Equestria's Outcasts

by TheFullCrumb

These Trials 5

They galloped from the Wheelworks, towards the direction that Hammer believed was the way to Cataclysm Valley. As they came to one area, a cloud of red smoke, still unnoticed by Hammer and his friends, caused rocks to fall into the river nearby, causing the river to be filled with rapids, making it incredibly dangerous to cross. Pumpjack sat down, a little depressed.

"How the hay are we s'posed to cross THAT! It's impossible!" Beanstalk smiled at the river. She walked up to Hammer, not even saying a word, and pulled out his hatchet. Hammer was about to knock it out of her hands, when she spoke through her teeth.

"I know thith lookth dangerouth, but trutht me." She trotted over to a nearby tree, and started chopping it down. As Hammer watched, he realized Beanstalk was swinging that hatchet with more brute strength than he could possibly muster himself. After about seven or eight of her chops, the tree came down. She trotted back to Hammer, dropped the hatchet back in his bag, and returned to the tree. Pumpjack was about to go help her with her magic, when she saw Beanstalk drag it slightly to the river. She walked to the other end, and hunkered down. She wound up for a buck, and kicked the tree with as much as she could muster. Hammer could have sworn she had a slight smile on her face when she bucked that tree. Even Deepwood looked up from her book when a loud THWACK was heard, and the tree sped across the water until it was wedged between two of the rocks in the river, forming a handy log bridge. Beanstalk turned around, facing Hammer. "See what I made, big brother? We can cross now!" Hammer couldn't argue with that. She hadn't felt dejected at the obstacle; she had just found another way around it. He tapped the others, who looked up, and leaped up, seeing the log bridge. Rather than ask who built it, they naturally assumed Hammer had built it, and thanked him. Hammer walked up to Beanstalk.

"They all said thanks for building the bridge, Beanstalk."

They hurried over the log bridge, which was quite sturdy. Even Hammer was surprised. As they finished crossing, the path ahead split into two paths. They sat down at the crook in the path, and deliberated. One path APPEARED to be completely clear, while the other wound around a cliffside. Hammer examined each path. He faced his friends, and belted out a statement.

"The path that looks clear is the opposite direction to where we want to go. The path that looks dangerous, that's the path to Cataclysm valley." Pumpjack appeared genuinely afraid of the path they were to go on, and rightly so. No sane pony would have taken that path under normal circumstances, but these were extraordinary circumstances. Solar Flare was burning the land of Airtseuqe in an attempt to regain her rule. Hammer looked up. The sky was still slightly like twilight, the few hours before morning, but it was red, red like the color of blood. It made him shudder. The moon itself was a deep red, and the clouds in the sky were smoke clouds from nearby towns. Solar Flare was moving fast, so they had to as well. He sped up to catch up with the group; they had already pulled ahead, worming their way as quickly, and safely, as possible. They reached a cliff, and the bottom was barely visible. Almost everypony sat down, feeling defeated. A pony would die from a fall from that height. Pumpjack, however, assessed the situation. She tapped Hammer on the back.

"Hammer, I'm gonna need that ol' hatchet o' yours. I got me an idea." He pulled the hatchet out, and gave it to her. There were some long grasses nearby, and as Hammer watched, she began chopping the grass, and laying it out in a long fashion like a- Hammer stopped. She couldn't be.

"Pumpjack, are you going to tie your own rope?!" She turned, and merely smiled at him, starting the intertwining of the plant fibers. As she worked, she sped up, moving faster and faster. Beanstalk and Scooter stood beside Hammer now, amazed at the speed Pumpjack was working at. She finished each section, and twisted it tightly, to remove as much moisture as possible. Hammer rubbed his hoof on his forehead. It was a shame; he was the inventor, and he hadn't thought of that. He was being too quick in giving up. He faced the cliff, and gave a small, whispered speech to the cliff.

"Courage and determination are what guide me. Nothing will keep me from my friends, and my goal." Hammer finished his little speech, and returned his gaze to the grass rope Pumpjack was making, or rather, had finished making. Tying each section together, she fashioned a long rope that she secured around a nearby rock. Scooter refused the rope, flying down Beanstalk as he floated to the base of the cliff. Pumpjack held the rope tight as Hermes, Deepwood, and Hammer slid down. Hammer slipped about halfway, and landed on his rump. Deepwood slipped as well, and landed on top of him, crushing a rather loud groan from Hammer.

"Deepwood, get off me. You're crushing my ribcage." She hopped off of Hammer, and helped him to his feet. Hermes hopped off the rope, and smiled smugly at Hammer and Deepwood. Hammer was coughing, trying to breath properly. "Hermes, wipe that stupid smile off your mug, or I'll remove it myself." Hermes laughed, and zipped around. Hammer wouldn't have bucked him. Okay, he would have, but not very hard. They were almost to the outskirts of Cataclysm Valley.

When they arrived at the outskirts, Deepwood stopped them. A low growl and snarl could be heard emanating from the path ahead. She pulled out her small notebook, and flipped to a page near the middle. She began reading out loud.

"Chimera – An amalgamate creature. Signals other creatures to stay out of its territory by a series of low growls and snarls. Generally very friendly, but will not hesitate to attack if feeling threatened." She walked forward, and looked around the corner. The chimera had its tail trapped under a boulder, and was thrashing out at any passerby. Deepwood patted Beanstalk on the head. "Come with me; I'll need your help." Beanstalk complied, and followed Deepwood, not fully understanding the unicorn's plan. When they reached the chimera, it tried thrashing out at them with its scorpion-like tail, but to no avail. The tail was still firmly stuck. Deepwood pointed to the boulder. Beanstalk didn't get the message. "Beanstalk, would you PLEASE move the boulder off of this creature's tail?" Deepwood began petting it behind its ear, keeping it calm so that it wouldn't try to kill her when Beanstalk moved the boulder. Hammer couldn't bear to watch, it seemed so likely that those two would die. He heard a rumble, a loud snarl, and a snap. Fearing the worst, he peeked out, and saw the chimera licking Deepwood and Beanstalk. He walked up to Deepwood, a little amazed, and confused.

"How'd you know that would work? It seems quite improbable that THAT plan would have worked." Deepwood tossed Hammer her book.

"Flip to page 36. You'll know why." Sure enough, page 36 DID explain how she could do that with the chimera. She had documented almost every scrap of information she had uncovered about the chimeras, and it had pretty much saved their necks. He nodded at Deepwood, and tossed the notebook back to her.

"You need this more than I do, Deep. Let's keep going. Mr. Chimera will probably want to go back to his family, if he has one." She nodded, and plodded forwards, leading everypony in the group this time. Scooter was flying overhead, and was watching for Solar Flare to pop out at any moment. Unfortunately, if she had, their journey would be over, and the world lost. Hammer was just glad that wasn't about to happen.

They arrived at a large clearing, which seemed very strange. It was bare earth, no vegetation of any kind. Beanstalk dug at the ground with her hoof, saddened by the lack of plants. Hammer looked at her, and sympathized with her. She loved plants. They began walking towards what appeared to be the exit, and found that plants grew up in their path. A gout of flame blew up through the ground on the other side. They retreated to the middle of the clearing. A fog bank began rolling in. They couldn't see each other, and were hard pressed to fumble their own way around in the dark. Scooter was pulled away by a pony that looked almost like his brother. He frowned at Scooter.

"You're a fool, Scooter. Your duty is to Cloudsdale, not to these surface dwellers. Come back to Cloudsdale, and I'll have you reinstated." Scooter looked around. He saw no other pony. Hammer was feeling around. He bumped into Beanstalk and Pumpjack, who had bumped into Deepwood and Hermes. Scooter was missing.

"SCOOTER? SCOOTER?! SCOO~TER!" Scooter heard their cries for him. He turned to what appeared to be his brother.

"Yes, my duty WAS to Cloudsdale, but my duty now is to my friends, and to the defeat of Solar Flare!" The pony he had been talking to turned into ash in front of him, and disappeared as fiery, red smoke. The fog began clearing, and Scooter saw his friends tearing up, not being able to find him. He walked up to them, and announced in a loud voice that he was still there. "Yo, what's up? Y'all really thought I would abandon this group? My duty is to my friends, and to our goal!" They all hugged him, even Beanstalk, who, unfortunately for Scooter, and fortunately for Hammer, squeezed him incredibly tight. When she let go, he was gasping for air. He turned to Hammer, while catching his breath. "I won't laugh at you again when she does that. That REALLY hurts!" Hammer laughed at Scooter. Empathy was a real virtue, and it was good for anything. He stopped laughing, and glared at Scooter.

"You'd better not laugh- wait, you were laughing when Beanstalk squeezed the breath out of me?!" Scooter flew up, smiling.

"Nah, but y'all should see the look on your face!" Hammer gave up trying to knock Scooter down, and started plodding forwards again.

As the group moved along, Hammer noticed something he hadn't about the group before. Everypony, except for Hermes, was walking along with a terrified look on their faces. Hermes was a mask of determination, of what seemed a good sense of what was right in the situation. He couldn't help but smile.

They reached a small clearing, about four clicks from the ruins of the Palace of the Alicorn Sisters. Some ponies appeared before them, smiling, and laughing.

"You all think Hermes is a liar, a pony who can only talk big. Somepony like him doesn't deserve to be with you."

"He's HORRID!"

"AND he smells!" Hermes looked at Hammer, and the rest of the group, with a quizzical expression. He was finding that hard to swallow. His expression turned to worry, but then Pumpjack spoke up.

"Hermes, pardner, yer our friend. All o' us had somethin' bad 'appen to them 'fore they came to the Wheelworks, and you was lied to by yer own kin. We wouldn't do nothin' like that ta ya! Friends dun do that!" Hermes was faced with a choice: believe what the strange ponies said, or believe his friends. He could feel the proverbial demon and angel fighting over the choices. He swallowed his worry, and anxiety, and faced the strange ponies.

"You're wrong. My friends believe in me, and honour me with their friendship. I will not forsake them because of some falsehoods! Begone, foul demons!" The 'ponies' screamed, and charged off into the distance. If they had watched closely, they could have seen the burning eyes of Solar Flare watching them. She was FURIOUS!

"They, they can't be! Who ARE they?! No matter, they won't defeat me!" Hammer and his group galloped forward, the expression of determination showing on their faces. Hammer's face was a mask of courage and determination, and he was not going to back down. His friends had all proven themselves; it was high time he did. They reached the outside of the ruins of the Palace of the Alicorn sisters, and stomped the ground when they stopped. The ruins were expansive, and a light could be seen issuing from the central chamber's windows. The Elements of Combat, they had to be in there, and Hammer and his friends were not going to let Solar Flare get between them and the Elements.

Comments

[TheFullCrumb]

For those of you reading this. I am actually moving all of the chapters over from DeviantART, which is where they were.

There are 10 chapters ((It's a completed fic, but it won't be marked as such until they are all moved. About two chapters a day, seeing as I'm still writing anyways.