Colour flowed slowly back into Daring's mane, and then on through her body. Into her head, hanging down, almost but not quite touching the upward-pointing spikes on the floor. Into her wings, tied to her barrel with a dozen layers of rope. Into her hooves, all four tied together with a single rope, the other end tied to a ceiling beam.
...something glistened on the tips of the spikes, some potion that had been applied. Possibly a deadly poison. They were in a zebra shaman's hut; so there was no telling what the stuff on the spikes did.
Escaping would be easy; Daring could swing back and forth to evade the spikes. Slip her hooves out of the rope at the right moment. Crash to the floor, over there, near the table. Grab the knife, to use as an impromptu weapon – and free her wings, if possible.
Escaping would be easy, if it weren't for the fact that the zebra shaman was sitting a few feet away, with a loaded crossbow pointed directly at Daring's head. Daring couldn't help but notice that the tip of the crossbow bolt glistened.
These two had apparently gone to a lot of trouble, just to have the stallion read a book at her for several hours.
Daring would simply have to wait for the zebra shaman to fall asleep, and then escape. And once she escaped, she could return to hunting... down........
Daring blinked rapidly, several times. “Did... did I just try to kill a filly?” she asked.
“Eeyup.” said the stallion, looking up from the book.
The zebra put down her crossbow, smiling for the first time since Daring had first seen her. “Ah, Daring Do, student of the past.” she said. “It is good to meet you – at last. For the trap, please accept my contrition. But I'm sure you understand our position.”
“Yeah.” said Daring. “What did Tirek do to me?”
“Tirek has taken Discord's abilities.” said the zebra. “Losing to him carries certain – liabilities.” With one hoof, she pushed the platform of spikes away from under Daring's head. “Would you like aid in the chore of returning your hooves to the floor?”
“Nah, I've got this.” Daring looked up at her hooves, and wriggled the left front like so while twisting the right rear... and all four hooves promptly slipped out of their bonds, leaving her to fall the short distance to the floor where the spikes had been.
“It's the same thing he did to the Royal Guard, isn't it?” asked Daring.
“Eeyup.” said the stallion.
“They've got no more choice about following him than I did?”
“Eenope.”
“But you know how to fix it?”
“Eeyup.”
“How?”
“Mah sister had it once.” said the stallion. He closed the book, and sat up. “Ah'm Big Mac.”
“Zecora is my name,” added the zebra, “defeating Tirek is our aim.”
“I see.” said Daring. “And the two of you – you're the real Cutie Mark Crusaders? The ones who've been inspiring all this resistance against Tirek?”
Big Mac grinned, just a little. “Eenope.” he said.
Zecora raised her voice slightly. “Enter, girls,” she called, “and take a seat, Daring's cure is now complete!”
Daring looked up at the door, and saw three underage fillies trot in.
“Hi!” said the earth pony. “Ah'm Applebloom, an' this is Scootaloo, an' Sweetie Belle. We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”
Daring stared at the three of them, and then sighed and raised a hoof to her head. “I am going to have to edit this chapter,” she muttered, “my editor would never believe...”
“Eeyup.” agreed Big Mac, wryly.
“You three.” said Daring, frowning at the fillies. “You three are the last hope that stands against Tirek? Three small fillies that have accomplished acts of sabotage from Las Pegasus to Baltimare?”
“Weeeeellllll... not exactly.” admitted Sweetie Belle. “You know all those newspaper articles about things we did?”
“Yes?” asked Daring.
“We really just wrote the articles.” admitted Applebloom. “We were kinda vague at first.”
“I wrote our jingle.” said Sweetie Belle.
“An' then ponies started writing in to the paper,” said Applebloom, “saying they wished they could help. We mailed them potions back. You know, sleep potions, sudden plant growth, one that turns flowers carnivorous...”
“Or told them about other ponies in the same city that also wanted to help.” added Scootaloo. “Turns out there's way too much paperwork involved in running a resistance.”
“Yeah, that part was mostly Zecora's idea.” said Applebloom. “We were jus' gonna build a trebuchet an' assault Tirek's castle.”
Daring shook her head. “Not a good idea.” she said. “If the Canterlot Crossbow couldn't do him in, a mere lump of rock is unlikely to inconvenience him in the least. There'd need to be some way to drain him of his magic, first.”
The Crusaders grinned. “Oh, we think we know how to do that, now.” said Applebloom. “We'll just need your help fetching one of the things we'll need...”
“A Wonderbolts badge.” added Scootaloo. “I can tell you exactly where it is.”
Daring sighed. “In some hidden temple, buried beyond ancient traps and guardians?”
“Nah.” said Scootaloo, shaking her head. “It's in a house, in Ponyville. No traps, no guardians.”
Daring raised an eyebrow. “And you need me to get it, because?”
“Cloud house.” said Applebloom.
“Oh.” said Daring. Then, when she realised that without her natural pegasus magic, she could no more walk on clouds than an earth pony, she added “Oh.”
4929093
More importantly, Zecora also knows. And Zecora knows when to insist on handling the arrangements herself, personally.
Oh yeah. With no pegasus magic, that could be tricky...
Good chapter
4938205 she could always call the A team
this gon be gud
I guess they'll need that trebuchet after all. Pegasus crash resistance is at least partially nonmagical, right?
Or they could just ask Cherry Berry for a lift, but what fun would that be?
Also:
Wow. I guess Tirek has been a bit more creative than I gave him credit for.
In any case, looking forward to more.
4938205
4940590
The "cloud house problem" was pretty much the entire reason I decided to assume that the other five keys weren't already in the Harmony Box...
4938342
Thanks!
4938785
Equestria's top team of specialists in Saving The World were last seen tied to Tirek's throne, watching him try to set a dragon on fire.
... the A-team as ponies might be an interesting crossover. But it's not this story.
4942636
Unfortunately, Cherry Berry's helicopter is too big to fit through Rainbow Dash's door, and the downdraught caused by a helicopter of that size has bad effects on cloudhouses at close range. Twilight's hot-air balloon doesn't have the downdraught issue, but is even larger. Pinkie's candycopter still hasn't been repaired, and even if it was, it doesn't allow the user a hoof free to grab the badge with.
...and thanks for pointing out the typo. Fixed.
4943157 awwwww *hides black van*
4943721
Here, I came across this little comic once that you might be interested in...
4945695 hmm?
“We really just wrote the articles.” admitted Applebloom. “We were kinda vague at first.”
-Ah, so they might not have even done anything OTHER than the articles at first?
“Oh.” said Daring. Then, when she realised that without her natural pegasus magic, she could no more walk on clouds than an earth pony, she added “Oh.”
-Woobly chain of ladders and stuff lashed together that will require excellent balance to assemble the last part of? Trebutchet + Parachute+ Multiple shots? Hang-glider? I think the pedal-powered helicopters require magic, but the balloon might still work, at least a little.. and one thing they never explain, but could she stand on objects that then rest on the cloud? If so then some shoes made of the right objects should work if she can get up there in the first place... or am I being too clever about the rules of the setting?
7129538
Exactly, yes.