//------------------------------// // A New Threat Part 2: Shots Fired // Story: The Forgotten // by Ultimate Mayhem //------------------------------// It had been around an hour and a half since the three young ponies were taken to the hospital. Princess Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity had actually met up one after another in the hospital. Given that the three young ponies were all found near the Everfree they figured they were all part of the same group so they began wondering just what they had been doing in such a dangerous place. They'd had a small discussion about what they'd been doing and where they'd each found the little ones but afterwards it became quiet because they were each heavily concerned. It wasn't long before Nurse Redheart came out. "How are they?" the three asked. Nurse Redheart sighed softly. "The Doctor would like to see you." she said leading them to a room. Inside were the young ponies asleep in three seperate beds with the doctor looking at the three in concern. "Doctor, they're here." "Thank you Nurse Redheart. Can you give us a minute." Nurse Redheart nodded and left. "Is something wrong?" asked Rarity. The Doctor looked at the three before turning to the mares. "There's something important you need to know." he said. "What is it?" asked Fluttershy concerned. "I ran a scan on the three of them to look for any kinds of wounds that we'd need to be careful with and I found something I don't think I'd believe if I didn't see it for myself." "What?" asked Twilight. "Princess these three have been through some horrific things." said the Doctor. "All three show signs very old scars, not only in the exterior of their bodies but in the interior as well. I'm sure you noticed the young colt's ear." Twilight looked at him. The doctor signalled towards the colt. The three went up to him and they noticed something horrible. Part of his left ear appeared to have been torn off. "Who would such a thing to a young colt?" asked Rarity. "That isn't all." said the Doctor causing them to turn. "We found signs that the three were tortured and experimented on." The eyes of the three widened. "And I fear they won't be able to speak. Their vocal cords were all severed." At this point Twilight and Rarity were furious on a level they'd never felt while Fluttershy was on the verge of tears. "What kind of monster would do such a thing?" asked Rarity outraged. "I can't answer that but I believe there was a reason. I don't believe it was justified but I may have found something." "What is it?" asked Twilight. "My scans did show signs of torture and experimenation but at the same time...I believe that whoever experimented on them did to enhance them although I'm uncertain as to the extent." "Enhance in what way?" asked Twilight. "From what I can tell the three have extraordinary regeneration and their endurance is much higher than even adult ponies have." explained the Doctor. "From what you described when you brought them I believe that if it weren't for this enhanced endurance they may not have survived enough to encounter each of you." "S-So is it a good thing they were...e-experimented on?" asked Fluttershy. "For their survival, perhaps. It's true that their enhancement allowed them to survive but it's impossible to say without knowing the purpose of what was done to them." said Twilight. The Doctor nodded. "So what should we do?" she asked him. "Well...I'd say that's up to you Princess." said the Doctor. "I did use a spell to heal them but due to their own ability they're almost completely healed so if you'd like you can take them or we could keep them here under observation." Both Fluttershy and Rarity turned to Twilight who was thinking. After a minute she smiled. "We'll take them back to the castle. If they're regenerating as fast as you say I'd like to examine them myself. With any luck their regeneration will help their vocal cords. If not I can do research and hopefully find a spell that'll help them." said Twilight. "Very well." said the Doctor. "Would you rather take them now or wait until they awaken. The three mares looked at the three young ponies. "Perhaps it'd be best to let the sleep here for now." suggested Rarity not having the heart to risk waking them. "I agree." said Fluttershy. "Alright then. Let's go get the others and bring them here to meet them." said Twilight. "I'd also like Spike to meet them before I send a letter to Celestia." "Alright then. Let's go." said Rarity. The three looked at the young ones one more time before heading off. Rarity went straight to Sweet Apple Acres, Fluttershy first went back to the picnic to tell the critters what had happened before and then headed to get Pinkie Pie. Luckily Rainbow Dash was asleep on a cloud just above Sugarcube Corner. Twilight went back to the castle to get Spike. She also made sure take a scroll, some ink, and a quill. They met up where the Golden Oaks Library stood before Tirek's attack but when they started heading to the hospital they heard somepony scream in terror. They headed to the market where they saw dark bipedal demonic creatures attacking. "What are those things?" asked Rainbow Dash. "I don't know. They don't look like changelings or anything we've faced before." "Twilight what do we do?" asked Spike as they noticed the creatures grabbing ponies at random. "We're gonna have to fight to make sure they don't take anyone. Spike stay out of sight." instructed Twilight. The others nodded, with Fluttershy trembling a bit but realizing she had to help in any way she could. The seven ran in. Twilight and Rarity began blasting the creatures while Rainbow and Applejack attacked them physically. Pinkie attacked with her party cannon but the creatures would only become dazed. When one of the creature took notice of Twilight it turned to the other creatures which stopped going after other ponies. At that part of the group began focusing on Twilight while another started focusing Rarity and the last started focusing Fluttershy. When they noticed Rainbow Dash went to help Fluttershy, Applejack went to help Rarity, and Pinkie went to help Twilight. Unfortunately rather than try to grab them the creatures' would turn their arms into tendrils which would extend. Rarity tried making a barrier but the tendrils would completely engulf it and started putting heavy pressure on it making cracks. Twilight did the same thing but in the air. "Pinkie help Applejack with Rarity." she ordered. Pinkie nodded and ran off. Twilight tried focusing to increase the strength of her barrier but it was still cracking. Twilight tried to focusing more but struggled heavily. Suddenly a stream of fire dissolved the tendrils. Twilight looked up and saw the red colt she'd found standing on the barrier. He looked into the barrier and looked at her before pointing down with his hoof. Twilight nodded and landed. When she did he hopped off and did something Twilight couldn't believe. He shot a stream of fire out of his mouth similar to a dragon. This left her in shock. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were trying to the get the creatures who were trying to break Rarity's barrier to stop but the creature wouldn't budge no matter how many times they were bucked or shot. It wasn't until something really strange happened that they stopped. The ground began to move as though a shockwave had been sent in their direction causing the creatures that had been trying to break the barrier be thown or impaled in stone causing them to dissolve becoming surprised as they tried to keep their balance Pinkie and Applejack turned. Once the strange substance which the tendrils had become dissolved Rarity turned as well. There they saw the earth filly Rarity had come across. She signalled for them to follow her afterwards which they did. Rainbow Dash was trying to protect Fluttershy but the two wound up getting tangled up in the tendrils. The two struggled until the mass that had been tendrils was suddenly frozen and shattered allowing the two to escape as the blue unicorn filly jumped in front of them. "You're okay." said Fluttershy relieved. The filly nodded and then signalled for them to follow her. The others regrouped with Twilight and the red colt but were surprised when the colt and the two fillies stood in front of them. "You fight them by yourselves." said Twilight. The colt nodded before he and the two fillies began glowing lightly which surprised them. The light began floating off them in the form of a strange dust which flew towards Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy. The three were too surprised to move as the dust circled their left forelegs and then took the form of metal bracelets. The three noticed and looked at them surprised. "What the hay are those?" asked Rainbow Dash. Twilight was about to answer when she along with Rarity, Fluttershy, and the three young ponies started glowing brightly forcing the others to cover their eyes. Once it died down Rainbow, Pinkie, and Applejack became shocked. The six ponies had now become much taller creatures. The only one who knew what they were was Twilight from when she'd crossed into the other world but with one difference. For some reason Twilight and Fluttershy retained their wings but the three had two sets of ears. One set that were human and one that were pony. The three young ponies only had the two sets of ears. The young ponies, who now looked to be children around twelve years of age, were wearing the same thing with one difference. The three outfits had t-shirts under vests and fingerless gloves but the boy had shorts while the girls had skirts. They also noticed the bracelets they had just aquired were now long covering half their forearms each with a unique emblem on it. On Twilight's there was a flame, a Rarity's a stone, and on Fluttershy's a waving lines. "Okay...what just happened?" asked Rainbow Dash. "What happened to us?" asked Rarity noticing she was now wearing clothes. The devices flashed for a bit before what looked like options appeared just above the devices and one started glowing. "Uh guys. Whatever you're gonna do you better do it fast." said Rainbow Dash noticing the creatures were walking towards them. The three former mares were uncertain of what to do before the former colt turned to her with a smile and nodded confusing her. After he and the two former fillies charged at the creatures surprising them. The front row of creatures extended their tendrils in an attempt to catch the three but it proved useless as the blond girl released a deep breath which shot a white mist that froze them. The boy jumped over them a released a large stream of fire incinerating the majority of the group behind. Then the girl with brown hair jumped over him and slammed her fists into the ground creating a rock wave destroyed the remaining ones. The three moved back to the three surprised teenage girls/former mares. "How did you do that?" asked Spike as he went up to them. Rather than answer the three turned back to where their enemies had been as the much larger creature walked towards them. "What do we do Twilight?" asked Rarity. "I-I'm not sure." It was then the boy went up to her and pointed to the only option which was glowing. "You want me to press this?" He nodded as the two girls took hold of Rarity's and Fluttershy's hands with smiles. The three could swear they heard voices saying things like We can do it, Please trust us, and We need your help. The three older girls looked to each other before nodding. It was then the three kids stepped in front of them. The three older girls touched the option causing what looked like swords to appear in the hands of the kids. With a silent battlecry the three charged. They jumped and tried to slash down only for the larger creature to block with its arms and launch them back but in midair the boy released fire from his feet giving him enough impulse to move forward and strike the creature with his head, which turned out to be a terrible idea as it left the two completely dazed. "That must've hurt." said Rainbow. The boy was able to regain himself fast enough to dodge when the blond girl created a large wave of water which grabbed the creature and held it high in the air before pulling it down hard enough to slam it. The other girl move her hands up causing two boulders to come out of the ground. Then she moved them close causing them to trap the creature. It was then the same option from before began glowing on the three devices. The three older girls noticed and sighed. "Alright let's see what this does." said Twilight as the three hit the option once more. This time the swords began glowing and took on different forms. The boy's sword took on a more knightly looking appearance becoming bigger. The blond's sword became an ice blade with a larger handle while the other girl's sword became a blade of gems. The three surrounded the creature before their blades began glowing and they slashed simulaneously causing a bright flash of light. Once it was gone all that remained was the Timberwolf pup who was asleep which surprised the Mane 6. After that the swords of the three kids vanished and they collapsed on their backs panting with smiles on their faces. The Mane 6 went up to them to check if they were okay when Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy along with the three kids began glowing before returning to their pony forms. "Okay....that was weird." said Rainbow. "If it's okay I'd like to ask you some questions." said Twilight. The colt stood up and nodded. "Although we will need some paper and quills." It was then shapes made of fire formed just above the colts head surprising them. First the monster and then an arrow pointing to the Everfree forest. "The creature came from the Everfree Forest?" The colt nodded with a smile as the two mares joined him. "Just what were you three doing in the Everfree Forest?" "Children should not play in such a dangerous place." stated Rarity. It was then some sand formed over the green mare's head forming a castle. "You woke up in the castle?" She nodded. "But why were you there?" asked Fluttershy. At that water formed over the blue mare's head forming a question mark which then became what looked like a pillow. "So you woke up there with no memory? That's awful." "How are they doin' that?" asked Applejack. "And why don't they just talk?" asked Rainbow. "Because they can't." replied Rarity. It was then the three formed question marks over their heads. "What's wrong?" asked Fluttershy. The three formed images of Pinkie. The five mares looked around and noticed Pinkie was gone. "I figured it was too quiet." said Rainbow. The three images of Pinkie became question marks again. "She's probably making you three a Welcome to Ponyville party." said Twilight. The three smiled brightly.. "So you can understand them with just those shapes?" asked Rainbow. "It seems to be the case." replied Twilight. "You know I don't think I've ever seen an earth pony do what you did." Applejack told the green mare who's question mark spun. "It really was quite surprising but how did you do it?" asked Rarity. The mare shrugged. "So it just came naturally?" The mare nodded. "This is kinda freaky." said Rainbow. It was then Pinkie suddenly returned. "I just realized we never introduced ourselves." said Pinkie. "I'm Pinkie Pie." "Name's Rainbow Dash. Fastest flyer in Equestria." "Applejack. Pleasure to meet ya." "I'm Rarity." "I'm Fluttershy." "I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle." The three young ponies looked at each other uncertain. "What wrong?" The three question marks became exclaimation. "You don't know your names?" The three shook their heads. "That's so sad." said Fluttershy. It was then Twilight noticed something strange and approached the young colt who smiled. "Uh...Twilight, what are you doing?" asked Rainbow. "I'm not sure." replied Twilight as she held the bracelet in front of the colt's horn. Then to her surprise a name was magically projected. Flame Blitz. "I guess this means your name's Flame Blitz." He shrugged. "I guess that's as certain an answer as we'll get." she said as Fluttershy and Rarity went up to the two mares and did the same. On Fluttershy's bracelet appeared the name Aqua Frost while on Rarity's appeared the name Gem Stone. "I suppose this means your name is Gem Stone." said Rarity look at the earth mare who smile. "And yours is Aqua Frost." she said looking at the unicorn mare. The three young ponies looked at each other before smiling and hugging each of the three mares surprising the them. Within the minds of the three a single word resonated which they could tell came from the three younger ponies. "Mama." "Are...you okay?" asked Rainbow who didn't notice Pinkie had disappeared again. "They just called us Mama." said Fluttershy. Upon hearing this Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked in shock.