Not All Is Set In Stone

by Tails_155


The Crusaders' Charge

"Lead the way, young ones." Celestia insists, deflecting a beam to the ground, sending shards of smoky quartz spiring upward. "Quickly!" Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle head forward, fast as their tiny legs can carry them. The monster becomes focused on the crowd, three princesses and the royal guard's leader, the prize is too tempting. Blast after blast whizzes by, streaks of crystal trail and flank the group.

"There!" They arrive at Lucky Buck's house, a whimpering can be heard from the open door. The silence from town is only broken by the hiss of beams, and the high pitched scraping of crystals growing outward. A blast spirals around the group, who paused when Sweetie Belle indicated the house.

"Hang on!" Shining Armor calls, and a violet orb encloses around the princesses and their precious escorts. wwith a whoosh and a hum, the group warps inside the building, and Shining Armor enchants the door, reinforcing it. "Hurry. We don't have much time!"

The group examines the surroundings: Rainbow Dash, front hooves raised, wings spread, but curled down, as if trying to fly, a pale aquamarine statue, complete silence as a blast hits the outside of the door, the crystals hiss and crack on the outside of the door, locking the group inside. They hear whimpering from Scootaloo's room, and they make their way in, one by one, Shining Armor focused solely on protecting the house from intrusion.

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"Foolish." Beryline scowls, picking up enormous pace as he heads from his view in the sky for the house, whose crystalline barrier has all but imprisoned the group. He begins firing blasts at all the windows, blocking any chance of escape.

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"Scootaloo! S-Scootaloo... A-are you okay?" Apple Bloom speaks in a soft voice. No reply, Scootaloo only continues to cower in the corner of her bed, the aquamarine feather laying beside her. Sweetie Belle puts a hoof on her shoulder, causing Scootaloo to jump, slightly.

"Scootaloo, this is very important. Equestria needs your help! Rainbow Dash will be fine, but only if you act immediately." Celestia insists, an unfamiliar panic in her typically calm voice.

Luna chimes in. "Sister, wait. Scootaloo. Here, let me help you." She takes the feather from the bed as Scootaloo paws at the air after it.

The other Crusaders give Luna and Scootaloo their space, moving to the center of the room with the other princesses. Blast and crack and hiss and thud bombard the walls of the house as Beryline approaches the walls at blinding speed.

Luna's horn glows, her eyes shut. The feather spins, glowing white, and eventually fading back to normal, backed with a barrette clasp. The feather floats back to Scootaloo, who eyes it in confusion. It fastens itself to her mane, and Luna's horn fades back to its normal azure. "There, young Scootaloo, now Rainbow Dash will be with you wherever you go. However, this is urgent. We very much need your help to restore Ponyville, and all of Equestria, to the way it was. Rainbow Dash will be fine, but she needs your immediate help. I, too, know what it is like to lose my family." Luna turns to Celestia for a moment, placing a wing around Scootaloo.

Celestia gives a scowl, half offended, half concerned about wasted time. Scootaloo whimpers and finally gives a weak nod. "O-okay, what... what do I do? What can I do?"

Celestia gets an idea from this, and turns to Apple Bloom, and swipes the apple from the he saddlebags around Apple Bloom's shoulders. Apple Bloom watches the apple in awe. The apple glows golden, and fades into form of a tiara, decorated with the apple in the center. She places it back in Apple Bloom's bag. "All three of them have a small token to enchant. This is exactly what we need."

Cadence nods and turns to Sweetie Belle, once she pulls the diamond heart from Apple Bloom's saddlebags. The gem glows a soft silver, and a platinum chain snakes out of the top of the heart, creating a pendant. She also removes the picture of Sweetie Belle's family from the saddlebags, and infuses the image into the heart, the cleave of the crystal showing the image clearly. Cadence smiles softly to Sweetie Belle and places the locket around Sweetie Belle's neck.

Scootaloo makes it to her feet, wearily, and approaches her friends' side.

"Are we all ready then?" Celestia asks.

Scootaloo nods, still trembling.

"It is important that you find your way to the homes of the three pony tribes from before Equestria was founded. There are three temples, each with their own special power. Each of you needs to make your way to one of the central altars to imbue your items with the powers that will bring back our friends. Once Twilight and her friends are rescued, they and you can defeat these creatures and rescue Equestria."

A horrific crash blows a crack into the door, through the shards from the outside. The whole group flinches.

"We don't have much longer, much time has been lost. But there is a book in the library here on the history of Equestria. In there you will be able to find out the locations of the pony tribes' original homes." Be careful, and don't let anypony know what you are doing. Your seemingly fragile nature as young foals is all that protects you from Beryline's wrath.

Shining Armor collapses, exhausted, and another beam crashes through the door, blowing it off its hinges. Shards of wood and gemstone fly everywhere as the monstrously large alicorn comes into the house. The fillies run in terror, climbing to the upper balcony, hiding. Celestia turns to the beast.

"You have tried run and tried to hide, but it did you no good. This will be your prison." Beryline states calmly.

"Don't think I will give in without a fight." Celestia scowls at the threat, which towers over even her height.

Blasts cross paths and Cadence and Shining Armor attempt to assist, but even the three combined are on the losing end. Princess Luna focuses her own magic on sending a last bit of advice to the trio, hiding in the master bedroom. The three terrified fillies hear within their own heads Luna's final words. "Stay wary of Beryline's minions. They may not be as reckless as him, many are wild creatures, many, and may not ignore your presence, be very care--" The resisting beams are overpowered as the dull rainbow light impacts Celestia in the chest. Soon after beams strike the other three guardians of Equestria. Sunstone and diamond, sapphire and moonstone, tourmaline and amethyst, quartz and labradorite encase the four large ponies.

The three look at each other in horror. Beryline scoffs, leaving the house, whose entrance is left in ruin. He takes to the sky once more, seeking other ponies to imprison in gemstone. Scootaloo grits her teeth and fights back her frustrated horror. The three pass looks back and forth, debating what to do. They finally give a worried nod to one another, and make their way out of the house, now almost entirely crystalline from the various beams which collided with its walls. They hurry off to the library, passing dozens of crystalline ponies frozen in various states of panic. They buck open the library doors, which had crystallized shut at the base. After enough effort, they open.

Spike sits on the floor, exhausted from climbing to the balcony to be near his closest friend. "Spike! Do you know where books on the history of Equestria are?" Spike turns to Scootaloo, an upset look on his face.

"Does this look like a time to read up on history?"

"A-actually, uh, yes?" Sweetie Belle tilts her head to the side, analyzing the absurdity of her statement.

"Spike? Please..." Her voice shrinks as she returns Spike's worried look. "Celestia told us to find this book."

He nods a slow, concerned nod and begins to look around the eerily silent library. He directs the trio to the wall on history. The three begin throwing books all over the floor, scanning the pages for information on the founding of Equestria. Scootaloo finds a book about Hearth's Warming Eve, and calls to the others "Here! This is it! Look, a map of where they came from! And look, there's Canterlot! And there's where we'd be!" A hoof indicates the edge of the forest, at the foot of mountains, southeast of a bay familiar to the orange filly.

"I-uh, I'm going to go hide with the others. I can't stay here with Twilight like this." Spike backs away from the amethyst statue, and out of the library. Running, tears creeping into the corners of his closed eyes.

"Hey, wait!" Apple Bloom calls, Spike turns around, sliding on his heels.

"There's a basement. Some ponies are hiding there!" Spike nods. "I can show you."

The small group sneaks their way along the streets, watching carefully as a large crystalline elk, enormous gemstone wasps and formidably large sparkling snakes prowl the streets of the once friendly town. The fillies and young dragon make their way back to where Dinky was hiding, and they knock. "Dinky? Dinky. It's me, Apple Bloom." She whispers, loud enough to penetrate the wooden surface.

"Apple Bloom? Are you coming to hide with us?"

"Uh, n-no, but Spike is."

"Oh, well, be careful, Apple Bloom." The door creaks open enough to let Spike in. Featherweight and Pipsqueak turn to each other and peer out at the trio.

Pipsqueak inquires, "W-where are you guys going? Why aren't you hiding here?"

"We uh... we're trying to... um... can... can we not talk about it? Just.... just trust us." Sweetie Belle fumbles, trying to hide their intentions, per Celestia's warning.

"Just... be careful." Everyone turns to Featherweight, surprised to hear him speak.

Scootaloo and the others nod. "You guys, too. Don't leave here unless you absolutely have to."

"You don't have to tell us, twice." Rumble says. A small colt, photographer for the Foal Free Press, nods.

The trio bids a timid farewell, and sneaks off, finding an abandoned store to hide in, while they make their plan. The three scan the page as fast as they can. "I think we need to go back get some bags, food, and anything else we might find useful. This may be a long trip... Meet back here when you're ready." Sweetie Belle turns to the others, who stare, gritting their teeth. "I mean... when you have what you need."

"Let's...uh, stay together? Let's stick with each other. I mean, most of our stuff is at the clubhouse." The very idea of being alone again sends a stone plummeting into Scootaloo's stomach.

"Well, yeah." Sweetie Belle looks outside. "Maybe we should. It's... it's probably better." Apple Bloom looks toward Sweet Apple Acres through the store window, ducking as an emerald bear stomps past the shop.

"There's not much space to hide between here and there, we're gonna have to be careful." Apple Bloom bites her lip. The others nod in agreement.

"Well the map seems to show the cave underneath Canterlot as the place they ended. Should we go there, or just start heading north from Sweet Apple Acres?" Sweetie Belle asks, putting the tome back in Apple Bloom's saddlebags.

"I guess we could head to Canterlot, but what would we find there?" Scootaloo sighs.

"Well, we don't know exactly what we're looking for. Maybe there will be some sort of clue?" Sweetie Belle shrugs.

"We need to get our stuff, first. I'm already getting tired carrying all this stuff. I also don't think we'll need our homework." The trio nods, and watches for an free moment outside the shop. Once the coast is clear, the trio sneaks across the street, taking back alleys to the edge of town. They hide inside some bushes as a sapphire hawk perches on a roof across the road from their position. They stare at each other, peeking out of the bushes as carefully as possible, waiting for their chance. When the bird takes to the sky, the three cling to each other in fear, but after the hawk leaves their sight, they sigh a sigh of relief and sneak toward the edge of the orchard. They make their way to the familiar clubhouse, and dump out their bags.

Apple Bloom places the tiara and book back into the bags, leaving a pile of pencils, notebooks and coursebooks on the ground. The other two do the same. Sweetie Belle tucks her locket into an outer pocket on her bag. Scootaloo keeps the barrette right where it is.

"Food. We'll need food. We don't know how long we'll be gone." Sweetie Belle insists.

"The cellar of the house. Granny Smith stores jams and preserves and all kinds of stuff down there."

"Well, I guess that's where we go next, then." Scootaloo nods.

They hide below the orchard's shade, sneaking from trunk to trunk, picking up the occasional good apple along the way. Picking a few dandelions and edible wildflowers, as well. They arrive at the house, where Granny Smith still hasn't moved. Apple Bloom's lip pouts and she fights back tears. Her sorrow becomes determination as she pushes open the cellar door. They make their way into the cold, dark box, and begin stocking up on the lightest and most filling goods they can find. "Don't overdo it." Apple Bloom warns.

"Yeah, yeah. Just hurry. We don't know how much time we have. If we're going to be able to do anything, the longer we take..." Scootaloo feels a lump in her throat as memories strike like lightning. She closes her eyes tight and breaths hard, fighting back her frustration. "Are we done?!" She snaps, anger besting her, the other two turn, surprised. Scootaloo's jaw aches from clenched teeth. "We can't wait here all day, okay?!"

"Scootaloo, chill out. We can't let this beat us. We're here for you. Just, try and relax."

"Relax?! Really?" She hisses.

"Look, let's just go." Apple Bloom gulps.

"We never really decided, are we going to Canterlot or not?"

"I think if there's some chance of a clue as to what we're doing, that's our best bet."

"It's settled, then. Come on, let's get out of here." Scootaloo sighs. Apple Bloom nods, avoiding sight of her grandmother as the group makes their way along the edge of the Everfree Forest. They sneak from treeline to bush to treeline, approaching the town in the distance, slowly.