//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Sombra: The Shadow Over Ponyville // by Blaster Master //------------------------------// Chapter 6 Dusk had fallen over Ponyville after a busy day of organized searching. Everyone involved in the search had organized in Ponyville town square for checking in. Twilight stood on a tall box with a quill and scroll in front of the crowd. “Appleloosa?” “Nope," Big Macintosh stated simply. “Canterlot?” “Not a trace, darling,” Rarity informed. “Rambling Rock Ridge?” “My team combed the whole ridge, and didn’t find anypony,” Cloud Kicker reported. “Ghastly Gorge?” There was a long pause. “Ghastly Gorge?” Twilight asked again, looking up from her scroll “Who’s on Ghastly Gorge?” “Dashie is,” Pinkie Pie said. “All by herself?” Twilight questioned. “She flies in that gorge all the time, Twilight,” Cloud Kicker mentioned, “She knows it like the back of her hoof” “She’s probably just late,” Cheerilee guessed, “I’m sure she’ll be here any moment.” “Or she’s catching up on her napping,” Thunderlane joked. A few snickers rustled through the crowd, but were silenced as Twilight stomped her hoof. “Thank you, Mr. Thunderlane, for volunteering to go and look for Rainbow Dash at Ghastly Gorge.” “What!?” “And seeing as Mayor Mare installed me as lead organizer of the search, I’d remind you that my authority is hers. Now MOVE IT!” There was a moment of shocked silence, and then Thunderlane took off, grumbling as he flew. Twilight felt a familiar claw poke her in the side, and she turned to see Spike looking up at her. “Maybe I should take a while with the list, Twilight,” He said quietly, so the audience wouldn’t hear, “You seem a little on edge.” “Thank you, Spike,” Twi said, giving a little sigh of relief as she handed him the quill and scroll, and got off the makeshift stage. Rather than join the crowd, she headed back towards the library. “Twilight, might I have a word?” Rarity asked as she trotted up next to her fellow Unicorn, “I know Applejack being missing is terrible, but is something else bothering you? You seem so stressed...” “I’m just…I don’t know, something doesn’t feel right; like I’m missing something. I’m worried, Rarity. Worried about all the strange things that have been happening. I feel like they’re connected somehow.” “Have faith in yourself, Twilight,” Rarity reassured, “You are a very clever mare. If there’s some sort of conspiracy at work, I have no doubt you’ll be able to figure it out.” “I hope so…” The two walked for a few more minutes when suddenly Thunderlane came whizzing out of the dark night, landing in front of Twilight, clearly exhausted. “Twilight!” the dark Pegasus gasped, “There’s… There’s…” “Slow down, good sir!” Rarity cautioned, “Get your breath first” Thunderland took a deep breath. “Something’s wrong at Ghastly Gorge, it looks like there was some kind of battle! There’s scorch marks everywhere, and there’s no sign of Rainbow Dash!” “TWILIGHT!!” The trio of ponies spun around and saw Spike moving his small legs as fast as he could. “Fluttershy is missing!” Spike said once he was with the group, “She took a bunch of birds with her, and none of them came back either!” “Sweet Celestia…” Twilight breathed, “The Elements… Whoever is responsible for Applejack going missing must have also taken Rainbow and Fluttershy! They’re trying to break apart the Elements of Harmony!” “But we’re Elements of Harmony!” Pinkie Pie said, springing up from nowhere, surprising everyone. “Pinkie!” Rarity cried indignantly, “Where did you come from!?” “Rarity! I’ve already told you this: I was raised on a rock farm with-” “Nevermind!” Twilight interjected, “SPIKE! Take a letter!” On command, Spike pulled out a quill and letter to take down Twilight’s dictation. “Dear Princess Celestia, I fear something terrible has befallen us in Ponyville. Three of my friends have gone missing under very mysterious circumstances, and I have reason to believe this is because somepony is trying to attack the Elements of Harmony. I plan to continue my investigation to find out the identity of the villain behind this, but I need your guidance and help to secure the safety of my friends. The fate of my missing friends, and, indeed, all of Equestria could be in danger. I await your swift response. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle” Spike rolled up the letter and breathed his magic green fire breath, sending it magically and instantly to the Princess. “So since you’re ‘continuing your investigation’,” Pinkie said while making quotation hooves, “I guess that means we go look for clues?” “Yes, Pinkie,” Twilight confirmed, “We look for clues” *** “My word! This place looks like a warzone!” Rarity exclaimed. She was looking over the edge of a cliff into Ghastly Gorge, along with Twilight, Pinkie, Spike, and Thunderlane. “Yup!” Thunderlane said, “This is how it looked when I got here. Some of those blasts are still sizzling too…” “There must have been some kind of magic duel here,” Spike said, “But who could have the magic to do this?” “This wasn’t magic” All eyes turned to Twilight as she scrutinized the burnt landscape. “What else going do this?” Pinkie asked, “You’d need a lot of fireworks to make this much of a mess!” “Thunderlane,” Twilight turned to him, “You’re a Pegasus, what do you smell?” The dark stallion looked confused for a second, sniffed the air, and then comprehension dawned on his face. “Lightning!” “Exactly.” “Ummm, Twilight could you be so kind as to let us in on what’s going on?” Rarity asked, confused. “When lightning strikes, it ionizes the air around it, making it into ozone, which has a distinct smell.” “Hey!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed “I smell it to! It’s funny, it smells like metal…” “There must have either been a lot discharges or this happened recently if we can still smell it,” “HEY!” Pinkie Pie yelled, pointing “Down there!” Everyone looked where she was pointing, but could barely see anything with the sun so low. “What?” Twilight asked. “Twilight! Poof us down there!” Pinkie demanded, wrapping her hoofs around her friend like a hug. “But-” “Poof!” Resigning to it, Twilight teleported them both down to the gorge floor in a burst of magenta light. Pinkie trotted over to a bushy patch and stuck her head into it. She retrieved a mouth full of feathers. Cerulean feathers. “Pinkie!” Twilight exclaimed, using her magic to levitate the feathers out of her mouth “How did you see that?” “Well…” Pinkie took a deep breath “As we were walking in I thought I saw something blue down on the floor but I thought it might just have been a flower because we didn’t know what had happened to Dash but now that we know that there was lightning around here and that maybe she got hit by some of it I thought ‘that might have knocked off some of her feathers’ and I looked to see where that spot I had seen what I thought was a flower was and here it is.” “…I see” Was Twilight’s only response to her friend’s verboseness. Just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie She thought to herself. She inspected the feathers; some of them were indeed crispy and black. “It’s as I feared,” Twilight muttered “She was hit by lightning” “Well, where is she?” Pinkie Pie asked “After all, if she was hit by lightning, she’d still be here unless she got taken somewhere else. I sure wouldn’t want to fly around after getting zapped.” “Pinkie Pie! You’re right! So she’s most likely captured. But by who?” By the time Twilight and Pinkie got back up with the group, Spike had the Princess’ letter of response, which he read aloud: “Dear Twilight, It saddens my heart to hear about the fate of your friends, but know that I will do everything in my power to help you return them to safety. As you read this letter, I am dispatching a small host of the Royal Guard to aid in your search and provide security to you and the other Elements of Harmony. As for the identity of the one behind this, I truly have no idea. Discord is locked safely away in stone and no other country has declared hostile intentions. I am truly at a loss. I will rely on your investigative skills to find the culprit of these heinous acts and bring them to justice. Yours, Princess Celestia” “The Royal Guard is coming to Ponyville in force?” Rarity asked “What does the Princess think we’re up against?” “Somepony, or something, that can take down Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy in forty eight hours,” Twilight replied grimly. “I’ll have to throw a party to make all the guards feel welcome! How many are in a host? And shouldn’t I be the host? They shouldn’t be hosting their own party after all, they’re the newcomers!” Twilight was glad to be getting reinforcements from Canterlot, but what good were guards if they didn’t know what they were even guarding them from? She cast her eyes over at her two other friends. She had to figure this out, and figure it out soon. *** King Sombra had grown stronger since he had first show up in the heart of the Everfree Forest. He still did not have physical form, but that would come in time. And in the meanwhile, his enemies desperately grasped at straws, having no idea what stalked them in the shadow. Considering the escalation of events in Ponyville, King Sombra decided that, with his greater power, something a little more… Overt, was not completely unwarranted.