Harbinger

by Tealove

Marauders

Dinky screamed at the top of her lungs. Every time there was another hit to the front doors her entire body jumped. Spike and Pinkie Pie were running around as fast as they could, trying to keep the marauders out. All of the windows had been boarded up but that didn't appear to be a deterrent for those who wanted in. Another slam against the doors and the hinges holding them in place groaned in warning. “They're not going to hold for much longer!” Spike yelled. “Your party cannon would come in real handy right about now, Pinkie Pie!”

The pink earth pony grunted as she pushed a heavy couch from the foyer of the hotel against the door. “I don't think...this is the time...for a party!” One final heave and she fell on her face getting the couch in place. Spike hurried to help her up and she blinked. “I never thought I'd live to see a time when it <i>wasn't</i> a time for a party and now I have!”

“I was thinking more along the lines of using it as an actual cannon,” Spike grumbled. “And we won't be alive much longer if those guys get in here. Where are Allie and Spectrum? They should have been back by now!”

“But they're not,” said Pinkie soberly. “Which means we have to protect this place as best we can with just the three of us.” Her eyes slid doubtfully to the screaming unicorn. “Two of us.”

“Little pigs, little pigs, let us in.”

“Hey, we're not pigs!” yelled Pinkie defiantly.

“We'll huff and we'll puff...”

There was a loud crash near the back of the hotel and Pinkie and Spike looked at each other. “The kitchen!” This attack on the front door was just a diversion. What they really wanted was the food that was sure to be stored in the giant kitchen. Both of them started running, Pinkie picking up her butcher knife as she went and Spike grabbing Dinky's tail to pull her along after him. Pinkie was the first one there and burst through the double swinging doors with an uncharacteristic growl. Four different ponies looked up from loading their saddlebags, and as Pinkie charged at them, knife clutched dangerously between her teeth, they began to run back out the window they'd come in, though not before knocking over glass bottles of milk and water to shatter them on the floor. Pinkie skidded to a halt before the mess, ears flat.

On the other side of the mess the four strange ponies laughed at her and spilled bowls of greens and fruits, stomping on them and making a sticky mess on the floor and on their hooves. Pinkie glanced at Spike and Dinky, who'd gone quiet and looked like she was in shock. “Take her upstairs,” she said around the knife. Before Spike could ask what she was going to do, Pinkie backed up a few paces, reared up and ran at full speed to soar over the broken glass and land safely on the other side. Three of the marauders scrambled for the window they'd broken in from while the forth used unicorn magic to levitate a sharp carving knife. It swung at Pinkie and she dodged to the right, not seeing the other sharp tools now raising themselves all around her.

“Pinkie Pie,” Spike shouted, “Look out!”

Her attention diverted, Pinkie went to look toward the baby dragon and was caught by a serrated bread knife. It sliced down the side of her face, narrowly missing her eye but leaving a long bleeding rent from her right ear to her jawline. To her credit, Pinkie didn't scream or cry out. She didn't even wince as blood ran down her face and blurred half of her vision. Another knife sliced at her flank and Pinkie did the only thing she could think to do; she turned her face to the side and, with a jerk of her head, released the handle of her butcher knife and sent it flying toward her attacker. Every floating weapon fell with a clatter when the knife found its mark in the unicorn's throat.

There was no longer a banging to the front doors and as Pinkie sank to the kitchen floor she could hear the rest of the marauders running away. “Pinkie!” called Spike. Her last thought was that his voice sounded really far away and hollow, which was pretty silly since they weren't in a tunnel.

Dinky started screaming again but Spike was quick to clamp his talons across her muzzle. “Stop screaming,” he commanded, eyes fixed wildly on Pinkie's unmoving body. There were cuts to her pelt everywhere and blood leaked out of every laceration. The thought of losing Pinkie now, when she was all he had of his old life, was almost unbearable. If Dinky had not been there to keep his mind focused it would have been a disaster.

“I'm going to let you go, okay. Are you going to scream anymore?” With tear-filled eyes, Dinky shook her head. Slowly, Spike released his grip on her. “Come on we have to find something to use to get the glass out of the way so we can get to Pinkie.”

“She killed that mare!”

“That mare was trying to kill her and then would have likely come after us!” With patience running thin, Spike left the foal and started rummaging through the lower cabinets that were within reach. He came out with several sauce pans and brought them to the mess, setting one down to step in before setting another and another, using them like stepping stones. When he felt safe that there was no glass to worry about he stepped to the ground and rushed to his friend.

“Pinkie? Pinkie, can you hear me?” Nothing. Her sides were still moving in a slow up and down which meant she was still breathing, but for how long?

“I want my Mama,” Dinky wept, slouching to the floor.

“I want Twilight,” Spike whispered tearfully. She would know what to do, how to help Pinkie. What was he supposed to do? He was just a baby dragon! But looking at Dinky, so disabled by sorrow, he knew he was going to have to figure out something or risk losing his friend. So he took a deep breath, scrubbed the tears from his eyes, and tried to think. What was the first thing Twilight did when somepony was hurt? Stop the bleeding. But she had so many cuts and all he had to work with was the saddlebags of the dead mare. “But it's something,” he muttered to himself. In a hurry, he ran to the slumped over mare and worked at the buckle of her saddlebags, holding his breath and trying to ignore the blood. When the bags were freed he tipped them over and let the contents loose on the floor. Next he used his teeth and sharp talons to rip into the fabric and make strips.

“Dinky, I need you to bring me some water. Can you get one of the bottles from out where we sleep?”

“Y...you mean go out there? Alone?”

“You can do it, Dinky. You have to do it! For Pinkie!”

Her wide eyes went to the door behind her. “But what if they're still trying to get in?”

Spike took a breath to keep himself from yelling at her and reminded himself that she was young and very scared. “They all left when we ran in here. Do you hear anything out there?”

She got to her hooves and walked timidly to the doors. With a slow push of her nose, she opened the doors a crack and peeked out. After a few minutes she took a step back and swiveled around to look at Spike. “I don't hear anything.”

“Good. Then run out there as fast as you can, grab some water, and run back here. It won't even take you a minute.” Her bottom lip began to tremble again and Spike looked at her across the distance between them. “Dinky, please! Pinkie could be dying!”

“I don't want Pinkie to die!” She turned back to the doors, squared her withers, and ran out into the hotel lobby. It only took a few seconds before she was back in the kitchen with a bottle of water in her mouth, but something wasn't quite right. She walked as quietly as she could and pressed her back to the doors as she set the water bottle down. “There's somepony upstairs,' she whispered feverishly.

Spike's eyes widened. “What?!”

“I heard them on the stairs.”

For a split second Spike's mind went completely blank, and then there was only one thought that bounced around inside his skull. We're going to die. If the marauders were already in the hotel there was no way to escape them. There was nothing heavy that wasn't bolted to the ground that they could push in front of the doors, and a baby dragon and a little foal would be no match against anypony.

“What do we do?” Dinky squeaked. She'd taken the water and hopped over to Spike via the saucepans while his brain gave out. With her there beside him now, however, he blinked and tried to come up with a plan. But nothing came. Just feeling that they only had minutes left. He looked at the unconscious Pinkie Pie and frowned.

“I'll clean where she's been cut, you put dry strips on the cleaned wounds.”

“But Spike...”

“We don't have time to argue, Dinky!” Taking one of the strips, he poured water on it and got to work. Maybe, just maybe, Pinkie would miraculously wake up and know what to do. The worst cut was the one to her face. It had stained her fur red and matted into her mane where she lay. “Come on, Pinkie,” he muttered, “you have to wake up.”

THUD

Something crashed to the floor above them and Dinky squeaked in terror. It was no use. The marauders would be there at any moment. As much as he couldn't bare the thought of losing Pinkie, Spike didn't want to die, either. He abandoned the ragged strips of cloth and turned Dinky to face him. He held a talon to his lips to keep her silent. With a beckoning wave, Spike headed back across the broken glass and opened a cabinet full of silver pots and pans. He helped Dinky inside quietly, then followed and closed the door behind him. Making as little noise as possible, he dropped a huge soup pot over Dinky to hide her completely before finding another pot for himself and doing the same. “Whatever happens,” he said as loud as he dared, “don't make a noise.”

There was loud raucous yelling from the lobby as the invaders made their way down the stairs. Only seconds later the swinging kitchen doors crashed open and the unfamiliar ponies paraded in. “Two over here,” one of them announced. “One dead, one almost there.”

“Anypony we know?”

“Nope.”

Spike bit his tongue to keep himself from screaming. This wasn't the same group that had just been there but another one entirely. What was this, target the hotel night?

“Finish her off,” said a stallion, “then turn out the cupboards and the icebox. We take everything we can. What's left...destroy it.”

A small chorus of cheers went up as hooves stomped approvingly on the floor. Pinkie. They were going to kill Pinkie and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Spike took a shuddering breath and hooked his talons around the bottom of his hiding place. Maybe he couldn't stop it but that didn't mean he could sit there and let it happen, either. “Stay here,” he whispered, crawling out from his pot. He threw his cupboard door open and jumped out, little fists clenched and ready for a fight. “Stop right there!” Five ponies turned in alarm, including one unicorn getting ready to run Pinkie through.

“Well, well, well,” said a white unicorn with a multi-colored mane, the stallion who'd spoken before. He approached Spike slowly with a dark grin on his face. “What's this? A lizard wandered too far from the zoo?”

“I'm not a lizard,” Spike fumed. “I'm a b...I'm a dragon!”

For all his ferocity his reply only made the group laugh. The stallion elbowed a yellow mare as he guffawed. “Look at that, Lemondrop. A real live dragon.”

“Not alive for long,” said a green pony as she loomed over Spike, blue mane tousled and knotted. In a swift move she had Spike by the tail and swung him upside down between her teeth. This had the entire company laughing again.

“Looks like we've got dinner!” the stallion announced.

“What?” exclaimed Spike. “Ponies don't eat meat!”

The stallion twisted his head to look at Spike right-side up, a mocking smile on his face. “You'd be surprised what you can eat when there aren't a lot of options.”

There was a loud bang to the front doors and the unicorn righted himself with a frown. “Lemondrop, let the rest of them in.” As the yellow pony left, Spike turned his attention to the apparent leader. The unicorn gave the baby dragon another dark smile. “Which would you prefer, roasted or boiled?”

The kitchen doors flew open and Spike was swung madly as the mare holding him reared up and tried to run. More marauders, an enemy group obviously, flooded the kitchen. Spike hollered as his captor's teeth sank into his tail, not caring about the new ponies as much as the pain he was in. A white pony seemed to come out of nowhere and spin gracefully in the air, sending her hoof in a roundhouse kick into the side of Spike's captor that sent the green pony flying. The white pony caught Spike before he hit the ground and yelled, “Keep your grubby hooves off my Spikey Wikey you filthy vagrant!”

The room was practically spinning now but Rarity's voice, her pet name for him brought him around as she turned to look over her shoulder at him. “Are you all right, darling?”

Spike couldn't answer, he was so flooded with relief and emotion. Instead her threw his arms around her neck and hugged her as tight as possible. She nuzzled against him as best as she could but only for a brief moment. Her brows came together and she turned toward the full out melee in the kitchen. “Hold on,” she commanded, then launched herself into the fray.

A small protective circle of Twilight, Applejack, and the foals formed itself around Pinkie Pie, but it appeared unnecessary as Big Macintosh, Pokey, Rarity and Allie chased the marauders out of the kitchen and out through the open front doors. There, Bubblecup, Raindrops, Merry May, and Spectrum flew at their tails to further push the unfamiliar ponies onward and away.

“Spike!'

The baby dragon turned to see Twilight running for him. With a leap from Rarity's back, he met her in the middle of the lobby and fell into her tight embrace. “Are you okay?' she asked. “Are you hurt anywhere?”

“My tail's a little sore,” he admitted, “but Pinkie needs help more than I do.”

Back in the kitchen, Applejack was already working on bandaging Pinkie up. With Spike on her back, Twilight hurried over. “How bad is she?”

“Not too bad,” Applejack told her. “Head wound was probably the worse of it, which means it looks deeper than it is. They bleed more. She's got cuts just about everywhere but she'll definitely live.”

Twilight looked to the dead mare by the window and furrowed her brow. “Who's that?'

“The pony that tried to kill Pinkie,” said Spike.

“And Pinkie did...that?”

“She had no other choice.”

“Good for her,” Applejack said darkly.

“Oh my gosh, Dinky!' Spike hopped to the floor and scurried over to the cabinet. “Dinky, come out! Allie and Spectrum are back and they brought some of our friends!'

The little unicorn peeked out from under her pot. “Are you sure?”

Apple Bloom came up beside Spike and looked in. “Heya, Dinky. It's safe now. C'mon out. You're mama should be back any second!”

“Mama?” It was all the encouragement the little foal needed. She threw the pot off of herself and weaved a path out of the cupboard.

Across the room, Allie swore loudly and slammed one of the cupboard doors closed. “They took everything!”

“There's no need for coarse language,” Rarity chided calmly. “There are little ones here.”

“I've heard worse than that,” Snails muttered.

“Dinky?”

“Mama!”

For a little while the joy of reunion hung in the air. Even Allie calmed some and seemed to be in a fairly light mood as they all worked to clean up the kitchen. The unicorns moved Pinkie out into the lobby so Twilight could work on her while the stallions and Applejack decided to re-secure the building floor by floor. With the help of the pegasus ponies and Spike, the kitchen was cleaned up and the found they would have enough for everyone to have a small dinner and breakfast, but their water would not last the night.

Merry May and Raindrops took turns cleaning out the floo, then Rarity joined them to build a nice big fire in the lobby's fireplace. It was long after midnight by the time the hotel was once again secure, sleeping arrangements taken care of, and everyone was settled down together to eat.

“They're eating meat,” Spike told the group as he finished his small meal. “That unicorn said he was going to eat me.”

“The world's a different place now,” Allie said heavily. “Not only are we fighting against spirit creatures but we're fighting against ourselves. Is it going to be like this forever?”

Twilight looked up from her amended list with a thoughtful frown. “I wish I could say that it wasn't. But the princess knew something awful was coming. That's why she wanted to make sure every group that was teleported away from Ponyville had at least one pony of each race in it. She knew the world wasn't going to return to normal, at least not right away.”

“So that's it then?” asked Allie bitterly. “We're just supposed to start over?” She looked at Big Macintosh, Pokey, and Spectrum. “Well aren't you a lucky bunch of stallions?” With an irritated look at the unicorn, Big Macintosh lumbered to his hooves and disappeared into the kitchen. But Allie was unaffected. “This is ridiculous. If Princess Celestia knew something was going to happen, why didn't she warn us? Why didn't she try and stop it? Why didn't she at least tell the Element bearers? You guys are the heroes of Ponyville. You'd think she'd want to make sure you lived awhile.”

“She didn't know until it was too late.” Twilight's tone was venomous. “Do you really think that she would have kept it to herself if she knew this was going to happen?”

“All right, y'all,” Applejack interrupted. “Just settle down.”

“I will not settle down!” exclaimed Twilight. Her angry eyes were still on Allie. “Two of my best friends are still out there, I just watched one of my other good friends buried tonight. The Mayor, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Caramel and Cloud Kicker are dead along with countless other ponies we all knew and loved to some degree.” Her eyes filled with hot tears. “And you want to say that the princess knew this was going to happen and simply decided not to tell us?”

“That's exactly what I'm saying,” spat Allie. “For some all knowing, loving, caring pony it just seems a little convenient to me that this time, this time she doesn't know until it's too late. Maybe she really does think herself a god or something and didn't like the way things were looking in Equestria. Maybe she decided it was time to wipe the slate as clean as she could without doing so much damage to the population that there'd be no chance of recovery, and start over from as close to scratch as she could get.”

“Now just hang on a second.”

“Nopony asked you, farm girl.”

Applejack squared her jaw. “I like how you go slingin' that label at me like it's an insult or somethin'.”

“The point I'm trying to make is...”

“Nopony cares what your point is...”

“Hey, let her speak!”

“Don't tell me what to do!”

The room, once quiet and peaceful, had erupted into a free for all with everyone yelling at everyone else. No one was in the wrong, everyone thought they were right and that what they had to say was entirely more important than what anyone else had to say. The argument grew so heated and so loud between the adults that the four young ones huddled together and stuck their hooves in their ears. And just in time, too.

“That's enough!”

Silence followed the bellow from the red stallion by the front desk. His brow was furrowed as he looked at each adult with clear disapproval. “Now I don't wanna hear another word out of any ya'll.” Allie opened her mouth but one look from Big Mac kept her silenced. “My turn to talk and you're gonna listen.” He walked closer to the group so they could see him better in the firelight, and it was very clear by his expression that he was not happy. “We gotta work together as a team to get through this. We're all still missin' people we care about an' it's been almost a week since we've seen 'em.”

“It feels so much longer than that,” Spike lamented. He quickly looked up. “Sorry. You were saying?”

“Now I ain't sayin' we all gotta get along every second of the day. Group this size, there's bound to be some conflicts. But if we start arguin' like this we won't get nowehere. Nopony'll have to tear us apart 'cause we'll be doin' a fine job of it ourselves. That said, next pony I hear insultin' the princess can grab their things an' go.” Big Mac looked directly at Allie now and she stubbornly held his gaze. “It don't matter who you are, what you contribute to the group, if you love the princess or hate her. She's still our princess an' for that, deserves our respect.” He looked around slowly, making sure to meet everyone's gaze. “Is that clear?” No one said anything, but when Big Mac repeated himself a bit louder, murmurs of consent rippled throughout the group.

“Good. Then we should all get some sleep. Tomorrow we figure out where to go from here.” He shouldered his way into the group to cross over to the bed he'd pulled down the stairs for himself. As he lay down and pulled the blankets over himself everyone else, except for Applejack who was taking the first three hour shift, all turned in as well.

When Twilight awoke the next morning she realized that she was alone in her bed. Raising her head sleepily, she looked around for Spike. Allie, who was on watch for the time being, saw Twilight awake and made her way over to the smaller unicorn. “About last night,” she whispered. “I'm sorry.”

“It's okay,” Twilight whispered back. “We're all really scared and we're tense. In all the books I've read that something like this happens, fights always break out.”

“Still, I owe you an apology. I do trust Princess Celestia and deep down I know she would have stopped this if she could. I just...I needed somewhere to put the blame, you know?”

Twilight nodded. “I understand, Allie. But Big Macintosh is right. We have to work together or we'll tear ourselves apart from the inside out.”

“I'll try harder.”

“Me, too. Hey, have you seen Spike?”

Allie inclined her head toward the other side of the room, drawing Twilight to her hooves. Spike had sandwiched himself in between Pinkie and Rarity, and was tucked safely under one of Pinkie's hooves. “They've been sleeping like that since our first night here. It's probably where he feels safest right now.”

“Huh.” Twilight looked around at the rest of the sleeping group. The Apple family slept together with Raindrops close to Big Mac. Dinky was with Bubblecup, Silver Spoon slept between Merry May and Spectrum. Almost all of them slept in groups or pairs, save Pokey and herself. She looked at Spike and Pinkie once more, then followed Allie to the kitchen to see if they could make something sustaining for breakfast.

By mid-morning everyone was awake, hungry, and needing water. Pokey, Rarity and Allie volunteered to take pots down to the river to bring back water to boil while the others sat down to come up with a plan.

“We can't stay here,” said Applejack. “Rainbow and Fluttershy are still out there somewhere. I know it.”

“How do we now they're not in Manehattan somewhere?” Twilight looked at Spike. “You said there are other groups like ours and last night made it obvious that we definitely aren't the only living groups in the city.”

“Dash wouldn't be here, though,” offered Merry May. “If Spike's group has been here for five days somepony would have seen her in the sky.”

“Unless her wings are damaged,” countered Raindrops.

“I still say we head for Appleloosa,” said Big Macintosh. “They're on the outskirts of Equestria so there's a good enough chance in my mind that they weren't even hit. I think it's the safest bet.”

Twilight nodded. “I'm inclined to agree, Big Mac. Even if Dash and Fluttershy are near, we can't stay here. There's not enough food and I refuse to eat meat when I know there's plenty of grass and flowers outside of the city. I think we need to leave Manehattan and head for Appleloosa.”

Applejack looked at her friend incredulously. “But what if they're here, Twi?”

“What if they're not? We can't stay here on a what if. Not when our lives are in danger. You saw what happened last night-”

“An' you saw how quickly we scared 'em off!” Applejack shook her head. “I can't leave until I know for sure.”

“And how do you plan on doing that?”

“Easy,” Applejack shrugged. “I run around callin' for her.” She looked at Spike. “You said ponies are less active durin' the day, right?”

“Yeah, but...”

“Then I'll go now. Don't give me that look, Twilight. You can't stop me.”

“I'll go, too,” said Merry May. “I may not be as fast a pegasus as Rainbow Dash, but I'm no slowpoke.”

“Great, then lets get goin'.”

As the two ponies left, Twilight looked aghast at Big Mac. “Aren't you going to stop her?”

“She'll be all right,” he said lightly, looking at the map. “Now if we wanted we could cut across the mountains by the Maneheim path to get to Fillydelphia an' check there. It would add a few more days to the trip and we'd have to pass through the mid-western section of Everfree but it may be worth it.”

“Maybe we'll find Zecora.” Everyone turned to see a bandaged Pinkie Pie slowly walking toward the group. Spike ran and hugged her, followed but Twilight, who gave her an appraising look.

“How are you feeling?”

“Oh, you know me, Twilight. I've always been a cut up.” The earth pony smiled and embraced her friend again. “I'm so glad to see you.”

“Same here,” said Twilight. “Come sit with us. We saved you what's left of breakfast.”

The three unicorns were back with the water and it was boiling away by the time Applejack and Merry May returned. Both looked a bit dirty but no worse for the wear. “Rainbow led a group out of here two days ago,”Applejack announced happily. “They were headed west.”

Twilight blinked. “How did you find that out?”

“We just asked,” chirped Merry May. “We found a pony in the park by herself.”

“She would'a tried somethin' if Merry May hadn'ta landed beside me, I could see it in her eyes. But I told her we were just lookin' for some friends of ours. I described Rainbow and Fluttershy an' she said she was pretty sure it was Rainbow who led a small group of three of four outta here.”

“Was Fluttershy with them?”

Applejack shook her head. “She didn't recall seein' anypony who looked like Fluttershy.”

Big Macintosh looked at the two mares. “We decided we're leavin' in the mornin'. One more night of sleep will do us a world of good. An' we're all pretty much agreed that Appleloosa is where we need to get to but we have the option of goin' across the mountains to Fillydelphia.”

His sister thought a moment. “I guess it's possible Dash's group headed for Filly. I doubt any group with Fluttershy in it went that way 'cause they'd have to pass through Everfree.” She frowned. “I don't know. What's the consensus?”

“If there's a chance Dashie is in Fillydelphia,” said Pinkie, “then we should go there.”

Big Macintosh looked around. “Okay then, let's put it to a vote. Everypony in favor of goin' toward Fillydelphia?” Twilight, Applejack, Merry May, Apple Bloom, Pinkie Pie, Spike, and Rarity voted in the affirmative. “An' all in favor of goin' straight to Appleloosa?” All that were left raised their hooves, beating the majority rule by one. Applejack snorted.

“Ya'll can go whatever way you want. I'm headin' to Filly.”

“It's not that I don't want to find Dash,” said Bubblecup. She looked down at her daughter. “I just want to get Dinky somewhere safe.”

“I respect that,” said Applejack. “I assume that's you're thinking too, Allie? Keepin' Snails safe? An' that's fine, they're your family. But Rainbow Dash an' Fluttershy are our family. An' I say everypony who wants to go on ahead, go. But the rest of us are gonna go find our friends.”

“I want to stay with Big Macintosh.” Raindrops looked at the stallion with worry. “We've been in this together since the beginning. I'd feel safer with you.”

“You're always welcome to come with us,” Big Mac said kindly. “Will the rest of ya'll be all right on your own?”

“We know how to fight the spirits now,” said Allie. “Between Pokey and I, we'll be just fine.”

“Okay then,” said the red stallion. “Let's pack up an' all of us be ready to head out first thing in the mornin'.”

Comments

[DrunkenClouds54]

F-F-Fluttershy.....alone....with..those thingy's....?!

[maximus25]

Oh lawd. This is getting good.

[Ember Dash]

This is amazing. Keep up the good work!

[Tealove]

Thanks, all!

[TAB]

This seems to keep getting better and better with each chapter, now I want more

[Tealove]

501473 I'm working on it!