Inside the Everfree Forest....
"So....none of you have been here before?" While walking through the forest, the group of mares obviously looked scared, so Twilight tried to get their minds off the fear by talking to them, Rarity was the first to reply to this question, her nervousness being obvious in her voice. Gale also looked a little scared but because he remembered all the training that him and the other guys have done, he managed to keep a level head.
"H-Heavens no! J...Just look at it! It's dreadful!" Anypony listening to the way she sounded when she was speaking could tell that she sounded terrified as she was speaking. She wasn't the only one who sounded scared, as Applejack was the next one to answer.
"And this place ain't natural....folks say it don't work the same as Equestria..." This made Team Sorin curious, but made Gale and Twilight more nervous. Sorin was almost about to ask what else they knew about the place, but didn't want to increase their fear. Little did the group know, Nightmare Moon's mist form was slowly following them, plotting something to get in their way or finish them off for good. Sorin found the perfect thing to take the fear off their mind.
"Oh! That reminds me! We never fully introduced ourselves, have we?" The group looked at each other and all chuckled a little. Twilight decided to start first, since she wanted to get this over with and back to business, with the rest following her lead.
"Well, my name is Twilight Sparkle." Twilight said politely.
"I'm Applejack, nice to meet y'all, boys." Applejack tipped her hat while saying her name.
"Um...I'm...Fluttershy..." Fluttershy stepped back a little, making Eclipse smile at how adorable she was looking and also compliment her name, making Fluttershy hide her face behind her mane a little. Even Shadike couldn't help giving a small smile at this. Pinkie was bouncing in the air and was about to say her name, but Arcane and Twilight both said that they all already knew her name, making Pinkie laugh a little. Rarity decided to be the next one to introduce herself.
"Well dears. My name is Rarity." Rarity tapped her mane with her hoof, making sure that her mane was still in shape. The boys thought to themselves about how they guess that Rarity is supposed to be attractive to guy ponies, but since they were human at first, seeing Rarity like that just seemed wrong.
"And I'm Rainbow Dash! No doubt you've already heard of me, the best flyer in ALL of Equestria?" Dash flew around a bit during her boasting, all of the boys said the exact same thing at the exact same time in the same annoyed tone.
"...No."
That single word shot down Dash's mood a lot as she floated away while mumbling something under her breath, Shadike instantly did not like the way she was acting since Shadike can never stand boasting idiots as he calls them. Rarity politely asks the boys that since they introduced themselves to the boys, then it's now time for the boys to introduce themselves. The boys then introduced themselves one at a time with their newly made names from earlier.
"Sorin Dragos."
"Shadike Dragos."
"Gale Rush."
"Eclipse Blade."
"Arcane Soul."
"Nova Heart."
Now that introductions were now done, the group decided to continue going into the forest, but not before Twilight asked Eclipse and Shadike a question that she was thinking about for a while now. She got their attention first and then asked, the rest overhearing and decided to listen as well.
"Eclipse, Shadike? Uh...why DID you try to take on Nightmare Moon like that, knowing how dangerous she seemed?" Eclipse and Shadike both gave each other a blank look, then smirked at Twilight.
"Well, who else would've done it? Ya never know what'll happen if you don't try, right Shadike?" Eclipse turned to Shadike, who just nodded in agreement. Twilight however, didn't look so thrilled.
"You mean you didn't even have a plan?! You just charged in hoping for the best?!" Twilight couldn't believe how reckless and stupid she thought these two boys acted back then now that she knew that. Shadike just chuckled as he replied that that's just how they roll with things and just kept walking, leaving Twilight speechless. After a few minutes of more walking, Nova decided to ask about something that Applejack mentioned earlier.
"So AJ, what did you mean by this place isn't the same as Equestria?" Before Applejack could answer, Rainbow Dash decided to take this opportunity and try to scare everypony. She talked with as much of a spooky voice as she could.
"Nooooopony knooooooows......" By the looks of it, it was scaring Fluttershy, Rarity and even Pinkie. "You know why?" Applejack told her to quit it as Shadike told her to stop acting like an idiot. "Cause everypony that tried to go in, has never...come.....OUT!" As soon as Rainbow Dash shouted that sentence, the Nightmare Moon mist broke away the cliff they were standing on, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Gale Rush and Shadike Dragos quickly flapped their wings to avoid falling, Gale and Shadike were breathing a little heavy in nervousness because of being took by surprise like that.
"Thank GOD, that was CLOSE! Good thing we did all that training or we'd be fucked!" Shadike thought in his head. However, the four Pegasi quickly noticed the other eight teammates sliding down the cliff, about to fall from a high cliff to the ground miles down below them. The four flyers got their bearings and flew down to save them.
"Fluttershy! Quick!"
"Move it or lose it, Gale!"
Rainbow Dash saved Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy saved Rarity, Shadike saved Nova and Eclipse. while Gale managed to save Arcane. Applejack, Sorin and Twilight were still sliding down the cliff however, Applejack luckily grabbed a branch that was sticking out of the cliff and Sorin managed to grab Applejack's tail, which hurt Applejack as he was hanging, Applejack shouted something, but her voice was muffled since she was hanging on the vine with her teeth.
"Sorry! Wait....TWILIGHT!" Sorin looked down and saw Twilight still sliding down the cliff, about to go over the edge, she managed to hang on to the ledge, but it looked like she couldn't hold on for long.
"HANG ON!" Sorin, in a panic, released his grip on Applejack's tail and slid down the cliff to save Twilight, Twilight lost her grip and was about to fall, but Sorin barely managed to reach and grab her hoof before she fell.
"Sorin?!" Twilight thought she was going to die, but was surprised when she saw Sorin risking his life to save her, Sorin however couldn't stay balanced on the slope he was on while holding Twilight and almost slipped off, grabbing the cliff edge with his free front hoof while holding Twilight with the other. The rest of the group could see what was going on and they were worried. Shadike, Gale, Dash and Fluttershy managed to get the rest of the team to safety.
"Where's Applejack?" Gale noticed that she was missing. Dash looked down at the cliff worried, it took her a few moments to notice where Applejack was, but when she did she quickly pointed at her for the other flyers.
"She's down there!"
Applejack looked and saw Sorin and Twilight in danger, so she let go of the branch she was hanging on to. "Hold on! I'ma coming!" She slid down and grabbed Sorin's hoof, however she couldn't pull both Sorin AND Twilight up with how heavy they both were. Twilight and Sorin were both starting to panic, Twilight more than Sorin was.
"What are we going to do now?!" Sorin tried to think of something until he heard Applejack's voice say something he did NOT want to hear at that moment.
"Let go." As soon as Sorin and Twilight heard that, they both went pale.
"Are you CRAZY?!" Twilight instantly shouted, Sorin looked down and became a little dazed from how high they were, since he wasn't exactly great with heights. Sorin was thinking the same thing as Twilight, since at the height they were at, falling from that high would certainly be fatal.
"Why in the heck would we do that?! Are you NUTS?!"
"No I ain't! I promise that you two'll be safe!" Sorin didn't know what to say, but Twilight was still panicking. Both hers and Sorin's mind was practically screaming at them to hold on.
"THAT'S NOT TRUE! SORIN, DON'T LET GO!" Twilight shouted at Sorin like he was deaf. Sorin looked down to Twilight and saw complete fear in her eyes, he assured Twilight that he wasn't planning to let go anytime soon and kept the tightest grip he could muster.
"Now y'all listen here! What I'm tellin ya both is the honest truth. Just let go and you'll be safe." She gave Sorin and Twilight a comforting smile, after a while Twilight closed her eyes, thinking on whether to believe Applejack or not. Sorin was doing the same as Twilight, since he was holding both Applejack's hoof AND holding up Twilight as well, he was feeling the pressure build up in him.
"Are you sure, Applejack?" Applejack gave one more encouraging smile to show that Sorin and Twilight WILL be safe. Sorin still looked unsure, until he heard one more sentence.
"Do it, Sorin." Sorin looked down and saw that it was Twilight who said that, but instead of fear in her eyes like Sorin saw earlier, instead he saw determination. With a nod from Twilight, Sorin took a deep breath and released his grip, plummeting him and Twilight down towards the ground.
Twilight screamed loudly as she fell and Sorin couldn't scream even if he wanted to, and believe me he tried to. But for some reason, he knew he could trust for something to save them, thinking this, Sorin just closed his eyes and waited for whatever would happen. When he opened them again, he saw that he was in Shadike and Gale's arms and that he also saw Twilight, who was saved by Dash and Fluttershy.
"Thank goodness..." Was the only thing that Sorin could think in his head. Twilight looked at Applejack with a smile on her face. Applejack tipped her hat, saying that she never lies to a friend. Sorin quickly went over to Twilight, worried for her safety.
"Are you alright, Twi?!" Twilight saw how worried Sorin was, she couldn't tell why since they barely knew each other, but she assured Sorin that she was fine, which made Sorin give a sigh of relief. Eclipse gave Sorin a playful nudge and whispered to him, making a joke to fool with Sorin's head. Any other pony would say he is being casual for someone who's best friend could have died, but Eclipse was certain that his friend wouldn't have died that easily even if he wasn't saved by Shadike and Gale.
"Starting to FALL for Twilight, are ya?" Sorin looked a little annoyed, but still replied to Eclipse's question.
"Eclipse...that joke just FELL flat...and you know how much I don't like seeing friends of mine getting hurt." Eclipse chuckled and patted Sorin on the back, complimenting him before they carried on their journey to the castle of the regal sisters.
"Are you girls sure you know where we're going?" Gale suddenly brought up this question during the walking, however the girls just ignored him (not giving Gale much confidence about this whole situation) as Rainbow Dash was saying how awesome they were rescuing Twilight and Sorin, annoying both of said unicorns. They then heard a growling sound, judging by the sound of the growl, it came from a large creature. Sorin's team drew their weapons in case anything happens, causing the mares to be a little intimidated. Gale floated in the air a little so he could use his bow with both his front hooves.
"Over there!" Rarity pointed ahead of them, showing the path they needed to follow and a large creature that looked like a lion with what looked like a scorpion tail which, as Twilight shouted, was called a manticore.
"We gotta get past it!" Twilight shouted, with the boys getting ready to take action. The manticore tried to strike Rarity, but she dodged the claws of the manticore and kicked it in the chin, surprising Team Sorin. The manticore then loudly roared in Rarity's face, ruining her mane and scaring her off. Nova looked impressed that Rarity was able to strike it like that, especially since Rarity to him looked like the type to only care for appearance.
"Wow, who knew Rarity could fight?!" Nova said, but Eclipse snapped him out of it when the manticore looked at them, Nova quickly looked nervous as he got ready to use magic, all of the group could see that this creature looked angry. Fluttershy tried to get their attention, but no one heard her. Applejack landed on the top of the creature's head, which distracted the manticore, giving Sorin and Eclipse enough time to strike with their blades, though it didn't look like it did much, surprisingly.
In anger, the creature shook off Applejack, Fluttershy tried telling them to wait again, but once again they were too focused on the manticore to hear her, Applejack told Dash that it was her turn, who teamed up with Shadike to quickly circle around it, with Shadike attacking while flying. The manticore swung it's tail knocking both of them to the ground. Nova used a healing spell he learned from the book of medical magic he read while training with the guys to help out Dash and Shadike.
After they both got up, they all looked at the manticore...it still looked ready to fight.
"This is gonna be GOOD!" Eclipse looked excited to be in a real fight. The team stood together, the boys with their weapons drawn, they prepared to run at the manticore and charged together towards it! Before they reached it however...
"WAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!!!!!!!"
Fluttershy was blocking their path to the manticore, the group was confused but said nothing as Fluttershy walked up to the creature. The manticore raised his paw, like it was gonna strike. The mares closed their eyes so that they wouldn't see what happens "Shh...it's okay." They opened their eyes to see the boys with the biggest "What the hay?!" faces ever and saw Fluttershy snuggling up with the manticore's paw. Looking closer she saw that in the paw there was.....
"A THORN?! ALL THAT DONE BY A FUCKING THORN?!" Shadike looked absolutely pissed off about this, while Eclipse was laughing like a madman.
"Yes! Cause THAT totally makes sense!" Eclipse yelled at the top of his lungs while laughing, crazily. This made Twilight and some of the others a little nervous as Eclipse was starting to act a little...odd.
"Aww, you poor little baby...." Fluttershy was acting motherly towards the scary looking creature.
"Little?!" Rainbow Dash looked confused at what was going on.
"Baby?!" Gale looked terrified if THAT was just a baby, he wondered what the parents must be like and hoped that they wouldn't have to find out.
After Fluttershy pulled out the thorn, the manticore roared in her face, Shadike drew his blades again, hoping for another fight, but then the manticore started licking Fluttershy's pink mane and then went away, leaving the team in peace. The group started to continue their quest but Twilight asked Fluttershy a question, "How did you know about the thorn?"
"I didn't. Sometimes we all need to show a little kindness." Hearing those words, Twilight couldn't help but smile.
Continuing on their way, the forest started becoming almost pitch black, the group could barely see where they were going. Applejack's voice suddenly said, "Oops, I think I stepped in somethin." Shadike and Sorin cringed hoping it wasn't what they thought it was, while Eclipse looked like he was gonna laugh. For some reason, Fluttershy screamed.
"Relax Fluttershy, it's only mud." That made the Dragos brothers sigh in relief until they saw what Fluttershy was screaming at, surrounding the group was weird, demonic looking trees. Gale, Nova, Arcane and most of the Mane 6 were screaming, but Pinkie Pie was just......laughing and making funny faces at them? Twilight told Pinkie to run, but instead Pinkie started.....
"Wait, what's that music?" Eclipse said. The boys looked at Pinkie who looked like she was going to start...
"Tell me she's not....."
"The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frown..."
"She is." Pinkie had begun.....singing.
"I'd hide under my pillow
From what I thought I saw
But Granny Pie said that wasn't the way
To deal with fears at all"
"Then what is?" Rainbow asked.
"She said, Pinkie, you gotta stand up tall
Learn to face your fears
You'll see that they can't hurt you
Just laugh to make them disappear."
Pinkie then laughed at one of the transformed trees as it suddenly changed back into a normal looking tree, making the mares gasp and the boys confused. Pinkie just kept on singing as the the mares then realized what they must do. Just laugh.
"So, giggle at the ghostly
Guffaw at the grossly
Crack up at the creepy
Whoop it up with the weepy
Chortle at the kooky
Snortle at the spooky
And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and if he thinks he can scare you then he's got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna... hahahaha... heh...
Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuugh!"
When Pinkie stopped singing, all of the trees had been turned back to normal, Shadike and Arcane wondered what the point of all that was since they were just scary-looking trees and couldn't hurt them in the slightest, but Sorin cut them off, saying that with how happy the girls seem now, it'll help to lighten the atmosphere and not make the situation look so desperate. Eclipse agreed with Sorin as they kept pushing through the forest.
They kept walking until they came across another obstacle, a violent rushing river. The group knew this would be way more simpler than the last couple of things that they have done, since Shadike, Gale, Fluttershy and Dash could fly and could fly the teammates one at a time. But before they had the chance to, they heard loud crying.
"The hell is...THAT?" Shadike said, the rest looked in the direction the sound was coming from and they saw something they didn't expect to see. By Sorin's view, it looked like a large purple sea serpent, not only that, but it was also crying about something and thrashing about, which was causing the violence in the river. Arcane noticed that half of it's...mustache was gone. Twilight asked the serpent why it was crying.
"Well, I don't know. I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when this tacky little cloud of purple smoke just whisked past me and tore half of my beloved mustache clean off, and now I look simply HORRID." It continued crying, but Sorin, Eclipse and Gale looked surprised since they heard the serpent mention a cloud of smoke, that means that Nightmare Moon was trying to prevent them from continuing on, which also meant that they were on the right track.
"Oh, give me a break." Rainbow Dash thought that this was just going to waste their their time and, even thought Shadike hated to admit it, he thought it as well. After Rarity stated how handsome and glorious all of the serpent's features were and how they didn't matter in the slightest without the complete mustache to compliment them, she then thought about what she could do to solve this vandalism of fashionable appearances.
"I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected!" Twilight was wondering what Rarity was going to do, then she watched as Rarity used her magic to pluck one of the serpent's scales and used it to cut her pony tail off, she then stuck her tail on the serpent's face, replacing the missing half of the mustache, which cheered up the serpent and calmed the raging river. Personally, Sorin thought it looked absolutely terrible and out of place, but the serpent looked happy so he kept quiet.
Twilight felt bad for Rarity's appearance being messed up, but Rarity assured that it's alright since apparently short tails are in this season and said that her tail will grow back anyway, Shadike and Dash both thought that the mustache would ALSO grow back, making this a waste of time in their eyes. The serpent in thanks, sets his body in a way that the team can walk on the body to easily cross the river.
After some more travelling...
"There it is, the ruins that holds The Elements of Harmony. We made it!" Twilight suddenly became very happy as the group could finally see their destination in the distance. Applejack, seeing that Twilight was running ahead of the group, told her to wait before she ends up getting hurt or lost. Twilight kept running until she suddenly ran off a cliff, Dash managed to catch her in time.
"What's with you and falling off cliffs today?" Dash asked. Twilight just awkwardly laughed in embarrassment, while Eclipse once again made a pun.
"You seriously fell for the same thing twice?" This caused some of the mares and guys to groan in annoyance. They looked where Twilight fell from and saw a broken rope bridge, which was the last obstacle between the group and the castle. Pinkie asked what they should do now, but Dash just gave a blank face as she was about to fly across the cavern and fix the bridge. Shadike was about to follow, but she stopped him.
"Whoa there, Shadike. I can handle this, it's just a bridge. Don't need backup with THAT." Dash tapped her chest in confidence, slightly irritating Shadike. Instead of going with her anyway, he decided to not bother if Dash was going to act like that. In his mind, if Dash gets in trouble, then it's her own damn fault.
Rainbow Dash flew across the chasm and was about to start fixing the bridge until she heard a voice saying her name. She looked around and saw no pony around, demanding they show themselves, Rainbow Dash then saw a small group of shady-Pegasi who say that they have been waiting for the best flyer in Equestria, which they then say is Dash herself.
"Really?! I mean... Oh yeah, me. Hey, uh, you wouldn't mind telling the Wonderbolts that, would ya? 'cause I've been trying to get into that group for like, ever." Dash asked, not suspicious of the Pegasi at all.
"No, Rainbow Dash. We want you to join us, The Shadowbolts. We're the greatest aerial team in the Everfree Forest, and soon we will be the greatest in all Equestria, but first, we need a captain. The most magnificent, swiftest, bravest flyer in all the land." Dash was nodding and agreeing with everything they were saying. The Shadowbolts said that Dash would be perfect for them.
"WOOHOO! Sign me up. Just let me tie this bridge real quick and then we have a deal." Dash was once again starting to fix the bridge, but the leader stopped Dash from doing so, saying that it was either Dash stays with her friends or joins the Shadowbolts and that there was only one chance. Dash was unsure of what to decide, but she then heard Twilight's voice and looked towards her.
"Rainbow, what's taking so long?" Twilight and the others then saw the Shadowbolts, Twilight shouted to Dash to not listen to the Shadowbolts. The Shadowbolts then thickened the fog in front of the rest of the team, Shadike tried to fly through the fog, but was somehow sent back the way he came in.
Rainbow Dash declined the offer from the Shadowbolts and was about to fix the bridge, until one of the Shadowbolts attempted to attack Rainbow Dash, luckily, Dash managed to see it in time and flew out of the way of the attack, causing the attacker to hit the ground, which the rest of the team heard through the fog. Sorin then quickly got an idea.
"We gotta help Dash! Shadike, flap your wings as fast as you can! Now!" Shadike did what Sorin said as Sorin started charging his horn with magic, he sent a magic blast at Shadike's wings, powering them up so Shadike could create large gusts of wind with his wings, blowing away the fog. Shadike then flew to where Dash was, drawing his two blades along the way, he tried a swing at one of the Shadowbolts, but it flew out of the range of his blade. Rainbow Dash was surprised and annoyed that Shadike helped her.
"SHADIKE! I said I can handle it!"
"Oh yeah! REALLY looks like it! Fix that damn bridge, I'll cover ya!" Dash quickly fixed the bridge, allowing the others to cross the bridge and assist in the fight. Eclipse leaped into the fray with a large grin on his face.
"WOOOO!!!! WELCOME TO DIE, BITCH!" Eclipse managed to catch one of the foes by surprise and cleaved the Shadowbolt in half, making it explode into a cloud of smoke.
"Huh, it poofed."
One of the Shadowbolts was about to strike Twilight while she wasn't looking. When Twilight realized she was going to get struck, Sorin managed to leap in between Twilight and the Shadowbolt and stood in a defensive position with his sword held tight, making the attacker recoil back, giving Twilight time to blast it apart into smoke, leaving one last Shadowbolt, which was the leader of the three.
"Thank you, Sorin."
"Don't worry about it."
The Shadowbolt leader was a lot more tricky than the other two was and was able to dodge a lot of the blows that the team sent at it. But since it was twelve against one, they were easily able to overpower the leader as Arcane held it in place with his magic as Applejack mustered the hardest kick she could. severely weakening the Shadowbolt, but not destroying the form. Gale took the chance to aim his bow and shoot an arrow, since Arcane was keeping the leader held, Gale had the perfect shot to the head and took it. The shot hit bulls eye, as the final Shadowbolt vaporized into smoke like the rest.
Having a short rest after their battle, Twilight thanked Rainbow Dash for fixing the bridge so they could cross the chasm. Rainbow Dash, being as boastful as usual, just looked proud of herself like Shadike expected. "Well, I never leave my friends hanging." Twilight smiled when Dash said this, but Eclipse decided to make a bad joke.
"Tell that to Sorin and Twilight earlier." The mood instantly went silent after that. Soon after though, Rainbow Dash went up to Shadike, with an embarrassed look on her face.
"Hey Shadike, uh...thanks for helping me out there. Not that I couldn't have handled it, which I could have! But...yeah. Thanks." Shadike was honestly surprised that Dash was thanking him, but just casually walked past her, making Dash annoyed and think that he didn't hear her. Shadike only had this to say to her.
"...watch yourself better next time. I won't always be there to bail you out." Shadike smirked without Dash noticing, that sentence however, insulted Dash quite a bit.
"What?! I didn't need you anyway! You think you're so tough, ya stupid...! Urgh!" Rainbow decided to not even bother with Shadike right now, she thought that it should wait until later, since the rest of the group stepped towards the doors of the castle they were heading to since the start of this small journey.
They were now finally at their destination, the ancient castle of the regal sisters right in front of them. Before entering, everypony looked at each other and nodded, signaling that they were ready for whatever was inside. Twilight nervously gulped before entering the castle, her and Sorin leading the team inside, Twilight and Sorin both thought to themselves as they went inside...
"This is it...."