The Matter Of Friendship

by HeartShieldFiM

Chapter 21 ~ FlutterOutgoing

'Does anypony actually know where we're going?' Twilight asked. 'Because I do not have an idea.'
Pinkie, in front of the four, pointed vaguely in some direction and said, 'Well, I think it's that way.'
'WHAT is that way?' Twilight continued.
The pink pony shrugged.

'Oh, come on!' Dash yelled. 'Just... ah! Just go away!'
The changelings, of course, did not stop chasing the pony, and the buzzing got louder and louder as they came closer and closer.
Rainbow Dash stopped in mid-air to kick the buck out of the changelings. She hit two straight on their cheeks, but then got pulled down by a third one coming from behind.
As she struggled to get free, she felt two hooves on her shoulders, pulling her out of the grip of the buzzing changeling.
She looked behind and saw the face of the colt who had helped her escape the caves not so long ago. He kicked in the stomach of the changeling and the poor thing crashed on the royal grounds.
'You saved me again,' Rainbow Dash said. 'Thanks...'
The colt grinned. 'No problem.'
'How do you keep finding me?' Dash continued. 'And by the way, shouldn't you be in the caves, saving the Princess?'
The colt shrugged and sadly shook his head. 'She isn't there...'
Dash startled. 'What do you mean?' she muttered.
'I mean that the Princess is not in the caves,' the colt repeated slowly.
Dash rolled her eyes. 'I got so far, yes. But... if she's not there, where is she then?'
The colt and Dash landed on the ground, and immediately, changelings appeared out of nowhere. As they fought to get free, the brown pony explained Dash that there was another place Chrysalis sent her prisoners, to make sure they wouldn't escape.
'Why didn't she send me there?' Rainbow asked.
'She clearly underestimated you,' the colt replied.
Dash smiled. 'Us. She underestimated us.'
'You're right,' the brown pony said. 'Watch out!'
Dash turned around, right in time to kick the flanks of two changelings at the same time. 'I went out to get help for my friends,' she yelled. 'They're locked in the castle!'
'How did you escape?'
'I broke a window and flew out,' Rainbow Dash said. 'But the rest is all either an earth pony or a unicorn,' she continued.
'Hm, well that sucks,' the colt said. Dash now saw that his eyes had practically the same color as hers, a liiiiittle bit more red, maybe.
She nodded. 'It does, but will you help us?'
'I will, Rainbow Dash,' he replied.

'Pinkieeeee,' Rarity sighed. 'I'm tiiiiired.'
Pinkie Pie, not paying attention to the whining unicorn next to her, said, 'Twi, where do you think Fluttershy went?'
'I think she's back in her cottage, hiding under the table or something,' the unicorn replied.
Applejack bit her lip. 'Ah... ah never thought she'd leave us like this,' she muttered.
'Me neither,' Rarity replied.
Good, Pinkie thought, and shook her head. 'I thought she loved us...'
'Well, appearently she didn't,' Applejack said and kicked the wall.
Nopony said anything for a while.

'Look girls, there's a door!' Twilight shouted.
Indeed, about thirty feet in front of them, there was a beautiful door placed in the cold stone wall of the unfinished part of the castle.
Pinkie ran towards it, and Twilight yelled, 'Pinkie! Don't do that!'
Too late. As Pinkie opened the door, everypony got a vision.
Pinkie Pie went mad. 'Girls... where are you?' she yelled, as her hair straightened again. 'Girls? I'm sorry!'
Twilight saw the Princess, locked in a rather small and dark room. 'You have failed me, Twilight Sparkle,' she said, and vanished.
The lavender pony screamed and tears welled up in her eyes. 'Celestia... please...'
'Opalescence, Sweetie Belle?' Rarity whispered. 'What has happened he...AAaaah!'
The sound of Rarity screaming woke Twilight up from her vision. 'Girls! Girls, hold it! It's not real! NOT real!'
Pinkie Pie shook her head and her hair boinged up. 'Oh, well, I knew that.'
Rarity also snapped out of it, and said, 'Oh, Twilight, it was horrible...'
'What did you see?' Twilight asked.
Rarity shook her head and a tear ran over her cheek. 'I... I don't think I want to tell...' Twilight hugged her in an attempt to console the pony.
Only Applejack was still staring at the door and whispered. 'Oh, ah will miss you so much... now Big Mac and ah will have to run the farm... Granny Smith...'
Twilight poked her on her shoulder. 'Applejack, wake up!'
AJ blinked and panicked. 'Oh, girls... Granny Smith... why weren't you attending her funeral!?'
'Is she dead?' Pinkie asked.
Applejack was quiet for a while. 'Eh, no... well, ah don't think so... it wasn't real, eh?'
Twilight and Pinkie shook their heads, though Rarity was still muttering and crying. Applejack walked to her friend and wrapped her front leg around her shoulder. 'Shh, it's okay sweetie.'
'Sweetie Belle,' Rarity whispered as reply. 'She... was...'
'Don't tell, please,' Applejack said. 'Since ah do have nightmares quickly.'
The unicorn shook her head. 'It's... it was just a dream, I'm fine,' she said to Applejack and the others. 'Good, where were we?'
'I think we may pass now,' Twilight said, more to herself than to her friends. 'Look, the door is open.'
Indeed, the door now showed the outside of the castle. The ponies were relieved that they finally could escape the castle, but the sight of Canterlot being attacked by changelings was not something they liked to see, either.
'Let's do this,' Applejack said, and together with the other three, she stepped outside and looked around.
Suddenly, a whole cloud of changelings had surrounded hem, their buzzing sounds completely melting the ponies' brains.
'Remember what Fluttershy did?' Pinkie Pie whispered.
Rarity shrugged. 'I don't really care about that, now,' she replied.
But Pinkie frowned and pointed somewhere in the distance. Without showing any fear, she walked through the circle of Changelings, and surprisingly, they followed her.
The other three ponies looked at each other for a moment and then followed Pinkie.
The changelings quickly took their form, and followed the... the Mane Four.
'Now what?' Pinkie Pie whispered.
Rarity shrugged. 'You knew what to do,' she said.
Pinkie shook her head, though she kept on walking.
Twilight pointed at a group of Rarity-shaped changelings, sending the ones following them to the group.
Pinkie pointed in the distance again, and the group ran off.
'Pinkie Pie, I never expected finding myself éver saying this but... you might have just saved us,' Rarity said.
The pink pony grinned. 'Could be,' she replied.
'Holy cow, that's Dash!' Applejack shouted. 'Look!'
Her friends all looked in the direction she pointed.
'Sweetie, I know they LOOK like Dash bit those are changelings,' Rarity whispered.
Applejack nodded. 'Ah see that, since there's about thirty of them, you know.'
Twilight squinted. 'But the changelings only take form of what they see...' she said.
'Which means Rainbow must be close!' Applejack finished her sentence. 'C'mon, girls, let's look for our friend!'
'Look angry!' Pinkie whispered, and all the ponies frowned and showed their teeth to the others. No changeling attacked them, since they didn't know those ponies were real.
'How do we know we've found her?' Rarity whispered. 'They all look like Dash!'
Pinkie Pie looked around. 'Now you mention it...'
The white unicorn sighed. 'Oh, we'll néver find our friend in this terrible mess,' she said. 'This could be her...' She grabbed one by her wings. It just raised its eyebrow and flew away. '...or this one...' she pointed at another, who actually did nothing. '...maybe even THIS one!' She pulled at another ones hair. The pony turned around. 'Rarity! Seriously? I was just gaining their trust and now you have completely ruined my cover!'
'Dash!' the other ponies shouted, and embraced their friend.
The Pegasus rolled her eyes. 'Yeah, now we're busted, we could go fight as well, I think. By the way, is that stupid Fluttershy still hiding in her cottage?'
'I am afraid so,' Twilight said, though before she could say anything else, a Pinkie-shaped Changeling jumped on her back. This one seemed to be sort of stuck in the change between creepy cheeseleg and Pinkie Pie, because it still had its fangs and its wings.
'Wow,' Pinkie muttered. 'I can fly...'
'Don't... don't just stand there!' Twilight yelled, but the others were also under attack.
'Sorry!' was all AJ replied, since two changelings were holding her front legs on her back. 'But this hurts a little.'
'Pinkie Pie to the rescue!' Pinkie yelled, and hit the changeling, which was actually shaped like a changeling, for a change.
It backed off, though it was still glancing at Pinkie and Applejack. Before Applejack could thank the other earth mane, two others had grabbed her.
'Oh, buck this!' she yelled. 'We can't do this!'
Twilight and Rarity were beaming all sorts of spells at the buzzing cheeselegs, while Applejack and Rainbow Dash were busy kicking their flanks. Only Pinkie Pie ran around, confused and hysterically screaming.
'Would you just STOP that for a moment?' Twilight shouted.
'Sorry,' Pinkie whispered.
She had no time to calm herself down a bit, because another swarm of changelings passed by and saw the battlefield. Of course, they didn't hesitate to join.
It was hard, fighting with five against five hundred, though the friends managed it to keep it up long enough. Because suddenly, another pony arrived.
'Hay, come over here!' Rainbow Dash yelled. 'We really could use your help now!'
The Pegasus landed. 'Hay Rainbow, oh, you must be her friends, right?'
The four others didn't react, they were too busy fighting the changelings. They didn't even shapeshift anymore, but were just attacking the ponies as fast as they could.
The mysterious colt freed Applejack. 'You got some really nice kickin', dear,' he said, and grinned. 'Now let's go slaughter some changelings.'
'Yeah!' Pinkie said, and grinned. The colt looked at her and raised an eyebrow. 'You are weird.'
'Hay!' Dash protested, but then said, 'You're right.'
'With six, we're much stronger,' the colt said, while now all the ponies were beating the changelings' flanks. 'You should add somepony to your team, you know.'
'We have,' Twilight said. 'Though that coward fled away.'
'She's a Pegasus, just like you,' Rainbow Dash explained. 'But she's easily scared. She lives in a cottage near a river, and though she's not afraid of a bear, a buffalo and or a manticore, her pet rabbit's bossing her all over.'
The colt laughed. 'Heh heh, really? Sounds cute.'
'Angel is everything but cute,' Dash continued.
'Is that the pony?' the colt asked.
Rainbow grinned. 'Nope. It's the rabbit.'

'Hello? Could somepony at least tell me where I am?' the Princess cried.
A cloud of green smoke appeared in front of her and Princess Luna appeared. 'Well, hello there, Princess,' she said. 'I heard thou were asking for my help?'
Celestia rolled her eyes. 'C'mon, Chrysalis, I won't fall for that,' she said. 'You've pulled that prank on me before, you know.'
Luna sighed and changed back into Chrysalis. 'Please, pléase, could you just play along for óne time?'
'Fine,' Celestia muttered. 'But then I want you to tell me where I am.'
Chrysalis shape-shifted again and Luna appeared. 'Oh, Tia, thou art afraid of of where the queen of changelings has taken you, aren't thou?'
'I am,' Celestia muttered. 'I am terribly afraid now and I wish somepony would tell me where I am.'
Luna grinned and Chrysalis appeared again. 'Yes, thank you! That was awesome!'
'A deal's a deal,' Celestia replied. 'Tell me where I am, cheeseleg.'
The queen laughed. 'What a language for a princess,' she said. 'You are right, a deal is a deal. I have taken you to the inside of the mountains Canterlot is build on.'
The Princess frowned. 'Oh, really? I didn't know they were hollow.'
'They weren't, in the first place,' Chrysalis replied. 'But I made this nice cave just for you. Look around, do you see the beauty?'
'I actually don't,' Princess Celestia replied. 'How far am I from the closest surface?'
The queen laughed. 'Oh, miles and miles, Celestia. There's nothing surrounding you but miles of stone.'
She vanished into green smoke again.
'Well, that's great,' Celestia muttered sarcastically. 'I might actually make it as nice as possible here, since I'll be staying in this cave for a while.'
She poofed a couch, a carpet, a lighted candle and some books. She settled down on the couch and started to read. 'Hm, not so bad, actually.'

'How long will this take?' the colt asked. 'There's so bucking many of 'em!'
Dash shrugged. 'No idea, we've been fighting for hours now,' she replied.
'You must be very tired then.'
Rarity sighed, beaming another spell at a changeling. 'Oh, if you only knew,' she said. 'I can't feel my horn anymore!'
Pinkie, usually the most energetic, crashed down on the floor. 'Sorry girls, I can't move anymore.'
'You have to!' Twilight said. 'We can't protect ourselves ánd you!'
'There's Fluttershy!' Applejack suddenly shouted.
Indeed, there was Fluttershy, fresh, full of energy and she was not alone...

Author's Note:

Tee hee, I kinda like this part.

Comments

[Sharky]

Bring on the flameing chocolat rain the super flying squirrel armada and the evil bunny army and the beaver navy i feel the caose deep inside love the caose for it will be your guide and 3rd degree burns are best taken in stride

[Dan50]

Oh yea she brought back up!