The next morning, Luna and I woke up in eachother's hooves, loving eachother's embrace. "Oh, General," She began. "I am going to miss you so much!" I looked at her. Every moment, her face was more beautiful. Her dark violet-blue fur, her sapphire eyes, her beautiful face... "I'm going to miss you, too. But we've just got to be strong. I'll be back before you know it. Just trust me." I replied to her as she began to let tears slip. "Hey now," I continued, not wanting her to cry. "Don't be sad. I'll be gone for a while, but I'll be back soon. You've nothing to worry about, Moon Pie."
She giggled and sniffed a bit, laughing at my little pet name for her. "There's that smile, there's what I wanted to see!" I stated, smiling. "Can I trust you to stay strong and hopeful while I'm gone?" I asked her.
"Oh, I suppose so, my great King of the Seas!" She toyed, thinking up a pet name for me. I smiled at her, glad she had cheered up,
as I leaned over to her. "Kiss me, my beautiful Queen of the Holy Moon!" I flirted.
"Kiss me, My King of All the Blessed Seas!" She replied as I wrapped my legs around her chest and back in a loving embrace. We kissed for several minutes until I let her go. "I'll see you soon, Luna dearest!" I said, walking away with my provisions on my back. She tried to stay strong as I walked off, but even so, as I closed the door behind me, she burst into tears.
.....
A few hours later, the 7 of us (8 counting Spike, ever following Twilight around) had traveled to the very center of the Everfree Forest. We were wandering around, looking for the Manticore, when I heard something. I beckoned them all over. For another hour or so, we continued in the direction of the sound, getting louder every moment. Finally, I stopped them, and there it was.
In a large clearing, there was a Manticore. It looked kind of young for a Manticore, probably just an adolescent. I noticed that it had been shedding a few teeth, and among the small pile was a large, curved tooth; a Manticore's Fang. I considered the best way to do this, then I beckoned Fluttershy over to help. She wasn't scared of Manticores, as she had shown in the first couple of episodes in the cartoon series, so she followed quickly. When we got there, I told her my plan, saying, "Now Fluttershy, I can just pick up the fang and we can all go. But, if this thing wakes up, we're all dead. Can I trust you to keep it calm and sleepy?"
Without a nanosecond of hesitation, Fluttershy grinned and whispered, "Sure thing! You can count on me!" I smiled and thanked her for that. She stepped up to the Manticore and started stroking it's mane and murmuring softly to the great beast. While she did that, I took my magic, and I slowly lifted the fang and levitated it over to the others. I told Fluttershy we were ready, and she nodded. We slowly backed away, hoping to get out of there safely.
We failed, of course. Suddenly, I stepped on a branch. The Manticore's eye shot open, bloodshot and angry. Suddenly, it roared. It jumped at me, tearing at my throat. I managed to avoid every strike, thank God, but he still landed on me. I could hear the crunching, grinding sound of my leg breaking. As painful as it was, I just ignored it and stabbed my horn into the beast's throat - to no avail.
I realized then that I couldn't beat that beast! "Gragh! H-hrelp! Herrel!" I choked out as it pressed it's paw onto my throat, trying to break my trachea. I cried out in pain, awaiting the end, when suddenly, I heard the most heavenly singing in a completely alien language. "Nyowah ret shouvan Ropak chuah to Mancoru! Nyailf gruh san lo Mant. Ark cho fukargah chofauven!" I heard Fluttershy sing. I didn't know what it meant, but I could sense it's meaning in my very blood as she sang. I couldn't believe how beautiful it sounded... How angelic...
When she finally stopped singing, I saw that the young Manticore's eyes were drooping, and had a tiny grin on it's face. Before long, it fell asleep. I couldn't believe it! I mean, I knew that Fluttershy could do a lot of things to calm animals, but this... I just couldn't believe it! It was crazy! Then, suddenly, I noticed something else: Fluttershy's singing had healed my leg!
I grinned at Fluttershy in thanks, and told everybody that we could go. By the time we had gotten out of the forest, we were all panting like crazy, as we had ran the whole way. I grinned at Fluttershy again, and she started blushing, though why I couldn't exactly tell. I gave the fang to Spike, and he let his fire burst forth on it, sending it to Celestia. We only had to wait a few seconds before we got a response. It arrived in an odd fasion, though. Instead of the letter coming from Spike's gullet in a fiery form, a glowing violet portal appeared.
Out of the portal came a scroll of ivory-white parchment. Written on it in black ink was what she wanted next. "Well done in getting the fang so quickly, children. You are all very well trained, obviously. Hopefully, you will each be able to put your talents to work in the next challenge. I will need some diamond glass and ruby dust taken from the gemstones of the Diamond Dogs' mines. I wish you the best of luck!" It stated. We nodded to eachother. Rarity seemed a bit hesitant to go at first, but then decided that it couldn't hurt.
.....
A few hours later, we came across a hippogryph, large even for it's own kin, right outside the mines. I was confused, when I noticed a scroll tied to it's leg. I unraveled and read it. It said, " This hippogryph is an old friend. Be very kind with it, as it is a wise and intelligent creature, not unlike the ponies. It is young, so it cannot talk yet, but it is larger then others because it's sire was a royal hippogryph. It will be able to help you all in any fights, and it can carry a few of the non-pegasi in the group on it's back to each individual destination. Good luck.
-Sincerely,
Princess Celestia.
I smiled, grateful for the aid, and patted the creature's back. I knew it wouldn't like the caves, so I kept it outside, telling it we would be back soon. The six of them walked past it, a bit frightened by the great beast, (even Fluttershy!) and entered the caves. I let Spike go in, then, as I stopped and talked to the great beast. "Thank you, great beast, for aiding us. I hope you are comfortable helping us. I know you're a powerful and elegant creature, and you deserve great respect. Can you tell me your name?" As I waited, I saw the hippogryph close it's eyes, and I heard something odd reverbrating in my skull. At first, I wasn't sure what it was, then I understood. It was the beast's voice: 'Name... Zorg...' It whispered into my mind. I realized instantly the meaning of the word. I had researched ancient and modern civilizations, and knew that it was Dutch for "Care". I grinned at the beast, and nodded my thanks at it as I walked into the caverns.
.....
About a minute later, we reached the cavern floor of the first chamber. We saw no gems, and no hint of them even, so we had Rarity use her magic to show us where some diamonds and rubies might be. Her horn quickly started glowing. She pointed us down the westernmost shaft, and we followed. It wasn't 5 minutes before we came to a room filled with diamonds, rubies, amethyst, sapphire, and topaz!
We all marveled at the sight, and Rarity nearly had a heart attack when she saw all of those beautiful gemstones! "Oh, my, oh my oh my oh my oh my!" She mused. "After we've got what we need, I'll just HAVE to get as many of these gems as I can! Oh, so beautiful! So beautiful! So beautiful!" We all chuckled at Rarity's obsession with gems. "Oh, Mama's going to have so many needed supplies after this! Ooh!" Out of nowhere, she pulled out a mining cart.
"What the..." I started, confused. But PINKIE PIE is supposed to break the fourth wall! I thought to myself. I shrugged it off and we all went to work. We let Rarity go search for the gems she needed for her shop (she had already done her part) while we started mining. Applejack was kicking large veins of diamond, Pinkie Pie hit the ruby veins with a jackhammer she had taken from ABSOLUTELY nowhere, (ah, thats... normal, I suppose) and Twilight used magic to move a mattock back and forth to break the hard rocks. Fluttershy and RD were guarding the entrance when, suddenly, I heard a canine growl. Everybody else noticed it, too. "I got it!" Rainbow Dash said, flying down the tunnel. I stared in amazement as she flew through the tunnels, looking back at me and blushing.
.....
"Alright, let's get these ponies!" The head Diamond Dog growled, licking his lips. "I can just taste their succulent, joicy flesh now!" Rainbow Dash glared at them in horror; They were planning to eat the Mane 6! 'No... not them...' Rainbow Dash thought to herself, pissed off. 'Not my friends, and... and... Not... my... GENERAL!' Suddenly, Rainbow Dash leapt out from behind the rock she had been spying behind. She kicked the lead dog in the jaw, breaking his neck and killing him instantly. "Yeah, bitch!" She cried. "That's how we do it in Ponyville!" She kept kicking at the dogs, killing some, wounding others. "Holy sh-" One of the dogs cried out before RD knocked him out with a kick. His eye was blackened and his cheek was bleeding.
Suddenly, she just started kicking them in the asses. She left red hoofmarks on the Dogs' rears as they started yelping and running away. "Hell yeah!" She yelled, chasing them back towards the gem chamber where the others were.
.....
Suddenly, I saw Rainbow Dash coming back from the tunnel - herding 30 crying and whimpering Diamond Dogs. I grinned at her in thanks as I continued to try and break some diamond free from the veins. She started blushing again. 'Why is she doing that?' I wondered to myself. 'Why is she acting so weird around me?'
We all continued freeing some gems from the cave until we finally had enough. After that, we started burning the diamonds into glass and breaking the rubies into dust. Finally, we finished, having made 10 pounds of diamond glass and 15 pounds of ruby dust. We began sending the dust and glass to Celestia 5 pounds at a time, making sure Spike didn't try to eat any of the precious jewels.
After that was all done and over with, we received a scroll from Celestia. On it Celestia wrote, "Young students, you've done very well. I hope you are all ready for a long trip, because this next one will take you a ways away. You must retreive the Golden Apples of the Dwarves. The Dwarves are a vile group of monsters who live in dark caves on the eastern coast of Equestria, where they mine all sorts of iron, silver, copper, and gold. With those apples, I will be able to complete what I am making to aid you. Good luck, my little ponies!"
I told everybody that, and they looked excited and anxious at the same time. None of them had ever even gone as far as Fillydelphia, let alone the eastern coast of Equestria! We all got very excited. We already had all the provisions we needed, so, we put Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity on the back of the Zorg (Applejack said she wanted to run there). We started east, wondering what adventures we would experience. And the whole time, whenever I looked at Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash, they would grin and blush. 'What the fuck is going on with them?' I asked myself as we all traveled to the east.