Chapter 7
The black alicorn sat in front of a block of ice. The previous several blocks had been cloudy with impurities, and there had been a great deal of yelling and dispensing of punishments, but this one was satisfactory. Her work earlier had borne fruit; the room was even colder now than it had been. It was cold enough now for ice and snow outside, here high up on the mountain's flank. Soon it would be freezing in the valleys as well. And then... then it would grow colder and colder until the world was as cold as the silvery moon itself, and nothing lived but Nightmare Moon and her ice servants. They would worship her, for she would be their creator, their goddess. Ponies had such difficulty recognizing her greatness! Her new servants would have no such flaws.
"That is the problem with ponies," she said to herself as she regarded the ice. "They called us princesses and let us rule them, but they didn't call us gods or worship us as they should. And my dear sister," the alicorn sneered, "was content with the generous praise they gave her. Their fawning blinded her to their inadequacies. But I see them clearly. More clearly now than ever! They were dumb, pathetic animals that we raised to intelligence, but their animal nature still shows through. They might as well be cows. Or rabbits. They are not worthy to be my servants. But ice... Ahhhhh ice." Her horn glowed and she caressed the block with a cold tendril of magic. "I will make new life. Perfect life. Pristine and mathematical as the ice crystal it springs from. Their only emotion will be their love for me. They will give me the worship I have always deserved, that even my best servants cannot give me, for I will be their creator, their goddess. My subjects call me their queen because I insist on it. They should call me goddess without having to be told! They are too flawed to see my true power. But you..." She stared at the ice with a gaze that was almost tender, like a mother looking at her newborn foal. "You will be everything I ever wanted."
Her horn glowed faintly, and shavings began to fall away from the block. At first flurries of them flew like snow as the alicorn swiftly roughed out the form, then more slowly as she carefully refined it. Hours passed as she worked. The guards changed, but she paid them even less attention than usual; all her thoughts were on her work, her art-- her masterpiece. When the shape finally pleased her, the alicorn polished it, spending hours more caressing it with her magic until it was perfectly smooth. At last she stood back and looked at her creation. It was an earth pony, perfect in every detail, of clear, flawless, crystalline ice.
"A suitable start," she said to it, "but my work has just begun. For now you must wait, my beautiful creation. Wait while I weave the magic that will awaken you,” her voice descended to a quiet purr, “and show you who your true Goddess is. And then at last I will have no more need for these ponies. Then my kingdom of night will be perfect, as it should be."
Moonlight spilled down along the string of walking ponies. Luna looked up at the moon and sighed. She never would have imagined she'd grow sick of moonlight, but it was proving entirely possible. She longed for sunlight, for blue sky and white clouds, for the colors of sunset and sunrise, for anything other than night following night following night. She was starting to long for warmth as well, for the feel of sunlight on her skin and the warmth of a summer breeze. Even though it was technically summer, and the stars shone in their summer places, the air felt like winter was nearly there; it was almost cold enough for frost. Nopony had much in the way of winter gear, so they were all chilled and miserable, and hungry on top of that. Though there were mushrooms everywhere, they didn't dare stop to forage until they reached the cover of the forest, and that was many hours away.
They had left the city in twos and threes several hours ago, and were now in what had once been rich farmland, though there was nothing green growing there anymore. They had come far enough to no longer have to worry about the Night Guard, but though the Shadowbolts did have occasional patrols out into the countryside, those were rare enough to not be worth worrying about. Nightmare Moon was obviously not feeling very threatened by the tiny handful of remaining rebels. She has no reason to be, thought Luna. If it were not for the Elements of Harmony, which she thinks destroyed, and myself, who she does not know exists, we would be no threat at all.
So it was safe enough for the strung-out line to start bunching up and traveling as a group. Twilight came trotting up beside Luna, and they walked side by side in silence for some time. Ahead of them Spitfire and Rainbow Dash were also waking side by side, talking in low voices. Twilight couldn't hear most of it, but it was sprinkled with giggles, and had the sound of something fairly intimate. She had just managed to stop being nosy and tune the two ponies out when Dash's voice started to rise; whatever the discussion had been, it was obviously turning into an argument.
"Don't pull this crap on me again, Spitfire! We've only just gotten out of that hellhole, it's too soon!"
"But Dash, I was only-"
"Only going too fast. Which is funny because I know you're so slow," hissed Dash through bared and gritted teeth. The words came out razor-sharp, and they seemed to cut Spitfire deeply; Twilight was shocked to see the ex-Wonderbolt instantly wilt, tears gathering in her eyes.
"Dash, please..."
Spitfire looked so hurt that Twilight couldn't help but break in, wide-eyed, "Rainbow Dash--! That was a horrible thing to say to a friend!"
Suddenly both ponies in front of her halted, and Twilight found herself fixed in place by the glares of two sets of eyes: one amber gold, one dark pink, and both slitted in anger. "She can say whatever she wants! I am slow, I know it! It's just the truth! And in any case it's none of your business!" Spitfire's bright, firelike hair actually seemed to flicker and glow like flame as she shouted Twilight down; the tears were still glittering in the corners of her eyes.
"Eep!" Twilight backed up a few steps, apologies falling out of her mouth, "Sorry. Sorry!"
Spitfire glared a moment more, then turned back around. She and Rainbow Dash trotted a bit faster, putting several other ponies between themselves and Twilight before slowing down again. Twilight started walking again, and shook her head in bafflement. "What was that all about?"
Luna chuckled sadly at Twilight's plaintive question, "'Twas a lesson even I managed to learn, eventually. Never jump into a lovers' quarrel unless you wish for both ponies' ire."
"But Dash was hurting her feelings. That's not right!"
Luna shook her head. "I suppose 'tis not. But they will have to sort that out for themselves. You cannot fix other ponies' relationships for them, not like that."
"Shouldn't friends try to help their friends with their problems? Dash is a friend, I just want to help her."
"Friends can help, yes... friends must be ready to help. There is a difference, though, between offering help and telling another pony what to do with her life. Believe me Twilight, I know how frustrating it is to watch friends make foolish decisions. I have seen ponies I cared deeply for do things I knew were mistakes many, many times. It is never easy to watch another pony make a mess of her life, but you cannot make their choices for them. You can only be there when they need you."
Twilight nodded, and walked the rest of the way to the forest in thoughtful silence. She caught herself dictating a letter to Princess Celestia in her head, lining out this little lesson, and her heart ached at her inability to complete the familiar ritual. For a moment, she felt as alone as she had ever felt in her life—the unmeasurable distance between herself and her home and friends, the terrible things she had found waiting for her in this place, and the enormity of the task in front of her all crowded in on her consciousness like low, black clouds. She found herself musing darkly on which Celestia she should send it to in any case--her mentor back home, or the trapped, probably weakened, maybe dead princess of this world?
Her head sunk lower and lower with each passing thought, until the gentle brush of long feathers against her side startled her from her dark introspection. It was Luna, giving her a concerned, tentative smile and folding her wing back against her side. Twilight returned the smile and, to her surprise, it was a genuine optimism buoying her head and heart and spreading to the corners of her mouth. She had her—well, she had Luna with her, however far from home she might be, and she had her friends. With my friends, I can manage anything, and although these ponies are sometimes strange, they are still my friends.
Rainbow Dash paused in front of the cave mouth. A few yards away Luna and Twilight stood close together, wearing identical expressions of hope and worry. Pinkie Pie and Dale had taken the rescued ponies back to the ruined castle, but Luna, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash had split off and gone in search of Fluttershy. Now, hopefully, they had found her. And hopefully, Dash would be able to reach her where Twilight had failed.
"Here goes," muttered Dash, who looked more than a little nervous, though she was trying to hide it. She pranced in place for a moment. "Here goes," she repeated, a little louder, and finally stepped forward from the moonlit night and into the deeper darkness of the cave.
She paused again after a few steps, straining to see in the gloom. She could hear something breathing ahead of her, and it sounded like something large. Probably the manticore Luna and Twilight had told her about. She swallowed, then set her expression in an aggressive frown. No big deal, she wasn't afraid of any manticore! She could take it, she was Rainbow Dash!
As her eyes adjusted, shapes slowly emerged from the darkness. She was in a narrow tunnel, but just ahead the cave opened out, and she could see something bulky partially blocking the entrance to the wider area. She crept slowly closer, trying to step softly. Up close—ooh, yeah. Yep. That was a manticore alright.
Definitely a manticore. It was lying halfway across the entrance, and Dash could just make out Fluttershy, nearly covered in squirrels, rabbits, and other small creatures, sleeping a few yards beyond it. She took another step, then froze as the manticore yawned and shifted. For a long moment Dash held perfectly still, but the manticore's eyes stayed shut. She let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and took another step. The manticore's paw was now stretched out across the tunnel; she would have to step over it.
She slowly lifted one hoof over the paw and set it softly on the floor beyond, then another, then the third, and she was clear! She trotted confidently forward, smirking at her own awesomeness, and promptly tripped over something small and fuzzy, landing with a crash in a pile of loose stones.
With a roar the manticore leapt up. Squeaks and squeals sounded as creatures scattered in all directions. Dash yelped and scrambled away from the manticore, but the huge lion-like creature's night vision was far superior to hers, and it easily pounced on her and pinned her to the floor. Panicked animals were still scurrying everywhere around her as she lay on the floor, but her attention was abruptly focused when the looming beast's hot breath washed over her face. Dash squeezed her eyes tightly shut, expecting the next thing she felt to be tearing claws or piercing teeth. Instead, she got something small and not at all sharp thumping repeatedly into her head.
Dash opened her eyes to see a small, pale, furry shape. Angel the bunny was standing over her, kicking her in the forehead.
"Angel?" said Dash, and the bunny paused and looked down at her. Then he kicked her again, for good measure. and scurried off himself. That left Dash alone with the manticore, whose front paws were still pinning her to the floor. Its reeking breath still bathed her face and she wasn't entirely certain why she wasn't dead yet. But since she wasn't, she was hardly going to just lie there. She squirmed, trying to get loose. She got a rear hoof planted on the manticore's side, and it let out a grunt, but then it unsheathed its claws and growled. Dash could suddenly feel each individual razor-sharp point pressing on her skin, and with a little “Eep,” she stopped fighting.
"Dashie?"
The voice was quiet, almost a whisper, but at its sound the manticore's growling instantly changed, and Rainbow Dash realized that the huge creature was purring. And when she craned her head to look in the direction Angel had fled she saw another pale shape in the darkness.
"Fluttershy?"
"It is you! You're alive!" Fluttershy was still nearly whispering, but her trembling, uncertain joy filled the soft words with energy. "I thought that... that... that they had killed you."
She came closer and with nothing more than a gesture directed the manticore to let Rainbow up. Dash righted herself and looked at her friend. Closer, and right side up, she could see that Fluttershy was very different from the mare she remembered. Her coat was rough, coarse and muddy; her cutie mark was almost invisible amid the grime; her mane was a tangled mass of dreadlocks, and she was far too thin; Dash could easily count her ribs.
Fluttershy was regarding Dash as well, and even in the darkness one thing was impossible to miss. "Oh! Your wings! Oh no!" Fluttershy rushed to Dash's side, where she stopped, one hoof outstretched, instinctively drawn to help and yet suddenly aware that no help could possibly be offered.
"Yeah," said Dash, drooping a little at the reminder of all she had lost. "Nightmare Moon had them... well...."
"I'm so sorry!" Suddenly Fluttershy threw her hooves around Dash, hugging her tightly. "I'm so sorry! If I hadn't run away during the battle, If I wasn't such a coward, always afraid of everything--"
"Then they'd just have caught you and cut yours off too," said Dash flatly. "Nobody could have stopped them, we were too badly outnumbered."
"But maybe if--"
Dash cut her off again. "No. You can't blame yourself for what happened to me. It's nobody's fault but Nightmare Moon's, and if I have my way she's going to pay for what she did."
Fluttershy finally stepped back from the hug and looked at Dash's grim expression. Her own eyes narrowed just a bit. "I'm not good at fighting, Dashie, but I'll help you if you want. You're right that she needs to pay. Nopony should hurt others the way she did." Some surprising vehemence had crept into the quiet mare's voice.
"You can help. Maybe. It's probably all just stupid and crazy and we'll all die, but maybe it isn't and we have a chance."
"I... I don't understand."
"I don't think I do either, but there are two ponies you need to talk to. They can explain it better than I can."
"Other... ponies?" Fluttershy looked suddenly terrified. "Strangers?"
Dash looked behind her uncertainly, to where she could see a circle of bright moonlight marking the cave entrance, where Twilight and Luna were waiting. After a moment's pause, she looked back at Fluttershy and shook her head. "No. Not strangers-- friends."
Luna kept catching herself holding her breath as she and Twilight waited for Rainbow Dash to emerge from the cave. When instead they heard a faint clatter and a roar, Luna's heart sank. Something had gone wrong. She took a step forward, and found Twilight moving forward as well, hesitantly. What was happening inside? Should they rush into rescue Dash? What if they only angered and alienated Fluttershy further? Without her their hopes for victory were very slim indeed. They needed her.
The roars ceased and there was a long, tense silence. Luna realized she was holding her breath again, and let it out in a gusty sigh, which made Twilight jump.
"Should we..." began Twilight, then trailed off as something moved at the cave mouth. It was Dash! Or rather, it was Dash's rump. For some reason the blue mare was emerging from the cave rainbow-hued tail first. As she came out, the waiting mares could hear that she was talking steadily, in the low, soothing tones used on a frightened animal.
"They're really nice, you'll see. Come on, they're just outside. It's okay. I'm right here with you."
Behind her, trying to hide her entire body behind her mane, came Fluttershy. Behind Fluttershy, looming protectively over her, came the manticore.
Twilight gulped. Even Luna took a step back. But Dash just kept patiently leading Fluttershy towards them, and despite the massive, lion-like menace Twilight and Luna both managed to hold their ground.
"There," said Dash. "Fluttershy, these are my friends, Twilight and Luna. Let them explain what's going on."
Fluttershy peeked hesitantly around Rainbow Dash. Twilight tried to smile reassuringly at her. As Twilight launched into her explanation of Nightmare Moon, the Elements of Harmony, and how they needed Fluttershy, Luna found herself looking at Dash with something like surprise. Back home she hadn't known Dash very well. They had very little in common and seldom did anything together, unless it was with Twilight and the entire group of Ponyville friends. Luna had seen her being competitive, loud, and egotistic back home. Here, she had seen her burning with hate, driven by anger, and filled with hurt that made her lash out. But now--! Suddenly she was showing another side altogether. A gentler, more considerate side that Luna had never expected. She had wondered what it was that made the loud Rainbow and the painfully shy Fluttershy such friends when they were so different, but perhaps they had something in common after all. Fluttershy's tender heart was open to every creature she came across, while Rainbow Dash obviously reserved her care for only her closest friends, but the gentle sound in Rainbow's voice as she had led Fluttershy from the cave was a sound Luna had heard many times from Fluttershy herself.
But was Fluttershy's kind heart still there in this dark world? Was she still true to her element? She had obviously responded to the injured Dash, but perhaps that was only because of her friendship. She had set a hydra after them, after all. They had pressed her to the limit, obviously, but would the element of kindness have done such a thing? Luna wasn't sure.
Twilight wound up her explanation, paused a moment, then gave Fluttershy her best hopeful smile, "So, will you help us?"
"I... Yes. Yes, I'll help." She was still peeking out from behind her hair, but the answer had come with surprising speed and surety.
Twilight sagged, her hopeful smile turning into a broad grin,"Oh, thank you. Now we just need to rescue Rarity and we'll be ready to bring Nightmare Moon down!"
Fluttershy looked completely dismayed at the idea, but Rainbow Dash nudged her. "You can do it. You can bring your manticore, if you want. He might help us get into the castle at Canterlot."
Twilight smiled. "Yes, or bring your hydra! It could probably knock down the castle walls for us."
"Oh, I couldn't," said Fluttershy, aghast. "What if they got hurt?"
Twilight looked baffled. "But you had the hydra chase us. And it did get hurt, Big Mac kicked it right in the nose.” a beat, "In one of its noses, anyway."
"Yes, and I wish I hadn't. The poor, poor thing. And if they had hurt you ponies that would have been just as bad. I'm so, so sorry, I was just afraid, and my friends wanted to protect me. I shouldn't have let them. They're healing well, but if they had gotten... really hurt, or one of you had, I would have been so sad that I just don't know what I would do."
Luna gave a smile edged in private amusement, "You're a kind pony, Fluttershy."
Fluttershy hid behind her mane again. "Oh, um. Thank you...I just don't like seeing anypony get hurt. Not even Nightmare Moon, except that we have to do something about her, so that all the ponies and creatures can be free and the sun can shine again."
"We're all in it for that exact same reason," said Twilight. It was a declaration, accompanied by a sure and forthright nod.
"Speak for yourself," muttered Rainbow Dash.
Twilight shot her a quelling glance for ruining her moment, but Dash just glared belligerantly in return.
Luna coughed. "We should go meet up with Pinkie and the others and plan Rarity's rescue."
"Yes, we should. Come on everypony. Sunrise could happen tomorrow!" Twilight trotted off perkily. Luna chuckled and followed her, with Dash, Fluttershy, and the still-protective manticore coming along behind.
The trip through the dead forest went swiftly, and soon they had reached the ruined palace. Luna once more held her breath, magic at the ready, as the group crossed the decrepit bridge. It groaned alarmingly under the weight of the manticore, but miraculously remained intact.
Inside, it was almost crowded; there were over two dozen ponies now, resting, eating, and talking together. A ripple of curiosity and alarm ran through them as the manticore followed the mares into the old throne room. Fluttershy, suddenly the focus of all those eyes, squeaked and shuffled quickly backward to interpose the monstrous feline, who started to glare at the assembled ponies. Several of them also squeaked and ducked behind whatever was nearest them.
Twilight sighed, and Luna mentally congratulated her for managing to stop her eyes from rolling. "Everypony, this is Fluttershy. She and the manticore are friends. They're part of the plan to defeat Nightmare Moon."
She got several incredulous glances, and none of the hiding ponies emerged—especially not Fluttershy. The tension continued to grow as ponies and manticore regarded each other. Before Twilight could start haranguing anypony, however, the manticore turned and started broadly grooming Fluttershy's mane with long, ridiculous slurps.
The tension went out of the air like a popped party balloon, and several of the hiding ponies emerged with smiles on their faces. The manticore was purring, and Fluttershy was smiling as well. "Thank goodness," muttered Twilight, which set Luna off to giggling.
"He he he! What are we laughing at?" Pinkie Pie popped up next to Luna as though she had appeared out of the ground.
Luna jumped, but Twilight was more used to Pinkie Pie's antics than the princess. She just turned to Pinkie Pie and smiled. "Pinkie! Get Applejack and Rainbow Dash and anybody else you think we might need. It's time--”Twilight broke into a grin. Even all she had seen in this world couldn't dampen her enthusiasm for this, “--for another planning session!"
"What does tall blue pony want?" The diamond dog's voice was rough, but with a whining tone that set Luna's teeth on edge. Torches bracketed the broad arch that led deeper into the mine, their light flickering off the dog's coarse coat. It stood in the center of the threshold, flanked on either side by massive guard dogs. All three were staring with unfriendly expressions at the lone pony that stood before them.
She planted her hooves firmly and gave the creature a flat, cold look. "I want to free all the ponies here. You're going to let them go, now."
"Pony is joking. Ponies here belong to Pony Queen. Diamond dogs cannot let them go, even if diamond dogs want to! But we do not want to let ponies go, ponies work, ponies get gems for dogs. Ponies stay. You go away."
"I think not." Luna reared up and let out a loud whinny, signaling to the ponies behind her who had thus far stayed out of sight. Suddenly two dozen equines were charging at the entrance to the mines. The two burly guard dogs and their smaller commander immediately retreated, scurrying inside the broad main tunnel, and Luna hurled herself after them with a defiant cry, the other rebels on her heels.
Four shadowy shapes moved in the night. Two of them were ponies, a unicorn and a pegasus, while the other two were smaller, lower to the ground, and much shaggier.
"Okay, we're over the mine now," whispered Twilight.
Fluttershy nodded. "Go dig, little friends," she said to the two badgers that accompanied her. Her whisper was so quiet that Twilight almost couldn't hear it, but the badgers obviously could; they both started tunneling rapidly into the ground.
The ponies waited in the chill darkness while the badgers dug. The little creatures were swift diggers, but they needed to put in a lot of extra work to make a tunnel wide enough for a pony, and it was taking a long time. At last, though, the badgers came back out of the tunnel, and Fluttershy said, "They're through."
"Let's go." Twilight crawled into the tunnel. It wasn't quite high enough for her to walk upright. Fluttershy came behind her, so close Twilight occasionally felt her stepping on her tail. It was pitch dark in the tunnel, and Twilight felt her way forward slowly. Loose dirt and rocks tumbled down on her whenever her horn brushed the low ceiling, and her legs were soon scraped and sore from crawling over the rough tunnel floor. After what seemed like an eternity of groping in the darkness, she emerged into the larger tunnel. Unfortunately, it was still pitch black, and now she couldn't even feel her way along. Cautiously Twilight summoned the smallest possible spark of magic to light the tip of her horn. She'd seen Rarity doing the same while working here, so hopefully the little speck of power would pass unnoticed.
A second spell would also have to pass unnoticed, for in the maze of tunnels that made up the Diamond Dogs' mine there was no way to know where Rarity might be. Twilight had a plan to locate her, though: she had combined the gem-seeking spell that her Rarity had taught her with the scrying spell that had kicked off this whole adventure to make a spell that could lead her to anypony she could scry for. To wit, Rarity. She was proud of the bit of spellcraft, but she was particularly pleased by how satisfyingly fitting it was to find Rarity with her own spell.
As she finished casting the hybrid spell, a sudden tugging on the tip of her horn nearly pulled her off her feet. She grinned; that meant it was working. "Follow me," she whispered to Fluttershy, and trotted off in the direction of the tugging.
Only moments later she nearly walked straight into a wall. She skidded to a stop, her horn still trying to pull her forward through solid rock. "Horseapples." Of course the spell wouldn't show her a path through the tunnels, it was just showing her a direct line to Rarity. Which was better than wandering aimlessly, but not by very much.
"What is it?" Fluttershy's whisper sounded terrified.
"The spell is trying to pull me straight to Rarity through the walls. We'll have to find a way around, I guess."
"Oh."
"It'll work out. It has to. Come on." Leaning against the pull of the spell she set off along the tunnel wall, hoping that she'd be able to find a path through.
"Forward! For Celestia and the Principality!" shouted Luna.
"For Celestia! For Equestria!" yelled Marie Mare who charged forward and head-butted a diamond dog in the chest. The tunnel was a scene of complete chaos. The diamond dogs had retreated just far enough to call reinforcements and set up a defensive line blocking off the tunnel. The ponies had formed a line of their own, and the two forces swayed back and forth, hooves delivering bone-breaking kicks, claws and teeth drawing blood from equine hides, but neither side able to gain any significant ground.
Dale screamed a wordless war cry and charged, Big Macintosh grimly silent at his side. The two huge stallions broke through, tumbling dogs out of the way, but had to halt before they became completely surrounded and cut off, and were soon forced back again.
The ponies had managed to break the line several times but it always reformed, and there were still more diamond dogs running from deeper within the mine all the time. It wouldn't be long before Luna and the rebels were outnumbered. They were already having trouble pushing the diamond dogs back any further, though the tunnel was narrow enough that neither diamond dogs nor ponies could bring their full force to bear at once.
Luna looked up. The ceiling was very high here, perhaps she could shift the odds a bit.
"Pegasi! Take wing!" She suited actions to words and shot into the air. There wasn't as much room as she might have liked, but there was enough to stay above the dogs' heads. One reached a paw up at her and she kicked it viciously. Derpy and two other rebel pegasi whose names Luna hadn't learned took wing beside her, but the five that had come from Manehattan hesitated. Luna saw their eyes going to Rainbow Dash. "Quickly!" she called. "We must press the advantage while we can!"
Four of the five took flight, joining the others in attacking from the air. Spitfire hesitated a moment longer, but Rainbow Dash glared and shouted "Go, you idiot!" at her, and she snapped her wings open and leapt into the air as if stung.
The pegasi swooped down on the dogs, battering at them from above. Some even grabbed rocks from the cavern walls and pelted the enemy with them. The dogs began to fall back and the earth ponies and unicorns cheered and pushed further forward.
Suddenly the lead dog howled, a piercing sound that echoed off the tunnel walls. The battle paused for just a heartbeat as ponies and dogs both jumped at the sound. "Fall back!" called the spindly canine. "Fall back and bring it down!"
The dogs immediately retreated into the cavern, running with greater speed than Luna would have expected from such bulky, awkward-looking creatures. She soared after them, the other pegasi surrounding her. The ground-bound ponies were somewhat slower to follow, but they too chased the retreating dogs.
"Swiftly, go, bring it down!" called the dog again.
"Wait!" Pinkie Pie, who had been in the lead of those running below, skidded to a halt, causing a pile-up of ponies behind her. The gap between them and the dogs opened further, and Luna was about to shout something back about how they should run faster, when Pinkie said, "Twitchy tail! Twitchy tail! He means bring down the tunnel! They're going to collapse it! Run for the entrance!"
Luna back-winged furiously, coming to a halt in mid-air and nearly falling. The other pegasi tried to turn in various ways, but in the confined space of the tunnel none could reverse swiftly. Derpy rebounded off a wall as her attempt to turn around in the tight space failed, and there were several near-collisions between pony and rock or pony and pony before the pegasi got themselves headed back the way they had come.
The earth ponies weren't waiting, and they were wise not to; nopony could save anypony else by waiting if the ceiling above fell on them all.
Even as the ponies ran, and the pegasi raced to catch up with them, a rumbling began, coming from every direction at once and being felt as much as heard. Rocks began to fall; first a few pebbles, but then a deluge that grew ever thicker. It seemed that Pinkie Pie was right, and that the entire length of the tunnel was collapsing around them. The earth ponies and unicorns were nearly to the entrance, but the pegasi had been deeper, and the time needed to turn had slowed them further. As a fist-sized rock bounced painfully off her haunches, Luna realized that they weren't going to make it.
Her horn lit. She hadn't been using magic for fear of attracting Nightmare Moon's notice with even ordinary spells, but she couldn't just let these ponies die. "Pegasi! To me!" Above her she made a huge glowing umbrella of force. The rocks bounced harmlessly off it. Her cry and the sight of such safety drew the others to her, and soon they all hovered as closely as they could. The roar grew louder and the rain was no longer a shower of falling rocks but a solid wall of rubble coming down around them. Luna extended the umbrella into a sphere as the tunnel filled completely with rubble.
Finally the roar ceased, and eight pegasi and one alicorn hovered in a hollow space completely buried in rock and earth.
Luna looked slowly around as the dust settled, absorbing their situation.
"Oh... buck.".
Twilight's hooves were starting to ache. It wasn't so much that she had done a lot of walking; though the tunnels seemed endless, they really hadn't gone that far. It was the way she needed to brace herself against the spell's pull on her horn the whole way along. It had required a lot more physical work than she had expected.
They had gone down far too many dead ends, but the diversion at the mine entrance seemed to be working, for though they'd heard some commotion echoing very faintly down the tunnels they had seen no diamond dogs at all. And now ahead was a dim glow, and the sound of hooves on stone. Twilight the Fluttershy peered around a bend and saw two unicorns, one hitched to a massive cart, the other chipping at the wall with a cracked and worn hoof. One Twilight vaguely recognized from seeing her around Ponyville, she was named named something... something-gate? Twilight couldn't quite remember. But she had no trouble remembering the name of the second unicorn.
"Rarity! We found you!"
Rarity's head came up and she stared at the pair with shocked eyes. "Who are you?"
"I'm Twilight, this is Fluttershy."
"Fluttershy, yes... we've met. But never mind that, the important question is what is going on?"
"We're rescuing you. We need you." Twilight hardly paused for breath before continuing. "We have a plan to defeat Nightmare Moon, but it requires your help. Please, come with us! We have a distraction keeping the diamond dogs busy, but it won't last forever and we need to get out of here fast."
As Twilight had thought, Rarity didn't question why she in particular might be needed. She also, as Twilight had hoped, didn't pause to ask for details about the plan. She just nodded. "I am heartily sick of that tyrant and her rule. Let us go." She turned to the other unicorn, and her horn lit as she started to un-hitch her from the car. "I assume Colgate can come too?" Then she paused. "And... there are others here, six more of us. What of them?"
"Don't be silly," said Colgate. "I'll stay, and so will everypony else—it's too risky to try and spring everypony, and you've done enough for us already. If this plan is any good then when Nightmare Moon is defeated we'll all be set free anyway. And if it's not any good then here is no worse than where anypony with you is likely to end up, am I right?" She looked at Twilight, who looked back, a bit surprised at such ruthless pragmatism.
"Well yes... But the plan really is likely to work. It's something that's worked before, you see. Nightmare Moon was defeated once before, she can be defeated again."
"Good,” the blue unicorn flashed a fierce grin,“Then go, Rarity, and we'll see you when you pick us up for the party after.."
Rarity nodded reluctantly, and stepped towards Twilight. Suddenly, the ground trembled underfoot, and they all heard a distant but still shockingly loud roar. The sound seemed to come from every direction as it echoed down the twisted maze of tunnels.
"Horseapples!" said Colgate. "Your diversion was an attack on the entrance, wasn't it?"
"Uhm, yes?"
"Well that was the sound of your diversion getting buried. Fido had them collapse the tunnel again--he's done it a couple of times before. And now they'll be patrolling outside, trying to round up anypony that escaped the collapse."
Twilight slumped. She didn't want to think about what might have happened to the others. To her friends. To Luna...
All her plans had just gone horribly, horribly wrong.
Stats
Page generated in 0.025 seconds
Total duration
1,004 users online
116,347 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
I forgot this story even existed. Might have to re-read it from the beginning now.
2608475 That would siimply create alternate realities in their respective dimensions. Time maybe linked, but it is certainly not connected.
2608623 Those are time divergents. I call those "what-if" dimensions. They're dimensions in which an event has been altered and has created a different reality. Dramatically different realities are different dimensions.
Welcome again to the stage of history.
Seriously, though, this has sat in the back of my mind for a year and it's still fresh. That says good things about it, and I hope you can find the time to get the rest of it out there.
2608662 Yes, but creating alternate realities all the same. One reality cannot dissappear, because then existance is inexistant.
2608657
Wouldn't that mean that some sort of reasoning is essential in creating dimensions? I wouldn't go as far to say that different dimensions have to be... different. That would reverse the fact that happenings are taking place because they are possible to happen into a possibility that is given birth by the want of action. That's like changing the dimension's consciousness with its subconsciousness. I'd rather say that different dimensions can show similar happenings, but with other rules as their cause. On the long term, this would surely look like your theory, but I think that's an illusion.
not bad not bad
2608775 Those are usually different time streams in occurrence. Multiple universes can, in fact, look extremely similar yet only have almost unnoticeable differences to another, making it seem like it's just a different time-stream, but you only really need one thing to be different from another dimension, like "Cupcakes" and the normal MLP show. Besides that one little detail, it's very similar from the preceding points of existance to the regular MLP show.
Updated?
... Oh...
*Sigh*.
And there goes the last S1 Fanon Luna fic that depicted her with the fanon personality of the old.
Ugh... Do you at least have a downloadable version of the first draft of these chapters before the update?
Sweet! That's all the bearers found! Now for the challenge...escaping with Rarity...and avoid alerting the guards...this just never gets any easier.
2609755
The only thing that's changed is that we have made her language a little more archaic.
2609755
Uh, Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying still has old Luna...
And throw another on the "Glad to see you've updated" pile. I'm quite glad it wasn't as easy to rescue as it was to rescue Rainbow.
2614023 ... Riiiiiiiiiight.
And now you tell me that she isn't in her S2 form.
I have trouble believing the sincerity of your statement.
Literally everyone only makes use of the S2 form.
No exceptions.
And I cannot get it out of my gut that Shining Armor and Cadence are in this.
Again, just a personal, petty conviction on my part.
Simply just being very cynical about the truthfulness of your statement from my warped perception.
2610536 So you may claim.
Though unreasonable as it is, I am still somewhat hesitant to take your word for it.
Just a personal conviction on my part.
Petty, I know.
2614335
If you're so certain about all this, then you're quite free to take yourself elsewhere and not read it you know.
2614574 My blunder.
After giving a little re-read of the first few chapters, the character herself seems to mostly be intact and retainful of her fanon interpretation.
My apologies for spamming this story with my meleancholy.
Just a bit apprehensive after the Luna Eclipsed episode aired.
2614335
I would know, because I'm the one that did the first pass over the old chapters to scrub out most of her contractions and such.
Okay, I accept that the next chapter will be done when it's done. But could you at least promise it won't take a year and a half this time? You may not be dead, but I'd prefer for the story to finish before I kick the bucket.
2615487
If I make promises, people will just get on my case if I break them. I don't expect it to take more than a few weeks, but then I didn't expect this one to take more than a month or two. So... whatever happens, happens.
Woah, now this is a blast from the past. Had to reread the last chapter to remember exactly which story this was.
I'm really quite happy to see this update.
Ah fantastic fun of the AU kind. And not just AU but double AU. The AU has been doubled. And add in echoes of a crossover and the callback to S1 fanon.
How I have missed this indeed.
2608475
I... what? That... what? Messing with a universe other than your own is essentially safe, assuming you don't accidentally lead a tyrant to your world. It's not time travel, there are no paradoxes involved. There's no logical reason NOT to mess with any given alternate reality. It's not like you're going to explode if you bump into an alternate 'you'.
You know, all this discussion of alternate universes as though such things were a.) real, and b.) had actual scientific rules kind of makes me chuckle. It is interesting to think about what would happen, but when it comes to writing stories, they work however the author needs them to work for the story to come out the way it should! Don't forget that all this stuff is just fiction, guys.
2635240 bravo. youve made x/dimension travel as confusing as time travel
I must see the resolution to this. I MUST
2852583
Don't worry, it'll happen! It just may be a bit. :D But chapter 8 is at the editor and I'm writing chapter 9 now, out of probably 15 chapters.
Upvoted and favourited - love what you've done so far
/ 5
This looks interesting. Romance tag? Twilight? Luna? AU?
I think I may enjoy this. Reading now.
I hope there is more soon love this story
1.) I'm actually pretty pleased you called it a principality cause it is
2.) oh damn. I thought you went pretty fast getting two of the elements in one go, and now I know why. Looks like we may be in for a harrowing tunnel escape. Which is 100% up my alley. I wish I had been able to do this kind of thing more confidently in Night, in Vanhoover, cause it's just such a cool set up and atmosphere.
8236853
It's always bugged me a little that it gets called a kingdom. I mean... the show's world is not dreadfully sensible or consistent, but really if it's a kingdom it should have a king or queen!