The train car immediately inclined, hot sparks shooting off as the metal came into contact with the steel rails. The screech was deafening, overpowering the screams of the six ponies in the cab. A violet glow encased the train car as Twilight used her magic to slow the car down. The other five ponies were clutching their seats as hard as they could to stay on, their eyes squeezed tightly together.
Cloud managed to keep his balance as the train car began to slow, his mind working through ideas. The other part of the train was immediately heading towards the canyon, and it was all up to Twilight to save their hides. He was losing blood fast, and his strength was already beginning to dwindle.
Suddenly, Fluttershy's weak grip was loosened, and her yellow body soared through the air, heading straight for the hot sparks. It had taken her completely by surprise, and she couldn't react in time to use her wings. Cloud made a bold jump, wrapping an arm around her as he landed on his back into one of the seats, gripping whatever he could in order to avoid falling away.
Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief before she felt something warm and wet leak onto her head. She turned to see Cloud's wound leaking profusely, and she shrieked in horror as she stared at it. She didn't know what she could do, seeing how they were in a bad situation.
Cloud was losing tons of blood, and they had forgot to bring a first aid kit. He could possibly die from the amount of blood being lost.
"I...can...almost...." Twilight growled, biting her teeth as her horn flashed and sparkled, the train car beginning to slow considerably. The sparks were now losing their numbers, the car slowing as it approached the broken bridge. With one last purple burst from her horn, Twilight managed to halt the train, just inches before the emptiness of the canyon below them.
"Sweet...Celestia..." Applejack gasped, falling onto the floor, "I'm not gonna be on another train for a long while..."
Cloud stood up, setting Fluttershy down, "We have to get out of here quickly. Whatever those things are...they could easily get at us right now." He winced at the pain on his chest, his body swaying before he managed to steady himself using his sword.
"Darling!" Rarity distressed, her eyes wide as she skidded over to him on the inclined floor, "You're hurt...you need to get fixed up fast!"
"Later!" He coughed, his huge sword spinning around in his hands. With three quick slashes and a kick to the train car wall, a crude escape path had been opened. Cloud jumped out, his vision beginning to fade as he observed his surroundings.
He was in a wide open field, yet there was a forest about half a mile away that seemed to outline the canyon cliffs. He heard growls and snarls and turned his head to see more of the blue monsters charging down the train tracks. They would be on them in mere minutes.
"Come on!" Cloud called to the train, the six ponies jumping out from the hole, "We gotta move!" He took a step and almost fell flat on his face, managing to catch himself.
"Not yet!" Twilight shouted, "Cloud, you need help! Your blood loss is going to be fatal by the time we reach the forest! You can't keep going on like this!" Cloud cursed at himself for forgetting the cure materia. He could have definitely used that at a time like this. It was probably back with the former healer of his party.
"I'll heal up when we get there, I promise. Now run!" The ponies stared at him disbelievingly before they each took off, sprinting straight for the forest. He took a moment to recollect himself before turning and running after them, the blue scaly monsters gaining on them rather quickly.
For being small cartoon-like technicolor ponies, they could sure run pretty fast. Even with Cloud being the super warrior that he was, he found it difficult to keep up with them. Well, the blood that was pumping out of his body wasn't quite helping either. His visuals were beginning to smudge together, and the pounding in his head was just becoming more painful with each step. They were so close to the forest, but the blue scaled monsters were just nipping at their heels.
As the ponies ran into the line of the forest, Cloud knew that he couldn't go on. He tore the sword from his back and steadied himself, his black boots digging into the grass as he assumed his usual battle stance. He couldn't clearing see the monsters, but he knew at this point it didn't matter. He had enough energy to unleash just one more attack.
A blue misty aura encased Cloud's sword as the monsters approached him, howling their hatred and their bloodlust. A powerful gust of wind suddenly blew around his body, creating a massive cyclone that completely surrounded him. Gritting his teeth in pain and exhaustion, Cloud slashed his sword forward, firing the tornado into the mob of the attacking creatures. They all skidded to a stop, but it was too late. The cyclone immediately swept them up, the powerful winds tearing up grass and the leaves of the trees as it tossed the monsters high into the air and far into the distance, quickly eliminating the creatures altogether. When the wind finally settled itself, all the monsters were gone.
"Well I'll be..." Applejack blinked, slowly moving out from the forest, "Cloud is just full of surprises..." Their joy was short lived as Cloud hit the ground on his back, his sword falling limply down beside him.
"CLOUD!" The mares cried, dashing out from the trees to his side. Fluttershy knelt down at his side, biting her lip as she gazed into his wound.
"Oh no..." She sobbed, "He's already lost a lot of blood..." Twilight was already working her healing magic as a violet beam trailed off from her horn onto his wound.
“He'll be fine..." Twilight said hopefully, "Rarity, help me lift him into the forest!" The white mare's horn glowed as well, and Cloud's body began to lift up as the two mare's began to slowly move him into the woods.
"Applejack, Pinkie, see if you can grab his sword." Twilight said, concentrating as she delicately tried to heal Cloud and move him at the same time, "Rainbow Dash, I want you to fly up and see if there are any towns nearby...Fluttershy, ask some of the animals if there is some shelter nearby. I don't want any of those monsters finding us too soon."
Each of the ponies immediately began to get to work. The two earth ponies found that Cloud's sword was nearly twice as heavy as Big Mac's plow, and they both had to grip onto the hilt with their mouths and tug as hard as they could to get the thing to move just a few centimeters. Their jaws would probably be way too sore the next day.
Rainbow Dash immediately took to the skies, her eyes scanning the immediate area for any civilization. She was met with nothing but the large canyon and the forest, with Canterlot still being puny in the distance. Determined to find something of value, she quickly sped away, her eyes scanning the landscape for anything.
Fluttershy had disappeared for a few moments, and when she had returned the ponies were already a good distance into the forest. Applejack and Pinkie had managed to tie thick enchanted ropes around Cloud's sword to help them pull the massive metal weapon. Rarity and Twilight were still slowly carrying Cloud through the air, but they were being hit by fatigue.
"I found a cave not too far from here that could hide us..." Fluttershy informed, "It's a bit dark and scary, but...we should be okay there..."
Rainbow Dash landed close by, shaking her head angrily, "We're all alone out here...Ponyville is too far away, and Canterlot is still a speck on the cliff. There's another bridge that crosses the canyon, but its half a day's walk away. Shouldn't we try to contact Celestia so that she could bring us chariots or something?!"
Panting, the two unicorns carefully placed Cloud onto a soft pile of leaves before plopping down on their flanks. Rarity immediately went to whining about her hair, grabbing a mirror from her saddle bag just to shriek at her own dirtied appearance.
"The pegasi royal guards are all in Cloudsdale getting ready for the big race," Twilight sighed, "You know, the one that you were going to participate in? They won't get back for a few days. And Celestia has her hooves full with some royal business apparently, and I don't want to put anymore onto her plate than what's already there." Rainbow simply snorted before casting Cloud a sorrowful gaze.
"This is all my fault..." Rainbow said quietly, "If... I wasn't so stupid... Cloud wouldn't have gotten hurt..."
"Rainbow, I'm sure Cloud forgives you." Applejack said, taking a much needed break from pulling the sword, "Besides, Twilight said he'll be fine, didn't she?" Rainbow didn't look convinced and quickly broke away, muttering to herself.
A few moments later, the ponies resumed their trek through the forest to the cave that Fluttershy had spoken about. By the time they had arrived, the sun was already drifting down underneath the horizon and the air had dropped significantly in temperature. The wind that was whistling through the trees was icy, and they could hear the howls of the wildlife creatures off in the distance.
The cave was exactly what Fluttershy had described it to be; it was very cold, and very scary to be in. The cave was located on a sloping hill and seemed to travel underground for quite a distance. Settling near the entrance, the ponies finally stopped to make camp.
They had managed to gather a pile of leaves to lie Cloud down onto. His wound was still bad, but Twilight's magic had stopped the bleeding from continuing further. Fluttershy had gathered a few natural healing herbs and luckily had a few bandages ready. Applejack and Pinkie were completely exhausted and collapsed where they had stood. Twilight had started a fire from a few sticks that Fluttershy had gathered, and Rainbow was sitting in a dark corner silently brooding.
"Oh, look at this place!" Rarity complained, "It's dirty and smelly! Why, my beautiful white coat will be ruined if I lay down for even a second!"
"Deal with it, sugarcube..." Applejack growled, "You don't have much of a choice..."
"There's a stream close by..." Fluttershy stated, gently pouring a cream over Cloud's wound, "You could always wash up there..."
"And looks like we really need some water," Applejack chuckled, "Pinkie's infinite energy seems completely gone...the poor mare's already snoring away!" The friends, with the exception of Dash and Pinkie, laughed quietly amongst themselves.
"You know..." Twilight began, looking over at Cloud's unconscious form, "This... Is the second time he saved us." The others nodded in silent agreement, their attention on their sleeping savior.
"Yeah..." Applejack winced, "He has done a lot for us... And all we can do is try to take care of his battered body..."
"Are we... Really that useless?" Rarity asked aloud, pawing at the ground gently as her ears flattened, "We are the elements of harmony... But all we managed to do for him is pull him through a forest..."
"Girls," Twilight sniffled, "We aren't useless! We've saved Equestria twice! We've helped countless ponies!"
"Yeah?" Rainbow Dash growled quietly, "Then how come all we've just been dead weight to Cloud?"
The mares sat in a thick silence as the wind rustled the leaves and the crickets chirped. There was no more sunlight, and they were each basked in the light of the small fire. It was beginning to get chilly, and each of them had gathered around it closely for the heat.
"Don't worry..." Twilight said, "We won't be a burden for much longer...It doesn't look like it, but Cloud needs us as much as we need him to get out of this forest. Girls, we aren't useless, so don't let it get to you. I'm sure at one point..." Twilight glanced back at Cloud, "He had felt useless too..."
The sound of a stick breaking instantly caused the mares to jump, the dark forest immediately grabbing their attention.
Pinkie's eyes suddenly shot up, "I'm awake!" She declared, jumping onto her hooves, "What did I miss?!"
"Shhh!" Applejack shoved an apple into Pinkie's mouth, silencing the pink mare, "Something's out there..."
They heard soft padded footsteps hitting leaves and dirt, and they were coming closer. Twilight's horn began to glow, and Rainbow Dash got into a pose to be ready to pounce.
Applejack held an apple tightly in her hoof, and Pinkie had somehow pulled out a military helmet out of nowhere.
"Geez..." A voice called in the direction of the footsteps, "First, you leave me behind and then get ready to pummel me?! I have some great friends!"
"Spike!" Twilight exclaimed, running out of the cave to immediately embrace her number one assistant. She released him quickly and looked him over with a weird look in her eye, "What... What are you doing out here?"
"You guys left me behind without saying anything!" Spike pouted, placing his claws on his hips, "I had to ask around everybody before someone told me you decided to head to Canterlot by train. I walked the entire distance just to see a completely demolished train with a broken bridge. I followed your hoof steps here. Now, what happened back there?!"
"Umm..." Rarity chuckled lightly, "Spikey Wikey, we'll tell you later. Right now, we're all resting. Cloud is..." Spike's eyes followed her gaze to Cloud's wounded form, and his eyes widened in shock.
"Oh no... Is he alright?" Spike asked, walking up to take a close look at the sleeping warrior.
"Yes..." Fluttershy nodded, "He'll be fine. I'm sure he'll be awake in no time."
"But right now, we gotta plan how we'll get to Canterlot." Twilight stated, sitting back down at the fire, "Rainbow said she saw a bridge north of here that crosses the canyon. We'll reach it tomorrow and plan our way to Canterlot by there." Twilight then grabbed a stick with her mouth and began to draw what looked like a map in the dirt.
"Theresh a shecret patsh shthat leadsh to Canthershlot." Twilight spoke, drawing the map, "Thatsh where we'll go-
"Okay, now, say that without the stick..." Spike sighed, grabbing the stick from Twilight and tossing it out of the cave.
The purple unicorn rolled her eyes, "There's a secret path that leads to Canterlot. That's where we'll go. It goes into the mountain through some ancient ruins which should lead us straight to the castle."
"Huh..." Applejack blinked, "It must be super secret...don't want any mean fellers finding their way through there."
"Yeah, it's pretty well hidden. But I know exactly where it is, so there shouldn't be any problem." Twilight nodded. She yawned and rested her head on her hooves, "Man, I'm pooped..."
Suddenly, everyone felt exhausted. Rarity had managed to make her own bed of leaves to avoid the dirty floor. Fluttershy stationed herself next to Cloud, nuzzling his arm as she rested. Applejack leaned up against the cave wall next to Pinkie Pie. Rainbow walked over and sat next to Cloud, keeping a close eye on his wound. Spike yawned and leaned his head against Twilight's back.
"Okay, everypony..." Twilight closed her eyes, "We've got a big day tomorrow."
Chapter proofreaded by LyonAzakura.
Author's Note:
Sorry if the chapter seemed a bit late to some of you...Classes have been pretty rough and I'm busy from working two jobs constantly, so I have a hard time balancing writing this and playing my video games. Please remember to comment and like! I love you guys!