Hooves of magic: The Element of Harmony

by Velvet dropped

Chapter 3

Suddenly there was a big thundering crash from the central cave. AppleJack heard the metal door so am back into place, and then the rumble of heavy steps. From the extra scraping sound of them, she knew it must be Onyx

"Something's happening." SilverStream said. She hurried to the door, her ears twitching. "We have to go listen."

Twilight spread her Wings slowly. "I'm sure we'll find out what the fuss is in the morning."

"I don't want to wait that long." SilverStream spun around to stare at her, then looked away with a grunt. "Don't be weird! Let's go!" She bolted out of the cave. AppleJack winced as her sore muscles sprang into action. She followed Rarity to the central cave. Rarity quickly hovered a very decorated blanket from the Elements sleeping quarters and covered herself with it. Then out of nowhere the blanket started changing to match the mottled grey-and-black rocks. In a moment she'd be nearly impossible to see.

Twilight slipped past to join her, and she casted a personal invisibility spell, and the two of them hurried away towards the tunnel that led to the caretakers' cave. They vanished almost immediately into the shadows. Rarity hidden by her blanket and Twilight with her spell, they'd get as close as they could to eavesdrop. But AppleJack and SilverStream had an even better shot of hearing everything, if they hurried. SilverStream was already charging across the cave to the river.

"What about Pinkie Pie?" AppleJack called quietly. She could gear the Pink Changeling rummaging around in her sleeping cave, putting scrolls away.

"We'll come up with something to tell her later." SilverStream whispered back. AppleJack felt sorry that Pinkie was the only one who didn't know about their spying games. But they'd learned their lesson about trusting her with secrets years ago. Pinkie hadn't meant to tell Cliff about the pile of rocks the Elements were collecting. Their plan was to build a tower to the sky hole, back when they where to young and when SilverStream, Pinkie and Twilight couldn't fly. They'd only want to stick their heads out and look around. But one day, Pinkie forgot to be careful around Cliff, and the next day all the collected rocks were gone from their hiding place. That was the end of that plan...and of Pinkie getting to know anything.

Silverstream disappeared into the river with a nearly soundless splash. Her necklace changing her as she swam upriver. AppleJack in after her, as she did so, SilverStream grabbed her necklace and grabbed hold of one of AppleJack's hooves, and with one quick flash. AppleJack changed form. Whenever the Elements wanted to spy on the caretakers, they mostly let AppleJack and SilverStream take the river route.

AppleJack caught up whith the HyppoGryth turned Sea Pony as she was wiggling through the underwater gap in the cave walls. It made AppleJack nervous every time, squeezing through such a small space. She wished she hadn't eaten that extra apple at dinner. Then with a whoosh of bubbles, she popped through and shot after SilverStream.

The three adult caretakers hardly played any attention to the river, except Onyx, who sometimes slept in the shallows. It would never occur to them that two pairs of ears might be poking out of the water, listening. AppleJack drifted to a stop near the entrance while SilverStream swam to the far side of the room. That way at least one of them could hear, no matter where the caretakers were talking.

Tonight, however, AppleJack was pretty sure every one of them could hear everything, including Rarity and Twilight in the passageway outside. From the way Amber was shouting, It was possible even the Pegisi's up in the shy and clouds could hear her.

"Coming, here? With no warning? After six years, suddenly she's interested?" A jet of magic shout of her wings and blasted the nearest rock column.

"Maybe she wants to make sure they're ready to stop the war." Onyx suggested.

Cliff hissed. "These Elements? Then she's going to be very disappointed." He eased himself onto a flat boulder, stretching his front bug-like stump and mangled wing towards the fire. The adult Changeling never discussed his scars or how he lost his hoof, but the Elements could guess from the anger in his voice whenever he talked about the war. The fact that he couldn't fly was probably why he was chosen for underground Element-minding duty. He clearly wasn't picked for his warm, nurturing personality.

"We've done our best." Onyx said. "The prophecy chose these elements, not us."

"Does she even know what happened? " Amber demanded. "Does she know about the dead Pegasus and the Unicorn? Or the defective Changeling?" AppleJack winced, poor Pinkie. She floated closer, keeping her Orange body below the surface of the dark water. Through the ripples she could see the blurred shapes of the Caretakers gathered around the fire.

Onyx flapped his wings. "I'm not sure what she knows or why she cares. The message just said 'Luna is coming.' I'm supposed to meet her and bring her here tomorrow."

Luna. That sounded familiar. AppleJack racked her brain. Someone from history class? One of the tribe rulers? No, it can't be; all the tribes were ruled by queens.

"I'm not worried about Pinkie Pie." Cliff said. "We followed the prophecy's instructions. It's not our fault she's the way she is. But the Unicorn...she's not going to like that."

A deep growl rumbled in Amber's throat. "I don't like it either, I never have."

"Rarity's not that bad." Onyx argued. "She's smarter than she wants us to know."

"You overestimate her because you brought her here." Cliff said. "She's lazy and worthless like the rest of her tribe."

"And she's not a Pegasus." Amber snapped. "We're supposed to have a Pegasus." AppleJack wished Rarity didn't have to hear all this. The caretakers never hid how they felt about her, and she never acted like she cared. But she wished she could tell her she was just as important and smart as any Pegasus.

"Well, I never thought Luna would come look at them!" Onyx said. "After she dropped off Twilight Sparkle. I assumed we'd never see her again. The Alicorns have nothing to do with the war."

'So she's a Alicorn. Which means superpowered and mysterious and full of herself.' That was all AppleJack could remember about Alicorns. She found herself actually wishing she could get a lecture from Twilight. The epic wonderfulness of Alicorn s was the Element of Magic's favourite topic.

"Did the Hooves of Peace say what she wants?" Amber asked.

"Well, it's her prophecy." Onyx said. "I guess she wants to make sure it'll actually come true."

'Luna.' AppleJack felt a jolt run through her, like the stinging shock she sometimes got when Cliff whacked her with his magic scorpion tail for not paying attention. Luna was the Alicorn who had spoken the Element of Harmony prophecy ten years ago. They had learned about her in history, but it was one of many facts AppleJack could never remember. Who had delivered the prophecy never seemed as important as who was in the prophecy.But maybe Luna was more important than AppleJack had realized. After all, she was coming to see them. Perhaps she would take them out into Equestria. Perhaps they didn't need to escape after all.

Perhaps everything was about to change.

Author's Note:

Only the Elements of Harmony call all the tribe members or any character in particular as 'someone or anyone.'