Help Is On The Way

by Brony Eagle Scout

Travels Into The Unknown

Princess Luna and Rainbow Dash appeared in a blinding flash of light in one of the clearings in the Royal Palace gardens. Rainbow Dash stumbled around in a confused daze before her face turned green and she ran to the nearest bush.

Luna laughed at the spectacle as Dash emptied her stomach "Hehehe, first time being teleported, eh Rainbow Dash..."

Rainbow wiped her mouth with her hoof and looked at the princess with pure despair.

"Oh excuse me for trying to add levity to the situation. Come on, you need to meet the rest of the team." Luna said as she walked toward one of the corridors heading back into the castle proper. Rainbow Dash groaned and followed her.

The pair walked in silence as Dash looked at the Princess strangely. "Is something on your mind, Rainbow Dash?" Luna said while looking forward.

"Yeah there is. How the hay do you know?" Rainbow said in an accusing tone.

"Know what?" Luna said in a bored tone.

"You know exactly what I mean by what. How did you know about my crush? I exactly don't broadcast my feelings to the world, just my really close friends." Dash said with a bit of anger.

Luna sighed "I had no prior knowledge of your infatuation with Twilight until Celestia told me about it before I came to get you. If you want to know how she came privy to your private matters, ask her."

Dash looked ahead as she began to think. "Well, I know I've told only Fluttershy and Derpy about it and Spike stumbled upon it during one of my "venting" visits with Fluttershy." Dash thought."Wait a minute, if that dragon mentioned it one of those friendship reports I had him write, he better hope to Celestia he grows wings by the time I get back because his scaly ass is going to be stuffed and mounted on my wall if I anything to say about it."

---

After several minutes of walking around thinking evil thoughts of draconic punishment, noises could be heard from a door at the end of a long hallway. There were slight but the sounds of maps unfurling, heavy hoofsteps and talking were prevalent in the quiet atmosphere. Princess Luna and Rainbow Dash entered a large room with an open window that had a clear view of the half moon in the sky. Nine unicorns were all drawing one very intricate circular design on the floor and two ponies were huddled next to Princess Celestia over table of maps. Next to the maps were two tables with various types of gear laid across them. Shining Armor stood by the door and closed it after the two came inside.

Rainbow turned around to face Shining Armor. "Hey, I know it doesn't mean much coming from me but I'm so sorry you can't go and rescue Twilight."

Shining Armor sighed "So am I, I was so worried when I first heard the news and then I got angry when I was told I wasn't allowed to leave to get her." Dash put a comforting hoof on Shining before he continued. "It took six guards to stop me from leaving right then, the Princess had to get Cadence to calm me down. I may hate that I'm not allowed save my own sister. But at least I know the team Princess Celestia sends is going to be the best."

"Speaking of which, do you know why Celestia asked for me? Luna was pretty vague when she grabbed me." Dash fibbed in a hopeful tone. "If he knows, I'm just going to die of an embarrassment." she thought.

"The Princess believed a friend of Twilight's would be comforting if something traumatizing happened to her." Shining said.

"Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou..." Dash thought as she let out a mental sigh of relief.

"Go head up to Celestia, I'm sure she'll want to talk with you before I start going over the plan with the team."
Dash nodded and walked in that direction.

---

"Sister, I got Rainbow Dash just as you requested."

"Thank you Luna. Can you go check the transportation circle? We can't have any mistakes once we start." Celestia said.

"At once Sister." Luna left to the unicorns and Dash got a better look at the two ponies by Celestia.

"Hello Rainbow Dash, I would like you to meet the two you will be going with. The Pegasus on my right is Flaming Arrow and the unicorn on my left is Savant." Celestia said.

The gray coated pegasus stallion with short brick red hair and a cutie mark of a golden circular shield spoke first "Hi call me Arrow. Glad I could finally meet the amazing Rainbow Dash, though I wish it were under better circumstances." Rainbow felt her ego swell a bit from the compliment before the navy blue coated unicorn mare with a long straight black and silver mane with a cutie mark of a lit light bulb bowed her head. "It's a pleasure."

"Uh Princess, Could I speak with you for a moment?" Rainbow said as she gave glare to the Princess.

Celestia smirked knowingly and motioned for the corner of the room.

Rainbow Dash walked with the Princess to the corner. "From what I can tell, you seem upset Rainbow Dash."

"Princess, I am beyond upset. Just how did you find out about the crush? Was it mentioned in a friendship report from Fluttershy or was it one of mine that Spike wrote."

Celestia shook her head "If I could tell you, believe me I would. But that would be breaking the Pinkie promise she made me do. I can say this though, you'll know who told me soon enough."

Rainbow Dash looked confused as Celestia guided her back to the map table. Rainbow Dash got in between the two unfamiliar ponies as Shining Armor left his post by the door and walked up in front of them.

Shining grabbed a map with some sticky notes attached and red ink markings before starting.

"Ok, The Princesses are going to transport you three by the transportation spell to this clearing here." he said as he pointed a hoof to small clearing about a kilometer away from the ruins. "The same design that we are using right here will be the same one in the clearing. It was set by the research team so they could send reports and get supplies from the museum. However the design at the museum can't support pony travel, that's why we had to make a new one."

Dash groaned at the thought of going through that weird sensation again.

"Once you arrive, make your way to the ruins and determine what is causing the communication blackout. When it's fixed, send a message to confirm your presence. Next, search for any survivors. There are thirty ponies that are unaccounted for including Twilight."

"Do we have any list to confirm who's there? Plus what about the" thing" Twilight mentioned? We need more ponies if we want to take it out." Flaming Arrow interrupted.

"I know she mentioned there was some creature but your only objective is to save the survivors." Shining replied. Shining pointed to the tables beside him." There should be a list of the researchers with your gear. Now, send a message when you have Twilight and any other survivors safe and the Guard will be dispatched to get you out and deal with the creature. Any questions?"

Rainbow Dash piped up "Any idea what does this place look like? And all I heard of it was out west, is it in a jungle or a desert, where is it?"

Shining looked around the table, moving around some maps before grabbing a photo. He placed it in the middle of the table. The picture had the initial research team in front of a plain stone structure with glyphs all over the door. "The map says it's near the edge of the Buffalo desert but the clearing you are being transported into is surrounded by trees. So it must be right on the border between woods and sand. The ruin itself seems to mostly underground with that building over the stairs that lead down."

"Great, tight spaces, barely any room to fly, and only one way in and out. Just great..." Rainbow thought at the new info.

"Now for your gear, each of you will wear a short wave radio so you can communicate with each other. Also because of the unknown creature you will also wear a protective vest." Shining said as pointed to three black vests with radios attached to them. "Savant will bring along her tech kit and Arrow has the first aid kit. Rainbow Dash you will carry the small back-up radio system if the one at the base camp is beyond repair."

"What about weapons? I'd rather not meet the bloody thing with just my hooves and wings, sir." Arrow said.

"Each vest is holstered with the standard issue P-Bar knife but nothing else. I wish I could have all of you fully prepared for whatever that thing is but anything more and we'll risk something going wrong in the transportation." Shining answered. All of them nodded and they moved to put on their gear.

Rainbow looked at the black vest; it lay unzipped and looked very bulky. The radio was on the right shoulder strap while the knife was on the left. She looked at the knife warily before putting the vest on. After she tightened the straps to her liking, she opened some of the pockets and took out the items inside. There was a laughably small first aid kit, a whistle with a lanyard, a small map of the underground layout with a compass, a box of waterproof matches, and a folded up list of names and photos of the research team. She saw Twilight's picture at the bottom of the list, the smile on it giving a small comfort to Rainbow Dash. "We're going to save her. Not even some unknown monster can stop us." Dash thought as she put the items back in her pockets. She scanned the table for this back-up radio and saw two big saddlebags with a note on them that said "Radio". She got the radio onto her back and felt so heavy. "Thank Celestia I only have to carry this for less than a mile." Dash thought as she walked slowly over to Arrow and Savant.

The three stood by the heavily detailed circle. Savant tightened her vest straps before shifting her kit around to be more balanced. "I just hope nothing goes wrong with this transportation. Who knows what could happen in the journey from here to there." Savant looked worried as she said that and this caused severe uneasiness in Rainbow Dash.

"What do you mean what could go wrong?" Rainbow asked.

Savant sighed "At the very best nothing bad happens and we go on our merry way. However there is the chance we could lose some equipment if there is a crossed mark in the design. I don't want to get in to what the worst thing is..."

Rainbow was now very worried as her eyes went wide in horror at the information.

Flaming Arrow glared at Savant.

"Although, I'm sure nothing will go wrong Rainbow Dash. Canterlot's best drew this and the Princesses are performing the spell." Savant reasoned as she patted Rainbow Dash's back.

"Uh huh..." Rainbow said as she looked at the design on the floor with worry.

Celestia walked up beside to the trio and coughed. "I'm sorry that I asked you to leave the safety of your homes to rescue my student. I know it looks like I'm sending you into the fire. But know this; I wouldn't risk your lives unnecessarily. Twilight holds a special in my heart and the heart of many others. Be careful and bring her back home safe."

Flaming Arrow saluted Celestia "I won't fail you, Ma'am"

Both Savant and Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement and bowed.

"Now to get this show on the road. All of you stand side by side in the center. Please be calm and still during this process, anything else will cause complications." Luna called out from the front of the room.

The three walked in and took their positions. Arrow stood in the center, Rainbow Dash was on his left and Savant on his right.

Princess Luna stood in front of the open window and Celestia stood opposite of her on the other side of the design. The two closed their eyes in concentration and both of their horns lit up. The aura slowly slinked down to the design. Then the outside edge started to light up in a bright white light. The light began to fill out every little mark, twist, and turn as it traveled to the center. The three ponies closed their eyes as the light came closer. The light stopped at the center and a blue aura started to surround them. Rainbow Dash clenched her eyes shut and had the air squeezed out of her as the aura tightened around the ponies.The light flashed and a loud pop filled the room as the light disappeared. There was no sign of the three ponies that were in the center.

"Now, we wait..." Celestia said before walking out of the room with Shining Armor following behind.

---

The small clearing by the edge of the forest laid bare save for design on the ground and the wind blowing through the trees. Suddenly, a small white ball appeared in the exact center of the circle before growing exponentially in size. A loud pop rang throughout the quiet night as the ponies inside the circle let out a big sigh of relief.

Flaming Arrow looked to his right and saw a panting Savant with a ruffled mane. He looked to his left and saw... nothing.

Comments

[Sirius Dreams]

...I get back because his scaly ass is going to be stuffed and mounted on my wall if I anything to say about it."

I died!

[Storylover-Vodhr]

Interesting...

I shall keep a eye on this one. Thanks for the interesting beginning!

[flutterlover17]

I love this story so far cant wait to read more and its giving me alot of insperation and confidense in my own fan fics shipfics and whatever else i plan on writing whooooohooooo

[Lambda462]

Cliffhanger.. Glad I'm reading this when you're already a few chapters in