“Let’s go, Spike!” Spike nodded determinedly.
When he was secure, Twilight ran out the doors and took a running leap to start flying. From the sound of it, the door just about had it and its hinges squealed unpleasantly. She could sense a large dormant leyline deep in the forest and knew that was where the old castle was.
The old leyline was massive. Something catastrophic must’ve happened there for a leyline that big to go dormant. What could it be other than the old castle ruins? She dearly hoped it wasn’t home to feral Diamond Dogs. Those beings had an unfortunate habit of burrowing into active leylines and draining the power.
“Hey! Hold your horses!” Rainbow Dash caught up to them, “We want to help,”
Rainbow Dash pointed at the four other ponies scrambling to catch up. An odd feeling rose in Twilight’s chest.
“Look, I appreciate the offer, but I’d really rather do this alone with Spike,” Twilight said just as the other ponies caught up, “I’m a dragon, and while I can protect Spike, I don’t think I can protect the rest of you that well,”
No one looked convinced at her argument.
“No can do Sugar Cube,” Applejack declared, “We ain’t letting any friend of ours get into that creepy place alone. We stickin’ to you like caramel on a candy apple,”
The other ponies agreed and started to trot into the dark trees. Even timid Fluttershy. Twilight made a face. Friends? No being ever wanted to be friends with her, and probably with good reason.
“No one is concerned about going into the Everfree with a dragon?” Twilight asked incredulously. No pony responded and they continued to walk into the trees. Twilight sighed, loudly.
Applejack hung back near Twilight and when the group was deeper in the trees, she spoke.
“Look Miss Twilight. I’m real sorry ‘bout my reaction to you when you first said hello. I just never seen a dragon before other than in books and the like,”
Twilight gave a strained smile, “It’s ok. I’m used to it,”
“That don’t excuse my reaction, and I’m still real sorry about it,” Applejack insisted.
The dragon started a little. Applejack was being genuine. Twilight grinned, flashing a fang, “Apology accepted,”
“Come on now, let’s catch up,”
As the group went even deeper, the ground under-hoof changed. What used to be a dirt road, slowly transformed into gravely paths and hanging vines. The bright moonlight cast many areas into deep shadow and illuminated the undergrowth.
Twilight broke the oppressive silence, “So none of you have been in here before?”
“I usually stick near the outer parts. I’ve never gone so far in,” Fluttershy whispered. The pegasus stuck so close to Twilight that the dragon had to forcibly flatten all of her spines just so Fluttershy wouldn’t hurt herself. The shy mare seemed to have decided whatever was in the forest was a lot scarier than the big dragon that she was taking shelter under.
Rarity answered, “Oh heavens no! Just look at it! It’s dreadful!”
“And it ain’t natural,” Applejack added, looking around warily, “Folks say it don’t work the same as Equestria,”
“What’s that supposed to mean,” Spike asked fearfully.
Fluttershy muttered, “Clouds move on their own, the animals fend for themselves, and weather happens whenever it wants. That’s what,”
Twilight made a face, “You mean like the Badlands and the North? That’s all-natural-”
Rainbow Dash made ghost noises and flew under a gap in the trees, throwing parts of her face into stark relief and leaving other parts deep in shadow, “No pony knows,”
The entire group stopped in fear. Rainbow continued, even stalking near the ground like an alligator, “You know why?”
Twilight scowled as Spike’s grip around her neck tightened. The pegasus completely missed it as she flew past.
Applejack interrupted, “Rainbow quit it!”
“Because every pony who’s ever come in… has never come out!” Rainbow stalked right up to the rest of the group, who cringed and began to check their blind spots and shuffle around.
Twilight’s tail fur prickled suddenly. Just as she drew breath to scold the pegasus, the entire cliff face they were walking on top of, gave way with no warning. The entire group let out screams of fear. Spike’s hold around her neck tightened almost to the point of suffocation as he screamed from the sudden plummet. She choked on her own air as her claws scrabbled for something other than crumbling dirt. Then Twilight managed to snap open her wings and catch the breeze.
“You just had to jinx it didn’t you?” Twilight snarled at Rainbow, who had just managed to launch herself into the air.
“Heh heh, oops,” she had the grace to look sheepish, then her expression changed into one that was so serious, Twilight wondered if Rainbow was still the same pony, “Well don’t just fly there! We gotta catch the others!”
Then she was gone, rocketing toward the rest of their group, Twilight following close behind. As she dove for the others, she amended her assessment of Rainbow Dash again. She wasn’t completely stupid.
“Fluttershy! You have wings!” Rainbow Dash hollered.
A moment later, Fluttershy joined the three, racing desperately after the rest.
Rainbow caught Pinky and started the slow ascent back up. She was impressed. A pegasus flying that rapidly while holding an earth pony was worth bragging about. Rainbow Dash must be a pretty powerful flier. Twilight snagged Rarity’s tail and scooped her up in a bridal style.
“Don’t worry Rarity, we got you!” Spike assured her, acting as if he hadn’t screeched his lungs out moments before.
If Twilight didn’t have her claws full, she would’ve facepalmed. Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight watched Fluttershy attempt to fly up with Applejack. She only succeeded in slowing Applejack’s fall down and the earth pony had to grab onto a root to keep herself from sliding completely over. Clearly, the earth pony was too heavy and bulky for the smaller pegasus. Twilight cursed, loudly and colorfully, causing Rarity to gasp at the crude language.
“Rainbow!” Twilight shouted. Rainbow’s head peeked over the cliff, “Catch!”
“What are you- Aeiiii!!” Rarity shrieked shrilly as Twilight threw her like a large sack of flour.
“Hold on tight Spike!” was the only warning he got before Twilight let gravity take hold as she shot like a bullet back to Fluttershy and Applejack.
She could see that Fluttershy was crying, her grip slowly slipping as she tried to keep the earth pony from going over the edge. As she got closer, she could hear Applejack tell Fluttershy it would be alright.
Twilight locked eyes with Applejack.
“Fluttershy,” Applejack’s eyes met with Fluttershy’s, “Let go,”
“No!”
“What I’m telling you right now is the honest truth. Let go and it’ll be ok. The two of us will go over otherwise,”
Fluttershy’s sobbing reached a fever pitch, “No!”
“Fluttershy. Do you trust me?” Twilight positioned herself right under Applejack, “If you do, you will let go,”
There was a sniffle and then Applejack fell into Twilight’s claws. Twilight grunted in surprise but flew up, beating her wings powerfully. Yes, Rainbow Dash was a very powerful flier. Even she was having a bit of trouble and her wingspan was twice the size of Rainbow’s.
Fluttershy gasped in relief, tears still staining her face. A moment later, fresh tears spilled over her large doe-like eyes.
“I’m so sorry. I’m not used to holding more than a bunny or two,” Fluttershy managed to stutter out in between sobs.
“It’s alright now ain’t it?” Applejack asked, “Don’t you worry none about it,”
Fluttershy nodded, furiously wiping her tears.
When they rejoined the group, Pinky Pie joked, “Woo! Can we do that again?”
Five sets of unamused glares had Pinky laughing sheepishly, “Nevermind,”
Twilight rolled her eyes and checked if Spike was comfortable, “Yes Mom” was the annoyed reply.
As the group resumed their journey, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but reenact her catching Pinky Pie over and over again, each time telling the story even more exaggerated. Twilight’s patience finally wore thin when Rainbow Dash flipped above her head and kicked one of her horns by accident.
“Yes Rainbow, I was there. We all saw it and I’m sure Pinky’s grateful-” The rest of her reply was cut off by a loud roar.
A large shape that towered over Twilight jumped from the trees above, shaking the ground as it landed. The being growled in the back of its throat flashing fangs almost as large as Twilight’s paw.
“A Manticore!” Spike screamed, identifying the creature the fastest.
After Spike’s scream, the manticore’s mane fluffed up even more and its massive wings spread aggressively. Its poisonous tail danced above the manticore’s back, reminding everyone of the threat it posed. Its golden coat shone like a beacon and its beady red eyes narrowed as it scented the air.
In the back of her mind, Twilight knew Spike had some ammunition against her if she ever told him to read a ‘real book’ rather than the comic books he liked.
In the forefront of her mind, she immediately went through the ways of subduing a manticore. Unfortunately, most of the books she read recommended more than one large being to attempt to go after a manticore. She hardly counted as ‘more than one large being’. Plan B then.
“Scatter!” Twilight ordered every pony, whom of which obeyed as far as she could tell. She paused to make sure Spike was safely in the bushes before turning her attention back to the beast. Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Twilight planted her paws firmly into the dirt.
The Manticore was about to go after Pinky Pie when Twilight blasted fire into its face. She gulped when she remembered that manticores naturally had magic-resistant fur. Its eyes snapped to hers and a shiver went down Twilight’s back. Well, too late to turn back now.
It roared again in outrage and moved to take a swipe at her. Twilight couldn’t dodge in time and its claws raked down her shoulder. Her scales took the brunt of the attack but she still stumbled from the force. It felt like someone holding a giant hammer decided to her shoulder was a suitable target.
She roared back and her tail whipped around to smack the being across the face. Her roar sounded pathetic even to herself. She could tell this was a rather young Manticore. A full-grown one would’ve gotten her by now. Its movements were clumsy but powerful. And this particular Manticore hadn’t even attempted to use its tail against her yet.
Another fire blast from her regained the attention of it after it turned to sniff for the others. It turned so quickly, Twilight only had time to take one step back before a massive paw batted her away like a baseball. She gasped in pain as several scales were torn loose. She tumbled head over tail into the trees.
Her head rang when she collided with a tree. She struggled to stand back up and snarled when the manticore prowled closer. She could hear her friends cry out from their hiding places. Flames licked around her jaws as she prepared another fire blast. If she could get in range, she could bite it. Just as the manticore was about to pounce, something very random changed the equation.
“Wait!” Fluttershy intercepted the Manticore before it could bear down onto Twilight.
The Manticore growled and raised a paw to swipe at her, “Shh, it’s ok,” Fluttershy murmured, nuzzling the paw closest to her.
Twilight’s tail fur stood on end in fear for the smaller framed pegasus. With Fluttershy’s reaction to just her shadow, she could hardly believe that she was now standing in between a dragon and a Manticore without batting an eye. If anything happened now, Fluttershy would be caught in the middle.
The Manticore let out a pitiful whine and presented Fluttershy with its paw. Between the pads was a large thorn.
“Oh you poor little baby,” Fluttershy cooed, “Now this might hurt for just a second,”
Right when she plucked the thorn, the Manticore howled in pain and scooped up the pony. Twilight charged her horns, ready to fire off an overcharged blinding spell, but stopped when the Manticore started purring. She blew out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and slowly got to her feet. She would ache for days after this.
She limped after the rest of the group deeper into the trees to wait for Fluttershy. When Fluttershy caught up, her long hair was spiked up in a cowlick but she didn’t seem to mind.
“How did you know about the thorn?” Twilight asked in complete bemusement.
Fluttershy smiled serenely, “I didn’t. Sometimes we just need to be kinder. It was a baby after all,”
Twilight smiled at that. These ponies were really something.
“Are you alright, Twilight? I’m sorry I got there so late, I didn’t want to get caught in the crossfire,” Fluttershy poked and prodded at Twilight.
Twilight hissed when a tender spot was poked, “Nothing rest won’t fix. Thanks for jumping in at the end. I thought I’d have to start biting,”
Fluttershy smiled and smoothed Twilight’s fur where she’d messed it up.
“Thank you for protecting all of us. It was a very brave thing to do,” Fluttershy said softly.
“No problem,” Twilight said after shaking herself out, “It’s what friends do right?”
Her thoughts screeched to a halt then. Since when were these ponies friends? The thought should’ve terrified her, but in all honesty, she only felt fondness in place of fear.
As the group continued, Rarity shuddered, “Uhhgg, my eyes need a rest from all this icky muck,”
Just as she finished her statement, the group walked into a more shadowed area of the forest and Rarity shuddered again, “Well I didn’t mean that literally,” she said nervously.
“Those ancient ruins could be right in front of our faces and we wouldn’t even know it,” Spike said fearfully, clutching tighter to the warm scales underneath his hooves.
Twilight chuckled, “I can still see Spike, don’t worry,”
As it grew darker, her friends started to complain.
“Ouch, Applejack stop stepping on me,”
“I ain’t stepping on no pony. Fluttershy your tail is in my face,”
“Stop bumping into me,”
“Ow!”
“Oh wait, I think I stepped in something,” Twilight turned to see mud dripping from Applejack’s hooves.
Rolling her eyes, Twilight lit both of her horns. A soft pink glow allowed everyone to see. Applejack lifted her hooves to inspect the mud. As she did, Fluttershy let out an ear-splitting scream and dove under Twilight’s underbelly. Twilight’s tail fur suddenly felt as if something stroked it, causing her to jump slightly.
“It’s just mud,” Applejack placated, only to turn and leap away from the tree she neared, “Gahh!”
All around her friends, the trees twisted and warped unnaturally. Each tree grew fangs and claws. If Twilight took her eyes off of one tree, it seemed to shift and move to another area. Her wings raised, ready to defend herself and her child. Smoke billowed from her mouth in preparation.
Once Rainbow Dash screamed, it turned into a screaming frenzy. Every pony backed into another, their rumps resting together as if that would protect them. Spike whimpered on her back, his forelegs tightening against her shoulders. Her ears rang and her eyes darted everywhere.
“Everyone shut up!” Twilight roared, successfully silencing the screams, “They’re just trees and if anything happens I can set them on fire! Stop screaming like loose fireworks!”
Pinky Pie popped up from who knew where and laughed, “Good one Twilight! Loose fireworks! Haha! Wait no, look at this tree, it looks like it’s constipated,”
Pinky started to giggle again and Spike stage whispered, “Is she sane?”
Feeling her annoyance vanish, Twilight snorted and didn’t dignify that with a response.
Pinky responded, “I’m as sane as you are Spike-y! Come on! Laugh. It’s better than screaming,”
She giggled and bounced away, the rest of her friends following at a more leisurely pace since they weren’t stricken by panic anymore. Pinky hummed a jaunty tune as she led her friends toward a river. Twilight took a moment to wonder what just happened.
“How are we going to get past this?”
The water raged up onto the banks and looked more like a beach during a storm rather than a river in the middle of the forest. Twilight shivered as spray splashed up near her claws.
A sob lanced through the still air followed by a tremendous splash of water.
“Guess we know why the river is like this,” Twilight said as a large water serpent came into view.
The said serpent had the brightest orange hair Twilight had ever seen and was sobbing his eyes out and punching the water as his purple scaled body writhed underneath. Twilight braced herself for either a violent or dramatic response.
“Excuse me, sir? Why are you crying?” Twilight bravely called out.
“Oh, I don’t know,” The serpent sarcastically cried, not even surprised at the appearance of ponies and the odd dragon, “It might be because I was sitting here minding my own business, when this large cloud of purple smoke just whisked past me and tore half of my beautiful mustache, clean off! Now I look simply horrid!”
The dramatic response then. The serpent threw himself back into the water dramatically, dousing Twilight and her friends with a wave of water. Twilight shrieked in surprise as the water soaked her. She shuddered from the sudden chill and magically dried herself.
“Oh gimme a break,” Rainbow grumbled. Water dripped off her mane and her feathers clumped together.
“So that’s what all the fussing is about?” Applejack perplexedly asked, shaking like a dog to rid the excess water.
“Why of course it is! How could you all be so insensitive!” Rarity demanded heatedly with a flat mane, “Oh just look at his lovely luminescent scales! And his expertly quaffed mane! Your fabulous manicure! All ruined without your beautiful mustache,”
The serpent, who had so far agreed with Rarity’s assessment, threw his claws up and hugged his head in shame, “It’s true! I’m hideous!”
Twilight fought the urge to snicker at the reaction. She cleared her throat awkwardly when Rarity turned to glare at her.
“I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected!” Rarity declared, magically drying her mane perfectly.
Darting forward, she grabbed onto one of the serpent’s scales and tore it off. Twilight winced in sympathy when the serpent cried out. Her own aching shoulder reminded her exactly how it felt.
“Rarity what are you-?” Spike began to ask, only to cut himself off in shock when Rarity brought the scale down onto her tail.
Rarity’s perfectly curled tail was lifted in the pony’s magic and it attached itself to the serpent’s mustache stump. Rarity was left with the whip-like end. She looked oddly naked without it. The serpent perked up happily.
“My mustache! It looks simply wonderful!”
“You look smashing,” Rarity nodded approvingly.
“Oh Rarity, your beautiful tail,” Spike said sadly, eyeing the whip-like stump.
“It’s fine, my dear,” Rarity grinned slightly, “Short tails are in this season. Besides, it’ll grow back,”
“So would the mustache,” Rainbow mumbled shrewdly.
“Hey look! We can cross now, let’s go!” Spike exclaimed.
Twilight jumped over the water rather than walk through it. She didn’t think the cold would affect her too much, but better safe than sorry. She and her friends bade farewell to the serpent and they continued on. The dormant leyline was close now.
“Hey look! There it is!” Spike shimmied off Twilight’s back and galloped on his own when he saw the ruins.
Twilight sighed good-naturedly at Spike’s impatient behavior.
“Spike! Wait for us!” Applejack called out joyfully just as Twilight spotted the detached hanging bridge.
Her breath caught in her throat. The cliff-face was sheer, not like the one the group slid down. This was a straight drop to the bottom. She didn’t even know how far it went down since the ravine was covered with fog.
Right as Spike reached the bridge, he looked back still galloping full tilt, “I know but-”
Twilight saw the moment Spike’s front hoof charged off the side into the open air. She saw Spike’s momentarily surprised expression. Then the rest of his body followed in slow-motion.
“Spike!” Twilight took off faster than the rest of the ponies, claws gouging deep rivets into the ground as they dug into the earth. She shoved someone over but she couldn’t care less. Spike went over the edge with a short yell of shock. Twilight’s heart lodged itself into her throat as she watched Spike’s green mane vanish. Ignoring the burning in her shoulder, Twilight picked up speed.
Without a second thought, Twilight dove into the deep fog, wings held close to her body in order to fall faster than gravity alone. The dense fog made it hard to see anything. She would need to rely on her ears and nose.
Each time her heartbeat, she imagined an outcome worse and worse. Spike laying in a crumpled heap at the bottom. Spike stuck on a rock spire. Spike slipping through her claws like water. She wouldn’t lose him. She couldn’t. There wasn’t a way she could live with herself if she lost Spike now.
She caught him by the edge of his little vest. The bottom of the ravine was mere feet from where Twilight arrested his momentum. Spike was frozen in terror and didn’t move as Twilight flew them back up. She deposited him on the ground and in front of all their friends, roared, “What were you thinking?!”
Twilight’s heart seized in her chest as she again thought of what might’ve been, “You could’ve died!”
She gathered him up in her claws and held him close, “Don’t ever scare me like that again,”
Spike didn’t verbally respond. But his body began to tremble as he started to sob.
“How are we going to get past this?” Pinky complained, breaking the awkward silence that befell her friends.
“Duh,” Rainbow responded, wiggling her wings.
“Oh yeah!” Pinky jumped excitedly.
Twilight didn’t let her grip on Spike wane as Rainbow dove down and brought the bridge back up. She disappeared into the fog, presumably to the other side to tie it up. Spike’s crying had stopped, but he still hid his face against Twilight’s chest.
“Are you alright, darling?” Rarity asked Spike.
Spike hummed a despondent affirmation. Twilight sighed, pulling Spike away to survey him herself. His eyes were cast down on the ground and didn’t move.
When Twilight turned her attention to the other side, seeing as the fog had thinned, she caught sight of Rainbow talking with three other ponies. The other ponies were some sort of magical construct as their forms wavered and blurred at times.
Then it was as if a jolt of electricity zapped Twilight’s tail fur and everything clicked into place. The forest had its own magic, but it was more of a peaceful hum that faded into the background. Whenever something happened to the group, her sensitive tail fur picked up on it. The trials are no mere coincidence.
“Oh no,” Twilight muttered before shouting, “Rainbow! Don’t listen to them!”
Suddenly the fog muffled and obscured their vision, growing thicker by the moment. Her prickling tail fur stood on end.
“That don’t look good,” Applejack remarked as Twilight prepared to fly over.
However, Rainbow Dash flew back through the fog before Twilight could fly through, blowing most of it away and landing in front of them.
“See? I never leave my friends hanging,” she boasted as she and her friends made their way across the repaired bridge.
Twilight blew out a silent breath she had been holding. If she was going by the pattern, her trial would be next.