Wherever the Light Shines: Part 2

by MLPSolarDash1907


Chapter 34 - Escape from the wolves

For the next half-hour, the ponies and Accalia began talking about what they need to do to get them out and on their way.

Accalia unrolled a map of the Society.

“Okay,” she cleared her throat, pointing at the map. “The strongest part of the Society is at and along the center. The road to the main entrance and the wolves fire darts that knocked out the most powerful animals in the forest. Be warned though,” she gave the ponies a hard look, “There’s a long stretch of barren woods with next to no cover where they’d be able to snipe you with poison darts.”

“Wait, what?” Twilight’s eyes widened.

“That’s why they need to be taken out,” said Accalia. “The key to your power dampeners is in the basement. Only one of the elite wolves has that.”

“Well, let’s come up with a plan,” said Twilight. “Applejack and I will decide on that together, Sunset will sneak and get the key while Rainbow could go with her.”

“What about them?” Accalia pointed to Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy.

“They can make a good team when it comes to surprises and Fluttershy can use her stare on the wolves if things get drastic,” Twilight looked over at the yellow pegasus, who was hiding behind her mane with an unsure look.

“I’ve agreed to wait for the signal at a certain point when we get all situated,” said Mystic.

Accalia nodded. “Okay, now let’s get this done and fast.”


Accalia was impressed by their ability to work together as a team, but she knew almost right away Mystic isn’t as well known to the others. The she-wolf went over the plan a couple of more times before everypony agreed on what they need to do next.

“Now that we are hopefully on the same page,” said Twilight, “Sunset and Rainbow will break into the room and get the magical dampeners while the others work on the pathway out of here.”

Everypony agreed while Mystic sighed and reluctantly agreed.

“Hey,” said Applejack, “This’ll be a good time fer ya to learn to work together with a large team.”

“I’ve been in a team before,” said Mystic.

“Just do yer best and stick with the plan.”

“Fine. I just want out.”

“Okay,” said Accalia, “I’m heading out to get in my post and in an hour and a half, leave for my next line of duty.” She took a key off the chain and gave it to the ponies, “That key will get you out of that cell, and I’ll hide the next key by the cell door. And are you sure you can handle the next guard when he comes in?”

“Don’t worry, we’re known for beating down evil before lunch!” Rainbow boasted.

“Not evil, just looking out for ourselves.”

“Whatever.”

“We’re ready,” said Twilight.

“Good. And by the way, the guards have multiple keys identical to the ones I’ve given you, so no need to worry about that,” said Accalia.

Without another word, Accalia stood up and walked off.


About an hour and a half later, Accalia was walking through the corridors of Tokuta’s tree. The she-wolf had hidden the extra key for the ponies and swapped with another wolf. She was ready to get those ponies out of here, but first, she had to “inform” Tokuta of a new development.

She knew he wouldn’t allow his wolves to go into Oogundaa, so she’s come up with a story to tell him. At this time, he was just waking up to take a listen of the forest before sleeping in until late morning.

“Who is it?” Tokuta demanded.

“It’s Accalia, your Majestic,” replied Accalia, “I’ve got a new development that you need to know about.”

There was a pause.

“Enter.”

Accalia did so and spotted Tokuta standing close by with his arms crossed.

“It’s concerning the ponies, I heard that they weren’t going to Oogundaa at all,” Accalia lied.

“What?” Tokuta’s eyes slightly widened.

“Yeah, I heard them arguing and mention going south of our forest.”

“Into even thicker woods?”

“Yeah, they heard their friend had gotten lost in search of a treasure rumored to be there. That’s why they’re here now.”

“Are you absolutely certain about this?”

“Yes. I’ve already spoken to Gunnolf and he has one of his best wolves guarding the prison cells at the moment. You hate it when prisoners lie, right?”

“All the time,” Tokuta growled, “I will decide on their fates later. But I appreciate you letting me know of this development.” He glared at her, Accalia held herself strong, “You weren’t asking them any questions, were you?”

“No.”

Tokuta scanned Accalia, the she-wolf knew he was trying to get any falsehood out of her or anything that would hint at it. But no matter what, Accalia appeared truthful.

“Fine. I’m glad you’re seeing reason.”

“You taught me that. No more questions.”

Tokuta nodded, “Excellent. Go out, I’ve got my one duty for this time of day.”

“As you wish.”


Applejack was able to get out of her locks and hide. As she hid in a nearby corner of the dingy dungeon, her friends remained in their cell because of a wolf that had recently entered.

Ah hope that Twi managed to hide that key, she thought.

The farm pony spotted a stone next to her she grabbed it and threw it to the other side of the room. The wolf perked up and scurried over to where it’d been thrown.

Out of pure instinct, Applejack quickly made her way over to the wolf, kicked him in the backside. That caused him to whirl around only for Applejack to kick him in the jaw and knock him out cold. She let out a huff and made her way over to her friends.

“So awesome, AJ!” Rainbow stated.

“Quiet now, Rainbow,” Applejack hissed.


Accalia looked around the winding streets of the Society. The moon’s pale light kept them lit, giving the atmosphere around her a peaceful vibe.

Where was Gunnolf?

It had been a few minutes since she’d spoken with Tokuta and had been carrying the next part of her plan. This is going to be tough, but it’s nothing she can’t handle.

BUMP!

“Agh!” Gunnolf grunted, “Watch where you’re going, Accalia!”

“Excuse me, there’re some blind spots in the village!” Accalia rebutted.

“Don’t give me any of that nonsense!”

Accalia sighed, and calmed herself down, “I’m not here to argue, Gunnolf. I’m just wanting you to know something.”

“What? Make it quick.”

“Tokuta gave me and some others the okay to go into Oogundaa if the ponies escape.”

Gunnolf blinked several times, “Wait what? Why?”

“Are you one to question his Majestic?” Accalia glared.

“No, I’m just surprised,” said Gunnolf, “I mean he seemed resistant to doing it before...”

“He was just having a scene where he recalled an incident he ran into with the long rivalry with the predators of the land and some in our forest,” Accalia lied, sounding convincing.

“He did mention the rivalry and the peace we need to keep in our forest... and... It’s just, we have those ponies locked up tight and...”

“He’s taking extra precautions,” Accalia spoke a little quickly, “Besides, why would he risk ponies with their kind of abilities disrupting his forest?”

“I’m still not so sure about this, Accalia,” said Gunnolf. Accalia was a little nervous and knew how Tokuta always talked about not going into Oogundaa, now he’s wanting the Pack to go in after the ponies?

“I need to make sure of this,” said Gunnolf.

“Tokuta is resting until morning as per usual, but talk to others around the Society if you need further proof,” Accalia regained her composure.

“Fine, I’ll do that,” Gunnolf growled. As he turned and walked off, Accalia watched with a small smirk on her face before she began making her way to the point she needs to be at.


Mystic saw that Rainbow closed the chained-up wolf into a cell. The pegasus tossed the keys away and bolted to the stairs leading to the trapdoor above.

Twilight began leading the others to the stairs. Mystic was third in line and ready to leave. When they climbed the flight of stairs and came upon the trapdoor, everypony stopped and waited. Twilight quietly opened the trapdoor, doing her best so that it wouldn’t creak, Sunset helped her along a little bit before it was all the way opened.

After Sunset and Twilight emerged onto the surface, Mystic popped out and spotted a couple of trees to hide between. She signaled to the other two and pointed over there, they got the message. As she kept an eye on her surroundings, Mystic could hear wolves around them walking, talking and some chewing on things. Soon, she and the herd ducked into the temporary cover.

“Okay everypony,” said Twilight, “We’ve been over the plan a few times.”

“More like a hundred,” Sunset deadpanned.

“Hey, I like to be prepared. Anyway,” Twilight checked her surroundings, “She told us that the wolves on top of the wall shoot those darts and snipe them at those in the barren woods.”

“Provided if the darts aren’t poisoned first,” said Mystic.

“Right.”

“So, we’re not getting out of here unless we take those wolves out first and disarm them,” said Sunset.

“And we’ve still got these dingy things to get off,” said Rarity, pointing to the magic dampener on her horn.

“I think that should be the first thing we do,” said Twilight, “We’re not getting out without our magic. So,” she looked at Sunset, “Sunset, you and Rainbow head into the secure area where they keep the key to unlock these dampeners. When you get the key, reunite with Rarity’s team.” She looked at Mystic, “Mystic while you wait for Rarity’s team to send the signal, you head near the center to take down any wolves that might stick around and if you spot any more weapons they can use, take those out too.”

Mystic nodded, “Can do.”

“We’ll get your bag and weapons as we go down,” said Sunset.

“Pinkie, you and Rarity get to the western part of the Society to cause a distraction and Fluttershy, you know what to do with your Stare.”

They all agreed as Twilight went on, “Applejack and I will handle the wolves as they pile out of the center, and at that time, Sunset will teleport to us and unlock my dampener.”

“Great, now we can recite the plan in our sleep,” Rainbow deadpanned with a facehoof.

“All right, we’ve got this everypony,” said Twilight, “Let’s get our Starlight back!”

“And Sunburst too,” said Fluttershy.

Twilight smiled sheepishly, “Sorry, yeah, Sunburst.”

“Let’s go, Rainbow,” said Sunset.

“On it,” replied Rainbow before they slinked into the shadows.

“Everypony else,” said Twilight.

She didn’t need to say anymore, Mystic and everypony else went on their way.


Sunset leaned up against a wall, watching several wolves patrolling the streets. As she did so, she couldn’t help but notice the homes and other buildings made out of trees. It was fascinating, but she shook the thoughts aside, her brow furrowed in concentration over the wolves.

She watched them as they talked and walked with one another. Her sharp eyes never left them until they departed.

“Let’s move,” she whispered to Rainbow, pulling her along.

“I can move myself,” Rainbow whispered back.

“But I am the stealthy one, you’re not,” Sunset reasoned, “I’ll move you when I move.”

Rainbow gained an offended look but shook it off when she saw a couple of more wolves approaching. Sunset quickly ducked into the shadows as the wolves patrolled. She looked at the map Accalia and deterred she’s roughly one hundred yards from where she needed to be. Sunset looked up to see that the wolves were gone, and looked down the moonlit street that led to her destination.

Sunset began trotting, looking around and not spotting any wolves in the winding streets. The mare knew that if she hadn’t memorized the map, she wouldn’t be able to know where she was.

A few blocks later, Sunset came to a stop and hid alongside another wall. She peeked around the tree’s trunk to look around. Then, about twenty yards away, Sunset spotted the basement where they needed to be. One wolf opened the trapdoor and closed it behind him.

Sunset recalled Accalia mentioned there were other items kept here from other prisoners as well.

“No easy way in with flat ground in a wide open area,” Sunset muttered as the wolf began to leave, “They could show up at any minute.”

“Then we improvise!” Rainbow whispered, she bolted after the wolf.

“Rainbow! What?!” Sunset harshly whispered, taken aback. She watched as the pegasus tapped on the wolf’s shoulder. He turned around.

“Hey,” said Rainbow.

“Hey,” he replied before turning away. He took a step forward then stopped... when he turned back around Rainbow socked him right in the face, knocking him out cold.

Sunset watched with wide eyes as Rainbow hid his unconscious form and pulled off a keychain with a couple of keys on it. She made her way back to Sunset with a smug look on her face.

Sunset blinked, “I’m not going to even dignify that look with a response.”

Rainbow shrugged, “It worked, didn’t it?”

Sunset sighed, annoyed before taking the keys out of Rainbow’s grasp and scanning her surroundings. When she saw it’s clear, she quickly made her way over to the trapdoor. Cringing at the sounds of the chain clinging, Sunset unlocked it and opened it, which caused Rainbow to bolt down into the. Sunset groaned loudly.

So much for the stealthy approach, she thought. Sunset began making her way down the long flight of stairs.

“Hey!” a voice cried out downstairs, almost causing Sunset to freeze, but she kept going and punched him right in the face. Rainbow tackled him. They began struggling some before the wolf pinned Rainbow to the ground and raised a claw, only for Sunset to throw a barrel and send the wolf crashing into the wall.

“Thanks for ruining the stealth approach!” Sunset scolded.

“No time now!”

“Fine then! Search that wolf and make sure he doesn’t have the key!”

“Okay!”

Sunset took a quick glance at her surroundings, seeing that there were a bunch of doors lining the corridor. Sunset galloped off and began searching the rooms. She could see all kinds of weapons and items but none seemed to have what they needed. The mare spotted a couple of wolves down at the end of the corridor and they charged towards her. Sunset thought of something quickly before grabbing a box and getting in front of a door.

“Hold it right there!” one of the wolves ordered.

“Prisoner escaping!” the second shouted.

The first wolf lunged for Sunset, she ducked and the wolf crashed into the door breaking it open.

“You fool!” the second wolf scolded. Sunset leaped into the room and grabbed some kind of spear.

“Back off!” she ordered and the wolf gasped, stopping in his tracks.

“Be careful with that thing!” he shouted.

“Why? Are you scared?” Sunset taunted.

“No really! Be...”

SHOOM! A beam shot out from the spear, hitting the wall beside the wolf. He yiped in fear.

“Hey! Careful!”

Sunset’s eyes were wide but then she got a devious idea. She pointed it right at the wolf.

“Yeah, you’d better hold yourself there!” she ordered, looking to see if he had the key on him.

The wolf growled, “You’ll regret this!”

“Tell me who has the key to the dampeners!”

“Never!”

“Tell me now! Or you and your friends will be very sorry!” Sunset began charging the spear. Instead, the wolf ran off, Sunset let out an angry cry before getting out of the room and went after him. Sunset chased the wolf down the hall and almost released the spear’s energy, only for Rainbow to slam right into the wolf!

“There you are!” she said, “He didn’t have the key!”

“Oh, great!” Sunset groaned, “Come on, there’re going to be more of them!”

As soon as she said that, more several more wolves began pouring down the hall to deal with them.

“I’ll hold them off!” said Sunset, “You find the key!”

“On it!”


As she impatiently waited for her signal, Mystic stayed within an alleyway. She spotted some papers placed on the wall. Curious, she narrowed her eyes and at the top, it said “The Laws of the Forest.” Great, it must be that silly law stuff Tokuta wrote as that wolf explained.

Wait a minute.

Mystic squinted her eyes and leaned forward a bit. Still unable to see them, she pulled it off the wall and brought it to where she could read it.

“This seems familiar...” she said, looking at the writing.

Her horn lit up and she pulled the poster down. Where have I seen this before?

Suddenly, it clicked.

The scroll she’d read before she made her way to Equestria. Its writing style was very similar or just like this poster. Her eyes widened at the thought of that, but if true, she might need this to confirm it.

Mystic rolled it up and stuffed it underneath her belt. Looking to her right and up a bit, she briefly spotted Twilight and Applejack on one of the rooftops.


Using the spear, Sunset blasted the last wolf into a wall and let out a huff. These wolves were not elite as Accalia said so...

“I found it!” Rainbow cried.

Sunset whirled around and Rainbow is carrying the key for the small keyhole of the dampeners, and she has Mystic’s satchel with her weapons.

“You would not believe how buffed that guy was!” said Rainbow.

“Give that back!” a wolf barked. Sunset and Rainbow looked to see a wolf twice as large and strong as the other wolves. He rushed right at them as Rainbow unlocked the dampener. Sunset felt magic flowing through her horn once again and she teleported herself and Rainbow out of there.

The unicorn reappeared next to Twilight and Applejack, who both yelped.

“Sorry!” Sunset apologized, “We had a little... complication.” She shot a look at Rainbow.

“We were gonna be spotted no matter what!” Rainbow defended.

Sunset rolled her eyes as Rainbow unlocked Twilight’s dampener.

“All right!” she said happily, “Now to deal with the wolves on the wall!”

“I’ll help!” said Sunset.

“But where’s the distraction as in the signal for Mystic?” Applejack asked.

“Oh no!” Twilight’s eyes widened in horror.

“I’ll go find’em!” said Rainbow before taking off.

“Rainbow, you and I need to deal with the wolves!” Applejack cried. She groaned loudly and looked at Twi and Sunset, “You two go, Ah’ve got this.”

“Are you...”

“Go now!”

Sunset and Twilight teleported away and Applejack spotted some stumps she could buck, she pulled out her lasso and jumped down to the streets.


The werewolf stood up from his bed and went out to the balcony, seeing the wolves making their way in the direction of the prison and basement.

He growled, “How? How did they get out?”

Deciding not to ask any more questions, he leaped out onto the ground below and got on all fours to join his soldiers.


The unicorn was growing impatient. Where is that signal?! Shouldn’t it have happened by now?! As she looked around to see where it was supposed to be, she spotted Sunset and Twilight running/flying among the wall and taking out a wolf, destroying his weapon as well.

“What?” she whispered harshly. She decided to bail and began running over to join them.

Where is that signal?! Mystic thought, growing restless.

Suddenly, she heard ponies blasting magic in the distance.

“What the hay?” she said.

Deciding she has had enough, Mystic came from out of her hiding spot. Using her dexterous hooves, she jumped and grabbed onto a thick tree branch. Mystic jumped and somersaulted several branches higher, landing firmly on her hooves. Across the various trees and streets, Mystic saw Sunset and Twilight glowing with their signature red and purple magic.

Annoyed, Mystic galloped across the tree branch and leaped onto another.

I need to get there now! She thought, looking down at the streets and seeing wolves charging towards the wall.

Mystic galloped faster and managed to get a couple of trees away from the wall.

“Hey! Over here!” she shouted. That got Sunset and Twilight’s attention.

“Mystic! You’re here!” Twilight yelped in surprise.

“Yes, I am but what about the signal?!”

Suddenly, she was enveloped in magic and Twilight levitated her to her side.

“Is that all of them?!” Twilight asked.

“I think there’s a couple of more but we took out all the snipers!” replied Sunset.

“What happened?! We work so well together!”

“I don’t know but we’ve got to get out of here while we can!”

“Ponies!” a voice barked; Twilight spotted Gunnolf charging towards them.

“Go Sunset! Take out the other wolves on the wall!” she ordered.

Sunset disappeared in a red pop as Twilight and Mystic faced the charging wolf. She lit up her horn and grabbed him with her magic before throwing him off the wall and onto the top of a house. Mystic spotted Rainbow flying around, attacking and dodging wolves surrounding her.

“Hold on, Mystic,” said Twilight, levitating something, “I’m going to get your dampener off!”

Mystic nodded as Twilight grabbed her and teleported. Despite being dazed, Mystic cleared her vision and saw they had appeared on a rooftop next to Rainbow.

“Rainbow! Key!” Twilight cried.

The pegasus threw the key over to Twilight as Applejack reunited with them and lassoed another wolf, pulling him to the ground.

Twilight caught the key and unlocked Mystic’s dampener.

The unicorn smirked and produced some magical ropes of her own, sending them out towards the wolves on the streets, several had ropes wrapped around them and Mystic yanked them off their paws.

Mystic jumped down onto the street, landing on her hooves and saw a bunch more wolves approaching. Twilight she let out a surge of magic, blasting the wolves back. The alicorn took to the sky and began flying around, sending out blasts of magic to keep the wolves from her friends.

KA-POWWWW! Mystic whirled around to see a large confetti explosion ripped and sent a pile of confetti one hundred feet in the air.

“I guess that was supposed to be the signal,” Mystic deadpanned.

The ponies and wolves got back to fighting, and as they did so, Mystic began wondering about where Rarity, Fluttershy, and Sunset were.

Mystic looked to the southern street and the wolves’ soldiers were pouring out onto the streets, Rainbow flew by as fast as she could around the tree branches

Then something flew right by Mystic’s head. The unicorn looked to where it came from. On the ground, she spotted a wolf aiming a crossbow to shoot those tranq darts at her!

“Crap!” she cried before lowering herself to the ground where she encountered more wolves.

Before she could do anything, Rainbow showed up, spinning around the wolves, forming a tornado, throwing them off their paws.

“Pinkie! Where are you?!” Rarity’s voice rang out. Mystic perked up and spotted Rarity galloping perpendicular to her, she yelped when a wolf showed up. Rarity threw up a diamond shield, blocking the wolf from attacking her. Mystic ran over and blasted the wolf away with her magic.

“Where are Fluttershy and Pinkie?” Sunset asked frantically, joining their side.

“Fluttershy’s close by, but Pinkie just left us and set off her distraction late!”

To Mystic’s relief, Fluttershy finally reunited with them all.

“I... I can’t...” she muttered.

“You can’t what?!” Rarity shrieked.

Sensing danger, Mystic whirled to see wolves charging right at them as Twilight and Rainbow tried to keep them at bay.

“Move!” Sunset ordered.

The ponies bolted, all following Sunset. Sunset sent bolts of energy from the spear to keep wolves at bay as they looked for Pinkie.

“Found you!” Gunnolf leaped out and tackled Sunset to the ground. The spear went flying into a small chasm. Gunnolf pulled out a dampener to seal Sunset’s magic again.

PHOOOMPH! A party cannon shot Gunnolf right off Sunset.

“Too close for comfort!” Pinkie stated, turning around and blasting more wolves away with her cannon.

“Get them!” Gunnolf barked, getting to his paws.

“I don’t think so!” said Sunset, charging up her horn and shooting some flames out in front of Gunnolf and the other wolves.

“Gah! Fire!” Gunnolf yiped, “Put it out! Put it out!”

Mystic took this opportunity to get the others and lead them to where they hear blasts of magic and fighting sounds coming from. Pinkie rode on her party cannon, cheering all the way.

Mystic shot several blasts of magic, knocking several wolves back. She noticed that they’d managed to hold them back pretty efficiently. The ones that had attempted to attack were laying defeated and injured.

I’ll never take magic for granted again, Mystic thought.

“We’re about out of this!” said Rainbow.

“Don’t get ahead of yerself!” Applejack warned.

Sunset and the others arrived, and Twilight’s eyes lit up.

“There you are!” she said.

“As much as I’d love to talk about what went wrong with the plan, we need to get out of here now!” said Sunset.

“Right!” said Twilight, “Move everypony!”

Mystic ran with her seven acquaintances through the streets of the Society as they heard wolves all around them rooting for their soldiers. Some came out of their houses to stop them but were foiled by Twilight and Sunset’s powerful magic either by telekinesis or when they shot beams at the wolves. Rainbow threw Mystic her satchel and the unicorn caught it, grateful to have it back.

As the ponies came upon to a four-way street, Mystic saw to her right, Accalia charging in with her Pack

“Over there!” Accalia shouted.

“Are you kidding me?!” Rainbow cried.

Twilight shot a beam to a large tree branch over the road, breaking it and sending it crashing to the ground, cutting off Accalia and her Pack. The ponies continued their way through and arrived at the gate only...

To spot a bunch of wolves along the wall and near the gate.

“I thought we were told that there wasn’t as much patrol around here!” said Rainbow.

“We were!” said Applejack.

“Did she trick us about this?” Sunset asked.

Mystic turned and saw Accalia and her Pack have worked their way around the downed branch and are approaching fast. On a nearby treetop, she saw the unmistakable silhouette of Tokuta observing everything below.

“Did she betray us?!” Rainbow shouted.

“I have no doubt!” said Mystic, focusing on the wolves again. She looked back and forth with the wolves on the wall and the wolves approaching them.

“I’ve got an idea,” said Twilight, “Run!” Mystic did so, followed by everypony else.

“Stop them at once!” Gunnolf’s voice rang out.

The wolves at the exit charged as well. Darts fired from the wall above.

“Sunset, be ready!” said Twilight, “I’m going to get all of us out of here!”

“Right!” replied Sunset.

Mystic saw the wolves were right on the ponies and some lunged towards them, only for Sunset to shoot them with some magic and send them tumbling aside.

Then, Twilight teleported herself and the other ponies out of the Society.


Dazed, Mystic saw she and the others reappeared about a hundred yards away in the more open and barren woods. Twilight almost collapsed but Sunset caught her with her magic and began carrying her, all the ponies making a beeline for the thick woods.

“Where will we run to?” Pinkie asked.

“Who cares? Just run!” said Applejack.

“We’ll get as far from these wolves as we can before making another plan!” said Sunset.

“Everypony stay together!” Twilight ordered before she began flapping her wings. Sunset let her go and she flew alongside her friends.


Back inside the Society, Accalia saw that Tokuta was looking around the place as a lot of wolves laid in the streets in a heap.

“Sir!” Accalia shouted, approaching him, “The ponies have escaped our Society!”

“Are you serious?!” Tokuta growled, “They got away?!”

“I’m sorry, sir, we did everything we could, they managed to get their telekinesis working again!”

Tokuta growled loudly and punched a tree, cracking it.

“This cannot be happening to me!” he shouted. Gunnolf joined the two, completely out of breath.

“Sir, shall we pursue them?” he asked. Accalia’s blood turned into ice, she only hoped her plan to make the other think of the opposite locations would work.

“Pursue them?” Tokuta growled.

“Yes, our wolves will be at the ready and are willing to depart at your command!”

“Fine!” Tokuta barked, “Get those ponies and bring them back to me no matter what you do to them!”

“Are you sure?” Gunnolf’s eyes widened.

“What do you mean ‘Are you sure?!’ they managed to escape and disrespect my name!”

“It’s just...”

“It’s just what?! Go after them by all means! Get the lead out and don’t bother me!” Tokuta roared, he looked at Accalia, “Make sure they all stay in line!”

“Yes, your Majestic!” Accalia saluted.

“But...!” Gunnolf spoke up.

“They might be strong, but you’re stronger, Gunnolf! I thought I told you not to doubt me!” Tokuta pointed right into his commander’s face, “What’s gotten into you?”

“N-Nothing Your Majestic! Just concerned is all!”

“That doesn’t sound like you. Now, shut your yapper and get after them!”

“Sir yes sir!”

“That’s not shutting your yapper, Gunnolf!”

Gunnolf shut his ‘yapper’ and nodded vigorously. Tokuta sharply turned away and headed down into the village to evaluate the damage done.

“Oogundaa it is then,” said Accalia.

“Looks like it...” Gunnolf said with wide eyes. He narrowed them and looked at Accalia.

“You weren’t acting like yourself a little bit,” he said.

“Says the one who’s doubting our Majestic,” said Accalia, “Now,” She turned away, “Let’s round up our Pack and get moving.”

Gunnolf blinked, “Hey, I give the orders!”

“Then start giving them!”

Gunnolf loudly groaned before joining her.


The eight equines made their way deeper into the forest in the direction of Oogundaa. They did not slow down, despite some of their hard panting and ragged breathing.

“I... I think I need to rest a minute!” Rarity gasped.

“We can’t be sure if they’re still following us!” Rainbow reasoned.

“They don’t seem to be!”

“This is their forest, Rarity!”

“Okay! Enough!” Twilight shouted, “We’ll stop and hide in a minute to regain our strength!”

“Thank goodness!” Rarity breathed out.

A few minutes passed and Twilight spotted a small cave about one hundred yards away. She led her friends to it and all ducked into the small cave, Mystic examined it to ensure nocreature is in it. Rarity collapsed onto her side as did Fluttershy, both exhausted from the chase and fight out. Applejack began regaining herself and took a seat next to her friends.

“What happened in there?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Twilight huffed, “But we nearly failed in getting out of there! We should’ve had our bases covered!”

“We did!” Rarity insisted.

“It sure didn’t seem as if you did,” said Mystic, brushing some dirt off her outfit.

“Well excuse me, miss know it all!” Rarity hissed, “We didn’t expect that wolf to bring extra help when we went over the plan a hundred times!”

“I agree!” Rainbow frowned, “She didn’t seem as if she wanted to get us out even when she helped us out of the prison!”

“Maybe it was an error on her part?” Fluttershy meekly suggested.

“I don’t think so! She just cares for herself.”

“As obnoxious as you are, pegasus,” said Mystic, “I think you’re right. That such deed doesn’t redeem her from being what she is,” she looked at Fluttershy and Twilight, “You might think she’s on our side but you can’t say that for sure.”

“She will no doubt come after us with the others,” said Applejack.

“Tokuta seemed hesitant about sending his wolves into Oogundaa,” said Pinkie.

“If that is true, then we won’t see them there.”

“I don’t think we should waste any more time arguing,” said Sunset, “We’re out of there now and we should focus on the task at hoof.”

“And we’d better double down hard now!” said Rainbow, “We lost so much precious time with those wolves when we’re on a mission!”

“I agree,” said Twilight, “We need to be ready for anything.”

“As you’ll soon see, when we get to Oogundaa, friendship has no value there, as it doesn’t in the rest of the world,” Mystic stated.

“Really now, Mystic?” Sunset asked incredulously.

“It’s just simple facts.”

“We’ve been on many adventures and have had the magic of friendship to back us up,” said Applejack, “It’s not always easy, but it’s the right way.”

“And one day you’ll see that it is,” Twilight smiled, “And I believe Oogundaa will be as well.”

Mystic rolled her eyes, “We’re not here to spread your precious message! We’re here to find your two friends!”

“You just don’t want to admit that you’re wrong about the magic of friendship!” Rainbow pointed at her.

Mystic stomped up to her, “I said no such thing! I am saying that it isn’t enough for the quote-unquote ‘magic of friendship’ to cause the land of Oogundaa to be saved! I’ve traveled to the furthest reaches of the globe and friendship isn’t the way to go.”

“You keep telling yourself that! You’ll one day be proven how wrong you are!” Rainbow got into Mystic’s face, both unfazed by one another.

“It’s the truth!” Mystic insisted with an edge of desperation, “The world is just filled with malice and darkness! I doubt I’ll be proven wrong!”

Everypony, including Rainbow Dash’s eyes, widened at her statement. Mystic has said similar statements before, but only now do they realize what she truly believes. That friendship isn’t enough for the world, and yet doesn’t disvalue or say friendship is a bad thing.

“What? No clever comment?” Mystic asked a little mockingly to Rainbow, “I was looking forward to your next one.”

Rainbow said nothing in response but just blinked a couple of times. Mystic sighed and stepped outside, “I’m going to make sure the forest is clear before we move again.”


As Mystic walked away, her mind went back to the poster she had managed to grab. Taking a quick look around the forest, she heard nothing but bugs chirping and a light breeze blowing through. The unicorn looked at her satchel, pulled out the scroll and the poster. She lit up her horn, scanning both of them to see if their writing style matched one another.

Her jaw dropped.

No way... she thought.

Both the poster and the scroll she’d read before she started her journey to Equestria had the exact same writing style.