Legends Of Ponyville

by mechafone

20 - Together Again, Into Darkness

Fluttershy sputtered as her consciousness returned to her. As she opened her eyes, she began to panic. She saw blackness, nothing but blackness, and she felt her legs bound. Panic gave way to terror as her breath escalated to near hyperventilating, and in an attempt to free herself she felt a weight suddenly upon her exposed shoulder. "I'd sit still if I were you," an eerily calm feminine voice told her. Fluttershy gasped and pulled away from the touch, though it did very little to get the safe, personal space she so desired.

Fluttershy curled herself up into as little a ball as possible. She experimented with her wings, and found that those, too, were bound. She had never wanted so much to be home alone than right now. As she lay there, tears of fright streaming down her cheeks, she thought she could make out a shape in the darkness. Now that her eyes had adjusted some to the darkness, she realized that there was a light coming from behind her, a distant, softly glowing green light.

Despite the fear clutching at her heart, Fluttershy was able to let enough curiosity bubble to the surface to study the shape. It looked like a pony, and from the shape of it's head, it was a unicorn. But something was wrong about his horn. It looked thicker than it should've been, and somehow in her panic Fluttershy knew something was wrong with it. It was too big, too long, and after a moment of studying it she came to the conclusion that the horn was covered in something that shouldn't have been there.

It was some kind of hard, crystalized material, a deep, dark green mess of hardened resin. As Fluttershy continued to stare, the pony became more and more visible to her. From the build she could tell it was a stallion, dark in color, and probably black in mane. The shy pegasus closed her eyes, blocking out the slightly disturbing visage, and tried to concentrate. Who did she know that fit that description? Only one really came to mind, but...him?

She opened her eyes once more, and she knew for sure. It was Russet Hearts, bound and captive, just as she was, and some strange hardened thing was covering his horn, and he was out like a light. This revelation brought new tears to Fluttershy's eyes; what was going to happen to them? Why were they here, and who was this that had kidnapped them?

Although the frightened pegasus could feel eyes on her back, she held nothing back as she truly began to cry.

---

Anorax ran. Ten minutes after entering the Everfree Forest with no sign of stopping in sight, the halfling began to wonder what proof there was that the changelings that lead them were telling the truth. How did they know they weren't running right into a trap? Why had they all agreed to follow those two? He had to say something. He slowed down to wait for Spark Storm, but after slowing for a full three minutes and letting the others get ahead, he quickly realized that Spark wasn't following them, and he'd lost sight of the others.

Not a problem, really, I can still track them, and...oh crap. Anorax's fur and wings tensed and bristled as he turned to face the way he'd come. Somepony was approaching, but it was the last pony...thing he wanted to see. He backed up several steps as she came into view, tall, thin and still shrouded in those drapes. Ampelus stopped just short of the halfling, standing tall over him as she looked down her muzzle at him with her piercing blue eyes.

"...What." the nymph finally said, her voice filled with agitation and aggression. Anorax frowned and backed away from her. Being this close to the nymph was giving him backlashes of her murderous intent, and he wasn't sure if it was for him or...suddenly he didn't feel so bad. In fact, he felt pretty great about this situation. He'd never felt so relaxed about any situation.

Before Anorax could question why he was feeling this way, a figure emerged from behind Ampelus' neck, and down stepped Orea. The flowers along her body were gently twitching, and he could see some kind of yellow powder was emerging from the blossoms, flitting through the air. "Orea, it's good to see you," Anorax said with a relieved smile on his face. For a moment he was sure that Ampelus was putting something in the air to relax him before she did something unpleasant to him.

The elder nymph, however, wasn't pleased. She lowered her head and pulled away from her niece, a distinct hissing noise issuing from somewhere under the drapes covering her. Anorax immediately stepped over Orea as she cowered from her aunt, her own vines rattling threateningly. "Whoa, easy you two! What the hay is going on?"

"She is displaying abilities that should not have developed for at least one hundred years!" Ampelus said, thrusting an accusing hoof down at Orea, who was set in an aggressively defensive position between Anorax' forelegs.

"Ok, so she's special," Anorax retorted, a frown spreading over his face. He knew he didn't like Ampelus the second he saw her.

"She is a freak of nature, and-"

"All right, knock it off!" the halfling yelled, surprising both nymphs. "I've only known you ten minutes and I can already tell you're the most hateful, most disrespectful creature I've ever met! I don't know what Spark sees in you to trust you with Orea, but obviously he was mistaken!"

For a brief moment, it seemed that Anorax had shocked the elder nymph into silence. The next instant, however, proved this to be false, as the nymph angrily grabbed the drapes around her body and easily tore it into ten different sections with her vines. Anorax held his ground, but barely as the nymph stepped closer, towering over him. Orea, however, retreated further behind the halfling.

"You sniveling little ant," she began, her voice alarmingly calm. "You dare talk to me as if you matter? Do you know what you are? You are food, little ant, and you defending the little one isn't helping me to decide not to consume you. You're just a child!"

Every last one of Anorax' primal instincts were telling him to run. The anger and the killing instinct coming off of Ampelus was nearly overwhelming, but he was also proud. Too proud to turn away from her and let her bully him and Orea. "And just what does age have to do with anything? Have you seen the crowd? We're all a bunch of kids going into battle to help a friend. I'm pretty sure me being a few hundred years younger than you doesn't disqualify me from making a valid point!"

Anorax was expecting the nymph to lash out at him, to silence him from standing against her. Instead, she surprised him by continuing the argument. "The point is experience. With time and age comes experience, you simply have bravado. That might be commendable, except I sense no battle instinct within you. You're a child who has lived in the comfort and safety of your little town, and you rushing into a fight as blindly as you are will do you no good, it is stupid!"

Anorax pursed his lips and glared at the nymph, but as he looked into her eyes, he was almost positive that aside from the disdain and disgust evident in her eyes, he could also see..."...You're worried for us. You-you actually care, don't you?"

The silence following this question was deafening. Little Orea silently wrapped her forelegs around one of the halfling's back legs, for security or for pity, it was unclear. The look on Ampelus' face betrayed her anger and disgust, and for a brief moment, Anorax could've sworn the look in her eyes seemed to say 'How could you think I don't?'

The brief moment of vulnerability was quickly replaced by fury. The nymph suddenly moved forward with a loud growl and butted her head against Anorax's, pushing him down against his back before he knew what was happening. The next thing he felt was a hoof putting pressure on his chest. He didn't have time to react before it was over, and Ampelus had walked on ahead, simply pushing him over and stepping on him to move forward.

As the halfling lay there wondering what happened, Orea hopped up onto the hoof of his rear leg and smiled down at him. "That means 'you're right, but don't mention it again or I'll kill you'."

"I kinda gathered that," he responded with half a smile as he slowly got to his hooves. He frowned; hadn't he slowed for a reason? Orea seemed to pick up on his worries, as she turned to look in the direction they'd come as well. She shot Anorax a very worried look.

"When Ampelus and I were still in town, I saw Spark following, but I didn't feel him with us. I think he is still in town, and I feel that something very bad is happening..." she said, her green eyes wide and distant. It was a little creepy coming from a creature that was less than a year old. Anorax frowned, and closed his eyes. He searched with his halfling senses for Spark Storm, and immediately picked him out heading this way, but he wasn't alone. There was somepony familiar with him, and...something completely unfamiliar. His frown deepened.

---

"Hey, you ok up there?" Spark asked. Rarity lay across his back as he drove the two of them forward on the small portion of cloud she'd brought down for him. While she was keeping him nice and warm, he remembered that her back was exposed, and he could feel her shivering and holding tighter.

"Oh, f-fine, just fine!" Rarity pouted. "Perhaps you could fly a little lower, where the w-wind isn't so bad, please?" She let out a little sigh of relief as she felt the cloud dip as Spark made adjustments. She peered down below as she got a better look of the land. She'd never seen the valley from this height before; it was both exhilarating and breathtaking.

As she stared out over the beautiful fall valley, something occurred to Rarity that she hadn't thought of before. "Oh Spark, dear," she began, spacing her words carefully so as not to make her tone clear, "you do know where we are headed, don't you?"

Spark flinched just slightly at the unicorn's tone. Of course he didn't know, he'd just spent twenty minutes accruing lateness by fighting a magic-eating unicorn and the psychic alicorn that controlled him. "Uh, w-well..."

Rarity scoffed and brought the side of her head down on Spark's, holding it there in frustration for just a moment until she both felt and heard him gasp, then looked up just as he began to tilt to the left. Rarity herself gasped and held on to her ride tighter, lest she fall. "Oh, Spark, you should warn a lady before you make such a sharp turn!" she whimpered, glancing down at the ground, which was still a good ways up.

When Spark gave her nothing, not even an apology, Rarity huffed and lifted her head over his to see a pegasus in the distance, hovering over the trees and waving to them. At first, Rarity began to feel psyched. She could feel her adrenaline rising. Soon she would be coming to Russet Heart's rescue, and this whole dirty adventuring business would be over. But as she got closer, she could see that it was Laser Reflex waiting for them, and the good feelings immediately began arguing with the fact that she still needed to talk to Laser about things.

Spark Storm felt Rarity stiffen on his back. He cast her an amused smile, to which she gave him a look that said she didn't approve of his candidacy. "You never did tell me what was going on between you and Laser, you know."

The unicorn's eyebrows raised delicately as she regarded him cooly before responding, "You never did tell me what was going on between you, Sapphire and Ditzy."

Spark stuttered for a moment and looked ahead of himself, trying to keep some sense of dignity after this rather ruthless burn. "That - that's not-"

"-None of my business? No it certainly is not, Spark Storm, and neither are my affairs your business, thank you very much."

Spark Storm frowned. It wouldn't do to have this cold tension between them to worry about before beginning the rescue. "...You're right. That was very rude of me, Rarity, I'm sorry."

Rarity smiled and delicately touched Spark's shoulder in an amicable gesture. "I think this situation has all of us a bit on edge, dear, think nothing of it. Let us begin this mission with light hearts, best as we can manage, anyway, and we shall succeed!"

Spark smiled at this brief but rousing speech. It felt good to have his traveling companion back on another mission, even one as grim and as dangerous as this. Rarity may have been too prissy to get close to in the beginning of their friendship, but after spending time with her on their trip to White Tails Woods, he had come to see the unicorn as witty, reliable, generous and fearless. She would've made an excellent Fighter.

The two came under a silence as they approached Laser Reflex. He still waved, but his demeanor had physically fallen as he noticed Rarity. Immediately he began lowering back down into the trees; he didn't seem too eager to talk, which was a relief for Rarity. She wasn't ready to talk things over yet, either.

Soon enough, the trio descending under the forest canopy revealed the others. The changeling pair, Emerald Skies, and Sohl waited for them. They all stood before a small hill, with a barely noticeable hole in the side. Spark figured this was the entrance, but before the group could continue, there needed to be a plan.

"What took you so long, Spark? And where's the rest of the group? Oh and hello, miss Rarity, " Emerald said, offering the unicorn a respectful bow of his head before he turned to Spark with a concerned frown on his face. Spark mirrored the look as he noticed that Orea, Ampelus and Anorax were also missing. That, and something was off about Sohl. She stood apart from the others, which wasn't all that strange, but she hadn't looked at him once since he'd arrived. He put this odd feeling aside as he turned to Emerald Skis.

Spark Storm stomped on his cloud, dissipating the platform and landing him back on solid ground. He lowered himself for Rarity to step down, who gracefully stepped down and stood at his side, a look of curiosity on her face. Why had he been separated from the group? Spark glanced around at the group. They all gathered a little closer to hear his explanation. Even Sohl had finally given him her attention.

He took a deep breath, then fixed his gaze on Emerald Skies. "Shimmering Oasis is here." Emerald, as the only pony among the group familiar with this name, gasped quietly as he took this in. "She just showed up out of nowhere with this unicorn kid in the square, put the whole street asleep and made us fight. It was pretty close, until one of the Fighters showed up and saved my butt. Shimmering got away, but that's why I'm late."

"You have met the princess before?" a voice from the back asked. Heads turned to face Kecnik, still in his pegasus form, a frown on his face.

Emerald spoke up this time. "Yes...last year, Spark Storm and I and a few others traveled halfway across the world to Neippon. We met her there," Emerald sighed and lowered his head. "We thought she was a good alicorn, somepony we could trust, but it was far from the truth."

"She put me under a spell and made me sleep while others fought a battle that nearly killed my friends," Spark added, a bitter frown in his eyes as well as on his mouth. Emerald didn't need to hear the rest on how Spark Storm had lost Twilight's friendship to know that the pegasus was thinking of it. Putting a brief companionable hoof on Sparks's shoulder, Emerald then turned his attention back on Kecnik.

"So you know Shimmering Oasis. What else can you tell us about what's inside?"

"She did not come alone," the changeling began. Spark's ears twitched, his gaze narrowing. He was almost sure of what he would hear next. "She came with an earth pony that calls herself Fire Lotus. She has no wings or horn, yet she is devastatingly dangerous."

Spark nodded slowly. From what Lemon Pop had told him, the fight with Fire Lotus had been a quick one. The earth pony had taken a magic blast to the face, broken some ribs being thrown from said magic, and had probably injured herself trying to stop rolling. Lemon Pop had then dispatched her in hoof-to-hoof combat easily enough, but from those injuries, and the way the changeling described her, she wouldn't be going down so easily this time around.

"I must also warn you about our brethren," Kecnik began again. As he spoke, Madalah lowered her gaze, a sad look coming over her pretty face. She had shown no signs of shame until Kecnik began to speak of them. "Aside from the many changelings we will soon face, there are three that you must be made aware of."

Beside Emerald Skies, Laser Reflex shuddered. He knew all too well the three that Kecnik was speaking of. "The first is Dozix. He is a giant, and if you see him you will not miss him. He is very dangerous. The next is Bezzle. She is very small, but she is also very dangerous, and behind the queen she is the second-in-command of this hive. Last is-"

"Whoa, whoa," Spark interrupted. "What do you mean 'this' hive?"

Every last head that wasn't a changeling perked at this question. Of all the ponies in the know about the changelings, all of them assumed that there was one hive, here deep in the Everfree Forest. Kecnik frowned as he shared a glance at Madalah, who turned to the group and asked, "You do not know of the other hives?"

Laser Reflex sighed and brought a hoof to his face and dragged it down slowly. "Ugh...can we sort this other hive business after we get Russet out of there and back to town? I'd be all for inviting you two back with us, you've been more than helpful with getting us this far, but the talk can wait..." he said, raising his gaze to the changelings once more. "Please. It's my fault Russet is in this mess. I want him back."

Spark reached over to nudge Laser, the slightest hint of a derisive smile present on his face. "Heh, you sure you're ready for this? There probably won't be a lot of flying room once we get inside..."

Laser cast Spark a narrow-eyed glare. "I was angry and I wasn't thinking straight. My fighting skills are up to par, thank you very much." Laser paused and absently rubbed at his muzzle, still a little sore from the blow that ended the fight. "Of course I'm kind of hoping the changelings don't hit as hard as you do."

"The changelings will not attack to defeat you," Kecnik said, his voice low with warning. "They will be attacking to kill you. If you do not attack with the same intent, you will lose..." he paused, letting his words sink in for a moment before continuing. "...you will die."

Rarity glanced around at her comrades for a moment before stepping forward, her horn lighting up as she readied an arrow in her magical grasp. "I, for one, am ready. I have fought the changelings before and I am fully aware of what they are capable of. Nothing shall surprise me, I have killed before and I shall kill again for the sake of my friend."

"Uh..." Spark muttered before coming to stand beside her. "That brings up an excellent point, actually." Rarity furrowed her brows at the pegasus, a questioning look on her face. Spark turned to Kecnik and Madalah once more, then gestured for Rarity to lower her weapon. When, and only after she had, he turned to the two before him. "Speaking of surprises, I think you two should show Rarity what you really look like. We really don't want any mishaps once we've begun."

Rarity looked from Spark, then to the two in front of her, her eyes widening with disbelief as Kecnik nodded in agreement, then closed his eyes. Madalah did the same, and they both erupted into teal and electric blue fire, revealing their changelings forms. Rarity gasped quietly, but she stood fast. Spark smiled as he watched her. He had admired her courage since the battle in White Tail Woods.

Finally, Rarity nodded her head solemnly and smiled at the two changelings. "I believe I understand now. I thank you for helping us."

As Kecnik and Madalah returned Rarity's smile, Sohl perked up from the back and turned around to face the woods as Orea bounded into the clearing and came to a stop before the harpy, a look of uncertainty painted on her face. Sohl frowned and knelt down before her. When Orea leaned up and put her hooves on Sohl's chest and opened her mouth to speak, Sohl put a clawed hand over Orea's lips. "Hush. Don't you say a word."

The harpy and the nymph stared at each other for the longest time. Orea's eyes filled with tears as Sohl's encounter with Amacia ran through her mind as easily and as constantly as it did in Sohl's. "Sh-sh-sh, don't, sweetheart, not here," Sohl whispered, gingerly taking the nymph into her arms. She frowned as Ampelus ambled into the clearing, the slightest hint of annoyance on the older nymph's face as she stepped past the harpy and shouldered her way past the others to stand at Spark's side.

The tall nymph glanced around at the group agitatedly, then down at Spark Storm, purposely ignoring the changelings in front of her and said, "Well? Are we going into the dark caves to commit murder on the abominations now?" Kecnik and Madalah both hissed quietly, their wings buzzing with clear anger.

Spark made a face at Ampelus' crass speech, but he wasn't about to start a fight outside of the changeling caves. He rolled his eyes and glanced back to see Sohl holding an upset Orea. He frowned and trotted over. "Orea, what's-" he said, but a fierce growl from Sohl froze him in his tracks. The harpy had turned to him, displaying her sharp teeth in a threatening display.

Spark was shocked for a moment, but as he came to his senses he grew angry. He wanted to know why Orea was so upset, and the harpy wasn't letting him get close. His wings raised in his own threatening gesture and he took a step forward. Sohl's left foot tensed, preparing to strike when Orea jumped down from her arms and stood between them.

"No! No fighting, stop it!" she cried, and immediately lowered her head and pressed it against Spark's chest. "Please, no, no fighting. I'm-I'm fine, dad. We need to go, we have to inside now and help our friend."

Spark Storm frowned down at Orea. She trembled as she stood there, it was very evident that she was mustering a great effort not to cry in front of him. When he cast a questioning look to Sohl, she scowled at him and stood without a word and walked away from the two.

Spark looked down at Orea once more, begging with his eyes to tell him what was going on. The nymph merely shook her head and lowered it to press her head to his chest, hiding the new tears that fell. While the group waited patiently, Anorax finally made his way into the clearing, a frown instantly plastered over his face as he noted Spark Storm and Orea together. While Spark was completely befuddled, Anorax needed no explanation. He'd been getting sorrowful vibes from Orea for the last five minutes.

Orea looked up at Spark once more, this time her eyes dried. She put on a brave face, forgetting for now what she knew of Sohl's coming fate. She nodded to Spark, affirming she was prepared for the coming battle. Spark gave a nearly imperceptible sigh as he looked down at his surrogate daughter. Daughter...could he really be father to a second child? Could he really live this life while being attached to Ditzy? Wouldn't that just be running away from his destiny, like Applejack had told him several years ago?

There were so many questions that needed answering, and new ones just kept popping up. Spark leaned down and kissed Orea's forehead before he stood once again and turned, facing the other seven. They all stood there, watching him, waiting for him. This brought a frown to his face, as all it did was remind him of that day just over a week ago. His teammates, waiting for him to take command. It was different now, though. This role felt right.

He drew in a deep breath, then let it out slowly, then began making his way forward to the cave. He spoke no words, and he was given no objections as he walked up to Kecnik and Madalah and gave them a firm nod. The changelings, in turn, wordlessly turned and lead the way into the cave. Spark Storm and his friends and comrades followed suit, every last one of them making their way into uncertain darkness.

Comments

[John_Smith]

And the plot just keeps getting better and better and better. :D

Keep up the good work, MechaFone!

[mechafone]

:D :D Thanks! I'm-a workin' on it :3

[Melody Brush]

WHY, OH WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS?!!! Sohl's leaving them without a word and Spark's little girl is heartbroken... sniff...