Change: Avia

by tom117z

12 - Into the Forest

The sun was finally beginning to set beneath the distant horizon, casting the trail towards the Everfree Forest in a cosy orange glow. The sunset was always quite the sight, one Avia seldom got to see given the hive’s underground nature. As such, the changeling filly often found her gaze drifting off towards that horizon and looking at their fading star.

She’d usually look away a moment afterwards, lest she get spots in the corners of her eyes. But it was breathtaking nonetheless, as well as being a suitable distraction from ruminating on the decidedly unwise action the Cutie Mark Crusaders were about to embark on.

It was time to enter the Everfree Forest.

For better or worse.

Already, the dark forest was looming in the distance. Now Avia was closer to it than she’d ever been before, and she was beginning to notice just how dark it was inside there. While the rest of the world was bathed in that orange sunny aura, the interior of the forest just seemed dark and foreboding. Almost like the light itself was being swallowed up and digested by the ancient locale.

And as they got closer, the darkness just looked worse and worse to the future Queen of the Hive.

“You girls know it’s not too late to turn back, right?” the Princess asked to the others. “Just go back to the library and forget all about this?”

“She ain’t wrong,” Apple Surprise concurred.

“You kidding? It’s right there!” Awesome Blitz protested. “Sure, it’s a little dark. But that’s what you horn heads are for, right? Besides, Avia has that book. We know what we’re doing!”

Avia glanced down towards the saddlebag she wore, feeling the weight of the tome inside. She more or less knew where to go and what to avoid. They would start off by following the trail halfway up to Zecora’s hut, before turning off into the forest and following the map all the way to the Castle of the Two Sisters. The same route in reverse would be used to get back before the raising of the sun by Princess Celestia, who would be arriving soon alongside her sister, Princess Luna.

Yes, the book was probably going to be a lifesaver. She knew to look out for poison joke and other flora with ‘unfortunate’ effects to the unlucky saps who come across them. She also knew a bit more about the denizens of the forest. Manticores were unlikely to attack unless severely agitated or hungry, and their large profile made them easy to spot or hear before it would ever see them, meaning the best way to deal with it was to simply avoid the creature. Rocs would only attack prey entering a clearing, so all of those would need to be avoided. Other creatures all also had a variety of ways to be either warded off or avoided altogether. But the worst of the forest’s inhabitants, even if they weren’t necessarily the most powerful, were the infamous timberwolves.

Pack hunters, and stealthy ones at that. They would always attack a pony upon sighting one, and given the opportunity to do so, simply for the thrill of the hunt and the potential kill. The book recommended that they should listen out for rustling leaves and glowing eyes. If the group were to detect either, they were meant to hide until the threat passed them by. Failing that, lots of loud noises had a chance of scaring the magical creatures off.

And if one were to see them and failed to be intimidated?

Run. Just run.

“Maybe we won’t have to use it…” Sapphire said hopefully. “I mean, maybe we won’t run into anything at all. We’ll just be in and out, and all we have to do is avoid some of the meaner plants.”

“We would have to be a little unlucky to meet a predator…” Avia noted. “But it can happen.”

“You would also need to be really unlucky to get hit by a rogue lightning bolt,” Awesome Blitz said. “We’ll be fine.”

“Lightning bolts don’t have teeth…” Sapphire muttered in turn, shuddering.

“Since the weather isn’t controlled above Everfree, aren’t we more likely to be hit by lightning there over anywhere else?” Avia then asked curiously.

All eyes turned towards Awesome Blitz, who ruffled her wings sheepishly.

“…We’ll be fine!” she proclaimed determinedly, though failed to sound quite as sure as she’d been previously.

Great. Now lightning was added to Avia’s mental checklist of things that could ruin her first Summer Sun Celebration.

Joy.

The forest was really quite close now, the dark trees standing ominously over the group of four equine children in almost a warning fashion. The path they were on continued into the forest dead ahead, something that was by far the safest route through the wooded area. Perhaps the only actual safe trail, one which animals of the forest seldom breached.

Avia would savour every moment they had on it, before they plunged right into the deep end.

They then came to a complete halt right at the forest’s entrance, staring off down the long pathway ahead. Even though there was enough of a gap above the path to allow sunlight in, it was still notably darker down there than it was outside, even more so the deeper in it got. As far as they could see from the entrance, anyway.

“I’m getting creeped out already,” Sapphire said in a worried tone.

“And this is the safe bit,” Apple Surprise pointed out. “If Aunt Apple Bloom could walk this path as a filly, we all can.”

It was just the bit after that was a little more… untested.

Well, there was no time like the present.

Avia took a step forward and suddenly found herself beneath the first trees of the Everfree Forest. She let that information sink in for a moment, and then found herself unable to suppress a grin that came along with a childish glee that she was doing something that would make her mother very unhappy.

Rebellion!

“Come on, girls!” Avia said to the others, turning to face the rest of the CMC while suddenly feeling a whole lot more cheerful from the odd euphoria that came with rule breaking. “Let’s go!”

Awesome Blitz was next to follow Avia inside, hopping over the border line and standing next to the changeling nymph. Apple Surprise and Sapphire then glanced towards one another, and after an eye roll from the former they both entered at the same time.

All the Cutie Mark Crusaders were now in the forest, and they started off down the trail together.

Down the pathway they trotted, deeper and deeper into the deep recesses of the legendary and equally ancient forest. As they moved forwards the density of the trees and general foliage seemed to get thicker and thicker and the already fading light seemed to become stifled and lame, even along the general safety of the trail. That fact wasn’t helped by the sun’s rapid descent, and soon enough the night arrived and finished darkness’ arrival, only the stars left to provide even a modicum of light, the moon obscured by the vast number of trees around them.

Around this point Avia and Sapphire lit their horns, letting their respective blue glows reveal the surrounding area while preventing them from blindly wandering into the forest too soon. But even with them, the sheer blackness of the forest made the fillies clump together in a huddle and nervously react to every single perceived movement in the corner of their eyes.

The occasional hoot of an owl, and the rustling of rodents in the bushes, did little to calm the four of them.

“Why did we go at night again…?” Apple Surprise asked nervously, giving off a chuckle that did nothing to hide her building terror. “Seems like a mighty big mistake, don’t it…?”

“Because Avia wanted to do research first,” Awesome Blitz replied.

“Which might save our lives!” Avia retorted.

“Please don’t argue in the middle of the scary evil forest,” Sapphire begged. “I don’t want a dragon to hear us.”

“Dragons wouldn’t be a problem,” Avia muttered in turn. “Dragons are people. Dragons you can talk to. I’m more worried about one of other things in here finding us.”

“Well, we’re still on the trail so we’re safe,” Apple Surprise pointed out. “And I’m starting to think we should stay here.”

“We can’t, not if we want to see the castle,” the pegasus of the group rebuffed. “J-just, let’s stay close, okay? I’m getting a little creeped out here.”

“Only just now?” her earth pony friend deadpanned.

“Shut up, Apple Surprise.”

As the two glared accusingly at one another, Avia levitated the book from her saddlebag and flipped over to the map of the forest. There was a sheet of paper tucked inside that contained the changeling princess’ own notes and diagrams made on the route to take, and she looked specifically where they would need to make a turn.

And it was coming far sooner than she would have liked. Or perhaps it would be better, getting it over and done with before anything had the chance to snack on them.

Maybe Avia just had to stop thinking of all the ways they could perish and instead focus on not.

“We’re turning right just up ahead,” Avia informed the others, biting her lip as she did so. “We should come up to a river; after that, we need to cross it - good thing some of us can fly. From there it should be a straight shot to the Castle of the Two Sisters.”

“Alright, fillies, let’s do as Avia says,” Awesome Blitz said, stopping at where Avia had pointed out as being their turn off point and looking off into the black. “One hoof at a time…”

And then the trail was gone, and it was only the sodden and muddy floor of the forest beneath them.

The trees and their thick leaves now completely covered up the sky above, leaving them only the occasional gap to glance up at the stars through. The magic of Avia and Sapphire’s horns was the only thing stopping them from bumping into every tree and falling into every ditch, and at one point barely they illuminated a patch of poison joke in time before the group walked right into it.

A lucky break. Too lucky for their liking.

Still, they were making progress as time ticked on. And aside from the poison joke incident they hadn’t run into a single other threat the book had described to them. Sure, they did hear the occasional howl or growl coming from deep within the Everfree Forest, but none of them appeared to be in their general vicinity. At the rate they were going, they could reach the castle and have a good explore as well as get back to Ponyville with some small amount of time to spare before the celebration’s climax.

That was the idea, anyway.

The river that Princess Avia mentioned was found shortly thereafter. The forest opened up a little to mark its passage, the leaves above parting just enough that the sky became visible again. Though only around as much as they had been back on the trail.

Fortunately, swimming wasn’t necessary. Despite a small degree of strain to do so, Awesome Blitz and Avia took to the air and each carried Apple Surprise and Sapphire across the gap, telekinesis from both the changeling and unicorn helping lighten the load somewhat.

And when they landed they took a moment to catch their breath, looking back at the slow running river passing through the forest. It was during this time that they came to appreciate just how silent everything had become. None of them could be certain when it happened, but somewhere down the line the chatter of distant wildlife and even the rustling of leaves in the wind seemed to have died away completely. Now only a deafening silence echoed around them, filling their ears with a complete nothingness that actually made them wish for the howls and growls to return.

In the moments that followed, Avia was reminded of an old saying…

Be careful what you wish for.

All four fillies gave a squeak of fear as a growl came from somewhere close by, all four of them huddling closer together as they all looked outwards at all that surrounded them. The noise didn’t appear to be coming from the forest ahead of them, but in fact was coming back from the other side of the river.

And when they looked towards the source, they saw two bright glowing green eyes staring at them from the treeline.

And then two more appear. And another two.

All in all, six pairs of eyes stared out at them from the forest like it itself had come alive.

And then, in quick succession as the fillies could only watch in horror, they began to emerge into view. Canines of wood and magic, vines swirling around their bodies as their splintered teeth seemed to shine despite their wooden nature. The pack of timberwolves all cautiously moved to the water’s edge, sniffing the air and glaring at the fillies on the other side.

“Eh-heh, right… Okay…” Awesome Blitz fearfully said. “Those are timberwolves… Real life timberwolves!”

“W-what are they doing...?” Sapphire asked.

“It’s okay, I think…” Avia said hopefully, reluctantly splitting from the other huddled foals and trotting to the edge of the water on their side of the river. “They can’t fly, so they can’t reach us. We’re safe.”

“Well, I’m mighty relieved…” Apple Surprise murmured, though didn’t break away from the other two young ponies. “Can we go now…?”

“We should g-get to t-the castle,” the shivering pegasus latched onto Apple Surprise stuttered. “Maybe then they’d lose interest for when we need to come back this way…”

“Yeah, good idea…” Avia said as she watched the wolves begin to back away from the edge of the river, before turning back to her friends.

Only for all three of them to give a startled scream that caused Avia to shoot back around to the timberwolves.

The magic creatures had charged forwards from where they’d backed up to, and in one mighty leap they all propelled themselves over the river towards the fillies!

“RUN!”

Avia scampered away from the river just as the timberwolves landed on their side, barrelling into the trees as she screamed while the creatures snapped and snarled in an attempt to catch their meal. Through the trees the changeling went, not stopping as tears began to well up in the corners of her eyes and the chitin on her face became scratched by the plants she barged through without a second thought. She could hear the wooden canines behind her, and refused to stop running as the adrenaline kicked in.

“MUM, HELP! PLEASE!”

“Avia? What’s happening?” Twilight responded in a panicked tone over the hive mind, getting no reply as the filly continued to run. “AVIA!?”

Then her hoof snagged on something, Avia releasing a bad adult word as she fell face first into the dirt and rolled into a small ditch in the ground.

“Ow…” she moaned, slowly rising to her hooves as she gave a small sob of both pain and fear.

Taking a quick look around, she realised with ever-increasing horror that her friends were nowhere to be seen. What was more, she could still hear the timberwolves running through the forest behind her in their continued pursuit.

Gritting her teeth, Avia stretched out her wings and prepared to take to the skies and get the hay out of the hellish forest right then and there!

Only for a stab of pain to come from her right wing, and she immediately realised that she’d sprained it during her fall. It hurt so bad! Even attempting to enter flight sent a searing pain through her whole body!

And then the first timberwolf shot out from the trees, Avia screaming as she saw its fangs bearing down on her with intent to finish the nymph’s life in one fell swoop.

Her horn instinctively lit up, and the filly fell down into a fiery portal that exited outside of the ditch and propelled her into the air. From there, Avia landed with a thud as the timberwolf landed atop the portal with half its body submerged.

Then the portal closed, and the creature was cut clean in half.

Any consideration and mortification the nymph might have had towards unintentional killing the magic-based animal was short-lived, however, seeing as the rest of its pack was only incensed by the death of one of their own. The filly was forced to scamper up and flee once more as the other timberwolves all charged over the ditch to reach the changeling, and she pushed her legs as far as they and her desperation would carry her.

She ducked and weaved through all the trees she could, jumping over plants and further ditches that if she got caught in would spell her certain doom. And the timberwolves were not ones to give up and seemed set on continuing their pursuit until the changeling nymph either made a mistake or tripped on something.

Either was a likely option, and in the back of Avia’s mind she knew that the wolves would be able to keep the chase up far longer than she.

But she wasn’t done just yet. Avia hopped around another patch of poison joke as well as a couple bewildered jackalopes that watched it all from the safety of their burrow. She spotted a broken tree trunk up ahead, and as she approached the stump she jumped atop of it before leaping ahead to a low hanging branch on a following tree. She gave a sudden flap of her wings to help propel the lunge, sending another agonising wave and pain through her nerves and eliciting a scream from the filly.

It worked though. She latched onto the lower branch as her pursuers all ran around to circle the tree, the head of the pack shooting forwards and leaping to try and take a bit out of the nymph’s hanging hind legs.

The snap bit into thin air, Avia swinging herself up to the branch and desperately attempting to climb to the next one up, intent on getting as high above the wolves as possible.

Unfortunately, the one who’d taken a bite at her wasn’t yet done. It jumped onto the trunk and latched its claws into the bark, beginning to climb up the tree!

“Oh, come on!”

It took almost no time at all for the timberwolf to reach Avia’s branch, making another snap at the Princess that she barely avoided. Her plan of climbing to safety had been ruined, so running was once again her only option. But the pack now circled the whole tree, and yet if she didn’t jump the climber would get her first!

“Go away!” she screamed as the wolf made to bite at her again, bucking out with her hind hooves and striking the canine in the face.

It fell from the tree, landing straight onto one of the other timberwolves that was circling around it in that foreboding manner.

Just the chance Avia needed.

In completely tunnel vision, her only goal being to stay alive, Avia jumped from the tree and hopped over the two scrambling wolves as the others all darted towards her. Fortunately, the gap she’d created in their perimeter allowed her barely enough time to get underway and keep up the chase.

But they still wouldn’t leave her be, and even the two she’d knocked down had gotten back up. She swore at any minute the adrenaline would fade from her body and she’d go down like a shell full of timberwolf food, which was an image that only prompted her to run ever so slightly faster.

The forest seemed to go on forever, as did the chase. Like this was how things were now, and she’d never see the face of her mother ever again…

And then she saw something she didn’t expect.

The sky.

Avia had emerged out of nowhere into a massive clearing bordering a ravine that cut right through the forest. An old rope bridge sat nearby, and on the other side of it sat a gigantic stone ruin that was surrounded by the Everfree in all direction.

The Castle of the Two Sisters.

Avia didn’t stop to register more than that, all too aware that neither would the timberwolves. Instead, she made a beeline for the bridge as she heard the barking of the timberwolves shooting out of the tree line behind her. Any concern for the safety and stability of the bridge came secondary to her escape, and she barrelled across the rickety wooden platform until she reached the other side.

She didn’t look back as she sprinted towards the stone structure, finding the closest doorway and charging inside.

The hallway she found herself in was crumbling and sparse, all subsequent doorways long without the doors that once enclosed them. But Avia kept running, moving down the hallway as fast as she could while taking twists and turns completely at random. She didn’t know if she’d lost the timberwolves inside the castle, or if they’d even given up, she only knew she had to keep going until she could go no more.

Some old tapestries, suits of archaic armour and other remnants of bygone times were passed in a blur. Door after door. Hall after hall. Avia stopped for nothing.

And then she emerged through a particularly large doorway into a vast room, only to realise that she could run no more.

The room she’d run into was a dead end. The room was tall and elongated, empty window frames lining the large chamber into a deadly drop for someone without the use of their wings. Two dilapidated thrones sat at the end on raised platforms, one blue and one golden. Tattered tapestries of the sun and moon flanked the throne and looked easily newer than anything else in the old throne room but had since been also ruined. Likely from exposure to the elements, not helped by the completely open roof that had long since crumbled inwards.

A dead end.

Avia had nowhere to go back the way she came, but the moment she turned towards the throne room’s entrance she stopped dead alongside her heart.

Five timberwolves all prowled through the door, growling and snarling as they blocked off Avia’s only means of escape. She backed up, glancing in consideration towards the open windows before something else caught her eye.

Another timberwolf emerged through the door, but one quite unlike the others. No, this one was huge. It towered over all others, who seemed to back away respectfully as it arrived.

‘Where did that one come from!?’ Avia screamed inwardly, shivering in fear as the giant timberwolf gave her a glare even more petrifying than that of its underlings.

The wolf growled, stepping forwards in a stalking manner as Avia backed away towards the two thrones. It was toying with her, confident that the nymph had nowhere else to run with the others blocking her only viable method of escape. So, it took one step forward at a time and didn’t stop until Avia had backed up the steps and intersecting herself protectively in between the two thrones.

Then there was a loud thud as something impacted up above, dislodging some pieces of rubble from the decayed walls.

The giant timberwolf only had time to look up in question before a deafening boom heralded the torrent of green flames that shot out and consumed the creature whole.

The timberwolf howled in pain as it burst into flames, writhing and snapping wildly as it practically bounced off the walls in an attempt to get back at whatever had set it alight.

Only for a large beam of lavender magic to strike the flaming wolf and shatter its already charred and brittle body, much to the surprise and shock of the other five wolves.

From the hole in the ceiling, as Avia and the wolves all looked up with wide eyes, an equine figure flew down and into the throne room. It was a Changeling Queen whose eyes glowed white with pure magic and fury, her horn sparking with the same lavender aura that had finished off the large wolf while a visage of pure rage adorned her features. Above the Queen also loomed a large purple and green dragon from which the flames had come, a smaller changeling than the first also standing atop the dragon’s great head in full blue guard armour with a sword held in his magic.

“Get. Away. From. My. DAUGHTER!” Queen Twilight Sparkle’s bellow carried throughout the entire castle, and all knew of her incoming vengeance.

Shaking off their shock, the other five wolves all gave howls of challenge as they charged the Changeling Queen as a pack. For their bravado, the Queen shot forward with magic surging through her body as Façade jumped from Spike’s head and chose a target.

Twilight landed first, and in a slam that was like a comet strike she immediately scattered the entire pack and sent them sprawling across the cold stone floor. Two recovered far quicker than the others, and after rolling to their wooden paws they both made a lunge at the changeling. It was their last mistake, however, as two blades of pure magic formed and bisected both timberwolves as they came into range.

As this happened, Façade landed on one of the downed wolves and took its head with one precise swipe from his blade. The rest of its body went limp and the green magic aura bled away and dissipated in the air.

The final two wolves tried to scramble back up, only for their tails to be snagged in Twilight’s magic as she dragged them towards her. They thrashed and struggled, one managing to stop itself by digging its claws into the ground. For that, Twilight leg go off both and charged her magic into a powerful bolt of combat magic, which she fired at the defiant wolf and shattered it into thousands of wooden shards.

She then turned back to the final wolf in a split second, levitating it upwards as it yelped before she threw it high up into the air.

Spike snatched the timberwolf out of the air, crunching loudly as he devoured the beast and swallowed it whole. The creature never stood a chance against the biting force of the dragon, and its life was extinguished before it ever reached the stomach.

And with that, all fell silent.

“Bleh, wood isn’t what I’d call appetising,” he complained, sticking out his tongue and wiping away remaining wooden debris. “Ew…”

“Avia!?” Façade called out, dropping his sword to the ground and looking around for the filly.

He spotted a small form poke its head out from behind Princess Luna’s old throne, tears streaming down her face as the nymph gave a hic between sobs.

“D-Daddy!” Avia cried out, rushing from the throne and into her father’s relieved hooves.

And there he held her, the Princess bawling her eyes out into her father’s chest as she did his best to comfort the beyond terrified changeling filly. And it was in that embrace that they remained for several moments, watched by Spike and a nearby Twilight who was slowly calming herself down to a tolerable level. The Queen made sure to utilise the old breathing technique Cadance taught her oh so long ago, before letting out a breath and approaching her husband and child.

“Avia…” Twilight said softly, and yet sternly. “What were you thinking, you… you could have been killed!”

“I’m sorry…” Avia whimpered, screwing her eyes shut as she shook dreadfully. “I’m sorry….”

Twilight couldn’t stop a small sob of her own as she gently took Avia from Façade and hugged her as gently as she could. “Please don’t do that, Avia… If I’d lost you, like I’d lost her…”

“Your Highness!” another voice called out, and Avia glanced off to the side between her tears to see Captain Vladimir and Captain Broad Sword enter with a contingent of royal guard. In the middle of all of them, though, was a familiar trio of fillies. “We got them.”

“Girls!” Avia cried out, not removing herself from her mother’s grasp, but watching as they split from their guard escort and bolted towards the changelings. “Y-you’re okay…”

“Y-yeah, those guards saved us!” Awesome Blitz explained.

“Y-yeah, but after we lost sight of you we… we thought…” Sapphire didn’t finish that sentence, instead giving a loud sniff amidst her distress.

“You sure had us worried there,” Apple Surprise said in no small amount of relief. “You look plum tuckered out, if I do say so myself.”

“Where were they?” Spike asked from up above.

“We saw them enter a clearing a little ways south of here,” Broad Sword responded. “They had four of those wolves on their tails.”

“But they weren’t expecting us, they were a quick mop up,” Vladimir added. “Is everything okay here?”

“We cleaned up the mess,” Façade answered, sighing heavily. “Five wolves and a king. By the hives, of all the things for her to do…”

“I’m sorry…” Avia repeated again.

“It’s my fault…” Awesome Blitz claimed, looking downcast and all around guilty. “I convinced the others to come, we just wanted to see the castle.”

“No, it’s mine,” Apple Surprise refuted, scuffing the floor with a hoof. “I’m supposed to keep the CMC in line. I didn’t do that…”

“No, it’s mine!” Sapphire further claimed. “I knew this was a stupid idea, but I came anyway!”

“So did I…” Avia muttered. “The book didn’t come close to preparing us, did it? Oh, I’m a Princess, I should have been the responsible one…”

“I think we all should have been responsible,” Awesome Blitz admitted. “We shouldn’t have come here. Not without an adult, anyway.”

“And I guess I shouldn’t have caved in to the peer pressure,” Avia noted sadly. “I just… You’re my first pony friends my age, I wanted to make a good impression…”

“I guess it’s okay to say no to your friends when they’re doing something dangerous or you’re not comfortable with,” Apple Surprise mused.

“And a friend shouldn’t force another to do it anyway,” Awesome Blitz concluded.

Despite it all, Twilight smiled. “Well then, I guess you all learned some valuable lessons in both responsibility and friendship from this, if nothing else. I’m sure your punishments can be discussed later, but at the very least I expect a friendship report on what you’ve learned from all four of you. Okay?”

All four fillies nodded.

“It’s a good thing that draconequus knew where to find you, or it would have been a short-lived lesson,” Vladimir quipped.

“Discord…?” Avia said questioningly.

“After your call, and none of the hive knew where you were, he appeared and said you might have gone up here,” Twilight explained. “But more on that when we get back to the library. You may have learned your lesson, but we still need to talk about this little incident with your respective parents. I’m afraid you’re not going to get off lightly for putting yourself in such unnecessary danger.”

“But… what about the celebration…?” Sapphire asked sadly.

Twilight sighed. “We’ll talk about it back at the library. For now, come on. We need to get you home safe and sound.”

Comments

[JMP]

Well, glad it worked out. The girls seem to have learned their lesson, at least.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

9159289
Agreed...

[harts fire]

yep defiantly the CMC just less tree sap.

[DavisSentoV5]

Talk about cutting close there

[Lord King Cocoon]

Well, that was rather convenient that Discord seemed to know where they might be. It's almost as if he gave them the idea in the first place.

9159705
Well, less sap stuck to the CMC anyway. But I'm sure how much sap the Timberwolves had more than made up for it.

[tsaukpaetra]

“I think we all should have been responsible,” Awesome Blitz admitted. “We shouldn’t have come here. Not without an adult, anyway.”

THANK YOU!!!!

[Rising Shine]

Welp, so much about cute and innocent story D: Tough knowing the last fic will be more like the first 2, that certainly was not going to be there closest time to death and fear. At least for Avia

[Glados Aperature]

You're all missing the point. Discord set them up, THEN played hero. He made Avia and Blitz very curious about the castle, and then when they nearly get killed near it, WHO tells Twilight where they went?

[tom117z]

9693251
Discord doesn't care about being a hero. He's just a willfully chaotic idiot.

[9543]

9693319
i had a answer but it was weird so you get a giant red b

B

[KatieBreeze]

“No, it’s mine!” Sapphire further claimed. “I knew this was a stupid idea, but I came anyway!”

"I am Spartacus!"

Aaaa, a friendship lesson!