The Hydra placed one of its middle heads near the ground allowing Kanthon to climb on to it, it rose back up granting Kanthon a dominant view of Froggy Bottom Bog.
"Where is the white pegasus of your group? The one with the green mane... I see he hasn't joined you?" Kanthon started while looking around and back down to Forest.
"He's got a lead on your friends," Forest replied.
"He's gonna bust their heads in for taking Rarity, you know." Jokey added, as cocky as usual.
Flashback
On their way to Froggy Bottom Bog, Arrow had noticed a shining string of some sort and as he got closer to observe it, he brought the group to a halt and alerted them of what he had just found.
"Everypony, I know where Rarity is!" Arrow exclaimed.
"What? Are you sure?" Boa questioned as they all turned back to the pegasus.
"Positive, I think this is a bit of hair from her mane, there is a faint trail but I think she has done it on purpose in hope for us to find her... please carry on without me!"
"Al right, but you gotta make sure you find her and get back to us, buddy!" Forest asserted, "let's go!"
"I see, well, if your friend is alone, then I assure you he will find things quite difficult to handle," The zebra uttered in a strident tone.
"Don't be so quick to underestimate a defender, you have no idea what we're capable of," Boa said in gleaming confidence.
"Heck yeah!" Forest and Jokey added in unison.
"And you shouldn't be so quick to underestimate the highest ranks of the Metamor Legion," Kanthon smiled malevolently.
"Whatcha smilin' for, olive eyes?" Jokey began, "I didn't make a joke yet."
Kanthon's smile left his expression as he cocked an eyebrow while looking down at the yellow stallion, "Oh, it's you... I find your hideously mismatching colours funny... freak."
"Freak?" Jokey chuckled, "this coming from a deaf green haired zebra."
"I'm a half-breed, you foal."
"All the more reason, then." Jokey smiled victoriously, prying the slowly raising anger to the zebra's heart.
Forest snickered at Jokey's quick comeback, "Nice."
Boa shook her head, "honestly, you two?"
"Enough! Your outnumbered. There are only eight of you."
Big Macintosh had fallen into formation with the royal guards as he had counted the amount of enemy troops still standing, excluding Kanthon and the Hydra, "sixteen of 'em left, Orange..." he mentioned with a confident expression.
"Outnumbered? With Big Mac over there fighting along side the royal guards your guys don't stand a chance."
"Oh but Forest, I wasn't only talking about my troops..." Kanthon stated while grinning, he then began to speak words of his mother tongue, similar to the language of Zecora herself, a loud caw was heard from above which was soon followed by a blockage of sunlight on top of Boa, she looked up to find a black bird-like shape circling the sky above them.
"Is that a crow?" She uttered, the crow then dived down at an alarming speed towards her, she jumped out of the way just as the crow swept by landing next to the Hydra; the crow was large, about thrice the size of a pony.
On the opposite side, a giant yellow and green salamander had uncloaked, having a large saddle on its back and bits of armour around the joints of it's legs and it's tail.
"What. Are. Those. Things?" Forest uttered, seeming astounded at the sizes of the beasts.
Kanthon grinned once more, "to my right, is the giant cloaking salamander of the north forests," he explained as two unicorn soldiers mounted the beast, "to my left is an overgrown steel winged crow, consider yourselves slightly lucky your wearing armour and not those silly outfits as before."
Boa observed the the steel edges of the crow, they stuck out of its back in a thorn like manner, the edges of its wings were decorated with sharp steel, but it seemed as though the steel was part of the crows body and not even armoured. The crow was staring directly at her.
"Attack, my pets," Kanthon stated wickedly.
x
Arrow found himself in an array of trees, the trail of Rarity's hair was short and had left him going a straight path. He noticed a large boulder ahead of him, it seemed to be blocking a cave, the only part that was pony-made in the area, he had figured that Rarity was in there.
'How am I going to get in?' he thought as he observed the tight terrain, 'I am going to have to fly up very high for this... but how can I distort the boulder with all of these vines and trees in the way? Okay then, I will have to put my training to the test, the technique adds a lot of pressure to my wings, but if I angle them correctly, then the wave will be shot out swiftly.'
Arrow leaped upwards and took off, he rose up above the clouds as quickly as he could whilst streaming inner energy through his body, as he got high enough he turned round and started to fly downwards, acting with gravity at intense speed. He then kept his wings spread out collecting energy around them, that was when his wings began to feel very heavy.
Within no time, he was below the clouds again, and soon, would fall beneath the trees, but his aim was to be above them. He then gave out a controlled burst of energy through his wings causing a shock wave around him, this sudden mid-air stop unleashed a spear of dense shock wave particles which generated a high pitched screeching pulsating sound. The spear went past the trees distorting them out of the way and finally impaled the bolder to nothing but a large flat rock, the impact opened the path to the inside of the cave, but created a large crater from the outside as well.
The pegasus hovered down to the floor, breathing heavily through his nose. He was soon greeted by two unknown soldiers.
"He's the cause of all this, get 'em!" One guard exclaimed, as they both galloped around the crater to reach Arrow who took an offensive stance, ready to fight.
x
"They did what and went where!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as Twilight explained the situation.
"Did you not get anything I just said, Pinkie?"
"I do get what your saying Twilight, but we can't just sit around! we gotta go help them! And besides, I spent three days at the Sugarcube Corner trying to create an energy bar with Mister and Misses Cake, and finally, it's done!"
"Pinkie! Fluttershy is having herself a little bit of a panic attack here, not to mention Scootaloo and Apple Bloom are worried sick about Sweetiebelle."
"And Big Macintosh too..." Apple Bloom uttered gloomily.
"Exactly, we need to stay here until they get back, we can't have the girls attempt something they'll regret."
"Um, Twilight, you know we can hear you right?" Scootaloo uttered.
"I'm sorry girls... but we can't risk anyone getting hurt." Twilight added, trying to comfort the fillies.
"The least you could do is help us, sugarcube... don't get selfish over a candy bar now..." Applejack remarked.
"Ah! Selfish! I am not being selfish, and this is not just a candy bar, do you have any idea how much this can hel-"
"Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, interrupting the pink earth pony, "stop being such a baby and stay put, al right!"
"A baby! I am not- and you- they- b- but- ENNN!" Pinkie Pie marched away, feeling angry and insulted.
"Wait, Pinkie Pie, I didn't mean it like that! Oh for the love of..." Rainbow Dash sat down placing her hoof on her forehead.
Applejack watched Pinkie Pie leave, she sighed as she turned back to Twilight and the fillies, "She ain't gonna go off by herself will she?"
"Of course not, I'm sure that even Pinkie Pie knows better than that." But Twilight was wrong, Pinkie Pie only walked away in such a manner to make herself seem like she was not going, as her intentions differed, she galloped away to Froggy Bottom Bog once she was out of sight.
x
"Now maybe you two can stay down there until I get back," Arrow had fought out the two guards pushing them into the crater, one of the guards mumbled in pain as he placed his hoofs around his head, the other was simply knocked out, Arrow was now ready to enter the hideout.
Within the depths of the hideout, Rarity groaned as she woke up, the heaviest feeling of dizziness had struck her as her eyelids rubbed against a piece of cloth. she was blindfolded and on the floor, as she attempted to pick herself up she heard the rattling of a chain echo across the silent room, she motioned her front leg and felt something burdening around her ankle, as she pulled back, a restraining force had stopped her from moving. She was bound to a chain.
"I see our little tailor has woken up from her slumber," A strident voice had announced, causing Rarity to panic.
"Wh- who s there! Where am I!" She exclaimed in worry, her blindfold was then removed, no longer blocking her vision. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the brightness of the lit lanterns of the cave, she looked up at the stallion who had removed the blindfold; a stallion wearing a cloak with its hood down revealing his three separate mohawks.
"How dare you! Let me go you fiend!"
"Fiend? Please madam, I prefer Razorsharp, and might I say you are in no place to give orders. You see, we have taken acknowledgement to your abilities and from now on you shall be doing as I command. And the first thing you shall do is create replicas of this prototype outfit for my troops." Sargent Razorsharp had pointed his hoof at the armoured outfit design intended for pegasi which Rarity and Doctor Whooves had designed together.
"And you expect me to follow such a outrageous command? I will not bend to the rules of ruffians such as yourself, nor will I betray my town and my friends by doing so, and you honestly can't expect me to take orders from somepony with a mane like yours, its simply atrocious!" Rarity lifted her chin, shunning the words of the Sargent.
Razorsharp chuckled manically, "My, my, aren't we the gutsy type... well, I can fix that, gentlecolts!" two of the Sargent s soldier had removed a large piece of white cloth over a little filly.
"Rarity!" Sweetiebelle cried out, frightened by the unknown faces and location.
"S- Sweetiebelle!"
"Don't listen to them Rarity they're just a bunch of-" Sweetiebelle began to squeal in pain as Sargent Razorsharp used magical force to tightened the chain around her ankle, as he stopped, she began to tear up and whimper as she put her head down to prevent anyone to see that she was crying.
"Sweetiebelle! You scoundrel mutt! I'm-" Razorsharp had placed his hoof on her lips and tutted.
"Now, now, I wouldn't go any further if I were you, unless you want the joint of your precious little sisters ankle to go snap, then I suggest you do as I say... get the point?"
Razorsharp removed his hoof from her lips, Rarity looked down and nodded silently while frowning, 'I can't believe this... I'm just a puppet to the enemy now... and worst of all is that they have my little sister... Sweetiebelle is going to be so traumatized...' she thought in absolute woe.
"Good, I'm glad we came to an understanding, now, we-"
"The only thing that you will come to is regret!" A voice had asserted, the five soldiers, Razorsharp, and both Rairty and Sweetiebelle looked over to the exit, where Arrow had stood strongly and courageously. His eyebrows lowered with vengeance as he stared at Razorsharp.
"Baahahaha! me? regret? your the one who's here all alone!" Razorsharp began.
"Perhaps, but your lack of guards within the depths of this cave shows that you are unprepared, hence, making things easier for me." Arrow countered the Sargent s claim.
"I told you foals to remain spread out within the caves... no matter, seize him!" Razorsharp exclaimed, the guards then galloped in a group towards Arrow.
"Big mistake," Arrow stated, he spread out his wings and dashed around the guards quickly reshaping the ground to trap them in a large earthy cocoon, their heads poked out like shrubs.
"Arrow!" Rarity cheered with joy as Sweetiebelle giggled at the sight of the guards.
"What." The Sargent blurted bluntly.
Arrow then galloped toward Razorsharp, but soon stopped dead in his tracks as the Sargent levitated a battle axe next to Rarity, the tip of its blade just millimetres from her neck.
"Oh I wouldn t do that If I were you... now step back nice and slowly..." Arrow narrowed his eyes at the Sargent and stepped back.
"Slice 'em up, Sargent!" One guard exclaimed, the rest then agreed assertively.
"I intend to peel the flesh from his very bones... now take this!" Razorsharp had tosses a few swords and daggers to Arrow with magical levitation, Arrow dodged all the attacks vigorously, but Razorsharp had constantly kept the sharp tools flying towards him.
"Dodgy... I don't like that..." Razorsharp remarked.
'This is not good, I can not keep on jumping around like this... how can he keep so much control over so many different weapons? If I try to send shock waves at him then the diffraction of the waves due to the walls of the cave will also harm Rarity and Sweetiebelle... I am getting tired too quickly... If he could just stop...' Arrow tried to come up with a strategy with the little time he was given to think, what could he do when a horde of razor edged tools were flying towards him at such an alarming rate?
Razorsharp had finally brought the blades to a halt, "Well, obviously this isn't working," he began to rant, Arrow took this chance as he gazed at the exit, he walked near the pathway leading to the exit and planned his next step.
'I have already observed his characteristics... it seems as though he has a low tolerance to his own failures, so he should be easy to provoke... If I anger him well enough then I could dispose of most of his weapons.' Arrow concluded.
"So why don't you just come over here and we'll-" Arrow interrupted Razorsharp.
"And what? Give you the chance to stab my back? you are indeed quite the naive one... not only are you keeping me at a distance but you are also trying to jive me... like a true coward."
"Coward! Now see here-"
"That is what I said, not to mention your swordsman skills are quite poor, you can not even hit one pony."
"Hah! You shouldn't even be a Sargent!" Rarity complied.
"Shut up you little foal!" Razorsharp tightened her chain in anger causing her to grunt in pain, Arrow felt the heat of anger build up within him, but stuck to his original plan.
"And now you cause harm to a defenceless hostage? You are not worthy of being a unicorn or anything else!" Arrow stated the final line of hope to his plan.
"Oh the nerve! I'll show you! You think your so great! huh! Well eat steel you peasant!" The Sargent then tossed all of the weapons to Arrow at once, including the battle axe that was held up to Rarity's neck.
Arrow then dodged for his life, the tip of a blade just managed to cause him a minor cut to his right hind leg, but he was able to ignore the pain as the deadly instruments flew out to the exit, he quickly spread his wings and rapidly circled around the exit, sealing it shut.
"You annoying pest... well I guess you think you've got the upper-hoof now don't you? Well your wrong, I'll show you just why I bare the title of Sargent..."
Razorsharp placed his hoof on to his eye patch, as he was about to remove it a hologram had appeared behind him and called out his name. He quickly brought his hoof back down and turned around.
"Leader? What is it?"
Arrow observed the hologram and recognized the pony, 'It's that stallion from before, the one who knows Forest!'
"Razorsharp," Surgio began, "we have collected all we need for now, abandon this current hideout and return to the main base."
"What about the hostage?"
"Leave her there to rot if you wish, we have what we need for the new battle suits, but I need you here immediately."
"As you wish, Leader," The hologram ended as Razorsharp agreed to the command, as he turned around to face Arrow, he jumped back in surprise to see that the pegasus had rushed up to him, Arrow stood next to Rarity, keeping his wings out to keep her protected.
"Consider yourself extremely lucky, pegasus... you can keep your precious tailor but I do hope you prepare yourself for round two... until we meet again." Razorsharp then pulled out a blue orb that began to glow as he held it up high, a stream of blue energy then zapped to the bound guards and himself, teleporting them out of the hideout leaving Arrow with Rarity and Sweetiebelle.
"Hold still, Rarity, I am going to free you..." Arrow held her hoof up so gently trying to find a way to open the cuff of the chain, Razorshap had left with the keys.
"Thank you so much darling," she said with great relief as she sniffed and rubbed her nose, her eyes became misty, "let me handle this, dear..." she levitated out a sewing needle which was pinned at the back of her main and picked the lock with it. Rarity met eyes with Arrow while in the process of undoing the lock, he smiled in a way she had not seen him smile before; it was warm and comforting, a rare moment for even Arrow himself, but it was done with such affection, Rarity began to see something within him and doubted her previous opinions on him, she saw his liveliness, she could see that he cared.
The sudden click and release of the cuff broke their stares, "your hoof is injured, please allow me to carry you to prevent any further damage," Arrow suggested her in an orderly manner, she nodded silently; he stood on his hind legs gently picking her up, he then hovered over to Sweetiebelle who has lost consciousness and made Rarity feel utterly heart broken, "I am so sorry that I let him treat you both this way, it is absolutely no way to treat mares..." Arrow remarked as Rarity unlocked the cuff around Sweetiebelle's ankle, revealing quite a bad bruise.
"Oh, Sweetiebelle..." Rarity muttered while shedding tears.
"I promise he will regret his actions, Rarity... I promise," Arrow picked up Sweetiebelle, placing her on to Rarity's grasp.
He held both of them as he hovered to the sealed exit, he knelled on one leg and asked Rarity to hold on tightly, he spread his wings and focused a constant stream of energy and then flapped them, sending waves of distortion to re-open the exit.
He flew them out of the hideout and noticed that the weapons and guards that were in the crater had left the area as well, it seems as though they were al embedded to the teleportation spell of the orb. Arrow had flown out on top of the trees, Rarity had never been so happy to see the sunlight again, hear heart had filled with overwhelming bliss, she looked up at Arrow as he looked around making sure nothing was in harms way, she blushed as she had thought that he just might be the prince charming she was looking for.
"How did you find me?" she asked under her breath, Arrow looked down at her and smiled.
"I noticed the pieces of hair from your beautiful mane that made a short path... I knew I would find you and I would not give up until I did... and here we are..."
With that said, she now saw Arrow under a new light, 'he thinks I'm... beautiful...' she thought. Arrow was no longer the shallow and blank stallion she thought he was, instead, he was a stallion of style, grace, and passion. He was indeed a true gentlecolt.
Arrow brought Rarity and Sweetiebelle to the town centre of Ponyville where they could receive instant medical care from medical ponies that had arrived from Canterlot and some from the residence of Ponyville as well.
"The filly, your younger sister, suffered from a shock of fear, but she'll be fine, she's wide awake and well," one of the medical ponies informed Rarity while jotting down notes.
"Thank you for the information, I'd like to go see her now." Rarity replied.
"Of course, follow me."
Rarity turned to Arrow before leaving to see Sweetiebelle, "Thank you again, Arrow, you really saved us back there..."
"I am only glad to know that you are both okay... and your very welcome."
They exchanged smiles and a moment of silence broke in, neither of them knowing what else to say.
"I- I must go back to the boutique, Twilight needs to know that your both okay," Arrow uttered, which withered the silence away.
"Oh, o- of course... I'll see you later then..."
"Y- yes, of course, see you later..."
Rarity turned back and followed the medic as Arrow took off to the boutique to meet up with the others.
x
"You know what, I say we go help 'em out, I mean come on, what are we afraid of?" Rainbow Dash blurted whilst hovering above the others.
"Well, number one, Rainbow, is that we ain't really experienced in this whole fightin' business," Applejack replied, "besides, we need to look after Fluttershy and the girls until we get a word from the others."
"Um, I'm feeling a b- bit better now..." Fluttershy mumbled, "I just hope Big Macintosh and Rarity will be safe and, well, that the others come back..."
Twilight had put away a spell book and mused to the matter "Maybe we shouldn't be sitting around here like this after all, now that I think about it-"
"Everypony, I have good news," Arrow stated as he landed near them. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom rushed to him asking if Sweetiebelle and Rarity are okay, Twilight and Rainbow Dash also ran up to him.
"Yes, yes I found Rarity and Sweetiebelle, they are receiving medical care as we speak, they will be fine." Arrow complied.
"Um, excuse me Arrow, y- you didn't happen to see Pinkie Pie on your way here did you?" Fluttershy asked him, seeming a bit worried.
"Pinkie Pie? Oh, I do not believe I bumped into her at all, is there something you need from here?"
Twilight face-hoofed at the thought of where Pinkie Pie might be, "she didn't..."
"She did," Rainbow Dash remarked, crossing her front legs as she hovered above them.