Losing Power

by Ferntail12

Chapter 3

While the pegasi fought an aerial battle, the remaining ponies of the Mane Seven battled the forest. The Everfree seemed determined to stop them too. There were bogs, trees, marshes, swamps, low branches, vines, animals… you name it, it has it. Nonetheless, they struggled on. After what seemed like hours, but was probably only 30 minutes, Applejack pointed out the ruins of the castle. The four ponies carefully walked over the crumbling wooden bridge, and entered the not-as-creepy-in-daylight castle. Suddenly, the floor dropped out from under them and they ended up far below ground in the dungeons. Fluttershy;s sharp ears picked out a sound that sounded much like Twilight’s voice, and she followed it. Rarity gained the attention of the other two, and followed Fluttershy. Along the maze-like paths of the dungeons, secret passageways spun in and out, causing choruses of screams as ponies fell into passageways, ended up in totally different parts of the castle, then spun back in to join the procession.

“Oh! I hear them really well now,” said Fluttershy nervously.

“Twilight???” called Pinkie. “Are you there?!”

“PINKIE PIE?!!!!!!!!” came Twilight’s voice. “PINKIE PIE?”

“TWILIGHT?!!!”

“I'M OVER HERE!!”

Fluttershy led them toward the source of Twilight’s voice. They found her in a dark cell, chained to a post. A magic inhibitor was clamped around her horn, and her wings were bound, too.

“Hi Twilight!!!” cried Pinkie. “We missed you! What happened?”

“Here, I’ll make you a deal. You get me outta here, and I’ll tell you what happened,” said Twilight. She looked utterly spent, so Pinkie agreed.

“Pinkie Promise?”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

“Okie-dokie-lokie!”

Applejack bucked the door open with her back hooves, Pinkie removed the wing restraints, Rarity and Applejack unchained Twilight from the post, and Rarity, with Twilight’s instruction, removed the magic inhibitor after three tries. Free of her bonds, Twilight got up and stretched, then exploded a chunk of the wall to test her horn.

“All good!”

“So, what happened?” asked Pinkie.

“Well, I was reading about Satanic, queen of Tartarus, when suddenly three black-uniformed pegasi burst in the door and attacked me. I tried to defend myself with a few spells, but the pegasi overpowered me and dragged me off. I thought they were taking me into the Everfree, but they took off and brought me here to the castle. One pegasus came in, I assumed she was their leader, and chained me up in this cell. I don’t know what happened to Spike. He wasn’t captured, and the guard outside my cell rotated every hour, so there was no chance that he could’ve been captured. You four came at a perfect time. The guards all rushed out a few minutes ago,” explained Twilight.

“The guards rushing out wasn’t a coincidence,” said Applejack. “Dash told me that she and Spitfire would take care of our opposition. It seems that the two of them distracted your guards, Twilight.”

“Oh? How are they doing?” Twilight asked, worried about her friends.

“I don’t know sugarcube. I haven’t gotten any communication from Rainbow.”

“We need to get out of here. I need to make sure those two are safe!” exclaimed Twilight urgently.

The five ponies galloped out of Twilight’s cell, and Twilight cast a tracker spell on Rainbow and Spitfire so they could find the two pegasi. For some reason, the castle seemed to understand their plight. Nopony disappeared in secret passageways or found any dangerous obstacles. They reached the surface in half the time it had taken them to get down. Their eyes were immediately drawn to the sounds of battle from above, but it was only the Shadowbolts battling the Wonderbolts. Fluttershy taking the lead again to hear any sounds of battle, Twilight and the others fell into a single-file line to pick their way carefully through the Everfree.

“Um, I hear something. It sounds like something exploded…” said Fluttershy after a while.

“Oh, no! I hope Rainbow and Spitfire are safe!” cried Twilight. “C’mon girls!”

They galloped off as fast as their hooves could go. Soon, the crackle of flames, the distinctive fire ring of Spitfire’s sonic flameboom, and the rainbow glow of Dash’s pegasus magic became clear in the sky. Suddenly, Fluttershy halted.

“I see them,” she said quietly. And some kind of cage…”

Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity rushed to the front of the line and tipped their heads up at the sky. Fluttershy told the truth. There was a strange silver cage suspended in Dash’s magical glow, while Dash herself hoof bumped with Spitfire a few feet above.

“Rainbow! Spitfire!” called Rarity.

“Huh?” said Dash. “Oh, hi Rarity. Hi Applejack, Pinkie.

“TWILIGHT!” cried Spitfire. “You're all right!” The golden mare swooped down and hugged Twilight, closely followed by Dash, who had been cut off by Spitfire just as she was about to welcome Twilight back.

“We have our friend Nightshade, leader of the Shadowbolts here,” said Dash, jabbing a hoof toward the cage. “Twilight, could you put an anti-sorcery spell on the cage? Our friend here has a bit of Nightmare Moon’s sorcery that she inherited after being brought back to life. Long story, we’ll find a time to tell you guys.”

Twilight nodded and her horn flared to life, and a sparkling pink glow enveloped the cage for a few seconds.

“There. Done.”

“Now, let’s take Nightshade to Canterlot,” said Spitfire. “She deserves to be in Tartarus, but she needs to be tried first in front of all the Royal Princesses. That includes me.”

“We’ll tell you how we defeated her on the way home, right Dashie?” said Spitfire.

“Of course Spits,” said Dash.

“I want to see how my team’s doing. The Shadowbolts should be tried too,” said Spitfire. “I think they’re alright, but I think we should collect the Shadowbolts for transport back to Canterlot.”

“All right girls, you heard her. Let’s go!” cried Twilight. They galloped off in the same direction they came in, Dash towing Nightshade’s cage behind her with her magic.

Comments

[PixelMoon]

Ahem.. Rainbow Dash is the ONLY pony in Equestria that can do a Sonic Boom. The rain part is for RD, cause if some pony else could, it wouldn't make since for it to be called that if they aren't rainbow. Spitfire isn't fast enough to do one. RD is the fastest pony in Equus.