Chapters Hazel
A light brown pegasus frowned as she trotted frustratedly down the streets of Canterlot in the bright noonday sun with her two best friends. "I can't believe that we didn't get close enough to even see the door!" she grumbled under her breath.
"Be quiet, Hazy, I'm trying to think." said the red unicorn next to her. "I think that we could get close enough if we went into the sewers two blocks down from here. That should lead to..." he trailed off, staring into space.
The unicorn on his right sighed loudly. "Scarlet, just give it up. We have no chance of getting in to see the wedding! None of your fancy-shmancy connections through your big high-up job will get us in to see a wedding that already happened. Besides-"
"Be quiet, please." said Scarlet. The bright green mare on his right bristled up.
"Did you just shush me?" she had an edge of anger in her voice. "Please tell me you didn't just shush me, because I would just love to wipe that smile off your face." Scarlet looked at her in confusion.
"But I'm not smiling."
"It's an expression!" yelled the bright green mare.
"Whoa there, Ruby, hold your horses." said Hazy.
"You stay out of this!" yelled Ruby. Hazy looked like she was going to leap across the street and tackle Ruby until Scarlet looked up.
"What the hay's going on?" he said. The argument forgotten for now, the three of them looked upwards as the pink bubble that surrounded their city broke to pieces. It felt like time stood still and the world was frozen in place until green meteors shot down from the sky.
"Everypony take cover!!" yelled a unicorn working a stall farther down the street. This broke the trance, and the three found themselves in a crowd of ponies franticly galloping for cover. Every shop they dashed to were already locking their doors and praying to Celestia for help.
"No no no no.." said Hazy as they struggled to find cover. They saw a meteor land near them, and stopped for just long enough to see a monster come out of it and easily overwhelm a guard. Ruby naturally ran at it yelling battle cries until Hazy held her back, shaking with fright.
"There!" yelled Scarlet. He motioned to a an old guardhouse that looked condemned. For lack of a better choice, the two mares ran after him, Ruby stopping to grab the sword from the incapacitated guard. They all rushed inside and Scarlet used magic to bolt the door shut. They all collapsed with relief. Once they caught their breath, Scarlet cast a light spell and a ball of red fire floated above his head. "Haven't been in here for a while, hope this is still as good as I remember."
Ruby held her sword up with magic and scowled. "This place is just as spooky as I remember. I had to do the rounds here one night, right before it was declared useless. Gave me the goosebumps."
Hazy shivered again. "So, A., why did we have to bolt ourselves inside the creepiest place in Canterlot, and B. what the hay were those.... things?"
Scarlet answered without even looking at Hazy. "We bolted ourselves in here because it is easily defensible and it was our only choice, and about those things.... I have no idea." Ruby went and peeked out of a small hole in the heavy wood of the door, and Scarlet went exploring. Hazy just looked at her surroundings. The guardhouse didn't look so good from the outside, but from the inside it was in quite good condition. It was made almost entirely out of stone, and it only had two floors judging by the set of stairs Scarlet was climbing. It had the old banner with Celestia and Luna in the infinite circle, and an old table in good condition in the corner. It wasn't your ideal place, but it was good enough for now.
"I found a bunk room!" said Scarlet, his voice echoing from higher up in the tower. Hazy climbed the cold, stone stairs quickly. Scarlet had been right in his description, it was a small room with eight or so bunks lined up by the walls. She lay down on one and stared at the ceiling, hearing muffled screams come from the street. As she listened, she thought about her family in Canterlot, and her coltfriend who should be in college right now. Her thoughts were interrupted by a thud that came from downstairs. She bolted out of bed and saw Scarlet come racing out of another room he had been exploring. They crept downstairs slowly and saw Ruby, unconscious and on the ground. Scarlet gasped in shock, and Hazy flew over and checked her pulse fearfully.
Ruby
Ruby had not been having the greatest day. Her stupid friends had dragged her along to some stupid wedding but they couldn't get in 'cause of stupid ponies on the road that should have had better things to do than get in her way when she was going to the stupid wedding with her friends. Then those stupid freaky monster thingies fell from the sky and now she was stuck in a creepy house with a unicorn that didn't know a thing about offensive magic and a pegasus who was scared of heights. She face-hoofed and sighed. She glanced through the door slit and say a blue, insect eye with no pupil staring back at her. She had a head rush, and the next thing she knew she was in a bunk staring at the ceiling. She immediately sat up and yelled "Scarlet, get your red butt down here, we-" She stopped when she saw where she was. "Whaa-" she said.
"Oh good, you are awake. I am sorry I startled you." said an unfamiliar voice from the next room. Ruby looked around for the nearest thing she could attempt to knock out the intruder with.
"No, it's okay, she's just a confused filly who got swept up in all of the danger and couldn't find shelter in time. That's why she knocked on our door." said Scarlet from the same room.
Ruby continued to look for her sword. Hazel walked in from the room that Scarlet and the new filly were in with a scowl on her face. "Quit it, she's okay."
"Alright!" said Ruby. "Just let me think. I have a bandage on my head. "Who fixed me up?"
"That would be Scarlet."
"He did a terrible job! Let me kick some sense into that stallion's big head."
"No!" said Hazel. Ruby looked at her oddly. "What's up with you being all protective of Scarlet all of a sudden?"
"Oh, nothing." said Hazel. "I'll go get him for you." she said. She walked into the next room, and after a slight pause, Scarlet walked back out.
"I heard that you want to kick me in the head." he said.
"Yeah I do! Did you even tie this thing?"
"Of course I tied it, what's wrong with you!" Ruby was confused. Aren't I the one usually yelling at him?
"What's up with you guys? Hazel is all instantly trusting of this new mare and she is crushing on you, and you are actually arguing back on the same level I am! Usually you just respond with a random fact or contradiction that makes no sense!"
"I do? I'll try to work on that." he said.
"What!?"
"Nothing."
"It is NOT nothing! What is wrong with you guys!!? Come to think of it, why haven't I seen you all together at one time?"
"No reason. Honestly, you need to take a break from accusing me of being crazy while you rant like a madmare. You fainted less than an hour ago. I think you need to go clear your head." Ruby contemplated pushing it, but decided against it. It would be too much effort.
"You're right. I'm gonna go wash my face." Scarlet released a breath that he had been holding and smiled. Ruby stretched out her legs and went to go splash some water on herself. On her way she thought about how weird he had acted and how odd it was that Hazel hadn't come out to talk to her as well, but she wasn't on such good terms with her in the first place, so that was an excuse. She shook her head to clear it of these thoughts and walked on. She forgot where she was going for a second, and laughed softly in spite of herself. She opened the door, but it was stuck. She pushed and shoved on it until she got so sick of it she got a large piece of wood with her magic and rammed it at the door, breaking it down. She dropped the wood magically and coughed from the dust. Hadn't been used for a while, she guessed. She started to walk into the haze of dust, though, and heard a sound: thum. thum. thum. What is that sound? she thought. She walked through the wall of dust completely and was shocked to see Hazel and Scarlet, laying down in a corner together. "What in the hay is going in in here?" she asked. The forms wriggled and flailed, and the dust cleared slowly more.
"Now, I thought you two were joking when you said you went you went out once. Stop that and-" she stopped. They weren't snuggling in the corner like she had thought, they were tied up in the corner, and gagged. She ran over to them and immediately started helping them get off the floor and ungag them, but the second she ungagged Hazel, she looked up at Ruby fearfully. "Ruby, you've got to go, now. She came in while you were knocked out. We don't know how she got in, but she did. Now get out of here, now!" she said forcefully, then kicked Ruby away. Ruby galloped out of the room to find her sword at top speed fearfully. What have we gotten ourselves into?
Author's Note
Merry Christmas! I gave you (maybe 2?) readers a look into what Ruby will have to deal with in the future, and I am looking forward to writing it!
Scarlet
Scarlet was still gagged, blindfolded, and tied up as tight as a miser's bit bag. He had just heard Ruby sprint into the room and apparently untie Hazel, but Hazel stayed with him. Good, I think I would go crazy if I was all tied up alone. Ruby took her sweet time, but she came back with her sword and cut their bonds. Once free, Scarlet stretched and smiled.
"Now let's go kick that monster's ass!" whispered Ruby. They all cheered softly, and then they got to business. They all crept out of the room and headed out. The creepy place started to get to them again. Scarlet, all his bravado forgotten, shivered in spite of himself. They all treaded through the house slowly, and although Ruby was there to protect him, Scarlet was completely unnerved when the fake spoke again.
"You having some problems washing your face?" said the fake Scarlet from upstairs. The real Scarlet shivered but said nothing.
"No, I'm just about done. I'm gonna do some patrols and guard the door, 'kay?"
"Got ya." said the fake Scarlet. The real Scarlet realized Ruby's plan, but saw a flaw.
"But this is the perfect time for the monster to go check on us!" he said objectionably.
"Yeah, but then we can catch her in her own trap!" said Hazel with a hesitant smile. She explained her plan to them.
"That might actually work!" said Scarlet. "But we have to pull it off just right. Let's go!" Scarlet and Hazel waited near the bottom of the stairs and hid. When the monster thing eventually came downstairs, it would go to check on her prisoners. Then, the apparently in-the-dark Ruby would head upstairs the check on the ponies up there- there wouldn't be any! Then when it went upstairs to get Ruby, all of them together would take it down. The plan failed almost immediately. The monster did not go downstairs to check on its prisoners so they were all stuck downstairs for forever.
Ruby sighed. "Okay, I'm gonna go kill it now." she said. Scarlet and Hazel looked at each other. Then they looked at Hazel. "We're fine with that too." said Hazel. They all charged upstairs and were met with Scarlet #2. It smiled at them fakely. "Well hello, it's about time you discovered the fraud, it's been almost 30 minutes."
"What the hay are you?" said Scarlet.
"Oh nothing much, just a member of the most powerful race Equestria has ever seen!" it said, then laughed. Ruby ran at it, but the fake Scarlet jumped aside quickly. It attempted to body-slam her, but she met the attack with her sword, cutting a hole in the side of the monster. The monster grabbed a table with it's magic and threw it at them. They all ducked, but Ruby didn't in time, so she got slammed into a wall. The monster started to transform, becoming black with blue eyes, with ragged holes in its side and legs. Scarlet gasped. "A changeling!" he said surprisedly.
"Oh, good, we know our mythology, I see." it said, then laughed. Scarlet laughed too, and they both smiled vicious smiles.
"You are completely out of luck, changeling. There is no love in this group. If you continue to fight, you will become easily overpowered. Go, and take the place of something else, and leave us alone. If you do not feel like it, I will give you further proof. I was a scientist in a secret lab in Canterlot, and guess what I was studying right before you and your kind decided that this city was a good place to terrorize."
It's eyes narrowed. "You lie." it said.
Scarlet smiled grimly. "Find out."
"Very well, I will leave for now, but millions will take my place. You shall fall eventually, even if our queen has to come and kill you herself." It turned around and kicked open the window and flew out, but decided to take some revenge. The red one's back was turned, he was tending to the green one. She was about to blast him with magic- but apparently the red one still had some fight. She woke up some time later, lying on the street with a lump on her head, and the remains of a chair surrounding her.
Author's Note
Sorry I couldn't write this chapter from Ruby's POV, but it would be hard to do and I would have to completely change the entire plot. Oh well! :)
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Hazy
Hazy stretched her entire body out and shivered. Right now, she was still waiting for Ruby to wake up after getting a table to the jaw. She thought about how, in the past, they had been rivals. They had gone to the same school in manehatten, it seemed like decades ago, even though she had gotten out of college just three years ago. Ruby hadn't gone to college, because she was too prideful to accept money her family tried to give her. She had always claimed that she didn't need to go to college, she was perfectly fine without it. But mostly, she wouldn't take the money because her family needed it desperately. She was right, after all, about that last fact at least, and seemed perfectly happy just being a simple guard for princess Luna, but Hazy thought differently. She had competed with her in grades, in sports, and in things like which filly had more friends at her birthday party when they were in the same grade at school. Ruby had usually won all of these things, except the birthday party thing. Hazy was just so good with other ponies that it made the contest unfair. Scarlet, on the other hand, was slightly older than the both of them. He went to school in Ponyville, and was not very social at all. He got amazing grades, though, so it wasn't very important to him about friends. All that was changed when he had met Big Mac. Scarlet had gone on and on about how understanding and caring Big Mac was, and how good of a listener he was. Hazy had never met the stallion, and she never would likely now. That thought shook her back to the real world and she jolted back on the cot beside Ruby 's when she realised she had been daydreaming. She shook her head to clear it of these thoughts and looked anxiously over at Ruby.
Author's Note
Yawn. Sorry for the short chapter, just wanted to show y'all that I care about developing character.
