Missing Harmony

by Razor Blade the Unicron

Chapter Four: Escape

Spike and Amethyst walked silently through the empty streets of Canterlot, both looking around nervously in fear of being ambused at any second. Twilight was still unconscious, and there was a small nick on her horn where the arrow had hit her, but was breathing just fine. Amethyst was still holding the arrow in her teeth, and was still continuing to use the wind charm around her horn.

"Where exactly are we going?" asked Spike quietly. "Or are we just trying to avoid being cornered?"

"I have an old friend who lives here," said Amethyst, speaking around the arrow. "We can go to her place while we come up with a plan."

After a few more minutes of walking, they stopped in front of a building with brown swirls decorating the exterior, and pictures of teacups and cake platters on the windows. Amethyst walked up to the door, but her lip for the third time that day, and knocked four times.

"Cinnamon?" she called out. "You awake?"

After several seconds of silence, a tired voice finally replied. "Yeah, yeah... I'm coming..."

Amethyst took a step back from the door as then nob was enveloped in a violet aura, and then swung open. A unicorn with a cream coat, and two-toned mane of light and dark brown. She rubbed her violet eyes in exhaustion, but paused at seeing the bizarre group standing outside.

"Cinnamon, I'm really sorry for-" started Amethyst, before she was interrupted by the unicorn grabbing her in a tight hug.

"I haven't seen you in ages!" she said happily. "Guess it was because somepony was busy saving all of Equestria!"

"I- What-" she stammered. "How do you know about that?"

Cinnamon broke the embrace and laughed. "It was in the Canterlot Scroll, of course! You think something like that wouldn't make headlines?" She looked over at Spike and Twilight, and then at the arrow Amethyst had. "And considering that, you're probably here because of something along those lines, huh?"

"Yeah..." admitted Amethyst. "I would have preferred to visit you under calmer circumstances, but-"

"Just come on in and tell me what's up instead of feeling all guilty!" She grabbed Amethyst's hoof with her magic and dragged her inside, with Spike following. "And you can lay your friend down somewhere while you wait for her to wake up."

They walked through the store to a set of stairs, and then headed up into Cinnamon's living space. The whole time Spike didn't say a word, and just made sure that he didn't accidentally knock Twilight into something. They reached the top, and all three carefully eased Twilight onto a plain brown couch.

"Alright," said Cinnamon afterwards. "So now you can tell me what in Celestia's mane is going on!"

Amethyst nodded, and began to explain what had taken place at the celebration, including the details on what orichalcum did. While she spoke, Spike had pulled off his emerald necklace, and carefully unzipped Twilight's dress so she could have more breathing space. And also because he knew without even looking that she was wearing her armour, since she almost never took it off.

"-and we still don't know exactly what happened to the others," finished Amethyst, who had absentmindedly pulled her bow out with her magic. "Honestly, I don't know what to do. With Nightmare Moon, there was a clear indication for who was the one who needed to be stopped, and it was the Elements that could stop her. I don't even know who could have done something on this large of a scale!"

"It could be a group," offered Cinnamon. "Not everypony loves Princess Celestia, after all. There are plenty of secret organizations around here that could have planned it."

Amethyst nodded. "That could very well be the answer. But how would they be able to get their hooves on so much orichalcum? I hadn't even heard of it until today!"

"Time," said Spike, finally joining into the conversation. "If someone is determined enough, they all they need is time. My dad told me that a group of dragon tried to overthrow him a couple hundred years ago by stockpiling up on fire rubies to try and hex him, but they were found out before their plan could fall through."

"You think that this could just be one step of a coup?" asked Amethyst.

"Maybe. You never know when it comes to positions of power."

Cinnamon gave a nervous smile. "What if the Princesses just take off the orichalcum rings they have off once they wake up? Then they can just-"

"Gemstones." They turned around to see that Twilight had finally woken up. She sounded like she was in pain, but simply sat up on the couch and put a hoof on her horn. "The only way to take an orichalcum ring off is with some kind of gemstone. They can counteract the magic absorption."

Amethyst looked over at the orange sapphire in her bow, and then at Spike's necklace of emeralds. "Do we need to fill them with magic?"

She nodded. "If we get back to the castle, we can have the Night Guard help us to fill them."

"You mean the ponies with bat wings?" asked Cinnamon.

"Thestrals. But we can have the unicorns in the Night Guard help us to- What are you doing?"

"What?" Amethyst was standing by the window, having dipped her head down so that her glowing horn was in the moonlight. "I'm making a moonbeam to fill my sapphire."

Twilight blinked in confusion. "A moonbeam? What in Equestria is that?"

Now Amethyst was confused. "You don't know? You just gather moonlight or sunlight on your horn to make a beam of magic. I thought that it was a normal attacking spell."

"No, I've never heard of it before."

"Not the main concern right now!" interrupted Cinnamon.

"Sorry," she said awkwardly. "Anyways, the Night Guards would in the Lunar section of the castle. We just need to get to them to help will the gems, and then we all can search for where everypony was taken, while also having plenty of backup."

Amethyst nodded in agreement, just as she noticed a sparkle in the corner of her eye. She automatically jumped back just as another orichalcum arrow smashed through the window, barely missing her horn once again.

"You didn't cover your tracks in the snow, did you?" asked Twilight, quickly getting to her hooves. "Let's move before we're shot at again!" She glanced over at the broken window. "I'll get that fixed for you."

Amethyst nodded, her wind charm starting up around her horn. The party of four hurried down the stairs, Twilight leading them with her horn ablaze.

Comments

[EverfreePony]

Oh, the chase is on, nice! Also, it’s great seeing Cinnamon Chai here!