Sisters Part 2
"You know Scoots, I'm thinking that maybe this isn't the best idea." Sweetie piped up. The group was now standing in front of the Everfree getting ready to venture in.
"C'mon Sweets, we all agreed that this was the best way to prove to our sisters that we're responsible." Scootaloo groaned, the pegasus filly itching to get going.
"I know, but now that we're here I can't help but wonder if it's just more recklessness." Sweetie fussed.
"She's got a point Scoots," Applebloom added. "Ah mean sure Ah did manage ta get those pies delivered and impressed my sister, but in the end, if Applejack didn't show up when she did, I'd be chimera chow right now."
"But this isn't the Flame Geyser Swamp." Scootaloo pointed out. "Our sisters go into the Everfree all the time, plus Zecora lives here. How bad could it be in comparison?"
"You've got a good point," Applebloom admitted. "Compared to a flaming, chimera inhabited swamp there can't be much that the Everfree can throw at us. But we will be careful."
"Yeah yeah of course," Scootaloo said dismissively. "Now can we go now?"
Sweetie, however, fidgeted, still unsure about their plan. As she glanced around, her eyes landed on their tag along. "What about Sombra?" The unicorn filly blurted out and the colt in question blinked when he suddenly found the group's attention on him.
"What do you mean 'what about Sombra', he's coming with us obviously," Scootaloo said as if it were the most obvious thing ever and Sweetie Belle shot her friend a look.
"Really, you're willing to bring a six-year-old into the Everfree?" She deadpanned. "Even if we haven't seen anything for a while, it's not a guarantee that there's nothing dangerous in there."
"That much is true," Applebloom said with a nod. "The Everfree will always be dangerous, so it wouldn't hurt to exercise some caution."
"Um..I'm not sure this is a good idea either." Sombra piped in timidly and everyone turned to him. The colt licked his lips and gulped. "Well, it's just Spike's told me a lot about the Everfree and how dangerous it is. Can we do something else?"
"You can do something else, I'm going to go into the Everfree, with or without anyone." Scootaloo snarled frustratedly, making Sombra flinch a bit. "Anypony else with me?"
Applebloom let out a sigh. "May as well come with. Somepony's got to make sure you don't do something stupid."
"Well, I guess if you girls are going, I may as well," Sweetie said with a weak smile.
"Alright, then I guess that means Sombra is stayin' at the clubhouse," Applebloom concluded and the colt in question shivered.
"Actually, I think I'd rather be with you guys." He said and the Crusaders looked at him in surprise so he explained. "I'm scared of being alone. Especially in the dark. Twilight thinks I have these phobias called Monophobia and Sco-to-phobia." The colt had to pause to slowly sound out the last phobia.
The Crusaders considered this information then shrugged. "Okay then, we'll take you with us." Applebloom conceded. "But don't worry, we'll be very careful and at the first sign of trouble, we'll leave. Promise."
Scootaloo looked like she wanted to protest, but one stern look from Applebloom shut her up. Not noticing the silent conversation, Sombra smiled in relief and nodded.
"Okay. I can do that." He said.
"All right now that we've established that, can we go now?" Scootaloo huffed impatiently. Applebloom rolled her eyes.
"Yeah yeah, we're going." The farmfilly sighed. As the group entered, Sombra turned to Applebloom to ask her a question.
"Why are you so eager to go into the Everfree anyways?" He inquired.
"To prove to Applejack that we're responsible," Scootaloo answered with no small amount of irritation. "After what happened at Appaloosa, she's under the impression that we're 'irresponsible' and put us on foal-sitting duty. So we're going to show her that we are responsible."
Nopony noticed the imperceptible flinch from Sombra but they did see his inquisitive look before the inevitable question. "How is going into the Everfree going to prove that you're responsible? Seems like this plan would have the opposite effect."
"You would think that wouldn't ya," Applebloom said then shrugged. "But the last time AJ was being overprotective she only backed off when I got those pies through the Flame Geyser Swamp."
"Flame Geyser Swamp?" Sombra asked.
"Ah take it AJ hasn't told ya that story has she?" Applebloom asked and Sombra shook his head. "Right then, it all started when the time for my family's annual pie delivery came around..."
As Applebloom recounted the events that lead up to her expedition into the chimera infested swamp (with some comments from her friends), the Crusaders trotted deeper and deeper into the Everfree. Completely unaware of the green eyes watching them from the shadows.
Twilight sighed. Even though the water felt great, she still couldn't relax. She couldn't really explain it, but ever since Applejack had taken Sombra to spend a day with the Crusaders, she'd been feeling a little antsy. Noticing her anxiety, Rarity invited her to spend a day at the spa but she was still anxious and increasingly frustrated.
"Twilight, relax." Rarity's voice broke into her thoughts. "Sombra will be just fine. Remember, the Crusaders don't often stray far from familiar territory so just take a deep breath and relax."
Twilight frowned. "How can you be so sure I'm anxious about Sombra?" She asked and the fashionista rolled her eyes.
"Oh please, you've been fidgety and nervous ever since he left with Applejack." She deadpanned. "Even the most moronic pony in the world can tell you're anxious about him."
"Am I that obvious?" Twilight asked.
"Let's just say that you need to work on your poker face and leave it at that." The unicorn answered and Twilight let out a sigh as she sank into the tub.
"Why? Just why do I feel this way about him?" She questioned weakly.
"He's grown on you." Rarity said simply. "You may not understand it consciously, but on some subconscious level, you don't see him as King Sombra of the Crystal Empire anymore. Now he's just Sombra, a colt, and your son."
Twilight didn't even bother correcting her as she'd always done, she was just too tired at this point. "So just like that?" She asked. "Just like that, I'm a mother?"
"If you wish." Rarity said. "If you want, take your time to figure out if that is what you really want and if that is how you truly feel. But don't take too long. Sombra needs a mother."
Twilight just nodded and finally started to relax. Just as she was unwinding, the doors burst open and Applejack rushed in. The two mares turned their attention to the farmpony as she paused to gasp for breath before speaking.
"Twi' I'm mighty sorry ta be barging in like this, but it's an emergency." Applejack said and the pair sat up straighter as any emergency took precedence. "Zecora came ta get me earlier saying that the Crusaders were at her hut and that Sombra....is missing in the Everfree."
There was a deathly silence as they took that in then slowly, Rarity turned to her friend. Twilight's body was rigid and her expression unreadable. There was a momentary eye twitch then her magic activated and she vanished.
The Crusaders sat in silence in Zecora's hut, all three practically feeling the impending doom coming upon their heads. But most of all, they felt guilty and afraid for the colt that they'd grown attached to. They knew he was afraid of being alone, and now he was alone out there in the Everfree forest!
"Do you think our sisters will too mad at us?" Sweetie asked in a hushed voice. At that moment the door slammed opened with such force it made the hut shook and the three fillies turned to face an alarmingly calm Twilight.
"I think our sisters are the least of our problems," Applebloom answered in an equally hushed tone. Slowly and terrifyingly, Twilight stepped closer to them until she was standing over them.
"What. Happened." She asked in a cool yet furious voice that sent chills down the Crusader's spines.
"Um...we uh went into...the Everfree because we want to prove that we were responsible." Scootaloo started slowly. "In our defense, the Everfree has been pretty quiet since you all saved the Tree of Harmony and nopony's seen a timberwolf in a while. Plus it worked before when AJ was in a super overprotective mode that one time."
Twilight turned to spare a glance at the pony in question before turning back to the Crusaders. "Go on."
All three fillies decided that they didn't like this new side of the alicorn and hurried their story along. "So we went into the Everfree, with Sombra, and it was going pretty well until the Timberwolves attacked....."
Flashback Begin
The Crusaders had never run so fast in their lives. The ambush had been sudden, but fortunately, they were able to get away before they were completely surrounded. Unfortunately, they now had a hungry pack of timberwolves nipping at their heels and breathing down their necks. Their foul breath didn't help and the fillies idly wondered if that was the point of the horrible stench. At some point, Applebloom noticed a red flash in her peripheral but brushed it off in favor of running for her life.
Just when it seemed that the Timberwolves were going to get them, a metallic clang made them stop. A second metallic clang quickly rang out followed by a third and fourth until the air was filled with the metallic sounds. The wolves whimpered as the clangs filled the air and ultimately ran. The three fillies looked up as the source of the clangs drew closer and came face to face with...
"Zecora!" They cried as they tackled the zebra in relief.
"Thank goodness you're here!" Sweetie said as she wrapped her hooves around her leg.
"Yeah, how did you find us?" Applebloom asked.
"I heard your screams of distress and came to help," Zecora said. "Why are you in the forest anyway? You know the dangers the Everfree presents."
"We kinda thought it wouldn't be too dangerous since nopony has seen the Timberwolves in a while and our sisters are always going in to fix the castle," Applebloom explained.
"Little ones, even if the Timberwolves haven't been seen as often it doesn't mean that they are not present." Zecora chided lightly. "And your sisters are full grown, capable mares. Now come, I shall take you back home."
"Wait, where's Sombra?" Sweetie asked and the rest of the Crusaders froze and scanned the area for any sign of the colt. Zecora's brow furrowed at the question.
"Someone is missing from your group?" She asked with an edge of concern and the Crusaders nodded.
"Yeah, a little colt with a grey coat, black mane, and red eyes. His name is Sombra." Applebloom described for the zebra. "He was right next to me when we were runnin' from the Timberwolves but now."
Zecora nodded then ushered them into her hut. "Stay here and I shall inform the others of this development." She instructed before leaving.
Flashback End
"...So we just sat here waiting until you burst in here and the rest you know." Applebloom finished. Twilight was quiet, her expression unreadable and the Crusaders wondered if they were still in trouble.
"You said that you saw a red flash in your periphery, correct?" Twilight finally asked this time her tone was thoughtful. Applebloom only nodded anyways. Far better to be safe than sorry and none of the Crusaders were sure if Twilight was still furious.
"That was probably a small surge of magic in the form of a teleport." Twilight continued. "More than likely, Sombra's panic and fear reached a point where his magic instinctively activated and tried to teleport himself somewhere safe."
"So he's not in the Everfree anymore?" Scootaloo asked a little hopefully but Twilight shook her head.
"If only it were that simple." The alicorn sighed before explaining. "Teleportation is a very advanced spell and Sombra hasn't even mastered basic levitation yet. An important part of teleportation spells is that you need to picture where you want to be and really focus on it and I doubt that would've happened in that situation so any instructions the spell would've received would've been more generalized and along the lines of 'away from here'. Plus this is the Everfree forest and there are pollen's here in the Everfree that mess with unicorn magic."
"Like what happened when the Everfree invaded?" Sweetie asked.
"Sort of. At the time when the Everfree invaded those pollen's were extra strong because the Tree of Harmony was dying. Normally they aren't that strong, but they are still problematic to the point where spells like teleportation require even more concentration than normal in order to reach your destination. It's why I generally don't attempt teleportation in the Everfree."
"Oh. So I guess that means Sombra is still somewhere in the Everfree." Scootaloo said as her ears flopped down guiltily.
"Yes, it does," Twilight said shortly and the Crusaders instantly missed Lecture Mode Twilight.
"Twilight, Ah'll take full responsibility for this whole thing." Applejack piped up. "It was my idea and my bad example that led to this whole thing."
Twilight sighed. "It's okay, none of this was your fault and now isn't the time to be playing the Blame Game. Right now I need you and Rarity to take these girls back to the farm and when you're done, go into town and organize some search parties."
The earth pony and unicorn nodded and as the Crusaders walked out the door with them, Rarity paused and turned to Twilight. "And what will you be doing?" She asked.
"I'm going to be looking for Sombra." The alicorn answered. "Maybe I can pick up a trace of Sombra's teleport spell and narrow down the search area."
Her two friends just nodded and left the hut completely, ushering the three guilty fillies ahead of them.
Sombra whimpered. He wasn't sure what had happened, one minute he was running for his life when suddenly his hoof snagged on something and he was falling as timberwolves charged at him. At that moment he wanted to be anywhere but here and the next thing he knew there was a flash of red followed by a strange feeling of movement and now he was in a different and strange part of the forest alone. And to make things worse, he couldn't walk because it hurt to put pressure on his right back hoof.
Fear was beginning to well up in his mind and he was starting to hyperventilate. There was a rustle in some bushes and his fear spiked. "T-Twilight." He whimpered as he tried to make himself as small as possible. The rustling grew louder and drew closer as Sombra trembled until a small blur darted out of the bushes towards him. Sombra shrieked and tried to move away, only to crumble to the ground when a stab of pain jolted up his leg.
Realizing that he couldn't escape, the small colt squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself for the inevitable. He could feel whatever it was approaching and sniffing him out. He tensed when the hot breath traveling over his body stop and waited. And waited. And waited..... He jumped when he felt a wet nose press into his leg suddenly and snapped his eyes open to finally see what had him at their mercy. Red eyes met dark brown and for a moment fear clenched his heart when he took in the feline form only to relax when he realized that it was much smaller than the manticores he'd heard of before indicating that it was a cub. A very friendly cub if the affectionate rubbing was any indication.
Slowly and carefully, Sombra started to push himself up back up into a sitting position all the while watching the manticore cub as it tumbled and jumped around playfully. The sight so similar to Winona's own antics made Sombra smile and relax a little. Eventually, he was leaning against a tree once again and watching the active cub. Now that he was in a comfortable position, Sombra called for the cub just like Auntie Fluttershy had taught him and the sound made the cup perk up and turn it's attention to him.
"Here kitty kitty kitty, come here little kitty." He coaxed the little cub as he patted the ground beside him. The cub was bounding towards him at the first word and sat beside him as indicated as rubbed up against him with a purr. Sombra smiled and started to pet the cub, finding it's glossy black fur to be quite soft.
"Good kitty." He murmured as the cub laid its head on his lap. "Good good kitty. I wonder where you came from and if you have a name."
"I call her Dinah." A new voice commented, making Sombra jump in shock and the cub in question raise her head. The colt looked in the direction the cub had come from and saw a much larger form in the shadows of the forest. The shadowed form shuffled a little and looked down.
"Sorry if I startled you." The male voice answered.
"It's okay," Sombra replied then looked down at the manticore cub. "So her name is Dinah?"
"Y-yeah." The form answered hesitantly. "I found her wandering around on her own so I can only assume she was either abandoned because she was a runt or she lost her pride in a bigger pride."
"Oh. And who are you?" Sombra asked. The shadow hesitated before answering.
"I'm Thorax."
"Thorax, that's a weird name." The young colt observed.
"It's actually quite common where I come from," Thorax said idly.
"If you say so," Sombra said with a shrug. "I'm Sombra, nice to meet you. So why are you hiding all the way over there? Why don't you come over here?"
Thorax tensed. "I don't want to scare you."
"Why would you scare me?" Sombra asked with an innocent head tilt. "Are you really ugly or something?"
"Um-not exactly. I'm just different. You wouldn't like me and would run away screaming. Everypony always does." Thorax sounded so despondent that Sombra felt pity for his mysterious friend.
"I promise I won't run away screaming. I can't anyways so you can come out now." The colt said and after a pause added a small 'please'. Thorax was silent for a moment before sighing.
"Alright." he said before slowly stepping into the light and bracing himself for the screams....that never came. Instead, Sombra was looking at him with curiosity and a hint of wonder.
"What kind of creature are you?" He asked and Thorax was rendered speechless.
The walk back to the Apple farm was almost oppressively silent as neither party spoke to each other and the Crusaders weren't willing to try their luck. When they reached the farmhouse, Applejack explained the situation to her brother and granny before they left with the addition of Big Macintosh, leaving the Crusader with Granny Smith. Left alone in the living room with the elderly pony, the three fillies began to think over their situation.
This was definitely not been how they thought things would go, even accounting for Sombra. Applebloom didn't understand it, the last time she'd done something similar Applejack had said that she was responsible and had eased up on her. What was different this time and what had they done wrong? As she thought it over, she realized that her questions all boiled down to one very important question. What is a responsibility? What does that word mean? Glancing at her friends, she saw that they'd reached the same conclusion. Simultaneously, they all turned to the only adult in the house to ask their question.
"Granny, what does responsibility mean?" Applebloom asked. The elderly pony paused her knitting and set it on the table to give the fillies her full attention.
"Well dearies, responsibility has a lot of meanings but they all boil down to one thing. It's a state of fact where a pony has either has a duty over somepony or something." Granny explained. "For example, your sister, brother and myself are responsible for this farm and bringing you up. It's a big job, but we do okay. Being responsible also means being held accountable for mistakes that you've made."
The Crusaders winced and wilted. "Ah guess that means we bucked up pretty badly."
"Language Applebloom!" Granny scolded sternly. "Yer far too young to be using that word. Y'all remember my rule?"
"If we don't know what it means then don't use it. Especially if an older pony uses it." Applebloom recited word for word her granny's rule for swear words. "But it's still at least accurate, right? We really messed up and got Sombra lost in the middle of the Everfree."
"True enough." Granny Smith said as she picked up her knitting. "But at least ya learned ta not go wandering willy-nilly into the forest. There's a very good reason why we tell ya'll ta not go in there."
"Yeah we know, but what about Sombra?" Sweetie asked. "He's still in there and it's our fault!"
"The others will find him so don't you worry none," Granny said. "Now, who wants ta help me with my yarn?"
It took some doing, but they were finally able to sneak out of the farmhouse without Granny knowing. After telling the elder that they were actually quite tired from their expedition, Granny had sent them upstairs to rest but once they'd galloped up the stairs, the fillies had snuck back down the stairs and out the back door. Applebloom felt bad about lying to her granny, but right now there was a job to do. Sombra had been their responsibility and by Celestia, they were going to take responsibility for their actions instead of making other ponies clean up after their mistakes. Applebloom just hoped Granny could forgive her for this.
"So, how are we going to do this?" Scootaloo asked.
"Well, we're certainly not just going to gallop into the forest without a plan." Applebloom quipped. "That's what got us into this mess in the first place and Twilight once told me that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result."
"Yeah, even I think it would be stupid to just gallop into the forest," Scootaloo said.
"What about the search teams?" Sweetie suggested. "Applejack, Rarity and Big Mac were going into town to organize search parties, so why don't we just join them."
"That is an excellent idea." Applebloom praised her friend. "Let's go!"
Fortunately, the scooter and wagon were still where they'd left it and with it, they were able to get to town much quicker than if they had tried it on hoof. Unfortunately, by the time they reached the town, the search teams had already left. Never let it be said that Ponyvilians weren't efficient when it came to evacuating or sending search parties when needed. Ponyville was after all a hub for all things weird and dangerous plus it bordered the Everfree forest so it would be a surprise if ponies didn't have such things down pat by now. Regretfully that meant that the Crusaders were left out.
"Why are you so eager to go with the search parties anyways?" Spike asked as the girls looked down at the enchanted map that indicated where they were looking.
"Because it's our fault Sombra is lost and we're going to take responsibility for our actions." Scootaloo declared. "We just have to figure out how."
"Hmm, well I could help you out." The dragon offered. "Sombra is like a brother to me and I'm worried sick about him. Twilight already narrowed down the search area and is out there now so if you guys want, I could join your search party."
"Sure, you can join our search party. Now, where do we start?" Sweetie asked. Ten minutes later the group was entering the Everfree on their quest to find the lost colt.
Thorax was still trying to figure out why the colt in front of him wasn't scared. Even if he'd never heard of changelings he still should've at least felt disgust from the young colt yet that wasn't so. All he could feel from the colt were feelings of curiosity and interest. Even after he'd explained what a changeling was, those feelings didn't diminish rather they increased.
"So how do you feed on love?" Sombra asked.
"Um, we usually temporarily replace somepony and absorb the feelings from the ponies that pony has relationships with," Thorax said as he looked away in shame.
"Can't you just make your own identity and feed yourselves like that?" The colt asked.
Thorax shifted uncomfortably, really not wanting to discuss changeling feeding habits with such a young colt. "Maybe, so what is a colt like you doing out here in the Everfree?" He asked quickly to change the subject.
"I came in with my friends, but then we were attacked and chased by Timberwolves," Sombra answered. "Then I tripped, there was a flash and suddenly here I am."
"Sounds like you had a small magic surge," Thorax said matter of factly. "It happens sometimes for colts and fillies your age. I imagine your friends have noticed that you're missing now and ponies will be looking for you."
Suddenly Sombra's ears dropped and his gaze turned downwards. "Yeah. Looking for me."
"Hey hey, what's wrong?" Thorax asked, suddenly overwhelmed by the sadness radiating from the colt he moved to comfort him.
"I...can I ask you something?" He asked and I nodded. "Do you have a mom?" I nodded again and he gave me a watery smile. "That's nice. I don't have a mom. Just Twilight for as long as I can remember. I want her to be my mom, but I don't think she wants to. In fact, I don't think she likes me at all. When I look around Ponyville, I see a lot of fillies and colts with loving mothers and fathers and I envy them. I wish that I could have what they have but I can't and that makes me feel worse. I just wish I had a mommy to hold and love me."
As the colt spoke, tears began to gather in his and when it looked like he was going to break down, Thorax gathered him up in his arms and held him as he cried. As the changeling gently rocked backed back and forth, he rubbed a hoof on Sombra's back and whispered small words of comfort in his ear.
"Oh, shh shh. It's okay." He said as cries petered out into hiccups. "Hey, I'm sure someday Twilight will become your mom."
"You really think that?" Sombra sniffed.
"I do. If she's anything like what I've heard about, she'll warm up to you and one day you'll be calling her mommy." Thorax said as he released the colt. Sombra nodded and gave him a small smile.
"What's it like to have a mom?" He asked as he wiped the rest of his tears.
"Oh um, to be honest, I wouldn't really know what it's like to have a loving mother. My mom's not exactly the nurturing type." Thorax smiled awkwardly and Sombra returned his grin.
"That's okay. Maybe someday, when I'm able to, I can tell you what it's like." He offered.
"I look forward to that day," Thorax answered with a slightly more genuine smile and looked down at Sombra's injured hoof. "It looks like you sprained your hoof really badly there. How about we take care of that and then I could take you to Ponyville."
Sombra nodded but when Thorax started to walk away, his eyes widened and he grabbed the changeling's tail. "Wait! Where are you going?"
Thorax looked at him bewildered at the sudden spike in fear from the colt. "Just going to collect some herbs to help with your hoof."
Sombra clung a little tighter to the tail in his arms. "P-please don't leave me. I'm scared of being alone. Especially in this dark, scary, dangerous forest."
Thorax's eyes softened and he gently pried his tail out of the colt's grasp (much to Sombra's chagrin). "How about this, Why don't I leave Dinah here with you and she can keep you company until I get back?"
Sombra glance at the manticore cub in question before turning back to Thorax. "Promise you will come back?" He asked.
"I promise," Thorax confirmed. "You just stay here with Dinah and I'll be right back as soon as possible."
The colt paused and then nodded his consent. As Thorax left the colt, Dinah had attempted to follow by a few stern words from the changeling convinced her to stay. Soon it was just Sombra and the manticore cub awaiting Thorax's return.
"Are you sure that this is the right area?" Applebloom asked and Spike sighed in frustration.
"Yes, I'm sure." Spike huffed. "Twilight was sure this was the area the spell took him and Twilight's never wrong."
"Sorry, Spike. I guess I'm just really worried." The earth pony fretted. "It's been a while now and nopony's found him yet."
At the start of their journey, Spike had grabbed a map with lights that marked where the other search parties were and a couple of flares. The dragon explained that Twilight had instructed that if anyone found Sombra, they were to launch a flare or flare spell to let everyone know. And in the entire time, they had been out here, they hadn't seen one flare.
Spike sighed. "I know. I'm worried too. I just hope he's okay."
"I'm sure he's okay," Scootaloo said confidently. "Little guys tougher than he lets on you know. I'm sure he can hold out until we get to him."
"Yeah, you're right," Spike said with a small smile but he couldn't help the small pit of fear forming in his stomach.
Soon they reached a cluster of dense bushes that they had to crawl through and into a small clearing. As they were brushing themselves off, a hiss made them stop and turn. They shook and fear that had shot through their bodies melted away into confusion when they came face to face with a manticore that barely reached Spike's chest. As they stared at the cub, it continued to hiss and spit at them and would've jumped at them if a familiar voice stopped it.
"Dinah no! Bad girl, not threats!" The cub whimpered at the chastisement and moved to the side of the one who'd shouted and nudged him with the look of a kicked puppy.
"Oh don't worry, I don't really think you're a bad girl." The colt cooed gently as he pets the cub. "You were just protecting me and fortunately I was able to stop you so no harm was done. Good girl. Good girl."
The stunned stupor only lasted a second more before the small search party surged forward with a simultaneous cry to tackle him.
"SOMBRA!"
"Ack!" Was all Sombra got out as he found himself tackled to the ground. The next thing that came out of his mouth was a groan of pain when his injured hoof twinged. The Crusaders didn't notice, but Spike did. The dragon's reaction instantaneous, pushing the other ponies off and pulling Sombra upright.
"Are you okay? Where are you hurt?" He fussed over the colt.
"I'm fine. Just a sprained hoof." Sombra said as he lifted the hoof in question for Spike to examine. "I tripped on something while we were running from the Timberwolves and the next thing I knew I was here."
"Uh Spike, isn't there something we should do now that we've found him?" Sweetie coaxed.
"Ah, that's right!" Spike recalled and pulled out one of the flares. The dragon then loaded into the launcher and with a pull of the trigger, launched the flare.
Twilight's head shot up when the flare blazed in the sky. Using the map and position of the flare, she made quick calculations to pinpoint where they were. Within less than a minute, she figured out where they were and started galloping towards them with her friends close on her heels. However the search parties weren't the only one to see the flare and unfortunately, they were much closer.
"There, now Twilight and the others will be coming," Spike said a little proudly and Sombra's ears perked up.
"Twilight came looking for me?" He asked.
"Are you kidding, I've never seen her so...protective," Spike said and the Crusaders nodded in sync.
"Yep. It was the most terrifying thing I've ever seen in my life." Applebloom said.
"Yeah, no kidding. I swear my life flashed before my very eyes when we were facing her down." Scootaloo added with a shudder. "I'm never doing that again if it means facing mama bear Twilight."
"Agreed." The remaining Crusaders said with a nod.
Sombra was grinning at this point and would've said more when a growl from Dinah interrupted. Thinking that she was growling at the approaching search party, he got ready to tell her to stand down when a deeper growl made the words wither and die in his throat. Green eyes stared at them hungrily from the bushes surrounding them and a huge timberwolf slowly emerged from the bushes in front of Dinah. Everyone's blood ran cold as more Timberwolves emerged.
Dinah continued to growl and hiss at the attacking timberwolves threateningly. The cub then jumped at the lead timberwolf, only to be batted aside and hit a tree hard enough that she was knocked unconscious and fallen into a bush out of sight. The sight of the brutal action snapped the group from their stupors and suddenly Sombra found himself scooped up into Spike's arms.
"Girls, time to go." Was all he said before bolting with the three fillies behind him...followed by a pack of timber wolves.
Ten Minutes Later
"I could've sworn they were here." Twilight murmured as she looked around the empty clearing.
"They were here," Fluttershy announced, drawing the group's attention. As she spoke, she pushed a bush aside to reveal the tracks that they'd hidden. "But then they had to leave."
Twilight's gaze darkened. "Timberwolf tracks." She growled and Fluttershy nodded.
"Alongside some dragon and filly sized tracks." She said softly. "If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that the Crusaders and Spike formed their own search party."
Applejack groaned. "Ah swear when I get my hooves on that filly, I'm going to ground her till she's old enough ta have fillies of her own. Which way did they go Flutters?"
"According to the tracks, I'd say this way." Fluttershy pointed in a direction. At that moment there was a scream that they recognized and it wasn't Spike or the Crusaders.
"MOMMY!"
Something seemed to snap in Twilight when she heard Sombra's distressed scream and before they could completely register it, she was gone in a flash of magic. A few minutes later, a pillar of fire blazed through about sixteen miles of the Everfree forest.
They hadn't gotten very far before they found themselves cornered in a small ravine. Finding too steep to climb, they turned back to the incoming pack, hoping to find an opening only to be disappointed. Seeing no way to run, Spike handed Sombra to Sweetie Belle and pushed the fillies and colt behind him. The dragon then started puffing in an attempt to at least drive them away with his fire breath, but all he was getting were small wisps of flame. Panic was beginning to set in and in his fear, Sombra did the first thing that came to mind. He screamed.
"MOMMY!!"
As if on cue, a flash raspberry color magic blinded both parties present and when their vision cleared, a new pony had arrived. Standing tall and intimidating with her wings spread and horn already preparing a second spell was Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship. And she was pissed.
"You stay away from him." Were the last words the timberwolves heard before their vision exploded into fire.
Finding usable herbs in the Everfree was a lot harder than Thorax thought and the changeling was starting to get worried. He'd left his (hopefully) new friend all alone in the Everfree forest for far too long in his opinion and he was anxious to get back to the little colt before something happened to him. Thorax suddenly let out a 'yipe' when a horizontal pillar of fire exploded behind him, singeing his tail. Instantly the changeling jumped away and turned to watch the admittedly impressive pillar that burned for a moment longer before extinguishing, leaving a few small flames that were quickly vanishing as well.
Thorax glanced around at the damage, seeing a large trench that dug through the Everfree for miles. The changeling was silent for a minute longer before finally voicing his thoughts.
"What in the name of the hive was that?"
Once she was sure that the Timberwolves were no longer a problem, Twilight let out a calming breath as her anger slipped away. The last time she'd gotten angry like that was when Tirek destroyed the Golden Oak library. This time the catalyst was different. She still didn't understand it, but on some subconscious level, she knew that she wasn't going to let anything lay a paw, hoof or claw on him. Finally calm she turned to the small group who were all looking at her with huge eyes.
"Are you all okay?" She asked and they snapped out of their stupor.
"That was...so AWESOME!" Scootaloo gushed and Twilight blushed.
"It was nothing really, Just a simple fire spell." The alicorn replied to the praise.
"Ah've never seen a 'simple fire spell' do that," Applebloom said with a raised brow as her gaze traveled down the deep trench. "You pretty much incinerated those Timberwolves. Um...the Everfree isn't going to catch on fire is it?"
"Oh don't worry, I modified the original spell so that the flames would go out when the spell ended." Twilight explained with a slight puff of her chest. "And even if there were a few stray flames I missed, the Everfree seems to have this sort of defense mechanism to deal with things like this. In fact, I'm already seeing storm clouds gathering. The forest will be just fine."
"Oh good." The earth pony filly sighed in relief and Twilight smiled.
"So what are you girls doing out here anyway?" The alicorn asked.
"We're taking responsibility for our actions!" Scootaloo declared and the other two nodded.
"Yeah, we felt really bad for getting Sombra lost, so we decided to at least try to take responsibility." Sweetie Belle explained. "We kinda snuck away from Granny and went to town to join the search parties, but everyone was already gone except for Spike, so we formed our own search party and we found Sombra!"
Twilight turned to the indicated colt and leaned down so that she was eye level with him, her gaze soft and gentle. "Are you okay?" She asked softly.
Sombra was silent for a moment then let the brightest, happiest smile he'd ever made spread across his face as he threw his legs around her neck with a hum of gratitude and love.
"Mm-hm. I am now."
"Sombra? Dinah? Where are you?" Thorax called as worry began to build in the pit of his stomach when he got no response from either.
A sudden groan drew his attention to a bush and the changeling looked up as the little cub stumbled out of a bush and collapsed at his hooves. Instantly, Thorax pounced on her checking the little cub for injuries. Aside from a bruise on her shoulder and head where she must've hit the tree, Dinah was okay. Now to make sure Sombra was alright.
"Dinah, what happened?" Thorax asked. "Where's Sombra?"
Of course, he didn't really expect a verbal answer as Dinah could only whimper a bit but asking made him feel like he was being thorough. Glancing around the clearing, he spotted tracks that could help him figure out what was going on. So after gently placing Dinah on his back, he then began to study and follow the tracks.
Sombra sighed tiredly as his head hit his pillow. What a day. Shortly after Twilight had rescued them, the others had caught up. It was around this time that Twilight noticed his sprained hoof and had immediately applied a cooling spell. When they returned home, he'd been placed on bed rest and was to keep his hoof as still as possible. Sombra didn't mind much, after today he felt like just relaxing with a book for a long while. A knock at the door brought him out of his musings and he called out a 'come in' to let his visitor in. The door then opened, admitting the Crusaders entrance.
"Hey, Sombra how's your hoof?" Scootaloo asked as soon as they were right next to the bed.
"It's doing better now that I'm home. So what brings you three here?" The colt asked.
"Our sisters wanted us to apologize," Applebloom said. "And even if they didn't, we still wanted to let you know how sorry we are for everything that happened today."
"Yeah, we're really really really Really sorry." Sweetie apologized, all three fillies drooping with guilty.
"Hey, it's okay. I forgive you. I just hope you're sisters weren't too hard on you." The three fillies flinched at Sombra's words.
"Well, they were a little lenient since the second time we went into the Everfree we were not as reckless and were taking responsibility for our mistake." Applebloom started.
"But we're still grounded." Scootaloo finished.
"With extra chores!" Sweetie whined and Sombra winced.
"Sorry." He apologized.
"You have nothing to be sorry about." Applebloom admonished. "We brought it on ourselves."
"Okay, and what about Dinah?" Sombra asked worriedly. While they'd been escorted out of the forest, Sombra managed to tell Fluttershy about the little cub and the pegasus had immediately backtrack to find her. Sombra had been worried for her since and his worry only increased when the Crusaders shook their heads.
"Fluttershy didn't find hide nor hair of her," Applebloom said and Sombra sighed in relief.
"That means Thorax must've found her first." He sighed and the three fillies looked at him curiously.
"Who's Thorax?" Scootaloo asked and Sombra smiled.
"My friend that I met." The colt then launched into an account of what had happened while he'd been lost, at least what he was comfortable with and by the end, the Crusaders were looking at him with wide eyes.
"Wow. You must be super brave to befriend a changeling." Sweetie Belle said in awe. "I could never be that brave. I still get nightmares of the wedding invasion sometimes."
Sombra shrugged. "He wasn't that scary and under the circumstances, I was glad to have the company."
"Yeah, sorry about that again." Scootaloo apologized.
"And again, you are forgiven," Sombra said. "Don't worry so much about it. I actually had fun a bit. And this experience gave me the greatest thing I could ever think of."
"Oh yeah, what's that?" Applebloom asked and Sombra just gave them a mischievous smirk.
"Uh uh uh, that's my little secret." Sombra teased and the Crusaders groaned.
"Aw c'mon." They might have pressed the issue a little more if AJ, Rarity, and Dash hadn't called out for them, indicating that it was time to leave.
"Well, we'd better go now." Applebloom sighed and turned to Sombra. "We'll see you around sometime. No hard feelings?"
Sombra shook his head. "No hard feelings. And if it's alright with you, would you mind if I called you sisters?"
The Crusaders grinned. "Nope! See you, round little brother!" And with that, they dashed out the door. Sombra sighed happily as a warm happy feeling filled him.
"...And then Twilight arrived and incinerated the Timberwolves." Sombra said excitedly as he was recounting events to his ferrets. "You should've seen it, there was a HUGE trench that stretched for miles when she was done with them. And afterward, she came to me and asked if I was okay. It was the most amazing moment of my life. And you know something, I think Thorax is right. Maybe I don't have a mommy now, but I do have somepony who cares for me like a mommy and maybe someday, she'll become my mommy."
YES YES yes yes yes! I have FINALLY finished this chapter! Woo-hoo!! This story still lives and I hope you have enjoyed this chapter I worked really hard to create for you all and I'd like to thank you for your encouragement and infinite patience with me. I'd like to especially thank mobianX for giving me ideas that I have used here. Hopefully there won't be such a large gap between this chapter and the next. Thank you and enjoy!
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Glad to see it's still alive. As enjoyable as ever, looking forward to more.
That chapter though! Truth to be told until now I had feeling that the story don't stand to high. But know I get feeling that it would go better. Also I love how you wrote AJ and cmc.
8110240 I started this story early in my fan writing career and I think I may have improved since then. So thanks!
Wow, this is actually amazing! I really enjoy the writing, and there's already marked improvement from the beginning of the story to this point. There's lots of good foreshadowing and buildup, and I'm excited to see what comes next!
EPIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Keep up the amazing work!!!!!!!!!!!
[KIND GENTLE SMILE]
Unfortunately, Dinah is not canon, so Thorax will not be able to keep her
(I got that joke from DBZ Abridged). Saying that, somehow I imagine Fluttershy is going to have a freak-out when she encounters Dinah and realise the cub is being looked after by a changeling.
Also, c'mon Twilight, search your feelings, you know your momminess to be true
Why wasn't Zecora rhyming? She speaks in rhymes, you know.
8341980
Sorry, I'm not great at rhyming.
Um, a moment ago it was a manticore cub. When did Sombra transform it into a timberwolf pup??
I think this is the first genuine continuity error I've noticed, so not bad!
You suddenly shifted to first person here; everything previous was 3rd person, so I doubt that was intentional.
Before now, most of the mistakes in the story have been of the common typo variety, mixed up punctuation (periods instead of commas, or just nothing instead of commas!) or mixing up your "your" and "you're," or "their," "they're" and "there" a bit.
There were a lot of misuse of the possessive 's instead of the plural s.
You can remember it with this: "One thing, two things, this thing's his thing!"
Keep those in mind, as well, if you ever do go back and proofread the early chapters. :)
I don't know how to express how awed I am! It's so heart warming