//------------------------------// // Battles in Canterlot Castle (rewrite to Vinyl's applebucking...) // Story: An Apple Scratch toward the World. // by Mariacheat-Brony //------------------------------// “Pinkie, why are we in here?” Rainbow asked her companion who was pulling her “welcome wagon” behind her through the narrow paths between the high hedges of the Castle’s labyrinth. “Well, duh, I told you that my shoulder was hacky, thus that something was happening in the Labyrinth,” Pinkie explained with a roll of her eyes. “Didn’t you listen to what I was saying?” “You also shouted that it could mean that Gummy was in a bathtub,” Rainbow replied with a deadpan expression. “You even asked to check your bathtub.” “That’s a possibility,” Pinkie admitted as she bounced happily in a right turn of the path, avoiding the dead end in the left one. “Better be certain that the Labyrinth is meaniefree, right?” “That I can admit!” Rainbow conceded with a nod. “Now, why don’t you want me to fly above the Labyrinth and see instantly if there was anything wrong?” “Because that would be cheating and it will hurt the Labyrinth’s feelings!” Pinkie replied firmly. The junior Wonderbolt cocked slightly her eyebrow at the inventor. “Pinkie, it’s a labyrinth made of bushy hedges… I’m pretty sure it doesn’t have feelings so to speak.” “Bigot!” Pinkie muttered sourly as she pulled her wagon into another turn. “Excuse me, what?” “You think that you’re so superior to the labyrinth, don’t you?” Pinkie asked angrily. “...What?” Rainbow blinked in shock. “Do you have any idea how hard it is for him to grow so that people can have fun while losing themselves inside his maze?” Pinkie stared at her friend ferociously. “DO YOU?” “Isn’t that the gardeners’ job to make a labyrinth grow like that?” Rainbow asked, cocking her eyebrow even higher than before. “So now you belittle the abilities of the Labyrinth?” Pinkie asked with a snort. Rainbow wasn’t really in the mood for continuing this conversation. Pinkie was probably the most intelligent girl the athlete knew, but there were times, numerous times one might add, when the inventor was completely irrational, and it was harder to get a point at her during those moments. “Hey, look! We’ve reached the center!” Rainbow pointed at the statue that occupied the center of the maze at the end of the path. “Oh, cool!” Pinkie shouted excitedly before sprinting to the statue, her wagon in tow. Luckily, Rainbow also knew that Pinkie was easy to distract. Her worries about her friend’s so-called bigotry against labyrinths being the last of her thoughts as she reached the small place in front of the statue. Only to fall through the solid ground along with her wagon. “Pinkie!” Rainbow shouted with horror and worry before flying as fast as a cannonball to her friend’s last location, as the final part of the cart disappeared in the ground. “Oh, no, no, no!” she whispered in panic as she hovered above the center of the maze. “That’s you, isn’t it?” she asked no one in particular. “You took my words for real and took my friend, huh? Well, stupid labyrinth, give me my friend back or I swear to Celestia that I’ll take a axe and cut all your hedges down, then I’m going to burn them, and then I’ll move on to all the labyrinths in Canterlot. Then to all the ones in Equestria, and then to all the other labyrinths until you give me Pinkie back! You hear?”         The Labyrinth decided to answer the rainbow haired girl’s rant with Pinkie’s head coming out of the ground, earning a brief, and very girly -though, she’ll never admit it- scream of fear. “Dashie, come see!” Pinkie said excitedly. “It’s a very complex dissimulation ward coupled with a powerful illusion rune! There are tons of tunnels down here!” Rainbow froze in her pose of grabbing her hair, instantly stopping her scream when she heard her friend’s voice before blinking a few times. She coughed loudly before dusting herself off, somehow trying to regain her composure. “I knew that!” Rainbow assured with her usual brashness. “Come on!” Pinkie shouted before heading back through the illusionary ground. “It’s fun!” “I somehow doubt that,” Rainbow whispered before nethertheless flying through the ground.         From the other side of the illusion, Rainbow noticed that there were many tunnels coming from the cave down the small underground path to the center of the labyrinth. She flapped her wings to fly to the rather large chamber in order to join Pinkie who had pulled out a yellow mining helmet with a candle on it from her wagon. “Please, don’t tell me you’ve got….” Pinkie pulled a tool from her wagon after putting the helmet on and lighting the candle up. “..a pickaxe as well,” she ended her sentence with a groan at the sight of the mining tool. “What’s the problem?” Pinkie asked with curiosity. “You don’t explore caves without the proper equipment!” she insisted firmly before being lost in her thoughts. “I wonder if there are mine shafts around here…. It’d be easy to collect railways for the wagon,” she pondered out loud. “....What now?” Rainbow asked, cocking a puzzled eyebrow as high as she could. “Anyway, let’s go!” Pinkie shouted before positioning herself in front of her wagon before pulling it. “Hang on! We’re not going to explore those tunnels!” Rainbow shouted before following Pinkie close to the first tunnel at the right of the cave. “Come on, Dashie! Where’s your adventurous side?” Pinkie asked playfully. “Took a vacation when we were attacked, remember?” Rainbow asked back snappily. “Of course, I remember silly! It happened two chapters ago!” Pinkie replied before scratching her chin with a reflective frown. “It’s been a while between the two previous updates…..” “Look, we’ve got to go back and tell Shining about those caves!” Rainbow advised strongly, ignoring the random comment her friend had just voiced. “It’s probably through here that those punks infiltrated us!” “I know, Dashie!” Pinkie nodded. “They’re coming out of their hideouts now!” she added, pointing at something behind Rainbow’s back. “Huh?” Rainbow blinked before looking behind her.         A large group of soldiers, all wearing the same black armor as their earlier attackers, was barring the way out. A great portion of them seemed to be coming from the other tunnels while the rest simply appeared in the cave after dropping the illusion that kept them hidden. “What do we have here?” an invader acting like a leading figure whispered playfully. “The jock and the crazy one from the Council. What a pleasant surprise,” he added softly, earning a few chuckles from his closest companions. “Who’s he talking about?” Pinkie asked loudly in confusion. “He’s talking about us, Pinkie!” Rainbow replied before spreading her wings wide open, electric sparks circling her fists. “Are you sure?” The inventor asked. “Because, they would be half wrong in that statement. Last time I checked I wasn’t a jock!”         Almost everyone in the cave blinked with surprise at what Pinkie just said. “Are you implying that they refer to me as the crazy one?” Rainbow slowly turned to face Pinkie, her magenta eyes burning with fury. “Well, I wasn’t the one shouting at a Labyrinth when my friend fell through the ground.” Pinkie shrugged. “....What?” a Changeling Warrior tilted his head in confusion. “You’re the one who thinks that I’m a labyrinth bigot!” Rainbow argued. “Are labyrinths subject to bigotry now?” Another invader asked with puzzlement. “Of course not, you freaking idiot!” The leader whacked the other’s head. “I don’t think things, Dashie. I know things, just like I know you’re a bigot about a few things!” Pinkie argued back. “WHAT?!” Rainbow hovered in front of her friend. “Well, you didn’t sound very tolerant about Jacquelyn earlier.” “She insulted Fluttershy!” “No, she didn’t! She just said that she didn’t think that what Fluttershy did was awesome in her opinion!” “And, I keep on telling that’s not normal! Taming a manticore and helping it giving birth is undeniably, unquestionably, so un-non-cool!” A few impressed whistles and whispers from the Changeling Warriors followed her sentence. “See? Even those pricks agree!” Dash let out with triumphing smirk. “HEY!!” Some of the invaders shouted angrily. “Alright, that’s enough!” the leader growled, catching Pinkie and Rainbow’s attention again. “We’re not here to discuss that! We’re to…” “PARTY?” Pinkie asked excitedly. “They’re here to invade the Castle, Pinkie!” Rainbow replied while rubbing her eyes with a sigh. “That means no party!” she added when she felt that Pinkie was going to ask her a question. “Awwwww!” Pinkie let out in disappointment. “Anyway, catch them!” The enemy leader ordered.         The four closest invaders lunged forward to the two girls. Rainbow was about to cast a lightning bolt at the charging group when Pinkie gave her wagon a soft nudge with the handle of her pickaxe. The upper part of the wagon opened itself as four horns came out of it before a sharp party whistle and loud explosion sounds rang throughout the caves. The four attackers were sent flying back to their group by clouds of confetti and streamers. “That wasn’t really nice. We weren’t ready to play tag!” Pinkie frowned at invaders before searching for something in her wagon while they were staring at their repelled comrades with shock. “Good one, Pinkie!” Rainbow said with pride. “Found it!”         In the blink of an eye, Pinkie put a harness on Rainbow before the concerned party realized what her friend was doing. Much to everyone, including Rainbow’s incomprehension, Pinkie connected her friend’s harness to the front of her wagon with two ropes before sitting on top of it. “All righty then, Dashie. FLY!” Pinkie shouted before pointing her mining tool at the only tunnel not occupied by the invaders.         Like a sole entity, Rainbow and the invaders tilted their head while blinking in extreme confusion. “She’s expecting her friend to pull the wagon while flying away from here?” “Seems like it…” “What’s wrong with that girl?” “Pinkie,” Rainbow began with a tired sigh. “Why? Seriously, why did you think it was possible! I fly fast, but not when I have to drag a heavy wagon behind it!” “Oh, ye of little faith,” Pinkie chuckled playfully. “May I remind you who created the principle behind the Princesses’ special carriages pulled by winged horses?”         She tapped her pickaxe on top of her wagon three times. After the third tap, the sounds of a gearing mechanism came from within the wagon before it started to shine in really pale pink hue and hovered a few feet above the ground. “Pinkie Pie, you’re a genius!” Rainbow chuckled softly. “A weird, completely random genius!”  Blue wings made of light snapped wide open on her back before Rainbow took off at full speed, effortlessly pulling the levitating wagon behind her while Pinkie let out a long “Weeeeee!” along with a loud giggling fit before the pair disappeared at the corner of the tunnel they took. “.... Jupitarian squads! After them!” The leader ordered after recovering from the shock of the flying wagon.         Two dozens of black armorer soldiers took off and flew after the escaping pair. “Hum…. Lieutenant?” an Eponian invader called nervously. “What?” “Aren’t we keeping it further in that tunnel?” he asked, pointing a shaking finger at the tunnel the flyers had just taken. The lieutenant blinked. “Uh-oh!” he let out slowly. “Hmmm… let’s just hope that they won’t anger i….”         An incredibly loud, mooing roar echoed through the caves and tunnels. It was followed by the sounds of earthshaking stomps and two feminine, scared screams. Soon after, the characteristic sounds of breaking chains rang through the underground maze, along with a cannonade of explosions and multiple lightning strikes. “EVERYONE HIDE NOW!” the invading Jupitarians yelled as they flew back to the entrance of the cave like the devil was after them before they scattered in the other tunnels along with their comrades on the ground. “Damn it! Hurry! Hurry!” The lieutenant ordered in panic as the cannonade and the stomps came closer.         The Titanians cast camouflage spells as soon as their comrades were all in the other tunnels of the cave, making them look like they were empty while the caves started to shake. Even if they knew that the spells would hide them, every invader made himself as small as possible inside every single alcove they could find. “SHOOT IT! SHOOT IT, PINKIE!” Rainbow yelled. The pair entered the cave with their flying wagon, on top of which, defying all laws of physics, Pinkie was standing on her feet, a bright blue culverin with levers, switches and a large, glowing, pink gemstone at end of it. “Focus on flying, Dashie!” Pinkie ordered as she pushed a few switches on. “Party Cannon 2.0……” She pulled the largest lever down and the gemstone started to glow much brighter than before. “....overLOOOOOAAADDDD!” she shouted as she pulled the trigger.         A constant volley of pink, magic missiles bursted out of the mouth of the blue cannon’s mouth straight to whatever was following them. While a few missiles touched the cave’s walls and ceiling, thus causing quite a few collapses, the largest portion of them hit the large shadowy figure seeming to take the whole width of the tunnel that was after them.         The huge beast didn’t stop at all because of the hits. It seemed more like they just made him growled louder and advanced faster to get rid of the source of the annoyance. “Dashie, GET US OUT OF HERE!” “ON IT!”         With a large burst of speed, Rainbow flew straight up through the illusion that kept the cave hidden with Pinkie managing to stand up on the wagon despite the angle of the cart. As soon as they were out of the caves, the inventor tapped her foot on a specific button of her wagon, unhooking Rainbow from the wagon and opening a large trap from underneath her contraption, thus causing the fall of many vials containing a transparent liquid.         Pinkie aimed her cannon at the ground before shooting another torrent of pink missiles on the center of the labyrinth while Rainbow conjured a genuine rain of lightning bolts on the same target. When the vials, missiles, and lightning bolts hit the ground, small chromatic explosions destroyed the center of the labyrinth.         Rainbow stopped conjuring her lightning bolts a bit before the gem on Pinkie’s cannon ceased glowing. When the smoke and dust of the explosions dissipated themselves, the pair could see they had leveled a large portion of the ground, thus blocking the whole access to the caves. Rainbow, panting heavily, landed in one of the untouched parts of the Labyrinth while Pinkie stopped the mechanism that kept her wagon in a hovering state. “Phew.. what was in those vials?” Rainbow asked when Pinkie jumped off the wagon next to her. “A solution of nitric acid with a sugar alcohol,” Pinkie explained briefly. “Still need to figure out a name though.” “Well, can’t believe you kept those in your wagon, but I’m not going to complain.” Rainbow extended her hand to Pinkie who clapped it fervently. “Good job!” “Good job to you as well!” A loud rumble was heard before the collapse exploded again, letting a massive, fifteen foot tall minotaur emerge from the rubble with a deafening roar of anger. The beast leaned on its forearms which were the size of a tree trunk, before bringing his face just before the two Council members. Its glowing red eyes staring at the two of them while it flared its nostrils, forcing the two to take head on the hot breath of the beast. “You think he’s mad at us?” Pinkie asked in whisper after gulping in fear. “I-I know he’s mad at us, Pinkie,” Rainbow replied fearfully. “Plan R?” “Which plan is that?” “RUUUUUUN AWAY!” Pinkie shouted before darting away in a pink blur. “Go-good idea!” Rainbow replied, taking off the moment Pinkie turned around.         The large minotaur roared before extirpating itself from the hole in the ground to chase after the escaping pair, ready to crush every hedge, statute, or tree in its path. The blue winged Jupitarian grabbed her pink haired friend after a few seconds and flew higher with her, the enormous beast still after them. “Hmmm,” an Eponian invader let out slowly as he and quite a number of his comrades peeked from the hole made by the minotaur. “Her majesty the Queen will be angry that we unleashed the Gorghon before capturing the Council members.” “What do you want to do?” a Titanian asked slowly. “Catch it back to unleash it about half a hour later?” “Shouldn’t we move out of here?” a Jupitarian asked while flapping his wings to stay a few feet above the ground. “I mean, what’s the point of remaining hidden if the beast is going to wreak havoc at the Castle?” “Hmmm,” the lieutenant scratched his chin pensively. “How about we give it a head start so that it doesn’t take us as targets?” “Agreed!” “Good idea!” “That’s why you’re in charge, Lieutenant!” ~~~~~ A bit earlier, in the Castle Ballroom “Now, you want Octavia, right? Fine! Just come and try to take her from me!” Vinyl growled as the rings around her arms started to shine and to produce the same chirping noises as before. “You bitch!” one of the four attacking Jupitarians growled before he and his comrades lunged forward, ready to avenge their apparent leader.         They all lifted their weapons high in the air before bringing them to Vinyl and Octavia. Sorry in advance, Octavia. Vinyl thought before tripping the cellist with her foot, and stood protectively above her.         When the blades came down on her, Vinyl crossed her arms above her head. Octavia gasped as she realized that Vinyl was going to be hurt by the swords, and axes of the ones trying to capture her. “What the?!” The four invaders let out simultaneously when their weapons were stopped by the many rings of blue magic around the blue-haired Titanian’s arms. “Neat huh?” Vinyl asked playfully before focusing more magic on the rings in contact with blades. “Watch! It gets better.”         The rings in question started to vibrate intensively, causing tiny cracks on the edge of the offending blades while their wielders were wincing at the high pitched chirps coming from the rings. Vinyl pushed her arms open when the vibrations became intense enough to shatter all four blades into small shards. “Let’s try with three,” Vinyl whispered with small grin before extending her left fist toward the closest opponent.         Soon after, three of the blue rings of magic shone brightly before flying straight to the man’s breastplate to disperse themselves into three loud explosions. The target man was thrown across the room by the explosions, his armor full of cracks seeming on the brink of shattering.         The remaining three invaders all took off to put as much distance that they could between the Titanian and them. “What the heck is that type of magic?” one let out in a shaken voice. “Never heard of anything like this!” another commented slowly. “Let’s calm down, guys!” the only female of the group shouted after checking on their catapulted comrade. “We can take her from a safe distance!” she added with a smirk as she took off while conjuring a large amount of electricity in her fist.         Her two companions nodded with small grins before imitating her. They were about to cast their lightning bolts when they found themselves each surrounded by half a dozen of blue rings that were vibrating intensively. “What was that about a safe distance?” Vinyl asked with a smirk when the three airborne fighters’ eyes went wide as they realized the predicament they were in.         The blue-haired musician snapped her shining fingers before one of her opponents could throw their projectiles at her. All eighteen rings dispersed in an equal amount of blue explosions. Before the lights died down, the three opponents fell unconscious on the ground. “Wow…. That was amazing,” Octavia commented in awe after pulling the earplugs Vinyl had given her earlier out of her ears before she tried to stand up, an enterprise that was destined to failure with Vinyl still above her. “Could you m…” Her lips shone in Vinyl’s blue magic before being forced shut.         Vinyl brought her forefinger to her lips to signal the cellist to remain silent. Octavia tilted her head in confusion but didn’t try to speak again as her friend requested it. Then, the standing musician tapped her ear before pointing Octavia’s right hand which was now holding the earplugs. Does she want me to put the earplug back on? Octavia wondered before mimicking her question, earning a nod from Vinyl. I wonder why…. It’s not like we’re still in danger…” she added mentally before doing as Vinyl instructed.         Now, hearing nothing except the beating of her own heart, Octavia watched Vinyl look around with the stern gaze of a hawk (should a hawk ever wear purple shades of course). The blue-haired woman stared in front of her few seconds before Octavia watched her focus her blue magic into a long whip.         Vinyl gave her whip a fluid, large circular move before snapping the air behind her with it, for no apparent reason according to Octavia. That was before an armored man appeared right where the whip had cracked, his breastplate snapped in two.         The stunned cellist turned her eyes to her friend who simply grinned before facing the wounded attacker, her lips moving slowly before flashing a small smile. Don’t try sneak… on me… boys… Can...hear… Octavia tried to read on her friend’s lips before gasping in awe. She heard him sneaking around?! HOW?!         Behind the wounded attacker, three other people wearing the black, chitinous armor dissipated the illusion spells that kept them hidden. Octavia glanced at the quartet whose hands were shining in colorful auras before two of them cast beams of pure magic at Vinyl.         A blue hue englobed the cellist, and levitated her away from the other musician who responded the attack with a blue beam coming from her left hand. The blue met the red and green halfway between Vinyl and her opponents before the three beams didn’t advance further. Needless to say, Octavia was impressed by the fact that Vinyl was matching two spellcasters in a battle of raw power.         The cellist blinked when the two others teleported themselves behind Vinyl, before they cast an orange and a purple fireball at her from her blindspot. At that moment, Vinyl’s whip came back in action. The end of the magical blue whip flew through the orange fireball, cutting it in two parts that dissipated themselves a meter further.         Then, Vinyl let go of the whip, and made sharp and precise movements with her fingers. The whip disassembled itself into five long strings that took the form of a tunnel which positioned itself in front of the purple fireball. The fiery projectile followed the course of the tunnel made of blue strings which shone brightly at the contact of the purple flames while accelerating them.         With a sharp twist of her hand, Vinyl changed the course of her magic tunnel, pointing its end at one of the Titanians in front of her. The poor lad didn’t notice the purple fireball before it was too late.         Without the support of his comrade’s magic, the Titanian with the red magic couldn’t suppress Vinyl’s beam anymore. The blue magic energy tore the red one apart before knocking the attacker against the closest wall.         The musician spun on her heels before pushing her two hands at her enemies, casting a light blue beam at each of them. One managed to dodge by teleporting once again while the other tried to use a nearby table to block the beam. The furniture held on surprisingly, but it was nethertheless pushed back until the Titanian ended up sandwiched between the table and the wall.         The last opponent reappeared in an orange flash right next to Octavia who was quite startled by the silent teleportation. She was certain that she screamed a bit when he took a step in her direction. Octavia closed her eyes in panic and grabbed the closest thing she found before hurling it at her attacker.         She expected some sort of retaliation from the man who wanted to kidnap her, and was more than surprised when there was none. Octavia shyly opened her eyes before seeing her attacker and what she had presumably thrown at him. Though, Octavia never knew she of all people could make a man and a table fuse together like what she saw in front of her.         She glanced at Vinyl who was nodding in approval, her right thumb up. Octavia slightly chuckled nervously before pulling her earplugs out again, finally hearing the sounds of the ballroom. “Really nice, Octavia!” Vinyl commented with pride. “That was the most classy table-throw I’ve ever seen!” “T-thanks!” Octavia stammered with a small blush. “I-I never thought I’d ever do something like that.” “Well, looks like you and I both realized something then,” Vinyl said with a small chuckle. “Really?” “Well, you realized you could force a man to become one with a piece of furniture, which is a rather rare gift, so you know,” Vinyl replied with a short laugh, soon joined by the cellist. “What about you, then?” Octavia asked after her giggling fit. “I realized that the prettiest roses really do have the sharpest thorns,” Vinyl said with a small wink while the cellist’s cheeks were becoming so red that it would make any tomato jealous of her skin color.