//------------------------------// // New Discoveries // Story: Help Is On The Way // by Brony Eagle Scout //------------------------------// Arrow glided around the camp and saw no outward movement before coasting in for a landing by the door to the ruins. Four long scratch marks were on the outside wall and the faint smell of blood wafted in the air. Arrow looked down at the ground and found large paw prints in the sand. "Could be a some sort of large cat, but it seems impossible for one to be able carve stone." Arrow thought as he looked for the trail. He followed the paw prints till the outskirts of camp till a heavy breeze started to toss the sand around. "Great, tracking is gonna go just swell." Arrow thought as he started to scrutinize the ground. The two entered the camp and were welcomed by an eerie silence. Rainbow Dash nudged Savant. "Do you feel your "Get buck out here" senses tingling because I am?" "Yeah I hear them screaming at me but we got a job to do. Let's get to the radio, gotta let the Princess know were here." Dash nodded as they walked over to the radio antenna. Savant opened the tent flap and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Luna, the radio looks good. Tell Arrow the good news as I get this thing powered up and set to the right frequency." Rainbow gripped her radio. "Arrow respond?" "Arrow here, what's up?" "The radio works. We're about to send a message, any input?" "Just give a recap on what has happened so far." "How are things going on your end?" "I can't see any movement and the wind is covering most of the tracks that lead away from the camp. I'll have an estimate of how many ponies left the camp by the time you finish checking the tents." "Okay, good hunting." Savant wiped the sweat off her brow. "The radio should be working now but I need to check the tower to see if it's damaged. Press the button and start talking into the receiver when I give the okay." "Got it." Savant smiled and left the tent. Rainbow took a seat in front of the radio and waited for the signal. "We're good!" Savant yelled from behind the tent. "This is Rainbow Dash from the rescue team. We are at the base camp by the ruins, please respond." "Hear you loud and clear Rainbow Dash. What's the situation?" "Oh hey Shining Armor. The transportation spell went peachy for Flaming Arrow and Savant but I got sent almost a half mile away from the circle." "Any injuries?" "No thankfully. Just a bruise from landing on the back-up radio, which is broken now." "Damn then keep this radio safe, it's your only connection for rescue. Now give me an update on the camp, what's it look like?" "It's too quiet and has this awful odor. Arrow is trying track the ponies that ran away from here and I'm about to check the camp for any survivors." "Okay. Have someone check in with the palace every thirty minutes. Good luck." "Thanks Shining, I think we'll need it." Savant entered back into the tent. "Any good news?" "Just that we keep this radio safe and report in every half hour." "Okay, I can do that." "I'll be checking the rest of the tents, hopefully find somepony or two." Rainbow Dash walked into most of the tents and found nothing but old rocks and lots of research notes. The next one she walked into turned out to be a sleeping quarters. Cots lay empty as clothes and bags decorated the floor as she started to look around. "Hey, anypony in here?" Dash said loudly as checked under the cots. No answer responded. "Great just another empty tent." Dash thought. A familiar sight caught her eye; it was Twilight's light blue saddlebags. Dash walked up to them and found several of books lying open on the bed. "Must be those Starswirl journals she brought along." Dash thought as she saw an unfamiliar book. It looked newer and more taken care of than the other books. Dash opened the book and immediately shut it. Rainbow saw only two words on the front page before closing it. "Ooh, I think I just found her diary." She started to open before she took her hoof away. "In any other circumstance, I would. But not right now. Not when she's in danger." "But I doubt Twilight would get mad if I kept it safe." Dash thought as put the book in her vest. Rainbow Dash got up to head to the next tent before she passed by a tape recorder on the ground. "Hm, this could give us some clue to what happened." Dash mused to herself as she pressed play. The voice sounded male and had the trademark snootiness of Canterlot. "Day One at the Starswirl ruins, it seems..." "Not helpful." Dash thought as clicked the fast forward button before pressing play again. "This will be the last time I talk into my journal. Most of the ponies that are still alive are running and I'm not getting left behind with that monster still in the ruins. But I can't leave until there is some sort of explanation for the ponies that come to rescue us. "Well, at least this guy had the common sense to help us out." Dash thought as the voice continued. "We discovered the damned thing two days ago in the bottom chamber of the ruins. We didn't have a clue what it was. It had a body of a lion and a tail of snake plus there was some sort of stump on its back, Luna knows what could have been there. No real problems occurred until the new mare that arrived yesterday nearly caused a cave-in after she read some of the inscriptions on the wall, kept saying that we needed to bury this "Death Bringer" before somepony lets it free. *sigh* Damn it, we should have listened to her, she's the expert that the Princess herself sent us but we just discounted her opinion like she was some scared schoolfilly. A few hours ago, one of the archeologists went into the ruins by himself and the next thing you know, it comes bursting out of the ruin, grabbed our two guards and headed off into the forest. I just saw the purple unicorn run to the radio tent, hopefully she gets enough signal for someone to hear her. Whoever hears this though, I pray that you'll find us soon or you find a way to kill that thing. Toombs signing off." The recording stopped and Dash placed the tape recorder in her bag. "Team, report back to the radio. There's something you all need know." Arrow said. Dash opened the tent flap and found Arrow by the radio with two sets of dog tags and the list of researchers in front of him. Arrow sported a hardened face as he watched Rainbow Dash walk in. He turned back to the radio and started to speak. "Command, this is Alpha squad. We have some bad news." Rainbow Dash clutched the book inside her vest. "Oh no..." "I found twenty seven confirmed casualties about half a mile east from the ruins. I repeat, twenty seven confirmed dead." A minute of silence passed by. "Was Twilight one of them?" Shining Armor asked solemnly. "No sir, it seems Twilight, Looking Glass, and Altmane are the only one's not accounted for." Dash breathed a sigh of relief. "There still a chance she's alive." "All right, keep looking. I'll start preparing the guard..." "Wait, I found a recording explaining what happened by some stallion named Toombs." Dash interrupted. "Go ahead Rainbow Dash." Shining Armor said. "He said the team uncovered the monster which is called the "Death Bringer" a few days ago and one the ponies released it today." "Any idea what it looks like?" "Um... he said body of lion and a snake for a tail plus a mention of some growth on its back." "Okay, I'll get somepony to research for some info on the creature in the library. Have you found anything else in the camp?" "Just lots of empty tents and old stones under magnifying glasses. Twilight has to be inside the ruins." "Okay, just be careful and look quickly when you go down there. I'm guessing this Death Bringer will be back soon and I want you all out of there as soon as possible." Arrow tapped Rainbow's shoulder and she moved away from the mic. "We'll bug out once we get Twilight aboveground." "Good luck and fly fast. Reinforcements will be coming soon." Shining said. "So what's the plan?" Dash asked. "You and I will go inside and start looking. Savant, keep the radio safe and contact us if it comes back." Rainbow Dash and Arrow exited the tent and headed toward the entrance. However, the door was pushed open and low growl could be heard inside. "Savant, tell the castle to send those reinforcements immediately. It seems our friend came back and is looking for something more to eat." Arrow said. "Oh well that's just perfect." Savant sighed. "I'll relay any information that the castle sends us. Stay safe you two." Arrow turned to Rainbow Dash "You up for this?" "Every brain cell in my head is telling me to not go in there." Dash said. "But like you said before, I know if I don't go in there, we won't find her." "Huh, the saying "Damned if you do and Damned if you don't" comes to mind." "You got that right. Come on lets go." Dash said as she galloped inside.