//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Larfleeze visits Equestria // by KingDogbertXIV //------------------------------// “Easy steps, darlings,” Rarity gently said as she wobbled a bit under Applejack and Twilight’s weight. “Keep your breathing steady, Applejack. We mustn’t injure your side even more than it already is. Keep your hooves on me for support, girls,” she coached further as Applejack and Twilight both readjusted their forelegs to maintain their grip on Rarity for support as she shakily led the two injured ponies through the orchard and back towards the farm. “I still don’t have the foggiest clue as t’ how those thieving varmints flew and grew orange hands,” Applejack grunted with a scowl on her face. “I reckon those bracelets they had on have somethin’ to do with it. Any ideas, Twi?” she asked, glancing past Rarity and over towards Twilight. “No,” Twilight winced as Rarity stumbled forward an inch. “Though, I do have an odd feeling that I’ve seen something like it before. I just can’t place my hoof on it due to the bruises and scrapes. I find it strange how their attacks were orange and not green, the color that their magic normally is.” “I can see the farm up ahead, girls,” Rarity announced, inching forward. “Then, we’ll get some ice or something for your wounds.” “Thanks, Rarity, for helping us get out of the orchard relatively intact,” Twilight said, following Rarity’s steps. “Yeah,” Applejack echoed, limping forward. “Thank for bein’ a peach and helping us get back to the farm.” “You two are quite welcome,” Rarity smiled. “I’m just happy that I could help.” “There you guys are,” a voice called out from above the three ponies. Six eyes glanced upward to see a cyan pegasus hovering above the treetops. The pegasus had a mane and tail of seven bright colors, a relieved smile on her face, and flank markings resembling a rainbow-colored lightning bolt coming out of a cloud. “I just got here with Scootaloo and, right off the bat, Granny Smith put me to work looking for you three.” “Hello, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity greeted as Dash’s eyes fell upon the wounds and worry crept over her face. “’Hello’ nothing,” Dash said sternly. “Where were you and who worked you over?” “Applejack sensed a disturbance in her orchards, so we went to investigate,” Twilight started. “We caught Flim and Flam stealing apples from the orchard.” “There’s no way in Equestria that those two sleazes sent you two packing,” Dash said flatly as she hovered lower and landed in front of the trio. “What really happened?” Furrowing her brow, Twilight explained, “Flim and Flam had these orange bracelets that worked like advanced unicorn magic. They sprouted multiple orange…ghostly limb things from the bracelets and picked all of the apples off of some trees. We confronted them. They attacked Applejack and shot me out of the air after I tried to remove their bracelets using my magic. In fact, I’m almost positive that their bracelets actually absorbed my magic. They then used their bracelets to fly themselves and their stolen apples towards the west and out of sight.” “That sounds like another ancient and forbidden artifact like the Alicorn Amulet or something from those Daring Do stories,” Dash mused, rubbing her chin in thought. “Did you notice anything specific that might help you research these things?” “I did,” Rarity piped up. “The brothers seemed shocked themselves when their bracelets absorbed Twilight’s magic. It almost seemed like they hadn’t been using their bracelets for very long.” “Anything else?” Dash asked. “Yes,” Rarity nodded. “They said that, in regards to the magic absorption, they would ask ‘Ophidian’ later. They also had…peculiar outfits that were orange and white, not their normal blue and white. Even more perplexing, their new outfits had an odd symbol.” Rarity then looked towards the ground, picked up a nearby twig using her levitation magic, and carved, in the dirt, a circle with short lines marking every diagonal 90 degrees and a v-shape at the circle’s top. The other ponies looked downward at Rarity’s carving. “Every symbol has a meaning,” Twilight stated, eyeing the carving. “The question is…what does this symbol mean?” “I dunno, y’all, but I do know that we need to get back to the farm and finish settin’ up for Sweetie Belle’s party,” Applejack stated, looking back up. “Right,” Dash nodded, sidling up next to Twilight. “I’m helping with support duty, so put your hooves on me, Twilight.” “Thanks, Dash,” Twilight winced as she slowly let go of Rarity and put her left foreleg on Dash’s back. “Onward,” Dash declared before slowly starting towards the farm with Twilight in tow. Rarity, with Applejack in tow, started slowly following behind. --- “Run that by me again, Ophidian. I was chewing and couldn’t hear you,” Flim said as he levitated his thirteenth apple to his mouth. “All I heard was ‘battery.’” “Listen well,” Ophidian spat. “I sense that your rings were severely drained during your trip to the farm. The rings require recharging via the power battery. Yet, said power battery still lies fragmented and untouched,” the serpent sneered, gesturing, with its tail, towards the impact crater where the untouched battery fragments were. “So?” Flam asked, his mouth full of apple. “You want us to fix it? Why should we stop eating and fix it?” “Each use of a power ring depletes some of its energy. Rings empty of energy are powerless to do anything. To replenish a ring’s energy, it must touch a complete power battery for a moment. Your rings are nearly empty of power. To recharge them, you must repair the fragmented power battery and use it to recharge your rings,” Ophidian explained, raising up a bit and arching its back. “What’s the hurry, chief?” Flim asked, eyeing yet another apple and biting into it. “Larfleeze is coming. He will seek us out to reclaim me, the battery, and your rings,” Ophidian answered, slithering up to Flim. “He will take everything that you hold dear.” “Even our Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000?” Flam asked, lowering an apple away from his face. “We built that thing ourselves.” “Yes,” Ophidian replied. At this, Flim’s eyes grew wide as he spit out chunks of chewed apple at Ophidian, choked a bit, and then swallowed with a pained grimace on his face. “We mustn’t let that happen, brother,” he gagged after a few coughs. Ophidian glared death at the unicorn, and then levitated the apple chunks off of its face. “Indeed, brother,” Flam said as he jumped up, apple in tow, and trotted up to the crater where the battery fragments were. “We must protect our possessions,” he added before levitating the fragments up out of the crater and into a big pile next to Flim and Ophidian. Flam then returned to the pile, sat down, and surveyed the pieces. “Well?” Flim asked after a moment. “Do you think you can fix it?” “It looks doable. I’ll have to somehow weld some of the parts back together, though. It’ll take a while,” Flam replied, looking up. “I’ll need for Ophidian to construct some sort of replica or a blueprints so that I can have some clue as to what I’m doing. I’ll also need for you, Flim, to construct some sort of magnifying lens so that I can better see what I’m doing.” Ophidian wordlessly constructed a semitransparent scale model of an intact railroad lantern. “My turn,” Flam said as he sat down and used his ring to form a magnifying lens, six-inches in diameter, between Flam’s eyes and the pile of battery parts. Flam wordlessly studied Ophidian’s construct for a few seconds, nodded, looked back to the pile, sighed, and then began reassembling the battery.