Children of Harmony

by Pinkie Pie Sweets

Chapter 67: Friendship Escape

In the dungeon, Ace and the others are not very happy about their plan have backfired. Now they are trapped under Naga's clutches as well. They know that they need to get out so they can find their friend, and save her. The question is… how are they going to escape this time around since they are unable to use their wings and magic.

"Well this rotts," Baked Apple mutters.

"Indeed. This place is going to do a number on my mane," Ruby says.

"I don't think this is the time to worry about that," Baked Apple bluntly replies.

Ruby sighs, and says, "I guess you're right."

Ace growls and shouts, "We need to get out of here and save Sakura!"

"But how? Naga got us trapped in this place. You and Eden can't use your wings, Baked Apple can't use his bucking skills, starlight and I are unable to use her magic, and Raspberry can't use… uh, whatever it is that Raspberry does," Ruby worriedly asks.

"You're right. We're completely trapped here," Starlight sadly replies.

The gang look at each other, then look at Starlight with concerned look on their faces. They can see the sadness on
Starlight's face.

Baked Apple walks up to Starlight asks, "You blame yourself for this, don't you?"

"Who else," Starlight bluntly replies.

"Look Starlight, you tried your best to get us out of here. It's not your fault about us getting captured. Naga's magic is too strong and has too many ponies under his control," Baked Apple reassures.

But Starlight disagrees, "But I was the only who know my way around here, even after being under Naga's control. I feel
responsible for your safety."

"And you did a good job, we just run into some bad luck," Ace says.

"Yes. That brute Naga has a complete advantage in this place," Ruby says.

"And he has that powerful scepter that blocks our abilities," Eden adds.

Then Raspberry pops in, and says, "There's no way this could be your fault."

Starlight sighs sadly, "I want to believe that, but I was still under his control as well."

"But you weren't when you with us and Sakura," Ace says.

"But… how could I know that for sure?" Starlight sadly replies.

"Look Starlight, you got to stop blaming on yourself, and you need to help us come up with a plan to get out of here,"
Baked Apple firmly says.

"But we don't have a way to get out of here," Starlight says.

"Not if we work together on it. We may not be able to use our strengths, wings, and magic at this time, but that doesn't
mean we can't escape here," ACe says looking determined.

Then Raspberry says, "You're right. We need to get out and save our friends."

"Not to mention all of Equestria," Ruby says.

Ace looks at Starlight, "And we're gonna need your help too."

"How could I help?" Starlight asks, looking surprised.

"Well, you are a magic expect, and you were able to do many things without it do," Ace says.

"How you know that?" Starlight asks.

"Night Glider told us about you and the others were captured by that varmint, "Baked Apple answers.

"Oh. And I bet they told you about what I did," Starlight sadly suspects.

"They did, but they can tell you had a good reason for you taking their cutie marks the way you did. But they don't really
know the answer," Baked Apple says.

Starlight sadly sighs.

Then Eden says, "But I'll bet you told Sakura about your problem… And I'll bet you care for her as much as she cares for you."

"Well, you got me there. I told Sakura about the… sad way for me and my old friend's friendship ending. I became
resentful towards cutie marks, and wanted to get rid of them," Starlight says.

She then smiles, and says, "When I told Sakura, she felt sorry about my lost friendship led me to this, and told me the
wonderful ponies I can meet if I give them a chance. She then offer her friendship to me, after what I did. It makes me wish I met her a long time ago."

"Yeah. Sakura is a great girl," Baked Apple says.

"She's been our friend for almost a year now," Raspberry says.

"And that's way we want to help her, because she's our friend," Eden happily replies.

"And we never leave our friend hanging," Ace adds.

"And that's what brings us here, to be sure our friend is safe," Ruby adds with a smile.

Starlight is amazed to hear what the five friends are saying. They're all completely different, and yet, they are so close to each other. She is starting to believe that Sakura is right, and that she should give real friendship, and maybe cutie marks another chance. And she'll start by helping Sakura and her friends, and the other ponies she feels like she drag into this mess.

Then Ace asks, "So what do you say Starlight, will you help us?"

Starlight looks at Ace and the others to see the smile on their faces.

Starlight smiles, and says, "I don't know what I can do to help, but I'm willing to try."

"And we better hurry, cause it looks like Naga and the ponies from your village will be leaving soon," Raspberry says.

"Why you say that?" Eden asks.

Raspberry is looking through the metal bars and has his nose sticking out.

Still looking outside the barred window, Raspberry says, "Because it look like the ponies dressed up in armor are getting ready to leave."

"What?!" The others exclaim in shock.

The others run towards the barred window to see what is happening. They can see ponies dressed in armors and carrying
spears ready to depart. They realize that it's already morning, and Naga is going to be on his way to counor Equestra, starting with Canterlot. They gasp to see Naga slithering with the pony soldiers with Sakura walking with him, and has a dazed look in her eyes.

"Oh no! Sakura is under Naga's spell," Ruby worriedly says.

"We need to get out and save Sakura before Naga uses his speter on her," Starlight says.

Baked Apple look at Starlight, and asks, "And how he is going to do that?"

"I heard Naga talking about his plan. He's going to combine the magic of his staff with Sakura's magic to increase his
hypnotic power," Starlight explains.

The others gasp in shock.

"If he accomplish that, then…" Ruby worriedly says.

"All of Equestria will be under his control!" Ace shouts in shock.

"I'm afraid so," Starlight sadly replies.

Ace grabs the bars and starts shaking it like crazy, "We have to get out of here! There's no way I'm going to live with myself
if I allow my friend's magic to be drained!"

"You know, acting like a child is not going to help in the matter," Ruby calmly says.

Ace turns to Ruby with a glare, "Then what do you think we should do?"

"Well, acting like a young foal is not going to work for anypony at this point," Starlight replies.

"It won't help us at all," Eden agrees.

Ace groans in frustration, and continues to shake the bars more, but they are not breaking or budging. The others stare at
Ace with straight looks on their faces.

Starlight turns to the others looking questioned, "Is Ace always like this?"

"You got that right, sugarcube," Baked Apple bluntly answers.

"Ever since our school years," Ruby bluntly adds.

Raspberry and Eden nod their heads, starting the two friends' point.

Outside the castle, the ponies are dressed in armor and have their weapons on them. They are ready to depart to their first destination. And from what is going on, Canterlot is first on their list.

Naga slithers to the ponies, with Sakura walking besides him. She is wearing a short sleeve formal lavender dress, and
black slip on shoes, and a silver tiara with light pink gems on it. Sadly, she still has the colors pouring out of her eyes, so she's still under Naga's spell.

Naga walks to one of the ponies, and asks, "Are we all ready for our departure?"

"Yes. The soldiers are armed and ready for battle. We are waiting for further instructions," one of the stallion soldiers answer in salute.

"Good. Make sure the soldiers are gathered," Naga says.

"Yes master," The soldier answers.

The leaves to tell the ponies to gather.

Naga turns to Sakura with a smirk on his face, "So my dear, are you ready to return to your home?"

Sakura simply nods her head in reply, and mutters, "Yes."

"That's good," Naga says, and pats Sakura on the head.

With an evil grin, Naga says in his thoughts, "Sssoon my dear Sssakura, all of Equesssstria will be mine. And you will rule
by my side. For you and your magic will become mine as well."

Just then, the soldier from before, comes over, and says, "Master, I gather the soldiers as your requested."

"Good work. Now we shall depart to Canterlot," Naga says holding his scepter.

In the dungeon, Ace is still trying to shake the bars off, while Starlight and the others are trying to come up with a plan to escape.

"Well, that plan isn't going to work. Even if we did get out of here, like that, this we're only going to get ourselves hurt," Starlight says.

"Aww, but I was hoping to use one of my mom's party cannons to help us out on this situation," Raspberry says, looking
disappointed.

"Only one problem, you don't have one of her cannons here. Second, how are you going to get the cannon to blast us out without any means of escaping. This walk is strong, and I don't think any of us want to end up with a sore head," Baked
Apple says.

"You never know," Raspberry replies.

"I simply can't use my fire breath. The castle cancels our magic and the door is enchanted," Ruby says.

"And there isn't any animals around, so we can't ask for help," Eden says.

"Well I'm still going to try breaking this down, even if it takes me all day," Ace says, continues to try breaking the bars.

"But we don't have all day. Naga is going to take Sakura and his army to Canterlot soon, and will take over as soon as he
gets here," Starlight says.

Outside of the castle, Naga then strongly taps the scepter to the ground, and creates a large circle around the area. The
six prisoners gasp to see and hear what is happening. Suddenly bright light surrounds the area, blinding the six ponies. As soon as the light is gone, they can see Naga, Sakura, and the ponies are gone.

Ace groans and complains, "Now what?!"

"Well, it's back to the drawing board I suppose," Starlight calmly suggests.

"Yes. We're going to need a new plan," Ruby replies.

Ace growls in anger, and begin to rapidly shake the bars like a mad animals. The others slowly shake their heads in reply,
think that Ace is acting like a little kid right now. But then go back to their seemly impossible escape plan.

In the woods close to the castle, there are four figures coming close to the location. One of them is a young black male bat imp, another is a shapeshifting lizard wearing a brown shirt, another is a tan furred female cat sorcerous wearing a red dress, and finally, there is a red centaur wearing armor, and that one is Alan.

The bat imp feels exhausted, and says, "Alan, when are we going to rest. We've been hiking early in the morning."

"Very soon. I see a clearing up ahead," Alan says.

"I'll bet you're hungry right about now, huh Thor," the cat girl remarks with a grin to the bat.

"Zip it, Cathrin!" Thor scolds.

The lizard blushes, and says, "So um, Cathrin, how you been doing of late?"

"I'm doing fine Gin," Cathrin answers with a smile.

After reaching out of the forest, they look to see the castle. The four look rather confused.

"A castle? I never seen a castle here before?" Thor questions.

"I agree. There's something strange about this castle," Gin says.

He turns to Alan and asks, "What should we do?"

"I think we should check it out, and see who lives here. They could be new around here," Alan answers.

"Won't that be rude if we come there unannounced?" Cathrin questions.

"I have to agree," Gin replies.

"Well, I think there's something strange about this castle. I've been around Foal Mountain before, and never noticed a
castle before. Then again, I haven't been traveling here for two years," Alan says.

"I'd say we should check the place out," Thor says.

"I guess it couldn't hurt," Cathrin says.

"Let's go," Gin adds.

And so Alan and his group decide to walk towards the castle. They are wondering why a castle is doing around the
mountain. Just then, they see a bright glow coming from behind the castle walls. Then quickly disappears. They then
become confused about the strange light they have seen.

"What was that about?" Thor asks.

"I don't know, but we're going to find out," Alan says, looking serious and suspicious about the light.

The four walk close to the castle until they reach the castle walls. They are wondering about the light that has appeared
earlier, and suspects that it comes from the inside. They look at the front to see the guards at the door, but Alan has a plan.

He turns to Cathrin, and asks, "Cathrin, can you use your magic to create an opening here."

"Right," Cathrin answers with a nod.

Cathrin takes out her magic pendent, and use the magic along with the pendent to create an opening on the wall. The
four go through the wall without the guards noticing. Just then, they start to hear strange rattling sounds.

"What is that noise?" Gin asks.

The four looks around to see if they can find the sound. Luckily, Thor bat ears are very good at hearing, and knows where the sound is coming from.

"It seems to be coming from over there," Thorn says.

Thor leads the way while the others follow to where the sound is coming from.

Still shaking the bars, Ace is going wild about getting out of here.

Baked Apple sternly says, "Give it up Ace. You've been tryin' this for an hour, it's not going to break."

Ace stops struggling the bars and sits on his flank with an angry sulk on his face.

"Still we have to do something," Eden worriedly replies.

"But how plans are not going to work," Starlight sadly says.

Ruby sighs, and says, "We need a miracle."

Just then, they hear someone asking, "Are you sure the sound came from here?"

The six ponies look at the bars Ace has been shaking, and hear another voice saying, "I'm sure of it. The rattling sound
seems to be coming from here."

Knowing that someone is here, the gang know what they need to do.

They scream, "Help! Help!"

Just then, they see a cat's face at the bars.

Eden asks, "Um are you friend or foe?"

"That depends, on what happened," The cat girl answers.

"We're prisoners at the moment, but can you please get us out of here," Baked Apple replies.

The cat girl nods her head, and says, "Hey Alan, I could use your help here."

"Alan?" the six question.

Then a centaurs face comes looks at the bars, and the six ponies are surprised to see him. The five recognized his face.

"Alan, it is you?" Ace says.

"Can you please help us?" Ruby asks.

Cathrin asks, "You know them?"

"Yes. They're friends of Sakura. And it looks like they need help," Alan answers.

Alan grabs the bar and use his magic and strength to budge the bars. Then Cathrin help out with her magic. Soon they are able to remove the bars and free Starlight and the others. Soon as they are free, Starlight and the others explain what has happened, and Alan is not happy about it.

"That giant serpent took Sakura?!" Alan asks in anger.

"Yes. He hypnotized her, and took her to Canterlot," Eden worriedly explains.

"And he's going to use his scepter to drain Sakura's magic, and put Equestria under his control," Starlight add.

"That's not good," Grin replies.

"It's not good at all," Ace says.

Then Raspberry says, "We can really use your help, and then we can throw a victory party when we save Sakura and Equestria."

"Right," Starlight bluntly replies.

"If Sakura's endanger, then count me in," Aaln agrees.

Then Gin says, "I'm going too."

"If Gin is in, then I'm in," Cathrin too.

"I'm with you guys if there's villain to fight," Thor says.

Baked Apple smiles, and says, "Thanks y'all."

Then Raspberry says, "Still, we need to come up with a good plan."

Author's Note:

Now that they got help on their side. They plan to go to Canterlot to rescue their friend.