Chapter 18
Pinkie Pie
"That means it must be Fluttershy over there!" Pinkie said excitedly, carefully jumping up and down with joy.
"Is Fluttershy over there with you? What about Big Mac?" Twilight asked. The Shadowbolt nodded.
"Oh thank God," Applejack said, tears streaming down her face. Pinkie Pie put her foreleg around her shoulder, as her friend cried with relief.
"Shadowbolt, do you think you could fly everyone across one by one?" Twilight asked. The Shadowbolt nodded.
Slowly, the Shadowbolt flew all the ponies across the gap, one by one. Pinkie was slightly nervous that he would run out of energy, but then again, the Shadowbolt wasn't your average pegasus.
Pinkie was the third flown across, after Twilight and Rarity. She joyfully gave Fluttershy a big hug, and didn't notice right away that she and Big Mac had new company.
"This is Windstrong and BrightStar," Fluttershy said, once everypony was across. "The buffalo are also being harvested. These two came to Canterlot to seek help, but once they saw that things here weren't any better, they had to find shelter from the changelings. They believe in the Elements of Harmony, and want to join our team."
"That's excellent. Welcome, Windstrong and BrightStar," Twilight said.
"Where's Rainbow Dash and Derpy and the other pegasi? And Zecora and Flim?" Fluttershy asked.
Twilight briefed Fluttershy and Big Mac on what had happened since their disappearance.
"We were going to head over to the labyrinth and see if they meet us there," Twilight said.
"Ok, that sounds good," Fluttershy said.
Twilight began to lead the group towards the exit.
"Where does the cave let out, Twilight?" Inkie asked.
"It lets out in an older part of the palace once used for servants. It's mostly wasted space now, but the corridor it lets out of also has a door that takes us right out to the labyrinth, so it should all work out smoothly—figuring there are no changelings on the other side of the door," Twilight said.
As they approached the door, Twilight slowed.
"Do you hear voices too?" Pinkie Pie whispered. Twilight nodded.
"There's someone on the other side," Twilight said. "Prepare yourself everypony; here goes."
Twilight swiftly kicked the door open. Pinkie braced herself for a fight—but then burst into laughter. Miraculously, on the other side of the door, was Rainbow Dash, Derpy, CloudsArmor and Titan Wings, all in similar battle positions.
"Twilight! Pinkie! Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash shouted. She flew in and hugged Fluttershy tightly.
"I don't believe it! What are you guys doing here?" Twilight asked, "What happened with the cyclone?"
"Derpy got us out of the cyclone, and since flying is faster than walking, we made up some good time," Rainbow Dash said.
"I remembered about the forgotten caves, and that they were a possible entrance into the palace. I know you are a smart mare, Twilight Sparkle, and figured you might know of them as well, and use them as a way to sneak into the palace," Titan Wings said.
"I didn't think anypony remembered about these caves," Twilight said.
"Princess Luna requires all of her guards to know every inch of the palace," he said in response.
"I can't believe it. We're all here, together. We made it everypony!" Pinkie Pie said, jumping up and down.
"Hold off on the celebrations Pinkie; we may have made it here in relatively one piece, but we still need to fight Chrysalis, and find Princess Celestia, my brother, Cadance, Princess Luna, Discord..." Twilight said.
"Oh; right. So what's the plan Twilight?" Pinkie asked.
"We're going to split into two groups. Big Mac, Shadowbolt, CloudsArmor, Derpy, Flam, Trixie, Inkie, Windstrong, BrightStar and Titan Wings, I want you in one group, and I want us Elements together in the other. Group one, I want you to find Princess Luna. We're going to find Chrysalis," Twilight said.
"My mission was to be with you Twilight Sparkle; while I respect your leadership, my assignment from Princess Luna comes first. And that is to protect you," Titan Wings said.
"Alright, fine; Flam, I'm going to teach you a quick signal spell, in case of trouble or if you find Princess Luna or Celestia or my brother or anything, and you want to communicate," Twilight said.
She took Flam to the side and showed him the spell. Applejack and Big Mac stood together talking quietly. Pinkie turned to Inkie.
"Are you going to be ok if we're separated?" Pinkie asked. Inkie sighed and pulled Pinkie into a hug.
"Yes. You have your job to do; I have mine. We'll see each other again and free Ma n' Pa and... and everything will be peaceful again," Inkie said softly, tears running down her cheeks. Pinkie hugged her hard. She had already lost one sister. She wasn't sure she was ready to lose another, not after the short time they'd just had together to reconnect.
"Everything will work out," Pinkie Pie said. "Just be positive and stick with the group."
Inkie pulled away and nodded.
"Blow up the palace if you have to," Pinkie said. Inkie laughed, wiping away her tears.
"You too; I hear those Elements are powerful stuff," she said, smiling. Pinkie smiled back. She wasn't quite sure she had seen Inkie smile in a long time. It was nice.
"Alright everypony, time to split up. Good luck to us all," Twilight said.
Together, both groups stepped through the door. And then they separated—this time by choice.
Pinkie couldn't believe that they had done it. They were here, finally, in the palace, in Canterlot. After everything that had happened to them in the past twelve hours—which had felt more like a lifetime—they had finally made it back to Canterlot and were preparing for the biggest battle of their lives.
The girls stayed closer together, Titan Wings leading them through the palace, though Twilight was picking the directions. So far, they hadn't run into any changelings. Pinkie worried about Inkie, but knew she'd be ok. She proved to be a smart mare, and just as skilled with bombs as Blinkie was.
They made their way up to the third or fourth floor—Pinkie lost count. They went up and down so many different corridors, she wouldn't be surprised if the changelings got lost in here and just couldn't find them to attack.
"I don't know where to start looking," Twilight whispered.
"Maybe we should just go straight to the main ballroom? Take out their source of energy, that weird ponyquin," Rarity suggested.
"Yeah, just fight off Chrysalis and find Celestia afterwards, or force Chrysalis to tell us," Rainbow Dash said.
Twilight sighed and stopped, looking up and down the corridors right and left.
"Yeah, maybe you're right. Maybe we should—" She stopped, suddenly whipping her head to the right. She cocked her head slightly and began cautiously walking down the hall.
"What is it Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, as they followed her.
"I don't know why, but I have a strong feeling that we should go down here..." she said.
Twilight stopped in front of one of the doors. Green stream was flowing out from underneath the door. There was a trapped pony inside.
Pinkie watched as Twilight took a deep breath. Slowly, she opened the door. Everyone gasped.
Inside was Shining Armor.