//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8 
// Story: Test of Time: Arc 1: Awakening 
// by NoPonysLand 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 8 – Twilight
Sunday, 23 June 1003
Twilight looked up at the vengeful goddess, gliding purposefully and gracefully towards her position, her visage closely resembling the looks of an angry mare who's pick-nick had been ruined by ants. Her friends were huddled around her, trying not to let their fear cloud their vision. She desperately tried to think, but she had lost almost a liter of blood at this point; her mind was fuzzy at best. Spring's horn was alight, as it had been for a few seconds. She didn’t need to know the exact numbers to be absolutely certain that if that strike hit them, that would be it.
Wait. She was loosing blood. Lots of blood.
A last glimmer of hope sprouted in Twilight's mind. Teleportation was too complex to be used in combat, but the base magic circle for a teleportation spell was simple. Sure, she would have no idea where they would end up, and yes, uncoordinated teleportation spells had a habit of causing their casters injury or death, but with a choice between the chance of death and the certainty of it, any risk seemed better to her.
Quickly, she used her telekinesis to mat down a circle of grass around her, hoping that there was enough blood on the ground to make this work. Hopefully, just enough would flow into the depression to complete the connection in time.
Spring was now directly above them, her eyes sparkling with power. Twilight shuddered. This is what ponies meant by staring at your own death, she supposed. It was do or die time, now or never.
“Thee really shouldst hast used this opportunity to flee, mortals!” Spring called, her horn glowing brighter, casting the field below her in strong, aquamarine light, brilliant patterns scattering wildly like the underside of an aquarium.
Twilight released a wave of energy, as quickly as she was capable, into the crude spell circle she had made. A half second passed. A full second. She felt her stomach drop. This is it...
“I am sorry to say that thee wilt-”
There was a flash of purple light, and the six disappeared.


## ^ ##


Twilight's head was swimming, her body fuzzily reconnecting with her mind as she slowly fought her way to consciousness. Her head throbbed, met with equal throbs from the remainder of her body. It felt as if every limb, bone, and muscle of her form had been removed, sent through a printing press, and then put back when they were finished. Which, as comfortable as that made her, at least meant that she could feel all of her body. Something to be happy about.
She faintly registered moans from around her, too incoherent to make out the speakers. She didn’t remember where she was, or how she had gotten there, but she was thinking of the right questions, so that was a start. She, with a great effort of will, forced her eyes open. It took her a few moments to register that she had, the world around her shrouded in a deep blanket of shadow. Her first thought was of Nightmare Moon, but after a half-second panic, she calmed down. That had been a while ago. Two years, right? Perhaps three. She was having trouble making sense of her world.
There was something on her back. She panicked again, nearly flipping herself over before she registered the shape as her wing. She felt her stomach drop. Her wing. So mangled was the one she could see that she hadn’t even recognized it. It didn’t hurt very much. Twilight took that as a bad sign.
Twilight pulled herself to her hooves with great effort. As she turned upright, she screamed, her second wing nearly coming apart as she rose. The pain faded quickly. Looking down, she saw the problem. Nearly two hundred of her feathers were stuck half-way in the rock face which she had been laying on. There were very few things that could do something like that, and the most likely one was...
Teleportation. Suddenly, her memories caught up with her. She had teleported herself and her friends here, wherever here was, to escape Spring. Quickly, she turned to see if the others were okay, but found herself unable to move. Looking down, Twilight noticed that nearly half of her tail was stuck inside the rock as well. Not willing to wait, she cut her tail off with a quick magical burst, and tried to figure out where she was, and where the others were.
She was in a cave, that part was obvious fairly quickly. There was a small hole leading to the surface some four meters above her head, through which a thin beam of moonlight passed. Given the size of the hole, that would only happen at or very near midnight; they had been out about three hours, give or take.
The illumination was far too weak for her to make out anything by, so she casted a simple light spell to illuminate her surroundings. The other five were laying around, seemingly whole. Twilight sighed in relief. Last chance or not, she would have never forgiven herself if she had teleported one of her friends half-way through a rock. Applejack was moaning softly. Twilight went to investigate, finding part of her ear imbedded in the wall behind her, as well as a third of her mane. Three centimeters off, and she would have been dead. Twilight hated to have to do it, but she quickly cut off the tip of her ear with a precision cutting spell, quickly treating her mane to the same. Unsurprisingly, this woke her up, Applejack violently kicking out with her hooves. Fortunately, Twilight had had the sense to draw back before she awoke, missing her blows.
“Wut!” She hollered, her eyes rolling, before focusing on Twilight. She seemed to calm down. “Twilight. What happened?”
“I got us out of there as quickly as I could. This was the only thing I could think of.”
“A dank, dusty cave was all you could think of?” Asked and incredulous voice from below.
“Rarity! Glad to see your okay.” Applejack sounded relieved.
“No, not the cave. I teleported us completely randomly.” Twilight looked down. “This is just where we happened to end up.”
“Well, like usual, yer last second plans work better than most of anypony else's master schemes.” Applejack said. “I was so sure that we were done for, I swear I saw my mother's face calling for me. Ya really know how ta build tension and wait for the last minute, that's fer sure.”
“How are the others?” Asked Rarity. “I woke up to Applejack's scream.”
“Um, I'm okay!” Squeaked Fluttershy. “But, um, it seems that my back hooves may have become fused with the earth.”
Twilight swore under her breath. “Okay, Fluttershy, I'll be with you in a moment. Dash? Pinkie? Are you okay?” She called, but the two did not respond. She walked over to Dash first. She seemed okay, until Twilight tried pulling her onto some more flat terrain. The way her front legs reacted... it was as if she had about twenty different joints in her legs now. Twilight felt her head throb, and her mouth go dry. Dash's throat was torn, and her chest looked as if someone had take a sledgehammer to it... at mach 1. She was fairly sure she knew who. “Dash... Why do you do such stupid things?” Twilight whispered sadly. At least her head seemed okay, and she was breathing. It didn’t look as if she had too many lacerations, so she likely wasn’t loosing too much blood. She seemed to be medically stable, for what it was worth.
Twilight drew away from Dash, the others exclaiming worriedly at her condition, and went to check on Pinkie. At least there was some good news; Pinkie seemed to have no complications whatsoever, and sleeping soundly on the floor. Twilight arose her with a quick telekinetic poke, and then went back to Dash. Letting out a burst of energy, she healed Dash as best she could for a minute, and finally made her way down to Fluttershy.
“Sorry about this.” Twilight said, her magic buzzing around her as she slowly, carefully removed Fluttershy from the earth.
“It's okay. The others were in a lot more danger than I was by standing here.” Fluttershy said. “You were right to tend to the emergency cases first.”
“No, it's not that. It's the getting you stuck here in the first place.” Twilight continued to concentrate, trying to slowly remove the fused rock from Fluttershy's hoof. “I screwed up, big time.”
“Oh, don't fret, Twilight. You got us here safe, didn’t you?” Fluttershy asked. “You saved us. Sure, we got a little banged up, but we're all still alive.”
“Yeah, saved you from a situation which I put you in.” Twilight said darkly. “There's really no point, or way, to sugarcoat this, Fluttershy. I was given very clear instructions to by no means and under no circumstances initiate combat, and what's the first thing I do as soon as I think I have the upper hoof? I initiate combat. Get caught, break free, run to safety. That's what any sane pony would have done. Me? Get caught, break free, do exactly what you were told not to do or things would go poorly, and then things go really poorly. Who would have thought?” Twilight began to shake with a mixture of anger and sadness. “I wanted to be the big damn hero, and, well, here I am! I got the big damn part down at least! Woo, look at Twilight, the Goddess wannabe who nearly got herself and almost everypony whom she cares about in the whole world slaughtered because SHE COULDEN'T BE BOTHERED TO THINK PAST HER OWN HEROIC FANTISY!”
Fluttershy screamed as Twilight nearly ripped the bottom of her back hooves off.
Twilight stopped moving, dropping her spell and rushing to Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?” Twilight choked through her tears. “Please, be okay. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I didn’t want this. Please!” By now, her words came out as sobs. “Please! I'm so, so sorry!”
“Twilight... Twilight, I'm fine. You're scaring me, Twilight.” Fluttershy said. Twilight couldn’t hear her through her sobbing. Fluttershy looked anxiously to the others. Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack shared her look.
“I think the stress might have finally gotten to her.” Pinkie said. “We should leave her alone for a little while, until she calms down.”
The others looked to Pinkie as if she had grown an extra head.
“Hey, there are a *few* things a party can't solve. At least not right away. She'll need us later, but for now, I think she needs a few moments alone.”
Fluttershy, wincing at every step, slowly drew back away from Twilight, joining the others on the top of the small rock-face. Twilight noticed, dully, her retreat, but found that she didn't have the energy required to react.

## ^ ##

Five minutes later, Twilight stood up from the ball she had curled into, and turned to the others. They were watching, kindness and worry in their eyes. Twilight let out a shaky breath. She had full rights to be upset at herself, at the world, at everything in her life at this point, but there was a time and a place, and ten minutes(Well, three hours, but ten waking minutes) after a near death encounter in a dark unknown cave surrounded by your friends who are all injured is hardly an appropriate one. Take care of the problems left 
before
 having a mental breakdown. Simple.
“Is... is Dash alright?” Twilight asked, to the relieved smiles and looks of the others.
“Yeah. She's fine.” Applejack said. “Yer healing thing seems to have done her a world of good. Looks like she's been in a schoolyard fight, instead of, you know, nearly dead.”
Twilight paused, swallowed, and steadied herself. “And Fluttershy?”
“I'm fine.” Fluttershy said. “It hurt a bit, but, look!” She lifted one of her back hooves for Twilight to see, before realizing that the cave was so dark that there was no way to tell if she was okay from their distance. “Um, well, anyway, my hooves are fine.”
“Here, let me light things up.” Twilight concentrated, and summoned a large ball of purple light, illuminating the cave they found themselves in. She felt the drain this time. She was getting close to empty on magic. The cave was about twenty meters across, and seemed to have no entrances or exits. There was little in the way of plant life, except around the little hole in the ceiling. There were collections of mushrooms surrounding them, a dull reddish-gray color. There was a little stream running across the floor. There were a few vanes of what looked to be iron on the north wall. The room smelt faintly of sulfur. Twilight was running out of things to look at.
That is to say, everypony was looking at Twilight and it was making her very uncomfortable.
Twilight eventually was forced to make eye contact with the others. They seemed to be in shock. Twilight took a step towards them, worried.
“Is everything okay?” The others took a step back.
Twilight sighed. “There's something behind me, isn’t there?” She turned quickly to face whatever it was... and found herself facing a bare wall. She turned back to the others.
“Twilight...” Applejack said softly.
“Twilight, darling, will you lay down for me?” asked Rarity, obviously concerned.
Fluttershy seemed to try to squeak out something, but whatever it was was to quiet for Twilight to make out.
“What are you...” Twilight started, then paused and took a look at herself.
“Oh...” she said.
It had been hard to tell, in the weak illumination she had casted before, exactly how injured she had been. Her coat was... well, her coat had been purple, so in the light before, it had been hard to see how much blood she had on her. She was soaked. Her coat had changed color to magenta, there was so much blood in it. The slash across her chest, where Spring had hit her with that fire burst, was a deep black, a jagged wound nearly five centimeters across and stretching from her upper left shoulder across to her right flank. Her left wing was mangled and obviously broken, her right wing was missing half its feathers. She was missing patches of fur from almost everywhere on her body, and she had lost her tail. She looked terrible. Like she shouldn’t be able to stand, let alone go about helping others.
Twilight suddenly began to feel woozy. Her brain, processing the fact that she had lost two or perhaps even three liters of blood, finally got around to acting as if her oxygen supply had been nearly cut and tried to knock her out again. She struggled against the sudden fog which tried to cloud her mind as her adrenaline finally began to wear off. No wonder she had been a little unstable. She was living off of her dwindling adrenaline supply alone. With this much untreated blood loss, it was surprising she was alive at all.
Applejack caught her before she fell. A good thing, too, as another trauma, even one a slight as a fall from walking height, might be all she had left in her. Twilight endeavored, with great difficulty, to keep her eyes open. A cave was not the place to fall unconscious. They had lost three hours already. They couldn’t really afford to lose any more.
She heard some faint yelling in the distance. She thought she recognized Dash's voice. Good. She was up. She liked Dash. Applejack was warm. She was so tired. Fluttershy was anxiously talking to Pinkie. The average pony can produce adrenaline for eight minutes continuously. Applejack was talking to her, but she couldn’t understand her. She was so tired. Rarity was holding her element, where had she gotten that? Was there something going on? Dash looked at her, worried. She tried to tell her that everything was fine, but her mouth wasn’t working. She was so tired. The light went out. She tried to keep it on, but it was too hard. It took too much out of her. Due to its nature, adrenaline faded from the body quickly, so once production stopped, its effectiveness halved every twenty-three seconds. She was so tired. There was something warm in her head. She tried to touch it, she reached out for it. It wasn't her. She felt safe in the light it cast. She was so tired. She pulled on it, felt it give a little. She was so tired. She knew that she could use this for something. She was so tired. She couldn’t think. She was so tired. She was so tired. She was...


## ^ ##


Twilight's eyes fluttered open. Her friends were looking down at her, smiles breaking out across their faces as they noticed her come awake. She yawned, stretched, and looked at the others.
“What happened? And how long was I out?” Twilight asked.
“No idea, and about seven minutes.” Replied Applejack.
“Seven minutes?” Twilight said, confused. “With the blood loss I had, I would have expected more like two weeks. Though I do suppose that explains why we're still at the bottom of a cave.” Twilight tried to stand, and found, surprisingly, that she could. In fact, she felt fine. Well, okay, not fine, but much better than she had any rights to. It still hurt to move, but her body responded fluidly to her, and she no longer felt anywhere near as fatigued. At a guess, she had acquired two or three liters of blood in the last few minutes. Somehow.
Twilight decided that this mystery could be solved later. She had things to deal with right now. She looked awkwardly at the others. “I'm sorry about my breakdown earlier. Yeah, I was dealing with
Hypovolemic shock, but the only one I have the right to be mad at right now is myself, and I endangered the rest of you through my actions. Again.” Twilight let out a sigh.
“Okay. Wait. Hold up a moment.” Dash said. “First off, I can think of at least one pony who is more to blame for this than you are.”
“I got three.” Muttered Applejack.
“Secondly,” Dash continued, “the opportunity you took with the whole attacking Spring thing was very grounded in rationality. She had all her power removed! When are we going to get another chance like that? Yeah, we screwed up, but we all screwed up.”
Dash paused, seemingly done with her part. Rarity quickly took up the lead. “Contrary to what you apparently believe, Twilight, we are capable of making decisions for ourselves. You might be the de facto group leader, but the only thing keeping us together is friendship, not obligation. We all decided to go after Spring. You didn’t force us into anything.”
Applejack continued. “Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, it's okay that you had a little cry! You pulled yourself together fairly quickly, while dealing with hype-vat-thing shock. We were in a cave. We'd already been out cold fer a few good hours. A couple of minutes more ain't putting us in anymore harm.”
“Your points were valid, if a little too harsh.” Said Fluttershy. “I can see where you were coming from. Did you think we would be upset at the fact that you feel bad when you think you've put your friends at risk? It's normal, healthy, and perfectly reasonable.”
“Oh, oh, my turn!” Pinkie said. “Um, well, fourthly, we forgive you! Seriously. Everypony makes mistakes, and you're not the only one who's mistakes are dangerous. We signed up for some danger when we decided that it was a good idea to take on the role of 'Equestria's mightiest heroes'. And it's not like this is the first time we lost on our first attempt. Think Discord or Chrysalis. With them, after our first failure we were pushed back to square one. Here, we didn’t lose or gain anything at all!” Pinkie paused. “Hum. Well, that last bit sounded better in my head. Anyway, we're all still here, all still kicking, and all that is thanks, in part, to you! Don't be so down on yourself.”
“The only thing I find troubling is how hard you seem to be taking this.” Rarity said. “We've been in tough spots before, but you've always been calm in the face of danger.” She looked directly into Twilight's eyes. “Is there something else bothering you?”
Twilight looked around. “Is now really the time? We're in a cave, in a random location, surrounded by who knows what, and we kind of have some important information to deliver. You know, about Spring's likely imminent attack on the civilized world.”
“If it's going to make one of the few ponies on the planet capable of stopping her more able to function, we most certainly do have the time.” Rarity said.
Twilight opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again. “Me?” She asked incredulously. “I would have thought that little fight back there showed very clearly exactly how far out of my league Spring is.”
“Twilight, I can name all of the physical gods on this planet, with their divine controls, in one breath. The fact that you are on this list makes you one of the few ponies who can stop her essentially by default. There are only five of you, Spring is one, and Discord won't be helping much, that's nearly certain.” Rarity said flatly. “That leaves three, two of which are very set on only playing defense. That leaves you, and only you, to try to get in her way.”
“With a little help from you friends, of course.” Interjected Pinkie. “The weight of the world doesn't need to be on your back. We may not have wings and a horn, but I've never broken my back lifting something before and I'm not about to start when my friend needs some help. It's okay to share the load a bit.”
“I don't know what you two are on about, but I'm with Twi.” Applejack said. “Is there any reason we have to do this heartwarming reaffirmation of friendship and trust thing from the bottom of a gloomy dank cave and not, say, in a warm room in Canterlot?”
The others paused. Twilight laughed softly. “I think that sounds like a great idea. I'll call Celestia here, she'll...”
The others waited a good three seconds, before Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “She'll... what, exactly? Is there another problem?”
“It's gone.” Twilight said. “The contact packet Celestia gave me, it's disappeared. No trace.”
There was another brief pause. “What do you mean, gone?” said Rarity.
“I mean gone. As in, removed. No longer present. Not here.” Twilight paused. “Which should be, well, impossible. If it had been used, or removed, or even counterspelled, there would be some trace. But there's nothing.”
Silence fell over the six ponies as Twilight slid into thought. The other five exchanged looks.
“So, well, new plan time, right?” Pinkie Pie said hopefully.
“Shhhh!” Rarity shushed Pinkie. “Twilight's right, that should not have been possible. And when were fighting gods, it's probably for the best if we understand what is going on.
“Deconstruction...” Twilight murmured. “The spell was deconstructed, reabsorbed, and converted back into raw mana.” She blinked. “How do I know that? And how did I do that? I barely understand the theory behind such a conversion, let alone be able to preform such a complicated process while literally unconscious.”
“Look, I'm sure that all this magi-babble is important, but is it dangerous or not?” asked Applejack. “Because, if it's all the same to you, not doing this in a cave would be preferred.”
Twilight looked troubled for a moment more, before shaking her head. “No, it's not dangerous. Just, very, very strange. Not that I'm complaining; the energy that used to be that packet is what healed me. You're right, though. We should get out of here.” She scanned the surroundings. “Any ideas? I'm completely drained of magic.” 
“I could, you know, just fly up there and drop down a rope or something.” Dash said. “Not that complex.”
“Do we have rope?” asked Fluttershy. “I know I didn’t bring any.”
“Not to fear, Pinkie is here!” Pinkie pulled a coil of rope from her saddlebag. “Twenty meters party rope at your service!”
Dash grabbed the rope, and flew to the hole. “Stand back!” she called, then bucked the edge of the hole, causing parts to collapse. She winced, the shock must have aggravated her wounds, then bucked it again. This time, a large chunk collapsed, and Dash was able to fly through the resultant hole. A few seconds, and the rope dropped into the hole. Fluttershy flew up after Dash, Rarity climbed the rope first. Within a minute, the six were reassembled on the surface.
“Alright. Now, where are we?” Applejack asked.
“Well, I can feel the energy in the air... that depressing aura... so we're sill in the Everfree.” Twilight said. “It's after midnight, and the moon is there, so... this way is north. If we head in that direction, we're bound to come out somewhere within 150 Km of Canterlot. Once we get our bearings there, it should only take Dash about half an hour to reach Canterlot at that distance.”
“Are you kidding me?” Dash said incredulously. “I'm not sure I can walk fast, let alone fly 150 Km. We're all exhausted.”
“We need to do this! The fate of Equestria depends on it!” Twilight said, flabbergasted. “You're never one to quit, Rainbow Dash.”
“Yeah, that's why we're not going to sleep and march on until we make it there. But I'm letting you know, I can't do that.” Dash said darkly. “I'm not giving up, I'm making an assessment of my abilities. Pushing myself too far will only make things worse. What happens if I collapse on the way over? You would waste precious time looking for me.” Twilight opened her mouth, but Dash cut her off. “Don't even start. I know you would. For now, we move only as fast as our slowest member. We need to stick together.”
Twilight sighed. Dash was right, of course. “Sorry, Dash. I really have been asking a lot of you recently, haven't I?”
“Not surprising, given the circumstances. I'm the fastest flier in Equestria, and we've covered nearly one thousand kilometers in the past thirty hours.”
“Has it really only been thirty hours?” Rarity said. “It feels like a week, at least.”
“It's only been twenty-six, actually.” Twilight said. She laughed slightly, looking up at the full moon hanging beautifully in the sky. “Twenty-six hours. This is just beginning, you know. Things are really going to heat up now.”
“We can take a little heat.” Applejack said. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie nodded. “Now, we have a message to deliver, don't we? So let's get!”
Twilight nodded. “Lets.”
Applejack took the lead, followed closely by Twilight and Dash. Fluttershy took to the air, Rarity took middle, and Pinkie brought up the rear. The forest was not particularly thick where they were, and the covered nearly six kilometers in the first half-hour.
“If we can keep this up...” Twilight mused, “We might make it to Canterlot by sunset tonight. It would be tough, but it is possible.”
“I think you might have to reassess that estimate.” Said Fluttershy. “Look.”
The trees cleared, and the six found themselves on a beach which gently rolled into a large lake. The other bank was visible, but far off. Nearly ten kilometers from the looks of it.
“This is Serpent Isl.” said Fluttershy. “I know where we are. If we head North-northwest from here, we'll make it to Canterlot. We're about 190 Km away.”
“Serpent Isl...” Twilight paused. “I think I recognize the name, but...”
“The lake is treacherous. It houses many of the deepest magical creatures in Equestria, if not the world.” Fluttershy said. “I have a book or two on it, but I've never gone this deep into the Everfree before. I have essentially no practical experience here.” She landed. “Sorry. I had hoped my knowledge  would be at least a little helpful.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that.” Rarity grinned. “You've been very helpful, Fluttershy.”
“What do you have?” Applejack asked.
“This lake is connected to the Half-mane river. One terminus is this lake, the second is right outside of Manehattan, and the third, where the river starts, is...”
“Only about ten kilometers from Canterlot!” Twilight exclaimed. “I remember now! That river is slow flowing, if I recall. We could make twenty Kph if we had a serviceable boat. The river is winding, so we would have to cover about 250 kilometers, but with the increase of speed... We would arrive in Canterlot in the mid-afternoon, only about thirteen hours.”
“We don't even need to go that far. Las Pegasus is only about 150 kilometers up the river from here, and barring some very, very bad coincidence, they should have a working Telegraph line. Our message could be to Canterlot by mid-morning.”
“Won't work. The telegraph system is too new. With the Ponyville-Hoofany and Hoofany-Fillydelphia lines both down, they will have shut the whole system off for repairs. It was quite frankly surprising that we were able to receive telegrams as late as yesterday afternoon. The lines will likely be back up by this time tomorrow, but that's to late. Still, thirteen hours is much better than the nineteen or twenty it would take us to walk there. Good thinking, Rarity.” Twilight sighed. “Looks like we have a plan.”
“Where are we going to get the boat?” Pinkie said. “Just saying.”
Silence fell. “Oh.” Twilight said. “Right.”
“I got this one.” Applejack said. “Pinkie, how much of that party rope do you have?”
“Six spools of twenty meters.”
“That should be enough...” Applejack bucked one of the trees, knocking it over. “I'm the best raft builder in the General Canterlot region. Won a competition once about six years ago. Not a skill that has much day to day use, but, well...” She bucked a second tree. “With you ponies, I should have expected it to come up at some point. Dash, Rarity, you mind giving me a hoof? I need to down ten trees like this.” Rarity and Dash began to work on felling trees. “I can get a raft built in twenty minutes.” Applejack said. “Twilight, how well are you recharging your power?”
“Not at all. I don't know why, but something seems to be wrong with my magic. That's the reason the plan wasn’t simply to wait until I recharged enough to teleport to Canterlot. That should only take eight or nine hours, but, well, with all that's been happening, I don't want to take the chance.”
“Okay then.” Applejack sighed. “That's going to make this a little tricky.”
“The lake, remember?” Fluttershy said. “It's dangerous. If you can't defend us, we're in for another adventure.”
“Just the way I like it!” Dash said. “This is just the kind of hardship we thrive on.”
“Well, um, I'm not so sure I thrive on this...” Fluttershy said.
“We'll be fine!” Pinkie said. “The protagonists don't get killed off by random, non plot related encounters. This is an 'anyone can die' setting, not an 'everyone will die' one!”
Twilight raised a questioning eyebrow. “What?”
Pinkie giggled. “Oh, nothing. This chapter already has enough padding!”
Twilight blinked, then shook her head. “Okay... Sure.” She looked at the others. They smiled back at her, determination still present in their eyes. “Alright then. If we're all for this plan, lets do it.”
Applejack instructed the others, and within twenty minutes, they had a workable raft. With one last check to figure out where the mouth of the river was, the raft was in the water and underway.


## ^ ##


“Paddle, paddle, paddle, paddle...” Pinkie Pie dully pushed against the water below them. “This is so boring!”
“We've only been at it for about ten minutes!” Twilight said, exasperated.
“Yeah, a boring ten minutes.” Pinkie sighed. “Is it bad that I'm hoping that one of those creatures Fluttershy was on about will attack us?”
“Yes!” Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity said simultaneously.
“You're no fun.” Pinkie sighed, and went back to paddling.


## ^ ##


“I know they’re around here, somewhere.” Fluttershy said anxiously, glancing back and forth at the water. “They have to be.”
“We'll be fine.” Applejack reassured Fluttershy. “Most things don't attack ponies, and most things that do are too big to notice us.”
“We'll reach the mouth of the river in only ten minutes or so.” Twilight said. “Not long until we're in the clear.”
“I hope so.” Fluttershy said, anxiously watching the waves.


## ^ ##


“We're close now. Just a minute or so and we're on the river proper.” Twilight said.
“Good. The sooner we're off this lake, the better.” Rarity shivered. “I think I'm seeing what Fluttershy is. This place is creepy.”
“Well, not long now until...” Twilight trailed off. Her head throbbed, and her horn ached for a second before clearing.
“You okay, Twi?” Dash asked.
“Yeah. My power just started to recharge.” Twilight's horn throbbed again. “In waves, it seems. Looks like some interference from Celesta’s magic is making my normal connection intermittent. There must be some magical resonance field causing stable standing wave interference.”
“Of course there is.” Said Dash. “And I'm sure that made sense to anyone who had taken ten years of magic theory.”
Twilight blinked. “I have no idea what I just said. I understand the words, but I know I never learned about magical interference pattern types. This is really starting to put me off.”
“A time and a place, Twi!” Applejack hollered. “We've got incomin'!”
The water shimmered before them, and Twilight could see the head of an enormous sea serpent rising below them, its jaw lined with bio-luminescent patches, glowing a pale aquamarine as it ascended to swallow the small craft and its six riders. Twilight flinched. Its jaws must be nine, ten meters across!
“Any bright ideas?” Dash called. “We could really use some!”
“Perhaps we can reason with it?” Suggested Fluttershy.
“I don't think it's intelligent, darling.” Rarity said nervously.
“It must sense my aura.” Twilight said. “Perhaps I can get it to follow me.”
“We ain't letting you take it on yer own, not when you just started to get yer magic back. You're probably on less charge right now than Rarity!” Applejack growled.
“Well, what's your plan, then?” Dash asked.
“We ain't been eaten yet.” Applejack said, as if that explained everything.
“What do you...” Twilight paused. “Oh.”
She looked over the edge of the craft. The thing was still there, still rising, but doing it very, very slowly. Twilight laughed quietly.
“It's too big.” She said, grinning. “It weighs to much to move quickly. We'll be in the river by the time it reaches us.”
There was a ripple in the water. Seven smaller serpents poked there heads out.
“They, unfortunately, are not.” said Twilight flatly. “Just great.”
“Okay. Rarity, can you teleport to the shore?” Applejack asked.
“It would be a stretch... but I think I could make it.” Rarity turned.
“Alright. Twilight, grab me. Rainbow Dash, get Pinkie. Fluttershy, follow us to shore. Everypony, run!”
“That's your plan?” Asked Rarity. She paused for a moment. “Not bad.” With a flash of light, she appeared on the river bank. Twilight grabbed Applejack and took off. She was heavy, but with some effort she did manage to fly her across to the bank. Dash and Fluttershy were already there. Pinkie was pointing excitedly. “Look, they're so pretty.”
Twilight turned to see what she was pointing at. In the distance, there were a collection of beautiful floating lights. “Pinkie... Those are will-o-wisps. Don't follow them.”
“Awww.” Pinkie said. “But, hey, you see? I told you that an attack would make things more interesting! And we didn’t get...” Pinkie's eyes went wide. “hurt.”
Twilight turned around. One of the serpents was hoisting itself ashore. It seemed that it wasn’t willing to give up on this meal. It was only meters from the others. There was no time to act.
Fluttershy grabbed Applejack. “Buck it between the fifth and sixth ridge!” She yelled. Applejack spun, and delivered a swift kick. The serpents eyes rolled, and it backed up. There was a hissing, and then it struck, hard. Applejack rolled, the strike missing her by mere centimeters. Fluttershy was already in the air, along with Dash.
“Twilight, flank!” Dash yelled.
“Twilight, point!” Fluttershy said simultaneously.
The two looked at each other. Dash sighed. “Okay, point. Fine.”
Twilight launched herself into the air, bashing the thing on the nose as it rose for a second strike. The blow knocked Twilight back, but seemed to stun the thing.
“Point, Twi! We need to coordinate!” Dash said.
“What does 'Point' mean?!” Twilight yelled.
Dash face-hoofed. “It's a position for a... I'll explain later. Just attack the thing, okay?”
Dash and Fluttershy got into formation, using their shared flight training to preform a coordinated maneuver. While it was distracted, Twilight burst up from below. Using her magic to augment her form, she transferred all of her force in the blow, no recoil. The thing's head continued upwards at about one third of the speed she hit it. She saw a flash of light, an a white barrier appear right above it's head. The barrier shattered when it hit it, with a yell from Rarity, and an ever bigger yell from the serpent. The serpent fell over.
There was a pause. “Was that all?” Asked Dash. “It went down a little too easily for my tastes.”
“It ain't over yet!” Applejack yelled, getting up. Twilight blinked, then turned towards the serpent. Its eyes were rolling, but it was already trying to get up. “We've just stunned the thing!” She sprinted up to it, jumping onto the back of its head. Its eyes cleared, and it rose quickly, trying to dislodge its pony passenger.
“No... You... Don't!” Applejack grunted, pulling a small steal tool out of her saddlebag. It appeared to be a spade. She struck it hard, waiting for it to begin to move upwards, forcing the shovel down with the combined force of her strength and the upwards acceleration. There was a loud SHINK, and the spade was buried to its hilt in the head of the Serpent. The serpent screamed, lifting its head sharply and shaking quickly.
“You can't get rid of me so easily!” Applejack growled through clenched teeth, wrenching the spade from the serpents head and stabbing it again. Blood shot out from the wound, splattering Applejack. Her second blow did penetrate, but not all the way, the spade still halfway out of the serpents head. This time, she lost her grip, and was tossed from the serpent. Dash was there to catch her.
“Don't steal all the glory.” Dash chided, putting her down. She then flew up, and dive-bombed the serpent, impacting right on the spade. It slid all the way in, the hilt and the bottom of Dash's hoof disappearing inside of the serpent’s head.
The serpent responded with another scream, and a quick swipe to the side. Dash was flung in front of the serpent, and it struck. Her left wing was caught in its fangs. Dash let out an agonized cry as the serpent tossed her back and forth.
“Let her go!” Pinkie cried, her party cannon somehow making an appearance below her. The serpent roared. Pinkie fired the cannon down its throat.
The serpent recoiled. It glanced down at the six ponies for a few seconds more, then slithered back into the water.
Twilight watched it go for a few seconds, then rushed to Dash. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Dash flexed her wing, blood leaking from it. “I'm not going to be able to use it for a while, but it's not broken.”
Twilight sighed. That was good news. Due to their magical properties, pegasus wings were one of the few things that could not be fixed with healing magic. If it had been broke, she might have been grounded for as long as six months.
“The real question is,” continued Dash, “what is Applejack taking and where can I get some?” She grinned, then winced. Rarity went up to Dash, removing some fabric from her saddlebag. 
“Let me bandage that.” She said, wrapping Dash's wing.
“Not just me.” Applejack said. “We all just took down a great serpent. With our hooves.” She looked at Rarity and Pinkie. “Well, mostly our hooves.” She grinned tiredly. “When did we become epic heroes, again?”
“Oh, about three years ago, when we took down a dark goddess with nothing more than determination and a never say die attitude.” Quipped Rarity. “Oh, yes, and the magic of friendship. That was out first day.”
“I wouldn’t say we're epic tear. Still paragon.” said Pinkie. “Except Twilight, of course. She's completed her epic destiny.”
“Don't congratulate yourselves yet. This quest is far from over.” Twilight said. She sighed. “We still have to make it to Canterlot with great speed. And now, we've lost out raft, and sustained further injuries. There's quite an effort ahead of us.”
“Let's take a short rest to heal up!” Pinkie said.
“Pinkie, that's enough.” Twilight said.
“Sorry.” Pinkie said. “But in all seriousness, we should wait for your power to recharge a little, so that you can heal us up.”
“The only one of us who sustained injury is Dash, and I can't heal her wing. There's really no point.” Twilight sighed. “Unfortunately.”
“I'm all out of party rope.” Said Pinkie sadly. “So no new rafts.”
“So, should we just set up camp here and wait?” Dash asked. “I mean, with your power coming back, you said you could teleport to Canterlot in nine hours, right?”
“And leave the five of you here, in the middle of the Everfree? You have to be joking.” Twilight said. “When we were on the island, it was possible because those serpents keep most other things at bay. As long as you did not come to the shore, you would have been fine. Here? No chance. Yes, you can handle yourselves, but we're deeper in the forest than we've ever been. Nopony is safe, not even me.”
“Um...” Fluttershy said timidly. “Actually, Twilight, I might have an idea. But, um, it's probably not going to be that popular...”
“Anything right now.” Twilight said. “I wouldn’t care if we had to team up with giant spiders if it meant we could get to Canterlot quicker.”
“Well, okay...” Fluttershy said. “I do know some giant spiders, but that's not what I...” she paused. “Okay. How do you feel about Changelings?”
There was a pause as everypony looked at Fluttershy as if she had grown an extra head.
“Meep!” Fluttershy shrunk back. “Oh, I knew it would be unpopular of an idea.”
“Well, we haven't exactly had good encounters with them in the past.” Twilight said. “But... you wouldn’t suggest it if you didn’t think it would work. So, keeping an open mind, how exactly are changelings going to help us?”
“Are you kidding me?” Rainbow Dash said incredulously. “Changelings are evil. How could you even consider this plan? I mean, I get Fluttershy. She sees good in everything, even when it's not there. But you, Twilight?”
“Changelings are an evil that we know how to deal with. Spring is not.” Rarity said. “I can see the logic. If you think they can help, our top priority should be getting to Canterlot. Besides, as we've said...” Rarity gave the others a look of confidence. “We can take care of ourselves, if things go south.”
“I don't believe that all changelings could be evil.” Fluttershy said. “They're intelligent creatures. With Chrysalis gone, they have control over themselves. I'll admit that they are less inclined to be kind than ponies, but there are one or two who-”
“Wait. Hold on. You've talked to them?” Dash said. “You've talked to changelings, in the Everfree, just outside of Ponyville, and you didn’t tell anypony before now!?”
“Dash, shut up.” Applejack said. “I don't like it either, but given the circumstances, is this really the time?” she sighed. “The only thing I'm confused about is how, exactly, they could help us. It's not like they're going to carry us or something.”
“There are paths through the forest, known by the dark inhabitants who live inside...” Fluttershy said softly.
“This ain't time for some old mare's tale.”
“It's not a tale!” Fluttershy said. “I've found a few of them myself.”
“The dark roads.” Twilight said. “Nearly impossible to find, nearly impossible to navigate. They say, if you know what you're doing, you can get from one end of the forest to the other in ten minutes.” she paused. “Do you really think they'll show us?”
“Yes.” Fluttershy swallowed. “I do.”
“...” Dash looked troubled. “... fine. I trust you, Flutters.”
“How far away are they?” asked Twilight.
“By now, probably only a few hundred meters. They could be here already.” Fluttershy said. “They can sense emotion, remember? We've probably got the closest bond of anything in this forest right now.”
“So they would have jumped us anyway?” Rainbow Dash said. “Great. This is going really well so far.”
“With Twilight around, I'd highly doubt it.” Rarity said. “We might have some trouble getting them to come out at all. Remember, Dash, we're far more scary to them than they are to us.”
Fluttershy nodded. “Let me handle this.”
“No need.” A soft female voice wafted down from the trees, and a few seconds later, a changeling emerged from between the trees.
“Star!” Fluttershy said. “_%yt sfk/h _kxj r%/hq* sfk wqbb?”
“Efj %yt wqbb %yt I wfkb* _%lq bidq*.” Star replied, a small smile crossing her face. “_fw %->fkj sfk?”
“Wq %/hq ie op/hq%j *%eopq/h. J_q op/hq%j pfwq/h Birq _%yt /hiytqe! Wq eqq* jf opqj jf j_q yt_ieieop cijs ->qrf/hq ytke/hiytq. Pbq%ytq, %i* kyt!” Fluttershy said, strong but pleading.
“Fr cfk/hytq. I wfkb* efj bqj % r/hiqe* ytj%s ie j/hfk->bq.” Star nodded. “I wibb opki*q sfk.”(1) She turned to the others. “You must be the friends that Flit has told me of. Please, do not fear. I have no desire to hurt you.”
“You know this changeling?” accused Dash.
“Flit? Really?” asked Applejack.
“You speak Lexataxic?” Twilight asked, impressed.
“Flit has picked up our tongue very quickly.” Star said. “She has informed me of your plight. I will lead you out of the forest. Please, follow me closely.”
“No way!” Dash said. “You'll lead us right into a trap.”
Star laughed Star laughed “Rffbiyt_ ->bkq pqop%ytkyt! *f sfk qlq/h kytq j_%j ->/h%ie fr sfk/hyt, f/h febs sfk/h q&fjifeyt?” She rolled her eyes. “How else do you expect me to lead you out of here?”
“What did she just call me!?” Rainbow Dash said.
“Foolish blue pegasus.” Fluttershy informed her.
“Well... that wasn’t very nice.” Dash said, deflating. “It sounded a lot meaner then that.” she paused. “And it still does not answer why we should follow you. You told her about us, Fluttershy. She's probably been befriending you so that you'd bring us too!”
“Rffbiyt_, rffbiyt_, rffbiyt_!” Star laughed. “*fqyt yt_q qlq/h kytq _q/h _q%*?”
“YT_q iyt ukytj ytkytpicifkyt. OPilq _q/h ytf&q ytb%cd.” Fluttershy said. 
“Do you think I would try to attack you when you have the great power of harmony among you?” Star said, looking at Dash. “She could end me without trouble.”
Twilight shifted on her hooves uncomfortably.
“Dash, we need to do this. Just trust her for ten minutes, okay?” Rarity said. “We have to save Equestria.”
“Alright, alright.” Dash said. “But I go right behind you, you got that? One move.”
“P%/h%efi*!” Star said. “If it makes you feel better.”
Star began to walk away. “Follow closely! The paths are very confusing.”
She ducked through the trees, and into shadow. It was difficult for the others to keep up, and they got lost once, but Star found them to more admonishments of “Rffbiyt_.” The paths were dark, and shadowy figures walked back and forth along them. It was almost as if the darkness itself was the path. About fifteen minutes later, the seven found themselves at the entrance to the Everfree, just outside of Ponyville. Their were no lights on, unsurprisingly, given that it was about 1:30.
Twilight turned to Star. “Thank you. You've been a great help.” She nodded to the others. “If we press hard, we might make it to Canterlot just after sunrise. Maybe 7:00, if we're lucky.”
“I wibb %ytytiytj sfk.” Star said.
“Ef, I j_ied sfk _%lq *feq qefkop_. Sfk wq/hq % op/hq%j _qbp.” Fluttershy said kindly.
“I wibb efj bqj sfk j%dq fe % op/hq%j pfwq/h wij_fkj _qbp!” Star said, anger in her voice. “Flit, sfk %/hq &s febs r/hiqe*. I wfkb* ->q _fef/hq* jf *iq rf/h sfk.”
“Wq %/hq _q/hfqyt. Wq defw w_%j wq %/hq *fieop. Wq wibb ->q rieq.” Fluttershy pleaded. “I w%ej sfk jf ->q yt%rq. Qlqe ir wq &%e%opq jf ytk/hlilq j_q op/hq%j pfwq/h, ukytj ->qieop ie j_q yt_ieieop cijs iyt *%eopq/hfkyt rf/h sfk! Pbq%ytq, bqj kyt j%dq c%/hq fr j_iyt.”(2)
Star sighed. “Pfeiqyt!” she shook her head. “%b/hiop_j, rieq.” She looked at Fluttershy sadly. “Take care of yourself.” She turned, and walked back into the forest.
“What was that about?” Twilight asked.
“Nothing important.” Fluttershy said. “We need to get to Canterlot.”
“Okay, then.”
The six took off at a brisk trot. Twilight felt a little guilty, being so close to Ponyville and not checking in on Spike, but she knew that they didn’t have the time. They had a city to warn.


## ^ ##


“Almost there!” Twilight called. “Just a few more kilometers to go!” The six were squinting at the sun, just rising over the mountains. Very soon, they would clear a bend, and the city of Canterlot would come into full view. It was only twenty minutes from there to the city gates.
The six pulled over the ridge, seeing their goal in full light just up ahead.

“You have to be kidding me.” Twilight said flatly.


End Chapter 8