//------------------------------// // III - First Attack // Story: Equestria's Cahill Files // by RowanSkie //------------------------------// “Did you just say… thirty nine things? A hunt?” Fluttershy asked as the rainbow maned pony recovered from the sudden change of tone. “Sweet gods and goddesses, there goes my plan of secretly recovering all thirty nine clues and trying to keep a secret out of it… Who won?” Rainbow raised her eyebrow. “What?” “I said, who won?” Fluttershy repeated as the kindness of her voice slowly returned. “Surely somepony won, since you actually remember having such. I wonder how the clue hunt even worked on this world since… it never happened.” “Never happened?” Rainbow became interested. “I still get the whole thing clear in my head!” Fluttershy’s interest perked up around the level when she first met Spike. “Do tell! Please do tell!” Fluttershy took out a camcorder and pressed the record button. “Hurry, before the Crystal Empire’s magical influence clears it out!” “Why?” Rainbow looked closely at Fluttershy’s eyes with a raised eyebrow. “Is it because one of the magical influences is making bad and dangerous events disappear and remove evidences of suc–” Rainbow stopped. Fluttershy pulled out a small device from her floor which looked like a miniature Crystal Empire piece and quickly hid it 10 seconds later. Rainbow Dash felt a slight headache as pictures of what seemed to be her actual memories flood her brain. Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash and took out painkillers from her medical kit and gave them to Rainbow Dash. She quickly took and drank all of the pills, and squeaked as she choked on a few. Fluttershy giggled and quickly stopped as she realized she saw fire from the cyan pegasus’s eyes. “Ten-hut!” Fluttershy quickly commanded in a Tomas accent and Rainbow Dash quickly stood and saluted. “Snap out of it, soldier! This is your friend Fluttershy here!” The two stared at each other before they fall into the floor laughing. After they finished laughing, a hologram of a pony appeared in the middle of the room they were in. Fluttershy bowed down while Rainbow Dash hesitated before she followed as well. After both of them raised up from their bows, the holographic pony went closer to Rainbow Dash. “You’ve defected,” she commented. “That’s something I never see for my life. Unless you know what’s her branch, that is.” “I actually have no idea she was a Cahill,” Rainbow Dash explained. “And she has stuff like this. To think that… Wait a bucking minute, who are you?” The holographic pony flinched. “Call me Vanilla, Tomas pony. You know the rest.” “Vanilla,” Rainbow Dash repeated as she wondered who was the holographic pony. “Okay. So, Vanilla, how are you–” she moved her cyan hoof across the hologram, “–doing this? Is this an actual hologram? Ohmygosh!” Fluttershy rolled her eyes. “Don’t mind her for a minute ‘Vanilla,’ that’s my friend Rainbow Dash over awesome things. She’s been like this since…she stepped into the neutralizing field.” “Yes, that neutralizing field,” the holographic pony repeated. “I swear by the old good King Sombra that she’ll be fine after she leaves the field. Apparently, if you stay for an hour near the crystal machine, the Crystal Empire is no effect until you stay there for five minutes.” “Why?” Rainbow asked, snapping herself back into the serious business area. “What will the Crystal Empire do anyway?” “It’s a project King Sombra and the Crystal Queen created to remove traces of pre-pony times,” Vanilla explained. “Only setback was that when it was first launched, all workers became the crystal ponies, and King Sombra…” The hologram shrugged. “Everypony then was happy. Too happy to remember that we had a war once with the other species.” “A war?” Rainbow Dash questioned. Fluttershy quickly shoved her off and stared at Vanilla. “She knows about the clue hunt, cutting communication! I need to give her the test first!” she told the hologram in an accent Rainbow Dash recognized but never identified. Before Rainbow Dash could recover, Fluttershy closed all of the doors and windows and opened a trapdoor from the floor, where she pulled Rainbow Dash in. Rainbow Dash’s POV (Ponyville’s Joint Madrigal Labyrinth) I woke up in an embarrassing position and quickly stood. It took sometime to realize that I was somewhere in the undergrounds of Ponyville, which I once suspected were Madrigal grounds. I guess it was since the room where I am have four doors. I head towards the blue door with the bear symbol carved on it, because it’s obviously my branch door. Or so I thought since I just ended up back on what seemed to be the same room, only with one black door and tons of changelings. I watch as a television screen show up beside the black door and saw a picture of… Queen Chrysalis. “Alright little Tomas pony,” a robotic voice told me. “Show me what you got. Defeat all of the changelings and find the key. Insert the key and answer one question, then you may pass into the next stage.” “Next stage?” I ask. “What’s the next stage?” This time, I think I heard Fluttershy’s voice. “Oh, you’ll see Rainbow Dash. Besides, I’m waiting for you over there. I think. I’m actually not sure how this place works since I never did visit this area once…” “What do you mean?” I look around and spot an M. “Are you…?” “I’m really, really, really sorry about it,” Fluttershy answered. “And since you’re here, you can’t really get out without doing all four challenges.” “And timer starts now,” the robotic voice announced. I closed my eyes as I hear hoofsteps and began to act by my instincts. Punch! Kick! Headbutt! More headbutts! After I got dizzy, I somehow managed to kick a few more changelings despite trying to recover myself. Must be because of my bloodline. “Impressive,” the robotic voice congratulated. “Get the key.” I quickly scanned the room and saw a golden stick which I quickly picked up and ran for the black door. I insert it in a keyhole and stared at the television. There were some letters on a black screen. What is the name of the changeling queen? A. Queen Chrysalis B. Queen Kahill C. Bug Queen With caution, I poked the screen. The whole screen went white then returned to the text selection. I played around, poking and making the screen white until I got bored and clicked A. The screen flashed green and immediately saw that the room was collapsing. I made a jump to the next room and saw three doors left. “I guess I’ll need to do this too, huh.” I looked at the yellow door. “Might as well… do the Ekat way!” I entered the room to find a very organized library. My brain immediately gave me two thoughts. One, find a Daring Do book. Two, find the next key and get out of the maze. I picked the second one and flew towards the next door and waited for the television. To my surprise, it was located right along the fiction section where thousands of awesome stuff were located. I smiled as the television came. Find the key and take it here, Find a book where Daring takes dare. It’s not under public’s care But Fluttershy owns a copy for a fare. I slammed a book into my head as I remember that Ekats are geniuses and are mostly made up of unicorns and earth ponies. That, and Cloudsdale is a unicorn pony invention for the pegasi. As I began to search, a part of me wants to stop. Another part of me wanted to destroy the door. Another part of me…somehow wants me to do this right for the cause. Anyways, after a whole shelf later, I find the book where the key was hidden. I stared at the title read it, “Daring Do and the Secret Stronghold. What a nice…oh.” I looked at the back and saw seven figures. I feel that recognize three of them. Might keep this book for more information. After I inserted the key, the television flashed a message for me. “Not all that reads books are eggheads, Dashie! I read books all the time!” “That sounds like something…” I stop and realized who said it once, particularly the day I discovered Daring Do. “Pinkie. Pinkie’s an Ekat.” I take the time and walked out of the next door to find two doors left. “Me and Applejack are Tomas, Pinkie’s an Ekat, Fluttershy’s… I still have no idea, and probably the most obvious of all about Rarity is that she’s a Janus. So it does make sense…but how…" A memory flashes and my eyes widen. It was somepony stealing something from my room back in Cloudsdale, a Tomas city. I quickly shrug it off and headed towards the next door, the red one. Normal POV (Lyra Heartstring’s Labyrinth Entrance/Secret Basement/Ponyville Madrigal Stronghold) Lyra, Fluttershy, and Bon Bon watched as Rainbow Dash passed the challenges with flying colors. Fluttershy giggled all of a sudden. “What’s funny?” Bon Bon asked to her Madrigal friend. Fluttershy faced Bon Bon and pulled out a small letter and gave it to Bon Bon. The earth pony make scanned and much to her shock, she dropped the letter and stared right at Fluttershy who had another letter for Rainbow Dash ready. “Are you mad?” Bon Bon asked. “You’re going out and spill all the secrets to her?” “I still remember crossing my heart not to tell anypony about humans,” Lyra chimed in. The two looked at the unicorn. “I’m not going to be chopped liver here, you know.” “Whatever Lyra,” Bon Bon countered. “Woah, Rainbow Dash is fast.” “Just like her dad,” Fluttershy added. “The only difference is that his dad was certified in Cloudsdale, and she’s gonna—” The door behind them gets unlocked and they watch as a cyan pegasus stumbled into Fluttershy and raising a hoof. Lyra chuckles while the others take her into a bed and left the room. A few hours later, Rainbow Dash woke up and looked to her left to find Fluttershy and Lyra Heartstrings staring at her while what seemed to be chess was laid in between them. Instinctively she sat, and asked how long she had been out. “Five hours,” Fluttershy replied. Rainbow began to panic. “Don’t worry, we got a changeling for your activities.” “Changelings?” Dash looked around and saw a few buzzing changelings. “I’m just for the food,” one of the changelings said. “That, and we’re just here to make sure that you’re fine.” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash talked as they went towards Twilight’s castle, talking about virtually everything they could talk about from friendships to the egghead stuff Dash usually avoided. As they approached the castle doorway, Fluttershy took Rainbow Dash’s communicator and her own and threw it towards a small bin Bon Bon had. As they entered Rainbow remembered not to tell anypony or else she’ll be an outcast and Fluttershy will be forced to…drop her out. As they arrived in the throne room, the first thing they saw in the Cutie Map was the Cahill coat of arms and the four coat of arms of the Cahill branches. They also saw their other friends glaring at each other. “I hope this isn’t what I hoped would be,” Fluttershy whispered. “I hope,” Rainbow Dash answered with nervousness on her voice. “Let’s get to our seats quickly.” The two quickly went into their respective thrones and stared at the others. Twilight stomped a hoof on the cutie map and the five coat of arms vanished. She slumped in her chair afterwards. “Why didn’t you girls tell me?” she whispered loud enough. Fluttershy gulped, she wasn’t sure how to react at this point. “Tell what, egghead?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Ah rather step back…” Applejack told her. “Cousin.” “Oh, sh–" Fluttershy quickly plugged her mouth with her hoof. Everypony looked at Fluttershy who threw a neutralizing magic crystal into the center of the map. Before Twilight could’ve reacted, the crystal activates, knocking her out. Fluttershy immediately ran outside to be followed by Rainbow Dash who was chased by Pinkie Pie who was being chased by Applejack. “Hey Fluttershy,” Dash called as she caught up. “What’s the plan?” “Remove all traces!” Fluttershy commanded as they made a sharp turn. “And make sure we are still together.” “Why?” Rainbow Dash asked as they flew over a makeshift barricade and entered Lyra’s house through the back door. “Is it because Cahill ponies can’t reunite properly?” Fluttershy locked the door and paused. “Yes,” she admitted. “During the pre-pony times, it was said that some Human Madrigal Cahill united the whole family.” “Then why can't a PMC do the same?” Rainbow Dash questioned. Fluttershy looked at her. “Pony Madrigal Cahill.” Fluttershy thought for a few minutes before she answered. “Because of magic. It was always told that history repeats itself; apparently the clue hunt was that history that always repeated. I just hope the next of us doesn’t have to be the ones…” “Hey Flutters,” called the house owner. “I just found the remaining thirty eight clues.” “Where?” Rainbow Dash asked for Fluttershy. “Rarity’s house, I’m afraid.” The three looked at Bon Bon who looked different. Looked…older. Much older than the others. “I always knew that she had them, but I never knew that she’d also put my best friend’s efforts into waste by stealing it from the Madrigal vault which is now the ruins of the Everfree controlled by Tomas.” “Uh…” Lyra looked at the others before to Bon Bon and lit her horn. “Why do you look like that?” “This is how I look like Lyra,” she confessed. “I’m sorry about this. I hope you’ll understand that.” “Well, you are my best friend,” Lyra answered. “Right?” Fluttershy stared at Rainbow Dash as Bon Bon nodded yes. She is actually really freaked out by the events aside, and she just wanted to hide under her bed. The Next Day... Twilight Sparkle woke up with no memories of yesterday’s event. Applejack and Pinkie Pie both woke up laughing about the “dream" they just had. Rarity woke up and quickly started work even if most of Ponyville was just waking up. Rainbow Dash woke up facing a cloud statue of herself which fell to her face soon after. Fluttershy… was not home. She was supposed to handle a tea party with their friends but they couldn’t find a trace of her especially Rainbow Dash who had kept her dark memories. She felt like something was wrong. After the others had left, Rainbow headed to her bedroom and pulled out Daring Do and The Secret Stronghold and began to read it. As soon as she hit page five, she recognized a very familiar handwriting from a best friend. I’m sorry. Find me at the cave where the dragon once slept. -FS and BSBD Rainbow Dash closed the book and stared at a window pointed at The Mountain of Dragon Cavern… … And saw her friend practicing karate as a brown belt with a black belter. Dash blinked. Fluttershy had a brown belt? When did she got this belt? As soon as she stepped closer to investigate, the black belt pony stopped and Fluttershy immediately ran inside the cave. The black belt pony walked slowly towards Rainbow Dash blinked and slapped her. “What was that for?” she asked towards the mare who turned out to be… Bon Bon!? “How did you– what– holy scootz.” “That’s a welcoming towards the Madrigal compound,” Bon Bon replied and slapped again. “And that’s for trying to keep Madrigals a secret.” “Ow” was Rainbow Dash’s only answer as she dodge the third slap. “Stop that, please.” Bon Bon nodded. “I guess the name ‘BSBD’ tick anything of your head?” “Uh…not a clue,” Rainbow answered. “Unless…” Her answer was interrupted by a very familiar manly voice. “BON SWEETIE BON DROPS! GET YOUR CRAZY MADRIGAL EQUIPMENT OFF MY DAMN ROOM!And I hope you have an explanation why you used that name in most of your letters...”