//------------------------------// // The Resistance // Story: Thick Scales, Warm Heart // by Freeda91 //------------------------------// The Resistance Ashes and smoke was everything the panting pony could see; separated from her friends and family, and left to run for her life as the dragons approached her with fiery claws stretched. Her mane was originally yellow, but turned to black due to the acting of the health damaging smoke. She was running merely to save her life but on several points she thought about going back and dying to the dragons, having lost hope on several occasions and finding herself alone most times. If her life was condemned to be empty and lonely for as long as it would last, it might even be better for her to die without suffering an eternity without the ones she loved. She shook those thoughts away from her mind; the dragons were getting closer by her distraction. However, how long could she keep running and staying in the world of the living? The question would never be answered until it was already over; which, to her dismay, would be answered soon as the ash covered mare had gotten herself into a dead end and being an earth pony had no way out nor any possibility of surviving when the dragons showed up. She regretted being away from her home and having lost sight of her friends, which could have been helpful somehow. She looked back only to see the face of death; a dark blue dragon doubling the size of a stallion, with deep black claws and spikes, and terrifying crimson eyes. The brown coated pony shrank herself into a cuddle and waited for everything to end as the dark dragon breathed in, in order to release a blast of fire. The earth pony closed her eyes and imagined her family once again, wished she was with them; that would ease the pain she’d feel in short. Since the infernal heat of the fire didn’t touch her even though she could hear the dragon exhaling fiercely, thus not feeling the consequent deadly cold of death, she opened her eyes to impress herself and gasp to a point she forgot about the dragon. A purple glass-like bubble was covering her and a unicorn which, for her, appeared out of nowhere, and repelled the flames to the sides. The blonde pony must have missed something, because the next thing she saw was that the two of them suddenly appeared inside some sort of bad smelling tunnel. She glanced everywhere not understanding whatever had happened and turned to the unicorn for an explanation; it was the first time for her to witness magic. The purple unicorn turned to her smiling and introduced herself “Hi, I’m Twilight Sparkle” The earth pony didn’t answer right back; she was still amazed by Twilight’s magic “I-I’m Sandy Hoof” answered the earth pony. “I’m from Baltimare” “Nice to meet you” greeted Twilight with a big smile, and pointed behind the pony “Applejack here will take you to a dragon-proof place” she explained to Sandy. The earth pony immediately turned around to see another earth pony, Applejack, carrying a lantern with her. “Sure thing Twilight” Said Applejack as she gestured the pony to follow her. As she did so, she saw Twilight disappear in a purple flash; no matter she had already seen it, magic still amazed her. “So” Applejack tried to have a conversation to pass the time “Ah hear you’re from Baltimare; do yah know if the dragons made it there?” “Well, I was spending my holidays here with some friends here when the invasion began, so I honestly don’t know” answered the brown pony, not really giving Applejack a good answer. “It has been a month since the invasion began, Ah’m glad you survived on your own” Applejack commented, as she speed up a little when she visualized the exit. Sandy followed behind her. “Actually, I was a prisoner; like most ponies in town. It surprised and relieved me how a small dragon persuaded the others to take us prisoners instead of killing us in the act…” Applejack had reached the door and was on the verge of opening it, but came to a halt as she realized Sandy had mentioned Spike; her full attention was now set on the earth pony’s words “I took the risk of trying to escape even though it had been warned that by doing so, they had the King’s permission to kill. Hopefully your friend was there to save me.” Applejack was terribly confused by Spike’s acting; she’d need to discuss it with Twilight and the others when they came back from their rescuing duties. For now she had to lead the new pony into the ‘harmony castle’ for her to rest and have some medical assistance if she needed it. The blonde pony opened the wooden door and revealed a cobblestoned staircase which, once walked up, would take them to the main hall were dozens of ponies were. The first time Applejack had visited that place, the pedestal in the center held the first five elements of harmony, although not on their true form. This time however, the empty spots were replaced by beautiful flowers; which made the statue what liven the room the most. “Let me show yah around” Applejack offered, to which Sandy just nodded “On the room to the left there’s Fluttershy’s food recollection and storage” She said pointing to said pegasus who was leading a group of animals carrying berries and other kinds of plants to a big room with dozens of big shelves; since she had such a special touch with the forest animals, they helped her and her group of ponies find the fruits and vegetables they needed for food and medicine. Poking on her back, Applejack continued “Over there is Zecora’s potion chamber, where she makes all kind of curative potions” Indeed, Zecora, assisted by Applebloom, was making some sort of stew-like brew with some of the plants brought by Fluttershy’s team and around them where a couple of colts who every then hurried to grab a bottle of whatever potion it was and rushed to the infirmary, where even more ponies were attending the injured ones; some patients were awfully hurt and needed forced rest, completely stationary on their beds. “Ah’m afraid that’s pretty much all there is, Sandy” Applejack explained “yah can go ask for a pillow at the big hall and rest; that’s all the furniture available we have. Since it’s already getting late we’ll be serving dinner soon. As for tomorrow yah’ll be given a task; until then try to fit in.” The brown pony was happy to now understand what every place was and headed to the hall as soon as she spotted one of her friends waving at her, making her smile and yell out of happiness and leaving a tired Applejack to finish her chores. On her way to the kitchen to help with dinner, she was stopped midway by Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, who seemed to have finished their job, which consisted on roaming the town in search of ponies and lead them underground where somepony needed to take them to the castle, like Applejack did. Depending on the danger of their situation Twilight would intervene and help rescue the ponies with her magic. Twilight’s attempt of saving Sandy was a clear example of somepony in a dangerous situation. “Hey Applejack” greeted the blue pegasus. Applejack could tell she was in a hurry just by looking at her expression “Have you seen Derpy? I’m afraid that she might have gone to the town…again” Rainbow Dash was completely right to be in a hurry; knowing Derpy she might have gone off even when danger is everywhere. It felt weird to be afraid of something like going to Ponyville, but the current situation made it that way. “Ah’m sorry, sugarcube” Applejack replied shaking her head; Rainbow Dash hurried to another room in search for her careless friend, not allowing Applejack to say whatever else she would say. “Wanna help me cook, Pinkie?” Asked Applejack to her pink friend, completely ignoring Rainbow Dash’s commotion and sudden flyout. “Sure” quickly agreed the enthusiastic pony as she followed Applejack into the kitchen. The first thing they could see as soon as they got in, was Granny Smith and the Cakes, arguing about whether it was better to make either one of their recipes. The term arguing in this case included a food fight, though the only ones taking part in it were Granny Smith and Mrs. Cake. Granny Smith had half the helpers confused with her odd but useful ways of cooking, and most times nopony understood what she wanted them to do. The cakes on the other hand only wanted to do desserts, probably because that was what they did best, nut lacked healthy food. To solve this culinary team division, Pinkie Pie stood up and presented her very own idea. An hour later, nearly a dozen ponies came out of the kitchen carrying several big baskets of delicious treats; from fresh fruits to freshly baked muffins and cakes. Since they now relied on the fruits they found in the forest, there weren’t a flavor in specific, like Applejack’s trademark apple pie, but there was more variety in taste; they now counted with a big variety of wild berries and inexplicably due to the biome, bananas. Applejack was one the ponies who carried these baskets, and dropped them one by one on a couple of tables for other ponies before finally arriving at her friend’s. She gave small plates to everypony and placed a big fat ‘random pie’ in the middle of the table. Twilight used her magic to serve her friends the tasty meal; it was called the ‘random pie’, made by Pinkie Pie, because not even she knew what was inside. Hopefully it wouldn’t end up like Applejack’s disastrous worm muffins. As Twilight levitated a slice to Applejack, she noticed her down expression; she seemed to be troubled or at least tired, more than usual. It was true Applejack had worked harder than everypony, but she usually worked even harder and looked half as tired as then “Is something wrong Applejack?” asked the worried unicorn. “Ah’m just a little confused Twi” Replied the blonde pony “You see, one of the ponies we saved told me that most ponies have been taken prisoners” Applejack tried to explain herself. “So…” Twilight didn’t need to explain she didn’t understand because it was all written on her blank face. “She told me a ‘small dragon’ commanded the other ones not to kill them, but to imprison them.” She made her point by making emphasis on ‘small dragon’, so they all immediately knew what the topic of the conversation was. Since Applejack stopped explaining, and Twilight didn’t totally see an anomaly or something which should be confusing she repeated her failure to understand “What would be wrong with that? I mean it’s already settled that he’s playing for the other side. What’s so strange about taking them prisoners?” “What Ah mean to say is that he doesn’t want ponies to die, but he did kill Rarity himself.” Applejack didn’t notice, but she had raised the level of her voice to a point several ponies were staring at her; not to mention she had also smashed the table in a blast of anger. “Calm down, I know how you feel about talking about this; we all know” Answered softly the purple pony in an attempt to chill her friend; which actually worked and made a disturbed Applejack settle down and take a bite at her slice of pie, tasting the strange but tasty combination of blueberries and carrots. “But your point is interesting though” Twilight pointed out. “What if it was another small dragon?” suggested Fluttershy. “Nah; unless the king had a son or something like that, Ah don’t think a small dragon could have so much authority over bigger ones” Applejack quickly rejected the pegasus’ idea. “What if…” Pinkie Pie hesitated to ask; mostly because she didn’t have faith in her question herself “What if he didn’t kill Rarity after all?” Unlike most of the times that Pinkie made a comment that made no sense at all, this one wasn’t the case. In fact, it was highly improbable considering all the evidence; on the other hand, Rarity’s body hadn’t been found. The four stared at Pinkie Pie as if she had said the dumbest thing in the world. However, that seemed the best theory so far; at least the happiest one. “Sorry to bring down such a good idea” interrupted Rainbow Dash “But even if we didn’t see the body ourselves, I saw how the whole building fell down into a big pile of rubbish. The only thing I saw get out of there was Spike, and not to mention he destroyed that sapphire flower of hers. I might not be all into romance and stuff, but I needn’t to realize that means something” Rainbow Dash was the only witness of the event since Fluttershy had fled with some fillies to the forest, so it was her who could confirm whether their theories were possible or not. “I’m sorry I’m the negative here, but there’s no possible way she made it out of there.” “What if she was abducted by aliens?” Pinkie Pie brought up; unlike her last idea, this one was completely nonsense and simply ignored. “She’s a unicorn” Twilight explained “I’m not sure whether she can teleport or not; which could answer if she escaped or not. However, since we haven’t seen her for a month, I don’t think she could.” The smart unicorn finally said, sad at her own conclusion. Noticing how the Rarity topic was affecting Twilight and the whole group, Fluttershy decided to change the subject. “So, Twilight…” The unicorn faced her friend “Has princess Celestia answered back?” Twilight simply shook her head before answering in an even more depressive tone “Since we don’t have Spike’s magic flames, we can’t send instant messages; and Owlowiscious isn’t so fast as to travel in a day or two.” The purple coated pony remembered how dangerous it was to lurk in the skies or even the grounds; even for a nocturne flier like her owl, who would find it easier to cross as dragons didn’t need to block his way “I just wish he’s not in trouble.” Rainbow Dash herself tried to cross the skies at high speed to get to Canterlot to talk to the princess in person, but the dragons did a really good job guarding the skies; and although Celestia must have known about the current situation, she couldn’t do much to help without leaving Canterlot, Equestria’s capital, completely unguarded. And the fact of not having communications only made things worse. Fluttershy had failed miserably in her attempt to cheer Twilight up; and in the progress, she depressed both a little. No matter which angle they looked the problem from, only tragedies seemed to be the result; at least they were safe as long as they stayed in the castle. They had formed the small resistance as a way to protect their friends from the dragons; succeeding in rescuing them, they realized how little prepared they were to face them. All they could do was hide whenever a dragon appeared, and perhaps that was for the best, since that way they could evade problems such as having more injured ponies and the fact of losing their only secret hideout and be left to wander around aimlessly in search of another roof to take shelter. As for the mane…5, they had promised under the name of both Celestia and Luna, to make it up for Rarity’s loss. What occupied their mind in unison was: how? “You know” Rainbow Dash began “We’ve been rescuing lots of ponies these weeks; don’t you think it’s time we took our home back?” She suggested. “That’s a terrible idea Rainbow” Twilight said coldly “We’re completely unequipped for a battle” then she pointed to the infirmary “And look at the number of injured ponies we have. Our ‘resistance’ was merely a survival organization.” She knew she was being too harsh on the way she answered to her but she was already too depressed to care, and it was Rainbow Dash who she was talking to; the self-proclaimed toughest pony in all Equestria. “Alright, sorry for bringing that up.” Rainbow cut her off “It was just an idea.” The silence had covered the whole table. What was intended to be a lively dinner with friends, turned out to be an arguing place which saddened the ponies more and more every time they tried to come up with a ‘better’ explanation for what was actually going on. Hopefully for them, a loud slam at the door would draw their attention away from all those sad feelings, as they’d turn around to see Derpy who was thought to be lost again. Rainbow Dash sighed in relief as the grey pegasus seemed to be safe; shortly afterwards however, her anger taking over herself. She flew towards the cross-eyed pony and was now raging at her. “Where were you?” Rainbow roared “we thought you were done for” she explained. She calmed herself down as soon as she realized she was sounding overly dramatic. “I was just a little lost” Derpy replied. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes; at least nothing bad had happened to her friend. “You made sure no dragon was following you, right?” Rainbow asked; that was her second priority concern. “Of course I did” lied Derpy. A couple of seconds after saying so, they could feel some sort of trembling in the castle. From the ceiling fell some blocks of stone, a column fell down, and the crystal windows seemed to be about to break out of the noise of a loud roar. It definitely was a dragon, and a big one! It had attacked the castle with his big and crushing tail fortunately doing no more damage than the described before. From the windows hundreds of dragons could be spotted, getting awfully close to the castle. “Sorry, my bad” apologized Derpy, lowering her ears. “What do we do now Twilight?” Asked Rainbow “There’s no longer any point in hiding now that they know we’re here, is there?” “There is one ‘panic room’ though” Twilight told mostly to herself “But it’s not so big” “Then Ah guess we’d better take the injured ponies there” Applejack suggested “As well as some nurses and all the food we can carry. That way at least the ponies already hurt will survive” “And we get to kick some dragons’ tails!” Rainbow Dash interrupted in a loud cheer. Applejack frowned at her for doing so, but Twilight nodded at her instead; they would need a distraction for them to get the ponies to safety. “So… where is it?” Applejack asked. Twilight simply pointed to the big statue that was the castle’s main decoration before answering “I can lift the statue with my magic, and a secret lock will reopen it whenever they run out of supplies, but will damage the statue and unable the room. I’m going to need your help as I’ll need my complete concentration to do so; it must be as heavy as the Ursa Minor.” She exaggerated, not much though. “Don’t worry Twilight” Pinkie Pie assured her “Applejack and I will cover you!” Once again, Pinkie had her party cannon next to her and as always everypony stared at her in confusion. Applejack on the other hand, hurried to get a bucketful of apples and other projectiles; she had some deadly aim with her back hooves so fliers wouldn’t be such a big problem, unless they used heavy fire on them. That was their main concern, with Twilight’s focus on the statue, magic shields wouldn’t be usable. Once everything was planned, Fluttershy helped move the injured ponies to the panic room as Rainbow Dash was gathering some brave ponies to distract the dragons with her and if possible, defeat them. Just like when she was assigned as captain for bringing water up to Cloudsdale, her speech was so influential she got at least three quarters of the resistance ponies to help her. And despite the fact that they were no more than thirty, and were unequipped for any conflict, they seemed to be brave enough to face the fearsome beasts. It intrigued them why the big dragon that had crashed into the castle hadn’t destroyed it by now, or released a devastating flame to burn them all. But they were grateful for that. As for the other dragons however, they passed through the windows, breaking them as if there was no crystal, and started assaulting at the ponies. Just when Rainbow Dash was expecting the dragons to incinerate everypony with fire, which they seemed to be defenseless to at the time, the beasts simply skydived to the ponies and flew off with them from the very same way they came from. Not only had some of them done this, but every single dragon. Like it was some sort of order, no fire was seen during the entire scene. This made things for Applejack and Pinkie Pie a whole lot easier not having to take cover for any blast of fire. Any dragon who tried to reach them or the injured ponies would receive a back knocking hit of either a bullet-like speeding apple or a pie instead. Rainbow Dash and her crew were having an awful time. Despite not suffering from any burn, the dragons quickly decreased the number of defending ponies by kidnapping them. No dragon seemed able to capture Rainbow Dash, but everypony else was an easy target. Even though she no longer had any crew, she used her two best talents in her favor: her speed and agility, and her ease to provoke. Most dragons would try to chase her in an unachievable attempt to capture her; thus giving Twilight more time. Unlike her friends, Fluttershy didn’t find it so easy. When helping get a basketful of supplies to the emergency room, three dragons cornered her and one of them took her away. Scared, she didn’t notice how fast she had gotten outside. The dragon carrying her seemed to be a fast one; but unlike most dragons, enjoyed flying close to the ground. Having her eyes closed, Fluttershy only realized she wasn’t feeling the wind on her coat any more, neither the dragon’s claw’s grip on her. As she opened them, she got even more terrified than before. Just inches from her face, was an even more terrifying and fearsome beast than the dragon who was now lying on the ground, defeated by this beast. Twilight was just a few more seconds away from being able to drop the statue. Unfortunately, Applejack and Pinkie Pie’s supplies ran out; leaving the three of them exposed to the dragons. Furious at these ponies, six dragons cornered and ambushed them. Pinkie Pie ducked as she found herself defenseless but Applejack seemed prepare to give the first dragon that came near her famous apple bucking. She successfully knocked the first dragon that rushed over them, but other two held her down after doing so. When the other three dragons headed towards Pinkie Pie, the defenseless party pony, she began feeling shivers and tickles; and following her Pinkie instincts, she evaded the dragons’ grip on her not only once, but every one of them! It looked as if she was some sort of dancer, by elegantly dodging the beasts and moving in funny and rhythmical ways: doing summersaults, rolling, disappearing and appearing out of nowhere, and doing cartwheels. Despite facing such fearsome beasts, she was having fun. Inevitably, she was finally caught by the dragons. Twilight fortunately had finished sheltering the needed ponies, and sealing the entrance. As she looked back to her friends, she was quickly horrified by the sight. Not so long ago the castle was full of ponies; now all she could see was Rainbow Dash escaping at all speed from her dragon pursuers and Applejack and Pinkie Pie, both captured. Quickly thinking, she teleported her friends out of the dragons’ grip; bringing all the dragons’ attention to her. Tired, Rainbow Dash joined the four of them; now cornered by a dozen of dragons. The fearsome beasts didn’t rush over them; they already saw how Applejack countered their charges and Pinkie Pie easily evaded everything. When Twilight couldn’t think of any possible way of escaping, they all heard a loud roar, different from the one of the dragon that crashed into the castle first. This sound however, seemed more like from a mammal creature; somehow the roar sounded like a lion’s. Turning around, they spotted Fluttershy hovering over one of her most fiery animal friends; a manticore. The dragons froze at the sight of the beast that rampaged towards them. If the dragons were bigger they wouldn’t have any problem at all, but they wouldn’t fit inside the castle at all though; so it was up to the small ones that were left to try to take the five remaining ponies even if they had to pass through a manticore. The dragons splat in two groups; six would try to settle the manticore and the other six would capture the five ponies. This seemed a lot fairer; six dragons wouldn’t be enough to handle Applejack’s strength, Rainbow Dash’s speed, Pinkie Pie’s pinkieness, and Twilight’s magic; nor could six dragons tame the manticore, Fluttershy knew so. As expected, the manticore had no trouble with the dragons rounding it. It grabbed a dragon with its scorpion tail and tossed it against another one; once they were on floor, it jumped on them and loudly roared in their faces. Experiencing such an intense fear, the dragons fell unconscious. The four remaining dragons intended to burn the beast to death, but even though it was four dragons’ concentrated fire, the manticore’s wings created such powerful wind gusts that the flames wouldn’t even get close to it before they vanished; that, and the fact that the dragons couldn’t produce strong fire if scared, they get shivers. Giving up, the four dragons joined the other six, who were almost in the same situation: two dragons were practically dancing with Pinkie Pie’s evasive moves and most of the times hitting themselves in the process. Rainbow Dash was dizzying and tiring other two dragons by spinning around them, and Twilight provided all of them with shields whenever she heard Pinkie Pie scream ‘fire’. Applejack, only had to wait until the dragons were tired. Once they were, her devastating bucking could knock all of them out. Foreseeing the inevitable defeat that’d soon arrive, the dragons appealed to their emergency plan. Being fire creatures they had not only the ability to create fire, but big clouds of black smoke. This smoke enveloped the entire room, leaving the ponies blind and coughing, which left them helpless. Rainbow Dash tried to clean the air as soon as possible, flapping her wings as fast as she could. Unfortunately, when the smoke was cleared away, they noticed Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were missing. Sorry for the wait, i had exams this month so it's justificable. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, see ya/read ya Freeda91