Well. That Was Unexpected.
As the zeppelin drew closer to the remains of Opaline’s lair, the together tree, the portal to Ancient Equestria, and what they assumed was Grogar’s headquarters, Sunny felt a growing sense of unease, like there was one piece of the puzzle that she wasn’t seeing - one very important piece. But, as she kept reminding herself, this was their best chance to stop Grogar once and for all, and they had no other choice.
“Hugo,” she called behind her, and the griffon poked his head out of the bridge to listen, “stop the zeppelin here and assemble everyone on deck.”
He nodded and pulled on a lever so that the sails on the zeppelin would close, allowing the ship to hover in its current location without moving. Then he dashed out the door and down one of the sets of stairs on either side of the bridge to belowdecks.
“Are we there yet?” Brooks asked impatiently from where he was lying dejectedly in his hammock, looking bored.
Hugo nodded so fast that his glasses almost flew off his beak. “Sunny wants everyone to gather on the deck-”
“Has anypony come back?” Misty asked anxiously, standing up so suddenly that her horn hit one of the hanging crystal lanterns and sent it swaying. Beside her, Comet reached up a hoof and steadied it.
Most of the creatures who could fly had been sent out on aerial surveillance missions to try and see if they could find any signs of Grogar or his shadow army.
Hugo shook his head. Misty bit her lip nervously, and he added, “Don’t worry, I’m sure they’re alright.”
If he was being honest, Hugo wasn’t quite sure what to make of Misty, and he knew that his other friends that he had spoken to felt the same way. When he first met her, it was right in the middle of battle, and he had hardly any time to wonder who this stranger was. But when he had learned that she was Sunny’s friend, a whole new friend from a whole new adventure, he felt… the best word he could come up with was betrayed. And angry. It was like Sunny had completely moved on. But, of course, he knew better; anger was just an irrational response.
Misty seemed like a very shy and timid character at first, but apparently she was quite skilled with magic, and there was a look in her eyes that said that she had been in a fair amount of struggles with evil of her own. According to what Hugo had heard from Sunny, Misty was somewhat of a reformed villain herself - yet another one to add to their little group - but unlike Sprout or even Cozy Glow, she didn’t have a desperation to prove herself and her change of intentions. She was clearly comfortable with Sunny and her friends.
And then there was Misty’s friend, the unicorn with the strange looking horn: Comet. He was the kind of character that Hugo felt he could relate to, but more than once, Hugo had caught a glimpse of Comet staring at Flurry Heart with a wide-eyed fascination, which seemed strange. Did Comet know Flurry, and if so, then how?
By the time all the creatures were assembled on the deck, the first of the flying creatures were beginning to return. Kailani and Imara were the first pair to come back - they had decided that it was best to do things in groups so that no one could get taken by surprise while they were alone. Imara landed on the deck and glared at the floor between her hooves with such ferocity that it was a wonder that it didn’t suddenly combust. Kailani met Sunny’s eyes and shook her head.
“No sign of them,” Zipp announced as she and Pipp touched down as well. Ash, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Flurry, and Fluttershy all came back with similar results: there was no sign of Grogar anywhere in the area.
Sunny took a deep breath and let it out before she faced the creatures assembled before her.
“Okay. Everyone, listen up. As you all probably know, Grogar is here… somewhere, and this is our best chance to stop him. Otherwise, if we don’t, he’ll cover all of Equestria in a darkness so complete that the light of friendship might never shine again. Grogar has an army of wolves that make you see your worst fears. They make you despair and lose all hope forever, but whatever they tell you, it’s lies. And you can’t let them get into your head. Always remember, no matter what, that there is hope, and we’re fighting for it.”
“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash called out, and there were other scattered affirmative cries from the group, and Sunny couldn’t stop a small smile from slipping out.
“Right. We haven’t seen Grogar at all, but it’s unlikely that he hasn’t seen us. So we’re going to set this ship down and go out in small groups so that we can hopefully pass undetected-”
“I’ll go first,” Hitch said suddenly, raising his hoof as he volunteered. “And I’ll take Sprout with me.”
All eyes swung toward him, some of them surprised, but none more so than Sprout himself, who blinked several times as if he might be dreaming. He nodded his consent.
“All right, then,” Sunny said. “Everyone, get into small groups. Hugo, land this ship. Let’s give Grogar a lesson in the magic of friendship.”
The dense trees seemed to press in on all sides, their tall, thick trunks twisting into the air, their sprawling branches weaving together above to form an impenetrable canopy that absorbed all the light from the sun. The very air seemed to be still and dead, and there wasn’t a single living creature anywhere that anyone could see. It was all dark, unnervingly calm, and quiet. It seemed to Sprout that, although they were alone, that he was being watched. In the fifteen minutes they had been walking, he hadn’t heard anything except for his and Hitch’s hoofsteps and quiet, measured breathing. Some kind of unnamed panic was pressing in on his chest, making it hard to breathe. The silence was unnerving and evil.
“So, you’ve been down here before?” he asked in a lame attempt to make conversation. There was no response. Sprout stopped and looked around, noticing for the first time that he was alone; Hitch was nowhere to be seen. He spun around in a circle, calling out, “Hitch?”
A glowing green light stretched out across the forest floor from deep within the trees and came to a halt at Sprout’s hooves. Suddenly the ground erupted as thick vines burst from the earth and stretched toward the sky. They wrapped themselves around Sprout and dragged him with them, suspending him in midair, writhing and tightening themselves around him so that he couldn’t move, could barely breathe. He strained with all his might, but with every effort the vines only became tighter.
A pony stepped out from behind a tree and walked slowly towards him, his hooves glowing green just like the vines that curled across the ground, illuminating the stoney expression on his face and the intensity in his eyes.
“You should never have come back,” Hitch said in a low voice.
Sprout felt the faint hope that perhaps Hitch and the others had forgiven him like Sunny had crumble inside his chest, and in that moment he knew that they would never, ever forgive him. He had wondered, if they knew what had really happened, they would give him a chance, even if they couldn’t remember. But he knew now that that would never happen.
“What do you want?” he said in a tired voice.
Hitch narrowed his eyes. “When this is all over, you’re going to leave. You’re going to go back to wherever it is you were hiding in all this time, and you’re going to stay there forever, and you’re never going to come near Sunny ever again.”
A cold, steely anger surged through Sprout’s veins, and he felt his heart harden. His expression didn’t change, but something new entered his eyes that made Hitch’s heart skip a beat. Even though he was tied up in magic vines and had no way of defending himself or doing anything, he seemed more dangerous than Hitch was.
“No.”
The glowing light on the ground intensified, and the vines wrapped themselves tighter around Sprout, squeezing his lungs and making it impossible to breathe. He let out a cry of pain, and then Hitch loosened the vines a bit.
“I never want to see your face again,” Hitch said threateningly. “And if I do, then I guarantee it will be the last thing you ever do. Do I make myself clear?”
Sprout didn’t answer.
Hitch stepped closer, so close that Sprout could see his reflection in his eyes.
“I said, do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal.”
Hitch nodded and took a step back. The vines uncurled and dropped Sprout graciouslessly to the ground and disappeared back inside the earth. Sprout got to his hooves, but the look in his eyes never wavered, and Hitch began to feel scared. Somehow, the pony in front of him radiated a kind of power that he had never seen before, and he wanted to be as far away from it as possible.
He jerked his head in the direction of Opaline’s lair. “Let’s get this over with.”
Imara and Ash were the second creatures to be sent out. They took a different path than Hitch and Sprout did to try and remain undetected. The two walked along in silence, Imara staring heatedly at the ground, barely glancing up now and then when she almost ran into a tree. Ash watched her friend, wringing her claws as she did so. Ever since they had rescued Imara from the mess that the Changeling Kingdom had become, Imara had been… different. She was irritable and angry most of the time, and prone to making rash decisions. She reminded Ash of Brooks, only the changeling thankfully didn’t burst into flame whenever she got upset.
“Imara…”
“What?” the changeling snapped, her voice jagged and harsh. Ash flinched and didn’t say anything, and Imara noticed. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself down. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Ash said quietly. “I know this must be hard for you.”
Imara clenched her jaw and didn’t say anything.
“I just wanted to say… I wanted to say that I’m sorry for what happened. I know that you and Aunt Cercus didn’t always get along, but she was still-”
“Stop,” Imara said suddenly, her voice angry again. She added in a softer voice, “Please. I don’t want to talk about this right now.”
“I know you don’t want to, but you need to. It’ll help you feel better-”
“Well, right now, it’s making me feel worse. So I would appreciate it if you stopped talking until we get there.”
“But-”
“Just stop, okay?” A wall of light suddenly appeared around the changeling, and when it cleared, Imara had transformed into an eagle and soared between the tree branches above and into the sky, disappearing from sight.
“Imara?” Ash called out. She waited for a moment, knowing that, once her friend calmed down, she would be back. “Imara, where are you?”
Ash spread her own wings and took off, doing her best to avoid the branches in the thick canopy overhead and still getting whacked or poked in a variety of places. She finally broke through into the open sky, shaking leaves and twigs from her wings as she looked around, scanning the surrounding forest for any sign of Imara. But the changeling had disappeared.
“Oh, no, oh no, oh nononononono,” Ash moaned. “This is exactly what we weren’t supposed to do!” She felt panic welling up in her chest and forced herself to remain calm. “Imara knows where the ruins are. She’ll go there eventually. The smart thing to do right now is to go there and wait for her.”
Ash spotted the massive together tree poking up above all the others in the distance and made straight for it. All around the tree were stones and ruins, arches and collapsed walls, staircases that lead to nowhere, and a long stone bridge that connected the remnants of what must have been an impressive castle to the cliffside. At the base of the tree, just as Sunny had described, was a massive, jagged tear in the universe, the edges hissing as they came into contact with reality, the glowing purple depths unnatural and evil.
At the end of the bridge, Ash saw Imara standing alone, staring up at the tree, and she felt a huge wave of relief.
“Imara!” Ash spiraled down to land next to the changeling and almost wrapped her arms around her in a hug before she caught a glimpse of her expression. It was pure heartbreak. “Imara, are you okay?”
She followed Imara’s gaze and saw the figure of what looked like a pony, curled up beside the portal, unmoving.
“Who is that?” Ash asked. “What are they doing here?”
Imara didn’t answer. She didn’t move.
Ash spun around in a circle, saying, “And where are Hitch and Sprout? They should be here by now - do you think that something happened to them?”
No response.
Ash turned back to Imara. “Imara, are you… are you okay?”
“It’s Auntie Cercus,” she said softly. “I don’t know how I know… I just… know.”
Neither of them moved. Ash’s mind was spinning so much that she hardly realized it when Hitch and Sprout came running out of the forest and joined them.
“What’s going on?” Hitch demanded. There was something strange in his voice, but Ash didn’t have the time to figure it out; there were more important things going on.
“Who’s that?” Sprout asked, pointing to the figure by the portal.
“Imara thinks it’s her aunt,” Ash said. “Cercus. A changeling who… was captured by the wolves. I don’t know what she’s doing here…”
“What should we do?” Hitch asked quietly.
“We need Sunny,” Sprout said firmly. “She can help, but she’s all the way over at the ship-”
Hitch slammed his hoof into the ground, and it glowed green. A glowing vine stretched out across the ground from where it met his hoof, twisting through the trees behind them and vanishing from sight. Somehow, Ash knew that it would stop at the zeppelin and grow some kind of flower that Sunny would hopefully interpret as a distress signal. She was still amazed every time an earth pony used their new magic.
They didn’t have to wait long. Ten minutes after Hitch sent the signal, Sunny burst out from the forest with the rest of their friends behind her, all of them looking anxious.
“What’s going on?” Sunny said the moment she arrived. “What’s happening?”
Ash simply gestured to the portal, and as she did, she noticed that Imara was running towards the figure curled up beside it.
“Wait, Imara, NO!”
But Imara didn’t stop. She arrived at Cercus’ side and gently shook her shoulders to try and wake her up.
“Aunt. Auntie. Auntie Cercus, please, wake up!”
The elderly, pale-orange changeling suddenly gasped, and her eyes snapped open. She sat bolt upright, and Imara stepped back, not quite daring to hope yet.
Cercus turned towards Imara, and her eyes filled with tears.
“I’m so - so sorry…”
“Auntie, what are you talking about?” Imara stepped forward and offered her hoof to the other creature. “Please, we can help you! Just come back with us, and we’ll keep you safe, and we’ll rescue you-”
“Please,” Cercus said in her weak voice, “I don’t have much time. They’re going to Skyros. They’re going to become unstoppable! They’ve all gone already… Please, you have to stop them-”
Cercus suddenly gasped, and black shadows began to creep over her eyes, obscuring them in a shadowy veil. She shut her eyes and clapped her hooves to her head, muttering nonsense to herself as she fought a battle for control. Imara stepped forward, wanting to help but not knowing how.
“Auntie…”
“You’re too late.”
It wasn’t Cercus’ voice anymore. It was the voice of the shadow wolves, and as Imara watched, she saw the shadows pour out of her aunt’s eyes and wrap around her until Cercus was gone, and in her place was a towering shadow wolf with glowing white eyes. Imara stepped back, slowly backing away, her heart in her throat.
“Imara!” There was a blast of golden light, and the wolf howled as it leaped back. Sunny came flying in and planted herself between Imara and the wolf, her horn blazing with rainbow light. “Stay behind me! I’m going to-”
You’re too late.
The wolf snarled at Sunny before it turned around and took a running leap into the portal and disappeared into its depths.
There was silence. Imara felt hot tears prick at her eyes. It felt hard to breathe. She noticed faintly that all the other creatures had assembled on the bridge behind her.
Pinkie Pie said, “Well, that was unexpected.”
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As much as I like Hitch he needs a good kick in the face for treating Sprout like garbage. To be honest the way the rest of the Mane Five are acting about him seems force, yeah their memories of Sprout helping them have been erased but given the fact that Misty was helping Opaline(Not entirely by choice, but she still kidnapped Sparky and let Opaline drain him of most of his dragon fire.) yet redeemed herself you'd think they trust Sunny and at least give him the benefit of the doubt. I'm sorry for coming off as so negative but it's just something I wanted to get off my chest.
Overall, this is a good story and I'm looking forward to the next update. Keep up the great work!
Ok hitch I get you're upset and not only that your memory of him is pretty much gone but this is way crossing the line here man this is so not like you and not only that This is so out of his character and I really don't like that just to add more drama to it That felt a little Force
Wait what what kind of power and what made him so over the edge about it
You think
Well just like what the chapter said very unexpected so it looks like they finally arrive to the location but they need to make sure there's nothing dangerous even though there is so a small group of ponies and creatures to go down there and Ash and Imara then hitch and Sprout follow but speaking of them apparently they had a little disagreement mostly hitch told him not to show his face once this is over and I really hope they get their memories back because this is really getting frustrating to see the characters being a little off just because drama and speaking of which Imara and Ash continuing on the path but then Imara got frustrated and left her but luckily Ash caught up to her but then saw another creature over there which turns out to be Imara aunt and not only that hitch and Sprouts finally caught up with them and including the others as well the worst part is the aunt is still being possessed by the shadow wolves then suddenly disappeared to the portal this is a very serious situation I wonder how the others will do this I guess we'll find out next time
Man, what Hitch said to Sprout was shocking, hope and the others forgive him soon.
11891465
Well, yes, you are correct, but there's actually a very good reason for this. And we'll get to that in, like, twelve chapters. But keep on reading! It'll make sense in several weeks!