The Price of Harmony

by Maverickthepony

Wanted

Chapter 5: Wanted

"Finally!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash as she exited the cave. "Hey girls! Come out here, the sandstorms over!" The five ponies began exiting one at a time each one blinking a few times to get themselves accustomed to the light. The night before Twilight had used the cloak to cast a spell on Rainbow Dash to calm her down. It had definitely worked since she felt a lot better.

"Wow, that sandstorm sure was a doozy!" said Applejack as she surveyed the landscape. What had once been an elevated cave was now even with the ground as sand had piled up near the entrance. "And by the looks right here I would say we would not have survived if we had stayed out there."

"Definitely", said Twilight as she came out of the cave. "And this just shows how dangerous this place can be. We need to try and find a town so that we can learn more and get some supplies."

"Uhh, one small problem Twilight, we look like were going to war and it would be hard to carry these weapons and armor in a saddlebag, and we can't wear them." said Rarity who had joined them at the cave opening.

"Hmmm... I have an idea!" said Twilight as she went over to the place where she had slept and got out the cloak. "I'll contact the princess and ask her if she knows any spells that could hide these things while we wear them!" with that Twilight went over to her bag and got out the cloak. Putting it on she began to cast the spell, her friends could only watch as they waited to see if they would be able to go into a town with their equipment. As hostile as this wasteland seemed to be, they would need it. They all grew excited as an image of Princess Luna materialized in front of them.

"Is there a problem my little ponies?" asked Luna.

"Yes" responded Twilight, "We need to go into a town to get supplies, but we don't want to leave behind any of our equipment since we don't know if they would be hostile towards us, but if we wear it we are basically saying we want a fight. Do you know any spells that we could use to hide our stuff?"

The princess thought for a moment, "I think I have just what you need. Hold on and I'll send it to you." The image of Luna faded and Twilight sat still waiting for the spell. Suddenly a book appeared next to her.

"Stealth Spells." Twilight read, "'The spells needed to hide anything directly under anybody's nose and still be undetected'. This should be perfect." Twilight flipped through the book quickly looking for a spell that might work. "Aha!" she exclaimed, "This spell should be perfect!" Twilight instantly planted her hooves into the ground, she glanced back at the spell book one more time before starting to cast. Her horn glowed and the energy loss that she had expected never came. "Oh ya I'm wearing the cloak." she then looked over towards the armor to take a look at her handiwork when she realized that she couldn't see it, in fact nopony could see it. "Oops", Twilight said, "Maybe I should have cast the spell when we were wearing the armor."

"Ya think?" said Rainbow Dash sarcastically. Twilight immediately reversed the spell and allowed everypony to get into their armor before casting the spell again. This time it worked perfectly and everypony already had their armor on.

A pop echoed in the cave and Twilight spun around ready for a fight until she saw Luna's image reappearing. "One more thing Twilight. Ponies in Forshan do not have cutie marks; there should be a spell in that book to hide those as well. If they saw yours that may throw up a few red flags and blow your cover."

Twilight nodded as the image disappeared; she began searching through the book until she found the spell Luna had been talking about. She cast it and once again was surprised by just how much magic the gems contained. She checked her flank and when she saw it blank she smiled knowing that the spell had been successful.

"Ok, now that we are ready, Rainbow Dash fly up as high as you can and try to find a town. We can resupply there and get some information about the desert."

"On it!" said Rainbow Dash with a salute as she rocketed into the sky.

"Everypony else we need to pack up. I doubt we will return here and we can't risk leaving anything." The other four nodded and began tearing the camp down. They made sure that anything that could be used to trace them was packed and Twilight was content with their work when they had finished.

"Ugh, this dry desert air can't be good for my skin, and I think I'm sweating gallons of water." complained Rarity.

"You can't complain since you offered to come out here, you're just gonna have to learn to live with it." replied Applejack.

"Still." said Rarity as Rainbow Dash returned.

"There's a town about three hours walk that way." said Rainbow Dash pointing west, "If we start now we might make it by noon."

"Good, then we could get a proper lunch." said Rarity starting to walk. The six their journey, not knowing what to expect when they reached the town.

A full three hours passed before they finally entered the town. Twilight took charge "Ok, now we need essentials. Applejack go see if you can find some food, Rainbow Dash see if-"

"There's a small problem in your plan darling, we don't have any money!" interrupted Rarity.

"Oh, you're right. Well I guess first we need to find a way to get some money. After that we can-"

"HEY EVERYPONY COME HERE AND LOOK AT THIS!" yelled Pinkie Pie.

"Pinkie Pie, what in tarnation are you so excited about?" asked Applejack.

"I'm excited because Dashie is famous here! They must have heard of the sonic rainboom! They would probably love to see you here!"

Twilight went over to look at what had gotten Pinkie Pie so excited. What she saw was a poster that said 'Wanted by Talon, Rainbow Dash, Element of Harmony, Loyalty, Any information should be reported to your local sheriff, $500 reward for information leading to capture.' there was also a picture of Rainbow Dash that showed all important characteristics, more importantly, her mane. That one trait would make her stick out like a gryphon among ponies.

"Rainbow Dash, you need to go back to the cave right now and don't leave until we get back." said Twilight still staring at the poster.

"Don't need to tell me twice!" said Rainbow and she took off towards the cave they had stayed in overnight.

"As for this Talon person," said Twilight as she took the poster down, "I suggest that we find more about him. If he is so influential that he can put up his own wanted posters that must mean he's important."

"Ok, but where do you think we should ask about him?" asked Rarity.

Twilight watched as a pony entered a building that looked to be filled to the brim with ponies. "I think we should start there." said Twilight pointing it out, "I bet a lot of talk goes through there." so they made their way to the building.

It was obvious they had made the right choice as soon as they entered because the volume of chatter drowned out anything that they might try to say to each other. They headed towards a long elevated platform that looked like a table. There was a stallion standing behind this table cleaning a glass. As he saw them approach he said, "Ah, some new faces around here. Tell me, what can I get you?"

"Information would be nice." said Twilight as she put the poster on the table. The stallion took a look at it.

After examining the poster the pony said, "I can't really tell you much about this Rainbow Dash. All I know that's not on the poster is that she's from Equestria."

"Not her." Twilight said, "Him." she said putting a hoof on Talon's name.

The stallion began laughing; "You must have been in the desert for a long time if you don't know who Talon is!" said the pony while laughing.

"You could say that." muttered Applejack.

"Well now, Talon is only the most feared mercenary around these parts. No, the entire country, possibly the world. He carries with him only one weapon that he is known to use. He is said to carry a knife, but he seldom uses it for fighting. This weapon of his is a revolver." he saw the confused looks on their faces and continued, "This revolver is a gryphon made weapon that can fire a small metal, umm... bullet, as he calls it, it's more like a hunk of metal with a point. Anyway, this 'bullet' travels at speeds so high it can cut through skins and supposedly bones. It doesn't take much for that to kill you."

"So this Talon is not a pony then? He's a gryphon?" asked Twilight.

"A Gryphon!" yelled Pinkie Pie before hiding under a table.

"Is she alright?" asked the stallion.

"Yeah, she just had a bad experience with a gryphon once. Anyway, you were saying?" said Applejack.

"Oh right, well he's not all pony and he's not all gryphon, supposedly his mother was a pony and his father was part gryphon. He was born with an abnormality in his right leg so that it is a gryphon's claw and arm. That is what allows him to use the gryphon gun." finished the stallion.

"Thanks for the information, now we really should be going." said Twilight.

"Anytime." responded the stallion who returned to the glass he had been cleaning when they entered.

"Ok, now that we got that out of the way. I think that what we should do now is go tell Rainbow Dash about Talon." said Twilight.

"I agree." Applejack spoke up, "We can get food later, and our friend's safety is more important right now."

They began making their way back to the cave. They talked the whole way back, mostly about this Talon they had just heard about. They were all scared of him and even more scared that he would get to Rainbow Dash. They decided not to talk any further until they reached the cave.

The sun had begun to set just as they reached the cave. "Rainbow Dash! Come out here, we have so much to tell you!" shouted Twilight.

There was no response.

"Rainbow! Where are you?" shouted Twilight again. "Maybe she went deeper into the cave and she just can't hear us." said Twilight.

"Twilight, get over here, quick!" shouted Applejack. Twilight ran to see why her friend was so excited. "There's some extra hoof prints and Rainbow's bag is missing!"

Twilight quickly ran to a clearing in the cave, everypony else was in full panic mode. Twilight quickly cast the spell to talk to Princess Luna. The image of Luna materialized in front of them.

"Is there something wrong Twilight?" asked the Princess upon seeing the distressed look on Twilight's face.

"Yes! Rainbow Dash was captured and we don't know where they took her!"

The Princess had a look of shock on her face. "This is truly depressing news, I will start using my magic to search for her and I suggest you do the same. Because there aren't many unicorns in Forshan you can search for her my looking for magical aura surrounding ponies." Twilight nodded and went and sat down and started to cast a searching spell. She didn't know where Rainbow Dash was, all she knew was that they needed her back.