Chapter 4
Twilight closed her eyes and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Why haven’t they eaten me yet? wondered the unicorn. Just get it over with so I don’t have to go through this pain!
She peeked up to see what was taking them so long. Much to her surprise, a luminescent bubble was serving as a barrier between her and the beasts, and it was protecting her friends as well. A wave of magic more powerful than anything Twilight had ever seen suddenly passed through the room, driving the hordes out of the Palace.
Twilight looked up in awe at her savior – it was Princess Luna, keeper of the Night!
“Thank you so much for saving us!” exclaimed a belated Rainbow Dash. “I thought we were dead for sure!”
A chorus of gratitude echoed from the other ponies, but Princess Luna’s countenance bore a shocked expression.
“What are you ponies doing here? The evacuation was ordered hours ago!”
“We’re here to rescue Princess Celestia!” answered Twilight. “She sent me a letter saying Canterlot was in danger!”
“And what is your name? You must be a very important pony for my sister to have personally sent you a message.”
“My name is an amalgamation of linguistic compounds primarily utilized to assign distinguishable identities so as to facilitate communication between individuals,” Twlight replied matter-of-factly, too nervous from the recent events to figure out why Princess Luna was quizzing her on simple definitions.
“Oh. Well then.”
“And just where is the Princess?” asked Rarity. “Her elegance is exemplary! I could learn a thing or two just from looking at her.”
Luna looked down disconsolately.
“She’s gone… I couldn’t stop them.”
The ponies stood still in disbelief.
“They’ve taken her back to their land. I can’t go, and I feel miserable. With Celestia gone from Equestria, the sun will never rise here. If I leave, Equestria will be without a moon too, and it will be plunged into perpetual darkness.”
Silence swept over the room. Nopony had the courage to speak after hearing the dismal news, but Twilight knew what they had to do.
“We have to protect Ponyville, Princess Luna, but once we repel the horde, we’ll go into the homeland of those hordes and rescue Princess Celestia. I promise.”
“That is admirable, but I am afraid that your mission will be futile. This enemy cannot be taken lightly.”
“What exactly are they, anyways?” asked Rainbow Dash.
Luna turned away, as if it would reduce the terror of the dreadful word.
“Trolls.”
Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were inside the basket of the hot-air balloon, crouching to avoid being seen. From time to time, Pinkie would stick her head out and stealthily look for signs of anything unusual.
“Want another cookie, Fluttershy? They’re chocolate chip!” whispered Pinkie.
“Uh, no thanks, Pinkie. I’m-I’m not that hungry.”
Fluttershy had lost her appetite after watching her friends disappear into the darkness. On top of that, she was worried about all of the animals that she loved so dearly, and she wasn’t anywhere close to comfortable leaving them in Ponyville, right in the path of the hordes.
“I should’ve spoken up before we left, Pinkie. I’m really worried about all my little-bitty animals. What if the hordes get them before we get back?”
“Don’t worry, Fluttershy! I left Gummy back in Ponyville, and I’m not worried at all! It was more important to help Twilight find Princess Celestia, because she’ll be able to save Ponyville better than everyone else combined!”
Pinkie didn’t really believe what she was saying – she just wanted to comfort Fluttershy. She definitely was worried about Gummy and all of her friends back in Ponyville, and she would’ve rather stayed to protect everyone. At the time, though, she didn’t want to let her friend Twilight down; she was starting to regret that now as she looked across the courtyard and saw nothing but the thick, black smoke.
“Um, Pinkie?”
“What is it, Fluttershy? Want to play a game? Ooh, ooh, I have a great idea for one! How about we-“
“No, look!”
Fluttershy pointed to a tree on the far side of the courtyard. At first glance, it didn’t look like anything out of the ordinary, but then a branch began to move.
There was no wind.
The trolls had spotted the two ponies inside the balloon, and they began to charge.
Pinkie Pie screamed as the green monstrosities rapidly approached. Drool was dripping from their mouths, they had their clubs raised high in the air, and they were chanting as they approached the helpless ponies.
Fluttershy quickly grabbed Pinkie Pie and began flying upwards.
“No Fluttershy, we can’t leave the balloon! We promised we’d protect it! All of the chocolate-chip cookies are in there!”
“No Pinkie, I can’t risk our lives like that. I’ve never seen such scary creatures, and they might not be very nice to us.”
“But Fluttershy, we promised!
Fluttershy didn’t want to leave the balloon behind, but she knew that they were worth more to Twilight alive than dead. She had to save Pinkie and herself, even if it meant losing the balloon.
“Fluttershy, put me down!”
“I’m awfully sorry, but they’ll just hurt us and, um, take the balloon anyways.”
“Not Alpha D-71!”
“What?”
Pinkie facehoofed at Fluttershy’s ignorance. Alpha D-71 was their only way of returning to Ponyville in time to protect it, and Fluttershy was too scared to fight for it.
But Pinkie didn’t have much leverage, hanging 15 feet in the air as Fluttershy flew in the direction of the Palace.
Both ponies expected the streets to be lined with more of the monsters, but surprisingly, they weren’t. Instead, the two ponies found a large force shield advancing towards them.
“I don’t know what this is, but we have to warn the others,” said Fluttershy timidly.
“You mean we’re going to head right towards it!? Are you crazy?” asked Pinkie Pie.
“I, I mean we, we can’t risk getting lost out here. You never know when more scary creatures could show up, and if we get lost, we’ll never be able to find our friends and warn them.”
Fluttershy flew right towards the force field, which miraculously disappeared just as they were about to pass through.
“Fluttershy! Pinkie Pie! What are you doing up there?” called a familiar voice.
“Twilight, it’s you!” replied a relieved Fluttershy. “We’re really glad to see you. You see, we were just-“
“Where’s the balloon!?” yelled Rainbow Dash, louder than she had intended.
“You see, Fluttershy was too scaredy-waredy when the big bad creepies showed up, and-“ Pinkie began before being cut off.
“You encountered the trolls!?” asked Luna.
“Yup, we saw them all right. They wouldn’t have been a match for us! I was going to offer them some cookies and we could’ve had a nice little party, but scaredypants here was a meanie-weanie and wouldn’t let me give them any cookies.”
“Thanks, Fluttershy.” Twilight smiled at the pegusus, adding, “I’m so glad you got out of there while you still could. You would’ve been eaten alive if you let them get near you! That was smart thinking.”
Pinkie Pie frowned at Twilight before turning her attention to Luna.
“Oh, I think I know you! You’re the Princess who wasn’t as princessly as the other Princess but still a Princess, right? Did you find Celestia? Did Twilight pick the wrong one? Twilight, I can’t believe you mixed up the princesses! You should know better, being Celestia’s student and all. I mean, really! How could you not know which-“
“Pinkie, Celestia’s been captured. The trolls have kidnapped her and taken her to their homeland, far away from Equestria. We have to go there to find the Princess, and we’re going as soon as we protect Ponyville. Let’s hurry; the hordes are probably already on their way!”
The seven galloped down the street as fast as they could, but when they arrived at the courtyard, they saw that the balloon had been deflated and its contents scattered throughout the area.
“Alpha D-71!” cried Pinkie.
“Oh, darlings! How are we ever going to get out of this dreadful place now? Look at what those ruffians did to our balloon!” cried Rarity.
“There are some chariots left nearby,” said Luna. “You’ll be able to take one of those, and Anna Malgamation’s magic should be able to power you back to Ponyville.”
“You’re not coming, Princess?” inquired Twilight, purposefully ignoring Luna’s butchering of her name.
“No, Anna Malgamation. I must remain here, where I can be safe. If those trolls ever captured me, too, Equestria would be without the light of the moon, and things would be even worse than they are now!”
For Ponyville, however, things couldn’t possibly get any worse.