//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 - Getting Out of Dodge // Story: The Curse of the Statuettes // by Dusk Melody //------------------------------// “Sweet Celestia!” Stonecutter exclaimed as she stepped off the Friendship Express with Sparkler and Cloudburst at her sides. The slate grey earth pony wafted herself with her hand. She, along with her companions, had grown accustomed to the air conditioning on the eight hundred mile trip from Ponyville. Now, stood on the ancient looking wooden platform, the intense dry heat hit her like a sucker punch in the face. “I have to agree,” Sparkler gasped, for already sweat was starting to bead on the unicorn’s forehead. At least she was wearing a dress, she hated to imagine what her marefriend was feeling in her tee shirt and dungarees. “Is it too late to go back on the train?” asked Cloudburst, getting a reproachful glare from the other two mares for her trouble. “Okay, it was only a joke, jeez!” In truth, she was glad to be off the train. While it did have an observation deck with a three hundred and sixty degree panoramic view, it was still an enclosed space, and she hated enclosed spaces. Happily, she flexed her wings and took off, hovering out of the way as a stream of passengers disembarked behind them. Stonecutter then led the way to the back of the steam train where one of the guards had opened the large sliding door that took up almost the whole side of the cargo car and had lowered the ramp so that passengers could get the larger things they had transported. The earth pony showed the guard her ticket and took hold of her battered old wagon. “Right,” she said once the wagon was on the rickety old station, “I’ve got Bessie, what’s the plan?” ‘Bessie’, was the name that Stonecutter had given her four wheeled wagon many years ago when her old grandmother had bought it for her. Used primarily for taking her sculptures to their owners, now Bessie was loaded down with their supplies. As well as their suitcases and duffel bags, shoulder bags and – in Sparkler’s case – a book bag and several cleaning kits, there were shovels, spades, ropes, torches, tents and sleeping bags and, last but not least, enough food and fresh water for a week’s trip. One last and very important thing also rode in Bessie, and that was Sparkler herself, once the unicorn had looked over their things and made sure that everything was present and correct, according to her itinerary, she hopped up and sat herself down in the wagon. “CB, if you wouldn’t mind dressing my draft pony?” “Draft…what now?” “Oh, you got it, Sparks!” Cloudburst giggled and, ignoring her best friend, she reached into her bag. Grinning, she pulled out the thing she had been holding onto since her trip to the MiAC store in Ponyville. That thing being a bright yellow bridle and reins. “What the…hey!” Cloudburst again ignored Stonecutter’s surprised exclamation as she secured the yellow bridle around the earth pony’s head. She left off the bit, but she did fit the blinders and the reins before tossing them to Sparkler in the wagon, who caught them in her magical aura. Sparkler had to bite her lip, because Stonecutter looked so very sexy with the bridle on her. “Very good, CB!” she high-fived the pale blue pegasus before turning her attention to her marefriend. “Now, pet, are you going to pull, or shall I use the wagon’s shoulder harness?” Part of Stonecutter wanted to be harnessed to the wagon, but she had no idea what they’d face out here. She turned her back to her lover and gripped the two bars she was stood between in her strong hands. “Very good,” Sparkler turned to Cloudburst, “Here’s some money, CB, please get us three wide brimmed hats from the merchant on the platform.” While Cloudburst was off buying the sun hats – something Sparkler had omitted from her planning – the bright yellow unicorn noticed there was some activity going on at the rear of the train. Most of the other passengers had left the station. She saw three earth ponies and a unicorn unloading a stack of large wooden crates from the same car that their wagon had been stored in. Upon closer inspection, she could see the crates they were busying themselves around were marked with ‘excavation supplies’, ‘dig site staff only’ and ‘Badlands’, all in large stencilled capital letters. “Hey, Stone,” Sparkler got her mare’s attention, “What do you make of that?” Stonecutter looked where her marefriend was pointing. “Probably something to do with them archaeologists that were on the train, remember the ones in the dining car last night who were entertained by CB’s harmonica playing?” “I agree,” ideas were running through the unicorn’s head as she watched the group of three ponies work. They were unloading the crates of equipment onto a large flatbed cart that was three times the size of the one she was currently sat in. “I have an idea, pet. They seem to be headed to the Badlands…” “You want to tag along, see if they’re going where we’re going?” asked Stonecutter, finishing her Mistress’s idea for her. “I always said you were smart, pet. Yes, that’s what I’m thinking. They seem well equipped, organised. Maybe they’ll let us go with them, who knows, maybe they’ll know something about the statuettes thing.” “And maybe we’ll run into Professor Twilight out there too,” Cloudburst added as she flew back to the red wagon with three straw coloured wide brimmed sun hats in her hands. She placed one on her own head before passing the other two to Sparkler and Stonecutter respectively. “Good plan, Sparks!” “Thank you, CB,” Sparkler took the offered hat and placed it delicately on her head. ‘Oh yes,’ she thought with a smile, ‘this is much better.’ Her smile widened when she saw Stonecutter do the same. She knew that with the blinders on the bridle as well as the brim of the hat, her pet had zero peripheral vision. “Anyway, I think we should go and say hello, see if they’ll let us go with them.” By the time Stonecutter had pulled her wagon over to the group of three ponies, the unicorn had the flatbed wagon loaded up with the supplies from the train. The train guard had the sliding door secured, the two earth ponies wore reins, neckerchiefs and wide hats. The unicorn mare, who looked to be in her thirties and who was wearing khaki shorts and shirt and a pith helmet, checked everything was secured down before getting in the driver’s seat in front of the cargo. “Excuse me!” the sand coloured unicorn mare turned to look at Sparkler with a curious look on her face. Before she could ask what she wanted, the younger mare continued, “I’m Sparkler! This is Stonecutter and Cloudburst,” she introduced them to the unicorn. “My friends and I are on a…a field trip to the Badlands. We can’t help noticing that’s where you’re going. Do you mind if we ride with you?” The two earth pony stallions harnessed to the flatbed wagon looked at each other then they shrugged and as one pointed to the sand coloured mare. She was the one in charge, they were just paid to pull the wagon. “A field trip?” she wasn’t wholly convinced. “From what school?” “The School of Friendship in Ponyville!” Cloudburst answered, flaring her wings proudly in the air. “We’re the three most awesomest students!” “Uh huh. ‘Awesomest’, huh?” the sand coloured mare couldn’t help but grin. Mostly at the eye roll she saw the younger unicorn gave the pegasus. While she disputed that claim, she couldn’t deny the three mares before her were well equipped for the Badlands. “Well, miss Sparkler, you can ride with us, but it’ll cost you one hundred and fifty bits each.” “A hundred and fifty bits each?” Cloudburst exclaimed, coming to a landing beside the wagon that Sparkler was riding in, “Oh come on, we don’t have that kind of money!” The sand coloured unicorn was unperturbed in the larger wagon. “Yeah well, miss Cloudburst, we’re working for the archaeological expedition over in the Badlands. We only came to Dodge City for the supply run. We aren’t paid to foal-sit some out of town schoolponies playing Daring Do adventure time.” Cloudburst scoffed, “Do we look like three schoolponies playing Daring Do?” “You look like three schoolponies who should be safe at home doing your homework,” the older unicorn retorted, “Not here in Dodge City about to have a trek into the Badlands.” Sparkler thought quickly. Holding their purse, she knew they didn’t have four hundred and fifty bits. They barely had three hundred between them. Sparkler had some gems in her pack, for her sculpting, but she doubted they amounted to four hundred and fifty bits. A sudden flash of inspiration came to her. “That flatbed looks big and heavy. Instead of paying the full fee, what if I lent you my draft pony to help pull it?” Stonecutter turned an amazed look to Sparkler. Thanks to the blinders on her bridle, she had to turn all the way around. She gave her an ‘I’m right here…’ look, to which Sparkler just winked. The sand coloured unicorn glanced at the space left on the flatbed and seemed to be considering it. “Say, you’re awfully determined to get to the Badlands, what gives, schoolponies?” Cloudburst, Stonecutter and Sparkler all shared a look between them, communicating by looks alone. As one, they agreed that the older unicorn didn’t seem the type to be fooled, so it was better to just be honest with her. That, and Sparkler was awful at lying. “Well, ma’am,” Sparkler began, at the same time wondering when she had been nominated as the spokespony, “It’s like this. Princess Twilight Sparkle, our Headmare, and the other Elements of Harmony, our teachers, were on a Friendship Mission out here in the Badlands. They were investigating the curse of the statuettes…” “Were?” the older mare asked, interrupting the young pony’s story as she noticed the two earth pony stallions who were harnessed to the flatbed begin to whisper nervously amongst themselves at the mention of the strange curse. “Yes ma’am, they were,” Sparkler pressed on. “As far as we know, they reached the Badlands three days ago, and now they are missing. We were asked to rescue them.” “Wait. You three. You were asked to rescue a Princess and the Element Bearers?” the sand coloured unicorn was incredulous. “Yes ma’am.” The three answered in unison. “You three?” “Yes ma’am.” “Not Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, the Royal Guard, or a dedicated search and rescue team?” “No ma’am.” “You three. You three are going to search the whole of the Badlands for six missing ponies.” “Yes ma’am.” The three mares shared another look between them. When it was said out loud like that, all of a sudden, Seafoam’s warning came flooding back to their ears like he was actually there beside them. Still, they were here now, weren’t they? “Excuse me, young miss?” one of the earth pony draft stallions, a dark green pony, spoke up. He shared the same nervous expression as his partner besides him. “You say you’re here to investigate the curse?” At the mention of the curse, they both made the sign of Celestia to protect themselves. “Hogwash!” the sand coloured unicorn scoffed, waving her hoof in the air. Holding the stallion’s reins in her magical aura, she was ready to get moving while they still had daylight. The supplies were needed by the archaeologists, and bandits operated at night. “Tracker, you don’t believe in that hokey old mare’s tale, do you?” “Begging your pardon, Sunny Saddles, ma’am, but the curse ain’t no hokey old tale,” the stallion shot back nervously while his partner made the sign of Celestia once again. “Five of our colleagues at the dig site have been turned into statuettes this past week. Three were for just a few hours, but Longhaul and Rockface were like that for two whole days before they returned to normal!” “That’s right,” the other stallion at last found his voice, “And Compass Star, Comet Tail and Professor Gully Trotter have even disappeared altogether! Nopony’s seen them for three days now.” “Hey now, Pathfinder,” Tracker moved across in his harness and gave his partner an affectionate nuzzle and a chaste kiss on his lips, “There’s no need to worry. These mares are from Ponyville. They said they’re here to investigate the curse. It’ll all be okay, baby.” Pathfinder seemed to visibly calm himself as Tracker hugged and nuzzled his cheek. The kisses being expertly applied all over his face and muzzle helped too. Sunny Saddles rolled her eyes and snorted through her nose. The older mare knew she wouldn’t get anywhere fast at this rate. ‘This is what I get for letting Gully Trotter hire from the locals…’ she thought to herself. ‘Next time, we’ll bring our own team in…’ The local ponies they had hired in Dodge City had been nothing but superstitious wrecks the whole time on the dig. With a grunt, she facepalmed. “Fine. Get your wagon on the flatbed. You can come.” As Tracker and Pathfinder shared a fist bump and a kiss, she asked, “Are you happy now?” Grinning, Sparkler got out of the wagon and lit her horn. Casting her telekinesis spell, she lifted up the wagon and all their supplies onto the back of the six wheeled flatbed. Still rolling her eyes, Sunny Saddles quickly had it secured with ratchet straps and she got back in the driver’s seat. “By the way,” the sand coloured mare added, pointing to Stonecutter, “You’re helping to pull.” “Fine, I’m good with that.” Stonecutter walked around to the front of the flatbed, where Tracker had pulled a spare harness from the supplies in an open crate. “Don’t worry,” Pathfinder noted Stonecutter’s ‘girth’ and rested a hand on her shoulder as his long-time partner carefully adjusted the harness to the mare’s size and fixed it in place. “We’ll go at your pace. We’ve got plenty of time to get to Site B, especially with three of us pulling.” As Tracker resumed his position on the left, with Pathfinder in the middle and Stonecutter on the right, Sparkler chose to sit on the driver’s seat with Sunny Saddle, who now had three sets of reins held in her magic. “Pardon me, miss Sunny Saddle,” Sparkler began as she smoothed her dress, having picked up her name from the two earth pony stallions, “But um…Site B? Whatever happened to Site A? That is, if you don’t mind me asking.” For a long few minutes, the sand coloured mare didn’t answer Sparkler’s question. She gave the reins she was holding a gentle flick with her magic and the flatbed wagon set off out of Dodge City headed for Dodge Canyon in the distance. “Site A,” she said presently, “Site A is the reason we were running supplies just now.” “How do you mean?” Sparkler asked as she saw Cloudburst out of the corner of her eye fly alongside them and then land in Stonecutter’s red wagon. “What I mean,” Sunny Saddle continued like she hadn’t been interrupted. She didn’t look at Sparkler sat beside her, instead she kept her attention on the rocky desert ground ahead, using the reins to steer the wagon. “Is that Professor Gully Trotter’s expedition lost a large amount of equipment when a huge monster attacked the first dig site a few days ago. What’s more, the whatever-it-is has taken up residence there, so we can’t even retrieve the stuff that’s still there.” “A monster?” Sparkler fought hard to suppress a full body shudder. Again, it was like Seafoam was there beside her. She could almost hear the ‘I told you so’ as the wagon sped along the desert. “What kind of monster?” In the back, sat in her best friend’s red wagon amongst their supplies, Cloudburst got herself comfortable on several bags and blankets. She would’ve flown, but the hot sun was beating down on them, and as good as her flying skill was, she didn’t want to exert herself. Not with the precious cargo she was carrying anyway. She had promised Seafoam she’d be careful out here. So, she relaxed in the back and, after getting her harmonica from her bag, reclined with her hooves up and her hat down. As Cloudburst began to play a tune, one that Sparkler recognised as ‘the time warp’, the memory of Tank the tortoise hanging onto a mohawk’s tail while the pegasus danced to make him laugh flashed through her mind. Levitating one of the text books from her bag, she began to look through it. “What did the monster look like, please?” she asked when Sunny Saddle didn’t answer her. “Well, I don’t rightly know…” Sunny Saddle shifted uncomfortably in the driver’s seat, a blush on her face. “There was rumbling, then it came up out of the ground. There was dust, rocks and equipment crates flying everywhere. I didn’t get a good look at the creature because I was too busy running away, like the rest of the dig crew.” She shuddered slightly, “Trowel, the dig supervisor, Celestia bless his soul, wasn’t fast enough. All I know is it’s huge. Massive. It had a long purple, red and pink snake-like body and a mouthful of teeth.” In a flurry of paper, Sparkler flicked through the pages of her book, ‘A Beginner’s Guide to the Badlands – know the difference between dessert and desert, said the tagline under the main title – until she came to the part she was looking for. “Did it look something like that, at all?” Sunny Saddle glanced at the book that had just been thrust under her nose and she let out a yelp of fear when she saw the picture on the page. “Y-Ye-Yes…just like that, now please put that book away, please.” Sparkler levitated the book back in front of her and quietly she read the text beside the image of the tatzlwurm. She didn’t read every word, just the important bits. Namely it was a hundred feet long, had six eyes, three mouths with lots of teeth. The creature’s two main traits seemed to be what the book called its ‘tremor sense’, an ability to detect subtle vibrations in the ground when it was actively hunting its prey. The other ability was it could spray a target with its snot, which could then infect that target with an illness called ‘tatzl-flu’. That alone made the unicorn reach in her bag for her allergy tablets. In the back of the wagon, the harmonica music had stopped. Thanks to the rocking motion of the flatbed, and the comfy blankets she was laid on, Cloudburst had fallen asleep under her hat. While she wasn’t normally a pony to enjoy a nap, now, she was laid with her hands hugging her belly, gentle snoring coming from the sleeping pale blue pegasus. ~ ~ ~ “Momma! C’mon momma it’s the first day of school!” Sea Poppy buzzed her little turquoise wings happily, completely unable to hide her excitement as she bounced on her parents’ wide double bed. “Ugh...” without opening her eyes, Cloudburst blindly reached her hand out and felt around for her alarm clock, which was a difficult task under the orbital hippogriff bombardment that her filly was currently unleashing upon her and her husband, who amazingly was still asleep. Blearily she cracked open an eye. ‘It’s still dark out…that’s not good…’ finally managing to focus, the pegasus looked at the clock like it was its fault she was up. “Poppy…it’s five a.m.!” She groaned. “I know! I know!” Sea Poppy squealed with delight, landing a huge bounce on the concealed snoring lump next to her mum that was her daddy, Seafoam – who was either really asleep or a really good actor – who grunted out a loud snore and rolled over. “The whole day is almost over! C’mon, it’s school, I wanna go!” Cloudburst slumped exhaustedly back in her bed. “Sweetie…school doesn’t start for another four hours! Go back to bed…” ‘pleeeeease!’ “But…mooooomma!” Sea Poppy landed on her mother’s chest and gave her a little nip with her beak on the base of her neck that she knew she liked and nuzzled her tiny muzzle in deep into her pale blue fur, getting her yellow beak right against her skin. “I’m too excited!” Cloudburst sighed in defeat. “Alright then, I’m up little one. Have you brushed your beak and washed your claws?” She asked, propping herself up on her forearm. “Um…no momma.” “Alright then…well, have you at least had a bath?” Cloudburst yawned and stretched her wings as she sat up properly in the bed, her hands wandering to the rounded mass of her belly that would soon be Sea Poppy’s brother, in a month or two, anyway. Her excited filly didn’t answer; Sea Poppy’s scarlet blush that covered her turquoise face told her everything she needed to know. “Yeah, I thought not,” she grinned, wrinkling her nose playfully like she smelled something bad. “Go and run yourself a bath you smelly filly.” Cloudburst giggled as she lightly bopped her daughter’s beak with her fingertip. “You can’t start school smelling like your daddy after a day guarding the royal palace.” “Okay momma!” Sea Poppy chirped as she flapped her little wings and took off like a rocket to the upstairs bathroom. Cloudburst rolled over on the bed, now fully properly awake and accepting that sleep had been robbed from her. “You…” She grinned into her husband’s exposed right ear tuft, “Are an evil hippogriff for not waking up with me.” She whispered, nipping the tip of his turquoise ear tuft hard. Very hard indeed. “Ooow! CB!” Seafoam grunted, his blue eyes still closed as he flicked his ear. “Too early. Guard needs sleep. Make it up to you later.” “You’d better, Master, or else. I’ll even wear that negligee I know you like, the pink see through one…” Cloudburst left that hanging in the air as she kissed his cheek as she heard the bathwater running. “I’d better go before she floods us again. You just go back to sleep like you don’t have a care in Mount Aris.” Chainsaw-like snores were her only reply from the hippogriff-shaped lump that was her husband. ~ ~ ~ “Alright…for the ninth time of asking, are you ready?” Cloudburst asked her bubbling filly who was almost trembling with excitement as the wall clock announced the time of eight twenty five. “Yes momma, I’ve got everything, let’s go, c’mon we’ll be late let’s go!” Sea Poppy squealed as she pushed her glasses up her face. “Poppy…we have twenty five minutes to make a fifteen minute walk.” Cloudburst smiled as she placed a reassuring hand on her little daughter’s shoulder, trying in vain to calm her down. “We’ll be fine, you’ll see. Now, have you got your schoolbag?” “Yes momma, it’s here look!” Sea Poppy turned to show off her clearly visible bag slung over her shoulder. “Textbooks?” The pale blue mare asked again. “Yes momma! I have everything; textbooks, notebooks, pencil case, spare pencil case, spare glasses, everything!” The little filly pouted indignantly up at her mother. “You’ll want me to have spares of my spares next!” “Hey little madam, no need to be sassy.” Cloudburst extended a wing over her little filly and pulled her, bags and all, into a feathery hug. “You aren’t too big for a spanking y’know.” She added with a wink as she ushered her out of their front door into the bright Monday morning sun. She loved Mount Aris. She loved how the hippogriffs didn’t wear clothes. She loved the sun’s heat on her large swollen belly. She loved how the hippogriffs they passed looked appreciatively at her belly. “Your aunty Sparkler would be proud you’re well prepared though. “Do you mean like the spanks that daddy gives to you?” Sea Poppy asked innocently as she cocked her head up at her mother. “Yes…” Cloudburst blushed a faint red on her pale blue cheeks and smiled down at her little filly. She looked so adorable in those big round glasses. “Though you won’t get the handcuffs.” “Aww!” The little filly stomped her hoof in a show of adorable indignation as she walked beside her mother. “But, momma! I wanna try them, you and daddy make them look fun!” Cloudburst paused on the path to the schoolhouse, a smile reaching her eyes. “They don't make them in your size, sweetie.” She laughed at the pout her little filly was making. “Grow a bit, then maybe we’ll get Santa Hooves to bring you a set for Hearths Warming, okay?” “Okay momma! I'll grow super fast you'll see!” Sea Poppy buzzed her little wings so hard and with such enthusiasm she left the cobbled path and landed perfectly upon her mother's shoulders. “I'm sure you will, Poppy,” Cloudburst couldn't help but laugh, not to be in any way cruel, more that her filly’s joy was just too infectious to not at least giggle with her. She waved to one of her friends on the way to the school and, with the thought of her filly growing in mind, she rested her hand on her belly. She couldn’t wait for Cloudhunter to be here. “Why I bet you’ll be the bestest growerer in Mount Aris and Seaquestria.” Now it was Sea Poppy’s turn to laugh, giggling delightfully into her mother's mane. “Momma those aren't proper words, you made them up!” “Of course I made them up sweetie.” Cloudburst giggled to the little hippogriff currently riding on her shoulders. She had a vision of Sparkler being outraged at her mangling of language. Totally worth it though. “All words are made up at some point, Poppy, that’s how language evolves, honey.” Ugh…now she sounded like Sparkler. They walked along in silence for a good few yards, both pegasus and hippogriff just enjoying each other's company in the beautiful morning sunlight. “Momma…” Cloudburst whispered, almost inaudibly into her mother's ear, “Momma, I'm…I'm scared, a bit…well a lot, sort of…” “Sweetie…you have nothing to be scared of.” Cloudburst slipped easily into her ‘mother’ mode. She still surprised herself how easily she did that. “I’m here with you. We’ve met your new teacher and you know your classmates from nursery school. It’s gonna be just fine, I promise. And, after school, we’ll take you to the new Hayburger place.” ~ ~ ~ Unfortunately, any further dreams on Cloudburst’s part were thrown out the window when the flatbed wagon jolted her awake as it was pulled over the rough uneven desert ground. “Hey…” the pegasus grumbled, shifting herself to a half sitting position in the back, “Watch it, will you? I’m not using this taxi service again…” she giggled, enjoying the look that Sparkler gave her from the driver’s seat. “Ignore her,” Sparkler said to Sunny Saddle as the wagon started to head downhill. It wasn’t a steep gradient, but it was enough that the wagon picked up speed. Fortunately Tracker and Pathfinder knew what they were doing and they adjusted their speed to match the incline. “So, you say that Professor Gully Trotter’s gone missing?” when Sunny Saddle nodded, she asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, who’s in charge?” “Oh, that’s easy,” Sunny Saddle answered the younger mare as she steered the wagon around a particularly large rock that jutted out from the desert floor. “That would be Doctor Caballeron, the pony who organised and funded the whole expedition in the first place.” “If he funded the dig, shouldn’t he be in charge in the first place?” asked Sparkler while Cloudburst tried to get comfortable again in the back of the red wagon. “He should,” the older mare agreed, frowning in concentration because the going was becoming harder and harder the closer they got to Dodge Canyon, “But he hired Professor Trotter for his experience. He studied archaeology at Barnett College, the most prestigious academy in Canterlot. Caballeron was impressed with Gully’s knowledge of Equestrian history and the fact he wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty with some field work, so he put him in charge.” Eventually, after a short time travelling through the hot dry sandy desert, the flatbed wagon arrived at the very foot of a large towering mountain range. Ahead of them, there was a tall canyon with vertical rock walls rising up on either side of the bumpy road that they had been travelling along. Sparkler guessed it was at least fifty feet bigger than the gorge they had encountered in the Everfree Forest. Tracker and Pathfinder approached the entrance to the canyon and Stonecutter followed their lead, continuing to pull the wagon along the road which was made narrow by the steep cliffs. Sparkler instinctively huddled into herself on the driver’s seat, she had seen all the smashed rocks that were littering the sides of the canyon. She couldn’t explain it, or put her finger on it, but something didn’t feel right. Something was…off, about this place. If anything, she felt like they were being watched, and followed by something, or somepony. “Hey, CB,” she turned to face her friend, who again had her hat pulled down over her face, “Everything feel okay to you?” “No,” she replied shortly, “It’s not okay. I’m trying to nap and I’m not napping. Chill out, Sparks, we’re fine. What could possibly go wrong out here?” What could go wrong, apparently, was just about everything. Sparkler was about to shoot her friend a well-considered retort when several things seemed to happen all at once. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a spark of magical energy explode like a firework in front of the flatbed wagon to the left. She, along with the rest of them, then heard the fwooshing sound of magic being used. Tracker, who was pulling on the left, seemed to disappear before their very eyes! The earth pony stallion had been reduced to a pony-shaped statuette, bouncing on the ground as the wagon rolled over him. Caught completely off guard and now unbalanced, Pathfinder and Stonecutter careened off to the right side of the canyon and they crashed into the rock wall. “What the hay!” Cloudburst, caught – almost – napping in the back of the wagon, was jolted around and, as a result, she hit her head hard against the wooden side and was knocked senseless. “Whoooooaaaaaaaa!” Stonecutter, who had taken the brunt of the impact into the canyon wall, cursed to herself. She tried to correct herself, with the help of Sunny Saddle pulling her reins, and, inexperienced as she was at team pulling, she overcorrected, losing control as the wagon sped up on its downhill course. “Tracker!” Pathfinder screamed in frightened alarm as he watched his husband disappear, only to see him reduced to a statuette right by his side, twisted in his harness in an attempt to catch him, which only served to send the speeding wagon even more out of control than it already was. “I got him, Path!” Sunny Saddle lit her horn and levitated the statuette that had, until a moment ago, been Tracker up from the canyon floor into her bag. All this happened at once, in the space of a split second. Cloudburst was knocked out cold in the back of Stonecutter’s red wagon, a wicked looking gash above her left eye. Stonecutter was bleeding from her right arm and leg where she had collided with the canyon wall. It was only a virtue of her thick hide that she wasn’t any worse off than she was. Just as Sparkler was starting to catch her breath though, as the dust settled, there came a deep rumbling from all around them. “Boulders!” Sunny Saddle cried out in answer to the unspoken question. The sand coloured unicorn was pouring all her concentration into trying to steer the careening flatbed through the canyon when, with a thunderous crash, a large rock landed just where they had been and shattered into pieces. “This is why it’s called Dodge Canyon! We gotta dodge!” Sparkler bit back a rather unsavoury expletive as the wagon swayed madly on the very edge of control. Three more boulders fell from above, each narrowly missing them by mere inches. Not a religious mare by any means, Sparkler still found herself making the sign of Celestia, sharp shards of stone tearing at her dress. Not wanting to become a pony pancake, part of her wished she’d stayed in Ponyville now. “AAAaaaaAAAAGH!” Stonecutter screamed in pain. Another boulder had landed from the cliffs above, missing her by a hair’s breadth, but close enough that it grazed her side. Sunny Saddle had just enough control on the reins as well as her magic to pull Stonecutter out of the way of the latest fallen boulder, unfortunately the flatbed wagon wasn’t so lucky. Big and cumbersome, it was slow to change course. The first two wheels on the right side smashed into the boulder, shattering one to pieces and damaging the other. It was now a five wheeled wagon, soon to be four. “Somepony do something!” Sparkler looked around in complete and utter panic. This was like the timberwolf all over again. Cloudburst was still out cold, Stonecutter and Pathfinder were barely in control of the wagon, Sunny Saddle was wholly occupied with steering around the falling rocks. That left her. “What can I do?” she screamed, thinking on her hooves was not her strong point. “Th-There…there’s rope!” Stonecutter gasped out, almost out of breath, “In my wagon! Use it!” Sparkler quickly dived into the back of the red wagon and found one of the lengths of rope they had bought back in Ponyville. As she searched, the damaged wheel continued to disintegrate. She grabbed two wooden shovels and staggered back to the driver’s seat. “Now what?” “What do you mean, now what?” Sunny Saddle screamed, her eyes fixed ahead, “Are you a unicorn or not?” “Oh buck…” Sparkler kicked herself, hard. She was a unicorn. What was more, she was a unicorn who was very good at levitating things. She had gotten A+ grades with her telekinesis. Now it was time to put it to use. Lighting her horn, she concentrated hard and moved the wooden shovels to replace the damaged spokes and she magically used the rope to secure them in place. “I did it! The wheel’s fixed!” “Good girl!” Sunny Saddle steered around yet another fallen boulder, “Now hold it together!” as she spoke, several rocks bounced up from the canyon floor and smashed into the rear axle. Immediately the flatbed began to shake and shudder. “Hold! It! Together!” Sparkler closed her eyes and, amid the bouncing, rocking and shaking of the wagon, she extended her consciousness and her magical aura to the axle, her telekinetic field holding the wagon together. Sunny Saddle could see the end of the canyon. They were almost there! Just then, three large boulders all fell in quick succession, one after the other. She steered the wagon around one, and she blasted the other with a bolt of magic from her horn, obliterating it in a shower of stone shards. Before the dust had settled, they were practically through the canyon and at last, they were in the Badlands. Stretching out on either side of them, long mountain ridges formed a border of sorts. Ahead, there was nothing but wide plains of rock and dust dotted with the occasional outcrop of reddish brown rock. However, just when the sand coloured mare was taking a well earned deep breath and collecting her thoughts, several loud harsh barks reached her ears from behind them. Turning, her eyes widened in fear. Six diamond dog bandits were chasing them! Having come from caves that lined the canyon wall, they saw an easy target in the damaged wagon. “Faster! Pathfinder! Earth pony! Faster!” They weren’t fast enough. The pack of dogs caught up with them just as they emerged from the canyon proper. They mistimed their assault though and, as they tried to leap onto the back of the flatbed, three of their number were crushed to death under the heavy wheels. If the other three noticed, or cared, as to their fellows’ misfortune, they gave no sign. As soon as they were on board, they drew wickedly curved deadly looking blades and advanced on Sparkler. “Earth pony!” Sunny Saddle called out, “We have company!” she levitated Stonecutter from the harness and into the back, while Pathfinder slowed his pace now, as he was the only one pulling. “Ponies have valuables.” The lead diamond dog bandit spoke harshly, an evil glint in his eye. “Pony will give to us!” “This pony will not!” Stonecutter threw back, though she clutched her side with her hand, exhausted from her run and loss of blood. “Get outta here!” The attempt she made to look as big an intimidating as she could wasn’t working. “Pony will give us the valuables,” the bandit sneered nastily, suddenly pointing the tip of his blade at the unconscious Cloudburst’s throat, “Or we take this one instead.” “You won’t touch her!” Stonecutter yelled, her scream bringing Sparkler out of her magical fugue state which had been necessary to hold both the axle and the wheel together at the same time. Sparkler came to just enough to see her marefriend and her pet charge at the leader of the bandits. ‘Diamond dogs…’ the unicorn thought, her mental processes slow and sluggish thanks to the amount of magic she was using, ‘Where did they come from?’ Then, her eyes went wide. The bandit whom Stonecutter had charged side stepped the fat mare and swung his blade, the pommel catching her a glancing blow to the side of the head. Stonecutter dropped to one knee. “Bandits not take one. We take you too.” The one behind the leader had his stinking paws on Cloudburst’s body. Dragging her up, the pale blue pegasus started to come to. “Slaves worth more than pony valuables!” “No!” Stonecutter surged up to her hooves only to be knocked back down by a sharp punch to her gut. The bandit leader grabbed Stonecutter’s mane and yanked her head up. “You have spirit, pony. I will chain you to my bed and break that spirit.” “Leave. Her. Alone.” Sparkler stood up, her mane flowing in a crackling nimbus of magical energy. “Get your paws off my friend.” The third bandit scoffed, “Pony too frail to take. We kill you. Make excellent food.” The three bandits advanced upon Sparkler, sharp pointed teeth exposed in nasty, evil feral grins. They kicked Stonecutter aside, curved blades raised and glinting in the sun. “No!” Sparkler screamed as they came at her. Her mind raced, adrenalin surged through her system. There was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. The leader got a foot from her and she could smell him, and her fear skyrocketed. Instinct took over. Her magic surged, lifting her arms, her green eyes shone brilliant, pure white. “NO!” her muzzle pulled back in a snarl of her own. She threw her arms up to protect herself as those blades came down. They never made contact. Sparkler cast her telekinesis. Her magic, fuelled by adrenalin, anger and fear, made it the most powerful spell she had ever cast. The three bandits, unprepared and unprotected, were flung from the wagon at impossible speed. Propelled by the magical blast, their bodies became nothing but a large crimson red smear on the canyon walls. As Cloudburst came around, Stonecutter turned a scared glance at her marefriend. “Sp-Spark-Sparkler…” she watched the unicorn’s eyes return to normal, watched as she crumbled to the floor of the wagon. “What…what did you just do?” Sparkler didn’t answer. She couldn’t answer. On her knees, she cried, the tears pouring down her cheeks. She knew exactly what she had just done.