//------------------------------//
// Chapter Twenty 
// Story: Battle For Equestria 
// by Cutiemarkcrusader 
//------------------------------//

	"Wake up!"
"What's going on Rainbow Dash?"
"Wake up! They're here."
Fluttershy's eyes snapped open as if she had been pretending to be fast asleep the whole time, "Who's here?"
"Oh, who do you think?"
Suddenly as if by answer, two voices could be heard through the tomblike structures of the caves. Everypony froze in place.
"Where are they? They can't be far now...I bet anything that was all just a ploy!"
"Shut up! You don't know....hear us you moron," the second voice spoke. It was a mare's voice.
Rainbow Dash held a hoof up, signaling for everypony to keep their heads down. Only Fluttershy peered up as little as she could without being noticed. A tiny droplet of the tunnels was lit up farther down where the pegasi stood. The light brown one was scratching at his head, "I just don't understand...how? I mean, how could they have escaped? It's a dead-end!"
Fluttershy felt her heart hammer in her chest as Rainbow shoved her back down with the others harshly. Twilight put a hoof onto Fluttershy's shoulder reassuringly. There was a short silence as the mare let out a cold laugh.
"They probably didn't, you know...I bet you anything that they're hiding somewhere...like here."
Hoofsteps echoed closer and closer until it came to a stop. Twilight let out a hushed gaspas the voices sounded right next to them, only feet away from their hiding place.
"There's nothing here, Cry," the light brown pegasus rolled his eyes, "They probably teleported or something."
Cry looked over at her partner in crime with a dark intensity thrown over her shoulder in his direction, "Really, how? Tell how could they?"
The pegasus let out a huff of breath, "Because two of them are unicorns, Cry. Think about it. If one of them can, odds are she could have enough power to teleport all five of them either all at once or one at a time."
"We've only lost them for three hours!"
A rock clanged against the wall of the hiding place, splinting dust off onto the hunched over ponies. Cry let out another shriek of anger.
"This is not fair, Arrow. I HATE this!"
"Cry, calm down," Arrow sighed sadly, "It's fine."
"No it's not. Shiver is going to KILL us both," Cry exclaimed.
There was another loud thud of a rock being thrown at a wall. Rainbow Dash's eyes watered as she tried not to inhale any of the dust heading her way as Arrow held back a struggling Cry. Their voices died down as they headed back from the way they came. Cautiously, Rainbow Dash looked over the top of the hiding place. Nothing was there except for the scuffle markings on the dusty ground.
"It's all clear," she smiled grimly, "There's no pony here."
Quickly, all four of the remaining ponies staggered out of the hideout shaking from their newfound adrenaline rush. Fluttershy scampered into a rock and fell to the ground in her hurry, wincing as the sound reverberated throughout the tunnels.
"I didn't say that they were that far away," Rainbow Dash hissed under her breath as she helped Fluttershy to a wobbly stand.
"Did you hear that?" the voice of Cry rang out, all anger gone from her tone.
"Yeah, I think I did," Arrow replied as if he were hungry for action already.
Twilight's eyes widened as their shadows were illuminated by a torch light. Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, had both Rarity and Fluttershy in each arm and was flying towards the dead end. 
"We've gotta go, Twi," Pinkie cried out, pushing Twilight with all of her might toward the others.
It took a second for Twilight's fight or flight response to kick in immediately, but when it did she was kicking up a dust trail behind her as she hightailed it with Pinkie Pie. They skidded to a stop at the pile of bricks blocking off the rest of the path.
"Great, now what?" Rainbow Dash let out an exasperated tsk.
"We're going to die. We're going to diewe'regoingtodiewe'regoingtodie," Rarity chanted to herself in a hoarse whisper that barely escaped her lips.
The sounds of wings beating against air only made Rainbow Dash more impatient. Everypony saw their fate flashing before their eyes as they backed into the wall, everypony except Pinkie Pie...Pinkie Pie sidestepped through the mix of rubble and debris, her eyes scouring over the walls.
"Pinkie...what are you doing?" Twilight's voice quivered as her friend kicked pieces of rock around as if digging for treasure.
"I'm looooking," Pinkie sounded out slowly, "For the exit."
"The what?"
Rainbow Dash did get her answer, unfortunately that was at the exact moment Pinkie Pie found the trap door lever. The floor opened out underneath them and they flew through a chute. If Twilight thought she was scared before, she was nearly peeing herself as she flew left and right in the darkness. Rainbow Dash just sighed angrily as Fluttershy's hoof collided with her shoulder.
"And here we go again..." she muttered to herself.


"Where are they? They could NOT have just vanished. THEY WERE HERE!"
Arrow's ears stiffened at the shrill intensity of Cry's voice, "Will you calm down already? I actually don't know if it was them or not, okay."
"What are you talking about? There was five of them," Cry's head whipped back.
"Yeah, but I saw three of them flying. Only two of them are pegasi. How do you explain that, Cry?"
"Easy," Cry drew closer to Arrow, their noses practically touching, "Go get your eyes checked."
There was an uneasy pause between the pair before Arrow turned away, "I know what I saw, Cry. Look, let's just meet up with Needles and Swift. We can think of a plan back at base."
Cry's eyes narrowed and her teeth barred in fury, "NO. I am not leaving here until we find them! I will not turn up empty hoofed like a complete and utter moron. Not again!"
She picked up a rock and chucked it at Arrow. There was a sickening crack that echoed throughout the tunnel as the rock hit Arrow in the leg. He fell forward, howling in pain while Cry searched for some sort of exit, to busy to notice him.
"Why the HELL did you do that for?" he bit his lip as tears threatened to spill from his eyes "You're crazy. I'm heading straight to base with or without you. You can meet me halfway or you can stay here with your five pony friends. But me? I've had it up to here and I'm not going to take it anymore."
And on that note he limped into a starting position. Arrow was just about to take off when he heard the strangest sound. Cry was...laughing. He stole a glance back at her to see her head whipped back in laughter and her hoof holding something.
"W-W-What are you laughing at?" He tried to keep his voice steady, but it was no use, "What's that?"
Arrow's eyes slid down the length of Cry's leg to find two doors fastened shut right underneath her. Where had that come from? He noticed the lever positioned right underneath Cry's hoof and immediately knew the answer. 
"It's a trapdoor. I knew ponies would think of something as stupid as this..."
"Stupid," Arrow chuckled along with Cry, "...But, didn't it fool us for a few minutes though?"
"Shut up," Cry gripped the lever closer to her, "At least we know that there's only one place those brats could've gone."
"Where?"
"...Down."


"You call this going down?" Rainbow Dash gasped as her hooves struggled to find a foothold, "We've been going in loopholes for minutes."
"Oh, Rainbow Dash," Pinkie zipped past Rainbow Dash with a hint of a giggle, "Just relax...It's fun once you get the hang of it."
"But where does it lead to?" Twilight had her horn ignited with the brightest light she could conjure, "Surely we're not past Manehatten yet..."
"Nope, not yet. We're still over by the business district of the city. At least I think that's it..."
"Why are we going so faaaaaaAAAAASSSSSTTTT?" Rarity sped past everypony in a whimsical blur.
"Duh, to keep us going the same speed," Pinkie rolled her eyes, "This is physics 101, I hope you know. That's why this isn't rock, but instead is a system of chutes and pulleys."
"Chutes and pulleys?" Twilight repeated as they went up another loop de loop.
"Yep, you see, this certain bit of technology is kinda like a roller coaster. You can't go up without a little help with a conveyor belt thingy. That's what's keeping us going."
"Then why the loop de loops?" Fluttershy could barely be heard with the whipping of the wind behind everypony's ears.
"Because, it's FUN. That and it keeps those goons away from us for a bit. We still have a five minutes head start. Any other questions?"
"Yes," Rarity was sprawled backwards now, "How long is this ride going to take exactly?"
"Half an hour to one hour," Pinkie replied in a chippier voice, "But wait until you see the grand finale..."
"The grand finale?" Twilight and Rainbow Dash murmured in unison.
Pinkie Pie was wrong about one thing, however...the grand finale was a lot closer than half an hour away. In fact, it was rounding up the turn as they talked. The sound of rushing water fille the air seconds later.
"Uh oh..." Pinkie's smile faded away as the sound became more powerful with every inch they flew past.
"What do you mean 'uh-oh?'" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"Um, okay, I'll fill you in on the grand finale..." Pinkie turned to face everyone, "We're basically going to be falling out underneath a waterfall which is a twenty foot drop and then we have to swim to shore and take it on hoof the reat of the way there. Sound good?"
"NO," Rarity shrieked, "It does not sound good at all! Do you have any idea how long it took to fix this oily rag of mane last night?"
Rarity's whines and hollering fell to deaf ears as a bright light filled the chute. And then there was nothing but a few shrill screams followed by a mighty sploosh. The water was freezing cold and smelled awfully musty. Pinkie Pie was the first to come up. Her dull mane was even darker with the mass of water added to it. Pinkie began to laugh instantly as Rarity and Twilight floated up to the surface.
"See, wasn't that fun?" Pinkie let out a snort.
"I'm at heart to see you as cheerful as ever," Rarity muttered with complete and utter sarcasm, "But now what?"
Twilight turned her head this way and that, searching for the other two ponies in their group, "Wait, where's Rainbow Dash? And Fluttershy?"
"I haven't seen them," Pinkie Pie shrugged her shoulders non-chalantly.
"We're up here," Rainbow Dash drifted down slowly, her wings opening and closing.
"That's not fair," Rarity whimpered, "You two have wings..."
"We all do," Twilight sighed, disappointed with herself for not remembering that simple fact, "We just didn't have the impulse to flap our wings right away."
"Just our luck, girls," Pinkie smiled from ear to ear as she pointed a hoof at the treeline, "It's getting darker."
"How is that in our luck, exactly?" Rainbow Dash helped a soaking wet Rarity out of the lake.
"Because," Pinkie hopped out all on her own, "Zecora told me that when the night comes, just follow the brightest star above."
Twilight's ears perked up at this, "You mean the northern star? Zecora's right...Canterlot was built so that the star is right above it. If we can see it, which shouldn't be hard by now, we can just follow it."
All five of the ponies' eyes scoured the sky. A few seconds ticked by and still no sign of the northern star. Crickets slowly began to play their sweet, symphonic songs and the treeline began to grow fainter. And then one of them let out a shocked gasp. It was Fluttershy who yelped in surprise, signaling for the others to come to her frantically.
"I see it," she pointed at the sky.
"I can't see anything," Rainbow grumbled.
Twilight squinted her eyes, "No, she's right. It's a bit dim right now, but that's the northern star. All we have to do is follow it and it's a straight shot to Canterlot."
"Okay, but there better not be any more finales or else I'm going to really be mad," Rainbow Dash's wings opened again as she led the others over the treeline and into the sky.
There was a few minutes of silence that fell upon the lake. Not even the crickets were stirring. It was as if they knew someone was coming. And just like that, two pegasi were flung out of the chute and into the bitterly cold water. Arrow burst out of the water, flapping his wings as fast as possible with a small shriek.
"It's freezing!" he landed on a nearby tree branch that overhung the minuscule lake, drying himself off.
Cry came up for air slowly, "Where are they? Great, they could be anywhere now...Arrow what are you doing?"
Arrow jumped a few inches as he checked over his shoulder, "Oh, you scared me Cry. I thought the fall might've killed you..."
"Don't get your hopes up too high," Cry made her way to the shoreline, spitting to the left of her as she did so, "What are you doing?"
"I was drying myself off," Arrow answered her question with a simple shrug, "Just waiting on you, that's all."
"Thanks, I'm very touched," Cry rolled her eyes as she looked left and right, "Now, listen to me...our best bet is to fly up. Those ponies could be anywhere, alright? For all I know there could be another secret tunnel they went to, so keep your eyes peeled on the forest as we fly. Got it?"
"Got it," Arrow let out an exhausted sigh, "But can we get a minute's rest?"
"Sure and while we're at it, let's go and see a movie. I've always heard that Pony of Steel was a great watch."
"Fine, I'm going, I'm going," Arrow's wings opened with an involuntary shiver before their host took off into the evening sky with his partner in crime.
"Don't worry about them if you do lose them though," Cry called out behind her shoulder to Arrow, "I know exactly where they're going."
"Where?"
"Didn't you know by now?" Cry's eyes narrowed in determination, "They're heading straight for Canterlot..."