//------------------------------// // A quest's rocky start // Story: Friendship was always there // by Skyeheart //------------------------------// The group had trekked through the jungle-like foliage for an uneventful ten minutes in silence. It soon came to and end though when Lemon Hearts finally decided to ask a question. "So...Twilight. You're the expert here, right? Know anything about this place? What we should look out for here?" "I actually have no idea," Twilight admitted. "I've never even been out of Canterlot, let alone stepped inside this place." "Then...we're just going with our gut and hoping we stumble upon the old castle by chance?" Twinkleshine supposed. "I've read Trailblazing for beginners," Moondancer said. "Settlements require an easy path to allow trade and travelers through. If there's a way that leads to the ruins, it'll have to be a wide enough gap with no obstructions like trees or rocks that runs through the forest." They soon pulled out to a clearing near a cliff side. "Wowza, that's a pretty sweet tidbit you've got there," Minuette complimented. "Know anything else?" "There were a few footnotes regarding this particular forest in the alchemical regents journals I studied," Moondancer continued. "The proprieties of this forest are...unique." "Unique...how?" asked Lemon Hearts. "Magic is a fundamental part of this world, it exists in some latent degree in every place and object. It's how earth ponies can grow crops from the ground and pegasi can fly and create weather changes in the air. But the magical properties in the Everfree aren't latent, they're active. It manipulates the environment around it without anyone else, almost as if the area has a will of its own. It's why so many strange and unknown specimens run wild here, and why it's so overgrown. For some reason, ambient magic flows freely here with no set direction and activates on an irregular basis." "Okay, so...what?" Lemon Hearts asked again. "Picture it like this. Suppose you were in a pottery class and had a piece of clay to mold. With enough work you could shape it into anything you want. Now imagine that the clay was alive and could move on its own. You could still mold it into anything you want, but the minute you let go of it, it could reshape itself into anything else at any time. That's the basic theory of how things in the Everfree work." "So, anything could suddenly change at any time?" Lyra guessed. "Even the very ground beneath us?" "It's not quite so volatile as that, but in a sense, yes." Moondancer picked up a pebble on the ground. "The smallest outside influence, like throwing this pebble, could tap an unseen reserve and spark an escalating chain reaction." *clack* The cliff they were on suddenly started to shake violently. Wobbling to regain their footing, everypony pressed against the wall of the cliff for safety. "I don't think we needed this big an example!" Twinkleshine yelled above the rumbling dim. Something then bonked her on the head. "Ow!" Looking to see what hit her, she found a coarse piece of stone very similar in texture to the face of the cliff they were gripping against. Twilight, noticing it too, took one look up and found that was not the only stone falling. "AVALANCHE!!" Rocks of all sizes and shapes battered down the cliff side towards the six unicorns, and they quickly started ducking and weaving all over the place to avoid becoming pony pancakes. In fact, they were all so frantic and busy, none of them seemed to notice a black mist from above the top of the cliff disappear further into the forest. After a few intensive moments, the rain of rocks seemed to start to thin out. And yet the rumbling noise seemed to only intensify. Twilight dared to look up one more time and, to her dismay, found the reason why. One last behemoth of a rock was tumbling right at them. This one was way to big to dodge, so Twilight did the only other instinctive thing that came to her mind. Pumping her magic with all the adrenaline she could muster, she tried to push the immense rolling ball of doom back. It barely even slowed down. Luckily, she was not the only unicorn in the group. Five more horns joined up against hers and began to glow against the incoming ballistic missile of earth. With the combined strength of six unicorns, the massive rock slowed to a halt, hooves away from flattening them. "Come on girls, push! Push!!" Minuette grunted. "We're not letting some silly rock end us! That's like, one of the most cliche ways to go on adventures like these!" Slowly but surely, the looming boulder of death started to drift off towards the side. "It's working, keep it up everypony!" Lyra encouraged. "Lyra..." "Huh?" Her neck snapped away back towards the trees from which they came. "That voice...Bon Bon?!" Before anyone could say or do anything else, the sea green unicorn broke away from the shadow of the boulder and sprinted back the way she came. "Lyra! What are you doing?!" Twilight cried. "We need everypony's magic here to move something this heavy!!" The huge floating rock quickly seized up, and then started to ever so slowly lurch downward again. "Uh oh..." "Bon Bon! Bon Bon! Bonnie old buddy, is that you?!" Lyra frantically parted every bush and fern in her way as she ran towards the sound of the voice. "Lyra? I'm over here!" Turning around, Lyra skidded to a halt as she saw her oldest and best friend standing in the hollowed grove of a giant tree. Her eyes widened as her mouth broke out in the biggest smile ever. "Bonnie!" "Lyrekins!" The pair squeezed each other tightly as they nuzzled intensely. After a few seconds that seemed like an eternity, Lyra pulled a bit back while still holding onto her. "But how? Nightmare Moon put you to sleep!" "She woke me up. I was able to reach her in my dreams and convince her!" "Really? You got her to let you go just like that?" Bon Bon winked at Lyra. "Hey, remember the old Nightmare Night legend? Offer her your sweets to gobble up so she doesn't do the same to you? And if you think Bon Bon's candies are fit for queen now, you haven't tried them in my dreams!" Lyra giggled. "Only you, Bon Bon, could win over a fiend from our darkest fears with a gumdrop!" "Lemon drop actually," Bon Bon giggled back. "Lyra!! WHERE ARE YOU!?!" "Lyra! It's starting to fall again! Help!" Lyra's head snapped back towards the cries in the distance. "Oh, B flat to my treble clef! I totally spaced there! Be right back Bonnie, I gotta help pull the others out of the proverbial pickle jar." But Bon Bon grabbed Lyra and pulled her back. "No Lyra, I can't let you go back there!" Lyra spun on her hooves, flabbergasted at the very words that just went through her ears. "What?" "Look, Lyra," her friend started to explain, "Nightmare Moon woke me back up on one other condition. I have to stop you all from going to the castle of the royal pony sisters. She...she agreed if I succeed, she'd spare one of you." "What?" Lyra's voice dropped down half an octave. "You...want me to just leave them?" "Lyra? You can hear us, right?" "We really could use your assistance over here!" "There's not a lot of options here!" Bon Bon insisted. "I can only save one, and I want that one to be you. I can't imagine my life without you of all ponies! It's not ideal, but we can start a new life under her eternal night. I'll be her royal candymaker and you can be the court's musician! Playing your lyre for royalty, that's a pretty sweet gig, right? And best of all, we'll still have each other!" Lyra looked behind her again. "But...but they'll be..." "They're not going to make it either way," Bon Bon insisted. "Do you really think they can stop Nightmare Moon? She's an all powerful alicorn, and they're just...a bunch of college students! Lyra, if I don't come back with you, she's going to put me to sleep again, in a never ending nightmare no less, and then she'll do the same to all of you or worse! We have to save ourselves." "But...and Twilight-" "Okay...this boulder is starting to get awfully close now..." "Alright, joke's over Lyra. Now come back and stop this thing from squishing us!" Bon Bon grabbed Lyra by the cheeks and pulled her muzzle to muzzle. "Lyra! Look at me! It's me, Bon Bon! Your best friend since forever! The only filly who played on the playground with the oddball unicorn and her weird cryptozoology theories. Who wrote to you every week when you got that scholarship for that prestigious unicorn university. Who's more important, me or some random mares you just go to class with?" "Lyra?" "Hey Lyraaaaaa!" "LYRA! HEEEEEELP!!!" Lyra looked back into her best friend's eyes, then a slow smile grew across her face. "You...of course." Bon Bon's grin threatened to split her face, but before she could say anything, a green hoof muzzled her mouth. "IF you were really Bon Bon," Lyra continued, with a narrow-eyed, knowing grin. "You see, I am that close to my Bonnie. So close that I know the real Bon Bon would never make me choose between buddies, no matter how desperate the situation. And if it really did come to it, she wouldn't make me choose her. That's what makes her the sweetest pony I know. So if you'll excuse me, I've got some real friends to save." And with that she bolted back towards the cliffs. "Oh, and if I catch you wearing her face again, whoever you are, I'll clobber you next time!" "Urrrgh...can't hold it...much longer..." Minuette groaned. Beads of sweat trickled down Twilight's brow. She dared to open her squinted eyes for a moment. There was nothing but rock as far as she could see, inches from her face. It's...just...too...heavy... Just when it seemed like it was the end for them, a pair of five fingered appendages grabbed the boulder from underneath. "Hey girls! Need a hand?" "Lyra!" the other five unicorns exclaimed with relief. The huge rock started to lift itself up again with the additional lift. "Thank goodness you're back," Twilight sighed. "I was really scared you had just run off on us when we needed you." "Yeah, sorry I got sidetracked for a sec," Lyra said with a shrug, then patted Twilight on the backside. "But like I said before, got your back Sparks." She then noticed a large crack on the underside of the boulder as began to reach a safer distance. "Now hold that hunk of granite there steady for juuuust one second..." "Actually, that's shale..." Moondancer pointed out. Ignoring the commentary, Lyra pulled back one of her magic hands, and gave a big windup as she curled it into a fist. And then, with a mighty uppercut, she smashed the big rock into a ton of smaller rocks that went flying everywhere. Everypony else fell to their rumps as exhaustion from their horns caught up with them. "That would have been a whole lot easier if we had noticed that fracture sooner..." Lemon Hearts said to herself. "Aahhh!" a startled yelp followed by a crashing noise from right behind them shot the group back up to their hooves. Turning around they saw the mare who appeared to be Bon Bon half buried under some of the rubble that scattered from the broken boulder. But the bigger thing that they noticed was that clutched in her hooves was a large, sharp dagger, whose point had been aimed for the back of Twilight's neck. The targeted mare immediately took a few steps back. "What the-? She- Awake-? But that- In her- Did she just try- What-?!" "That's not Bon Bon!" Lyra answered with an accusatory hoof. "That's...whatever it is that tried to look like her and lure me away from you all!" Moondancer adjusted her glasses, and her horn glowed for a bit on the 'not Bon Bon'. "Hmmm, so that's it. A class AA glamour spell. The mare underneath is encased with a magical charm that gives her the feel, sound, and appearance of whoever it wants to mimic. A simple dispel counter should nullify it easily." Minuette stepped over to the impostor's head. "Now let's see who this disguised mare really is!" Her horn touched the forehead of the trapped mare and glowed for a moment. Pretty soon, 'not Bon Bon''s body erupted in a flash of green flames to reveal a black chitin, equine-like insect with transparent wings and a jagged horn. Everypony gasped. "It's...it's...it's...a something," Twinkleshine killed the tension as she eyed the creature with growing curiosity. "A changeling..." Moondancer analyzed in a low voice. "I read about them in Obscure and Exotic Species. A natural master in transformation and mesmerism magics. Rarely seen in their true form, they are emotion eaters that convert the psychic energy generated from positive feelings into usable nourishment. They live by infiltrating other societies, taking on the forms of loved ones or those that are appealing to others, and harvest the love and adoration reciprocated to them." "And it just tried to sneak up while we were busy with the boulder and stab me in the back of the neck!" Twilight cried. "Well, I guess there's only one thing to in that case." Lyra began to approach, her magic fist pounding into the other palm. "Didn't I say I'd clobber you if you showed up again?" The changeling hissed frantically. "Wait! Wait!" she hissed in a raspy voice. "Please! Have mercy! I was only following orders so I wouldn't be killed! I didn't really want to do this!" "Too bad, I want to do this." Lyra raised her magic fist in a pounding motion, but just then Lemon Hearts leaped in between. "Hang on," she raised a hoof. "She's not going anywhere in this state, so maybe we should hear her out." "Huh?" Everypony else looked confused at her statement. "Lemon Hearts, it just tried to kill me!" Twilight nearly screamed. "Well, maybe if we listen to her side of the story, we'll find out why," Lemon Hearts argued back. "It's only polite." She then turned to the changeling stuck under the rock pile. "Now then, my name is Lemon Hearts. What's yours?" "N-nectar..." the changeling responded hesitantly. "That's a lovely name," Lemon Hearts said sweetly. "Now, could you tell us why you came after us like that?" "W-well, you see..." "I've actually been living in Ponyville for over ten years now. I was just a worker in a growing colony that got completely ransacked by a bigger hive in a vie for resources, one of the few that got away. I never wanted anything much, just a nice quiet life where I could collect love in peace, maybe raise a small brood, away from all the hive wars! Ponyville turned out to be such a perfect little place for me. Everyone there was so friendly to me, I didn't even need to try imitate anyone living there. Just a little hi to a few folks down the lane and I already had my breakfast. And then...then...tonight happened!" A pretty, freckled, light green earth pony with a braided ginger mane walked into the town hall as the birds began to sing. "I was all set to enjoy the Summer Sun with the rest of the town when she appeared!" Nightmare Moon appeared before everyone in the room, and the events played out right up to where she cast the sleep spell on the crowd. Soon after the Canterlot unicorns left for the library, the earth pony blinked awake and groggily got to her feet. "When I came to, all the ponies around me were asleep, and wouldn't wake up! I decided to try and get some help from another town, but it was only after a few minutes when I ran outside..." Creeping across the open square, the lone mare plodded as silently as she could towards the train station. Suddenly, a mist swirled around her, and the infamous Nightmare Moon materialized directly in front of her. "Well, well, well. What do we have here? A little lost mare trying to sneak off without my say so?" The pony shook in fear as Nightmare Moon reached out with a hoof a brushed a few specks of dust from her mane. "But this is certainly odd. My spell was supposed to send every pony it touched into an endless slumber. You couldn't possibly be awake before me now..." she then narrowed her eyes to notice a faint shimmer come from her confronted prey's body. "Unless...you aren't really a pony..." With a quick zap from the mistress of the night's horn, the disguise of the earth pony evaporated to bring Nectar's true form, crouched down and quivering with the added fear of being discovered to her terror. "One of the shapeshifters..." Nightmare Moon observed with a hint of disgust. "It would seem my absence has made the state of my kingdom even more lax than I suspected if despicable pests like you can just come and go as they please in my settlements. Not that I'm surprised your poisonous kind still exist after all this time. Celestia always was too softhearted to edict an extermination of any creature, even one such as you." Her horn began to glow again, violently. "A weakness, I might add, that I do not possess whatsoever." Actual tears stemmed from Nectar's eyes as she covered her head, low to the ground. "Please! Please! Don't kill me! I'll do anything you want! Anything!" The dark alicorn looked down upon the desperate, pleading bug that prostrated itself before her in an attempt to beg for its life. A devilish grin curled upon her lips as a thought entered her head. "Well then, creature, fortune may still be on your side tonight. It just so happens a being of your particular talents may be of great use to me. There is a certain group of unicorns that seem to have evaded my initial retribution. I have learned as of late they plan to seek something that would be bothersome to me in one of my old hideaways. Stop them for me, and I shall reward you with your life...perhaps more if I'm in a good mood afterwards." Her dragon-like eyes glowed intensely as she leaned in close, fangs bared. "Disappoint me, and you will wish the consequences were as kind as death..." "...and that's it," Nectar finished. "I just wanted the nice quiet pony life I worked so hard to get back! Please don't blame me for that!" The changeling's body stiffened as she felt a hoof touch her carapace, but the tension lessened as she saw the pony in question still smiling at her. "Awww...you poor thing," Lemon Hearts assured, stroking Nectar gently. "You were just scared, that's all. It's okay, we're not mad, right girls?" "It tried to kill me!" Twilight stressed again. "She was all alone and desperate!" Lemon Hearts argued. "Like a kitty cat in a tree! Who's to say any of us wouldn't have done the same if we had been in her horseshoes?" "I can," Lyra said flatly. "I just did so a few minutes ago..." "Well I think she's just a nice pon- er...changeling who just got caught up in a very bad situation." She then turned to Nectar. "If we help you out of there, will you promise not to attack us anymore?" "But...but Nightmare Moon..." "It's alright. We promised to stop Nightmare Moon, remember? So we'll make sure she doesn't do anything bad to you too, right?" "And...then, when Ponyville finds out about this...what I really am..." "We'll talk to them for you. I'm sure they'll understand. And if not, then you can come back with us! So how about it? Are we friends now?" She turned back to the group. "All of us?" Moondancer seemed to shake her head slightly. "Not a good idea. Changelings are deceptive by nature. For all we know her entire backstory is completely fabricated." "Yeah! And she impersonated my Bon Bon! And tried to get me to abandon you!" Lyra added. "IT. TRIED. TO. KILL. ME!" Twilight enunciated as if she was trying to break a language barrier here. "Come on girls," Lemon Hearts insisted. "Show a little compassion here! It's no wonder she tried attacking us first if this is how she thought we'd treat her." She started to clear off the rubble trapping the changeling with her horn's magic. After a few hesitant seconds, Minuette and Twinkleshine joined in. "There we go! Now doesn't that feel better?" Lemon Hearts asked when they were done. "Um...thank you..." Nectar rasped meekly. "I...I really am sorry..." "It's alright," Twinkleshine said. "Like Lemon Hearts said, we already forgive you." "Plus it's super cool I get to be pals with a changeling," Minuette chimed in. "How many ponies can say that?" "...oh, all right," Lyra relented. "I guess there was no lasting harm in the end." She then pulled her magic hand's fingers to her eyes and then to the changeling's. "But I've got my eye on you, capisce?" "It tried to kill me..." Twilight grumbled under her breath one last time before speaking up. "Well this is all dandy and such, but I think we need to get back to the more pressing matters here. Like the fact that Nightmare Moon is on to us, and we still need to find out where the castle of the royal pony sisters is." "I know where it is." Everypony looked back to the changeling who spoke up. "Really?" Twinkleshine asked. "Yeah, I passed through there years ago right before I found Ponyville," Nectar explained. "Can you take us there?" Lemon Hearts asked sweetly. "Please?" "Okay, if you really can get everything back to normal, I'd be glad to do whatever I can to help." Nectar proceeded to take the lead in front of the group. "Could be another trap..." Moondancer warned as they followed her down into the gnarled grove below. "Oh shush," Lemon Hearts answered. "She has no reason to do that now. Haven't you ever heard a little niceness goes a long way?"