Chapter 2: Guardian Angel
Rainbow Dash lay there on the ground, searing pain running through her whole body emanating from her left wing, she did not have the strength to stand, it was all she could do to open her eyes and look through blurred vision at the scene before her, the book was lying in front of her and Daring Do was in front of her, standing defensively over her. Then she noticed the shadowy figures, they were cloaked in all black but with coloured masks with green and purple eyes and their horns extruding out from under the hoods that covered their manes. They stood in a semi circle and stared straight ahead at the two mares with their book, one injured and the other filled with fury. "what fills your pride will make you fall, we bring the end we are the archangels" came the soft chanting from the unicorns.
"Stay away from us!" Daring Do shouted but it was in vain, the leading unicorns horn lit up with silver light and Daring Do was lifted into the air and slammed down onto the ground beside Dash, she was kept pinned there unable to move. The cultist unicorns began to move forward. Dash could do nothing but lie there, barely conscious and watch as death approached.
Out of nowhere a white blur jumped in front of the two mares and a bright blue wave pulsated forward from it with a scream of "BAAACK" which knocked the approaching would be killers off their hooves next thing the blur had whipped around, and the figure looked down at her and her friend then Rainbow Dash could only see blue as a bubble formed around the trio before there was nothing but black.
When Rainbow Dash awoke she was not sure where she was, she was in a bed, lying on her side and when she opened her eyes the situation was even more confusing, she was sure this place was familiar but there were no lights on and the windows were covered, Dash tentatively started to climb out of the bed and set two hooves on the ground then the other she almost buckled under her own weight but never one to be beaten she steadied herself. She made to stretch her wings but a sharp pain and no movement on one side told her that wasn't going to be possible, perplexed she looked at her wing to see it bandaged and unusable. Dash made for the door to the room and opened it, she could hear hushed voices on the floor below and she began to creep down the stairs towards them.
On the floor below sat Daring Do, Rarity and the old book in between them, upon noticing Rainbow Dash descending the stairs Rarity got up to help her make her way over to them criticising her all the way for not staying in bed to rest. Dash made it clear though that she was not going to lie down, she wanted to know what happened. Rarity began to explain, she had been walking home from Sweet Apple Acres after dropping Sweetie Belle to stay with Applebloom and Scootaloo there for a few nights and she had seen the sky light up and Rainbow Dash fall, she had seen the cultists attack Daring Do and sprinted over using her own magic to distract the cultists long enough for her to teleport the three of them out of there.
"Don't worry though Rainbow Dash, we can always fix up your home, ehh nothing major was lost really, yes all your goods but the posters can be replaced and we can request new medals and trophies made". Rainbow Dash had never felt so hollow in her life, all of her possessions gone and then an even worse realisation hit her, "Rarity, what about Tank?". Rarity's mouth dropped open and she glanced over at Daring Do who shook her head glumly.
Before Rarity could say anything they heard raised voices outside in the street below, the three moved to the nearest window to see what the commotion was and opened it a crack to hear what was being said. Below them they made out three figures, it was Lyra and Bonbon facing...a cultist.
"Jeez can't two girls go for a walk at night without being interrogated? Come on Bonbon" Lyra was saying as she turned to walk away from the hooded unicorn.
"We're not telling you jack about our friends if you won't even tell us who you are" Bonbon said to the cultist.
In a deep, chilling voice a voice came from behind the mask "You will suffer for you insolence foolish mud pony", the cultists horn began to glow with a dark energy when Lyra who was now a few paces away wheeled around and the fire in her eyes was all too apparent.
"No one threatens and insults my Bonbon!" Lyra yelled as a beam of bright yellow was launched from the tip of her horn, it blasted the cultist in the chest and send him flying back 10 meters into a wall, the two mares met eyes and then ran away to safety.
"They're searching for us, they don't know yet if we're here or not but they are looking" Rarity told the two pegasi "we need a plan". So began a long discussion on what to do, the cultists were after the book and were willing to kill for it so they couldn't just hand it over because who knows what it could do, there were too many to fight and none of them were exactly fit for it and they couldn't do nothing.
"Couldn't we ask your friend, you know the princess? She might know what to do" suggest Daring but Twilight was gone, Rarity informed her, off to meet with the other princesses in the Crystal Empire.
It was Rainbow Dash's turn to cut in "Well that's what we do then".
"Whatever do you mean darling?"
"We'll go to the Empire and give the book to the princesses, Celestia could fix this mess in a heartbeat!".
The gang decided they would do that and they devised a plan for when day broke and the cultists would have to hide as ordinary folk went about their day, Rarity would explain the situation to Applejack and get her to raise awareness throughout Ponyville so that no one fell prey to the cultists, meanwhile Dash and Daring Do would go to the train station and await her there for the next train to the Crystal Empire.