...And Through the Woods
...And Through the Woods
“Up and at ‘em!” shouted a voice, slicing through my uneasy dreams. My eyes shot open and I bolted upright, eyes scanning the dimly lit room. Midnight laughed. “Someone is ready to go, huh?”
“Haha,” I replied. “Funny.”
“Don’t worry about it, we’ve all been there. Try to relax a bit, we’ll be heading out when Fleetwing gets back.”
“Ready to go?” Pinkie asked, bounding to my bedside. “Fleetwing is up on the surface, looking out for any changelings still after us. Midnight and Sparky spent hours dispelling the tracker they had on us. We’re finally free, Twilight!”
I sighed and laid my head back on the curiously hard pillow, looking up at the dark roof. “Now we just have to make it to Manehatten in one piece, find the rest of the girls, figure out that Taint stuff, take down Chrysalis, and bring back the Princesses.”
“Easy peasy,” Pinkie replied with a huge grin. I just rolled my eyes and shook my head. If only...
Just then, the door to the outpost opened up, and in walked Fleetwing. “Looks good up there, boss,” she said to Midnight. “The nearest patrol is over by the Everfree Forest. As long as we give them a wide berth, we should be fine past Canterlot.”
Midnight just nodded before returning to the magically projected map spread over the only table. Sparky pointed a hoof at something, muttering to Midnight, who shook his head, pointing to a different place. The blue unicorn shook her head, yellow mane flying everywhere.
“They’re really going at it, aren’t they?” Fleetwing asked, trotting over to stand by Pinkie at my bedside.
“Well, I’m glad someone is figuring all this out.. I don’t know anything about moving while someone is trying to kill me.” I sighed. “I grew up in that castle, you know? I never thought I wouldn’t be welcome.”
Fleetwing’s eyes grew wide. “You grew up in the castle? Are you part of the royal family?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but Pinkie beat me to it. “No, silly. She is the student of Princess Celestia.” Fleetwing’s mouth followed her eyes, dropping to form a little ‘o.’
“Hey! Are you three done gabbin, or should we wait and leave tomorrow?” Midnight called from across the room. Fleetwing stuck out her tongue, once his back was turned, then trotted over to stand by her comrades. Pinkie looked over at me.
“Ready to go?” she asked.
I took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
♣♣♣♣♣
We waited, clustered at the blackened, charred remains of the door to the caboose, waiting for the all clear from Fleetwing to dart out and over to the other side of the tracks, or so the plan was. Unfortunately, we had been waiting for about ten minutes, and Midnight was getting nervous.
“Where is that damn pegasus?” he asked, rolling his shoulders to readjust the scabbard slung over his back for the thousandth time. I could acutely feel the pressure of the short sword they had given me across my back. I could probably use it, but, if it came to a fight, magic was infinitely preferable to a sword.
Finally, right before Midnight charged out into the clearing, horn blazing, we heard the whistle that signaled the all clear. The tension in the crowded car evaporated like early morning mist as we filed into the green-tinted dawn light.
Fleetwing touched down atop the tracks almost as soon as we were all outside. “What the hell took you so long?” Midnight all-but shouted. “Take a bit of a trip to Las Pegasus to gamble away your paycheck?” Apparently, that was a long standing joke, but personally, I didn’t think it was very funny. Then again, I was responsible for what was going on in Las Pegasus.
“Sorry, boss,” Fleetwing said. “A patrol of changelings was sweeping the area. I barely got out of sight in time.” Midnight quickly looked around, causing the small yellow pegasus to laugh. “No, they’re gone. We’re safe for now, but we should get moving soon.”
Midnight nodded and jerked his head, signaling us to move off. The six of us set off across the train tracks to the other part of the wrecked cars, and past them into the trees beyond.
“According to my calculations,” Sparky said, “if we continue this way for approximately ten minutes at our current rate, then head due north-east, we should skirt the Everfree Forest and be straight on the way to Manehatten.”
Midnight eyed the blue unicorn. “You better make sure that’s right. I don’t fancy our chances in the Everfree Forest. Freaky things happen ‘round there.”
“It really isn’t that bad,” Pinkie said, gathering astonished stares from everypony but me. “Me and Twilight have been in there a bunch of times. If you know how to get where you’re going and stay near the paths, you’re safe.”
As one, the resistance ponies turned to look at me. “It’s true,” I confirmed. “I used to go into the Everfree every week to visit a zebra friend who lived there. If you know where you’re going, and look out for danger, it can be done.”
Sparky, Starfire, Fleetwing, and Midnight all shared a look. “Not anymore,” Midnight said. “One of the main jobs of our outpost was to investigate reports of ‘aberrations’ dumped into the Everfree Forest.”
“What?” I asked, though I was afraid of the answer.
Midnight looked over to Sparky, who said, “A little while after the resistance formed, they had agreed to not set up a Canterlot outpost, simply because of the danger it posed to the ponies stationed there. That was until one of our scouts who was doing a routine sweep over Ponyville, we thought that was where you would go if you escaped, reported changelings leading ponies into the forest.
“We didn’t think much of it until a captured changeling told us some things under... interrogation. He revealed that Chrysalis had been experimenting with an unknown, presumed toxic, substance known as the Taint--”
“Chrysalis used something called the Taint when she overthrew Celestia,” I said without thinking.
“Really?” Sparky raised an eyebrow. “You’ll have to tell Command when we get to Manehatten. Anyway, the changeling told us that she was experimenting with it, on ponies. He didn’t know if there were any successes, or even what the experimentation did, but the failures were dumped into the Everfree. The Free Equestria Society flagged the forest as an area of extreme danger, and we haven’t messed with it since.”
“We have to get there first,” Midnight said. “Let’s get moving.” He started walking, forcing us to break into a trot to catch up. I let the motion of my hooves take care of themselves, relegating the thuds of walking to nothing more than background noise to my thoughts.
Four days, minimum. It would be at least four days before I could get to Manehatten, meet this mysterious “Command” and talk to the Princess. I must admit, I did feel the slightest bit of guilt; I had not thought of Luna since her failed revolt on the very first day, not seriously anyway. Just another thing I could add to the list of questions for Celestia when I could talk to her.
With a weary sigh, I turned my gaze towards the sky. Small bits of blue peeked through the green canopy. Just enough blue, in fact, that I could make out small black specks darting around. Fearing the worst, I quickly trotted up to Midnight, pushing Fleetwing out of the way.
“Midnight, we’ve got a problem,” I whispered in his ear, ignoring the cry of a displaced pegasus. “Look up.” The dark unicorn looked at me, then turned his gaze skyward, as I had not but a few minutes ago.
“Gather around, quickly,” he hissed into the midday sunlight. We all stopped and spun together, forming a tight circle. “Miss Sparkle here noticed something flying around above us.” Predictably, four pairs of eyes turned up to the canopy. “Sparky, are you sure that tracker was dispelled?”
The questioned unicorn nodded. “Yeah, I double checked this morning. Those two are clear.”
Midnight nodded slowly. “Fine, so they might just be routine patrols looking in the general area that Twilight and Pinkie escaped. I think that if we stay vigilant, and quiet, we’ll be fine...”
“Three o'clock,” Starfire muttered. Everyone quickly looked to their right. There was a moment of collective mental facehoofs before everyone looked to Starfire’s right, over my back. Just visible in the distance, between some low-lying bushes, a squad of changelings were skulking around, obviously searching for something. Turning back to face the group, I saw another group behind Midnight.
“Look,” I said, quickly taking control of the conversation. “They are after me and Pinkie, right? If you four circle around to Ponyville--you know where that’s at?” My question was answered by four nods. “We’ll go through the Everfree and meet you--”
“No,” Midnight interjected, with a wave of a hoof to emphasize his point. “There is no way we can let you go alone, especially through the Everfree Forest. We just explained how dangerous it is, and you want to go cavorting through anyway?”
“Who said anything about cavorting?” Pinkie interjected. “Wait, Twilight, what does ‘cavorting’ mean?”
“I’ll explain later, Pinkie,” I replied on reflex. “Midnight, we don’t have much of a choice. If you four go to Ponyville, we can meet up. Both Pinkie and myself know our way through the Everfree Forest, and it’s safer in there if you know where you are going. We need you four alive to get to Manehatten, and to the Free Equestria Society safely, so we can’t risk dragging you all through the forest. We’ll be fine.”
The sergeant looked like he wanted to argue, but the sound of brush being trampled nearby silenced him. “Fine. We’ll go through, and meet you in the town square, but be careful. I don’t want to have to explain to Command how we lost our best shot of winning the war.”
“No.” I shook my head. “The square will be protected. Our friend used to live in a cottage on the edge of the Everfree Forest. Meet us there; it’s secluded, and we can find it easily from almost anywhere in the forest.” Without waiting for an answer, I motion towards Pinkie. “Come on, Pinkie. We need to go.”
We galloped off towards the west, not even looking back. As we entered the thicker part of the treeline--the Everfree Forest proper--Pinkie spoke up. “But, Twilight. You never told me what cavorting is...”
♣♣♣♣♣
Midnight was right; the Everfree had changed, for the worse. A few meters in, an oppressive darkness settled around the treetops. Gone was the blue sky with snippets of fluffy clouds, gone was the green-tinted light filtered through uncountable leaves. All that remained was a dingy half-light, reducing visibility to less than ten hoofsteps in any direction..
I shot a look over at Pinkie, worried the darkness would get to her, as it had before. To my relief, she was plodding along easily enough, though her eyes darted around, seemingly unable to focus on one thing for too long. To be honest, I was getting a little freaked out as well. I hadn’t been afraid of the dark since I was a little filly--or at least, I always had a reading lamp on to keep it away--but there was something about the oppressive gloom just set my hackles on edge.
“Twilight... do you know where you’re going...?” Pinkie whispered in my ear.
“Well... I did.” I looked down at the path below my hooves. Without being able to see anything, or the sun or stars to guide me, we were becoming more and more lost by the minute. “Okay. we’re going to have to find some sort of landmark. Zecora’s hut, the old castle, something, because I don’t know if this is the right path anymore.”
Pinkie stopped and nodded. Placing a hoof over her her eyes, she leaned forward, peering through the gloom. I bit my bottom lip and moved closer to her, trying to see into the distance myself, trying to ignore the tremors in my legs.
That is, until we heard the growl.
“T-Twilight,” I heard Pinkie whisper next to me. “Is the... is the dragon back?”
“It was a drake, not a dragon,” I replied, slowly sliding my borrowed sword from its sheath. “And I don’t think so. Evil and hateful as she is, I don’t think Chrysalis would let that thing survive, not when it was a direct threat to her. But it doesn’t matter, we need to move. I’m going to try to blind it, same plan as last time. Pick a path, and go. I’ll follow.”
As soon as Pinkie nodded, I began focusing energy in my horn. Not as much as last time, I couldn’t afford to drain all of my power in one go, not this time. Using a small bit of power, I resheathed the sword. I didn’t want to worry about carrying it, or dropping it when we started to run.
I could feel the pressure I allocated to the spell starting to leak out. “Run,” I hissed, before pointing my horn towards the direction of the sound. A comet of light burst forward, setting the foliage in its path alight. The air was rent with an animalistic scream, but we were gone long before the echoes faded.
Running while looking backwards isn’t the easiest thing ever. Every so often, I would look forward, just to make sure I was headed in the general direction of the pink hooves in front of me, but for the most part, my gaze was straight behind, ready to fire another blinding bolt if the need arose.
I don’t know how long we ran. Thankfully, I never had to use more magic to distract the growling monster, but I’m not entirely sure it was chasing us, either. We didn’t stop until Pinkie stumbled, and I, looking back over my shoulder, tripped over her stationary form. We tumbled together, eventually ending tangled up on the ground.
Slow seconds ticked by, both of us frantically looking around, worried this was it; we had been running for our lives for three days, but you can only run so long. Finally realizing we were safe for the moment, I tried to get to my hooves only to find Pinkie sitting on three of them.
“Come on, Pinkie, we have to keep moving,” I said, trying in vain to lift my trapped hooves.
“But I’m so tired...” she mumbled in reply, nuzzling into my coat. “Can we just... go to sleep?”
“No, we have to keep moving.” I pulled as hard as I could, eventually managing to free one hoof. That was when I felt the prick in my own flank. “Get up, Pinkie, it isn’t safe to just lay here.” Though I fought and struggled, I could feel the strength draining from my body. As my eyelids grew heavy, ears drooping and limbs filling with lead, I managed one last move--enough to see the small dart sticking out of my flank.
♣♣♣♣♣
“Twilight, Twilight you need to get up. Come on, you can’t lie here all day. You’re needed, and we still haven’t had our talk yet. Go on, to your hooves. Get up. Get up...”
Consciousness returned in fits and starts, reminding me of my time in the Canterlot dungeons. At first, all I had in my command was a sense of feeling; cold stone pressed against my side. I couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, couldn’t do magic, but I could feel, and that was better than nothing.
The next thing to come back was hearing, I think. There wasn’t really anything to hear, but I could no longer feel blood rushing through my ears. Soon after, I could twitch my tail and the tips of my hooves, though I was far from the focus needed to cast magic.
“I thought I asked you to get up. It is unlike you to not listen like this. You have always been such a good pony, such a good student. Come on, rise and shine, for me...”
After that, I must have blacked out, because the next time I was conscious, there was something poking my side repeatedly. Something about the gentle touch sparked something in my mind, something familiar, something like home.
Painful as it was, I cracked one eye open, just enough to see the sliver of canopy above me, but it wasn’t enough. With a bit of effort, both of my eyes opened the rest of the way, pulling a small whimper from my mouth. Finally able to see again, I scanned everything within eyesight, but to no avail. The pokes were gone, along with whoever may have caused them.
Mystery of the phantom pokes solved, I took more stock in my surroundings. As I realized earlier, I was lying on my side, on a cold stone floor. At first I was confused; there were no structures in the Everfree that I could recall made of stone, at least, not around where I passed out. But, the more I looked, the more came back to me.
I had been here before. I was in the old castle within the forest; the original home of the Elements of Harmony. And, I was alone.
It took a few more minutes, but eventually I was able to get into a--shaky--sitting position. I was in the castle courtyard, but underneath an outcropping of stone. Just in front of me, in the direction I remembered lead back to Ponyville, was the gate to the courtyard, and the bridged chasm, which mean that the door inside the ruins sat somewhere behind me, confirmed by a quick glance over my shoulder.
Getting back to my hooves took longer. My first attempt ended with me back on the ground, too weak to stand. I worked my forehooves under my chest and pushed, eventually getting back into a sitting position, though it left me breathless.
There was only one plant I knew of that could leave a pony as weak and disoriented as I was. We were in the right place, it only grows in the Everfree Forest, but everything else was wrong. Who besides the changelings had a reason to knock both Pinkie and myself out? There was no doubt in my mind that if they had caught me, I’d be back in Canterlot, in front of Chrysalis, or dead, so who drugged us, and who dragged me to the old castle? And for that matter, where was Pinkie Pie?
I got one of my answers sooner than I expected, and definitely not how I would have wanted it--a scream, from inside the castle ruins. I didn’t know who--or what--it was, but I knew I couldn’t sit there and do nothing. So, fighting down my weariness and the dizzying fog around my head, I got up to my hooves.
Standing was easy, a simple matter of keeping my balance and not doing anything, but moving was a different challenge altogether. My first step sent my hoof sliding out from under me. Only quick thinking and a little bit of luck allowed me to plop down onto my flank, instead of back on my stomach.
I shook my head, vainly attempting to clear it of the crippling fog left from the dart. I was dizzy, thirsty, tired, hungry, sore, and most of all, scared. I was in the Everfree, perfectly fine going from Ponyville to Zecora’s hut, but I’m not sure where we entered, and now I was in a castle straight from my memories, and nightmares, one pony less than what I entered with.
At first, I thought my saddlebags and sword were gone as well, until I spied them lying in a pile, and not just tossed, either. Something had taken the effort to strip me, and stack the items in a small pile near where I was laying. Just on an impulse, I tried to levitate over my sword, and was pleasantly surprised when it got up and moved over towards me, though slowly, and in fits and starts. Before I got back on my hooves, I made sure to sling the leather strap as Midnight had showed me, with the hilt over my left shoulder.
Armed and somewhat rested, I tried, and succeeded, to stand up. Back on my hooves, the next step was to walk, which I technically accomplished. Shaky and stumbling, I made my way over to the wall, barely managing to catch myself before falling back onto my flank. I hit the door, somewhat harder than I intended, sending an echoing bang throughout the mossy ruin.
Before I could regain my balance, one of the old, oaken doors creaked open. Through the crack, a face-sized slice appeared--yellow fur bordering a teal eye, with a small lock of pink across the top. “F-Fluttershy?!” I whispered before I could stop myself. To my surprise, instead of the quiet voice of my friend, the shout of a changeling assault force, or the strange voice of denial, all that I heard was a soft, hesitant knock against the wood of the door.
“Fluttershy, is that really you?” I asked the eye.
A hesitant knock.
“What’s going on here? Where’s Pinkie Pie? Who was that screaming? How did you get here?” all rushed from my mouth before I could calm down. To my surprise, the eye flinched, and drew back from the door. “What’s wrong? Don’t you recognize me? I’m your friend, Twilight Sparkle.”
There was a small pause, then the eye seemed to grow closer, and mist up. The door slowly opened, and out stepped the skittish yellow pegasus. She wasn’t in as bad of shape as Pinkie was when I found her, but... she definitely wasn’t still the cheerful, kind animal-sitter who lived in the quaint cottage, outside of town.
Her once long and flowing pink mane and tail were jagged and torn, easily only a third of their original length. Her coat was dirty, and she had patches of moss clinging to her back and wings, which looked... okay, if a little bedraggled. She slowly walked up to me, shoulders hunched up. Haltingly, she reached up one hoof, dragging it gently across my muzzle before prodding my horn, once.
Satisfied with whatever she found, Fluttershy jumped forward, wrapping her forehooves around my neck in a fierce hug. Before I could even lift mine to return the hug, I felt the telltale dampness on my coat, right around where Fluttershy’s eyes were buried. She was crying softly, body wracked in silent sobs.
“Hey, don’t cry, it’s going to be alright,” I crooned into Fluttershy’s ear. I drew her closer, something she did not complain about, and ran a hoof through her mane. “Come on, stop crying. We need to get moving.” When the pegasus stopped shaking, I pulled back far enough to look into her shining eyes. “Pinkie Pie was with me when we both were knocked out. I woke up here, so have you seen her nearby?”
Fluttershy nodded and pulled away. Turning back towards the door, she motioned for me to follow with one hoof before slipping into the dark interior of the castle ruins. Before I followed, I tried to pull the magic together to cast the spell Zil taught me to identify changelings in disguise, but I was still too tired. So, wary for a trap, I followed slowly.
The castle was much as I remembered it, only darker. Parts of the roof were still missing, column debris still littered the ground, and green moss--like the pieces clinging to Fluttershy--still grew rampant. We walked into the middle of the entry chamber before my guide stopped. She looked around for a moment before stamping her hoof three times. The sound echoed around the room, escaping through the ruptured roof and echo around the castle’s other chambers.
A door, earlier concealed by a pillar, swung open. I immediately tensed up, moving forward to block Fluttershy, but there was no point to it, for out of the door stepped Pinkie Pie. “Twilight, you’re okay!” she shouted, rushing over and hugging me with the force of a slow-moving train.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I replied, gently pushing her away. “How did we get here, and why is Fluttershy not talking?” I looked back at the pegasus as I spoke, but she just shrunk back behind her mane. Back in front of me, Pinkie was equally as reserved. “Would somepony tell me what’s going on!?”
“You might want to see this,” Pinkie whispered before walking back to the door she just came from. Fluttershy went soon after, motioning me to follow. Slowly, with trepidation building in my chest, I followed.
As I passed through the door, unremarkable aside for the fact it was totally intact, I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder. To the right, opposite of the main door, was the chamber that used to hold the Elements of Harmony. Unbidden, memories of that night rose to the top of my mind, bringing with them a smile. At the time, I was terrified, but out of it came my friends, and my life in Ponyville.
If only this ordeal could end half as well...
Back from memory lane, I took my first look at the room Pinkie had been in. It didn’t look like much, compared to the rest of the structure. It was a rather small room, about as big as the main floor of the Carousel Boutique. It was what was in the middle of the room that drew my attention.
A hole, no bigger around than a kitchen pot was sunk into the ground. Within was something I had seen only once before, but had wondered and worried about ever since; a black, vile, bubbling substance, almost projecting the feel of the evil which it had caused. Before me sat a sample of the Taint.
For the second time that day, my hind legs gave out under me, and I ended up in a, very shaky, sitting position. “Twilight!” Pinkie shouted, rushing over to my side, but Fluttershy got there first. The silent pegasus took a couple short steps and nuzzled my neck before taking a seat to my right.
“Are you alright?” Pinkie asked when she reached us a few second later. She sat down on the other side of me, facing the vat, just like myself and Fluttershy. “And what is that... stuff?”
A few silent seconds passed. “I’ve seen it before,” I mumbled, eyes glued to the vile substance. “I think it’s one of the sources of Chrysalis’ power, called the Taint. The only problem is, I’ve never heard of it.” I finally forced my gaze away from the middle of the room, instead finding some solace in the cracked flagstones underneath us. “Nothing I’ve ever read so much as hinted at it. But it’s real, and it’s powerful, and I don’t know anything about it.”
“Fluttershy, is something wrong?” The voice from my left startled me from my revere. I looked over, to see the yellow pegasus visibly shaking next to me.
I reached a hoof around her withers, and drew her in close before leaning over towards Pinkie. “What’s wrong with her?”
Pinkie shrugged in response. “I don’t know. She hasn’t said anything to me.”
“Exactly.” Using the hoof around her withers, I started gently stroking Fluttershy’s pink mane. “I know she has always been a little shy, but she was getting better about it. But I haven’t heard her say one single word since she opened the door.”
She shrugged again. “When I woke back up, after I made sure you were okay, I went to explore the castle, because I remembered how pretty it was, and we didn’t get to see much on Nightmare Night. I found Fluttershy in here, curled up in that corner over there.” Pinkie pointed a hoof over at a corner by the door, full of what looked like fluffy moss--a makeshift bed. “She never said a single word, and left when you knocked on the door.”
I rubbed a temple with my unoccupied hoof. My head was filled with the overwhelming desire to leave, and my hooves itched to be back moving, back on the road to Manehatten, to Command, to my promised talk with Celestia. “We need to get moving. Midnight is expecting us.” Pinkie nodded in agreement, so I turned to the now-still pegasus still huddled against me. “Fluttershy, are you going to be okay?”
She tentatively nodded.
“We have friends waiting for us, to take us somewhere safe. But we need to get out of here. Do you know a fast way back to your cottage?” I asked.
Fluttershy looked up at that, and for the first time since I woke up, she smiled. It wasn’t much more than a small grin, but it was a start. She didn’t give an actual answer--words or no--but she got to her hooves and walked through the door. When we didn’t follow, she poked her head back through and motioned for us to come with her.
“Wait.” I held up a hoof and motioned Fluttershy back in. “When I woke up, I heard a scream. Did you hear anything?”
“Eh-heh heh...” Pinkie’s cheeks tinted a little darker. “When I found Fluttershy, I might have gotten a little... carried away.” I glanced over my shoulder just in time to catch Fluttershy’s confirming nod.
I went to leave the room, but for some reason, I was compelled to stay; a nameless feeling deep in my gut demanding that I not move. “Go on ahead. I’ll... I’ll meet you two in the courtyard, alright?” Pinkie smiled and hopped through the door. Fluttershy actually took a step into the room, obviously intending to stay with me, but a small smile and a slow nod sent her out as well. Once the hoofsteps had faded into the distance, and the echoes vanished, I turned back to the vat of Taint.
I took a hesitant step forward, then another, and another, until I was halfway across the room. There I stopped, for it felt like the Taint was... reaching out to me, pulling me in. It was all I could do to stop where I was. Ah, little Twilight Sparkle, come to say hello? I froze where I stood, ears perked high, listening for anything.
You can listen all you want, but you won’t hear me. The voice was deep, but smooth. Everything was enunciated perfectly, but with the slightest hint of an accent I couldn’t identify. No, you can’t identify it, and you never will. Best get used to it, small filly. Now, let’s talk.
“W-Who are you?” I asked, finally finding my voice.
My name is of no importance, nor would you probably be able to understand it, no matter how many books you’ve read. You’re right, by the way. You have never heard of the Taint, and only your dear, precious Princess Celestia could inform you about it. Or, maybe I could. Quid pro quo, as you ponies say.
Once again, I looked around the room. The only door was the one I had come through, and it wasn’t likely anypony could have slipped in. The room was lit rather well, courtesy of holes in the roof. There were no hiding places, nothing that could afford any protection to anything bigger than a mouse. Just to be sure, I extended my magical sense, looking for anything with a spark larger than the one needed to maintain life. The only things in the room that glowed at all was myself, and the bubbling goop in front of me.
Ah, stop that. It tickles. Oh, well, I guess that gave it away, didn’t it? Come closer, child, let us talk. Against my will, I padded forward, until I was right at the edge of the hole in the floor. Now, I understand you’re busy, and your friends are waiting for you to continue your trip, so I shall be brief.
I am this entity your thoughts refer to as “the Taint,” but that is not what I would call myself. I am the collective consciousness created to represent us. I opened my mouth to respond, but an outside force snapped it shut hard enough to make my teeth clack. No, hush, I will do the talking. All you need to know now is that Chrysalis does not control us, she controls a small sample, taken from where we actually are. This is but another sample, a wild sample. Before you deign us evil, know that your changeling mistress has tainted us beyond what we were. We simply want to be left in peace.
Go now, young mare, and keep what we have told you in confidence. Who knows, maybe we can become partners in the future. Before I could reply, the Taint drained into the ground, leaving nothing but a barren crater behind. Before I could do anything else, I heard a voice behind me.
“Twilight, are you alright?” I looked back over my shoulder to see Pinkie standing in the doorway looking confused. “We’ve been waiting, but you didn’t come out.”
“Did you hear it?” I hissed, stepping away from the crater. “Did you hear it!?”
“Hear what?” Pinkie cocked her head. “Twilight, there’s nopony here, just me and Fluttershy, and neither of us said a word, promise.”
“That’s right,” I mumbled to myself. “He said it was all in my mind...”
“Who said what? Twilight, are you hearing voices? Do I need to do magicaley-surgery like you did to me?” Despite it all, I grinned.
“No, I think I’ll be alright, Pinkie. But that... that pool of Taint talked to me, I swear it.”
Pinkie cocked her head to the other side, ears pricking forward. “Taint? There was Taint here?”
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This. Was. Awesome.
I know, I say that for every chapter, but it's true.
The Taint wishes to be left alone, not serve under Chrysalis's control, and now Fluttershy is into the mix, but isn't talking....
Things are really getting more interesting.
And thanks for the late Birthday wishes!
2727643
I'm actually pretty sure I wished you happy bday on that blog you put announcing it, but whatevs. NBD
2727690 I meant in the author's note. I saw that comment you put.
“According to my calculations,” Sparky said, “if we continue this way for approximately ten minutes at our current rate, then head due north-east, we should skirt the Everfree Forest and be straight on the way to Manehatten.”
Midnight eyed the blue unicorn. “You better make sure that’s right. I don’t fancy our chances in the Everfree Forest. Freaky things happen ‘round there.”
Oh my god.
Oh. My. God.
I get it dude.
I totally get it.
"Sparky" - an intelegent, calm, calculating mastermind (unicorn)
"Midnight" - A pony with a southern drawl
There's only one fucking answer. I get it. I see your plan.
The bearers of the elements of harmony eventually all broke, didn't they? We already saw Twilight and Pinkie break, so why not the others? If they did, or atleast some of them did, perhaps new bearers have been selected? Perhaps those who failed to represent their element simply lost their connection, and new ones are taking on the role. Twilight even mentioned a lack of a certain "power" she felt before. Perhaps she always had the power of the element, and now it's gone?
I totes have this mystery figured out.