself in mud.

“Get it off! Get it off!” Rarity shrieked as she flailed about splattering the others with mud.

“Hang on Rarity,” Twilight rather more carefully picked her way over to her fallen friend. “Let’s just light our horns and them it shouldn’t be any problem to clean you right off.”

Their horns lit up to reveal their surroundings and they all stared in stunned silence.

“Well I thought watching her trip into mud was pretty funny.” Gilda stood among the trees smirking.

“Agreed,” Trixie said, “the great and powerful Trixie always finds the suffering of her enemies to be amusing.”

“Wha?” Twilight stuttered in stunned disbelief.

Trixie laughed rather cruelly. “The best pawn is one who truly believes they aren’t on your side. Poor, poor Zecora led you right into our trap thinking the whole time she was helping you. The great and powerful Trixie loves it when a plan comes together.”

“I hear that,” Gilda lifted a leg and absently picked at a claw. “And I hate to leave a job unfinished. I think this time I’ll take your heads off to make sure.”

“Twilight,” Rarity sounded almost unnaturally calm for being surrounded by their enemies and worse covered in mud, “do you remember just outside of Canterlot after we first met?”

“What do you… oh, right.” Twilight turned slightly to face her other friends. “Girls… close your eyes!”

Rainbow Dash wasn’t quite sure why Twilight wanted her to close her eyes, but she sounded like she knew what she was talking about and Rainbow Dash trusted Twilight. That turned out to be a good choice as no sooner had she closed her eyes than it felt like the sun exploded behind her eyelids. The light was gone as quickly as it came but Rainbow Dash still blinked away spots for several seconds after opening her eyes.

She saw all of her friends likewise looking around and much to her amusement she saw Trixie, Gilda, and all the ponies with them writhing on the ground clutching at their watering eyes. Her happiness was short lived though as she heard shouts from above and looked up to see pegasi diving towards them.

“Run!” She shouted. “I’ll take care of all the pegasi!”

If Rainbow Dash had learned one thing about the ponies who served Nightmare Moon it was that they would never fail to take the bait she offered by flying up into their midst. They didn’t fail to take the bait this time and the chase was on. She quickly found that trees of the Everfree Forest were rather similar to the buildings of Manehatten. Rainbow Dash had led the guards and Nightmare Children on a merry chase there and she saw no reason not to do the same thing here. And this time she didn’t have to lug a big book around for Twilight Sparkle. Oh this was going to be fun.

“Hello Rainbow Dash.” She nearly fell out of the sky when a voice whispered in her ear. Even before she turned her head she knew she’d see the purple and black flight suits of the Shadowbolts. This made things a little tougher. They weren’t supposed to show up yet.

Rather than get into a verbal sparring match she knew she’d loose Rainbow Dash grimaced and flapped her wings to fly even faster through the trees. It wasn’t long before she heard something else crashing through the trees behind her. Rainbow Dash didn’t have to look back this time. She’d known Gilda long enough to know the griffon would come after her, and that she would be looking for blood. Rainbow Dash had been in plenty of tight spots in her life, several quite recently, but this one was definitely going way up on her list.

“Why are you running from us Rainbow Dash?” The Shadowbolts didn’t seem to be having any trouble keeping up with her. “We can give you and your friends everything you’ve ever wanted. All you have to do is say yes to Nightmare Moon.”

“Go to Tartarus.” Rainbow Dash grumbled. Things were not supposed to be happening like this. Gilda and the Shadowbolts could actually keep up with her. She was too used to guards and Nightmare Children that she could fly loops around in her sleep, while sick, and carrying an open drink.

Things had turned around depressingly quickly. Rather than leading a bunch of second rate amateurs around by their muzzles and laughing the whole time she was flying for her life in front of the only fliers in all Equestria and beyond she feared she might not be able to out fly. Then, as if things weren’t already bad enough, Gilda started laughing at her. Gilda had a rather mocking laugh and only ever used it when she was sure she’d won and she wanted to rub it in.

No way, Rainbow Dash had refused to lose to Gilda when Fluttershy had been her only closer friend. Now that Gilda was squarely on her list of enemies Rainbow Dash wasn’t going to even think about letting that bag of fur and feathers win.
She started climbing and much to her chagrin Gilda and the Shadowbolts kept pace. More annoying, Gilda was still laughing and the Shadowbolts were still whispering everything they could do for her. The Shadowbolts had always been incredibly persuasive and even now Rainbow Dash could see in a corner of her mind her desire to put on that purple and black flight suit and fly like this whenever she wanted.

No, she had to get away from them before they actually got to her. She couldn’t count on Twilight to do some crazy magical trick to snap her back to her senses. Taking a deep breath Rainbow Dash turned over and dove almost straight down.

She’d dove, and flown fast before, but never like this. The wind seemed to flow around wings that beat with almost effortless ease, the wall of air she had to fight through seemed much thinner than normal, and it felt like her eyes weren’t leaking any tears at all. But it still wasn’t fast enough. She could still hear Gilda laughing and the Shadowbolts whispering. She flapped her wings and flew even faster, and there was the wall of air she was used to. Even the rush of air through her ears wasn’t enough to drown out all the noise. She just had to fly a little bit faster. She dug deep, deeper than she’d ever dug before, and put everything she had and more into outrunning her demons.

And then suddenly the wall of air wasn’t there anymore. Rainbow Dash flew on in complete silence. She glanced back and saw a ring of light with all the colors of the rainbow expanding behind her throwing Gilda, the Shadowbolts, and all the pegasi with them aside in its wake. And behind her was a trail of rainbow light. She’d done it. She’d done a sonic rainboom. In all the excitement Rainbow Dash quite understandably missed the small flash on her flank.

She felt like she could fly like this forever, but off in the distance she could see a large and unnatural shape jutting up from the landscape. Flying at the speed of a sonic rainboom it took no time at all until she was landing in front of the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. And nopony else was there. Her friends were still out there with Trixie and all her minions. Maybe even Gilda, the Shadowbolts, and all the ponies who’d been after her if they could recover fast enough.

Rainbow Dash flexed her wings to take off but stopped herself at the last second. She had no clue where her friends were, and she didn’t know what exactly was after them. If she went stumbling around the Everfree Forest who knew what she’d run into? It was one of the hardest choices she’d ever made but she’d won her battle, and now she had to hope her friends could win theirs and find her. At least there was no shortage of places to hide and wait in a ruin this size.

Twilight Sparkle had been more tired and beat up than this after Manehatten, but only barely. And okay, there was the fight with the Ursa Minor where she’d been ready to fall asleep standing up afterwards. And she supposed she’d been worse off those times where she’d actually collapsed afterwards and not been able to use magic for awhile. Okay, the point was it had been a long and hard fight with Trixie and her minions and she was glad it was over.

And now that she was seeing the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters with her own eyes it was all worth it. The Elements of Harmony were in there, they’d find and use them, and then this would all be over and she’d… Actually Twilight hadn’t given any thought to what she might do after all this, she’d been so focused on survival and one goal after the other that the future had completely slipped her mind. And now wasn’t the time to focus on the future she reminded herself. They still had to get and use the Elements and there were a million things that could go wrong between now and then.

“Well I guess this is it,” Applejack seemed quite impressed by the ruins. “The Elements of Harmony must be somewhere inside there. I just hope Rainbow Dash manages to catch up.”

“Me catch up?” They all nearly jumped out of their fur at the voice behind them. “I’ve been waiting for you guys to catch up for hours!”

“Sorry darling,” Rarity didn’t sound at all sorry. “Next time we’re in a running battle for our lives with Trixie and her minions we’ll try to make it a little bit faster so we don’t dare inconvenience you by making you wait.”

“Works for me,” Rainbow Dash shrugged and started walking past them. “Now let’s head in there and find these Elements of Harmony so we can hurry up and beat Nightmare Moon already.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Fluttershy nervously flapped her way next to Rainbow Dash. “You had an awful lot of ponies, and Gilda, after you. And then there was that huge explosion. We were so worried about you.”

“I was fine,” Rainbow Dash laughed, “and that explosion. Gilda and the others never knew what hit them. I bet I sent them halfway to the mild west!”

“That was you?” Twilight’s curiosity was going full tilt all of a sudden. “What in Equestria was that.”

Barely able to keep her jaw up it was Fluttershy who responded. “A sonic rainboom. You did it Rainbow Dash! I told you that you almost did a sonic rainboom all those years ago and now you did it!”

Rainbow Dash casually buffed a hoof against her chest. “Well it wasn’t all that much. Oh who am I kidding? It was totally awesome! You should have seen it Fluttershy, Gilda and all the pegasi with her were right on my tail. So I started diving and they were keeping up, and then all of a sudden it just came to me. It was like my wings didn’t weigh anything and the air just flew apart in front of me. And then I looked back and there was this huge ring of rainbow light behind me and I was trailing a rainbow. It. Was. So. Cool!”

“Wait a second,” Twilight tapped at her chin with a hoof. “Trixie almost had us cornered and then that explosion threw all her plans into chaos. The Nightmare Children started panicking and more than a few of the guards just collapsed like something had gone wrong with Nightmare Moon’s control over them. That sonic rainboom probably saved our lives!”

“Well,” Rainbow Dash sounded like a sonic rainboom was just another day at the office, “what are friends for?”

“Come on everypony,” Applejack interrupted. “We’re all very pleased with you Rainbow Dash, but Trixie, Gilda, and their army are still somewhere out there. And if we all stand around here slapping ourselves on the back they’ll catch up to us and we’ll be sorry when that happens.”

“Besides,” Pinkie Pie bounced by them towards the castle, “we can’t have a party out here. Let’s go get the Elements, beat Queen Meanie, and then party down!”

Laughing they all followed Pinkie Pie into the large main hall of the castle. The roof had long since fallen in but they could all tell how impressive it must have been in its day. Of particular note was a pillar in the middle of the hall with five arms coming off it with indentations where something clearly would have been put.

“I think the Elements must have been here,” Rarity walked around the pillar. “I can feel the power in the air from them.”

Twilight stared at an indentation at the top of the pillar. She was almost certain it represented the sixth element. “Yeah, I think you’re right. Let’s spread out and look for the Elements.”

Despite how big the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters had appeared from the outside it didn’t take them long at all to search. So much of the castle had crumbled into rubble that in the end there were only a few places to look for the Elements.

“Well I’m sure the Elements were here.” Twilight studied the small crystal Rarity had found while searching near the pillar. “But I’m just as sure they’re gone now.”

“It makes sense,” Rarity sighed. “Trixie knew where the Elements were so it would have been no problem at all for her to have told Nightmare Moon. Then I imagine they came here, got the Elements of Harmony, and who knows what they did to them from there.”

“Just imagine what we could have done with them. I can feel my magic getting an incredible boost from just this little piece of one of the Elements. Nightmare Moon wouldn’t have stood a chance if we’d had all six.”

“We’ll just have to find another way. In the mean time why don’t you hang on to that crystal? You certainly have a knack for discovery and I’m sure you can find a way to make it useful.”

“I couldn’t!” Twilight levitated the crystal and pushed it towards Rarity. “Rarity, this is a powerful magical artifact. It could make any unicorn a dangerous foe, and you’re much more talented with magic than I am.”

“Nonsense,” Rarity pushed back on the crystal with her magic. “You have more magic in your back left hoof than Trixie and I have in our whole bodies. I’m sure if you hang on to this you can brush aside anything we run into.”

“Rarity, this is part of one of the Elements of Harmony. And you’re Celestia’s student. If there’s anypony who’s qualified to use this it’s you.”

“Twilight, please, I’m giving this to you. You brought us all together and kept us going on a plan that actually could work. We all believe in you, so please, take it.”

Rarity combined her plea with wide almost tearful eyes. As much as Twilight didn’t think she was the right pony for the job she couldn’t say no to Rarity.

“Fine, you know when we find the Elements of Harmony you’re going to be able to give the element of generosity lessons on how it’s supposed to work. Giving me a chance, lessons in magic, and now this.”

“Okay,” Rainbow Dash butted into the moment, “if you two are done being all happy feely would you like to help us figure out what we’re going to do next?”

“Do next?” Twilight stared at her pegasus friend.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash sounded like she was talking to a slow filly, “do next. We were going to use the Elements of Harmony to beat Nightmare Moon, but in case you forgot they aren’t here. So unless either of you knows something else we can find that will let us beat a pony who took on Celestia and won we’re kind of back to square one.”

Twilight sat down and looked at the shard of one of the Elements. They were indeed in trouble. She’d been counting on finding the Elements of Harmony and using them to solve their problems, but like Rainbow Dash had said they were Element of Harmony-less.

“Canterlot,” the answer hit her like an Ursa Minor falling from the sky, “the Elements are in Canterlot.”

“What?” Applejack clearly had no clue what she was talking about. “Care to let the rest of us in on your little secret Twilight?”

“Think about it,” Twilight started talking with a frantic energy. “What’s the one thing that can beat Nightmare Moon? The Elements of Harmony. So where’s the safest place in all Equestria for her to put the Elements? The one places where to get to the Elements of Harmony you’d have to beat her, Canterlot.”

Fluttershy was the first to grasp Twilight’s point. “You can’t beat her without the Elements, and you can’t get the Elements unless you beat her.”

“Exactly,” Twilight sighed.

“Okay,” Rainbow Dash said, “so let’s go get them. Steal the Elements of Harmony right out from under Nightmare Moon and then blast her into orbit with them.”

They all looked at each other looking for a hole in the plan or anything better.

“All right,” Twilight said at last, “looks like we’re going to Canterlot to steal the Elements of Harmony and beat Nightmare Moon.”