//------------------------------// // Ambush // Story: Dreamquestria // by TheBBofC //------------------------------// With a deep breath, the glow of Twilight’s horn subsided and she used a foreleg to wipe her forehead. Rainbow Dash poked her head into the mouth of the pyramid and looked about. “I don’t see any booby traps,” she said. “Isn’t the whole point of a booby trap that you don’t see it?” Applejack stated, earning a deadpan glare from Rainbow. “I was expecting something to happen as soon as that door opened,” Rainbow replied. Stepping into the pyramid, she scanned the walls for signs of hazards. Unless the stairway that was about ten feet in qualified, there were none. “Nope,” she said after a moment. “It just looks like a boring old pyramid to me.” “That’s good,” said Twilight. “Let’s get our things.” The group nodded in agreement and headed down to the cart. Each of the ponies grabbed their saddlebags and as much else as they could carry. Once the cart was emptied, Twilight and Rainbow Dash lead the way into the pyramid. They were followed by Rarity, who stopped to look at the bottom of her hooves after taking a few steps in. Seeing that she had left prints on the dusty floor, she released a brief groan. Stephen looked to Applejack, who gave him a tip of her hat before waving him to go ahead. Stephen looked over to Fluttershy. Her eyes were wide and she gave an audible gulp. “Hey,” said Stephen. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m a bit nervous too.” “I know,” Fluttershy replied. “I always have trouble with these things.” “Fluttershy, are you coming, dear?” Rarity asked from inside. Stephen took a step towards the entrance. “Let’s just get this over with. I’ve got your back and the others are watching the front. Sound good?” Pinkie Pie hopped up to Fluttershy’s left. “And I’ve got your sides, just in case!” she said happily. Fluttershy replied with a nod. After taking a deep breath, she slowly walked into the entrance with Pinkie by her side and Stephen close behind. After he passed through the entrance, curiosity prompted him to look up at the granite slab, which seemed to be suspended into the pocket doorway by purple sparkles. The slab looked thick enough to be something from Stonehenge and left Stephen astounded that Twilight had been able to move it at all. He pressed forward and tried to avoid thinking about how they were expecting to confront someone much stronger. Applejack came in behind Stephen and Twilight lowered the granite slab back to the floor with another stony creak. The pyramid was in total darkness for a moment before purple and white incandescent lights emanated from the unicorns’ horns and they proceeded down the spiraling stairway. The stairs ran down fifty feet to the base of the pyramid. For what the unicorns’ light was showing, the pyramid was nothing but a hollow chamber. But once they reached the base, Twilight found a tile with two winged unicorns circling the moon and sun. She lay down in front of the tile and touched her horn to it. Stephen watched with speechless amazement as that tile and dozens of others lit up a bright blue. A white light shot down the middle of the illuminated tiles and the floor opened like storm cellar doors. Several torches lit the way down what looked to be a thirty-foot staircase into an underground chamber. “Whoa, now that was awesome,” said Rainbow Dash. The group filed down the stairs, which led into an open room. What appeared to be hundreds of torches placed about the walls took flame and illuminated the lower chamber. The room was revealed to be about four hundred square feet with half of the floor covered by a mysterious, super thick fog. Twelve massive stone pillars supported the ceiling on the group’s side of the mist alone. Another twelve were on the other side of the mist and surrounding a small stone altar with an ominous looking gate painted onto the wall behind it. A faint golden glow shone atop the altar. Curiosity drove Stephen to walk towards the altar and get a closer look at the key they were charged with protecting. There was something about the way the fog covered half the floor like a white cotton blanket that made him uneasy. It was an odd sight, but Stephen pressed forward, taking his first step into the fog. His heart jumped into his throat as his hoof failed to make contact with the floor and he fell forward. The floor he was standing on had suddenly become a corner of a high wall where he was balanced on his midsection with the fog over his head. Below was nothing but a black void. Stephen braced his hooves against the wall but as he felt himself slipping forward, he did the only thing someone could do – he screamed. Stephen rapidly inched forward further over the edge of the floor, trying desperately to push himself back up. As he felt his inverted knees go over the edge, he closed his eyes and hoped the fall wouldn’t be too far. There was a hard tug on his tail and he shot back up the wall. Sliding for a foot or two on the stone floor, he looked up and saw Rainbow had taken his place at the edge of the clouds. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you only Pegasus ponies can walk on clouds?” she asked as if that was supposed to be obvious knowledge. “Who puts a gaping hole in the middle of a floor like that?” Stephen shouted once he caught his breath. A moment later, Rainbow’s words registered. “And no! The topic of strolling across condensation doesn’t come up often where I’m from!” The rest of the group rushed over. “What happened?” Twilight asked. Pinkie hopped over to the edge of the clouds and stuck her head over the edge. Rainbow was walking around atop them, also poking her head through. “That’s a big hole!” Pinkie called out. After a moment of audible reverberation, she giggled and with her head literally in the clouds, called out, “Echo!” into the void. Rainbow pulled her head up from the clouds. “Yeah, there’s no floor under these clouds at all. Probably to catch anypony who gets close to the shrine. I knew there’d be a trap!” “How far down does it go?” Applejack asked. “I don’t know,” said Rainbow. “Looks pretty deep. It’s a good thing I caught you, Stephen.” “I’ll say,” he replied with a sigh. “Thanks for that.” Rainbow stuck her nose in the air and waved a hoof at him. “Don’t sweat it. I told you I got your back.” Rainbow turned to the rest of the group. “Be careful, everypony. That first step’s a doozy,” she called out with a chuckle. Rainbow jumped off the fog and glided over to the shrine. “Is this what we’re guarding?” she asked upon landing. She examined the shrine on all sides and waved her hoof around the key, checking for more traps. “Don’t touch the key, Rainbow!” Twilight called from the other side. “Celestia said the shrine would fall apart if it’s moved.” “Got’cha, Twilight!” Rainbow called back before jumping into the air and returning to the group. “Looks like we got here in good time,” said Applejack. “Remember what the princess said,” said Twilight. “That key is supposed to be invisible unless the relics are breaking its seal. That means the thief is on their way. So let’s get ready for anything.” Stephen watched as everyone went into their saddlebags and pulled out elaborate gold jewelry. Five chokers and a tiara, each adorned with a large gems of various shapes and colors. Stephen’s eyes went wide as he watched them fasten their jewelry. “Wait a moment,” he spoke up. “What are those things you’re putting on? Is it armor? Should I have armor too? What’s going on?” he nervously fired off the questions. “These are the Elements of Harmony,” said Twilight. “I believe I’ve told you about them before.” Stephen remembered the name from the book that Twilight had showed him a few days ago. “I remember you said you used them before. But the picture you showed me in that book was five spherical gems on a stand, kind of like the pictures of the other statues.” “That’s what they looked like before we became friends and formed a bond with the Elements.” Stephen thought about it for a moment before remembering that he wasn’t supposed to try to think about it. Very few things in this world made sense when compared to how things worked on Earth. “That’s understandable, I guess,” he sighed. “But what do they do?” “It’s not about what they do, Stephen,” said Twilight. “It’s about what we do through them.” Twilight motioned to her friends. “When representatives of kindness, loyalty, honesty, generosity and laughter come together in friendship, a magic is formed that creates a bond where corruption and chaos can’t exist.” Then she pointed to her tiara. “The Elements themselves amplify that magic to a tangible force that exorcises or neutralizes dark powers.” “And how exactly did you find these things?” Stephen asked curiously. As soon as he asked, his stomach let out an audible growl, causing Applejack to giggle. “That’s a long story there, sugarcube,” she said. “Sounds like it’d be best told over some supper.” Pinkie Pie was already laying out a checkered picnic blanket on the floor. “Sounds good to me,” Stephen said with a smile. He walked over to help her set up. During their meal, Twilight told Stephen the story of how she met her friends and their first adventure together. Once they had finished cleaning up after their meal, Twilight separated herself from the group to practice the shield formation she had discussed with Stephen earlier today. Rainbow occupied herself with practicing flying tricks about the room. The other four had started a board game at Pinkie’s request and Stephen resigned himself to another nap, only occasionally opening his eyes to watch the others for a minute or two. Eventually, Twilight called for the group’s attention. “I’ve got a plan,” she said once everyone had gathered. “When the thief shows up, we’ll try to take them by surprise. Applejack, I want you to tie them up with your lasso as quick as possible.” Applejack tipped her hat at Twilight in response. “The rest of you will help Applejack hold him down while I cast a suppressive spell that will make it hard for them to use magic for a while. If we find out they’re using dark magic, we’ll counter with the Elements of Harmony. If it becomes a fight, I’ll cover us with my new shield spell until we’re safe. Then we report back to Canterlot as soon as possible. Understand?” Everyone nodded their heads with confidence. A few more hours passed calmly. Rarity was the first to fall asleep once she finished setting up the air mattress she had packed. Twilight unwound herself with some quiet reading for a little while before curling up in her sleeping bag. Stephen conversed with Applejack until she expressed a desire for shut-eye. At which point, he joined Pinkie, Rainbow and Fluttershy in a card game where cookies that Pinkie had packed were being gambled. Eventually the rest of the group had bowed out for exhaustion and fallen asleep. With that, Stephen unpacked the sleeping bag, blanket and pillow that Rarity had picked out for him and laid himself down on it. Stephen kept himself rested and as close to sleep as he could get by occupying his mind with how he would try to put his life back together at home. The way things looked now, nothing was going to be easy once this was all behind him. After what felt like a couple of hours, Stephen’s thoughts and rest were interrupted by the top half of the pyramid being rattled with the sounds of heavy stones being rolled against each other. Twilight was still asleep so that noise could only mean one thing. His stomach tightened as he was jump-started by a burst of adrenaline. Crawling out of his sleeping bag, he went to each of the ponies and shook them awake. “They’re coming,” he said to each of them until they woke up. “Formation, girls!” Twilight quietly called out once everyone was awake. Everyone gathered around her. Stephen stood behind Twilight with the others surrounding him and his attention welded to the stairs. There was only one way in or out of this pyramid. It would only be a matter of time before his abductor appeared. Stephen counted twenty seconds, each more suspenseful than the last, until a black-iron armor horseshoe appeared on the first step leading into the lower chamber. Its contact with the stone steps echoed through the chamber before disappearing back up the step. He knows, Stephen thought just as all four armored hooves dropped down onto the steps. That was all anyone saw before a blinding light filled the room and sent the group reeling and shielding their eyes. Rainbow Dash was the first to recover from the flare. Her vision was still heavily splotched but the basic shapes and colors in the room were coming back to her. She jumped into the air and saw the shape of a stallion’s rear running towards the shrine. “He’s going for the key!” she shouted before giving pursuit, half-blind and ignoring Twilight’s call to stay together. She was over the culprit and dove down to tackle him but ended up tackling the floor when he disappeared into thin air. The smell of o-zone told her she landed just before the fog. The thief must have teleported across the trap to the shrine. The room’s color was still returning to her vision, so she tried to get a look at the culprit while getting to her feet and ignoring the pain of her crash. However, just as she raised her eyes in the shrine’s direction, his shape blinked away. Four iron hooves and the weight of a heavy stallion materialized on her unprepared back, forcing her back to the floor. The lower chamber started to quake as the group finished shaking the spots from their eyes. They turned towards the shrine to see a green flash of light appear over a floored Rainbow Dash. Rainbow shot to her feet and looked around for the thief. Applejack looked up to the stairs and saw the hind legs of a stallion who was too big to be Stephen disappear into the top chamber. She turned back to her saddlebag and grabbed her lasso. “Stick to the plan, everypony! I’m gonna wrangle me a thievin’ unicorn. YEE-HAW!!!” The chamber's shaking had quickly become almost unbearably violent. Uncertain of what to look at, Stephen’s eyes were darting everywhere. The altar had split, the shrine had crumbled and the pillars were breaking apart. It would only be a matter of time until the ceiling came down as well. Trying to move forward, he noted each pillar as they cracked and kept a mental tab on where each piece would fall. Hearing Fluttershy let out a loud shriek, he turned his head to see her staring at a pony-sized piece of pillar that had crashed down in front of her with wide eyes and flat ears. Another sonorous crack sounded nearby. Stephen looked up to its source and saw that the nearest pillar had a forty-five degree crack about three feet above the base. He knew it was coming down. His eyes followed its potential trajectory and were brought back to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, move!” he shouted at the top of his lungs. He tried to shove her but she had locked herself in place. The world flashed a bright purple and for the shortest conceivable time, Stephen felt like he was falling. The light faded as quickly as it came and he was standing in front of Twilight on the steps. With an earth shaking crash, the pillar broke into a dozen pieces against the floor where he had just been. Stephen frantically looked about the room and was relieved to see Rainbow had hoisted Fluttershy to safety. Still running, Applejack glanced back for a split second when the pillar crashed. Relieved there were still six ponies below and Stephen had taken point, Applejack lowered her head forward and continued to barrel towards her target. Stephen was overcome with desperation to get out of this chamber. Turning and running up the stairs as fast as he could, his eyes caught Applejack approaching the upper chamber at full gallop. He looked back at the group. Twilight appeared to be calling out to him but he couldn’t hear what she was saying over the earthquake. By the way she was pointing, Stephen assumed she was telling them to run and catch the thief. “Stay together!” Twilight called out for a second time while reaching out to Stephen and Applejack. But again, they didn’t seem to hear her as Applejack disappeared into the upper chamber with Stephen halfway up the steps and still running. If this plan were to be salvaged, they’d have to move quickly. After a frustrated groan, she cast a force field over herself and her friends. Looking back at them, she shouted, “Stay close, everypony!” before they all ran up the stairs together. When Applejack reached the upper chamber, the thief was halfway to the spiraling staircase. She quickly gained on him, calling out, “Stop right there, ya good-for-nothin’-Whoa!” Applejack banked right when a green bolt flew from where the thief’s head would be. The attack barely missed her face and chipped the floor next to her. But now Applejack was close enough to see the theif’s brightly glowing green dragon eyes and slightly curved horn. That was all the information she needed. Applejack flourished her lasso as the thief’s horn lit up again. When the bolt came, she dodged to the left and flung the noose out with a jerk of her neck. Pulling back, the rope went taught around his neck. “Come here!” she grunted through her teeth and gave the rope a hard pull. The thief reared up, giving himself some slack to step on and prevent her from controlling him. Surprised by his strength, Applejack suddenly felt like she was trying to wrangle her brother. But farm life, several herding sessions and dozens of rodeos had taught her how to deal with much worse. Applejack choked up on the rope and ran wide, pulling her full weight on the rope as she tried to get the stallion’s head to turn. He was about to give way when his horn lit up again. Applejack instinctively ducked as the thief launched another blast, which narrowly missed her head. She choked up on the rope again and yanked him down in the other direction. The thief budged but braced himself and tugged back. Applejack took the opportunity to whip the rope around his neck a second time. Stephen came into the top chamber before any of the others. Some light splashing out from below showed Applejack in a tug-of-war with a pair of frightening glowing green eyes in the darkness. She had the thief! Soon enough, the rest of the group would show up to help her and he’d be apprehended. But Stephen remembered hearing about how strong this thief was and his demonstration of cunning in the lower chamber left Stephen desiring a contingency plan as he ran towards the bout. Still running, Stephen watched Applejack weave between two more magic blasts before jumping over a third. While airborne, a green aura appeared around her tail and she was yanked towards the thief. Applejack kept the rope in her mouth and stuck the landing on her hooves. Ending up less than three feet from the thief, she immediately bucked up at him. Between striking at night and his use of flashbang, he obviously has a desire to remain unseen, Stephen thought, also hoping that he’d succeed in running past the fight unnoticed. If he has to face the other six and their magic jewelry, he’ll likely retreat. What he might not expect is for someone to grab him as he exits. Stephen hoped against hope that he’d miraculously gain the ability to wrestle his abductor until reinforcements arrived. But this was not the time for second-guessing and just as he’d promised, there would be no more freezing up. All he had to do was distract the thief for a few seconds. Just do it, resounded through his mind. Applejack felt the thief weave around her legs when she bucked and jumped away before he could counter. Simultaneously, she wrapped his neck a third time as she landed between the stairs and her roped-up culprit. He’d be as good as hog-tied if she merely pulled him down and roped his front legs all at once. Out of her peripherals, Applejack saw Stephen run past her and heard him clamor up the staircase. Where does he think he’s going? she asked internally. In the fraction of a second she was distracted, her opponent reared up and lunged forward. “Whoa nelly…” Their skulls met with a loud and solid clap. Applejack’s ears started ringing and her head went light. The pyramid spun around a couple of times before turning on its side and Applejack’s face rested on what used to be the floor. When the rest of the group reached the dark upper chamber, they saw a green aura drop Applejack’s noose before the thief’s glowing eyes disappeared up the staircase. Applejack and Stephen were nowhere to be seen. “We’ll have to stop him outside!” Rarity declared. Just as they were about to give chase, Twilight felt the floor get weak under her hooves. She glanced back for a fraction of a second and saw parts of the floor falling into the lower chamber. “Fly!” she shouted, lowering her force field. The light from the lower chamber filling the room revealed Applejack lying unconscious by the stairs. Pinkie dashed ahead in a blur of motion and scooped up her friend before bolting up the stairs. Rainbow Dash hoisted Twilight into her forelegs and flapped onward. Fluttershy wrapped her front legs under Rarity’s and pumped her wings as hard as she could. They gained a few feet of altitude before the sound of the crumbling floor entered their ears. She closed her eyes and did her best to ignore the strain of flying with the weight of a full-grown mare dangling from under her like an anchor. “Just a few more feet to the stairs…” she repeated to herself. The top chamber’s floor had completely collapsed into the bottom chamber, allowing the light from the bottom chamber’s torches to illuminate the rest of the pyramid. Rainbow Dash dropped Twilight on the stairs. Twilight immediately cast her flashlight spell and started running. Looking back, Rainbow saw Fluttershy slowly making her way to the stairs with Rarity and bolted over to help her friends. Flying up to Rarity, Rainbow reached out and grabbed one of Rarity’s front legs. As a look of relief came to Fluttershy’s face, Rainbow tugged a little faster. A moment later, they placed Rarity on the spiraling staircase, whereupon she provided them light and they shot up as fast as they could. Stephen kept his eyes forward and did his best to ignore the building lactic acid in his muscles as he cleared the entrance of the pyramid and he shot to the left. Once he felt as though he’d be out of the peripheral view of the entrance, he crouched and waited. Taking the time to try and catch his breath, he attempted to calm the nerves that came with anticipating conflict and the fact that in having never before sought conflict, especially physical, he had no idea how to initiate. But if he kept his mind clear and simply acted, it would come to him, right? Wasn’t this how he learned how to do everything else in this world? Stephen’s thoughts were interrupted when the muscular outline of the thief’s muzzle stepped into the moonlight from the pyramid’s doorway with the golden key in his oral grasp. By the time Stephen realized that this wasn’t any of his friends, the thief was already halfway out. Stephen’s hind legs shot him forward. “Got you!” he shouted as he felt his front legs wrap around the thief’s flanks. The world flashed again. This time, bright green accompanied a split-second falling sensation before Stephen found himself several feet from the pyramid’s base, still clutching onto the thief. Stephen kept a desperate grasp on his target’s hindquarters while the thief tried to buck him off. Stephen prayed for an opportunity to somehow gain better leverage. His wish was granted when the thief shimmied down, placing himself further under Stephen. With a small buck and a pop of his haunches, Stephen was on the unicorn’s back with access to the thief’s neck. But the world suddenly turned sideways and all of the air was violently shoved from his lungs as the thief sandwiched Stephen between himself and the ground. The thief’s weight left Stephen’s chest and he felt a force wrap around his whole body before being yanked into the air, swung through a tall cactus and slammed back down on the ground. Still winded, Stephen tried desperately to regain his bearings. The moon shining into his eyes became partially eclipsed by a pony rearing over his head. Moonlight gleamed off the armored horseshoes and snake-like eyes glared down at him with cold rage. Stephen covered his face as best as he could and braced for the coup de grâce. Armored hooves thumped the ground on either side of Stephen’s head. After a moment, he realized he was still conscious and peered up from behind his front legs. Those sickening eyes, disembodied in the darkness, filled his entire field of view and churned his stomach. But the killing intent they bore about two seconds ago was replaced with curiosity. The thief raised his head and his silhouette reappeared, standing over Stephen. The golden key floated from his mouth and seemed to disappear into his chest with the sound of velcro. “Fancy meeting you here,” said a deep, elderly voice. “There he is!” Pinkie Pie’s voice echoed from the pyramid’s summit and drew the unicorn’s attention upward. Stephen finally found his breath and sucked in as much air as he could. “Dear Celestia, they’re persistent,” the thief said before taking a careful step over his opponent’s body. “Au Revoir, Stephen!” the culprit shouted as he took off in full gallop. Stephen turned onto his stomach just in time to see a flash of green sparks pop into existence from about twenty feet away. The thief was gone.