//------------------------------// // Rescue the Night // Story: A Touch of Chaos // by Written Out //------------------------------// "We're here." Pipsqueak snorted, the simple words jarring him awake. Around him, the others were reacting in much the same way, the constant back-and-forth motion of Fenrir's jog having lulled them off to sleep. Poking his head up, Pipsqueak looked around at the area they had stopped in. "You sure about that?" he asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. It wasn't an unreasonable question. The entire area was desolate; an absolute wasteland. No plants, no water, and nothing but barren rocks as far as the eye could see. The place was so hot that the air appeared warping and Pipsqueak felt sweat cover his body. His stomach let out a little rumble when he realized there was nothing to eat, either. They had been so distressed when they realized Dodge City had been abandoned that they had completely forgotten to grab something to eat. Surely nothing could live all the way out here, right? Responding to Pipsqueak’s query, Fenrir pointed his nose towards a small cave opening that the pinto colt hadn't noticed."I can smell. Their scent." He stuck his nose up in the air and sniffed at the wind. "The scent is strong. And... familiar." He hesitated slightly before apparently deciding whatever it was wasn't important. "What do. Your senses tell you?" Pipsqueak considered. Deep within his body, he could feel the pull tugging towards Princess Luna. Only the pull wasn't calling him forward anymore, instead tugging him in a very different direction. "She's beneath us." "So what's the plan?" Sweetie Belle piped up, pointing at the cave. "That's their cave, right? Their... um... nest, I guess? There's probably a lot of changelings guarding the Princess." "Plan?" Scootaloo scoffed from her position between Fenrir's ears as she patted the giant timberwolf's head. "What do we need a plan for? We've got a monster that’s nearly half as big as a full-grown dragon with us. I'm sure we can figure something out." "Uh, Scootaloo?" Apple Bloom asked, tilting her head slightly. "I don't think Mr. Fenrir is goin' to fit in those caves." "Mister?" Fenrir muttered under his breath while Scootaloo cursed above him, apparently having failed to notice the gaping flaw in her master plan until it was pointed out to her. Pipsqueak listened with interest until Scootaloo had finished. "Wow, I didn't even know half those words," he said, impressed. "Where'd you learn them?" "Watching Rainbow Dash practice," Scootaloo answered proudly. The others made noises of understanding. Rainbow Dash could get very... colourful whenever she messed up practicing one of her stunts. Spike, who had remained silent as he considered the cave, quietly sighed. Yep, he thought despondently, Twilight's gonna kill me. Maybe if he managed to save all Equestria, she'd be willing to let him off with just grounding him? It was worth a shot. Loudly clearing his throat, he drew everypony's attention towards him. "I have a plan," he said aloud. "I don't like this plan." Apple Bloom, Pipsqueak, Scootaloo, Spike, and Sweetie Belle were huddled behind a large boulder a fair distance from the entrance to the cave. Scootaloo let out a tired sigh as she tested the wheels of her scooter, making sure they were still spinning right. "We know," she grunted out. "You've told us." "I just want to make it clear," Sweetie Belle muttered. "Do we really have to go down there?" "Hey, it's not like we've got any better ideas." Satisfied with her scooter's condition, Scootaloo tossed it down on the ground and hopped up on it. "You're not scared, right?" "No!" Sweetie Belle protested immediately, before stopping to consider her answer. "Well... maybe just little," she admitted. A weight pressed against her shoulder and she looked up to see Scootaloo's understanding eyes staring into her own. "It's okay," the young pegasus comforted. "I'm scared, too." Sweetie Belle was so shocked by Scootaloo admitting to being scared by anything that she was unable to respond until Scootaloo grinned at her, cracking the tension. Sweetie Belle smirked in response. "Wow, never thought I'd ever hear you being scared by something," she teased. "I should mark the calendars." Scootaloo chuckled before glancing over to where the other three were gathered. "If you ever tell anypony I said that, I'll deny it," she warned seriously. "My lips are sealed," Sweetie Belle agreed with a smile as she ran her hoof across her lips. A short distance away, the other three were lost in their own conversation. "So where'd you come up with this idea?" Apple Bloom asked Spike curiously. "It's pretty clever." Spike scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Well..." he hedged. "Honestly, I read it in a comic book. It was pretty recent, so I remember it fairly clearly." "Ohh, was it the Power Pony series?" Pipsqueak asked in excitement. "I wasn't able to get the most recent edition. The bookstore was sold out by the time I got there," he added sadly. " Actually, yeah." Spike said. "That's exactly what it was. I ordered it in the mail a few weeks ago." Pipsqueak's eyes lit up as he leaned in towards Spike while Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "What happened? Were they able to escape from-?" A loud howl pierced through the air and Pipsqueak cut himself off with a sheepish grin. "This really isn't the time for that, huh?" he said with an embarrassed laugh. "Come by the library sometime," Spike said, joining the others by the edge of the boulder. "I'll let you borrow mine." "Really?" the colt asked as he slipped in beside Spike. At the dragon's nod, Pipsqueak's grin spread so wide that his cheeks started to hurt. "Awesome." "Shh!" All three fillies hushed him, and Pipsqueak went silent with an embarrassed blush plastered on his face, though his grin was as broad as ever. All five of them turned their attention towards the entrance of the changeling cavern as several changelings poured out of it. The citinous pony-shaped creatures sped in the direction Fenrir's howl had come from, chasing after the intruder in their lands. Their black forms quickly disappeared behind a ridge. There was several seconds of before a loud growl echoed through the empty land, followed by several changeling screams as they realized the exact nature of the creature they had so hastily rushed out to confront. When, after a few minutes had passed and no more changelings had appeared, Pipsqueak and the others stepped out into the open. "Well," Spike said uncertainly as he stared at the cavern's entrance. "I guess we should... go down there?" His forked tongue nervously lashed across his lips. The plan had been his, but the idea of having to go down into that dark cave was still a scary one. Most of the changelings should have been lured out, but some had doubtlessly remained behind. Behind him, the others made uneasy sounds of agreement but made no motion to actually head towards the cave entrance... with one exception. "Let's go, girls!" Apple Bloom shouted out excitedly, rearing back on her hind legs. "Cutie Mark Crusaders, yeehaa!" Sprinting forward the instant her hooves came back down, she quickly closed the distance to the cavern's entrance. The others shared a look before taking off after her. Their forward motion came to a halt the instant they reached the threshold. Pipsqueak squinted, trying to make out anything in the inky blackness. "I can't see a thing," he complained, sitting back on his haunches with a sigh. "It's too dark." "Yeah," Scootaloo agreed before looking over at the group's unicorn. "Hey Sweetie Belle, think you could make some light for us?" Sweetie Belle shook her head, tapping her horn with a hoof. "Sorry. Rarity's been teaching me some basic spells, but I can't hold on that long. Four, maybe five minutes' the best I can do. Sorry." "Mmm," Scootaloo's ears flicked and twitched as she considered the darkness. "Well then, maybe we could-" "I'm borrowing this," Spike interrupted. With a swipe of his claws, he sliced through the vines tied around Scootaloo that she had been using to carry her scooter all this way. The foals watched with interest as he wound the vine around the end of a large stick. "Hang on," Apple Bloom said as Spike finished securing the vine. "Where'd you get the stick?" She gestured at the desolate Badlands around them. "There's no trees around here." "I took it off Fenrir," Spike answered, holding the makeshift tool aloft above his head. His chest expanding slightly as he took a deep breath before he spitting a small gout of flame at the balled up vine. The green fire caught quickly, dancing cheerfully as Spike led the way underground. The darkness retreated before Spike's improvised torch, allowing the group to see where they were going. "This is so. Awesome," Scootaloo said, following behind Spike. She stared up at the cavern walls in amazement. Strange carvings had been etched into the stone, spreading all the way from the floor to the roof. They were thrown into stark relief from the light cast by Spike's torch, but they were still visible. "Wow," Apple Bloom agreed from beside Scootaloo. She was also staring up at the carvings, her mouth hanging open. "Ah sure wasn't expecting to find something like this here." "They're freaky," Sweetie Belle complained. Unlike the other two, she wasn't looking around excitement. Her head was hanging low and her ears were pressed against her scalp. "Why do none of them have faces?" It was like Sweetie Belle had said. Carvings of pony-like figures lined the walls. They had been posed in a variety of positions, though most of them appeared combat-ready. Some had horns, others had wings, and others still possessed neither. There was no real pattern, and it looked like the artisan had just chosen poses and traits at random. The one feature all the figures shared was a completely blank space where their faces were supposed to be. "Maybe the artist just forgot to put the faces in?" Scootaloo suggested. She leaned over her handlebars and scratched at one of the carvings. When she pulled her hoof away, she was surprised that she hadn't left a single mark. "Huh, that's odd." Before she could experiment any more, Spike's voice filtered from up ahead. "There's a fork in the road. Which way should we go?" Ahead of them, the tunnel split into three separate paths, but there were no directions on the walls telling them which way to go. "That way," Pipsqueak said without hesitation, pointing at the leftmost tunnel. Seeing Spike's curious expression, the pinto colt gave a little shrug. "It just feels right," he explained. Spike contemplated Pipsqueak's words before shrugging himself. "Sure, why not." Holding the burning torch aloft, Spike headed in the direction Pipsqueak had indicated. They ran into few more intersections and tunnel crossings, but Pipsqueak was always able to point them in the right direction. Without his feelings and the tug inside of him telling them which way to go, the group would have quickly gotten themselves hopelessly lost. Following after the boys, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were looking around in curiosity, cheerfully pointing out all the new and wondrous sights they could see. Even Sweetie Belle had forgotten her trepidation in the excitement and had joined in the fun. "What's that?" Scootaloo questioned, pointing at one of the carvings on the ceiling. Sweetie Belle followed the direction Scootaloo was aiming at. "Weird," she said, tilting her head curiously. "Looks like one of the Princesses, doesn't it? Wonder why she's moulting?" "Moultin'?" Apple Bloom asked, flicking her tail slightly as she looked over at the resident dictionary. "It means she's losing her feathers," Sweetie Belle explained. "Pegasi do it all the time." As Scootaloo nodded in agreement, Sweetie Belle pointed at another carving. "What's that?" "Huh," Apple Bloom muttered, seeing what Sweetie Belle pointed at. "Now that one's odd. It looks like some sorta cloud is surroundin' another alicorn." A thought occurred to her, and she took another quick look around the tunnel they were in. "Come to think of it, there sure are a lot of carving of alicorns around here. Wonder why there weren't none at the entrance." Just like the others, something caught her attention and she quickly pointed it out. "What's that?" Seeing what Apple Bloom had pointed at, the others were easily able to understand why it had caught her eye. Two spots of blue light stood side-by-side in the tunnel ahead of them, just out of reach of the light cast by Spike's torch. As the fillies watched, twin lines of silver appeared beneath the glowing specks, followed by a threatening hiss as the spots moved into the light, revealed to be the blank blue eyes of a changeling. "That..." Spike said hesitantly, taking a short step back. "That's a problem." More pair of light appeared behind the first changeling, called by its hiss. Several more changelings stepped into the light, snarling threateningly at the young group. Scootaloo looked askance at Spike, who had backed up beside her. "So... uh... any more schemes in that head of yours?" Spike gave her a tiny shake of his head, not tearing his gaze away from the approaching changelings. "No, but I'm open to ideas. Should we run?" "We have to get past them," Pipsqueak pointed out quietly. Giving her wings a little buzz, Scootaloo rode her scooter in front of Spike. Words played out in her mind, reminding her of a scene she had been part of only a few days ago. "Why did you do it?" she had asked. Scootaloo had been with Rainbow Dash at Dash's hospital bed, the adult pegasus forced to remain in the doctor's care after scrapping with the beast from the Everfree Forest. Namely, she had thrown herself at it when she had seen it threatening her friends, and had very nearly lost her wing in exchange. Dash's response had been as simple as it was straight forward. "Wouldn't you have done the same?" An unwilling chuckle escaped from Scootaloo as she crouched down low over her scooter's handlebars. "Yeah," she muttered quietly to nopony in particular. "I guess I would." These creatures stood in front of her, threatening her friends and holding the cool Princess captive. No way was she going to let them scare her any more. She wasn't scared. She wasn't. Scootaloo nearly jumped out of her skin as she felt something press against her shoulder. Swinging her head around, she saw Apple Bloom standing beside her. The little farm filly wore a small sardonic smirk on her lips, and her ribbon had been tied in close to her head where it wouldn't fall off. "You think you're the only one who gets to look cool?" she asked with an amused quirk of her lips. Scootaloo looked away from her, staring at the slowly approaching changelings. "Back off, Apple Bloom," she said quietly. "This is something I've got to do on my own." Apple Bloom rolled her eyes at that. "Well, you ain't, so you might as well drop the idea. I've already had to see my sister get hurt and I wasn't able to do anything to help her. I ain't doin' that again." Apple Bloom shuddered at the image of her beloved big sister standing broken and bruised in front of a mighty hydra , but quickly shoved the sight away in favour of happier thoughts. "Ah'm an Apple," Apple Bloom proclaimed, "and that means I don't abandon my family... or my friends." Looking at Apple Bloom, Scootaloo saw nothing but certainty in her friend's eyes. "There's nothing I can say to change your mind, is there?" she said with a sigh. "Nope," Apple Bloom replied cheerfully, holding her hoof out. Scootaloo stared at Apple Bloom's hoof for a few seconds as a small smile slowly spread across her face. Lifting her own hoof up, she bumped it against Apple Bloom's. To both of their surprise, a third hoof joined in the hoofbump. Sweetie Belle stood with them, her expression firm and her horn aglow. Scootaloo cocked an eyebrow at her unicorn friend. "You too?" "Cutie Mark Crusaders," Sweetie Belle said in response. "We're in this together." The three fillies shared a smile before forming themselves in a line before the approaching changelings. "You girls are absolutely bonkers." Pipsqueak muttered under his breath behind them. "You get used to it," Spike told him calmly. Ignoring Pipsqueak saying he wasn't really sure if he wanted to get used to this, Spike patted the young colt on the back. "Just get ready to run." "Ready?" Scootaloo asked, eagerly leaning forward over her handlebars. Her wings began to buzz at her sides, the tiny appendages moving so fast they blurred. Apple Bloom held on tight to the back of the scooter, preventing Scootaloo from moving forward. "Release!"  At Scootaloo's shout, Apple Bloom released her hold. With her wings already beating at full speed, Scootaloo launched towards the changelings at a speed that would have impressed even Rainbow Dash. The changelings went flying as the pegasus projectile struck them, blowing them aside like so many nicely lined bowling pins. Spike and Pipsqueak rushed into the gap, charging forward before the changelings could recover. One that had managed to avoid Scootaloo's initial rush leapt into their path, but it was tackled by both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. The way cleared for them, the colt and the dragon broke free from the changelings and sprinted away as quickly as they could.  The changelings hissed angrily and tried to pursue the escapees, but were brought up short by the trio of fillies standing in their way. "Going somewhere?" Scootaloo asked with a quirk of her eyebrow. Sweetie Belle's glowing horn shone brightly in the corridor, letting the fillies see even as Spike and his torch disappeared. Her eyes were squeezed shut and all her attention was focused on keeping her horn alight as she stood behind her friends. At Scootaloo's side, Apple Bloom gave a tiny self-mocking chuckle as the changelings turned their attention to the trio. "This wasn't the best idea we ever had, was it?" "Nope," Scootaloo agreed as the swarm of changelings fell upon them in a force as inevitable and unstoppable as the tide. The  sound of thudding hooves echoed throughout the long tunnel as the young trio ran as fast as they were able to. Spike's torch lit their way while Pipsqueak led the charge. They both tried their best to ignore the sounds of combat coming from behind them, trying not to feel like they were abandoning their friends. "Left!" Pipsqueak yelled abruptly before ducking into a nearby alcove. Spike turned the corner, plowing into the colt's backside as the young pony suddenly pulled up short. Pipsqueak was flung to the ground from the impact, but his eyes remained fixed on what awaited them in the center of the room. Princess Luna was suspended upside down inside a changeling pod, her eyes held closed while her shimmering mane wrapped about her body, the twinkling stars lighting up the pod from within and casting the entire room in a faint shade of green. "Princess Luna!" Pipsqueak shouted, lunging towards the pod. His hooves struck the pod with a heavy meaty sound, but the Lunar Princess failed to respond. Spike glanced back at the opening behind them. The sounds of fighting had stopped and he could hear the sound of something approaching. A lot of somethings, actually. A lot more than three. "Uh... you're going to want to hurry up with that." Pipsqueak made a noise of frustration as he punched the pod again. "She's right here! There's got to be something we can do!" He removed his hoof and saw that the Princess' eyes had shot open and she was staring directly at him. "Princess!" Pipsqueak yelled happily. Luna's mouth moved silently, but whatever she was saying was unable to escape her entrapping pod. "Don't worry," Pipsqueak tried to reassure her. "We'll get you out of here." Spike suddenly bumped against Pipsqueak's flank and the colt turned his head, his mouth going dry when he saw what Spike was looking at. Nearly a dozen changelings had swarmed into the room, taking up positions completely surrounding the young pair. One of the changelings stepped forwards, its horn glowing with a faint green glow. It waved its head and Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom came floating out of the tunnel behind them. All three of them had been trapped in a green goo, though it didn't appear to be necessary for Scootaloo. The young pegasus' eyes were closed as she hung limply in the changeling's magic with a slowly swelling lump on the side of her head. The three fillies were thrown at the ground in front of the two boys. Sweetie Belle coughed as she hit the stone floor, looking up at Pipsqueak and Spike with sorrow in her eyes. "S...sorry," she apologized as another cough wracked her body. "G... guess we weren't any help after all." Behind Spike and Pipsqueak, Luna was striking at the pod from the inside as hard as she could. She couldn't bear the idea of watching her would-be rescuers getting swarmed, all while she was unable to do anything to help the young children. The pod shook and quivered, but her cramped position prevented her from putting sufficient force into her blows. Spike's tail lashed nervously behind him as he took another step backward, almost bumping into Luna's pod. He swung his torch wildly in a futile attempt to keep the changelings away. "Stay back, you monsters!" he shouted, his voice almost cracking on the last word. Pipsqueak, however, didn't even look at the changelings surrounding them. Instead, his  attention was fixed on Spike's tail. In particular, he stared at the tiny, and most importantly, sharp spike that adorned the tip of the dragon's spaded tail. Grabbing the end of Spike's tail in his teeth, he pulled as hard he could. Before Spike could do anything more than exclaim in surprise, Pipsqueak thrust the spike into Luna's pod, stabbing through the gelatinous membrane and piercing into the very heart of the imprisoning chrysalis. Spike's tail remained in place for less than a second before it was shoved aside by an indigo hoof from within. Luna's hoof burst out into the open air and a hush filled the room as the alicorn struggled to free herself. The quiet moment was forever lost when Luna's eyes started to glow and the entire room was swallowed in indigo light. _______________ "Hey! Are you okay? Wake up!" Scootaloo groaned as something shook her. Her entire body hurt and she just wanted to go back to sleep. "Go 'way," she muttered unsteady, waving a hoof vaguely in the direction of the disturbance. Unfortunately, that just seemed to encourage whatever pony wanted to tear her aware from the sleep's welcoming darkness. "She's awake!" The source of the happy voice moved away from Scootaloo and the pegasus' eyes slowly opened. Everything was blurry at first and she had to blink a few times to bring everything into focus. Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Pipsqueak, and Spike were all standing in a semicircle around her. "What happened?" Her mouth felt like it was full of sawdust. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom hauled Scootaloo to her hooves. "We did it," Apple Bloom said. "Princess Luna's free." "Really?" Scootaloo perked up excitedly as she considered what was really important. "That means we're heroes, right? Did we get our cutie marks?" A series of looks led to a series of disappointed sighs when they saw their flanks were as blank as ever. "Aww..." "Whatever," Spike covered his mouth to hide a yawn, not really interested in the filly's ongoing search for their cutie marks. "Anyway, I'm going home. It's way past my bedtime, and I think the moon's going to come up soon." With a wave at the foals, he wandered away. Pipsqueak chased after him, asking if he could borrow some comic book. Scootaloo looked around her for the first time, realizing where they were. "Wait... When did we get back to Ponyville?" "The Princess teleported us here." Sweetie Belle yawned, smacking her lips. "I think Spike's got the right idea. Good night, girls. See you tomorrow."