//------------------------------// // Damsels in Distress // Story: New Beginnings // by Saro0fdemonz //------------------------------// She panted a little, the spear falling from her shoulder. Try as she might she couldn't keep it balanced as Zecora had. "I...I can't..." "Do not say that Fluttershy! Pick it up again, you've got to try!" Zecora said to her, helping her balance the spear on her shoulder. The zebra stood beside her, showing her the form once again. With a slight shift of her weight the spear thrust forward, another shift backwards and it slipped back along her body. Fluttershy took a slow breath and again tried to mimic the zebra, only to have the spear fly forward and slam into a tree. Zecora plucked it from the tree, placing it back on top of the pegasi's shoulder. "Almost my friend, please try again." The pegasus nodded and slowed her movements, shifting her weight forward just so, the spear sliding forward. Amazed that it had remained atop her shoulder she almost forgot to shift her weight back, the spear staying vigilant on her shoulder. The zebra smiled. "You see? We are almost ready." "CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!" Honeycrisp roared, the hydra she rode atop rushing into battle. Friend and Foe alike turned and ran as the beast trampled its way across the battlefield, guided by the pegasus. High above the explosions rang out, drawing the attention of the pegasus so high up in the air. A single glance up revealed the fight was worse up there. Held in the claw of Discord himself were the Princess' "Oh my goodness!" she screamed, drawing the attention of her friends. It only took Piper and Sunburst a moment to change their flight patterns and a moment later they were rocketing toward the trapped ponies, only to have the Lord of Disharmony vanish from the fight, taking his creatures with him. All stood in silence at the sudden end of the battle. After the shock wore off they quickly gathered the wounded and dead, making their way back to camp. Honeycrisp stamped her hoof on the head she stood on, the other heads turning toward her. "We gotta go after them" -- Dinky carefully wove layer after layer of magic over the Kirin, doing her best not to break out into tears as she slowly patched the hole in his wing. "Amethyst, that was so reckless..." he only chuckled at her. "Thought I was suppose to be called Honesty while we are here." he teased. "We're in our own tent, it doesn't matter." her mouth answered before she could stop to think, only making the wounded Kirin smile at her. she sighed and mumbled under her breath, her next layer of magic pulling just a tiny bit harder on his wing than needed, making him wince slightly. Though the smile never faded, at least until... "The Princess' are gone!" Emerald yelled as she burst into the tent, bruises and scraps covered her back and she still kept herself over Nova as a shield. Amethyst sprang up out of bed, stumbling for a moment. "Gone?! What do you mean gone?!" "Well...The history tomes never mentioned this and i'm not sure if it was suppose to happen but Discord took them. In the middle of the fight he captured them and vanished. I managed to find my mothers magical signature and track it. They are somewhere in the Everfree forest." Nova said quietly. Amethyst sat, leaning against the bed he had been resting in moments ago. They needed a plan, a way to find and save Luna and Celestia. But what could they do? They were just a bunch of kids, they shouldn't have been here in the first place. Amethyst looked around the room, everypony looking back at him. "Wait a minute...wheres Honey and sunburst?" they all looked around. "Pipers missing too! Do you think they..." Nova's eyes were wide as the thought crossed her mind. "No...they couldn't be..." "Are you sure this...thing...will work?" Rarity asked looking at the strange contraption. A unicorn sprang up on top of it, grinning like a fool. "Of course it'll work ya silly filly. Nuthin but the best from yours truly." An earth pony near the bottom of the contraption sighed and shook her head. "I still think this little machine of yours is complete nonsense." "Hey, I told you it would be useful someday." "You claimed we would need it to face off a zombie pony invasion." the earth pony said with a raised eyebrow. "Well we might still need it then too! You never know!" the earth pony sighed. "I apologize for her attitude, this is just simply who she is." "Aw come on Tavi, ya know ya love it." the unicorn grinned, throwing a hoof around her marefriend. Octavia sighed a little and shook her head. Even in the armor she wore she still held the same appearance everypony knew her for. Calm, collected, sophisticated. Meanwhile her marefriend who was better known as DJ-Pon3 wore no armor and spent her entire time gloating about her machine. Their 'Secret Weapon' "What exactly is this thing suppose to do again?" Rarity asked. Vinyl Scratch only grinned as she patted it with her hoof. "Oh you'll see soon enough, you'll all see" Two shimmering dragon eyes stared into the darkness as their owner trudged along the path of the dungeons. Deep within her memories she knew these dungeons well, memories that haunted her even though they were not her own. It was hard to convince herself of that. They were hers after all. She shook her head. None of that was important right now, what was important was getting out of the dungeons before they all starved to death. or before Riku and Chrome bleed to death she stumbled as the thought crossed her mind. She couldn't think like that. she refused to think like that. They were going to survive this. She turned her head a little, looking at the sleeping form of Riku on her back. She had done all she could for his wings and hoof, but with her limited magic all that she could do was to slow the bleeding. She froze as something brushed against her, sighing in relief when the Doctor came into view. "Oh Doctor..you scared me..." "Sorry Miss Nyx, I am somewhat disappointed to say I don't share your excellent night vision and I haven't quite healed up completely. I'm just glad your magic was strong enough to break the rest of us free." He sighed, leaning against Derpy Ditzy Nyx corrected herself. The grey mare didn't deserve the name so many had attached to her, though she didn't seem to mind. "Its thanks to Riku we got out of there..." she said quietly. "It was your magic though. You're a strong mare Miss Nyx, stronger than most. I know it was hard on you but we've got to keep moving. Are we near the exit?" he asked. Nyx nodded and chuckled a little as she realized he couldn't see her. "Yes, its just up ahead. We'll have to be careful. No doubt Discords clouds are still wandering about and who knows what else." I know...I've seen Luna's memories...I know exactly what sick, twisted creations he has waiting for us... "C'mon! We gotta go faster Frank!" Honeycrisp yelled, the hydra doing its best to move faster at the whim of the young pony. Two pegasi kept pace with the hydra, not wanting to leave it or their sibling behind. "Should we have left without the others like this?" Sunburst asked. "We don't have much of a choice, if we stopped to get the others we would've lost sight of them. Even at this speed they are way ahead of us." Piper said, struggling not to take off after the fading image of Celestia. Honeycrisp bit her lip. "We're gonna lose em if we keep at it like this, ya'll go on ahead. Ah'll head back and tell th' others t' head this way after ya." "Are ya sure crisp?" Sunburst asked. The elder pegasus nodded with a smile, tapping the head she stood on. The other heads nodded, screeching to a stop and turning back toward the camp. Piper and Sunburst nodded to one another, giving their wings a powerful flick up and then down as they sped forward. "We're getting closer!" Sunburst yelled over the wind. "Yea! We should catch up to him soon!" "But what do we do when we catch up!?" she yelled back. Piper was at a loss for words. They had taken off after them without coming up with a plan. Now that he thought on it, they should have just gone to Dinky. Her magic box thing could have probably taken them to the Princess'. On top of that, this was Discord they were chasing, it took all six elements of harmony to defeat him before and the previous Elements had almost lost themselves to his chaos. How were the two of them going to be a match for him. Piper racked his brain, slowing himself a little. Sunburst noticing him slowing down also slowed herself, keeping her eyes on Discord. "Piper, we were goin awful fast, do ya think he noticed us hollerin?" She asked a bit worried. "No,if he noticed he would of turned around by now. wait..." Piper continued to watch Discord. "He's suppose to be some sort of god isn't he? Why doesn't he just teleport to wherever he is going...unless...He knows!" Piper flung himself toward Sunburst as a cloud slammed down toward them from above, clipping Pipers wing and dragging him down into the forest below. "PIPER!" Sunburst called after him, screaming as cloud after cloud zipped toward her. She couldn't dodge them and catch Piper, there were too many. With a frustrated yell she sped up into the air, breaking through the sound barrier and sending the clouds flying in all directions. She snapped her wings and leaned forward, rocketing away from a cloud that chased after her. She rolled and weaved, laughing as two clouds collided and exploded, though her laughter quickly subsided as she remembered Piper. Her eyes scanned the forest below her, looking for any sign of her nephew. But she saw none. She had seen what those clouds did to a pony, she couldn't bare to think of what had happened to Piper. She let a sob reach her throat and hovered there for a moment, Discord getting further away with each passing moment. There was nothing she could do for Piper if that cloud hit him and she had seen it hit him. "I'm so sorry..." she took off toward Discord once more, determined to avenge her fallen sibling. "Someone is coming" Fluttershy said softly, putting a hoof to her lip and performing a raven-call, a warning to Zecora that somepony was passing by. She crouched down on the tree branch she rested on, letting her eyes wander along the path. A moment later a raven-call replied and she leapt down, spear balanced on her shoulder and her mane tied back out of her eyes as she crouched down low, her wing curled around another spear. "HALT!" A pony called, stepping forward in the darkness. "We mean no harm friend. We are searching for something." the stallion spoke. Fluttershy said nothing, waiting to see if this pony really meant what he said. She had seen Discords work first-hoof last time he was around. She wasn't going to fall for any tricks. Realizing she had nothing to say, the stallion continued. "I'm a soldier in Celestia's Royal Guard. The Princess is in danger. I know you pony-folk of the Everfree might not know of her but she is very important to us and we have to save her. We know she is here in the forest being held prisoner by our enemy." "The Princess? in the forest?" Fluttershy asked, a little shocked before putting on a blank face. A pony stepped forward. "Wait a minute...Shy? is that you?" the pegasus asked. Fluttershy recognized her immediately as she heard her voice. "R...Rainbow?" She asked, standing upright. The pegasus leapt forward and hugged her tightly "Thank goodness your alright! But what the hay are you doin?! Did Discord get to you?" She asked, looking the pony up and down. "N..no I'm fine. oh hold on." Fluttershy smiled and whistled twice, Zecora leaping down from a nearby tree once she knew all was safe and the element of surprise was no longer needed. "Thank goodness you are a friend, we would not want this to be your end." The zebra said, several spears balanced on her back. "Zecora's been teaching me to defend myself. I hope I didn't scare you..." Fluttershy said softly. "That's pretty amazing shy, uh...do ya know how t' use that thing?" she asked. Fluttershy nodded with a small smile. "Good, we'll need you then. Discord has moved the castle here in the Everfree forest where the old castle use to be. Its the same place you defeated Nightmare Moon." Shining armor said "The long way you take, a shorter path I can make." Zecora spoke up, walking toward a nearby bush and pulling it aside. "To save the princess from the Everfree, you all must follow me." Amethyst blinked as Honeycrisp slid down the Hydra's neck and tail, skidding to a stop in front of them. "Discord ran off with the Princess'!" she yelled. "We know." he said. "And Pi...huh? Ya do? Then why are ya still here?!" she asked. "We were looking for you and the others." "Well they are on his tail! c'mon we gotta go!" "Wait...Sunburst and Piper are chasing Discord?!" Dinky asked in shock. "We have to go! Now!" she pushed everypony toward the TARDIS, not giving anypony time to argue as she rushed inside, quickly pushing buttons and pulling levers. She zipped past Amethyst and flung the door open, finding Piper laying on his side, mumbling as the figure of a pony stood over him. She swore she heard a faint 'get up, you're stronger than this' from the figure but she must have imagined it. The pony glanced at her and gave a nod that she didn't understand before spreading its wings wide and flapping them quickly, kicking up the surrounding dirt into the air, momentarily blinding the unicorn. When the dust had cleared both ponies were gone. "n...No! Where is he?" she looked around for any sign of the ponies. It was impossible, the two couldn't have just vanished. She was sure that was a pegasus she saw standing over Piper, even with the kind of magic a pegasus could perform, none of them came anywhere near the realm of teleportation. The pony didn't appear strong enough to carry Piper, and even if the pony could, there wasn't anyway they could vanish so quickly without her catching a glimpse of them. "Dinky...what the hay are you doing?" Amethyst asked, placing a claw on her shoulder. "You didn't see?" she asked, looking back at him. "There's nothing here. C'mon, we gotta go help the others." He said, his worry showing in his voice. She knew what she had seen. She turned to look where Piper had been a moment ago and sighed, heading back to the TARDIS "If we hurry we can catch Sunburst" "Get up, you're stronger than this." Pipers eyes fluttered open, a shadowy figure standing over him. His head hurt, everything hurt. His wings wouldn't move...his body wouldn't move. What had happened? He tried to sit up and collapsed, gasping in pain. A moment later the figure above him spread its wings kicking up a dust storm. Piper could faintly hear Dinky and Amethyst talking before he lost consciousness once more. When he awoke again it was dark and the figure wore a cloak, though he could see the wings resting on the figures back. He couldn't make out the color but they looked strangely familiar. "Wh..who the hay are you?" Piper asked as he sat up, rubbing his head. "You went down pretty hard, you got lucky. You can't rely on luck, it'll get you killed." the figure chuckled and shook its head. "Who are you?" Piper asked. "You'll found out eventually, but for now I can't tell you. Just trust me when I say the two of us are pretty close. That's not important right now. You need to get moving. There is a lot riding on you right now and you can't just sit here. You don't have time to recover and if you don't get moving now then everypony you love is going to die." Piper just sat there in silence. "Well? are you going to let Sunburst die? what about Honeycrisp? what about Strawberry? Are you just going to abandon them?!" The figure stepped closer and Piper smashed his hoof into its face, knocking it on its back. "I don't know who the buck you think you are or how you know my friends. But I will never abandon my friends. Now if you're gonna help me then shut up and help me, otherwise quit talkin down to me and leave me alone" Piper glared at the figure who stood with a chuckle. "Good. If you just turn around and head through the thick part of the forest you'll reach the castle before the others. We'll meet again Piper." the figure spread its wings, kicking up a storm of dust and vanishing, leaving Piper and the doused campfire alone. Piper shook his head and turned, rushing through the forest. If what the figure had said was true, he'd find Sunburst and the others this way. He would find Celestia and Luna. He would find Discord.