Angelswift II: The Awakening

by Nevel

Chapter 3

Night time fell quickly. Lance, Cherry, Moonlight, Fire Wire and Skylar all moved as quickly as they could through the woods. Every tree looked the same. Every rock seemed to mimic the previous one. The word “Lost” would be perfect for their current situation, though Skylar had chosen much more colourful words.

“We’re all well and truly F-“

“HEY!” Lance yelled over the top of him, “Watch your mouth!”

Cherry stood behind Lance, her eyes shut and her ears flopped down against her head. The plan seemed so simple. Follow the tracks, watch the skies and stick together. Back at the camp they had told everypony that they were all planning to go out and try and find some help, and a white pony wearing a red fez hat promised to keep everypony safe until their return. As they walked along the track, they saw a dark pegasus flying across the sky.

“Hey!”
“Down here!”
“Hello?!”

Lance, Moonlight and Skylar called out to the flying pegasus, but instead of responding to them it darted down into the tree tops. Rift flew up and went after it. They all followed, running into the woods and chasing the pony down, but it had disappeared along with Rift. They headed back to the train tracks, but despite going back directly the way they came they could never find them. The sun went down completely soon after and the five found themselves surrounded by the darkness. Tensions began to get high at this point and tempers were boiling over.

“If you idiots had just stuck to the tracks like we planned-“ Skylar started saying.

“Excuse me?” Moonlight interrupted. “I believe it was YOU who ran from the tracks first!”

“N-No! It was that feather brain guitar boy. I was just following him!”

“And whose fault is that?” Moonlight retorted.

The arguing continued back and forth between the two, Lance tried to get them to calm down but neither was listening at this point.

“Quiet!!” Their arguing stopped as Fire Wire screamed, snapping her book shut with her magic. “I can’t think while you two bite each other’s heads off. Now listen, I think I’ve just about got our bearings on our location. We’ve travelled east along the tracks, then we headed north as we left the tracks and ran into the forest. So we need to head south, but in order to know which way south is, we need a compass or a gap in the trees so I can see the stars in the sky.”

Lance was amazed with how well read the dark grey unicorn was. However, he had spotted a flaw in her plan.

“But to see the stars, you’ll either need to climb up to the top of these trees or find a large wide open field where we can see the entire sky.” Lance said to Fire Wire. She thought this over.

“Then we’re walking till we can find a-“ Fire Wire stopped as they heard a rustling from the bushes. Cherry took a step behind Lance and he stood ready to protect her. The others took a few steps back, Lance then realised that he was now ahead of everypony. The beast in the bush would no doubt go after him first, which should give the others enough time to run. Lance lowered himself down, ready to tackle whatever it was.

“Hey friends!” Rift said, stepping out from the bush. Everypony breathed a collective sigh of relief, and then Skylar jumped forward.

“What the hay do think you’re playing at? Scaring everypony and disappearing on us like that?!”

“Haha,” Rift chuckled. “You were scared?” The taller pegasus walked past Skylar with a smile on his face. The beige pony stared right at Rift with anger. Lance was worried another fight was about to breakout.

“Rift!” Said Moonlight. “We need a pony to carry Fire Wire above the trees so she can see the stars in the sky.”

“Well heck, I’d be honoured.” Rift walked up to Fire Wire, flapping his wings. “You ready?”

“I… Wait, hold it-” Fire Wire shreaked as Rift flew over her and, using his longer than average forelegs, he scooped her up. Fire Wire kicked her legs wildly, screaming for a moment before both she and Rift disappeared above the trees. They all kept watching above them looking out for their return. A cold wind blew between the trees causing Lance to shiver momentarily. He looked towards where the wind came from and then felt Cherry pulling on his left foreleg. Lance looked down at her and she was looking to where the wind was blowing towards.

“It’s just like Everfree.” She said, sounding a little worried.

“What?” Lance asked.

“I remember the wind in the Everfree Forest. It’s not like it’s blowing past you, but more like it’s pushing you towards it.” Lance shook his head.

“It’s just the wind, don’t worry about it.” Cherry didn’t take her eyes away from the direction she was looking. It was as if she was waiting for something to show itself. Lance looked up to where Rift and Fire Wire disappear through the trees but still, there was no sign of them.

“Hey Lance.” Lance looked at Moonlight who had just walked over to him.

“Hi.” He said, wondering if she wanted something.

“Getting a little cold, isn’t it.” Moonlight said, making small talk. This always made Lance feel awkward, especially that type of question because the only answer he could give was,

“Yep.” Lance looked away from Moonlight, feeling as awkward as he expected.

“So… Umm, what were you and Cherry heading into Los Pegasus for?”

“A funeral.” Lance said while looking down at the ground. “Our father just passed away.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that.” She said to Lance and then turned to look down at Cherry. She wasn’t paying any attention to the conversation that was going on right beside her. Moonlight looked back at Lance. “Was it… did he go peacefully?”

Lance looked away, the details of what happened never really crossed his mind. The letter only said it was because of drinking complications. Lance only guessed it was the alcohol that finally got to him. But he wanted to know smaller details, like did he black out at the bar? Did he have any last words? How long was he in the hospital before he…? Lance didn’t want to think about it.

“I don’t know, we were living in Ponyville when it happened.”

“And… your mother? She’s…” Moonlight was dancing very gently around her questions. She didn’t want to seem like she was intruding on his private life. Lance knew she wasn’t being nosey, just trying to be friendly.

“She… passed away soon after Cherry was born.” Moonlight held a hoof to her mouth as she gasped. She looked down to Cherry again who this time was looking at the ground. She must have heard that part at least.

“Oh gosh.” Moonlight said, looking between both Lance and Cherry. “I- I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have-“ Lance cut her off.

“It’s okay,” Lance said. ”I’ve been looking after Cherry since then, and… Well, sometimes you’ve just gotta be strong and carry on for the ones you love most.” Lance wrapped a foreleg around his sister.

“I understand.” Moonlight turned away from Lance, he was about to ask if she was okay, but then he thought about maybe changing the subject completely. He noticed her cutiemark, a black crescent moon with a black star next to it.

“So umm… Moonlight. What’s your cutiemark mean?”

“Huh?” She turned back. “Oh, well it’s the moon and the stars, so that means that one day I’m going to be a great astronaut and explore the stars beyond the moon.”

“You’re gonna… huh?” Lance asked, confused. “How did you find out that was your special talent?”

Moonlight opened her mouth to answer, but a noise behind them made her turn around.

“Never again.” Fire Wire said as she shakily lied down on the grass, grateful to be back on the ground. Rift was out of breath. He flapped his wings a few times and then folded them in.

“You find out anything?” Moonlight asked as she walked over to the pair. Lance hurried over as well. The cold wind blew at them, making each of them feel much colder. Rift and Fire Wire didn’t seem fazed by it, but they had just been up in the cold sky.

“No,” Fire Wire said. “It’s too dark to see anything and the clouds blocked out the sky.”

“What? Didn’t you go above the clouds?” Moonlight asked.

“We tried,” said Rift. “But the wind is a lot worse above the trees and it’s gotten too strong. The extra weight made it impossible for me to fly any higher.”

“Hold on, are you saying I’m heavy?” Fire Wire asked, insulted.

“No, I just meant that-“

“Typical,” Skylar interrupted. “Our only hope of getting out of here it ruined because our white friend here is too weak to even fly into the wind.” Rift looked down at the smaller pegasus. “Maybe you should trade in your guitar and get some flying lessons.”

“Hey, there’s no need for that attitude.” Moonlight said.

“What’s your problem, dude?” Rift said as he got in Skylar’s face.

“My problem ‘dude’, is that we’re all lost because you went chasing after that pegasus in the first place!” Skylar said, raising his voice.

“Well no one made you follow me, or even invited you to join this group!” Rift said, his own voice getting louder.

“Guys, stop this right now!” Fire Wire said, trying to be louder than both of them.

The arguing continued. Lance was expecting one of them to hit the other, he turned to Cherry to make sure she was staying back.

She wasn’t behind him.

Lance looked around the area, but she was nowhere to be seen.

“Cherry?” Lance called out. His words drowned out by the yelling of the other two. Lance called as loud as he could. “CHERRY?!” The arguing behind Lance stopped, Moonlight quickly moved over to Lance.
“What happened?!” She asked, sounding worried. “Where is she?” Moonlight looked around as well. Cherry had disappeared. A cold wind blew again pushing against Lance.

“This is your fault!” Lance heard Skylar saying, obviously wanting to restart his shouting match with Rift.

Lance ignored them. The wind was constant now, blowing between the trees, pushing Lance forwards.

Oh no, did she...? Lance wondered. He started walking forwards, in the direction that the wind was pushing him.

“Lance?” Moonlight said as suddenly the ivory coloured pony with the short light blue mane took a few small steps forward, and then broke out into a full gallop. “Lance!” Moonlight followed him, who was then herself followed by Fire Wire and then Rift. Skylar hung back for a second, still fuming, then he followed as well.

- - -

The woods were getting darker. The deeper they ran into it, the thicker the trees became. The group was weaving in and out between each tree, all trying to keep up with Lance. Lance was out of breath but he knew that Cherry’s curiosity got the best of her and she wanted to know where the wind was guiding her.

That silly filly. Lance had thought to himself. He ran as fast as he could and soon came to a slight clearing of the trees. The thick clouds above blocked out the light, making almost nothing visable in this area. Lance’s eyes had to adjust to the darkness as he looked around, then he saw her, but only just. Cherry was stood still in the clearing, looking at something Lance couldn’t see.

“Cherry!” Lance ran up to her, stopping by her side. “Cherry! You-“ Lance stopped to take a breath. “You can’t just run of like… like that!”

Cherry turned to face her brother and looked confused.

“But this is what we were looking for. Weren’t we?”

Lance was now the one who was confused. Cherry looked back to what she was staring at before. Lance turned his head and saw it. He didn’t even hear the others running up behind him.

“Oh, thank… goodness.” Moonlight said, trying to catch her breath. “Cherry, why’d you-“ Moonlight was interrupted by Rift.

“Whoa! Check that out.” He said, pointing a hoof out in front of himself.

In front of them was a large barn. It was a much bigger one than any of them had ever seen before. The thing was a wreck. It was all made out of unpainted dark brown wood. Boards were missing, the wood was splitting, wild plants were climbing the sides, a large section of the wall had collapsed and there was a hole in the roof where a large tree branch had fallen off and crashed through it. To the right of that there was an old cabin. It was made of the same wood as the barn. It had a porch and two windows either side of the door, yet neither had any glass that wasn’t cracked or shattered.

“Greaat.” Skylar said, sarcastically. “Lost in the middle of nowhere, and we find an abandoned cabin in the middle of the woods.”

Everypony ignored him.

“I’m gonna check it out.” Rift said. ”Maybe somepony still lives here. Or at least left a few supplies.” He flew over to the cabin and looked in through a window. He quickly turned back to the others. “Hey, any of you unicorns got a light?”

Moonlight and Fire Wire looked at each other than simultaneously both of them made their horns glow. Moonlight’s was white, like her coat and Fire Wire’s was orange, like her mane.

“You check the cabin.” Fire Wire said. “I’m gonna poke around in the barn.”

“Sounds good.” Moonlight said, with a nod. They both walked off to their destinations. Lance figured that Rift and Moonlight should be okay on their own so he followed Fire Wire, before he did though, he turned to Cherry.

“Cherry, listen.” Lance got down low to be at his sisters eye level. “You can’t ever wonder off on your own like that.”

“But-“ Cherry started but Lance stopped her.

“But nothing. Listen, I don’t want anything bad to happen to you, any more then you want something bad to happen to me.” Lance looked towards the barn then back to Cherry. “Do you remember the Everfree forest? What happened when you went in there and I got so scared that I went looking for you and got attacked by that hydra trying to find you?”

Cherry nodded. She looked like she understood what her brother was trying to say to her.

“I never wanna be in that situation again. And I’m not talking about the hydra, I’d fight two of those to get to you. I mean where I fear for your safety so bad that I get scared and panic, and do stupid things.”

“I’m sorry.” Cherry said. She looked to the ground, holding back tears as she remembered. He had almost been killed while trying to find her in the forest. A lot of terrible things happened in that weekend. She’d never wanted to relive that again.

“Hey,” Lance said, holding a hoof to her chin. “It’s okay. But I want you to stay by my side, no matter what, okay?”

Cherry nodded.

“Okay, good.” Lance stood up and headed to the barn with his sister close by his side. They went inside it and Fire Wire was already looking around, but it seemed like there was nothing here. Old pitch forks, shovels, rotten hay, the only signs of life were the spiders hanging from the giant cobwebs on the ceiling. There was a ladder leading up to the second floor, but it was broken. Lance wasn’t sure if he’d be able to climb it while it was at an angle like that, heading vertically to the roof.

Maybe the designer of this barn had claws, Lance thought to himself. Like a dragon or a griffin. But why would a dragon want a barn, or a griffin need a ladder?

Click.

Lance, Cherry and Fire Wire all turned to where the noise came from, directly in the middle of the barn. Everypony stood still barely breathing.

What was that noise? Sounded like something like something metal hitting against another bit of metal.

Click. Click.

The sound repeated twice. Fire Wire pointed her horn to the exact area the noise came from. The three of them approached it slowly. The silence was now making them paranoid. Every step forward made a deafening clop against the wood under there hooves. Fire Wire’s orange glow showed a large trapdoor hidden under the hay, heading under the barn.

“What you think it is?” Whispered Lance.

“A cellar I’d guess.” Fire Wire said quietly back. She used her magic to lift the hay covering the trapdoor and then floated it to the side. The glow of her horn then focused on the trapdoor itself. It glowed orange and then she lifted it up, slowly. Lance could see a stairway, leading down some very narrow steps. They heard hoof steps behind them. Lance turned around and saw Skylar Black stepping into the barn.

“What’s that?” He asked.

“Looks like some kind of cellar.” Lance replied, looking back down at it. Fire Wire laid the trapdoor down, fully opened, than cast her light down the stairway.

“Hmm, that’s goes on forever.” She said. They heard voices from behind them, Rift and Moonlight were coming into the barn, having a whispered discussion, but everypony was so quiet that they could be heard talking about a button.

“It could have been dangerous.” Moonlight said louder then she expected.

“What’s the matter?” Fire Wire asked.

“Oh nothing,” Moonlight said. “Our friend here just found a button and pressed it. Repeatedly! That’s all.”

“Oh, well that’s-“

“And we didn’t even know what it did. It could have done something bad!” Moonlight turned to face Rift. The pegasus had a big grin on his face and then he laughed.

“Haha, but it did nothing. You’re all worked up about nothing.”

“Did you follow the wire from the button?” Fire Wire asked.

“Kinda.” Rift said. “It just went underground though.”

Fire Wire looked around the edge of the hole that the trapdoor had been hiding.

“Gotcha.”

“What is it?” Lance asked.

“That button was a lock for this thing. But…” She hesitated for a moment. “A little to high-tech for such a small cabin and barn in the middle of the woods.“

“Somepony had a secret out here.” Skylar said, stepping closer to the opening in the floor.

“Was the button just lying out in the open?” Fire Wire asked Rift.

“Not exactly.” Rift nervously brushed at the back of his mane.

“He tripped on a desk and knocked it over.” Moonlight said. “I caught the desk before it hit the floor, and then we saw that there was a button behind where the desk had been.”

“Didn’t catch me though.” Rift said, rubbing his muzzle.

“You forgot you had wings. I Didn’t.” Moonlight said casually. “But, what do you think is at the bottom of that trapdoor?”

“Whoever put this here was very careful in keeping this a secret.” Skylar said, a smile forming on his face. “You know the stories though. Some crazy pony living alone in the woods sees a group of travellers, he invites them over, they have a drink, and then next thing they know is he’s locking them up in his cellar, preparing his latest ingredients.” Skylar put a hoof on the steps.

“Hey wait!” Lance said, stopping him. Skylar looked at Lance with an annoyed expression on his face. “I think we should let either Moonlight or Fire Wire go first.”

“Hang on.” Moonlight said, walking up to Lance. “You really suggesting that sweet innocent young mares like us should go down into a dark scary place like that, first?”

“I-I-“ Lance stammered as Moonlight got right into his face, looking him straight in the eyes. Lance felt rotten for suggesting that, but he was only thinking about the light. Then Moonlight laughed.

“Hahaha, Ah that was too easy.” She was teasing him. “I’ll go. It looks fun.” Moonlight gave Lance a smile and then went down the steps, her horn glowing brightly. Skylar Black followed her and then Rift went down with Fire Wire. Lance heard a noise from beside him and looked at Cherry, she was giggling into the back of her hoof.

“Oh, don’t you start.” Lance lowered his head down under Cherry and lifted her up so she slid down onto his back. She gave a quick squeak as she grabbed hold around his neck. Lance then headed down the stairway. The stairs were narrow and steep but the light from Moonlight’s horn made the stairway shine like, as true to her name, moonlight.

“What you think is down here?” Cherry whispered to her brother.

“I dunno,” Lance whispered back. “But it can’t be any worse than what Skylar’s imagining.”

They reached the bottom and Lance saw that the door was made of metal. Moonlight wrapped it in her magic and then swung the door open.

Skylar was way off.

Comments

[Firewire]

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