Hopes 'n DreamsVerse: A Better Beginnings

by The HopesnDreamsVerse

Chapter Four: Adventure?

The group of seven speed-trotted, on the edge of galloping, back into town. The sound of a panicked voice, followed by a few others, brought them close to Town Square.

Meteor turned the corner at the back of the group to see a familiar white unicorn with a fabulously styled mane and tail of beautiful blue-violet. The locks that used to hang across her neck were now pulled into a bun at the back of her head, and she wore a purple polka-dotted kerchief around her neck. Alongside the practically famous Rarity were a few other ponies, including the confused gray mail-pegasus. Meteor had the suspicion that this was about the missing Wonderbolts, and these were the loved ones of said Bolts.

Diamond Crest shot forward immediately, heading towards Rarity. The white unicorn turned away from speaking frantically to the group to face her quickly approaching daughter. “Mondy!” she wheezed, pulling the slightly shorter unicorn into a hug once she was close enough.

“Mom!” Diamond exclaimed. “I heard about what happened. I-I can't believe Uncle Discord would—” She was cut off by Rarity's widening eyes. The Element of Generosity pulled away, keeping her hooves on Diamond Crest's shoulders.

“Discord is responsible for this?” She scoffed before clicking her tongue. “Why am I surprised? He's done a plethora of things like this before!”

A pale blue pegasus colt with a swept back dark blue and violet mane walked up beside the two. “What did he do, Di?” he asked Diamond.

Diamond Crest looked down at her brother. “He set up some kind of fake quest for me and my friends to go on that included the Wonderbolts, and this Sphynx creature came and took them away,” she croaked, eyes slowly lowering to her hooves in distress.

“What's a Sphynx?” the colt asked his mother, jordy blue eyes widening both quizzically and in concern.

Rarity bit her lip. “A giant winged cat, darling; from Somnambula's story. . . ," she said distractedly, as the other frightened ponies in the eavesdropping group started murmuring about the new information, a mumbling that soon turned into a buzz of frantic voices.

Meteor crept up to the front of his group. Rarity noticed him immediately. “Oh, Meteor Star, I'm so glad you're here. I'm sorry you had to arrive here at such an uncertain circumstance,” she said, grabbing his hoof and cupping it with hers.

Meteor sub-consciously appreciated the long silky fur from her fetlocks that pooled around his extended hoof. “O-oh, no, that's alright. I've heard of some of the crazy things that happened here in the past, so I don't know what I was expecting,” he stammered.

“Crazy stuff still happens here, bud,” Prism muttered. She had reacted little to the news of both her parents disappearing, and still she hovered above the ground with permanent crossed arms, expression pretty much blank. Surprisingly though, after saying those words, she landed beside Diamond Crest and placed a comforting black wing over the unicorn's shoulder.

“Does Ma' and the rest of our parents know about what happened?” Honeycrisp spoke up.

Rarity nodded. “Yes, I told Pinkie that Soarin hadn't come home from practice today and after we found out that other members of the Wonderbolts hadn't returned home either, she went up to Sweet Apple Acres to tell Applejack about what's going on,” she explained, before narrowing her eyes. “Tell me, have you seen Discord? Has he gone to get them back? Because if he hasn't, I'd like to give him an earful!”

Marshmallow responded accordingly. “Yeah, actually, he just left to search for them.”

Strawberry Sundae nodded, still looking a little shaken.

“Calm, everypony! Remain calm!”

Meteor perked his ears as the doors to a tall dome shaped building up ahead opened, and he watched as a plum colored earth-pony with a wavy lavender and white mane stepped out and started going around and talking quickly and gently to the various town-ponies in the frightened group that had started swarming her. She held herself importantly, but her clear turquoise eyes were soft as she tried to calm everypony down.

“I've gotten word from our Ruler, Princess Twilight,” the mare said once she made her way back to the front and held up a scroll. “Every Wonderbolt in the team has gone missing, not just the ones here in Ponyville,” she presumably paraphraed. “But, she has been visited by our, er, local draconequus—” She made a surly face when she read that. “—and reports that he has acted accordingly and has currently gone in search of the Flight Team to bring them back.”

She clapped a hoof on the ground, and an all silver earth-pony with blue spectacles hurried up from where she had been standing by the door. She took the scroll from the other pony and rolled it up.

“Mayor Tiara is right, guys.”

Meteor practically jumped out of his fur as Rosebud's voice drifted into his ears, and a flash of white light announced the arrival of said drac-pony. “Dad will get them back soon, we just need to sit back and remain calm,” she said, though her voice faltered a bit; clearly she wasn't as sure of what she said as she wanted them to believe.

Prism, Honeycrisp, Diamond, and the Pie twins turned immediately to their friend. Diamond Crest looked at her with wide eyes. “But what if it's not alright? It's like Uncle Discord said, the Sphinx has the ability to destabilize magic, what's stopping her from doing just that when he c-comes for them?” she fretted, starting to sway unsteadily on her hooves.

Prismarine used her outstretched wing to steady her.

Meteor felt awkward, he could only stand there and watch. He had no connection to any of the Wonderbolts and nothing he could say to try and console them would mean much of anything to these ponies, he was a complete stranger to them!

“That guy has gone too far this time.” Another new voice sounded behind them, and everypony turned to see Applejack and Pinkie Pie approaching from up the path. Pinkie had been the one to scold the draconequus, her usually bouncy steps were stiff and she looked perturbed. Applejack wasn't much better, but her steps were more purposeful and alive.

“If he doesn't get them back, he'll have to answer 't us,” she agreed. “Then it'll be up 't us to try and get them back. You'd think he'd learn after all the other times he's tried to meddle with affairs and they've miserably backfired.”

Rosebud sighed. “He may not think through things much, but. . . ,” she trailed away, having trouble thinking of a good counter to it.

“But nothing. If he doesn't succeed in retrieving them, the Elements are going to have to figure it out ourselves,” Rarity retorted, walking up to stand beside her friends.

Pinkie nodded in agreement, accepting the hug Strawberry was trying to give her. “Nothing we can't handle of course,” she said, voice normal and squeaky once more.

“Come on y'all, let's meet up with Fluttershy and think of a back up plan for should the need arise,” Applejack suggested, before she too spotted Meteor.

“Reckon you got my pie?” she asked.

Meteor blinked in confusion for a moment, before remembering the treat he had been sent. “Oh, yeah, I did, uh thank you,” he stammered.

He gasped as Pinkie sprang forward at him and lifted her hooves to grab his face. “Oh, I'm so SORRY! Your ‘Welcome to Ponyville Party’ will have to wait! I can't believe I hadn't gotten it ready sooner, but don't you worry! As soon as the Wonderbolts are safe, I'll get straight to work.”

She then proceeded to pull him into a bear hug. Meteor was caught off-guard, letting out a wheeze as she squeezed him with all her might. Despite her small size and dumpling stature, she was surprisingly strong. Ah, the wonders of an Earth-pony's magic.

Applejack came up beside her and ruffled his mane with a hoof. Meteor didn't know how to react, he felt very uncomfortable being hugged by ponies he didn't really know; ponies who knew more about him than he did of them. He waited it out patiently until his aunts backed off.

“Let's go,” Rarity nickered as she galloped ahead in the direction of the cottage. Pinkie Pie and Applejack followed accordingly.

“So, what do we do?” Strawberry Sundae fretted.

Rosebud was silent for a moment. Meteor hadn't any clue either, could they really just sit back and watch while family was in danger? But they're not my family. . . they're Mom's, he thought.

The drac-pony sighed finally. “We just have to wait and hope they come back safe. Just stay calm, like the Mayor said.” She didn't sound particularly thrilled by that aspect though.

Toasted Marshmallow S'more looked at Strawberry, then at the others, before he finally stepped forward. “Heh-hey, I see what you're saying Rosie, and the Mayor is a very wise pony and just wants what's best for the town, buuut. . .” He glanced back at the others behind him. "I think we would all feel better about the situation if we went out and did something about all this instead of, y'know, standing around. I mean, when have we ever backed down from adventure? Huh?” he asked in a calm, matter-of-fact tone.

Honeycrisp furrowed his brows at the smaller stallion. “And what do you reckon we could do about it?” he growled. "Equestria's most powerful ally is already out looking for him, and you're suggesting that we, a ragtag bunch'a normal ponies who can barely agree on anything, go on some big mystery quest to rescue the Wonderbolts from a place we know nothing about, and from some powerful enemy, that we again know nothing about? You're even more unreasonable than I thought!”

“Hey, I'm just saying, our moms went on impossible quests all the time, and don't act like we haven't seen some crazy stuff in our time too,” Marshmallow reasoned patiently. “Remember the timberwolves? Cattle Stampedes? When Fritter was taken by those magic condors? All of those crisis were averted by us. Sure this may be a bit 'over our heads'” —he quotated with his hooves— “but at the end of the day, so was all that other stuff when we first encountered it.”

There was a ripple of interested mumblings among Diamond, Prismarine, and Strawberry.

“I was great with those birdbrains.”

“Well, I-I guess so. . . .”

“For once S'more, you might actually have a point.”

Rosebud pursed her lips, mulling over his words. “Well. . . I guess that makes sense,” she breathed.

“Honeycrisp,” she said, lifting a paw to place on the stallion's broad white shoulder. “You're the strongest of us, and you, with the help of Toast and Sunny, have lured away stampedes many times.” She turned to look at Prism. “You're the fastest, you caught up with those birds and confused them until you could get little Apple Fritter to safety, and you've warded them off when they've come back for more every time since.” Prism lifted her chin proudly, fluffing up her wings. “Diamond, your chemistry skills were able to save us from the timberwolves attack last month, if it weren't for your vinegar and baking soda reaction, we would have all been dog food.”

Marshmallow raised a hoof nonchalantly. “Hey, I helped too,” he reminded her.

Rosebud nodded. “Yes, Diamond and your skills.” She was purring her words again.

Diamond furrowed her brow. “It was mostly me,” she puffed.

“Strawberry, you not only help to put up the cows, your distractions have come in useful plenty of times,” Rosebud continued.

Strawberry grinned. “Why, thank you,” he chirped, eyes glowing.

“And Marshmallow.” Rosebud turned to the orange earth-pony. “You're the voice of reason when you want to be, and you try to keep everypony's spirits high, plus you've got quick reflexes and you're the fastest runner out of all of us; very useful in a hyper-paced situation.”

Marshmallow chuckled softly. “Well, I try,” he quipped. “Hey, and with your chaotic powers, you can teleport us away from danger if it becomes critical. See? I told you we've got this.”

Rosebud nodded. “Exactly. If anyone can do something like this, it's us,” she concluded. Honeycrisp scoffed and Rosebud looked at him softly. “I think maybe we should give it a try.” Her gaze then traveled to Meteor. “I've heard that you're very smart and good with magic, if you'll also join us, you could be a big help.”

Meteor blinked a couple times. “I. . . .” He looked around at the group. They all looked hopeful now, but he could see the worry behind it. Then he glanced around the square. Ponies huddled together, worried to death for their dear loved ones in the Air Fleet. Then he looked at his hooves; they sure were scrawny, not to be of much help in a fight. Then he focused on his brain; it was constantly moving and thinking and calculating, his magical forces were strong, and he knew a thing or two about using stars for navigation. This team looked like they needed a calculated mind to keep things straight, if the constant bickering was any reminder.

These ponies. . . they mean so much to Mother, and some in the Wonderbolts mean so much to the ponies who mean so much to her. And. . . I'm the Prince. They're my subjects too, and anypony in the Royal Family should do everything they can for their subjects. It's my responsibility, he realized. He didn't like it, but it was his right, and if this mess of a friend group did decide to go on a quest to save the Wonderbolts, he would follow.

I can't believe I'm doing this. “Okay,” he breathed.

Rosebud's oversized ears began to wiggle. She returned her ruby gaze to Honeycrisp once more. Honeycrisp stared at her for a long moment, but eventually he lowered his head and mumbled. “Fine. But remember that this is serious. It's not an adventure.”

“Adventure!” S'more and Strawberry corrused immediately, ignoring him and making his green eyes twitch in fierce frustration. The others seemed happy with this conclusion.

Adventure? Meteor thought. I guess you could call it that. . . Oh Faust, what have I gotten myself into?

Author's Note:

Sorry for the wait, like I said, I write this story only when I have free time.

Comments

[StarzGecko]

Can’t wait for the next chapter

[The HopesnDreamsVerse]

11274400
Aaaaaznd, you shall have to wait, no longer!