//------------------------------// // Chapter [ T H R E E ] - - - > The Problem With Cages . . . // Story: [ - S k i S M - ] // by Uzuki Cheverie //------------------------------// [ - S k i S M - ] Chapter [ T H R E E ] - - - > The Problem with Cages . . . Rainbow Dash backed up for the fifth time, and then charged head-first for the iron bars. She hit them hard, but they didn't budge, and she fell back into a sitting position with an aching head. "Quit that, Rainbow Dash, before you give yerself head trauma!" Applejack warned her from her own prison cage. "Well, I can't just sit here and do nothing!" Rainbow Dash protested, rubbing her head with her hoof. "We've gotta get out of here!" "It's not like we can just walk out," Twilight Sparkle grumbled; she was trapped in the same cage as Rainbow Dash. "And even if we could, that . . . thing is guarding us." She pointed a hoof at the scrawny horse that was trudging around the area, flies buzzing around his head and his ribs visible through his chest. "He sure is freaky lookin' . . ." Applejack whispered. "I wouldn't toil with him." "Then what are we supposed to do?!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "I don't know if you noticed or not, but they took Fluttershy!" "I know, Rainbow Dash . . ." Twilight sighed. She slumped down into the ground in misery, listening to the panicked voices around her. "We're going to die!" "We'll never get out of here!" "Uzuki, stop chewing the bars!" "Shut up, Peter, I'll do what I want!" Twilight sighed and hung her head down again, trying to think of any possible way to escape and hoping that Fluttershy was alright. And even more so Princess Celestia. She wanted to save them, but she had no clue how to get out of the cages. She had tried magic, but for some reason it didn't seem to work on the bars - it was almost like they were resistant to it. "What do we do . . . ?" Zecora sneaked around the town, trying to hide from the prying eyes of the mangy Apocalypse Horse who was scouting the area. She had a bag on her back filled with herbs, potions, and other strange things. When she made it to the main area of Ponyville, she found all of its residents trapped in iron cages. Twilight immediately spotted the zebra, and quietly ushered her over with a few waves of her hoof. Zecora tiptoed over to the cage where Twilight and Rainbow Dash were locked up. "Zecora, thank goodness you're here!" Twilight gasped. "That Horse . . . Famine, he-" "Hush, magical one!" Zecora hissed, silencing her. "It seems the Horses have arrived just as the moon covered the sun. Where is the one with the animal bonds?" "Animal bonds? Fluttershy?" Twilight wondered. "I don't know, but one of the Horses took her - I think it was Pestilence." "We must find her, before he takes her to the world down under!" Zecora whispered as she reached into her bag and pulled out a vial of strange purple potion. "Otherwise our world will surely sunder!" She began to pour it onto the bars; they sizzled and burned, until they melted away into grey puddles on the ground. "How did you . . . ?" Twilight stepped over the grey puddles that still seemed to be burning. "Rainbow Dash, come on!" she called to the pony who was staring out the other side of the bars at the many ponies who had also been captured. "Huh?" She flapped her wings, hovering above the puddle and landing next to Zecora. "Thanks, Zecora. I don't know what you did, but it sure did the trick." Zecora's attention immediately caught something off in the distance. She could see the lantern that belonged to the Apocalypse Horse returning to the area. "Quickly, we must leave here!" Zecora hissed. "Otherwise we will have much worse to fear!" "But we can't leave everypony else behind," Twilight argued. "Leave that to me!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she took off into the air. She flew to where Famine was walking closer to the main town square, and kicked him in the rear. "Hey, over here!" she laughed, sticking her tongue out at the horse. "Look at me!" "H-How did you escape?!" Famine stammered. He dropped the lantern and began to charge, but Rainbow Dash flew out of the way, taunting him with more silly faces. "Come and get me!" she challenged him, and then took off, leaving a rainbow trail behind her. Famine took off into a fast run, chasing Rainbow Dash to the other side of Ponyville, away from the other ponies. Zecora poured her potion onto the last cage, the iron bars melting like ice and turning into a very hot liquid. Big Macintosh helped Granny Smith out of the cage, keeping her away from the liquid. "That looks like the last of them," Twilight sighed. In mere minutes, they had burned away all the cages, releasing all of Twilight Sparkle's friends along with the other ponies - the Cake family, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, the young fillies and colts - that resided within Ponyville. "Come on, we have to go somewhere they won't find us!" Twilight said to the large group of stallions and mares. They were all buzzing amongst themselves, panicking and screaming. "Listen to me!" Twilight yelled. They finally all stopped talking, their full attention on her. "Zecora has a plan!" Twilight began to explain. "We're going into the Everfree Forest! They won't find us there!" "The Everfree Forest!?" Rarity gasped. "You can't be serious, Twilight!" "We've been there before, Rarity!" Twilight objected. "It's not as dangerous as you think, especially compared to the Apocalypse Horses and what they could do to us!" "But once they realize we're gone, they'll start lookin' for us!" Applejack spoke up. "We can't just stay here!" Twilight growled. "We have to leave now!" "Well, I agree with Twilight," Big Macintosh said, stepping forward. "Don't forget they took one of yer friends away. We can't just sit here and watch em' torture us like cattle." "Anyone else?" Twilight asked, looking to the crowd. Rarity sighed. "I guess it can't be too bad . . . After all, those Horses need to be treated a lesson in respect." "I'm with Twilight!" Pinkie Pie cheered. "I guess it's no good to just stay here," Applejack sighed. "I'm in. Let's go find Fluttershy and kick these ole' Horses out of the kingdom." "Is everypony else coming too?" Twilight asked the other residents of Ponyville. They all stepped forward with determination in their eyes, ready to fight for their homeland. "Alright," Twilight said with a smile. "Follow me and Zecora! We'll lead you out of here." The ponies all trotted through the Everfree forest, all of them warily looking around at the crooked trees, the strange plants, and feeling uncomfortable from the dark atmosphere. Zecora lead the pack through the forest, until they made it to a small clearing where an old fort that looked like a treehouse had been built. "Is this place really big enough?" Twilight asked Zecora worriedly. Zecora didn't reply. She just kept guiding the ponies through the forest until they made it to the wooden structure. She lead the ponies in slowly. Inside, there was a staircase that looked like it when down forever. Soon they made it to an underground room that was so large, there was no trouble fitting all the ponies from Ponyville inside. "Wow, you never told me about this!" Twilight gasped as she looked around the gigantic room that had been built under the ground - it reminded her of the mirror room where the Horses had been trapped. "They'll never find us here!" Pinkie Pie cheered as she jumped around, still as energetic as ever. "I'm not very fond of the dank feeling down here, but . . ." Rarity carefully trotted around a somewhat muddy area. She sighed, and said, "I guess it could be worse." "So what, are we just supposed to stay down here while those things destroy everything up above?" Rainbow Dash asked angrily. "We can't just let them do that!" "If we hide down here, we'll have time to make a plan," Twilight said back to Rainbow. "We won't be able to do anything if we stay up there and let ourselves get captured again. They shouldn't be able to find us down here." Twilight observed the residents of Ponyville, all of them exploring their new home. "For now, we should worry about getting everybody settled." So for the next two hours, the ponies spent their time setting up bedding areas for themselves. In groups of four, the ponies would go one group at a time to the surface world above and gather sticks and leaves and other things they could use to make a comfortable spot for themselves - two ponies would gather the materials, while the other two stood watch for the Horses. "That scrawny one probably went back to tell their head honcho about us escapin'," Applejack sighed to Big Macintosh as she set the leaves along the ground that she had gathered from above - she was in a group with Macintosh, Snips, and Snails. "As long as we didn't leave anything behind to show em' where we went, we should be fine," Big Macintosh assured his sister. "I sure hope so . . ." Applejack finished the last layer of leaves for her bed, and then went to help Snips and Snails with theirs. The both of them had plenty of leaves, but they were trying to set up some kind of hammock structure. The Cutie Mark Crusaders - Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle - were together in a group, with Rainbow Dash in charge of looking after them. They had finished their bedding a long time ago and were now on the hunt for berries and other things from the forest that were safe for them to eat. They had a written guide from Zecora on which berries were safe and which were dangerous. "We really your mom have to be careful, girls," Rainbow Dash warned them as she lead the three girls through the woods. "We can't be responsible for bringing back berries that make everypony sick. Nurse Redheart is with us, but she doesn't really have her own office right now, so we can't go jeopardizing ponies' lives, alright?" The three fillies saluted her and then looked off Zecora's picture guide before heading out to find berries. They would bring back anything they found to Rainbow Dash to check again to see if they were safe - if they were fine to eat, they put them inside their berry basket; if not, they threw them back into the bushes. Soon, they returned with baskets full of raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. "You didn't run into any trouble?" Twilight Sparkle asked Rainbow Dash. "Of course not!" Rainbow Dash said with a smile. Twilight began handing out equal portions of berries to the ponies. "This would taste better in a cupcake . . ." Pinkie sighed before digging into her pile of raspberries. "Wow, even Pinkie's depressed," Applejack said before helping herself to her portion of blackberries. "But I'd sure like to have an apple right now. What do you think them horses are doin' up there?" "I don't know, but I'm worried about the other ponies in Equestria," Twilight Sparkle said. "And I'm worried about Princess Celestia." "Don't worry, dear, I'm sure she's fine," Rarity assured her. "After all, she's a very powerful Pegasus - I'm sure she wouldn't go down without a good fight." "D-Death! It's an emergency!" Death spun around to face the scrawny pony that was limping towards her. He had a panicked look on his face, and his eyes were filled with fear and uncertainty. "What is it, Famine?!" Death snapped - he had caught her in the middle of terrorizing Princess Celestia, who was still speared to the floor and weaker than ever. "The . . . the ponies . . . ! They escaped!" the pony gasped, completely out of breath. "What?!" Death leaped over to Famine, bearing her fangs and snarling from the bottom of her throat. "They somehow got through the bars!" Famine screeched. Death glared at him with her deep red eyes, her gaze stopping him in his tracks. "Impossible! Those bars were supposed to be resistant to magic!" Death hissed. "Well, I-I guess they figured some way out of them . . ." Instead of continuing her intimidating stare at the poorly-fed horse, Death turned around to face Celestia again. "Get a hold of War," Death ordered Famine as she stared into Celestia's frantic eyes. "Tell him to keep going as planned. We're not going to let a few miserable vermin like those ponies get in our way." Famine nodded. "Y-Yes, ma'am. Um . . . should I . . . ?" Death snapped her gaze back at him again. "Well, what are you waiting for?! Go!" "Uh, y-yes, ma'am!" Famine spun around and ran as quickly as he could, leaping out a nearby window that had already been broken earlier and landing on the rooftops of the castle below, leaping across from rooftop to rooftop. Death smiled at Celestia. "It seems as if your little ponies aren't as stupid as they look." "They won't . . . submit to the likes of you . . ." Celestia hissed, her voice frail and weak. "Well, I think all they need is a little push." Death spread her wings out. Suddenly, shadows flew in from all of the windows, turning into ponies that looked just as demonic as Death and the rest of the Apocalypse Horses. Death faced the shadow minions. "Go out and find the rest of those infernal ponies, and make sure none of them escape again!" The shadow minions all floated into the air and flew out of the castle like zooming black clouds, heading in the direction of Ponyville. "That should take care of them," Death sighed. "Now, to take over the rest of this infernal kingdom." Big Macintosh and Applejack walked silently through the forest, trying to find more food for them to scavenge for the next day. It was going to be hard to live off berries - especially for Applejack and the rest of the Apple family, who were so accustomed to eating nothing but apples before. "Ya think Fluttershy is alright?" Applejack asked her brother. " . . . Ayup." Big Macintosh lowered his head to sniff a bush of raspberries. Applejack rolled her eyes before continuing past him. She didn't look back for a moment, but then she heard a loud screech in the air, causing her to stop dead in her tracks. "W-What was that?" she hissed to Big Macintosh, turning around to face him. Suddenly, black shadows whipped out from the forest around her and tied themselves around her hooves from behind, pulling her hard to the ground. "BIG MACINTOSH!" Applejack screamed, but it was too late - the shadows had already dragged her into the depths of the Everfree Forest. Big Macintosh dropped his basket of berries and spun around, breaking into a fast run for the treehouse. But then he stopped, and changed his direction, going down a completely different path. I can't let em' follow me back to our hidin' place, he thought. I gotta sidetrack em' and then get back without bein' seen. Big Macintosh charged through the forest, leaping over tree roots and swerving in different directions as much as he could. He finally stopped for a breath in a small forest clearing, and waited to see if the shadows were still following him. There was no sign of them. And no sign of Applejack either. "I'm sorry, Applejack . . ." Big Macintosh whispered. He turned around and started to trace his steps back to the treehouse.