Pony Quest
-Castle Stronghoof-
Darkness had fallen all over the castle as Rainbow Dash, a young swordspony in the princess' service, arrived at the gate. Her red cloaked tunic fluttered in the chilly wind that blew through the castle grounds. Clouds that blocked out the sun hung still, filling the sky. Dash lept, abandoning the cart she had arrived on, and proceeded to run through the castle hoping to understand what had transpired.
Her search turned up fruitless.
The castle was empty, nopony was there. None of the guards were at their posts; none of the staff were cleaning. She was overcome with a sense of dread as she approached the door to the throne room. After pushing her tunic into a respectable position, she opened the door and gasped at the sight she beheld.
The entire populace of the castle was standing in there, turned to stone. Each one had a face frozen in terror. Dozens and dozens of them were in groups, appearing to have been clustered together when it happened. She walked past them, not daring to touch any in case the curse afflicted her. She walked until she reached the end of the room. Her heart skipped a beat as she reached the throne.
The princess wasn't there.
The other soldiers that had been travelling with her arrived in the room and each in turned stood still with shock. Two broke out in cries of woe, for they recognized family of theirs.
"Listen up!" Dash bellowed. "Somepony has violated the ancient laws and has made off with the princess. We can't lose hope, but we can't stay here either! We need to find the princess and restore the castle." She looked at the agreeing soldiers. "I'll head to the nearest town and start my search there. All of you begin scouring the rest of the kingdom! Every second counts!" She ran towards a cracked window and leapt through it, causing it to shatter and scatter shards of glass like a blast of hail in a winter storm. As quickly as she had ran into the castle to search for the fate of her princess, she had fled it to do the same thing. She needed to find out what had happened to the castle, and most of all to the princess. She unfolded her wings and began flying on the chilly breeze towards Stalliville.
-Stalliville-
She landed hard in the town square, but nopony took notice. Everypony knew of Captain Dash and her headstrong attitude. She was the youngest captain in the princess' current army. As she landed she folded her wings underneath her cloak and started running with a cause keeping them resolute.
Dash ran through the streets taking note of the infrequency of guards. Where are they all? she thought to herself as she thundered into another pony. There was a brief scramble and then Dash found she was lying on the ground. She shook her head and stood up less than gracefully.
"Owww!" came the response from the pony she had barged into. "Watch where you’re... oh, my, gosh! My apologies Captain Dash," the pony squeaked. "I've never met you before. You’re a pegasus pony, the only one in Bravehoof. I- I- I- I can't believe I'm having the chance to talk to a real life pegasus..." the pony stammered. Dash looked at the pony she had run into. She was a lavender unicorn and quite a well dressed one at that. She wore a suit covered in sequins and embroidered carefully. It looked expensive. Her mane was not comparable to the dress, but she had a sweet face. She stared at the pony for a second before shaking her head, trying to remove a thought. "...And once again I'm sorry about running into you." the pony apologized.
"Err.... excuse me, but could I ask you something?" Dash managed. She might as well ask somepony and this one was better than none.
"Certainly, I'd love to help a member of the princess' army!" she cried. Then her face dropped to one of puzzlement. "Not that you actually see many nowadays," she finished.
"It's about that. I've been off in Zebora waging war with the trolls there, when suddenly most of our force is called back. Then when I finally return, I find the castle is under a spell of darkness and the princess is missing!" she yelled into the ponies face. "What the hoof has happened?" The pony reeled back in shock.
"The princess is GONE!?" the pony screamed. Panic caused her to take in big gasping breaths of air.
"Yeah, I just said that," Dash confirmed. She rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue.
"Then that must... and then it... oh my!" She grabbed Dash's tunic. "Follow me," she ordered before half dragging Dash down the street, much to the amusement of the local villagers. Only two people who had seen the scene were not laughing with amusement. They were laughing like hyenas scouting its prey.
-Stalliville Library-
Dash managed to get herself upright at the very moment when she was roughly pulled through a door to a large library. She was finally let go of by Twilight and due to the momentum she had acquired by the journey, she cannon balled into a nearby bookcase.
"This had better be worth it." she muttered while picking books off of herself. She hadn't had this many books so close to her since she graduated from her military academy.
"Here it is!" said the same cheerful voice that had thrown her into this mess of books. The lavender pony turned and saw the struggling pile of books. "Uhhhh... What are you doing?" the pony asked. She was responded to in grunts and curses. "Here, let me help you."
Dash watched as the books lifted themselves magically off of her and went back into the book case. She huffed and stood up, causing a few joints to click. She stretched her back legs and was responded with a loud crack. Her face twinged for a second before changing to one of pleasure.
"Here read this," the pony who had dragged Dash said. She handed Dash the book. "I'll be back in a second." she said, before turning and leaving through a door leading to another room.
Dash rolled her eyes. Why do I always attract the nutballs? Her eyes flicked to the open book and began to read were the bookmark was. Her jaw dropped as soon as she was halfway through the passage. Her eyes wobbled as she re-read the passage trying to see if she made some sort of mistake. Surely this can't be. She wondered. She re-read the entire passage word for word again; she did it three dozen times more before dropping it.
The book had in it a prophecy about the kidnapping of the eighth princess of Stronghoof, her princess. The passage stated that the lord of the underworld would rise and kidnap her, and that six heroes of three realms would save her.
She sat down trying to digest what she had read. It's impossible! she thought. The lord of the underworld was slain by the Wonderbolts, the heroes who defended Airmane from him over hundred years ago. He was dead, or rather more than dead. They had sealed what remained of his darkness deep in the underworld, his home and now his dungeon.
The unicorn returned as Dash was about to leave. "Hey what are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm leaving to go find the princess. I don't care what happens to me and..." Her voice trailed off, and she began to blush.
"Is something wrong?" the unicorn asked.
"It's just... your clothing... it's a bit..."She hesitated, trying to find the words. A faint snigger was developing behind her lips as she tried to suppress it.
"Oh, this?" she asked. Dash nodded and accidently let out a smirk. The unicorn was wearing a dress that reminded Dash of a combination between a lady mare's evening dress and an escort's dress. It was frilly in places that it needn't be and revealed a bit more than it should. The pony didn't notice her stare and continued. "It's just my family's traditional travelling attire. My mom made it for me. It hasn't changed design for over a hundred years."
Faint puzzlement fell upon Dash. "Uhhhh... where are you going?" Dash asked with true sincerity.
"With you to find the princess," the pony responded. She moved beside Dash and tilted her head. "Are we going?"
"Really?" Dash asked. "The book foretold heroes, not heroes and... oddly dressed bookworms." Dash wasn't the kind of pony to watch her mouth, which frequently got her into trouble. This was one such case.
"Bookworm?!" the unicorn yelled. "I. Am. Not. A. BOOKWORM!"
Magic raced from her and flung things across the room. Dash flew up and smacked her head on the roof, she suddenly found she also was stuck to it. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry," the unicorn squealed. "That term really gets under my hoof. I'll undo the spell."
"You don't say," Dash managed as she slowly became loose, air rushing back to her lungs. She landed on the floor hard, but was able to keep her balance. She lifted a hoof to her head which she had banged when she hit the roof.
"I beg your pardon, Miss Dash," the pony said, embarrassed at having cast the spell.
"It's Captain Dash to you... uhhhhhh..." Dash strained to think of the unicorn's name. "What is your name?" She raised a brow as she asked.
"I'm Twilight Sparkle, amateur mage," Twilight said. A slow grin replaced her apologetic expression.
"Amateur?" Dash choked. She coughed and cleared her throat. "Now I'm scared to see what a skilled one is like." She grinned with actual enthusiasm.
"Oh, yes, that. I'm gifted. Very gifted," Twilight told Dash. She lifted every book out of their shelf and spun them around the room to make her point. After a few seconds, she returned them into their original positions.
Dash stared. In more ways than one! She caught herself thinking and shook her head. She shook it until the dreaded thought left.
Twilight caught sight of Dash. "Is something wrong?" she asked.
"What! No. Nothing’s wrong. Just had a bad day as you can expect," she lied, but Twilight believed her nonetheless.
"Alright then," she said. She made for the door. "Oh, I almost forgot. Owlowiscious!"
From the rafters came down a large owl which settled on Twilights flank. Lucky guy. Dash shook her head once more to try and expel the thought, but it stood firmly rooted. She smacked her head on the floor before smiling at the confused Twilight.
"Come on then. We should head to the market to collect some provisions for this journey." Twilight said. She made for the door again.
"Alright," Dash responded. She followed Twilight to the door, but it was opened by someone on the outside. Twilight screamed, but after seeing who had come in, felt embarrassed. She smiled as the large gryphon passed through.
"Ah, Captain Gilda! It's good to see you," Dash said. She was an old friend of Gilda's.
"It's actually commander now, Dashie," Gilda responded. Gilda brushed at an imaginary speck of dust on her shoulder. "But you didn't know, so I'll let it slide… this time."
"C-c-c-c-c-commander! Awesome! I knew you would make it someday!" Dash cried with excitement. She was surprised how she hadn't noticed the thick gold armour before. She could tell it was magically imbued because she could see shimmers of light dancing off of it. She held up her hoof for Gilda to smack, but Gilda just stood staring at her claws.
"Yeah… you just have to make friends with the right people," Gilda said with a certain menace before turning her eyes to Dash. A sick smile spread.
"What?" Dash started before noticing the smile. Suddenly it dawned on her. She had remembered Gilda had been in charge of the Castle's defence. Her eyes went wide.
Two armoured ponies had stepped out from behind Gilda and where walking towards them with lances at the ready. "You have to choose the winning side Dashie, but I'm sorry… you choose wrong," Gilda told her before nodding to the soldiers.
"You… you traitor!" Dash yelled before pulling out her sword. "It's on!" She leaped forward and slammed the two ponies away before charging at Gilda. Gilda barely moved an inch, and then suddenly swung forward a sword. Dash had barely any time to dodge, but managed it. She gasped at the sword that was held in front of her.
"Like it?" Gilda turned the sword in her claws, admiring the blade. It was long, red and above all else, sharp. "It's the Red Dragon. My new 'Employer' gave it to me as a reward for helping him take over the kingdom. I know how much you value the way of the sword Dash, so I'm going to give you the honour of dying by it!" Gilda shrieked and swung the sword down hard, splintering the floorboards and nearly decapitating Rainbow Dash. Dash rolled and avoided a second swing by flipping onto her back. More soldiers started spilling through the door, each armed and dangerous. "It was nice of you to return here Dashie, but all in vain. Had you have come to the town instead of taking the detour to the castle I wouldn't have had to kill you like I did your friends."
Dash's eyes went wide open as Gilda opened her claw. Several necklaces with thunderclouds spitting a rainbow lightning bolt fell to the ground. "You're a monster, and I will kill you!" she screamed and leapt. "But not right now!" She kicked Gilda hard in the face, causing something to snap. She could see blood pouring from Gilda's beak as she turned and ran towards Twilight and knocked some soldiers over while she was at it. She grabbed Twilight and burst through the open door to escape the soldiers.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Twilight screamed as she was pulled into the sky. She put her hooves over her mouth to make sure she didn't lsoe her lunch.
Down below some of the villagers looked up. One even said: "Does she ever do anything apart from fight and run off with other girls?"
-Forest near Stalliville-
Dash had finally slowed down after they were well away from Stalliville. She flung Twilight into a bush near the forest before diving in herself. "Okay, I think we lost them," Dash said after a while, making sure nothing moved on the horizon.
"They didn't bother chasing us. I don't think they could have even if they wanted to," Twilight responded. She shifted position as she looked towards her clothes.
"Still, even if they did, they wouldn't be able to find us," Dash replied before turning towards Twilight. She had to turn away. She had almost burst into laughter just by looking at Twilight.
"Uhhh.... my clothes are a mess, could you help me?" Twilight asked.
"Sure, what do you need?" Dash answered trying to hold a straight face. She bit her lip trying to hold the laughter back.
"Several brushes if you have them." she replied before hearing Dash snigger. "Is something funny?"
"Bwahahahahaaaaahaha! You look... hahaaaahaha! You look absolutely ridiculous!" Dash wheezed, trying not to look at Twilight's clothes and hair, which were tangled and had leaves and twigs littered in them. She fell into the bush and rolled about, holding herself.
"Well it is your fault, what with that sudden take off and then throwing me into bush," Twilight responded. "Why are you laughing at me like that?" she asked.
"Okay I'm sorry for laughing like that, let me laugh harder. Hahahaha!" Dash choked on the laughs and fought for breath.
There was a loud smack as Twilight slapped Dash across the face. "This isn't funny! We need to clean ourselves up and hurry to the next town!" she reminded Dash, her voice fraught with frustration.
"Next town? The only nearest town that isn't Stalliville is either on the other side of the castle, or in Charmtail. And I for one am not wasting time going to Charmtail!" Dash sternly told her.
"Don't be such a scaredy cat. Sure Charmtail and Bravehoof have never seen eye to eye, but I'm pretty sure they will let people come and go as they please between the borders of each kingdom," Twilight reasoned. "It's unlikely they will stop two ponies."
"The last time I was there I hoofed the prince in the jaw. I'm pretty sure if I'm seen by any guards there or at the border, I'll be thrown in the castle dungeons," Dash told Twilight. She winced at the response.
"YOU DID WHAT?!”
Dash sighed. "He was being rude and pinched my cutie mark, so I did what I usually do when ponies do that." She kicked as an example. "Old habits are hard to break."
"B- B- BUT HE'S A PRINCE!!!" Twilight screamed.
"Who cares? Just because you're a prince, doesn't mean they can do whatever they want," Dash interjected.
"BUT.....BUT...... Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!" Twilight yelled at the sky. She started thumping on her head. "We have to go to a town with a market of some kind and due to recent events here in Bravehoof, it looks like Charmtail is the only option, so you had better come up with something!"
"I stop by at the border and we're both toast," Dash explained. She lay back in the bush and stared at the sky, trying to think.
"I doubt every guard has seen you," Twilight speculated. She gave Dash's face a careful look. "You aren't the most memorable face I've ever seen, so you could easily be mistaken in a crowd.
Rainbow Dash gave her a look and then flapped her wings. She placed them under her cloak, but they were still slightly visible.
"Oh. Right," she said embarrassed at not having thought of that. "There must be a way. Wait, why don't we just fly over?"
"Fly over? I'll be sticking out like a sore hoof." Dash explained "It's not easy flying and not being noticed. A bird would be hard to spot, but a pony is quite visible."
"Ughhhh! This is going to drive me nuts. Let me think, let me think." She stopped before a sudden idea sprung. "Nigma's Cove!" she cried.
"Nigmo's what?"
"Nigma's Cove. It's a dangerous underground passage that links the two kingdoms. There aren’t many ponies that are willing to go there, so we should expect a clean travel through…" Twilight explained, stopping to think. "…except for traps and other dangers."
"No way!" Dash cried.
"What, it's just a cave. We could easily get through it, I mean I can use magic to detect the traps and you can fly us over dangerous sections."
"Well I..." Dash began, before something touched her shoulder. She threw open her wings, dislodging the creature, and pulled out her sword.
"Aww, how cute! I've never seen a slime before," Twilight cheerfully said. She nudged Dash aside and observed the small blue blob.
"Cute? It's a monster! You don't call them cute," Dash retorted.
Twilight walked over and knelt in front of the slime "I don't think it's dangerous Dash. I mean look at it. It's smiling. Who's a cutie? You’re a cutie!" Twilight started before there was a loud smack and a crack. "Aggghhh! Kiww ib! Kiww ib!" Twilight screamed through a bleeding snout.
"Aaahaha! What did I tell you? Hahaha! Oh, that’s classic!" Dash laughed as she walked over to the slime, turned around, and hoofed it into the forest. "You really should listen to me about monsters. Even the cutest ones can be harmful."
"Stubid swime…" Twilight muttered as her horn flared into life, causing the blood to retract and her snout to crack back into place. Dash cringed at the sight. "There that's better. Come on, let's not waste time. We've got a princess to save!"
I have a princess to save, you're just tagging along. Dash thought to herself, before catching up to Twilight and telling her the correct direction towards the mountainscape.
"Wait a minute!" Twilight blurted. "OWLOWISCIOUS!" she called. Suddenly the owl descended from out of nowhere and landed on her back. "Great, you got away as well… I'm glad you’re okay. Now you can make a proper introduction to Rainbow Dash," Twilight said cheerfully.
"Who," the owl replied.
"You know Rainbow Dash, the pegasus of Bravehoof. One of the captains of the princess," Twilight told him.
"Who," the owl repeated. Twilight gave him a stare. "Alright, alright. Don't flip out on me, it's just a joke," the owl replied, before turning to Rainbow Dash. "I'm Owlowiscious, but my pals call me Owl."
"Uhhhh... hi?" Rainbow managed to force the response from her brain, still dumbfounded.
"If it's alright with you, I'm going to go fly for a while, I heard you talking about the Cove and I'm afraid to go there, so I’ll see you around!" he said before taking off.
"What a weird guy," Dash observed.
"You should see him when he's drunk," Twilight replied. The image passed through Rainbow's head, but no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't picture it properly.
-Nigma's Cove-
Twilight hummed as she walked past the old mine carts that littered the entrance to Nigma's Cove. Dash tried to keep up with her, but was constantly walking into things because she was constantly turning her head to observe her surroundings. Shadows seemed to move when she wasn't looking and fear caught in her lungs, causing her to breathe fast. "Twilight, could you slow down?" Dash panted after a time.
"I'm surprised you’re not leaving me behind. You usually have to stop for me to catch up. Is everything alright?" Twilight asked.
"Everything's fine, it's just a little dark and hard for me to see," Dash lied. She nearly tripped over a piece a track.
"Dark? It's barely even shady," Twilight raised an eyebrow as she spoke. "Dash, is there something you should be telling me?"
"N-n-n-no there isn't," Dash stammered.
"It's alright to tell me. Do you have a stomach ache or something?" Twilight asked.
"I'M SCARED OF CAVES!" Dash screamed into Twilight's face. "I always have been, ever since I was small," Dash said as she sat down. "I fell down a broken well which led to a den of slimes. I was curious so I explored until I found them. When they saw me they started attacking me. It took them three hours to get me out. The whole time the slimes were jumping on me. The event left me traumatised of dark tight spaces."
"Why didn't you fly out?" Twilight said, shocked.
"I hadn't figured it out yet and there was nopony to teach me."
"What about your parents, surely they could have taught you?"
"I never met them. I was found in a basket in the mountains near the castle by a couple of earth ponies. I never met my parents. I thought they were for the longest time until they explained it to me," Dash told her.
"Wow, I never knew. I'm sorry I asked," Twilight said, blushing. "Here, let me help you." Her horn glowed as she cast a spell. Suddenly the room lit up as two spheres of fire flew into the air. Each flame settled near one of the ponies. "It's only a small spell, but I hope it will help you feel better as we go deeper."
"Thanks Twilight, I feel better already, I just hope we can get through this without much trouble," Dash said as they started walking.
They went further into the cave. They walked through the flame lit passages until they came to a river leading to a waterfall. "Phew!" Twilight whistled as she peered over the edge of the waterfall. "That's a steep drop. I'd hate to go down that. I don't even think I can see the bottom!"
Dash pushed and then pulled Twilight back, causing her to scream. "Gotcha!" she shouted, falling over in hysterics. Her shout echoed through the cave.
"That's not funny!" Twilight huffed. "Well at least you've gotten over your fear for now."
Dash looked at her before realizing herself. "Yeah, odd that. Guess I just needed a friend to talk to." She tapped at her head to see if something odd was going on.
Twilight looked back towards the river. "That bridge looks used. I think it will hold, but what's been going over it?"
"I don't know, but let's get going," Dash said before setting foot on the bridge. "Yeah, it's stable."
"I wish I had brought my book on the history of this place. I can remember most of it, but some things are really bugging me," Twilight said as she crossed the bridge with Rainbow. "There was something about the river's that is important, but I can't put my hoof on it."
They finished crossing and went further into to the cave leaving the river and bridge lit by the crystals that had illuminated it for years. The river kept churning before it started to rise. Something snaked up out of the middle of the river and stared at the disappearing light before returning to the water. Within seconds, all proof that it had been there was washed away by the river.