Chapter 5: Fear of the unknown
Have you ever have fear for the unknown?
A fear with no real cause, just at the possibility of what might happen, a fear that makes your subconscious scream at you about every noise, every shadow, every figure with a minimal resemblance to a threat, a fear that kicks your rational thinking in the gut and forbid it to think about what you are doing.
That’s the fear that Fluttershy, even at the company of her friends, felt constantly this deep in the forest, especially after her recent near death experiences.
Her friends were here for different motives, Twilight, Rarity and Applejack, wanted to make sure that this possibly changeling wasn’t a threat, Rainbowdash wanted to keep Fluttershy and the rest safe, and Pinkie Pie….. Well let’s just say, that her motives are never easy to guess.
The Everfree forest is a place where the laws of nature apply different than on the rest of Equestria, its full of predators and other dangers, that have made a reputation for itself, of being a “one way trip” place for travelers, especially at the heart, where the old Sisters Castle made an imaginary line, where the more dangerous predators could be find, a point of no return.
“…. It’s possible that this deep, is where the changeling is hiding” Twilight words interrupted Fluttershy train of thoughts as they reached the gates of the castle.
“W-What?” her fears kept her off the real world again “I am sorry, Twilight, I didn’t mean to doze off like that, what were you saying? If you don’t mind repeating that is” Fluttershy said.
“ as I was saying, nopony ever come this deep into the Everfree Forest, so if a changeling is trying to go unnoticed, then it’s probable that it is hiding somewhere over here” this did nothing to alleviate any of Fluttershy’s fears “Fluttershy, do you remember where was the campfire, where you woke up?”.
“Yes, while following the tracks of slime, I got a clear view of the moon, so after we reach the Princesses Castle, we should head south east” she answered without thinking, “Twilight, are you sure this is a good idea?” she asked with the face of the gargoyle still fresh on her mind.
“Yes, I am sure, we need to check this out, to be sure that there is not a changeling threat again” Twilight responded in deep thought.
“Sugarcube, I think Fluttershy is right, this dam place is givi’n me the creeps” applejack said, while she would never admit it in front of Rainbowdash, the Everfree Castle always got on her nerves.
“Girls, don’t worry we have done more dangerous things in the past, everything is going to be fine” she said trying to reassure the group with a smile “it’s better if we split in two groups to cover more ground, rarity do you know the flare spell?”.
“of course darling, you spend quite some time teaching it to me” rarity said while remembering the memories, twilight might be a great student, but when it comes to teaching, let’s just said the she is very easy to panic.
“Alright, Rainbow, Fluttershy and Rarity, go towards the camp, while me, Pinkie and Applejack stray a little north from there, if anything happens, signal a flare and we will come for you.
“Alright Sugarcube, let’s hope that vermin doesn’t give us any trouble, the last thing we need it’s another one of those changeling, tryi’n to deceive us” she said as the party started to move, the methods even after the years, the methods of Chrysalis were still fresh in their minds, even if until now there hasn’t been any changeling found.
“With any luck we will find the changeling, and interrogate it soon” twilight responded to her as they passed a big boulder near the road.
“And there one thing that is botheri’n me, why did the Changeling treated Fluttershy’s wounds” they were in that slime, and the nurse said they were heali’n properly” applejack said “would a changeling care about her injuries?” she was glad that her friend hadn’t died, that why the changeling would do that?
“That is bothering me to, in Fluttershy’s story it sound as the changeling was following her, and trying to keep her alive, but for what purpose?” she has been thinking about this since Fluttershy told them what happened.
“Don’t worry girls, I am sure that the changeling won’t be a meannie, after all it helped Fluttershy, right?” Pinkie Pie cheerfully said “and my Pinkie sense hasn’t gone of………. Itch mane, pinchy knee, girls something scary it’s about to fall of near us” as she said the big boulder they passed, crashed in front on them, then it started to crack and brake, finally forming some kind of golem.
“Oh no! Girls get back, that is a battle golem” twilight shouted alarmed “it’s a magical construct, we need to get out of here before it attack us!” she said while changing her horn for a teleport spell.
The Golem crashed its fist on the ground while activating some runes along its body, it produces some kind of shockwave, when the shock wave reached twilight, her magic field exploded, then the golem charged at them.
Applejack manage to pull all of them out of the way using her lasso on a nearby tree “are you alright, twilight?” her fried was dizzy and confuse, while Pinkie was getting up.
“Those runes are for battling magic users, only the golems on the Everfree Castle got those, but they should have been deactivated, what is this one doing here?” Twilight said in disbelief, those golems were from an ancient time, when on Equestria, the wars raged for years.
“It’s there a way to beat the dam thing?” Applejack nervous said as the golem approached.
“The only way, it’s to hit its core, it should be at the base of the neck, but it’s covered by the head, otherwise it will heal itself indefinitely” she stop to shake the dizziness off “Pinkie distract it, and applejack try to buck the back of it legs, I got a plan” she said and the others started to move.
The golem, approached the three only to find Pinkie mounted on its head “hello mister golem, are you going to stop being a Meannie if I make you a party? It would be like a Thank-you-for-not-being-a-Meannie-golem-party-it-would-have-cake-and-games, do you golems play gam…” the golem tried to crush her with its arm, only to crush its head instead.
Applejack used that chance to buck the golem at the back of its knees, and take the construct to the floor all while twilight charged a beam spell, she took the shot aiming for the exposed core.
Only for the beam be absorbed by a nearby rune, the golem used Twilight’s magic to restore itself Applejack realized what happened and try to buck the core of the golem, but instead of crushing the core, she sprained one of her hind legs, pinkie grabbed her friend it time to dodge one of the golem’s swings, the golem raised to its newly restored feet’s.
“What do we do now twilight?” Pinkie asked with frustration.
“The core it’s still expose but the runes are protecting it from magic, maybe I can throw a rock at it” the said while grabbing a boulder the size of her head with her telekinesis.
“Wait twilight you can’t throw it fast enough, I got an idea” Pinkie said while appearing her cannon” quick! Put the boulder on the back” she did that, as Pinkie procured some bags, with X marked on the side, out of her mane and putted some on the back, with a fuse.
“Pinkie, what are those?” Twilight said as pinkie aimed the cannon and procured a match.
“They are my special surprise bags for emergencies, if you value your life and all the ones around you, you will keep them away from fire!” she said with a surprising serious mod.
“Sugarcube you are usi’n fire right now” Applejack said while staring at them.
“Don’t worry, I am qualified, now FIRE!” as she set off the match on the fuse on top of the cannon, there was a loud roar at the explosive liberated their energy, they propelled the boulder at breakneck speed.
The boulder collided with the remains of the head and obliterate them with little effort, producing a cloud of smoke that made the ponies cough, the smoke cleared leaving the ponies to see what happened to the Golem.
They were speechless at the beheaded Golem, but then despair set in as they watched the still very intact core.
“We missed, the dam thing is still intact” Applejack said as the Golem decomposed its arm, and threw the rocks at the cannon, the canon was destroyed and the subsequent explosion knocked out Pinkie Pie. Then it charged the group, and twilight jumped between her friends, and aimed a desperate beam to the Construct, only to be redirected at her with one of the runes launching her to a tree, the golem before Applejack, ready to crush her.
Applejack watched as the arm of the golem approached her, the core was beaming with light, as the time slowed she could appreciate the complexity of the golem’s runes, the roads that connected the arm to the core, and as she was about to leave this world, the core exploded in green light.