Chapter 6: My Little Star
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash, Daring Do, Fluttershy, Discord, and Owlowicious have already arrived at Shadow Mountain. They have begun the search for Twilight.
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were up in the sky, trying to see if they could spot Twilight, while Discord and Daring Do had their feet still planted on the ground.
“Twilight!” Fluttershy calls to her.
“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash also calls.
On the ground, Discord makes a mountain-climbing yodeler outfit appear on him, complete with a white and brown polka-dotted feather . Much to Daring Do’s confusion.
“Yodel-A-Hee-Hoooo!” Discord yells out.
When he yodeled, Daring’s eyebrows only went further up. But, she decided to just shrug it off as a way that Discord was calling for Twilight, and just keep looking for the young alicorn.
“Princess Twilight!” Daring Do calls to her.
But not long after, Discord appears out of her explorer’s hat.
“Oh, no need for the formalities, Daring Do. Just call her Twilight, you are her friend after all.” Discord tells her.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Daring Do responds.
Owolowicious hoots for Twilight as he flies ahead and looks until they come across a clearing.
“It looks like night has already fallen,” Daring Do says, “We better rest up here and continue the search tomorrow.”
“I am getting a little tired,” Fluttershy says as she yawns.
“Lucky for you, the Lord of Chaos can set up everything at the snap of the fingers,” Discord says.
With a snap of his fingers, he creates a campsite with a campfire, a perch of Owlowicious, two sleeping bags for Daring Do and Rainbow Dash, and a soft pink bed with a canopy for Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash sees the bed and is shocked.
“Hey! How come Fluttershy gets a soft, cozy bed, while we get sleeping bags?” Rainbow Dash complains.
“Because, Rainbow Dash, she is delicate,” Discord debates, “Besides, I thought tough adventurers like you can sleep on the ground.”
“He so likes her,” she whispers to Daring Do and Owlowicious.
“Where are you going to sleep, Discord?” Fluttershy asks him.
“Oh, don’t worry about me, Fluttershy,” he says as he levitates himself and makes a blanket appear.
“Let’s get some sleep,” Daring Do says, “We can fly above the trees and see if we can spot Twilight from there.”
“I hope she’s not hurt,” Fluttershy says with worry.
Discord wraps his eagle arm around Fluttershy to comfort her.
“No need to worry, Fluttershy,” he reassures her, “Twilight has faced dangers like Tirek and King Sombra all on her own. If she can be tough against them, then everything that’s happening will be no different.”
Fluttershy thinks about what Discord has said to her, and remembers how strong and capable Twilight is. She felt a little better remembering that.
“You’re right, We can’t lose hope now. The others are counting on us to bring Twilight home.” she says.
“Exactly.” Discord responds.
Then, Discord levitates himself back into the air, and covers himself with the same blanket that he had before.
“Good night, Ladies…and Owlowicious.”
“Good night,” the pegasi respond in unison.
The five went to sleep right away, except for Fluttershy. She is too worried about Twilight to sleep despite Discord’s reassurance. She hops out of bed and trots over to where she can see the stars. She sees the brightest star and decides to sing to it in hopes it will grant her wish for Twilight to be okay:
My little star
Shining from afar
Please shine bright for me
Through the night and sea
Help guide a friend home
So she may no longer roam
Please keep your light
As you shine at night
Help me brave
And find my friend to save
Help me bring home
A friend I have known
My little star
When her song ended, a sense of calm flowed inside of Fluttershy. Soon, she trots back to camp, and gets back to bed, closing her eyes with newfound hope inside of her.
****
Little did she know however that Thorne watched her from the trees above the camp.
He stared at Fluttershy with awestruck eyes, because the moment he saw her, and the moment she sang her song, his heart beat sped like that of a race car. He had fallen in love for her.
“Wow. That pegasus. She’s like a beautiful princess from the fairy tales I used to read,” he said while blushing, “A shame I have to scare her and her friends in the morning, but, it’s probably for the best.”
With that in mind, Thorne situated himself to where he hung upside down, and he began to sleep. Despite being nocturnal, he had had a busy day today, and he needed all the energy and rest he could get for his scare.
****
What Thorne didn’t know however was that he too was being watched, and it was by someone who wasn’t a member of his group of friends nor Twilight’s group of friends. As a matter of fact, he was nobody’s friend.
Watching through a telescope, on top of a ledge a little far from the group was none other than...Ahuizotl: Daring Do’s arch nemesis, Grogar’s agent, and second-in-command of Tambelon.
After he gets a clear view of the group on the ground and the bat in the tree, he puts away his telescope, and maliciously smiles to himself about what he just found.
“Well, well. After all these years, the bat imp hasn’t changed a bit,” he says with a chuckle, “And I see that Daring Do, some familiar accomplices of hers, along with the Spirit of Chaos are here as well. This adventure is getting more interesting by the minute.”
He by then turns away from the group of sleeping heroes to face a puddle that was behind him. He takes out a small bottle of red potion. Taking off the cap, all it took was a slight tilt, and one drop on the puddle for a very special purpose: to call upon the shadow he spoke to before, the one Daring Do heard him talking to. When the puddle clears, the shadow turns out to be a demonic-looking ram with blue fur and dark horns. The ram is none other than Grogar.
“Report, Ahuizotl. And this better be important.” Grogar says.
“Sire, I have found Thorne,” he reports, “That means Scorpan and his band of misfits are in this area. My medallion did well at locating them.”
“Excellent, Ahuizotl,” Grogar compliments, “Finally, after all these years of searching, the Knights of Tambelon are within my grasp. And Scorpan can finally pay for double-crossing me and encouraging rebellions against me.”
“Oh yes, yes sir. Then you can finally wreak havoc on the very land you were banished from.”
“And you, shall be rewarded handsomely, and be free to pillage and plunder without any hindrance.”
“You really mean it? All the gold and jewels my cats and I can have?”
“Yes. But for now, keep an eye on him. Once you have all four of them, bring them to me. I want them alive so that I may find my items of power.”
“As you wish, Master Grogar,” Ahuizotl says as he bows to him.
The reflection vanishes. But when it did, Ahuizotl could not help but once again smirk to himself.
“Of course, once I get the three items, I will be the one calling the shots.”
He chuckles to himself a little bit, before he turned his attention back to the group of sleeping enemies and his cats gathered beside him.