//------------------------------// // Four-A long journey // Story: The Curse // by FriendlyFire //------------------------------// Four-A long journey It’s now noon, Zecora is pulling the carriage through the Ever Free Forest. Rainbow Dash is reading the map Zecora made, and Vinyl is sleeping. Meanwhile, in PonyVille, Octavia is cancelling all of Vinyl's shows up for a month. She didn't know when Vinyl would be back, but she thought it couldn't take more than a month, and if she came home early she could stay home and rest. The carriage stopped moving and Rainbow Dash looked up from the map. She stepped outside the carriage. "Why'd we st-" Rainbow Dash was about to ask Zecora. Stopping in the middle of her sentence, she knew why they stopped. There was a giant cliff in front of the carriage. Glancing to her left and right she looked for another route, but there wasn't one. Rainbow Dash turned around and opened the carriage door. "We'll have to find anoth-... oh boy." Rainbow Dash said. Zecora turned around. There were at least thirty timber wolves a few feet behind the carriage. They started howling and growling as Zecora got out of the harness and stood beside Rainbow Dash. "What do we do, Zecora?" Rainbow Dash asked, not breaking eye contact with the timber wolves. "The only way out, is to stand and fight. So show no fear, and give them all your might!" Zecora said as she ran forward and jumped on three timber wolves shattering them into hundreds of pieces. Rainbow Dash smiled and yelled as she flew into five timber wolves shattering them into pieces. The two stood back to back as the timber wolves circled them. Four timber wolves pounced on Rainbow Dash and Zecora, but they kicked and punched them before the timber wolves could come to harm. The circle grew tighter and tighter and Zecora and Rainbow Dash were smashing as many timber wolves as they could into pieces. But there were too many. "Maybe this was a bad plan." Rainbow Dash murmured. A timber wolf lurched forward and caught Rainbow Dash off guard throwing her into Zecora. They both fell and the timber wolves started to pile onto them. Zecora and Rainbow Dash yelled and screamed for any help. The sun light was blackened out as a nearby cloud floated by and covered the sun. There was a loud roar and the timber wolves looked towards the carriage. They saw Vinyl with her demonic eyes pined on them and her horn glowed a horrifying red. Ten timber wolves ran towards her and instantly exploded, Vinyl was gone. One timber wolf began glowing a faint red and attacked another timber wolf. The other timber wolves in a state of confusion attacked and killed the faint red one. A little ball of red light flew out of the timber wolf's head and took the form of a pony which revealed to be Vinyl. Three timber wolves pounced at her. But before they could reach her, the timber wolves and her horn glowed red and they stopped in mid air. They started howling in pain and agony right before the moment they exploded. The pile of timber wolves got off Rainbow Dash and Zecora and circled Vinyl. Rainbow Dash stepped forward and was going to help Vinyl, but Zecora stopped her. Vinyl looked down and all the timber wolves tried to pounce on Vinyl, but before they touched her. Vinyl disappeared and left nothing but black smoke. Then a faint rumbling was heard as the ground suddenly caved in and a deep hole with a red fiery vortex at the bottom was created. It happened so quickly, the timber wolves didn't have time to react. They all fell in, and when the last timber wolf fell in the hole closed. "Where did Vinyl goooAHHH!" Rainbow Dash turned and asked Zecora. But Vinyl was standing between Rainbow Dash and Zecora and startled Rainbow Dash. Vinyl opened her mouth, then the cloud in front of the sun moved and the sun beam landed on Vinyl. She screamed and ran inside the carriage. Rainbow Dash looked at Zecora longingly, but Zecora just walked over to the carriage door. Vinyl hissed at her and Zecora threw in some blood berries. Rainbow Dash walked up to the carriage. "Thank you, Zecora" Vinyl said, Zecora nodded and hooked herself in the harness. Rainbow Dash got back in the carriage and Vinyl went back to sleep. Zecora backed the carriage up and started looking for another route. It is now 2:25 p.m. It’s been three days since the timber wolf attack and Vinyl’s tried to attack Rainbow Dash twice since then, but she's been controlling her vampiric abilities better. Zecora pulled them outside of Saddle Arabia and it’s been a long journey. Rainbow Dash was looking at Zecora's map and according to the map, they were half way there. The carriage started speeding up. And continued accelerating, getting faster and faster. It grew to horrifying speeds as Rainbow Dash stuck her head out of the carriage window. "What the hay is going on!?" Rainbow Dash asked Zecora as a sudden pie flew past Rainbow Dash's face and the carriage jerked to the left. Rainbow Dash and Vinyl fell against the other door Rainbow Dash rushed to help Vinyl up. "What's going on?" Vinyl asked Rainbow Dash as the carriage jerked to the right. They both slammed into the other door, the force of their combined body weight opening the door. Rainbow Dash's head was hanging outside, inches from the gravel. She turned her head to the left. There was another wagon being pulled by two ponies wearing hoofercheifs over their faces. There was four ponies in the back throwing pies at Zecora's carriage, and they too, were wearing hoofercheifs. "I think we're being attacked by bandits." Rainbow Dash told Vinyl as she pulled Rainbow Dash in. Rainbow Dash sat up and turned around. The bandits were about to ram the carriage again. But before they could, Rainbow Dash flew out and rammed the bandit's wagon. Causing the bandits to pull away from the carriage and start following Rainbow Dash. Zecora turned the carriage around and followed the wagon. Rainbow Dash began to fly away, but a lasso wrapped around her. Then another lasso, and another lasso joined by a fourth. Rainbow Dash couldn't move her wings and fell to the ground. "RAINBOWW!!!" Zecora and Vinyl both yelled. The bandits pulled Rainbow Dash into their wagon and they trotted away. Zecora began to chase them, but it was no use they were too fast. Zecora noticed a small camp off in the distance and knew instantly that was their camp, and that there was a lot more bandits there. Zecora stopped and watch the bandits and Rainbow Dash run off in the distance. "What are we going to do?" Vinyl asked Zecora. "We shall wait until night. Then you'll give them quite a fright." Answered Zecora. It's midnight. Rainbow Dash is still tied up, but she is now lying beside a fire place. Some bandits are asleep, most are awake. They all had machine guns around their necks and shoulders. She counted; there are exactly twenty three bandits. Rainbow Dash laid there beside the fire, wondering why Zecora and Vinyl left her. She looked at one bandit who was guarding the camp. He saw something off in the distance and walked off in the dark, over a hill, and disappeared. A few seconds later there was a loud scream and a flash of red light. The bandits who were asleep jumped up in the sudden commotion. All the bandits were now alert. The wind starting blowing hard and there was a fast, white blur that came over the hill and grabbed a guard, disappearing into the dark. No pony had enough time to react, it all happened in under a second. They were looking all over the place up and down left and right now in a fit of panic. They heard hoof steps all around the camp. Rainbow Dash saw hoof prints walking in front of her and walk behind a bandit. Then the bandit flew up in the air screaming. All the bandits watched him into the sky. One bandit ran off screaming, and sank through the sand. The remaining bandits were sweating and pacing around nervously forming a circle around the camp. One bandit turned around and looked at Rainbow Dash he had demonic eyes. He winked at Rainbow Dash and turned back around. Then black smoke came up from the sand and covered the camp. There was a screaming and gunshots were heard everywhere. Then there was silence. Rainbow Dash saw red demonic eyes looking at her through the black smoke. The smoke cleared really fast and she saw the bandits all knocked out and Vinyl standing in front of Rainbow Dash, eating blood-berries so she wouldn't kill anypony. "Vinyl!" Rainbow Dash yelled in excitement. As Zecora cut the ropes that had Rainbow Dash tied. "Zecora! You guys came back for me!" Rainbow Dash said as she stood up. "Of course we did, we wouldn't leave you behind." Vinyl said. Her voice sounded like ten ponies talking at once. Rainbow Dash and Zecora both starred at Vinyl. "What?" Vinyl asked, in her weird voice. "N..Nothing. We should get going." Rainbow Dash said. Vinyl nodded and they all got in the carriage and traveled. Two days later they arrived at a beach shore. It is now 5:56 p.m. and the sun is starting to go down. Zecora is looking at the map, Rainbow Dash is tying tie trees together to make a raft, and Vinyl is using her magic to cut down trees. After three hours, they finished their raft. Zecora walked up to Rainbow Dash with black and purple mane dye. Rainbow Dash looked at the mane dye, then back at Zecora, irritated. "Oh no. No no no no no! We are NOT dying my mane! They don't call me RAINBOW Dash for nothing." Said Rainbow Dash, backing away from Zecora. Zecora got dressed in her Nightmare Night costume from last year. A cloak and fake spiders in her mane. She tossed Vinyl a cloak. "We must look like them, so we won’t be slain. Now lean your head back, so I can dye your mane." Zecora said as she walked to Rainbow Dash. "No! You’re not touching my mane!" Rainbow Dash said. Then she glowed red and she was paralyzed. Vinyl smiled at Zecora. Zecora smiled back and walked towards Rainbow Dash with the mane dye.