The sun came far too early for Rainbow Dash.
There was a practical reason for her usual choice of bed in a tree's branches. The canopy would block the sun's light for that extra couple of minutes and she would get more sleep.
She found that sleeping on the ground with her friends did not offer that same advantage.
Rainbow Dash shut her eyes and concentrated on sending a mental message to Celestia.
Five more minutes.
It went ignored or unheard. She threw her leg over her eyes in an attempt to shield her eyes from the sunrise that was peeking through the trees and illuminating the very spot they were all sleeping on.
If this place isn't trying to lull you into a false sense of security it's actively trying to ruin your day.
She gave up in her fight for unconsciousness. She threw her fur bed roll off of her, sending a chill up her body. A breeze rolled by at the wrong moment and as she pulled the furs back over herself she found that all the warmth had been stolen from them.
Applejack walked back into camp with a pot full of water and a go-getter look in her eyes. She had found a stream nearby and, being the first pony up, knew that making breakfast fell on her shoulders. She didn't mind.
"Come on everypony. I'm putting the coffee on and it's first come first serve!"
Nopony stirred. She frowned and scowled at her still sleeping friends. Then she noticed one bed roll fidgeting, evidently trying to get warm.
"Hey RD, you'd be warmer if you'd jus'get up and move about."
Rainbow Dash finally rose and nudged the two ponies beside her. Twilight and Pinkie Pie started to move and the camp woke up a few minutes later.
"Thanks for breakfast, AJ."
Twilight had had her coffee and was now munching on a piece of toast, courtesy of her friend, the master chef.
"No problem Twi, always happy to-"
"Applejack dear, my eggs are frying!"
"-help."
Applejack served Rarity her eggs and buttered croissant. Rarity ate daintily and nodded curtly at her friend, the minimum wage fry cook.
"You know Rarity if you'd woken up earlier an' cooked your own breakfast you wouldn't be giving me those side ways glances."
Rarity put on the politest face she could at this hour of the morning.
"No no, this breakfast is fine, darling. It's just..."
Applejack raised an eyebrow at her friend.
"Slightly, tinsy winsy bit burnt."
Applejack made to make a comment she'd regret later but then noticed Pinkie Pie burning her toast in the hottest part of the coals. The stick she was using caught fire and she pulled it out and blew out the flaming bit of black bread. She ate it all in one bite and grinned at Rarity who looked on in shock while Applejack started to laugh. Rarity looked down at her own breakfast and quietly tittered to herself.
Twilight looked up from the map she'd pulled out her bags and saw Pinkie discreetly spit out the black bits of toast and then smile at her friends who were now sharing a laugh together. Pinkie Pie suddenly looked up at Twilight and stared at her for a second before winking and getting another piece of toast.
Crisis averted.
They packed up their bags and waited on Twilight who had been staring at her map, totally engrossed in the tiny black lines and dots, and disengaged from the world.
"Twi? Which way we heading?"
"North but, well it's complicated."
Applejack was taken aback by her friend's uncertainty.
"What do ya'mean?"
"Well I'm trying to plan the shortest route that doesn't take us near any high elevations, rivers, lakes, forests, open plains or swamps and it's proving to be harder than I thought. I don't want to give the Darkness any extra chances."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue in annoyance.
"Twilight, we're wasting time and besides, it's gonna find a way to get us somehow no matter where we go."
They all nodded and looked to the north to see a mountain range far away on the horizon. Looming over it it hung dark storm clouds and it looked foreboding even at the extreme distance between them.
Fluttershy gulped and took a barely noticeable step back while her friends looked on. All she could think about was a overbearing sense of dread. She wanted to flee, to run or fly away but she couldn't stop staring.
They all couldn't, as they stared across the expanse they could feel an impending doom in their stomachs. In their bones. Tension filled the air.
Twilight was the first to realize what was happening and tore her gaze from the black shadow growing over the mountain range.
"Don't look at it! Just focus on the ground!"
They shocked themselves out of their trance and stared at the ground and the feeling passed. The pressure they felt was lifted and they hurriedly walked down the hill they'd camped upon and hid the sight from view amongst the grey green canopy of the forest below.
Applejack was a simple pony. She knew that there would always be things in the world she would never understand but this didn't sit well with her. Not one bit.
"Twilight, what the buck was that?!"
Fluttershy squeaked at the anger in Applejacks voice and the earth pony took a second to calm down before continuing.
"What Ah mean to say is, is that where we're going? Towards that thing?! Ah mean if just looking at'it does that to'us, what will being closer do?"
Twilight herself was shocked. If the Darkness was that dangerous when it was being contained by a being more powerful then the Princesses then what hope did they have to fight it? The letter this Lucien had sent them simply requested their presence, no explanation on what to do once they got there. What was going to happen?
"Twilight!"
She was shocked out of her own musings to find her friends staring at her. She took a second to catch her breath she hadn't realized she'd lost. She felt the sun's rays on her cheek.
"Yes. Yes Applejack, we're going towards that mountain range. I don't know what's going to happen and honestly, I'm worried."
Her friends all cast their faces to the ground, Pinkie Pie pawed the dust and stared with open but unseeing eyes.
"But that doesn't mean I'm giving up."
Pinkie Pie lifted her head slightly and raised her eyes to meet Twilight's.
"Look girls, we've been asked to save the world-"
"Yet again..."
"... yet again. This time won't be any different than the last time or the time before that. We were asked because we are the only ones who can do anything about it. We just need to stick together and hold true to ourselves and each other and we'll get out of this alive. It has been conclusively proven in the past that we're... awesome to say the least. "
Rainbow Dash snickered and nodded.
"We're unstoppable. So what that this thing is powerful beyond measure. There is no force in Equestria stronger then the magic of friendship. Together, we do the impossible. So girls, let's go save the world."
"Yet again!"
The sun had risen far enough to cast its rays on all of them. Applejack reared back on her hind legs and charged through the forest. Fluttershy took a deep breath and ran after her. They all then galloped through the trees northwards, towards whatever dangers laid in wait ahead.
They stopped after running for a few hours and rested in a grove of incredibly green trees. Plant life here abounded and it almost looked tropical. The air was warmer and the humidity was surprising. They shucked off their damp scarves and felt the earth with their hoofs for the first time in hours. It was soft, the frosts had not reached here.
Twilight concluded they were safe enough here for several reasons. The ground was soft and not recovering from permafrost. That meant this wasn't a recent change in conditions suggesting an outside interference. They were hidden well enough from any animals that might wander by and she didn't notice any tracks in the dirt. The grove sat on a high hill far enough away from any rivers or bodies of water and they had a thick canopy to protect them from the elements should the need arise. Birds sang in the treetops and would be useful as a warning for anything that might approach their camp. She told this to her friends and they each relaxed an iota. Despite the logic behind Twilight's reasoning, they all felt unease in this place. Something they couldn't place their hoof on.
Rainbow Dash was hungry. Not that she wasn't eating enough food but a pegasus's energy requires were steep and she could only eat so much bread. So needed something sugary. Something like fruit.
She searched around the camp and found nothing. She looked back up the hill her friends were camping on and took in as much details as she could before moving farther away to expand her search.
A few minutes later she came across a patch of oddly shaped bushes that carried large and appetising red fruits on their buds. Rainbow Dash noted that all the bushes seemed fairly solid looking and stood close together. She shrugged and took a bite.
Twilight looked up from her book Luna had packed her. It was a dusty old tome on ancient history and Twilight was enthralled until a nagging feeling crept from the back of her mind to her mouth.
"Where's Rainbow Dash?"
Rarity, who had been fixing Pinkie Pie's scarf after she had noticed it had been torn back on the mountain, stopped and thought for a moment.
"I believe I remember her saying she was famished for something halfway edible and took off to look around. You know how she is, can't sit still for more than five minutes."
Twilight's ear twitched in a manner similar to Pinkie Pie's and she held a hoof to her ear to stop it. Then she heard the screaming.
They all came running to the source of the yelling to find Rainbow Dash furiously flapping her wings but not moving anywhere. Though she clearly looked terrified, none of them could see any threat or injury. Rainbow Dash's head whipped around at the sound of her friends.
"HEEEELLLLPPPPP!!!"
"What? What's wrong?!"
"I can't-... I can't move."
They all looked at her and their eyes searched for the thing she was so afraid of. Then they saw her hooves.
They had become dark brown, like wood, and were rooting her to the spot. As soon as Twilight saw it her pupils shrank.
"Oh, no."
Rainbow Dash turned her attention from her wings to her friend.
"What is it Twilight?"
"Oh no, oh no, oh no!"
Rainbow Dash couldn't take it anymore.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?"
Twilight walked over, carefully averting her eyes from the sight and approached the bushes behind Rainbow Dash. She pushed back the foliage and was greeted by a wood carving of a pony's face. Rainbow Dash turned her head and twisted her body to get a better look at the bush behind her.
"What is... is that somepony?!"
"Was."
Twilight covered the horrified expression on the wooden pony's face and turned to her friend. Her eyes told a story she did not want to tell.
"Am I going to *gulp* end up like... that?"
"No."
Twilight paced back and forth. Her mind going through every scrap of relevant information before she nodded and turned to reassure Rainbow Dash.
"Alright girls, listen up. These bushes are call Forest Medusas and anything that eats their fruit slowly gets turned into a wooden statue or bush. Now a cure doesn't exist but there is something that will stop the spread of the infection long enough for her system to fight it off, rather quickly I might add. What she needs is a mushroom called Viola's Vim. It'll loosen her up and give her a huge boost in energy. Now we're looking for a damp cave that has a pool of stagnant water in it. The map is back at camp and we'll take it in turns to be here with Dash. I'll take the first watch."
They all nodded grimly. Applejack adjusted her hat and put on the best brave face she could.
"Come on everypony, RD's counting on us and we've got no time to spare!"
Celestia crossed the threshold to her sister's room and her eyes came across her sleeping sister. It was late afternoon and the palace was still a noisy place to be. Celestia shut the door quietly and began picking up the books her sister had been reading and left where they'd fallen.
"You and your way with books."
Her sister shifted in her sleep and Celestia silently prayed she wouldn't wake.
She didn't. She drifted back to the depths of the immaterium and her hooves tightened around her stuffed animal which upon closer inspection was a dark grey dolphin that looked very worn and old.
Celestia watchfully picked up her sister's blanket and draped it over her. Satisfied, she left the room and Luna's dreams turned from dark fantasy to dreams of the past and a big smile spread across her lips.
Celestia returned to the study where the stone still sat upon the table. Lucien was always the one to not tell her what he was planning. What he was thinking. He was unreadable for the most part unless she found him sitting alone. Whether he pretended not to notice her or was genuinely unaware, he always acted off when he was alone. His face would go blank and she could tell he was deep in thought. Whenever she looked into his eyes she saw something she only understood now that she was old enough and experienced enough to know.
He was lonely. She hadn't really thought about it as a filly and young mare but the utter torment she now recognized in his eyes caused her to sit down next to the table with the stone and think on her oldest friend.
He was old. That much she knew but just how old she didn't know. He had been strong enough to fight and destroy a shard of the Darkness back in the elder days when even her own mother was a filly. He had seen things and done things no one else was alive to remember.
He was lonely because of the way he saw the world. Like he knew what happened next. Celestia always theorized it was because he'd read ahead in the book of the world and knew what the next chapter held. No one else in the world was like that.
When he'd saved her mother he'd done a heroic thing but in the process lost everything. His friends, his family. Celestia was old enough to have lost more friends than years she'd lived but Lucien had lost his entire species. It was an enigma why he hadn't been driven mad by all this time he'd spent guarding a door that was his fault it never closed.
And now he was dying. He had been there for her and her sister since their birth. He was more permanent in her life then the mountains her city was built on. To think that he was getting too old wasn't a thought she wanted to entertain.
She put the stone on her mantle piece above her fire place and left to wake her sister for her to bring on the night.
Night was just falling over the forest like a smothering blanket that choked the light out of the world.
"Rainbow Dash just stop struggling. You'll be fine."
Rainbow Dash was only afraid of one thing. Sure she got worried some times but only one thing terrified her to no end.
Not being able to move. She had had nightmares of botching a trick and breaking her back but they always ended and she moved on.
She couldn't wake up from this and she shivered in a cold sweat in spite of the ghastly warm temperature.
Twilight put hoof on her shoulder and rested her head behind her neck in a hug she so desperately needed.
"T-thanks. I needed that."
Applejack returned and Twilight stepped away from Rainbow Dash who unconsciously moved towards her and was stopped just short. Her legs had gotten stiff up to her knees and her dark brown hoofs were now surrounded by roots that dug deeper and deeper into the earth. She looked up and Twilight gave her a look that said, "Two seconds,' and walked over to Applejack who had motioned for her to come closer.
"We couldn't find any caves on the map so we're searching in pairs around for one but..."
Applejack took off her hat and wiped the sweat from her brow.
"We're searching as hard as we can Twilight but I don't know if we'll find a cave meeting the requirement let alone any mushroom inside that might help her."
Twilight nodded grimly and, thinking better of herself then shook her head violently.
"NO!"
Applejack took a step back from the purple unicorn she thought she had figured.
"I WILL NOT LET HER DIE HERE! AND NEITEHR WILL YOU!"
Applejack tried to salvage any sort of dignity she had left but was cut off. Not by Twilight who had also been stopped from shouting. Not by Rainbow Dash who had gone very quiet at Twilight's affirmation and had resigned herself to despair.
They had been cut off by a long and mournful howl calling out into the coming night.
Applejack recognized that howl, she heard it every year at the beginning of the zap-apple harvest.
It was the howl of an alpha timber wolf.
They all gathered their bags near Rainbow Dash and Applejack manically tried to start a fire from the few bits of dry wood they'd found. The birds had stopped singing and everything was silent except for the constant scraping of steel on flint.
Pinkie Pie hugged her tail and shook in her bed roll, shutting her eyes and trying to wish the world away. There were some things too scary for songs and laughter to deal with.
Fluttershy placed her bed roll next to her and they hugged each other and shook together. Fluttershy was good at dealing with dangerous animals. The only problem was that timber wolves were carnivorous plants and knew no fear.
Rarity eye's were fixed on the shadows slowly encircling their camp, looking for any sigh of movement. She had two knitting needles held in her magic that knit slowly and rythmically.
Only Twilight wore an expression that wasn't fear or horror.
"I suppose in a way we're really lucky."
Rainbow Dash who was in the centre of the group looked down in confusion. Her body now rested on four wooden pillars whose well established roots spread out in every direction.
"How is this lucky... at all... in any way, shape or form?"
Twilight ignored her incredulous tone and schooled her on the magic of her favourite book on fauna and flora, "Ants and Planimals: A Reference Guide for the Dyslexic Explorer."
"Timber wolves as was widely believed before the release of the this book are not in fact members of the Canidae family as are other wolves and like creatures, as clearly evidenced by their lack of olfactory receptors and other biological processes innate to animals."
Fluttershy nodded in agreement, this much she was familiar with.
"They are actually a mobile subspecies of tree that stalk the forests they grow out of. No one is sure how they reproduce and come into being-"
Skip a bit, Twi?"
"Sorry, their dens however are the easiest way to locate a pack as they are usually built into the sides of rocky hills and mountains. Inside these dens are natural depressions made from the constant activity of the wolves and so collect water that is used by the creatures when they take root as they sleep. Don't you see what this means? If we follow a timber wolf back to its den then we'll have a good shot at finding a Viola's Vim mushroom!"
They agreed with her. Pinkie Pie held up her hoof though.
"So how are you going to follow a timber wolf home? Last time you tried to be sneaky you got an anvil to the head!"
As Pinkie Pie relived the memory in her mind and chuckled Twilight frowned and put her head in her hoofs. That was going to be the tricky part.
"Dearie?"
Rarity dropped her knitting and stepped on it as she got up to put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder.
"I think I can help you there."
A few minutes later the knitting Rarity had stepped on had become a ghillie suit. Twilight blended with the foliage perfectly and as Rarity stepped back to appreciate her work she lost sight of Twilight as the now camouflaged unicorn took a step forward and was lost amongst the leaves.
"Hey, where'd Twilight go?"
Pinkie Pie cautiously walked towards the spot where she'd seen her before and ran right into her. Twilight opened her eyes and was centimetres away from Pinkie Pie who jumped back in fright.
"It passed the Pinkie Pie test. Now, let's go hunt some timber wolves."
She looked around at her friends faces.
"Right... wish me luck..."
Timber wolves as it turns out are not hard to find. Just follow the howling.
Twilight crept through the foliage towards the sound and hoped that Rarity's hoof work would be enough to allow her to not be seen but still see her quarry.
Another howl pierced the night and it was so close Twilight stopped her hoof from hitting the ground to listen.
*crunch*
She heard rustling in the leaves in front of her. It was heading right for her.
She had no means of escape and was frozen to the spot. It was big, whatever was coming at her. Its snout poked through the leaves a full foot above her head and it walked right by her. She noticed one of its legs ended above where the foot should have been and made a loud crunching sound of the vegetation moving and snapping under its weight. Otherwise it moved quietly.
The Alpha timber wolf was massive. It stood four to five feet tall and was at least twelve feet long. She held her breath for as long as she could and when her lungs were about to explode she silently drew a breath and finished her step.
She was close now. She heard a splash and moved towards the sound.
The den was smaller then she'd expected. A wolf surfaced in the muddy thick water and shook itself dry. The smell was overpowering. She fought the urge to gag and scanned the cave for any sign of her true quarry.
There it was. A violently coloured mushroom that vehemently glowed violet. She smiled and was about to take another step forward when she heard something behind her.
*crunch*
Her blood froze and she quickly ran through the possibilities for the noise.
One: It was her own foot that had come down too hard in her excitement of finding the mushroom.
Two: It was the murderous death beast straight from her darkest nightmares and it was about to disembowel her.
Three: Pinkie Pie is going to get a hoof in the mouth.
She turned around and wished it had been possibility three.
Applejack was starting to get worried. Twilight had been hours and everypony else had fallen asleep. All except herself and Rainbow Dash whose wings were now wooden and stuck out in full display. She moved her neck, which was about the last part of her she could move, around and looked for her friend's return. Applejack had tried to comfort her, telling her Twilight would be back almost any minute with the mushroom and she'd be right as rain again. Applejack had promised her a race when their adventure was over and Rainbow Dash said she still had to find that tree Applejack had spotted back on the mountain. She'd laughed but then got quieter as the hours dragged on.
It was almost morning when a flash of light woke Rainbow Dash from her uneasy sleep.
Twilight's ghillie suit burnt off from the quick teleport and she collapsed to the ground. Her neck had the faint outline of a massive set of jaws bit into it.
Rainbow Dash twisted her head almost completely around as the rest of her body had long since turned to wood.
"TWILIGHT!"
They all woke up and rushed to her aid and Rainbow Dash could only watch as she was brought into camp and inspected.
"What happened, Twilight?"
She coughed and shook her head, clearly frustrated.
"I'm s... s-sorry Dash. I was thiiis close..."
She gestured to her neck.
"Had to get away... almost got me."
They all began to console her and tell her it was alright. The one who needed it more stood away from the group and rested her head on her wooden stiff neck and watched on with concern as Twilight's injury was attended to.
It wasn't that bad. She was still alive and no permanent damage had happened. Twilight took a deep breath and sat down next to Rainbow Dash while Applejack made them breakfast.
"I'm sorry, Dash."
"It's alright. It wasn't your fault. I ate the stupid fruit in the first place."
"No, you couldn't have known-"
She realizied she'd just insulted her friends intelligence. Twilight looked over at her friends oddly stiff face.
"Oh my gosh I didn't mean-"
"It's fine Twilight. I wouldn't know. You were always the smart one."
Rainbow Dash smiled and the held a hoof up to her eyes to block the rising sun's rays. Or would have.
Twilight noticed her friends frustration and stood in front of Rainbow Dash who smiled and then giggled.
"What is it?"
"Hey Twilight? Can I ask you a favour?"
"Of course! Anything!"
Rainbow Dash smirked.
"Can you scratch my nose? It's been bothering me all night and I would've asked Applejack but her hooves aren't... yours."
Twilight blushed and itched her friends nose.
"That's... sweet of you to say Rainbow Dash..."
Twilight looked over her shoulder at the beautiful rising sun, the way it lit the sky up and painted the clouds orange and red. There just wasn't enough moments like this in life.
"Pretty sunrise eh, Rainbow Dash?"
"..."
"Rainbow Dash?"
She turned and looked into her friends pleading eyes. Rainbow Dash's mouth was paralysed and she began to cry.
In that moment Twilight Sparkle became invincible.
The alpha wolf walked around it's den and yawned, displaying a number of empty sockets and burnt away teeth. That purple pony had come by the den last night and he had been thiiis close to biting her head off.
He winced at the memory of her disappearing and filling his mouth with flame and pain.
He figured he would track them until he killed and ate every single one of those ponies, they'd scarred him and he never let anyone or anything live after that happened. He figured it wouldn't be a problem, in his youth he'd fought off half a dozen manitcores and had only lost a foot. Six ponies wouldn't be a challenge.
His confidence grew as the morning went on. So it was to his great surprise when he was bodily picked up and thrown into the walls of his den so hard he thought the Wolf Storm God Tempest had come to earth to smite him with all of his terrible might.
Twilight's eyes glowed as she picked up the alpha wolf again and slammed him into the ground, a fulfillingly loud crunch stilling him.
Twilight Sparkle ripped a smaller wolf into sticks and dirt and moved into the cave where she calmly bent down and picked the violet mushroom up with her mouth and disappeared in a flash of light and fire that set half the den on aflame.
The Alpha wolf picked himself out of the ground and looked at the chaos that was his house.
They will not escape.
Rainbow Dash moved her eyes anxiously from side to side. Her hearing was beginning to go and her friends voices were sounding more and more muffled as the agonizing minutes ticked on.
Where is she? I need her. Now.
She would have jumped if she could move. Her prayer was answered as Twilight stepped out of thin air and smiled at her as wide as she could. A violet mushroom in her lips.
Twilight walked over and forced open Rainbow Dash's mouth which she couldn't feel move. All she could tell was that the top half of her head now faced towards the sky.
She felt something, in her stomach. Like the rumbling of when she was really hungry. Only this felt like she was full. It was hard for her to put into words but she felt really good. Better then she had for the last couple days.
She felt her legs and body loosen up but not her head and wings. The feeling started from the inside out as her body slowly returned to its normal fleshy state.
Her legs freed up one by one and she jumped up in the air clumsily. She still barely had feeling in her face and her head's awkward position was righted as Twilight pushed her mouth shut and stepped back.
Rainbow Dash felt alive but there were two things she needed to do first. Her body fully returned to its normal state and she jumped up in the air with the balletic grace of a trained dancer.
She flew. She flew through the trees and in between her friends. She tasted the cold air above the canopy and it tasted good. More than good in fact.
Then she landed next to Twilight and did the second thing she had to do. She leaned over and kissed her as hard as she could.
Her friends eyes' went wide and their mouths dropped. Rainbow Dash went in for more kisses as Twilight half heartedly tried to fight her off.
"Something *kiss* I should have mentioned before *kiss* is that *kiss* Viola's Vim *KISS!* is an aphrodisiac!"
Rainbow Dash suddenly realized what she'd been doing for the past minute and froze as if she was paralysed again.
Applejack was the first to break the silence.
"Well, it's good to have you back, RD."
She motioned for the others to say something.
"Yes... Yes! Darling, it is so good to have you back."
Fluttershy just stared, lost in thought.
Pinkie Pie was barely containing herself.
"Well then, um... shall we?"
They all turned to leave and Twilight blushed and smiled at Rainbow Dash who recovered slightly from her state and walked on ahead. She didn't overhear Pinkie Pie who couldn't hold it in any longer as she and Applejack walked side by side.
"I knew it!"
Rainbow Dash's wings would not go down for hours to come.