Shadows of Friendship

by Codex

Dangerous Advances

“You’re okay?” Twilight asked as she cantered over to Rainbow’s side and looked her over, as if needing to check she was okay for herself. The pale blue, rather soggy pegasus let out a slightly shaky laugh and nodded.

“Yeah, takes more than a little water to keep me down.” She looked a little less confident then she sounded, but it was enough for Twilight for now. “At least we know you can transform without passing out.”

The unicorn tried not to frown at that. She had guessed that she had changed form somehow again, but once again she could not remember it. She did not say anything though, the others had enough in their minds without worrying about her. It was quite plausible that the stress of the transformation was why her mind blocked out what happened while she was an Alicorn, but she needed to find a way around it. That was something she did not have time to work on now, though, not while they were in the middle of Nightmare Moon’s ‘game.’

“You sure you’re alright to carry on?” Twilight pressed, concerned for the pegasus only to get a scornful look in return.

“I’d better be, there’s no going back, remember?” Rainbow reminded her, “We’re trapped until we win. Besides, I think I saw a path that will take us straight to the castle while I was outstripping those pegasi.”

That caused a cheer amongst Rainbow’s friends. They were all getting tired, having stayed up all night and been busy preparing the previous day and there was not one amongst them that did not hope to get this finished soon and get back to civilisation and their nice warm beds soon.

“Lead the way, Rainbow.” Twilight told her, causing the pale blue pegasus to salute her with a cheeky grin before she lifted off, clearly favouring one side as she went. Applejack and Twilight shared a worried glance as Rainbow started gliding in the direction that they needed to go but neither said a word in order to prevent the others becoming concerned. Instead they followed Rainbow as she flew overhead.

The path the filly took sent them up a narrow cliff path and more than once they had to watch their footing as the edge crumbled away to reveal a rather nasty drop. Not for the first time did Twilight envy the pegusi their wings as Fluttershy took to the skies the first time she nearly slipped and stayed there and Rainbow Dash stayed above and kept guiding them forward.

She was not the only one who wished she had wings, Applejack admitted about halfway up the cliff face, looking a bit nervous as she peered over the edge into the mist below that was a strange mix of the black and purple of the Shadows and the white of pure, natural fog. “Not that I mind heights.” The orange earth pony explained as they climbed, even Pinkie being careful as they went, “But I prefer ma feet on the ground, or at leas’ on somethin’ solid, yer know?”

Twilight did know and she nodded her agreement as Rarity piped up, “This isn’t my idea of fun either, darling.” She added, nerves clear in her tone, “Why build a castle out here in the middle of nowhere?”

“It’s been ‘bout a thousan’ years since it were used, right, Twilight?” Applejack asked, startling Twilight who had not thought the others had been paying that much attention to what she had been saying on their way through the first part of the forest. She nodded and the earth filly turned back to the white unicorn, “So its probably overgrown by now. Bet it were something special when the Princesses were ‘ere.”

“Wouldn’t envy the gardeners though.” Twilight muttered. She did not realise that she had been speaking out loud until she heard Fluttershy giggle and Rarity snigger in a rather unladylike fashion. She blushed, embarrassed, but none of the others seemed to mind. Instead it lifted the mood a little as they traversed the dangerous terrain.

About halfway up the path, Rarity thought to ask a question that no one else had dared, “Twilight, dear?” She asked, her tone hesitant, “Are you really an Alicorn or a unicorn?”

“Unicorn.” Twilight told her firmly, certain of that fact. She had been a unicorn her entire life and she had never heard of any pony doing what she could do and change themselves into an Alicorn and back again. There had not been anything in her books that had suggested that it was even possible to do the change once, yet alone twice. “I was born a unicorn but I think...” She bit her lip, trying to work out how to explain her theory to the others without sounding quite mad.

“Is it your pendant?” Pinkie asked without preramble. The pink earth pony was as blunt as ever and Twilight welcomed it as it meant someone elsehad brought up the theory that it was something to do with the ancient artefact she was wearing. “Cause it flashes every time you change or get really mad or upset.”

“I think so.” Twilight nodded, “I only finished it last night, so I don’t know everything it does, but it’s quite possible. Especially when you consider the legends around it.”

“Legends?” Fluttershy asked nervously, having been keeping close enough to hear every word.

That led Twilight into explaining all the stories that dam-sire had told her, though she tried to stick to the better ones. She was really getting into one of them when Rainbow yelled down, “Watch out!” and they heard the cry of a huge bird.

The group on the cliff did not get a chance to react before the source of the call was on them, raking the path with its humongous great talons. They were lucky in one respect. The huge blue feathered creature was too big to grab any of them properly, but they were still swept in different directions as they were knocked about.

Twilight let out a startled and horrified cry as her back legs left the relatively solid floor behind and she slid down the cliff face a few feet, leaving her on her own on the ledge below her friends and unable to see them for the thick fog.

“Dun worry Twi,” Applejack called down to her, “We’re comin’ to get ya.”

“No!” Twilight whinnied back unable to hear the bird except for a slight whistling in the air and not wanting her friends to risk themselves for her, “Head up, I’ll join you.”

“But...” Further discussion was cut off by the bird swooping in for another attempt. Twilight heard Fluttershy yelp and Applejack snap, “No yer don’t, yer feathered menace!” before there was sound of hooves connecting with something hard.

With a painful screech the bird went tumbling down the ledge, nearly hitting Twilight on its way down and fell further again, below the fog line. The unicorn peered over the edge, trying to see it but there was too much mist in the way for her to see what had happened.

“Twilight? Yer okay?” Applejack bellowed down to her, sounding worried. “Where’re ya?”

Twilight thought for a moment then sent up a flare of light, an emergency beacon that had been the first thing that Celestia had ever taught her, just in case something happened. At the time she had not seen the use for it, but now, with her friends out of sight, she recognised that it would help.

The burst of purple light that her power manifested bathed the area in a slightly eerie glow, but allowed the ponies on the trail to see each other. Pinkie Pie waved down to Twilight who could not help but smile ruefully and wave back.

Applejack started tying her rope around herself as Twilight tried to work out how far up the side of the cliff she could get via her ledge. The answer was not very far and the unicorn let out a frustrated huff. She had been learning a teleportation spell when Celestia had stopped her studies for the holiday and she was not sure how confident she was that she would be able to cast it and not put herself a couple of foot to the left or right. Appearing in the middle of the rock face would be a gruesome way to go and would not aid anyone and placing herself in midair would be just as bad.

Twilight’s train of thoughts derailed when Applejack threw the other end of the rope down to her. “Tie it roun’ yerself.” The earth pony filly called down, “I’ll pull ya up.”

Twilight was not too sure about it. She knew Applejack was supposedly very strong, Pinkie had mentioned her strength being impressive several times and part of being an earth pony was being stronger than the other two types, but she was not sure that it would be enough to manage her weight. Still she followed direction, trusting her friend and let out a startled yelp as her hooves left the floor.

She was a few yards off of being safely on the higher ledge when there was a deafening screech and the bird was on them, seizing the rope and dragging both Twilight and Applejack into the air. Neither pony knew what to do as they were pulled higher and higher into the air, easily losing their other friends in the fog. The only one that managed to keep up with the bird was Rainbow Dash and even she struggled a little with her injuries.

Twilight kind of wanted to demand that the bird put them down, but she had no idea how far it was to the floor below and she did not have wings. Her Alicorn form did but she did not know how to cause the change and she refused to risk another pony’s life on a whim. Applejack seemed to be of a similar mind as she remained silent right up until they passed a ridge and the bird let go, dropping them both. They only fell a foot before they connected with solid ground, but it felt like a blessing to both ground bound ponies. A tainted one as the huge bird landed in front of them and squawked at them furiously, pecking at the air just in front of them, but a blessing none the less.

“What is tha’ bird?” Applejack asked as she narrowly avoided being pierced by the huge beak, which snapped the rope connecting the two ponies.

Twilight laughed, a nervous, slightly hysterical laugh as she realised she did not know. Once again she did not know something important. This whole day so far had been full of things she did not know or could not remember and she was going a little bit crazy because of it. She was the one with the answers, she never ever either did not have answers or could not find them out. “I don’t know, I really don’t know...”

“I do.” Rainbow called as she hovered between Applejack and Twilight, glaring at the huge clearly carnivorous bird before her, “It’s a winged-beast. A duel monster, just like those Silver Fang. Must be the third task.”

They did not have a chance to discuss further as the duel monster in question took off, the down draft nearly knocking both non-winged ponies off of the ridge and sending Rainbow Dash tumbling through the air. Twilight saved her from being pierced by the sharp beak of the worrying quick, but not very agile bird by blasting the winged-beast with a bolt of her magic. It let out a screech and tumbled a few feet and by the time it had righted itself, so had Rainbow.

The pale blue pegasus swooped over the heads of Applejack and Twilight as she tried to row for height, only to find that she did not have the strength left in her to manage more than a few yards higher. That was fine though as Applejack managed to tie the cut rope together and make a lasso that she used to catch one of the creature’s legs as it chased her. Twilight grabbed her as she started sliding forward and tried to prevent the bird taking off with them holding onto the rope by conjuring a heavy weight that she tied to the end with her magic. It helped a little, giving Rainbow a chance to buck the bird in one of its eyes, causing it to let out an agonised screech and lash out at everything in range. The rope snapped again and both earth pony and unicorn went tumbling as the now half-blind duel monster tried to eat Rainbow.

The pegasus was no foal and knew she could not outrun the bird as she was. Instead she took cover in a narrow cave that provided enough cover that the winged-beast would not be able to get her.

“Hey!” Twilight yelled, casting another beam at the duel monster and fumbling for her deck, aware of at least one thing within it that could fly, “Leave her alone!”

“I think yer made it mad.” Applejack commented nervously as its head snapped around and it narrowed its one good eye at them, as if deciding that it really did not like them and they looked tasty. The screech it let out as it turned towards them, deciding to come back for Rainbow Dash, was deafening and all three ponies covered their ears with their hooves to try and block out the high pitched squawk.

That gave the bird the opening it needed, allowing it to rake the ridge and seize Twilight in its talons. The unicorn let out a terrified and pained cry as she was once again wrenched from the solid ground, this time crushed in a painfully tight grip.

This was it. She had not only failed to beat Nightmare Moon’s trials, not only failed Princess Celestia when she had been counting on her, but she was going to die here. She could not breathe with the talons squeezing her so hard and even if she could, the fall when the bird dropped her would kill her.

“Hey!” Twilight let out a sharp squeak as Fluttershy of all ponies flew up in the bird’s face. She could not see what was going on, but she could hear that the normally placid and sweet pegasus was furious, “You do not hurt my friends!”

The winged-beast hovered in place, its grip loosening slightly as it squawked at her furiously.

“No. You put her down right now!” Fluttershy snapped, her tone sharp and stern. Twilight could almost imagine her pointing at the ground with her hoof.

The bird shook its great head and yet its grip loosened again and Twilight found herself having to adjust herself so she did not slip between the claws and fall to her doom.

“Put. Her. Down.” Fluttershy demanded again. The unicorn was stunned as the bird actually chirped, the tone sounding apologetic as it moved towards the rock below. Fluttershy descended with it, moving into Twilight’s field of vision and look she was giving the creature explained its sudden obedience. Twilight herself would not want to disobey the pegasus if she was looking at her the way she was staring at the winged-beast.

It slowly and carefully released Twilight onto the ground and bowed its head apologetically before taking off, the down beat blowing everypony back as it took off into the sky. Twilight was surprised to see a rather frazzled looking Rarity and a slightly less bouncy than normal Pinkie Pie were there too.

“We…caught up…” Rarity panted at her, her normally well groomed and perfectly quaffed mane and tail in complete disarray. “Are…you okay?”

“I’m fine, thanks to Fluttershy.” Twilight looked over at the embarrassed looking pegasus who cantered over to her side, a sheepish smile on her face.

“I just didn’t want him to eat you…” Flutershy practically whispered and scuffed the floor with her hoof.

“Well thank you.” Twilight smiled brightly at her and got to see Fluttershy perk up a little. “We should keep going.”

“Hold yer horses.” Applejack put herself in the way and frowned at Twilight, “How come yer didn’t change or cast a spell at that bird when we got grabbed?”

“I…” Twilight looked almost as embarrassed as Fluttershy as she admitted, “I don’t know how and I didn’t want to get you hurt.”

“What do you mean you don’t know how?” Dash demanded. “You’re the one transforming…”

“I don’t know.” Twilight admitted, though she was frightened to do so, staring at her hooves rather than look at the others, “I’m not…I don’t change because I want to, it just happens. I don’t remember what happens when I’m an alicorn, it’s like I’m not even me.”

“You can’t be serious, darling.” Rarity stared at her as Twilight flinched.

“You’re tellin’ me you don’ remember anythin’ that happened with Nightmare Moon? Or what happened with tha’ pegasus pony?” Applejack asked, confused.

Twilight shook her head, still not daring to look up at the others. “It’s the puzzle. It changes me. It must do because I’ve never learned anything that could do it and I didn’t even think it was possible before you told me I’d done it. I have no idea what I did while I wasn’t me and it scares me. I don’t want to hurt any of you…”

“Tha’s jus’ foalish.” Applejack’s scolding tone made Twilight look up in shock, “You ain’ done anythin’ tha would harm us and even if yer don’ remember wha’ yer did, it’s still ya in there when yer in yer other form. If yer afraid o’ changin’ yer won’ do it when we’re facing Nightmare Moon. We’re not scared of yer and you won’ hurt us so do wha’ yer need to.”

“Applejack…” Twilight started, trailing off as she tried to work out how to respond to that.

“Trust us.” Applejack huffed at her, “Yer not alone and we can handle yer Princess form.” She paused and then looked embarrassed, “Not tha’ I’m sorry yer didn’ transform. Yer wings in yer other form are so badly damaged I dun think ya could fly anyway.”

“They are?” Twilight was surprised as Rarity nudged her from behind, getting her moving again.

“Yeah,” Dash nodded as she led the way, saving her strength for later, “Don’t know why though.” She commented as she reached a bridge.

“Ask me.” Twilight suggested, “If I change again I mean. I don’t know why my wings are like that when I’m…different.” They reached the rickety wooden bridge across the gorge and Twilight stopped again.

She was not the only one. No one look particularly happy. Halfway across the bridge the fog thickened even further, to the point it practically formed a solid wall across their path.

“So…what do you think is across there?” Rarity asked nervously, pacing side to side as she stared across into the mist, trying to peer through it to the other side.

“Task four, probably.” Twilight worried, knowing how tired her friends were and not really wanting to get into another fight so soon.

“I could fly across and check.” Fluttershy offered. Twilight shook her head though.

“No, thank you. I think we should stick together. If we lose each other in this fog we could end up losing each other for good.” The unicorn informed her as she took a shaky step onto the bridge. It wobbled badly and creaked underneath her hoof but it held her weight as she moved further forward. Applejack, who was sticking close to her after the bird scare, followed close behind.

“Be careful.” Twilight told them as she put her right hoof forward only for it to go straight through the rotten plank in front of her. She nearly tumbled forward but managed to catch herself in time, her hoof going through a second plank with a horrible crack.

“I…I’d rather fly thanks.” Fluttershy squeaked at the second crack and launched herself. Her actions made the bridge bounce up and down and made the others cry out in surprise. “S…sorry…” She stammered as she hovered above their heads.

“I…its okay, darling.” Rarity was the first to reply, glad when the bridge settled itself down. “You just stay close, okay?”

Fluttershy did and they got across. Twilight did not see what it looked like when she stepped into the mist but it was incredibly disconcerting to not be able to see past the end of her foreleg. “Is everypony alright?”

“Ye…yes, darling.” Rarity did not sound so sure though and neither did the others as they answered too. Twilight glanced back over her shoulder to try and see them but the dark, swirling fog was too thick.

“Stay together.” Twilight ordered, though she was unaware that it came out as an order. “Try and grab the tail of the pony in front of you and don’t let go.” She felt somepony grab her tail and stumbled slightly as they tugged gently. Before she could complain however, she heard Applejack yelp in pain and heard Pinkie call an apology back.

They made their way through for a while, just heading straight on the baring that Rainbow Dash had put them on when she had been guiding the expedition. Before too long Fluttershy’s voice softly echoed down the line, “Umm, please stop pulling on my tail.”

“I don’t have your tail.” Rainbow Dash responded, having to drop whoever’s tail she was holding to do so. “I have…had Pinkie’s…oops.” Twilight wanted to bang her head against a wall as they came to a halt and the others responded to Fluttershy too.

There was a worrying moment of silence when they all confirmed that no one had the pale yellow filly’s tail and then Applejack asked, “If none of us have Fluttershy’s tail, then what…”

Fluttershy screamed, cutting Applejack off and making the others call out, worried. Twilight cast her beacon spell to try and light up the area and make it easier to see. It gave the ponies just enough light to be able to see each other, but it also cast a huge, winged shadow that was a terrifyingly familiar.

“Dr…dra…dragon!!” Rarity squealed, backing up slowly as she beheld the giant shape. The creature in question let out a furious bellow and snapped its giant black head in their direction, its glowing red eyes blazing like fire as Fluttershy rushed out of the darkness surrounding them, limping slightly. Twilight shielded her with her own body before drawing from her deck, ready to fight the creature.

The dragon loosed a vicious roar and spat fire at the group of ponies. They only avoided being singed by the Negate Attack that the unicorn called up. “I don’t think we can reason with this one.” Applejack sounded nervous as they looked at the beast.

“You stole my jewels and my gold!” The dragon snarled at them. The creature’s black scales shimmered like obsidian in the fading flare and its eyes narrowed as it beheld the puzzle hanging from the ribbon around Twilight’s neck. “Give it back!!!”

Twilight yelped and shoved Fluttershy out of the way as the dragon’s tail whipped around, striking the unicorn and sending her crashing into a nearby pile of rocks.

The others did not get a chance to react as the dragon took flight, its great wings causing a downdraft that disturbed the fog, giving them a clear view of where they were.

The castle was so close. They could see it only five minutes away from their position in the direction they had been going. However the dragon landed in their way, cutting them off from taking refuge. The safely roofed castle might as well have been another six hours away for all the good it would do if they could not shift the dragon.

Rainbow Dash took off, ready to launch herself at it, no matter how injured she already was, only for a blur of black and purple to swoop in and strike the humongous black head. It wheeled in the air, recovering from the collision, revealing itself to be Nightingale as the dragon roared in pain and thrashed about.

“I’ll hold it off.” Nightingale informed them, feeling like she owed them for allowing her to walk away and hating owing anypony anything. “You find its jewels.”

“I have a better idea.” Rarity called up, pulling a rather beautiful ruby out of her mane and gazing at it. The dragon sniffed the air and turned to look at her, glaring at the white unicorn who held it in midair with her magic. “I found it when we were trying to catch up to the others.” She told the dragon as Twilight picked herself up unsteadily, “There wasn’t anything else there, but if you want this, you can have it.”

“I want my horde,” The dragon snarled at her, “But that is a good start.” It snatched the gem from her with its claw and seemed to examine it carefully, “This is different from the gems of my horde…brighter…” It hissed as it tilted it back and forth in the flare light. Twilight sent up a second one which brightened the area again as Rarity tried something.

“We can help you find your horde.” She offered, “But we need to lift the fog first. If you let us get to the castle, we’ll get rid of it and come back, promise. Right, everypony?”

The dragon did not look like it believed them as they agreed, but Rarity had another card to play and she sighed, “I also have a chest full of jewels back in Ponyville you can have that I was going to make jewellery out of.”

“Give it to me.” The dragon snapped, bringing its huge head down to the unicorn’s level and staring her in the face.

“I can’t.” Rarity shook her head, “Not until the fog is gone and the barrier stopping us from leaving the forest is gone.”

The dragon considered her words and then nodded and stood up properly. “Fine, go, but I want my jewels after.”

“Of course darling.” Rarity agreed, “Though I’m surprised you need any more with those glorious obsidian scales of yours and those gorgeous ruby red eyes.” The dragon preened, let out a rumble that was the draconic equivalent of a laugh and stepped aside, nudging the white unicorn with its huge head as she passed. Rarity let out a startled sound as she had to sidestep due to the nudge, but she gave the dragon a smile and carried on past it, causing the others to follow.

Nightingale hung back though. “Uhh, you guys go ahead. If she sees me she’ll...” The pegasus pony, who had removed her mask to reveal a blue filly with a dark blue mane and who looked about their age, was clearly nervous as the others turned to look at her.

“It’s alright.” Fluttershy reassured her, smiling at the nervous mare who was hovering above them, “You don’t have to come.”

“Sorry...” Nightingale apologised, looking sheepish as she glanced at the castle again and shuddered, “She’ll be in the throne room waiting for you. That’s where she was when she called us up to...well...sorry for that too.” She apologised to Dash who shrugged in response, still not quite sure how she felt about the pegasus who had tried to drown her.

“Any other advice?” Twilight asked, kind of hoping their former adversary knew where the Elements were hiding.

“Afraid not. If I thought I knew a trick to beat her, I wouldn’t be hanging back. Good luck though.” She nodded to them before vanishing into the sky, leaving them with the dragon and a short walk up to their final destination.

Comments

[zachary12]

nice work.