A Walking Chestnut

by Netap

Chapter 28: Freedom Over Peace 2

"Hey Twilight?" Spike the Dragon says, hoping to gain his older sisters attention.

"What is it Spike? As you can see I'm kind of busy right now" The purple Unicorn answers while she taps a glass cylinder with a bubbling liquid inside of it.

The two are currently in the remodeled basement of the Golden Oaks Library. Twilight is using the now basement turned laboratory to find magical differences between Pegasus feathers and Griffon feathers. Thanks to Rainbow Dash and her visitor from out of town, Gilda the Griffon.

"Well, as we know Samuel is currently on the mission in Caninia, right?" The dragon starts.

"Yes Spike, Samuel is with Cadance and Prince Blueblood on a diplomatic mission to Caninia" She answers absentmindedly as she carefully places Rainbow Dash's feather into one of the glass tubes.

"Okay so I was thinking, Why don't we do something for him when he gets back. We both know he didn't want to go. So... Why not do something for him" Spike explained, thinking back to how Samuel was when he was dragged in rope to the castle.

"That sounds wonderful Spike, we can continue talking about this when I'm not occupied." Twilight Ground out as she carefully levitated another glass tube with Gilda's feather closer to the bubbling liquid.

"Sure sure, But I mean, what could we do? Only Fluttershy and I can speak with him, I don't think he'd like being around Rainbow Dash" Spike continued to say, thinking about how Rainbow Dash was the reason Twilight even managed to catch him in the first place.

"Spike..." Twilight said with a warning tone of voice as her eyes were glued to the Pegasus feather changing color from Blue to Grey in the bubbling liquid.

"And, I don't think he met Rarity or Pinkie Pie yet, so how would he even react to them being there?"

"Spike..." Twilight tried to catch his attention to be quiet as she wrote down the results of the Pegasus feather on a piece of paper before levitating Gilda's feather into an identical tube of liquid.

"So maybe, It could be just the three of us? Maybe invite Fluttershy and Angel since she can speak with him and the bunny hangs out with him sometime."

As soon as the Griffon feather enters the tube of liquid, it quickly starts to smoke, filling the room with the smell of coals and for some odd reason, rust. Quickly rushing out of the basement, coughing the smoke out of their lungs, the two catch their breath in the entrance to the library.

"*Cough* So *Cough Cough* What do you think? *Cough*" Spike manages to finish, hoping for Twilight to agree with his idea.

"Cough* What I think Spike *Cough*, Is that right now, *Cough Cough* Samuel is having a way better time than us *Cough Cough*"

---

I am Having a horrible time right now.

It all started when an explosion sounded from inside Dimondia, seeing as we are currently on one of the hills surrounding the city, the explosion must have been huge to be hear all the way over here.

That wasn't the horrible part, no, the horrible part was when one of the Guard Dogs in the small team that's following me to pick up Princess Moonbeam shouted something before he stabbed one of the other guards.

He was quickly stabbed back by the third Dog, but seeing as it was a team of three and now one of them is bleeding and the other is dead, that leaves them with only one Dog and myself.

"I don't know what's gotten into him" The one remaining Dog said as he looks down at the bleeding Dog, the one that killed the first guard, "But we can't leave him like this, Sir Chespin," He turns to look at me and that was when I knew that this day, the day that started with me trapped in a cave far underground is going to go from bad to worse.

"Could I task you with fetching the Princess by yourself" God Dammit!

Why is this happening to me?!

"Lets just get this over with" I whisper to myself before rolling to where I dug the tunnel.

If Fate or God or whatever is going to continue and make my life harder, then I should just be harder!
...
That sounded a lot better in my head.

What I'm trying to say is that if I'm not allowed to kick back and relax, then I should kick somebody to relax.
... That's not a good example.

Okay, Lets see how to explain this?
This world, Most of it at least as I have seen in Equestria, runs off of cartoon logic, story tropes you find in TV shows.

Group of heroes beat villain, power of friendship, characters doing seemingly impossible feats for simple comedic effect.

And what I can only guess is what's been happening to me for the past few days.

There is a famous trope in storytelling about an unwilling or reluctant character pushed out of their comfort zone into more and more situation that require them to do stuff they might be uncomfortable with doing in order to progress the story.

Probably one of the more famous examples of this trope is actually the main character from a Nickelodeon TV show called Avatar: The Last Airbender.

In the show, The main character, Aang, is portrayed as a pacifist monk who hates violence and is reluctant to become the Avatar, the only person that can stop a hundred year long war and save the world.
It is as the story progresses that Aang gets pushed into more fights and more situations where he must do stuff he doesn't want to, such as leaving his friend in prison or forsaking his own moral ideals.

Characters like Aang get entire shows to build up character.

But what's happening to me, right now? This is bullshit.
I'm not a cartoon character, My life doesn't follow the cartoon logic of this world.

I'm a Human, Not a Story Protagonist.
And perhaps it is me not being proactive in the month I've spent here that is the reason all this is happening to me.

I kept saying that I will be going home, But I haven't actually done anything other than get Twilight Sparkle, a character who is undoubtedly the protagonist of this Cartoon of a world, to find me a way home that will only be available a little over two years from now. It is me doing nothing but wait for these two years to pass that is why life keeps screwing with me like this.

A Character needs to be proactive to be good, a reactive character will be disliked by readers or watcher for "Not Doing anything to progress the plot". A reactive character is pushed by the plot, instead of the other way around.

So if I believe that the Cartoon logic of this world has seen me as too much of a reactive character, then I will simply need to be more proactive.

I'm not going to like it, But if it makes my life easier in the long-run, then I'll bear with it.

Now, I need to go rescue a princess.

---

Dust and Debris. That is all that was left of the Castle of Katherina Proudpaws.

"Do you think we got her?" President Lycanroc asks his partner, Rex Rockefeller.

Looking at the large pile of rubble where a few short minutes ago stood what some might consider a national monument, Rex hums in thought.

"I hope not too many got hurt, The servants didn't deserve this" Lycanroc continued, moving his paw to pick up an orange and start peeling.

Rex simply continued looking at the destroyed remains of the castle. The seat of power for the corrupt elite that rule the kingdom of Caninia, those that perpetuate the cycle of hatred between peasants and nobles.

"I mean, sure they worked for Katherina-" Lycanroc takes a large bite out of the citrus, the acidic smell bursting forth, making Rex wrinkle his nose in annoyance "- But they were just doing that to get paid, just like the rest of us."

"Jeremy," Rex opened his mouth to talk before closing it as a sound entered his ears.

*Cough Cough*

There was a survivor.

"Quickly," He yelled to the D3U members accompanying them "Dig for any survivors! Now!" The Dogs soon got to work digging through the rubble, soon joined by two Minotaurs and a Zebra.

"What will we do if she's alive?" Lycanroc asked as he looked at the D3U start their impromptu search and rescue mission.

Rex took a moment to think of an answer before replying.

"We will make sure she wont get in our way. Banishing her instead of killing her would make us look like the benevolent saviors that we try to be. And I'm sure that- Where are you going?" Rex interrupts his own line of thinking when he spots Lycanroc start walking away.

Throwing the rest of the orange in the air and catching it in his mouth, Lycanroc crushes the fruit between his jaws before licking the juice off his lips and turning to Rex, "My Little Star is telling me that there's a human nearby, I want to see him." Was his explanation before he continued walking in the direction of where the cave that the D3U held Princess Moonbeam is located.

His walk soon turned into a jog, and from there into a run, from running on two legs into running on four, and jumping over obstacles like a wild animal.

His Red eyes turning a dark green as he dashes and leaps in the direction of the other human.

Seeing that, Rex couldn't help but sigh to himself, "It would have been so much simpler without her in your head" before he loosened the collar around his neck and strode towards the wreckage of the castle. Intent on helping any survivors they find.

---

"I knew those Barghest were up to something, but BLOWING UP THE CASTLE?!" The Diamond Dog known as Princess Indiana Ambereyes yelled as she lead two of her sisters through a series of underground escape tunnels constructed under the castle.

It could only be considered a miracle that not only was Indiana unharmed, but so was Fiona and Katherina.

"How dare they..." Fiona Floppyears growled out as she followed her older sisters out of the escape tunnels.

Exiting the tunnel form a cave entrance hidden inside a forest of trees far from the buildings of Dimondia, The three princesses tighten the hoods they were wearing to hopefully hide their Identity.

"Ignore them for the time being, we need to make contact with the Equestrians. We join them and leave the country, we will get Diplomatic immunity if we go with them. We'll be safe" Katherina told the two, earning a shocked look from her youngest sister.

"You want to just leave?!" Fiona cried out, not wishing to believe the words that just came out of Katherina's mouth.

"I want you to be safe, At the very least you should leave with Moonbeam and Ambrosia, I'm sure the D3U won't chase you-" "Are you stupid?!" Katherina gets interrupted by Fiona once again.

"Not only do you want us to leave, but you want to stay?!"

"Yes, It is I that the D3U want, You and Ambrosia hold little to no power outside of being princesses, and Moonbeam is your two's closest older sibling, The D3U will leave you three alone, I can guarantee it." Katherina turned to Indiana.

"Indy, Can I count on you to get our sisters out of the country?" She asks her sister, who has remained silent since the three exited the tunnel.

Taking a look at the trees around her, Indiana Ambereyes walks to a branch hanging lower from one of the trees and snaps it off before turning back to her eldest sister and-
*Whack*
-Smacking her on top of the head with the branch, a few leaves falling off and landing on Katherina's head.

"Ow! Why did you do-" Katherina tried to say before she once again get smacked by the branch.
"Ow! Stop thi- *Whack* -Ow! Indi- *Whack* -Ow! Why are you- *Whack*"

After a few more smack with the branch she stops talking and starts rubbing the red spot growing on her blue head from where the Branch hit her repeatedly.

"There," Indiana said "Now will you stop being stupid for a moment and listen?"

Katherina rubs her head and nods slowly, tears pooling in her eyes.

"Good, Because I hate hearing you talk like that," Indiana said as she looks at Katherina rubbing her head and at Fiona looking on in shock, "Can't you see that attitude is the reason Jenn decided to leave in the first place?"

Taking her paws off her head, Katherina looks at Indiana, now kneeling in front of her on the ground.

"Look, you can't keep doing this, Trying and stop us from doing our own things and do everything on your own. We're family aren't we? Let us help you, at least now" Indiana spoke softly, leaning forward to rub her paw on her sisters head, were she hit her with the branch.

"Indy?" Katherina whispered before she felt a soft body tackle her from behind.

"Don't leave us! We're royalty too, It's our job to help the people, make their lives better. Not run away like kittens!" Fiona cried, hugging her sister from behind.

"Fiona I-" Katherina stopped talking before she hugged her sister back, soon the two were enveloped by the larger body of Indiana as she too joined the hug.

After a few minutes of crying and hugging, Katherina spoke.

"We need to meet up with our sisters, and we will stop President Lycanroc."

*Sniff*

"Fiona?"

"Yes?"

"Did you blow your nose on me?"

"..."

"No more hugs"

The group disentangled from the hug and started walking towards the city of Dimondia, Intent of joining up with their other sisters and putting an end to the D3U.

Author's Note:

Katherina:

Fiona:

Indiana:

Ambrosia:

Moonbeam:

and Jennino:

Here are the princesses, sorry for not putting them earlier, they are really obscure characters with barely any personality other than basic character tropes (My favorite type of characters to write about)

I'm sorry if the story is feeling rushed right now, I just really want to get this Arc over with, It's been going on for way too long and hasn't been as good as I wanted it to turn out.

Luckily the next original major arc is closer to the end of season 1, and the show timeline still hasn't reached episode 6.

Hope you enjoyed this story so far, Thank you for reading :)