//------------------------------// // One step forwards, two steps back, three steps forwards. // Story: Roaring Winds and Rising Tides // by vortex123 //------------------------------// POV Twilight 'You know in retrospect, I probably should have seen this coming.' I think, long since over my rage. "Twilight?" AppleJack asked, unnerved by how long I've been silent. She is met with more silence. 'Everything was going well, too well. I'm actually a little embarrassed about my earlier shock.' I continued thinking, devoid of anything but acceptance of the situation. "Twi?" This time Spike asked in a concerned tone since normally the only times I act this calm when something goes wrong, are when Mike and/or his caretakers are involved. 'Princess Celestia, Shiny, Sam and Jenny of all told me numerous times that when a mission is going bizarrely well (especially if it's a really important one), that almost always means something is going to go horribly wrong.' "D-darling please say something, or at least make a face!" Rarity pleads since my face is completely blank of any expression and/or emotion. I ignore her and look down at the floor completely covered in spikes, we were in a magic nullifying cage suspended in the air. 'Plus I never considered that an ancient national enemy would have taken our attempt in account. Mike's going to laugh when he finds out I didn't take all the information I had into account. Actually no he won't, but he'd be completely justified in doing that. Hell as weird as it sounds I'm hoping he does, would definitely make me remember the stupid error I made in my arrogance.' Pinkie's trying to get me to respond to anything, from telling jokes to trying slap stick. Fluttershy is acting like a doctor and trying to find some sorta injury that explains what's going on with me. That was the case with that manticore so I don't blame her for trying. Rainbow then comes close enough that I can just see her in my peripheral vision. "Alright Twilight. I know we didn't start off on the right foot, but hear me out. I know this looks hopeless, but we can't just-" she starts to say before my finger is placed on her lips in a shushing manner. "Shhhhhhhhhhh~." I shush her before taking a pause, I then looked down to the bound and now formally gagged rainbow haired women. Out of all of us she put up the most fight when we woke up, so I honestly had more respect for her then I did when we first met. "Do you know why I'm acting the way I am? Do any of you know? Anyone at all?" I asked in a monotone voice, they shake their heads. "To be honest, some parts are kinda fuzzy." Applejack says, the others nod. "Well let's go over it, feel free to let me know if I missed something." I suggest, they all agree. "…sooo…I'm just going to assume you all didn't hear me or that I stuttered, so I'll repeat myself. Go home, I'll handle this myself." I said, confident that I took care of what was obviously a misunderstanding between us. They did not agree apparently. "Oh no we heard you and you didn't stutter, we just don't care." Rainbow Dash said in the same matter of fact tone I'm normally the one to use. 'So this is how it feels to have someone talk to you like that. If I had known that, I would have used it a lot more growing up.' I think. "Plus we heard you say where the elements are, so you really can't stop us from going. You can either have us tag along and take us into account for whatever plan you come up with, or have six unknown variables that might unintentionally throw a wrench into whatever plan you make. What's it going to be?" Spike says with a smug grin, I gave him a look that's both livid and proud. "…fine." I groaned. "Wait six? What about the other three?" I asked in confusion, now noticing the absence of the three "Displace" as Link called them. "They probably went to check on the princess. I mean, the sun princess didn't show up at an event centered around her, and at the time and place an ancient evil who hates the day is the one to actually show up. Looking for her makes a lot more sense then looking for artifacts we don't really know how to use, to stop someone powerful enough to stop Princess Celestia." Spike reasoned. "You…actually have a point there, glad he's got that covered." I say, relieved at that. I then made my way into the forest, everyone else following behind me. "It took you that long to come to that conclusion?" Asked the women herself in bewilderment, Princess Celestia. She was in a different cage but still in view. "I don't mean to be rude but still! I'm feeling a little forgotten here." "D-Don't feel upset p-p-princess. I my not have been there *pant* *pant* but I heard that a weird spike of power appeared i-in…Ponyville, so her mind might not have totally been there." Sam said, severely injured. She had waist length black hair, and peach skin which was pretty pale due to blood loss. Her eyes were covered by her hair, so I couldn't see them. Jenny was right next to her in a similar state. She had yellow hair just as long as Sam's and had peach colored skin, but I couldn't see her eyes due to her laying down facing the opposite direction of me. "What happened to you two? Mike made you two out to be unbeatable but you two are barely clinging onto life." Rainbow asked in concern......in her own special way. "Gee thanks." Sam said sarcastically. Seeing Rainbow's guilty look, she decided not to hold a grudge. After repositioning herself so she could talk without straining herself, she gave Rainbow a warm smile. "It's quite alright child, I took no real offense to it. Mike told us quite a bit about you, so I know you mean well. Just think about what you're going to say before you say it, alright?" She said in a tone normally used when a mother is scolding her child. And sure enough, Rainbow nods in the same way said child would after a scolding. "Well…what happened? If you don't mind that is." Fluttershy asked, her concern for their health overpowering her shyness for the moment. "I don't mind at all." Sam stated, surprising everyone save for Twilight, Spike, Celestia and Jenny that she could actually hear Fluttershy. "Basically the princess went missing a little after Twilight, Spike and Mike left for Ponyville. Me and Jenny went out looking for her and found her unconscious in front of two people. One was Nightmare moon and the other was someone from an old forgotten land. This being was and still is a very powerful lightning Dragonslayer, powerful enough to almost have taken Celestia's magic and take control of the sun and moon even with me and Jenny there." "I'm sorry, a what-slayer?" Spike asked, going wide eyed. "Uhh…dragon." Sam says slowly and cautiously. Spike then gets into a fetal position and hyperventilates. "Calm down, you have nothing to fear." Spike stops and slowly turns his head to her, and gives her an "You can't be serious" look. ""Nothing to fear"!? I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I am a dragon!" Spike yells. Sam just stares at him. "…I've noticed, kinda hard to miss you know." she says, before clearing her throat. "What I mean is, they went through the trouble of containing you. It would be kinda redundant to kill you now, especially since you're not that powerful. Now carry on with the story, if you would be so kind." Noticing Me glaring at her, Sam sighs in acknowledgment. "I'm sorry for being rude. I was brushing off your justified concern and was acting immature. Will you forgive me?" She said and asked genuinely. Spike smiles and nods before looking at me, though everyone could tell he was still panicking on the inside. "We had cleared all the hurdles in our way and entered the ruined castle." I said. "Finally! Took us ages to get here!" Rainbow exclaimed, everyone else groans in agreement. "At least you didn't have to walk, my feet are killing me!" I exclaimed in pain, taking a moment to messog my feet. "Darling I don't mean to be rude, but should you really be doing that when we're still on a mission to save Equestra?" Rarity asked. "…fine, how are your feet not hurting?" I asked, noticing her calm expression. "Oh please darling! When you're in the fashion business, you learn to ignore feet pain. Trust me when I say, I'm used to it." Rarity said, brushing her hair with a smile. "Uh girls, the elements?" Applejack reminds us. "You forgot about them?" Jenny asked in confusion. She is met with silence before I continue, ignoring her complaints. I had just sent everyone else away so I could preform the "ritual" and give the elements the spark. I was three quarters of the way done with the embarrassing dance and song when I heard laughter worthy of pinkie pie. "This ritual is complete and total bull, isn't it?" I ask without opening my eyes. "We art afraid so issue, well, ev'rything saveth f'r the "spark"" Nightmare Moon says with a chuckle, putting away her phone with a camera. "You have a phone? And you know how to use it!?" I asked in shock. "Aye i doth. Though the "texting" and "emojis" thee all useth art quite confusing. What doest this sayeth?" Nightmare Moon asked. "Let me see here. "Sup NM 🙂! Just finished my end, find me when U R done on your end. Also we might have a problem 😅. Wrap your job up quickly but make sure the job is actually done before leaving 😠. And for the love of whatever deity you worship, make sure no one reads the texts I send you😒". Well someone is gonna be in trouble." I read while translating what all that ment before smirking at a blushing Nightmare Moon. She then gave me a look. "…Thee doth realizeth we art going to killeth thee to saveth ourselves, right?" Nightmare Moon asked bluntly. I raised a finger like I was going to answer, then booked it without saying a word. "Halt!" She screamed in fury before giving chase. I was met with silence before one by one, everyone started laughing at me. "Well I guess now we know why you were screaming like Applebloom when she broke the oven. Girl had enough energy to run to the other side of Ponyville from the farm, and her screaming made it easy to chase her with a belt." Applejack said, cracking up at the memory. "Oh, I remember that! You were as red as Big Mac, and Applebloom was as pale as Rarity!" Pinkie said with a giggle. "Then we came running and found you fighting her, and a bunch of shards on the floor." Spike said, bringing the conversation back on track. I teleported behind Nightmare Moon and shot three sharp magic beams at her. She gracefully dodges all of them before brandishing her scythe, she then shoots towards me. She must have been toying with me because I managed to dodge her attack, albeit barely. Wanting to put some distance between us, I let loose a magical flash to blind her. In her confusion I managed to put a magic nullifying ring on her horn, high grade earth pony restraints around her ankles and steal her scythe. When she comes to her senses she grins at the ring and restraints like an adult would grin at a little kid's novice art project. She sees me with her scythe and laughs before before casually walking forward and breaking the restraints (which by the way cost 200 bits) with ease. She then snaps the ring (which cost 400 bits) in half like it was a tooth pick before the scythe started glowing, the last thing I heard before everything went dark was her laughing and you all shouting my name. "And that's all I remember. So *clap* what happened while I was sleeping?" I asked with a fake smile, everyone grinning in an embarrassed way. "I charged straight at her at full speed in blind rage, but she used telekinesis to stop me. Then everything went dark." Rainbow said, avoiding eye contact. "She teleported right in front of me and I fainted." Fluttershy muttered, hiding behind her hair. "I tried to lasso her but she caught it and yanked it, flinging me into Rarity." Applejack said, making her hat cover her face. "And that knocked both of us out, though it seems she was willing to heal the damage to our skulls." Rarity continued, rubbing what I assumed was the area she got hit. "I shot a fire beam at her but she put up a shield, then I tried attacking her with my claws. While I did land a few hits, they didn't do much. She then used a sleeping spell on me, though it took a little longer because of my magic resistance." Spike said, holding up his claws. "While everyone else was fighting that meanie pants, I saw some weird but shiny rocks on the floor. I picked them up and stuffed them in my hair! I ran over to Dashie to try to wake her up but she went all glowy and I felt reeaally sleepy all of a sudden, so I took a nap." Pinkie said while giggling before taking some of the rocks out. The "rocks" turned out to be the fragments of the elements. Before I had the chance to decide whether I wanted to hug her or strangle her, I hear the sound of a door opening.