//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: In Cannonball Plains // Story: The Origins (#1) // by LightningStar626 //------------------------------// Chapter 7: In Cannonball Plains "Well, that's just great. Now how are we going to get across?" ~Lightning sucked the air in through her teeth and screwed up her face as Karly did her best to calm both her and herself down from what just happened. Fluttershy patted her on the shoulder for comfort. All everyone could do was to look across the ravine where the bridge once stood. It was uncertain how they would make it to the other side now. Hardly any resources nor was it too far to jump. Lightning began to think of possible ways, as well as Sunset, but their thoughts were interrupted by another fatal whistle that seemed to get louder and heavier by every second. They all gazed up to see another black ball of fire heading down towards them in an attempt to strike them down. They flinched.~ "CANNONBALL HOOOOOO!" Pinkie Pie screamed. ~Fluttershy dropped to her knees and scooped up her new mole friend just as the cannonball was coming at them. Rainbow then dashed towards her and flung herself at her, pushing her out of the way in time. Everyone else whisked into the air before throwing themselves onto another patch of grass out of the cannonball's lock on and watched in fear as it landed with a boom and trembled at the earth heavily.~ "Alright, these people have to be absolutely insane to try and crush us with a cannonball!" Rarity screamed. "That's just the definition of Devil for you." Lightning frowned. "Come on, we'll be safe over there!" ~Rainbow Dash moved with the swift strides of a determined cat and the others had to follow her as best they could. Like a meteor shower, more cannonballs rained down upon them fast. It was a miracle that none actually hit them despite the minions' having terrible shots. The eight girls sheltered behind the grassy slope; the one they just went up, and ducked as the final few fireballs flew overhead. Fluttershy covered the mole's ears as he whimpered, and wanted it to stop. Eventually, he ended up getting that wish, because after the eighteenth cannonball landed, it all fell to silence, for a short while. Suddenly, three little distant snickers echoed through the quiet air. Lightning and Karly perked up at the sound.~ "Do you hear those annoying laughs, Karly?" Lightning asked. "Yeah. I do…" she replied. "Hey! I have a nice laugh!" ~A sudden voice rang through the clearing. Everyone turned to the sound and saw six teenagers standing behind them, five male, one female. Rarity breathed a sigh of relief.~ "Oh, it's just some children." Karly raised her finger awkwardly. "W-well, actually…" "Hey, you know, you really shouldn't be playing around these parts," Sunset tried to speak with them. "The roads will begin to get dangerous. You should turn back and find your parents." "Who asked you to tell us what to do!?" one of them suddenly snarked. "Instead, why don't you turn back and find your parents!" The Mane 6 stood in shocked silence. "My word…!" Rarity exclaimed at last. "Yeah, those aren't any ordinary children." Karly said with a sigh. "Nope. Those are Devil's children." said Lightning. "Devil's children?" The Rainbooms chorused. "He has kids?" Rainbow questioned. "Yep. Eight in total. Seven sons, one daughter. They are always supporting him and his plans. There's Olliee, who is the eldest; Wendy, the only girl and second oldest; Frank, Mertin and Benjamin, the triplets; Scoot and Lairry, the twins; and finally there's Charlies, who is the youngest. They are all just as sinister as their father." Lightning explained. "Thank you for the introduction, Agent Star. It's unfortunate that our dad, Olliee and Lairry can't be here to witness us beat you down." Frank, one of the triplets, said. "I'd like to see you try, Frank." "Oh, we're gonna do more than try. We're gonna do." Wendy stated. One of the twins, Scoot, raised his hand. "For our dad and our name, we're going to defeat you, your good-for-nothin', little, scaredy-cat sidekick, and your six new…weird-looking, fancy-haired girlfriends!" "I am not a sidekick!" Karly argued. "And we are not weird-looking!" Rainbow added. "The only part you got right there was the fancy hair, and I'm pretty sure mine cost more than your car." said Rarity with a scoff. "Jokes on you, I don't own a car! The company's won't let me." said Scoot. "Quelle surprise…" "So, what exactly are you here to do besides fight?" Karly hated to ask. "Oh, we were sent here to stop you," Benjamin smiled fakely. "But, then you just HAD to go on and on about how selfish and horrible we are, and that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! You just won't shut up about it! Well, what do you know?! Now, I have no idea what to do. I'm on my feet every single day, alright!? I'd LOVE to take a break and sit down and, you know, let dad to the hard work himself! It's like, hey, dad, how about you walk around in our shoes for once, you know? It'd break him in like two seconds! I work hard, guys! REALLY HARD! And our dad just sits through life! So spoiled! It makes me ill! All the suffering in the world and this is urgent and…" "Benja! SHUT. UP!" Frank interrupted, "You never EVER shut up yourself, do ya?!" He kicked his brother hard in the leg. "Owww! Hey, mum says it's not okay to hit!" "Well, mum's not here, bigmouth." Frank said, and hit him again. "Zhe iz still lock da up in ze slammer, mi annoying little frère," Mertin said in a heavy french accent. "You forget zis." "Right, can you repeat that again, this time, in English, Mertin?!" Frank yelled. "Your accent is all over the place! It's the one thing I hate that you got from our mother." "Your mother is part French then?" Rarity asked. "What do you think?!" Once again, the girls stood in shocked silence. "What is up with these lads?" Applejack asked in disbelief. "They are the Triplets," Lightning said with a shrug. "The most annoying and rude boys you will ever. Meet!" ~This proved a point when the three boys suddenly became too enraged with their antics, and they began fighting more aggressively and pile onto one another. Soon enough, there was a dust cloud and a blur of arms and legs from where the triplets were standing. Their older sister, Wendy, had to literally head in the cloud and pull them apart just to get them to stop. She emerged with both Benjamin and Mertin grabbed by the ear. She then let go and turned to the three angrily.~ "Frank! Mertin! Benjamin! Stop fighting! We need to get down to business!" "Right, sis." Frank said firmly. "We need to send these girls back down to where they came from, and I think I know exactly how to do it." ~He pulled out a strange, futuristic-like weapon from the depths of his inner jacket pocket and aimed it straight at Fluttershy. He grimaced at her, then laughed coldly as he squeezed the trigger. The heptagram-nose mole cried before leaping in the way of Frank's range, then, the rodent was hit by the incoming blast! The mole tumbled to the ground and screeched in pain before an evil green ring gyred around it. Suddenly, his eyes shot straight open to reveal a feral green colour in his pupils before he slowly began to grow taller than the trees. He stopped after he had stretched about two hundred metres. Fluttershy was horrified.~ "Moley!" she gasped. She turned angrily to Frank. "What did you do to him?" "Simple," he said. "I just turned this evilliser ray to evil and blasted him with it. Now, he's six times his size and completely evil. The best combination to have in a beast." "Change him back! C-change him back!" she wailed. "Sorry. But this device doesn't have a reverse setting. Dad never made one!" ~He, his brothers and sister all laughed while everyone else stood stock still. The pain in Fluttershy's chest, the fruitlessness and the frustration she had for these evil teens all welled up within her. Rarity turned on them.~ "You're awful!" she snarled. Frank shrugged, making no sympathy. "We know, and we're so proud of that title." he smirked. "Welp, we best be going now." Benjamin spoke up. "Plenty more places around here to take charge and cause mayhem. This just oughta scare you off for the time being until the castle is complete. Dad's orders and nobilities..." "BYYYYYYE!" They all chorused. ~With that, they disappeared via smoke bomb so they couldn't be followed. Fluttershy was fuming yet silent. But, all that anger soon enough flushed away because she gazed up at the sight of her mole friend, who was now a monster, and cried. The mole followed her sound and glared from above its giant, twitching nose. Fluttershy hoped it would not bring harm to her and her friends, but that proved to be wistful thinking. In the same instant, the monster mole dug its bulky claws into the ground and pulled out a clawful of the earth before letting forth a mighty prehistoric screech, and lobbing it straight overhead.~ "Duck and cover, people!" screamed Lightning. ~No one needed urging. They tucked themselves into the heads and rolled over to safety. The earth heaved yet again, but this time more violently than before. With a crashing explosion of rubble, that sent rocks flying everywhere, the giant raging rodent dug itself under the surface. Snorting dirt and dust, the monstrous mole scurried in the ground, where and when he would come up to attack again, nobody knows. The Mane 6 were petrified. There was no way of escape and they knew they would be the first to perish. But Lightning felt none of those things. Steadily, she rose to her feet.~ "Stay back, girls. I'll handle this beast." "No, Lightning, no!" cried Fluttershy. "You can't hurt him!" "I'm sorry, Fluttershy, but we don't have a choice. He'll kill us!" Karly exclaimed. "And if you're also worried about me being hurt? Don't. I know what I'm doing." "Leave this to the professionals, Fluttershy," Sunset said. The shy girl frowned but had to agree. "...okay. Just please, don't hurt him too much," she begged. "I make no promises." Lightning sighed. ~With that, and a tight face, she leapt up to attack. The ground continued to heave until it seemed the cliff ahead would break apart. At that moment, the mole's head broke out of the surface; its huge brown, ape-like claw shot out too and swiped at the air, then back. He was wild and ferociously evil. Lightning had now realised this, but it was too late to stop now. Suddenly, his claw struck her in the chest and knocked her to the ground. She gave out a cry.~ "Lightning!" cried Karly. ~Howling and writhing in pain, Lightning clutched her wounded abdomen from where she had fallen. Karly went to check on her, unaware that the monster mole was far from done with her. He raised his claw up high again, before clenching it and bringing it down to crush the two spies. Karly closed her eyes and braced for impact, only for a great force to stop the mole's claw from moving any down further at the last second. After a few more seconds, she slowly lifted her eyes open to see a diamond shield hovering above them, protecting them. Both girls raised their heads, amazed, before wondering where it came from. That was when they noticed a pale glow coming from Rarity's hands and saw her struggling to hold up some sort of invisible force.~ "Holy diamond fragment…" "Rarity?" quired Lightning, gasping and coughing. The fashionista stared with sweat forming down her face. "Go! Go!" ~But before either could protest, Rainbow Dash and Applejack quickly dragged Lightning and Karly up to their feet and out of harm's way. Rarity kept holding onto the mole's claw, until she saw that the second one was coming at her. But by the time she realised it, she wasn't quick enough to react. The claw grabbed her at her waist, then she was lifted up and thrown across the fields. The only way she stopped was hitting her back up against a wedged rock. After that, she groaned and fainted.~ "RARITY!" the girls cried. "Alright, ya big bully, that's crossin' the line." Applejack gritted, clearly mad with rage. ~She lunged for the mole's head and parried with a swift blow as he brought up his claws. Meanwhile, the others raced to where Rarity laid, and checked for any serious wounds. When they found none, they sighed with intense relief. However, Lightning and Karly seemed to grow baffled. And it didn't seem to help when they suddenly heard a forceful and painful crunch behind them, and saw Applejack grow bright orange, lift a two tonne boulder with her two bare hands, and throw it at the mole as if it was as light as a feather. They could hardly believe their eyes. Sunset noticed this too and, realising that the cat was now out of the bag, sighed. She now had to explain herself and her friends, one way or another.~ Lightning started first however. "Okay, I know you told us that magic brought us here, but you never told us you had magic too!" she exclaimed. "Does this mean you were the ones that actually brought us here?" Karly asked. "No!" Sunset objected. "I mean, at least I don't think so. There's still a lot to progress." "She's been trying to avoid telling you since the beginning. But, I figured it was going to come up eventually." Rainbow said. Sunset gave her a dry look. "What? I can tell." "And I have no idea why you didn't want to tell them," Pinkie said, "They seem fun!" "I didn't want to raise any suspicions. This day is already going crazy enough. But, since we had to save you from being crushed, I guess we don't have any choice," Sunset said. With her hand, she pushed back the hair from her brow, and began to explain. "Yes. We have magic powers. They come from these geodes that were given to us in a place called Camp Everfree, and they were made by the magic that came from the portal that brought you two here. Another side from another place called Equestria. An alternative world filled with ponies and magic. I come from that world, and so do the Dazzlings. That's how magic came here. Ever since then, we've been using this magic for good and have been hunting down the wild and evil ones that may still be lurking around." she finished. "We're sorry we never told you earlier." Fluttershy apologised. A long silence greeted this information. Lightning stared down at the ground, but to everyone's surprise, she didn't seem angry. Instead, she seemed relieved. "I guess this is kind of a good thing." she said, finding her voice at last. "Yeah! Otherwise we would have had no chance against this monster," said Rainbow. "Well, that. But also…this." ~Light blazed in Lightning's eyes and her features became set. The hour had come. Slowly, she raised the necklace that was hiding underneath her shirt, and revealed an equestrian geode hanging off the string. It was a shiny cerulean colour that had a shooting star logo crystalled on the front to match her style. Light poured from its length and seemed to pierce the light of the sky. Then, like a beam of bright blue sunshine, Lightning felt her hair tingle at the sides. With the sounds of taps turning on to their fullest in her ears, she shapeshifted before everyone's very eyes. Her human ears faded away, and were replaced with the ears of a raccoon on the sides of her head. A brown and blue striped raccoon tail also formed at the back of her hair, like the Rainbooms' pony-up forms, and for a final touch, a blue mask formed around her eyes. The rest of her remained human. Lightning rose up in the air in front of the Rainbooms' startled faces and contorted into a determined smile.~ "I should go and help Applejack now." ~Like that, she was in flight, on her way towards the battle again. Lightning curved around and up, locking her sight on the crown of the mole's head. The world around her streaked a blurry blue colour, and with less than a second before impact, she brought round her strongly clenched fist. She struck the mole hard, and a satisfying shockwave juddered through him. Now the mole was roused. With earth-jarring steps, he advanced on Lightning and his glowing eyes filled with death. But this time, she was ready for him. She shot up and soared high into the air, her new sensitive ears and tail flexing. As the mole-monster screeched with frustration, Lightning wheeled in the air and flipped herself into the shape of a downward arrow and plummeted towards him.~ "Apple's alive!" shouted Applejack, and made to help quick. ~It was about time the rest of the Rainbooms now joined in too. After all, there was nothing left to hide anymore. Only Fluttershy remained and just watched anxiously from the shelter of some rocks. There was nothing she could do in the face of such titanic conflict either way. She expected Karly to also watch by the sidelines, but to her confusion, she didn't. Instead, the shy spy reached from behind the scarf around her neck and brought up her own equestrian geode too! This one was the colour magenta with a crystal logo on it. She held onto it firmly and was bathed in a pink light before a few puffs of cloud drifted below her. Then, she vanished in the smoke. Disappeared. Completely. No trace whatsoever. Fluttershy rubbed her eyes to double check that she was seeing straight, until she noticed a few sparkles just a few metres ahead of her where the battle commenced. That was where Karly reappeared once again, and leapt out of the way just as the mole's foot stepped from where she appeared. He snapped and snarled at her, only to then feel the power of Karly's magic. She conjured up a large-sized golden ring by drawing the figure of a circle with her fingers, before letting it fall and creating a swirling pink vortex inside. Keeping her hands up straight, she then invisibly pushed the portal ring underneath the mole, where it fell into the abyss of the pink void, screeching, never to be seen again. The six Rainbooms jaw-dropped. Karly then brought the ring back up again, before dropping her hand and letting it fade. Finally, the girls were safe. But, just to make sure, Lightning sniffed around any more close dangers. Once she had found none, she shifted back into a girl, and once again, howled in pain.~ "Are you okay, Lightning?" Karly asked. "Yeah, I'll live. Boy, that monster can throw a punch." "Hmm… What about you, girls?" She turned to the Rainbooms. "Is there any way I can help you?" "...no, I'm alright. I...think so, at least?" Applejack said, still perplexed about what just happened. 'I'm okay too." Fluttershy responded. "Though, I'm amazed." "Yeah! Same here!" Rainbow clambered up from the ground. "You two have Equestrian Magic! Like us!" "And it's truly unbelievable…!" Rarity managed a gasp. "Equestrian Magic? Is that what it's called?" Lightning quired. "Oh. I've just been calling it 'sudden, awesome, magical, supernatural abilities'." "However did you get them?" asked Sunset. It was Karly who spoke. "They came from a magical orb that crashed and burned beside the spot from where we found ourselves." "We figured they were meant for us since they had our…logos and everything." Lightning added. "Us too!" said Pinkie. "Do you think we're…" "Connected to each other?" Sunset inquired, finishing Pinkie's sentence. Lightning and Karly exchanged a wondrous glance. "...Who knows?" Lightning said at last. "And partly shapeshifting into a raccoon and flying is not all I can do!" ~With that, she shifted again, this time the blue encircled all over her body. She threw her hood over her head and snuggled inside of it as the magic affected her and began to make her jacket puff up. Then, they watched her partly transform once again. This time, the jacket and mask shaded into a royal blue colour, swimming goggles appeared over the mask, and a beak-shaped orange triangle stuck on the top of the hood where it laid her forehead. Feather-like fluff appeared inside the jacket, and padding grew on Lightning's shoulders that dropped right to her forearms. Finally, everyone looked down to see rubber orange grow at the tips of Lightning's toes, and the bottoms of her shoes turned webbed. Fluttershy's eyes sparkled and a grin spread widely across her face.~ "Whoa…" The Rainbooms said at length while Fluttershy gasped. "You're so cute!" she then squealed, and she wrapped Lightning into a tight hug and nuzzled in her coat. Lightning felt herself blush. "Uhh...y-yeah. I guess I am." she went on to explain, "This is my penguin form, and, as you can see, it's pretty cosy. In this form, I can swim really fast, breathe underwater, and shoot deadly icicle spears from my hands, freezing anything instantly. Watch this!" ~She held up the palm of her hand and as she said, it glowed bright blue and a bolt of ice suddenly spewed out like a bullet, piercing right through a wedged rock and leaving a noticeable jagged hole.~ The Rainbooms gazed in awe. "Whoa! That's so awesome!" Rainbow Dash said. "And again, this is just another one of my forms. There is one more." ~Lightning didn't need an introduction this time. At her silent command, the magic began to glow blue before transforming her jacket from a puffy and fluffy blue material, into a leathery and scaly dark green material. Her hands and feet also turned green and scaly and she also grew claws from the tips of her fingers and toes. The mask around her eyes turned green and she pulled up her hood all dramatic-like and posed as spiky scales straightened up and over them.~ Pinkie Pie gasped. "A lizard!" "Komodo Dragon, to be exact," Lightning corrected. "But, of course, I have a couple of other reptilian-like features. Like, climbing on walls and the ceiling, and breathing fire from my mouth and fingers. I also have to stick my tongue out every two seconds, which isn't entirely pleasant, but what can you do?" "Now, what about you, Karly, darling?" Rarity wanted to know. "From what we just saw, it seems you have the ability of teleportation." Karly rose expectantly. "Yes. I have the ability to teleport, we found out." ~She demonstrated by disappearing into a puff of magenta sparkles, and reappearing again behind Applejack and Rarity who stood side by side next to each other. They made way in surprise when Karly appeared.~ Pinkie's face lit up. "Oooh, fancy! Teleport me! Teleport me!" she urged like a child. "Oh. Okay." ~Taking Pinkie by her hand, Karly concentrated all her energy and teleported both her and the pink girl to another far location. The other girls could just about see them in the distance and waved as Pinkie waved back. Then, they returned.~ "Oh, so you can teleport other people too?" Rarity said. "Sort of." Karly replied shyly. "I'm still working on the kicks. You see, I can teleport objects and people as long as I'm touching them. However, teleporting three or more people will take a toll on me…" "We learnt that the hard way." Lightning vowed for her. "It's unclear how many times or how far I can teleport as well, but I can feel there is a limit." "I see." Sunset was impressed. "Well, I gotta say, Lightning and Karly, your equestrian magic is incredible." she said. "And, thanks to this discovery, I feel a lot more confident taking on the Dazzlings and Devil once again." "And just you wait until we tell Twilight!" grinned Rainbow, nudging her arm. "Speakin' of that, we should get a move on again if we're gonna save her." said Applejack. "There may not be much time left." "You're right, Applejack," said Fluttershy. "But how are we going to get there? They destroyed the bridge." ~They stared off once again to the chasm and down towards where the bridge had fallen and splintered. Lightning shifted to her raccoon form, but as she pondered, a sudden twitch of her raccoon sense came towards her. Lightning felt the fur on her ears prickle and a pulse hit through. The sound of cries, fearful cries, were so strong, she literally jumped into the air.~ "I hear...echoes." ~Before anybody could ask how, she suddenly dove downwards. Slowing in the middle of the ravine, she screwed her keen eyes, trying to hear for more, but they started to sound low. Then, all of a sudden, Lightning rounded a large bend and found herself staring at an archway leading into the cliff. She looked up at the others from her vantage point.~ "Look over here!" ~Skittering some pebbles over the cliff's edge, Karly and the Mane 6 leaned closer over and followed to where Lightning was pointing. They gazed into the blackness inside the archway but identified it as a possible way into the castle. Devil must have an underground cavern under his own castle for resources and prisons, Karly thought.~ "A cave entrance," she said. "Brilliant!" "That oughta get us inside smoothly." Rainbow smiled. "And if we're lucky, Twilight and Mr. Secret could be down there." "You think so?" quired Fluttershy. "Oh, knowing Devil, yes. He loooves his prisons and torture chambers." said Karly, before holding back a shiver. "Then follow me and let us see where it'll take us." Lightning answered. ~So, the eight girls began to plan a way down to the bottom. It was impossible to climb up and down for a human, but as a light, nimble raccoon, with flight abilities, Lightning could carry one of the Rainbooms down the clifftop in seconds, while Karly would teleport the rest. She had to make two or three trips however, due to the toll it could take on her, as she mentioned. Nonetheless, it was doable. Lightning flew with confidence, but Karly cowered. She hadn't had the teleporting ability for long so all manner of deep-seated fears and superstition rose to the surface of her mind. But Applejack insisted that they would be fine, and fine they were. Without another word, they got down safely, and began to trail into the dark depths of the arch.~ "So, since we're gonna be walking for a while, tell us, what are your girls' powers?"