Only a short distance down the road, Twilight, Rainbow, and Applejack trotted down the worn dirt path, exhausted from galloping all day. The sun had already set half an hour ago, the moon being their sole source of light, its light glistening on the path.
“Alright girls, I think it’s time we stop for the night…” Twilight groaned as she slumped to the ground, her whole body aching from the prolonged gallop.
“Sounds good to me,” Rainbow said as she laid down next to Twilight. She pulled some bread from her saddlebag and passed it around, her friends gratefully accepting the food. As she ate her small dinner, Rainbow stretched out her hooves, letting her sore muscles rest. Normally she was used to extended periods of working out, but now it felt as if every muscle in her body was on fire.
As she tossed the remainder of her bread into her mouth, she was about to go find some water from a stream nearby when she saw a small light flickering through the trees further down the road. Not wanting to get anypony’s hopes up, she nonchalantly said, “Hey, before we call it a night, I’m gonna go stretch my wings. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.” Without waiting for a response, she took off and flew towards where the light was originating from.
Slowly down, she silently hovered above the trees above the source of light. She peered through the treetops and tried to get a good look at whoever it was down there. She waited a few brief moments and listened intently. When she didn’t hear anything, she was about to land and move in on hoof when she heard somepony speak. Instantly recognizing the voice, she thought, “That’s the stallion that was in Twilight’s bedroom!”
Without wasting another second, she flew back to where her friends waited for her, landing in front of them with a soft thump.
“Guys, I found the kidnappers!!” Rainbow said in a hushed whisper.
“What?! Where?” Twilight scrambled to her hooves, impatiently waiting for Rainbow to continue.
“Just a little bit further down the road and to the left, off in the trees,” Rainbow said. “I recognized the stallion’s voice that kidnapped Spike last night. I didn’t hear Spike or anypony else, though...”
“Well, what the buck are we waitin’ for, galls? Let’s go!” Applejack said excitedly, ready to kick some flank, but Twilight held her back.
“Applejack, we can’t just go rushing in; that’d be a tactical mistake!” Twilight said, placing a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “A few weeks ago, I was reading a book about how the element of surprise is the most important thing in a fight and how it often was the determining factor, and our situation is no different.”
Rainbow nodded in agreement, and the three of them started to form their plan of attack.
A few minutes later they were all ready, each in a key position around the enemy camp. Twilight was about fifteen feet from the tree where Spike was tied up, Applejack was on the other side of the camp hiding behind a tree just outside the road, and Rainbow was silently hovering above the camp, keeping watch over Twilight.
Twilight got Applejack’s attention with a wave of her hoof, and Applejack waved at Rainbow, signaling that they were moving in. Twilight peered around the tree that she was hiding behind, and making sure that the unicorn keeping watch wasn’t looking in her direction, she stepped forward, moving towards the next tree.
*SNAP*
Twilight cringed in fear, praying to Celestia that she hadn’t been heard. Glancing up, she locked eyes with the fearful stallion, who was staring right at her.
“You!” He cried out as he instantly recognize the purple mare, scrambling to his hooves to give chase.
With a small eep of fear, Twilight turned tail and ran as fast as she could into the forest. All that mattered now was leading the unicorn as far away from the camp as possible. Thankfully, she had Rainbow to watch over her, and she glanced up through the treetops, seeing brief flashes of the pegasus through the leaves.
As she looked back down to see where she was going, she suddenly tripped over an upraised tree root, severely spraining her two front hooves in the process. She violently rolled across the forest floor, coming to a stop at the base of a tree. Hearing her pursuer come closer and closer, she slid herself behind the tree, hoping that she wouldn’t be found. “Maybe he’ll just keep on running…” Twilight desperately thought to herself. She heard the unicorn stop in the clearing where she had just fallen. “Or maybe not!” She clenched her eyes shut and hoped that Rainbow would do something.
Stopping in the clearing not ten feet from Twilight, Mordronous looked around, listening for anything that would give the purple unicorn up. Looking down, he noticed that the hoof prints ended in this little clearing. Knowing that she was somewhere nearby, he glanced about, searching for anything that would give up the unicorn. A few seconds later, he found exactly what he was looking for; a tuft of purple hair sticking out from behind a tree to his right.
“Well...well...well, what do we have here?” Mordronous menacingly asked, a wicked grin slowly forming on his face as he crept closer and closer to the tip of Twilight’s tail. With a triumphant cry he stomped on it, pinning the injured unicorn in place. Thinking quickly, he levitated a magic blocking ring from his saddlebag and swiftly secured it around Twilight’s horn, disabling her from using any magic whatsoever.
“What the hay is this thing?” Twilight asked fearfully after she failed to teleport away; she had never felt so helpless before in her life.
“Oh, it’s nothing, really, just a little device that the beloved King Sombra used when he ruled over the Crystal Empire. It temporarily blocks a unicorn’s magic for a short time, leaving no permanent effects…usually. There are only a few lef- OOF!”
Seeing that Twilight was is danger, Rainbow dove through a small hole in the treetops, tackling Mordronous to the ground. She flew back to where Twilight was and she stood over her friend protectively. “Come one step closer, I dare you!” Rainbow yelled angrily, watching the unicorn slowly return to his hooves.
“Or what?” Mordronous dryly asked, his patience with these pesky mares running incredibly thin.
“Or I’ll pound you into the ground, that’s what!” Rainbow yelled back, her wings flared, ready for action.
“Let’s see what you’re made of then!” Mordronous snarled as he charged his horn with a spell, waiting for her to make her move. They stared at each other for a few seconds, tension filling the air.
“Rainbow, get out of here!” Twilight cried out, tugging on the ring on her horn.
“No, I’m not leaving you, Twi! I’ll never leave you!” Rainbow said, looking back at her friend.
“Oh, you love her, don’t you?” Modronous sneered.
“What? I...yes...no, wait...I...I...oh, buck it all to hell!” Rainbow jumped into the air and charged at Mordronous, only for him to slam her into the ground with his magic. Before she could get back up to pound him into the ground, Mordronous cast a deep sleep spell on her, effectively putting her out of the fight.
“Rainbow!!” Twilight desperately cried out, her eyes widening in fear. “Get up! Please, get up!” When Rainbow didn’t move an inch, Twilight pushed herself over to her limp form. She pushed Rainbow’s back with a hoof, shaking her back and forth. “Rainbow, please don’t be dead!”
A look of disdain on his face, Mordronous advanced on the pair of mares, watching as Twilight’s cries rose in intensity. Annoyed by Twilight’s sobs of anguish, he cast the same deep sleep spell on her as he did on the other mare, sighing in relief as Twilight collapsed. Tired, he levitated the two mares into the air with his magic and made his way back towards the camp.
Back at the camp, Applejack was waiting for the perfect moment to make her move. She had already made her presence known to Spike, and he was doing everything in his power to not give away her position. She knew that she would be overcome if she tried to free Spike and run, so she figured that she had to take out the other two ponies still in the camp first. One pony was fast asleep and the other was sitting near the fire, letting its warmth wash over him. Thankfully, the one by the fire had his back turned to her, so she silently made her way towards him first. When she was only a couple feet from the unsuspecting pony, she turned around and whistled softly to get his attention.
Shocked by the sudden noise, Zeo turned around and saw a mare facing away from him, bending over slightly. “What the buck is she doing here? Wait...is she in heat?” Thinking he was going to get lucky, he smiled as he stood up to introduce himself, only to get bucked upside the head, instantly knocking him out cold.
Quickly pulling the unconscious pony out of sight, Applejack heard Garath tentatively move towards her hiding spot.
“Uhh...Zeo?” Garath asked, worry tinting his voice. “Hey buddy, you there?” He waited a few seconds, and when his friend didn’t respond, his wings started fluttering nervously. “Stop it, wings! GAH I hate it when this happens!” He timidly crept forward a few steps closer to where he had saw his friend a minute ago, and then he froze as he heard a twig snap behind him. He turned his head to look behind him just in time to see an orange-coated mare buck his head, knocking him unconscious.
“Whew…that went a little easier than I thought…” Applejack thought to herself as she trotted over to where Spike was. “Hey Spike, Ah’m here to getcha out!” she said cheerfully. “Twi and Rainbow Dash are keeping that awful unicorn away from here while Ah free ya, so lemme see here…” She inspected the intricate knot with a trained eye, knowing exactly how to untie the knot. What she didn’t know was that Mordronous had enchanted the rope, making it so that only he could untie it. Applejack did everything she could to the knot, but it would not yield.
“Ah really don’t know what to do here, Spike,” Applejack said worriedly. “These knots won’t budge!”
“I’m sure Twilight can figure something out when she gets here,” Spike nervously said, keeping an eye out for anypony.
“Uhhh, yeah about that…” Applejack nervously began. “The plan was for them to lead that nasty-lookin’ unicorn away so that I could getcha outta here. But now that Ah can’t…” She stopped talking as she heard somepony coming back towards the camp, and it sure didn’t sound like Twilight or Rainbow. “Uhh...I’ll be back!” she whispered, silently slipping back into the forest.
A few seconds later, Mordronous stormed back into the camp, levitating the limp bodies of Twilight and Rainbow. “Oh sweet Celestia, no...he didn’t kill them, did he?!?” Applejack thought in sheer terror as she watched him throw her friends onto the ground near the fire.
“What did you do them, you savage...savage beast?!?” Spike yelled at Mordronous, staring at the limp forms of his friends. “Rainbow and Twilight tried to save me... and now they’re dead…” Tears formed in his eyes, slowly making trails down his scaly face as he suddenly realized that Twilight, the most important pony in his life, was now gone forever. Feelings of anger and guilt surged through him as he stared at the pony who had killed his best friend.
“Oh, shut up already; they’re fine…” Mordronous responded dryly as he untied Spike from the tree. He threw him into his saddlebag and locked it shut with his magic, trapping his prisoner inside. He touched his horn to his comrade’s limp forms and cast a quick revival spell on each of them.
“Whadabuck just happened…” Zeo groaned as he woke up, clutching his throbbing head. He pulled his hoof away and looked at it, sighing in relief when he saw that there was no blood. He stood up and looked around, searching for the orange mare.
“You were taken down because you are incompetent…” Mordronous snarled angrily, his muzzle inches away from Zeo’s. The earth pony backed down fearfully with a small squeak, afraid of what the unicorn was going to do to him.
Desperately trying to change the subject, Zeo timidly said, “Hey, uhhh, you know boss, there’s another pony somewhere nearby. She might try something, so...uhh...you know...”
With a growl, Mordronous turned away and said, “No matter. We’ll be far away by the time she tries anything.” His horn lighting up, he levitated Rainbow and Twilight into the air and bound their hooves together tightly. He motioned for the other two ponies to stand beside him, and he laid Twilight across Garath’s back and Rainbow on Zeo’s. The two ponies grinned at each other, lustful thoughts flowing through their minds. Modronous shook his head in annoyance, and shaking his annoyance away, he closed his eyes and concentrated, drawing energy from the other four ponies. An image of the sacrificial room of the cult popped into his mind, and he focused on it, making sure that no other thoughts strayed into his mind. If he suddenly thought of some other area while executing the spell, they could be sent way off course, ending up at neither destination.
“What to do...what to do...” Applejack thought to herself as she silently watched from the treeline on the edge of the camp. “Since Twi and RD are tied up, I guess that means they’re still alive, so...wait, what’s goin’ on here?” She watched perplexed as a massive whirlwind of bright gray magic surrounded the five ponies. As the light grew brighter and brighter, she ducked behind the tree just as the kidnappers teleported away with the sound of a small explosion.
“Holy hay, now THAT was a doozy…” Applejack thought as she peeked out from around her tree. The area in front of her was utterly destroyed. The area that the five had just stood was pockmarked with peculiar black crystals of various sizes. She trotted up to them and realized that they were the same crystals used when they were in the Crystal Empire. “Wait, does this all have something to do with Sombra?” She picked up one of the many crystals and inspected it for a few seconds before placing it in her saddlebag.
“So… they’re in the Crystal Empire, eh? How the hay am Ah gonna get all the way there?” She paced around the camp for several minutes as she tried to figure out how she could get there in a timely manner. She sat down, poked her head a couple times with a hoof, and said irritably, “Come on, brain! You gotta help me thinka somethin’!”
A few seconds later she heard a train whistle off in the distance, a little bit further down the road. Her eyes widening, she jumped to her hooves and ran back towards the road. Galloping as fast as she could, she thought, “Of course! I shoulda remembered that the train runs parallel to the road for a good bit!”
After a few minutes of galloping down the road, the train tracks finally came into sight. She peered both ways, trying to pick out the train in the dark and thankfully spotted it coming from the south. She waited for it to come closer, and as it passed her, she jumped up and galloped alongside it, hopping onto the last car as it was just about to pass her. She peeked inside and saw that she had jumped onto a sleeper car, and it seemed like there were a few beds still empty. She cracked open the door and quietly crept inside, softly closing the door behind her without a sound. Hopping onto the nearest bed, she pulled the covers over herself and fell asleep, knowing that the Crystal Empire was still several hours away, and she was sure that she would need her strength.
“Twi...RD...I hope I can get to ya’ll in time…”