//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Dawn's Flight // Story: A New World, And A Better Way // by Recteik Shade //------------------------------// CANTERLOT DAY 1 This was bad and so not worth half a wheel of cheese, which she didn’t even have anymore. There were eight of the winged Ponies in armour chasing them as well as two without wings or a horn. She had found it all too quickly that the city was built on a mountain which all but crushed her hopes of losing them in any kind of nearby forest. If it were just her she could vanish in nearly any shadow, but Vulpix wasn’t so lucky, her orange fur stood out in stark contrast to the colours of the city they were racing through. “Don’t you guys ever quit!?” she called back to the two earth Ponies behind her, “I already gave back the freaking cheese!” The ponies didn’t understand her words and continued to pursue the two Pokemon. “I think you pissed them off,” she said glancing to her left where Vulpix ran beside her. “ I… I didn’t… know there were… so many!” the little Fire-type panted as she ran. “At least... we’re faster.. th- than they are!” Dawn took the time to thank Arceus for even that tiny blessing, however Vulpix was not as strong as she was and couldn’t run much longer. Her claws screeched against the cobblestone streets as the pair darted down a side street that led closer to the hulking mass of the mountain. They were in the lower end of the city now a long way from the hideout that gave a wonderful view of the magnificent palace. Dawn could her the faint sound of a steam whistle. ‘That sounds like...’ “The trains! Come on Vulpix we’ll jump on which ever one is leaving!” The par veered right towards the sound of steam and the steady ringing of a conductors bell. “What about... the Hideout?” Vulpix asked trying her best to keep pace with the older Dark-type. Behind her she heard the guards ponies start calling out for them to top again. “Forget about it!” Dawn replied suddenly sounding… cheerful? “No way we can stay in the city and not get hassled by these idiots.” ‘Besides,’ she added silently, ‘I have to find Allen.’ She heard the guards calling out again but the clear sound of a train's whistle and a voice calling out ‘All aboard!’ made her ignore it. There was no point giving them anymore thought in a minute maybe two, they would be riding out of the city. The train was in sight now and even Vulpix seemed to find a little extra energy to run just a bit faster. That was until the three winged ponies dropped out of the sky, their metal clad hooves slamming onto the cobblestone inches from her head. The Pegasi fanned their wings making themselves look that much larger and with victorious grins slowly began to advance towards the Pokemon. Dawn turned to retreat only to find the pair of wingless guards that had been trailing behind them blocking their way, they were trapped. “Dawn what do we do?” Vulpix asked curling her tails round herself. Dawn stepped over Vulpix and positioned herself so she could see the guards coming from both directions. Glaring hatefully at the winged ponies her black fur bristled and she bared her small but sharp fangs. When that did nothing to deter they she glanced at the Fox-Pokemon, “Vulpix, do you trust me?” Without waiting for her to answer, her tail began to glow white and then flash like it was made of living platinum, “Iron Tail!” She leaped forward and flipped so her tail smashed into the nearest wall, the second her paws touched the cobblestone she grabbed Vulpix by the scruff of her neck and jumped through the hole she had just blown in the wall. A mare screamed as the pair bolted through her den and smashed out the next closest window,”What in the world!?” She poke her head out of the hole and looked at the dumbfounded guards, “What was that? A stray cat!?” The Guards looked at the destroyed wall and then to each other, the Earth Pony pointed to the two Pegasi,” Go back to the barracks and tell the Captain about this! We need back up, these things are a lot more dangerous than they look!” “Yessir!” the pair said in unison, launching themselves into the sky. “I’m sorry for the damage ma’am,” the ranking guard apologized. “But we’re gonna get those two!” He turned and trotted in the direction Dawn had ran, “C’mon Corporal, we can’t lose them!” “Right behind you Lieutenant!” The pair bolted off ready to resume their pursuit leaving behind a frazzled and confused mare, “So… who’s gonna fix my wall?” Dawn gently opened her sore jaws and set Vulpix down in the shadow of one of Canterlots many alleys. She began rubbing at her sore muscles while Vulpix shook herself like a wet Poochyena before beaming up at the Dark-type,”Wow Dawn! You're really strong! Can you teach me how to use Iron Tail!?” Despite the ache that shot through her face Dawn smiled, “We can start just as soon as we get somewhere safe. Far away from this city.” The smile dropped from Vulpix face, “Right… then we should go.” She looked towards the looming bulk of the mountain, “There might be a path down, and those Ponyta things might not think that we would climb down like that.” Dawn looked to the titanic mass of rock, if she was honest with herself she didn’t have a better plan at this point. Plus there was no way they could stay in the city, especially now that she had broken something important like a house. “Sounds like a plan,” she said standing up. “Are still good to run? The ones with wings will spot us fast.” “I’m fine,” Vulpix assured. Smiling, the two returned to the streets and made off at a brisk pace, doing their best to save their second wind for when and if they would truly need it. Several minutes later a pair of Armoured Earth Ponies galloped past the alley slowing just long enough to glance down it and then speeding off. As quiet settled on the shadowed alley again, it was ruined as a large, vaguely wolverine-shaped creature walked by and turned into the path, its nose inches from the ground, sniffing intently. “It just got a lot stronger. She was definitely here, within the last twenty minutes I’d say.” “You’re sure?” asked a Rapidash with Azure blue flames. “There’s no doubt,” the Typhlosion answered. “Well then what are we doing standing around here for?” asked the shadowy imp-like figure that drifted passed them. “C’mon Candy Girl, time to go meet Miss Priss.” A magenta unicorn with a Taillow perched on her horn trotted passed him with a sour expression, “Shut up Loki.” The Gengar leaned over to the Rapidash and whispered “Just between us guys… your girlfriend’s a bitch.” “Loki, seriously… shut up!” “Dawn over here!” Vulpix called. The Moonlight Pokemon was only a few yards away staring hard at the sheer cliff face that had been waiting for them at the juncture where the city met the mountain. They were lingering in the garden of a medium-sized town house, far from the extravagant palace or the vast mansions that towered over the lowest part of the mountain city. Turning, she slowly stepped towards the little Fire-type; they had managed to avoid being spotted from the air, though Vulpix bright orange colour had made that difficult. “Did you find something Vulpix?” Dawn looked down and saw her digging in a pile of dirt, darting her head forward she snagged a piece of dirty half rotten canvas with her teeth and pulled back. The canvas tore like wet paper and a several dozen mottled gold coins spilled out onto the dirt. “Oh wow, there’s a whole bag of them!” Vulpix motioned to three more of the coins laying off to one side. “Do you think it’s worth anything?” “It’s gold,” Dawn deadpanned, remembering all too well the times Allen made an ass out of himself whenever he found a Nugget, dancing around like some epileptic Ludicolo. “And if these Ponyta things care about it as much as Humans do, then maybe we can use these.” “Do you think the ones in armour will leave us alone if we give them these?” Vulpix asked with a hopeful tone. Dawn was thinking of something very similar. Looking over the coins, she could tell there was close to the equivalent of five or six nuggets here, divided into nearly a hundred or so coins. ‘We could probably even save a few to help find Allen.’ Taking a moment to gather her thoughts, she looked over the house, ‘Though whoever buried them is very likely to come back looking for them eventually.’ Looking down to Vulpix’ hopeful face and the loose pile of glittering coins, she smiled. “First we need to find a box or something to hold them, but this should work. Stay here out of sight Vulpix, I’m going to look for something to carry the gold in.” Vulpix who had started digging in the dirt pile hoping to find more coins looked up again, “Okay just try not to break anything else or the Ponytas will get even madder.” ‘Little smartass,’ Dawn thought with a small smile as she slunk towards the house. The garden took up most of the small backyard, meaning there was no clothesline to steal from and she was going to have to sneak inside and steal something, a sock or pillow case would do it. She cast a glance behind her and smiled when she saw Vulpix through the open door to the garden shed playfully batting around one of the gold coins. She turned back to the house and began to look for a point of entry, the back door was locked so she tried the windows. “Damn!” she cursed as she found the last of the ground floor windows sealed up tight, “Well that complicates things.” Stepping back a ways she looked to the second floor, on this house it was at most three rooms(probably less) so there were fewer windows to try. “Son ova!” she snarled, as she saw that one of the higher windows was wide open. Dawn took several steps back and got a running start, leaping up and landing softly on the shingles of the roof. Allowing herself a pleased smile she practically strutted to the open window, “Being this good should be illegal.” Poking her head in she looked left then right, it was a nursery of a sort many of the plush Pokemon made no sense to he at all, however the place looked empty. Dropping down from the window she met the floor quicker than she should of and it squished under help like a mattress would. “Oh Kitty!” cried an excited voice that hurt Dawn’s ears as a pair of stubby limbs wrapped around her hind leg in a soft hug. “What the?” Dawn turned back to see one of the Ponytas, only much smaller and infinitely more adorable. She, for the big green bow and pinkish booties gave that away, was hugging and nuzzling on the Moonlight Pokemon as though it was the only thing keeping the sun shining. Dawn couldn’t stop herself, from its squishy little face to its little nub of a horn, there was only one possible response. “D’aww, aren’t you the cutest?” The baby Ponyta looked up at her with big light green eyes and nuzzled at her leg again, “Pretty Kitty.” “Well you’re half right,” she said with a grin, gently pulling her leg free and giving the baby Ponyta a lick on the cheek, “I’m definitely not a Skitty.” The baby giggled as her tounge tickled her cheek, and Dawn delicately jumped from the crib landing softly on the hardwood floor. Stepping towards the closet she nosed the door open and looked inside there were a few pairs of socks and some brightly colored frilly dresses. The socks would not work for obvious reasons and neither would the dresses. Craning her neck back and looking almost straight up, Dawn saw folded sheets on the top shelf, “Hmm... maybe.” “Come back Kitty!” Dawn nearly bite her tongue as she spun around to see the baby Ponyta looking at her from over the railing of her crib. “Jeez kid, give me a heart attack!” “Well that wasn’t a very long nap,” called a voice from the hallway, nearly making Dawn’s heart stop again. “What’s wrong Poppet?” ‘Crap!’ Dawn thought as she ducked into the closet and let the door swing mostly closed, leaving a thin crack to look out from. “Mommy! Pretty Kitty!” the baby cooed as it pointed a stubby hoof right at the closet door. The mare turned and seemed to stare for far too long. Through the crack in the door, Dawn was sweating bullets. She knew that there was absolutely no way she was visible to the mare, yet the way she stared directly at the cracked door was unnerving. After what seemed like an eternity to Dawn, a glow came from her horn and a stuffed plushie rose from near the closet door. “Is this what you want Poppet?” the mare asked, turning her back to the hidden Dark-type. That was all the opening Dawn needed, and she swiftly pushed out the door and silently ran for the door, “Mommy the Kitty!” ‘Damn!’ Dawn cursed as she slipped out of the room, the mare had to have at least seen her tail. “I’m sorry Poppet, this is the only stuffed kitty there is,” the mare said sounding apologetic. Dawn had to stop herself from snorting in laughter. ‘Wow! Sharp as a bowling ball that one.’ Taking a moment to thank Arceus for the mare’s inattentiveness, she slunk down the stairs and made for the kitchen, figuring there would at least be a garbage bag there. It only took her a moment to find an empty one and grab it with her teeth, shuddering at the unpleasant taste, and returning up the stairs. In the few minutes it took to find the bag and get back to the baby’s room, the mare had gone and her daughter was laying down in her crib. The moment Dawn stepped back into the room the foal was up and smiling wide, “Hi Kitty!” Dawn smiled right back, “Hello again Poppet. I’m sorry, but I have to go.” In a smooth motion she jumped onto the rail of the crib and then straight through the open window. As she stepped away the foal poked her head up to the window, “Come back Kitty.” Poppet whimpered sticking out her lower lip in a pout that would stop a Gengar’s heart. She was so damned cute that it took more effort than Dawn had thought to jump down from the roof, ‘Sorry kid.’ She landed softly and immediately went to the garden shed where she had left Vulpix, whom had curled into a little ball and was dozing lightly. Dawn smiled and decided to let her rest for a little longer and went to the pile of loose coins gathering them up and stuffing them into the bag one by one. It was surprisingly time consuming with no help, she ended up having to pick up the lot of them with her teeth and drop them into the opened end of the bag. Gathering together all the coins had taken the better part of an hour and the sun was starting to get low in the sky. Nightfall was still three or four hours off, but the day was winding to a close and if she wanted to resolve this problem with the armoured Ponyta she would have to do it soon. With the bag now full she went back to the shed and woke Vulpix. “Time to get up,” she said, softly nudging the little Fox Pokemon with her nose. Vulpix yawned briefly flashing her little teeth, “Oh hey Dawn, you were gone a while. Is everything okay?” Smiling again Dawn pulled up the heavy bag of gold to show the younger Pokemon, “I have a feeling everything is going to just fine after today.” Captain Iron Side trotted at a brisk pace, far from a true gallop but nothing that would make him expend more energy than he needed. He wanted to save that for when he found these two thieving creatures. He was eldest of the five Captains who served in the Royal Guard, well four now that Shining Armour had resigned his commision in favour of the Crystal Guards. In the vacuum left with the youngest Captain in Equestrian history there had been a nasty little rivalry formed to see who would claim his position as Head Captain of the whole of the Guard. The other three who held his rank had taken to competing to claim the still vacant post, a competition that Iron was happy to leave to them. He hadn’t joined for glory or to fight monsters, he preferred to think of himself as a defender of the peace, a friendly face that the citizens of Canterlot could rely on. It was also why the sudden appearance of these strange creatures concerned him so. In the last ten hours they had been flooded with reports of them from as far away as Vanhoover and most of them said the creatures were peaceful enough. In his mind, the real problems were his fellow Captains; already rumors were spreading like wildfire that Celestia and Luna planned to convert the Royal Guards into a Royal Army and declare war on the ‘Invaders,’ something that Iron was completely opposed to. Equestria had not needed a true standing army in centuries, not since the border skirmishes with the griffons some eight or nine centuries ago. Iron knew his fellow Captains were the source of this unsettling concept, eager as they were to prove that each of them should be the next Head Captain. Which was why he was out with a small detachment looking for these two troublemakers, to see to it that they were dealt with fairly. The other Captains would have armed and mobilized whole platoons to hunt down and eliminate them without questioning their motives, something that only he had taken the time to consider. The reports had described their appearance: one was suppose to be an orange fox-like creature with six tails that wasn’t much larger than a house cat, the other was a black cat with yellow-coloured rings on its body, sized up to the scale of a medium-sized dog. This yellow-ringed cat was also the only one whom had actually broken any laws as far as he could tell; it was the one that had stolen ‘food’ from a restaurant and had only smashed through the window when it had been caught. Had it not been discovered, the building’s owner would likely not even have noticed the missing wheel of cheese, or had to replace the window. Likewise, if the guards had demonstrated a little finesse it was unlikely the black cat would have felt that knocking down a wall was necessary, so he had come out to find them himself to try and just talk to them. It was clear the cat possess incredible strength as it was able to level a wall with just a swing of its tail. If it had wanted to hurt anypony it was more than capable of doing so, therefore he had concluded that it had no real desire to cause any real harm. The trouble was the day was waning fast and he couldn’t find hide nor hair of his quarry, and if he didn't find them soon there was the chance less understanding ponies might. He shuddered to think what might happen if Amethyst Edge found them instead. She wasn’t a bad pony per say but she had one Tartarus of a temper, the kind that could lead to snap decisions and get somepony killed. “Umbreon!” Iron Side stopped dead and spun around, it seemed they had found him. Standing at the far end of a side street that dead-ended with their backs to the mountain were a perfect likeness of the creatures he had read about in the reports. The small bright orange fox was cowering behind the larger black cat, who was glaring at him defiantly, ‘Like a mother and her cub.’ “Not the brightest move challenging us, eh Breaker?” one of the three Unicorns asked. The colt he asked just chucked, “You can say that again Dro.” “Stand down Privates!” Iron snapped, causing both to jump to attention and gasp out a shaky ‘yessir.’ Ignoring the overly eager young Guardscolts, he put on his friendliest smile and slowly started forward. The little fox ducked further behind the cat, “V-Vul Vulpix!?” it said to the cat in a questioning tone. “Bre,” it answered, which only seemed to make the fox even more nervous. Iron decided to not press his luck too much with the powerful creature, stopping about three yards from the pair. ”Evening, I’m Captain Iron Side of the Royal Guard. And I would like you two to come with me for questioning. There’s the matter of the property you damaged, but you have my word you will not be harmed.” The cat’s defensive stance became a little more passive and she smiled at him, “Bre bre, Umbreon bre breon.” Still smiling she turned and grabbed a plastic bag hidden behind her, with a deft flip of her head the bag crossed the short distance between them and landed at Iron’s hooves. Iron laid his ears back at the chorus of multiple pieces of metal on the cobblestone street. Stepping back, he looked down to see the bag was full of bits. “Is this meant to pay for the damage?” The cat nodded and used the word ‘bre’; which he guessed meant yes. Smiling more to himself than the cat he issued an order,” Private Daybreak!” One of the Unicorns he had ordered down stepped forward with an autonomous ‘yessir’,”How many bits are here?” Without a word the colt lit his horn and the bits and bag floated over to him being counted as the moved. After a few moments the count was in, “One hundred and seven sir!” Iron frowned, he had figured as much but it never hurt to hope. Turning back to the cat and fox he sighed, “That will cover the windows and the food, it’ll even pay for a good portion of the wall, but it’s not quite enough.” “Pix pix?” asked the little fox. “Bre bre, Umbreon,” the cat conversed with the fox briefly before giving Iron a searching look, “Breon?” “Not to worry,” Iron answered smoothly, “There’s always community service.” “Sir forgive me,” Daybreak interjected, “but there is a very good chance these bits are stolen.” Iron saw the cat become defensive again, “Umbreon! Bre breon!” “I’ll take that under advisement Private,” he put a thin edge on his voice letting the lower ranking colt know he had spoken out of turn. “However, my priority is finding a peaceful solution, not pointing hooves and jumping to conclusions.” “I knew you were a softy Oldtimer!” called a voice that made Iron’s blood run cold. “But taking bribes from from monsters? I’ll see you Court Martialed for this!” Looking up at a roof to his left he scowled at the amethyst coloured pegasus that was smiling down on him with a smug grin. “Captain Edge. What are you doing here? I said I could handle this!” The mare scoffed, “Clearly.” She turn a hate filled glare to the two creatures, “Don’t try anything funny monsters, I’ve got you completely surrounded.” As if they had simply been waiting for her to say those words, dozens of pegasi guards dropped out of the sky. Dozens more unicorns and earth ponies filed out of the side streets and alleys, behind him Iron heard wagon wheels on the cobblestone. Spinning around, Iron’s jaw dropped at the sight he beheld. “What the buck Amethyst!? That’s a bloody cannon!” “That’s right!” the mare said her breast swelling with pride. “We’re gonna kick this war off with a bang!” Raising her hoof the wagon stopped and the two unicorns hauling it proceeded to load it. “Head Captain’s office here I come. Take aim!” She looked down at the pair and grinned, “Thanks for cornering yourselves here beasies. It’ll make blasting you to Tartarus that much easier.” “That’s enough Amethyst!” Iron shouted to the mare as he stepped between the cannon barrel and the creatures the madmare was determined to destroy. “You need to stop NOW!” “Well that’s all I need!” Amethyst Edge said with a sneer. “As a Captain of the Royal Guard, I hereby relieve you of duty and am placing you under arrest for high treason! Guards! Subdue the Captain!” “STAND DOWN! All of you! That’s an ORDER!” Iron commanded. The assembled guards hesitated, unsure which captain to obey. “Any of you who disobey my orders will be charged with insubordination!” Captain Amethyst hissed. The three unicorn Privates he had brought with him looked at each other before Private Daybreak stepped up. “I’m sorry sir,” he said quietly, “but I have to ask you to step back.” “That’s not going to happen,” the older officer snarled through clenched teeth. Daybreak gave his S.O. a sad look, “I really am sorry about this sir.” He lit his horn and cast a simple spell that rendered the old Earth Pony unconscious. “Umbreon!” the black cat cried and took several quick steps forward, only concerned about Iron’s well being at that point. It was all the prompting Amethyst needed, “Fire!” An Earth Pony with the lanyard in his teeth gave a quick tug, pulling the flash pin on the percussion cap which in turn ignited the black power tightly packed in the bronze barrel. KABOOOM ! The unbearably loud blast by whatever miracle of magic did not shatter any of the surrounding windows as the six pound steel ball was launched towards the pair. By another miracle, this one however due more to Dawn’s Hasty Nature than actual magic, the steel orb missed and smashed into the side of the mountain. The impact of steel and rock coupled with the smoke pouring from the bronze barrel, dropped visibility to zero for several seconds. When the dust started to settle, Amethyst was enraged to find the two creatures unharmed and a gaping hole in the side of the mountain, leading into the crystal catacombs. The black cat and six-tailed fox shared a look and bolted towards the cave system. “STOP THEM!! NO MATTER WHAT, DON’T LET THEM ESCAPE!!” she roared. Every Unicorn lit their horns and fire a volley of magic missiles at the side of the mountain, causing huge cracks to form and large boulders of rock to fall over the opening to the catacombs. The black cat was faster than the little fox, putting her right under the collapsing tunnel as a huge splinter of rock and crystalline minerals fell straight towards her. She wouldn’t have made it either had the little fox not kicked off the ground crying, “VULPIX!” and knocking the cat deeper into the caves as the debris landed solidly on top of it. As the shifting mass of rock stabilized, Amethyst looked over the dust strewn street that had held her prize just few seconds prior. There was no telling if either had survived. She called to a group of unicorns and Earth ponies. “You lot see to it that the rock face is re-enforced to prevent anymore rockslides!” The guards jumped into action to ensure the area was safe for the citizens of the city. She looked to the form of Iron Side, still out cold on the cobblestone road, “Well, I caught a traitor. I’ll have to be satisfied with that for now.”