Dawn Crest ached.
As she stirred to awareness, she was jostled and jolted, the sound of rustling still sounded in her ears. She she pried her eyes open and was rewarded with a blurry swirl of dark landscape. She pieced it together she was moving, though, and the sound was coming from whatever was carrying her. She groaned and tried to rub her eyes, only to find that she could not. Her hooves were tied and bound, a thick rope of some kind wrapped around her whole body, and she was being dragged somewhere.
Each bump resonated in her head, which was pounding.
A voice sounded, familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. A new voice, but the words… she forced herself to focus. It was the language of the land ponies, and she tried to look to the source of the sound, but she couldn’t face it. Or could face the voice but not see? Her brain hurt, so she closed her eyes and focused on the words.
“If the little one does not cause trouble, I suppose she can stay awake,” the voice finished. It was sonorous, talking deliberately and slowly. “Does that sound acceptable?”
The voice fell silent, and only after a moment did Dawn realize that perhaps she was looking for an answer. “Oh. Uh… yes?”
But instead a light giggle was heard, instead. “That wasn’t a question, it was more of… a warning.”
With those darker words, the voice finally sounded like it was up over Dawn, and she chanced opening her eyes open again. A dark figure loomed over her. Dawn only knew one pony that large. The Queen. Dawn felt her heart start to beat faster. How could she get here before us? What has she done? How did she know where to find us. She started to struggle.
The looming figure brought itself down, leaning over Dawn’s face. Closer and closer it came, until it was clear this was not the familiar face of the Queen. No, the muzzle was all wrong, tiny and wrong on her face, and the way it bent down was wrong, too.
“Now, what did I just tell you…” the voice resounded, and for the first time, Dawn listened. This wasn’t the voice of the Queen. Neither the harsher tones from public, nor the softer tones in private. Dawn felt an odd relief come over her. The Queen hadn’t kidnapped her again. Good.
No, it was a strange mare with the wrong shape in… she searched her memory. The underwater forest? No. That didn’t make any sense. What she could remember was fuzzy memories of frolicking underwater, and the queen pursuing her. Which made no sense.
“That’s better.” The singsong voice dragged her back to the present. She was in danger. Right. Yes. She opened her eyes again. Things were still blurry, but she gave a look around.
Above her still loomed the large form, dark gray in the dim light. Not looming over her were a couple some other forms, although these looked like ordinary ponies, one of which trailed several ropes to her.
And she could, far above her, see some distant dots, and a larger form, with cracks running through it. Was it the moon? Was the moon cracked? She tried to blink away the blurriness, each time it becoming clearer, until she could actually see. A huge tree stood above her, like the others, except instead of dense foliage in it, it was dead. None of the other trees touched it, either, leaving a clear view of the night sky.
“Look,” the voice said, addressing another form nearby. “She noticed our father.”
With that said, Dawn felt the ropes tighten around her, and she was dragged to the base of the tree and her back was pressed up against it. The large form moved closer to her, and with a crackling snapping noise she felt a series of piercing pain in her sides, and cried out.
The three in the savior party made their way through the forest, Sand Castle now bearing the torch. It was just as well, as nobody could understand him anyway. However, it was slow going now…
“This is impossible.” Spoiled Rich stamped her hoof, earning Sand Castle’s attention. “We have officially lost the trail.”
Filthy Rich shot his wife a glare. “So what do you suggest, dear? Should we turn around and leave without her?” Sand Castle’s head turned to watch.
Spoiled grimaced. “No… no we can’t do that.”
Filthy Rich motioned to Sand Castle, still flipping his attention between the two, and made a motion to get him to lower the burning torch, which had become a rather large fire now. “So we keep looking until we find something.”
“While we wait for the stick-monsters to gather enough of themselves to come back and attack us in force.”
Filthy Rich just rolled his eyes and leaned down to look for clues. There was no use arguing with her like this, what would he say? Just a flat denial she was correct? Reiterating points he already made? No. Better to keep quiet. He sighed and returned his attention to the task at hand.
After only a short while of more searching, a scream rang out through the forest. Sand Castle’s ears perked and he stood up, facing the direction immediately. Filthy and Spoiled Rich both looked to him, and he looked back, uncertain.
Filthy blinked. The scream was clearly Dawn’s. This is the reason why they were here. In the flickering torch, held by Sand Castle, the uncertainty shone in his eyes. He was a very large pony, but he looked very young at this moment. Why-- no. There was no time to question what was going through the sea pony’s head. Filthy Rich nodded, and gestured over.
Sand Castle took off in the direction, galloping away, with Spoiled and Filthy in tow, and in short order, the treeline suddenly opened up into a clearing, lit with pale moonlight. Sand Castle burst into the pale clearing, his torch flickering, and Filthy was about to follow when he heard his wife from behind him. “No no no no. Stop!” she hissed, trying to yell and whisper at the same time.
He skidded to a stop, and looked back. “What?”
She gestured out into the clearing. “Look.”
He peered out from behind a tree, out into the clearing. Between the moonlight and the torch, it was pretty easy to see into the clearing, and that the clearing was not actually empty. There were several of the dead tree ponies in the clearing, as well as two that appeared to be of a different color, and a biped was standing near the only distinct landmark: a huge dead tree in the center of the clearing. It’s gnarled branches reached up to the sky uselessly, as there were no leaves to catch light. On the ground around them some roots could be seen in the ground.
And of course, Sand Castle had run right into the middle of the clearing, now with more than half a dozen plant creatures glaring at him. And beyond him, on the other side of the biped, was a pony, pinned into the tree across from them, branches wrapping around her.
He yelled for her in the seapony language, dropping the torch in his mouth, which hit the dusty ground with a dull thump.
“Dammit,” Filthy whispered. “Now what?”
“He got himself into a mess…” Spoiled said.
“Are you suggesting we leave him?”
Spoiled snorted. “No. It’s not an option anymore. Not a good option, anyway.”
Filthy snorted back, but said nothing about her selfishness. “So what, then? We can’t leave him there with no backup. He definitely cannot fight half a dozen of them.”
“And we can?” Spoiled hissed.
Filthy grimaced. The odds weren’t looking good. But perhaps… a bit of a plan formed in his head. “Maybe. But I have to wait…”
Sand Castle bit back a second yell, as he realized just what position he was in, as he was becoming increasingly surrounded by the strange brown ponies, and now the new less brown ponies. He looked around in a panic, and found that the couple that had been following him was missing, too.
Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. Why couldn’t he have thought this through? He grit his teeth. But he did see Dawn. She was… well safe was an exaggeration, but she was alive, and he was here to save her. And that’s something that really mattered. He couldn’t waste time, right? Spend time wondering if he was too stupid to do it right? He had to save her.
So he allowed himself to yell, but not a yelp of panic, but an angry one, and he charged forward, directly at one of the green ponies, slamming into it hooves first. He bowled it over, pinning the creature as it cried out strangely.
Whereas the brown creature before splintered under his hooves, this one was supple and only buckled under the pressure of his body. It screeched at him from below him. He reared up his hooves to pound on it again, when from the side of him the second one struck, its appendage lashing out at him.
He stumbled to the side, turning himself to face the two green ponies, as the one on the ground pulled itself up. He threw a jab at the pony on its way up, connecting only a little, but he had to back off as the other swung a leafy arm at him.
Sand Castle took a step back, grimacing, as the two of them fanned out slightly. Where were the couple? He glanced around, only to find that the other brittle ponies had been surrounding him.
He cursed under his breath. He was being surrounded. Flight failing, his instincts fell upon the other option once more, and he rushed at the green ponies in front of him, landing a solid blow on their abdomen, only for green tendrils to lash out from them, wrapping around him.
He struggled and fought, landing shallow blows as they wrapped around him more tightly. The light from the torch seemed less bright, more distant, and out of the corner of his eyes he could see the other ponies gathering around him. He was surrounded, and he was alone. The vines tightened their grip, and pulled him down, and he braced himself, taking all his effort just to stay upright. The assailants behind him closed in, and struck his legs, and he collapsed onto the ground with a grunt.
They began to work their way around him, squeezing his breath from him. He struggled and wheezed, the group of assailants all crowding around him, choking out the small bit of light he could see.
A loud voice called something out, and he could feel just a touch of something in the air changing, before a boom resounded behind him, accompanied with a flash of light and the wooden assailants were thrown into the leafy ones. He was tugged slightly along the ground, but his bonds loosened, and he looked back.
Behind him stood Filthy Rich, a magic glow receding from the divots his spell dug out of the ground. Sand Castle struggled, finding his bonds much easier to loosen himself from, as he picked himself up.
The spell that threw the wooden ponies into them managed to put those wooden ponies in shambles, with broken limbs and cracked sides. None of them were in fighting condition any longer, but the green ponies were beginning to right themselves.
Sand Castle put himself in a ready stance, broad and stable. It was easy to slip into, having it drilled into his head. Something he really never thought would be useful, but, here he was, in this place, surrounded by strangers.
Trying to save another pony he never thought he’d be interacting with.
A light noise to his right alerted him to Filthy Rich, stepping up to stand shoulder to shoulder with him, and they shared a look. Filthy Rich just nodded, and picked up his hoof, pointing it at one of the now approaching figures, and blasted it with a blue light. The creature hissed as a chunk of its soft flesh was blasted out, but it only reeled back a slight bit, and continued advancing alongside the other.
Sand Castle snorted, and with a cry he launched himself again at the pony, lashing out with his hooves, slamming into the first one with a solid blow to its midsection. The plant pony lashed out with tendrils extending from its sides, starting to pull at Castle, who braced himself in the ground with one forehoof, punching with the other one.
The other pony bore down on him, striking him with whiplike lashes of the vines, and when he cried out in pain the vines won, yanking his hoof out in front of him. His chin hit the ground, and a beam blasted past him, striking the pony grappling him directly in the chest, causing him to reel back, a chunk blasted out of the front of it.
The vine lost its grip and Sand Castle slammed his hooves on the ground, pushing himself forward and up, his withers hitting the plant pony’s chest. With more effort, he shoved the plant pony up, its body raising up, ready to flip backward, when its vines regained their tautness, and it stopped its own fall.
It’s head flipped forward as it pulled itself back down, only for it’s chest to be met with a second beam, this one punching a hole clear through its body, and the plant pony finally fell into a crumpled pile on the ground.
From the side, the second pony made a horrible screeching noise, only stopped by a loud voice saying unfamiliar words. The plant pony backed up and aside it strode up a different sort of plant figure. This one stood on two legs, and appeared to be made of more than wrapped vines and bark. She called out a word to himself and Filthy, in the language he, again, could not understand.
Filthy did, though, and started to say things to her. She stepped forward, moving sinewy and gently, and Sand Castle stepped back defensively. She looked to him as if noticing him again, and chuckled, saying something directly to him, still in the language he could not understand.
She tilted her head, trying another word. And another. And finally, she said the word, “boy.”
Instinctually, Sand Castle’s ears perked.
“Oh good.” She smiled smugly. “A language he understands.” She seemed to stare at him expectantly…
“W-what do you want?” Sand Castle managed.
“I was hoping you’d be more amenable than--” she gestured to Filthy Rich “--your friend here.”
Another few seconds of silence followed, and the dryad sighed. “I was trying to come to an agreement, and he was being stubborn.”
Sand Castle, without moving his head, looked to the other sides of her. “... Alright… then… we came here for Dawn Crest, and we won’t beat you all to a pulp if you give her to us.”
The dryad laughed, a melodic sound, and she leaned over to Sand Castle. “I don’t think that you understand just what kind of circumstance you are in.”
“Wh-what do you mean?” Sand Castle said, feeling his ears burning, like she knew more than he did. “If you didn’t notice, we’ve been winning the fight.”
The dryad stood back up. “Have you?” At that moment she raised her hands up to the sky, and began to sing words, green energy collecting at her hands.
Sand Castle tensed up. Magic. He didn’t know what it was doing, but he knew he had to stop it, but as he reared back to punch he found himself restrained, as the plant pony had managed to get a vine around his hoof before he could even throw it.
The dryad continued her singsong spell, and Sand Castle looked around in a panic, finding that the previously destroyed plant monsters were all knitting themselves back together with the same green energy. And they all started standing up, and Sand Castle found his view dominated once more by the dryad.
“You see, little boy?” She smirked. “You have not won anything. And your precious mare has already been taken by our father,” she said as she gestured to the huge tree above her, then moved to the side. “And if she is not already dead, then she soon will be.” She held her hand out, directing Sand Castle’s attention to the base of the tree, and she looked over expecting to find her captive drained of her life.
But, all she found were empty gnarled branches.