Chapters Rainbow Dash and her friends were heading toward the vast field just in front of the Everfree Forest, where the Wonderbolts were going to preform in Ponyville for the first time. Mobs of ponies were already swarming the area, which, came to no surprise to Rainbow Dash, seeing as the Wonderbolts were only the greatest ponies in Equestria. Dash chuckled inwardly at that obvious thought. Saying she was excited was an understatement, this could her chance to impress the Wonderbolts. So no, she wasn't excited, she was going into full-blast fangirl mode more and more as the time of the performance neared, so to say the least she was psyched. Rainbow' s thoughts of course were focused on the Wonderbolts, but one Wonderbolts would always stick out to her amidst her thoughts. Soarin. She couldn't stop thinking about him,his powerful wings slicing through the air,his goofy grin that may have just maybe just mad her heart flutter when he gave her one at the Gala,, and his eyes, oh Celestia how she loved those emerald eyes that she loved more than she cared to admit. A stupid grin started to form as her mind wandered even more about Soarin. Rainbow shook her head in an attempt to clear those thoughts she knew couldn't belong to her. Rarity must be rubbin off on me......great Rainbow thought mentally slapping herself. Her thoughts were interrupted by Rarity.
" Right Rainbow dear?"
" Uh...right about what?" Rainbow replied, unfortunately earning a snicker from Applejack, giggles from Pinkie and a raised eyebrow from Rarity. Rainbow' s cheeks heated in embarrassment, much to her dismay. She groaned inwardly. Beside her Rarity sighed.
" About your....interest in a particular Wonderbolt, hm what was his name, oh yes Soarin I believe is that correct?" Rarity batted her eyelashes innoccently. This question caught the rainbow maned pegasus.
" W-what? Of course not! The most awesome pony is WAY too cool for that cheesy stuff" Rainbow answered placing a hoof on her chest with her muzzel turned up a scotch with pride. Rarity unfortunately, didn't believe her and wanted to protest on the matter but was interrupted by Twilight who pointed out that they have arrived.
"Look everypony! We're here," Twilight called back to her friends who were busy chatting with each other behind her. However, they all stopped at Twilight' s annountement, well almost all of them, Rainbow' s wings were flapping excitedly, with her saying three words over and over.
"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!!" Rainbow' s magenta eyes sparkled with absolute happiness and excitment. This is it, they had arrived at the stadium where she was going to for sure impress the Wonderbolts. The group of friends entered, and were immediately met with a tan stallion with a white mane wearing a vest and hat, which indicated that he was the stallion that would ask Dash and her friends for their tickets, and so he did.
"Good evening ladies,tickets if I may?" Twilight' s magical grip collected the girls tickets and offered them to the stallion.
"Here you go sir," the stallion took the tickets and inspected them, after about a minute he returned them to the six mares standing patiently before him, well most of them, he noticed a rainbow maned mare tapping her hoof on the white,glossy floor. He chuckled silently. He nodded to the six mares as they trotted past him as a polite good-bye.
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Two cloaked figures stood behind a couple of tall bushes that where only a couple feet away from the stadium. The only thing that you could really see was there eyes that seemed to be glowing under the rising moon.
"We musn't delay this any longer than necessary, it's already late, the moon has begun to rise and you know how Chief Nightwalker will feel if we mess up this attempt. These nauseating, civilians are overtaking the land and they must pay." A figure hissed with his ancient voice to his capanion. The other figure sighed and said in a voice that sounded not so ancient, it actually sounded like a stallion in his mid-twenties.
"Yes, but we musn't be brash. We must wait till those foolish 'civilians' are all inside. We cannot pursue our plans this early, they will likely fail. You don't want that to happen do you Silver Shadow?" Silver Shadow ground his teeth in defeat. He was going to argue back but was cut off by his partner who held his hoof up and said in an anxious tone.
"It is time my friend,"
Rainbow was officially having the best time of her life. Almost. Her friends were finally able to attend a Wonderbolt performance with her, she didn't have to travel to another town for a show for once. All in all it was the best thing that she could hope for. Rainbow glanced at her friends who seemed to be enjoying themselves. Good. She wouldn't have wasted five tickets then, she had wanted to surprise them by buying them tickets and making them promise that they would come. And her friends are doing just great, Pinkie was chatting away like the world was about to end tomorrow and she had to get as many words as possible before then(no surprise there) Rarity was marveling at how plush and regal the chairs looked(typical) Applejack and Fluttershy were making small talk(yup) and Twilight was reading a book about stunt flying and aerodynamics' and angles, gravity, momentum blah,blah,blah,blah(I still cant figure out how she doesn't fall asleep reading all that egghead stuff).Dash chuckled, knowing all too well that if she said that aloud she would a lecture that'll bore her to death... and ,maybe a couple thousand more people heh. Black shadowy figures lurking near the top row of chairs caught her attention, Dash could only make out their eyes which were startling bright gold. Rainbow knew some ponies who had the same eye color but for some reason they unnerved her, in fact Rainbow felt like she was being watched, that sent a shudder running through her. Dash's head like it was about to explode all of a sudden. The pain behind her eyes was rapidly intensifying. It was all too much to bear, her eyes squeezed shut. Aargh! What the hay is going on? Okay this was officially uncool. Rainbow felt a hoof on her shoulder and opened her eyes to find a concerned Rarity speaking to her but Dash couldn't hear her. She read Rarity's lips and was able to make out, ''Are you alright?''. Rainbow was about to answer when she felt the pain ebb away slowly. She took a deep breath and flashed Rarity a small smile that she hoped says; Sure, I'm cool Rares! which would have been easy to pull she off in regular circumstances, but she guessed that this sudden weird headache that came out of nowhere except when she spotted those two.....uh whoever they are, so her 'smile' probably said something like: No I'm not fine I have a really big headache that seemingly came out of nowhere.
''Rainbow Dash, darling do please tell me what's wrong, you seem to have gone a bit pale dear. Trust me, it doesn't do your complexion any good sweetie.'' Rarity looked over to Rainbow with concern for her friend carved into her elegant features. Rainbow managed to gulp and flash her a smile.
''Yeah,yeah I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be fine? I'm Rainbow Dash the awesomest Pegasus in Equestria remember?'' Rainbow said a proud blue hoof held out and a confident smile plastered on her cyan face. Rarity managed to not roll her eyes...well barely. By now the rest of the gang had leaned in closer to see what was going on. Rarity opened her mouth to argue but to Dash's immense relief Applejack came to her rescue, kind of.
'' Aw shucks Rarity, she's dandy an' all, 'sides she's gonna be making those love-sick faces you be makin' at every single stallion in Canterlot at Soarin. Right Rainbow?'' Applejack said with a matter-of-factly smirk playing on her lips. This earned her two glares coming from Rarity and Dash. Applejack burst out laughing that brought over Pinkie who naturally starting moving her pink mouth as fast as ever. Rainbow groaned,'This is gonna be a long night'.
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Spitfire shrugged the two strangers off 'Meh, probably just a couple of friends meeting up and chatting' she snorted 'what was I even worried about'. A couple feet over Soarin had noticed the two strangers as well. His head started to pound for no apparent reason, seeing as he felt perfectly fine a couple moments before. His eyesight went a little fuzzy and Soarin shook his head trying to rid himself of the pain that continued to grow until it reached an unbearable point. He felt as if fire had suddenly cut through his brain, after a few moments the pain eased.Soarin sighed in relief and rubbed his temples. 'That was.....really weird'. Fortunately, or not Spitfire didn't notice his little...scenario. A horn sounded, signaling the beginning of the show. Soarin and the rest of his teammates launched into the air and that's when things went very,very wrong.
The show had begun and Rainbow's heart swelled with excitement and joy, that is until the bombs started. The first bomb must have been the trigger that set off a chain reaction, which by the way is very, very uncool. The Wonderbolts had just taken off from a sort-of like platform thing that was stationed at the end of the stadium. As soon as they were all air-born, well that's when the first bomb had exploded. The vibration shook the walls of the stadium and a few of the spotlights' glass shattered, plunging half of the stadium into darkness, with the shattering glass echoing throughout the blackness. For a moment, there was a moment of eerie silence, as if everypony was holding their breath, which Rainbow guessed most of them were, including her. Then well, all hay broke loose. Ponies started screaming, their shrieks echoed back at them inside the stadium. More lights shattered, engulfing the whole stadium with nothingness now. After a couple ear-splitting moments, the second bomb went off, this time blasting a good amount of the stadium into nothing but rubbe. That's when Rainbow Dash snapped out of it, unfortunately her friends didn't.
''WHAT ARE YOU ALL WAITING FOR, GET YOUR FLANKS OUTTA HERE NOW GO!'' Rainbow waved her hooves for emphasis. Her friends snapped out of their shock, and started running like their lives depended on it, which ironically enough they did. As they ran, the six friends had to dodge chunks of the ceiling and walls that were raining down on them, a small scream escaped Dash's lips as a chunk twice as big as her fell a couple inches in front of her. In a matter of seconds she could've of been dead, so close,too close. The worry of her friends and the other ponies with them in the stadium gnawed at her sides.Then Rainbow heard something that made her blood run cold.
''Help! Please!'' Dash risked a look down and caught sight of a little filly, her hoof stuck underneath a chunk of....something, could've been the ceiling. Tears were streaming down the filly's filthy white cheeks, her wavy golden hair was messy enough to give Rarity a heart attack. Then the little filly looked up at Rainbow Dash as if she knew Dash was standing right there. For some reason Dash's headache began to return, the pounding in her ears, the pain behind her eyes, it all came back unwelcome. She grit her teeth Aaargh! No not now! Rainbow bit back her pain as best she could called out to her friends, they turned around worry grasping every single one of their friendly faces, which made Rainbow guilty for a sec.
''Guys there's a filly down there, I'm gonna help and meet you guys outside alright? Wait for me near the entrance!''
''Darling please be careful, we don't want you do get hurt!'' Rarity yelled over the chaos of the stadium or well what was left of it.
''You come back right back to us ya hear! I don't want you to-'' Applejack was cut off when a huge, and she meant huge as in five times bigger than her huge, piece of the ceiling came crashing down separating her from her friends. She yelped and jumped back, but then approached it and peeked over as best she could not daring to unfold her wings for fear of them getting a piece of the stadium on them. She shouted to her friends to go.
''Don't worry I'll be fine guys, like I said meet me at the entrance alright?'' Another bomb was heard, joining the party with its other friends that had exploded earlier. Ugh, just how many bombs are even here? I sure hope my friends got out okay.Well no time to think about that, Dash looked down to see a fallen debris land mere feet from the filly, who in turn let out high pitched shriek that made Rainbow wince slightly. She gulped and sucked in air full of dust and shot towards the filly, not even aware that she might not return to see her friends who were waiting for her at the entrance.
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Soarin has never felt so scared in his life, all around him chaos was rising rapidly as was his panic. His fellow Wonderbolts were helping and making sure they got everypony out safely. A small cry caught his ear.
''Help! Please!'' He looked down and what he saw made his heart leap. This is exactly the opposite of what he was hoping wouldn't happen to anypony. A white filly who was now dirty, had a hoof caught under a fallen debris, she was crying and her golden hair was simply a mess. Soarin looked over to Spitfire who was yelling for everypony to move it.
''C'MON LET'S MOVE, MOVE, MOVE! EVERYPONY OUT NOW!''
'' Hey Spitz!'' Soarin yelled hoping to catch her attention, thankfully he did.
'' What is it Soarin?''
'' Somepony's in trouble I-''
'' WELL WHAT THE HAY ARE YOU WAITING FOR THEN? GET YOUR BUTT OVER THERE!!'' That was more than enough for Soarin Geez, I wanna just tell her what I'm gonna do so she knows and doesn't worry her spikey tail off and THIS is what I get hmph. A shriek coming from the filly cut his thoughts short. He looked down just in time to see a chunk of ceiling land a couple feet away from the poor filly. Without a second thought he flew straight towards her, what he didn't know was that he was also heading for his biggest mistake yet, and that's saying something since Spitfire sure thinks he's made a lot of those.
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Silver Shadow hid at the corner of the stadium, seeming unscathed by the destruction going on all around him. He called out to his friend who was currently disguised as an innocent little white filly with a golden mane. Silver Shadow snorted, his foolish friend Night Shifter could have a least chosen a little colt,But nooooo! Silver Shadow had shrugged it off, glad that this time they hadn't failed, at least...not yet. Shadow cursed himself for jinxing them. As a bonus, they had finally managed to find the two ponies of the ancient prophecy, both of them racing to save the little 'filly' a sneer etched itself across his face, growing with his satisfaction. He reached out to Night Shifter with his mind. This is turning out better than I had anticipated, but are you sure it's them? Night Shifter replied with an angry hiss which took Shadow by surprise,YES I'M SURE! Now get out of here, don't you realize how hard it is to stay in this form for long? Shadow rolled his eyes,I had advised you to go with a little boy instead hadn't I fool? He could feel Night Shifter roll his eyes, SHH THEY'RE COMING! Silver Shadow felt their connection shut off. He smirked, This is going to be fun.
Soarin and Rainbow Dash had reached the filly at the same time, both ponies were shocked to meet each other at a time like this. Both their jaws hung open. Rainbow felt a blush creep up her cheeksNo,no,no not now Dash focus! she, mentally slapped herself out of it, little did she know Soarin was having similar problems as well. Sadly, their thoughts were cut short as another piece of debris fell on them and the girl screamed even louder than last time, Rainbow yelled over to Soarin.
''Hey I'll get the rock off her hoof and you lift her up and to safety ok? Then we can work on trying to find her folks alright?'' Soarin opened his mouth to object, seeing as there was no way Dash would be able to lift a boulder. Rainbow apparently had other ideas, she grunted as she grabbed the boulder and pushed it up, sweat started forming as she squeezed her eyes shut. Raibow pushed for a few seconds more, and risked opening her eye to see Soarin staring at her in shock. Not helping bud she thought inwardly rolling her eyes.
''[iSoarin!]'' she managed to yell out. Soarin smiled sheepishly and quickly lifted the fllly onto his back with great care and agility that in any other circumstances, she would have been awed, but now as she le the boulder drop, she focused on flexing her shoulders for a few deserved moments then took off and followed Soarin. Abruptly, her headache returned, the pain again increasing with every wingstroke she took. But this time the pain got worse, way worse,If that was even possible! she grunted and looked up at Soarin, gritting her teeth against the escalating pain. What she saw though, made her very, very worried, Soarin had dropped a few feet in altitude, sweat was pouring down his face, and Rainbow could tell his breathing was ragged. Concern clouded her thoughts, she sped up, which proved to be way harder than it should have been, sure she had to dodge a couple ceiling pieces but that shouldn't have tired her out so quickly. As she got closer to Soarin the pain was reaching the point where she was feeling lightheaded and eyesight was fuzzy, everything seemed to moving sluggishly. She turned to ask Soarin if he was alright, but was met with nothing but an empty space. She looked around frantically moving her head so fast that it felt as if someone was playing table-tennis with it. Finally, she spotted a blue blob, with another white blob that looked like they were stuck together.Soarin!! she screamed in her mind and without a second thought, she plunged straight towards him, darkness had started invading her vision but she didn't care, her mind was set on one thing right now; saving her friend. Not a Wonderbolt, not her idol, but her friend . She decided then and there that they had run in to each other, (Rainbow even saved his life! ) to be considered strangers, plus she was actually starting to like Soarin, as a friend of course, he had a nice easy-going fun attitude that made him likeable in fact sometimes he actually reminded her of PInkie Pie. She recalled at the times they had met, at the Gala, where she had saved his pie, at the wedding of Cadence and Shining Armor, where he had asked her to dance! She would never admit it but, she loved that moment, never in her life had she had warmth like that fill her heart. It wasn't the normal warmth you get from friends or other ponies, it was different. Rainbow couldn't really put her hoof on it, but there was an extra special something that made her feel, well....secure, happy and content. She had never felt anything like it before. She moved on to the other times, like at the Best Young Flyer competition, where she had saved three Wonderbolts and her friend Rarity from falling to a humiliating, and of course painful death. Now, here she was again racing to Soarin's aid. Dash quickly closed up the distance between her and Soarin, she stretched out her hooves and quickly rapped them around Soarin and the little filly and let out a huge sigh of relief, she looked down and realized that she had been lucky that she had caught Soarin, she was just hovering barely ten feet off the ground. Rainbow's relief was short lived as her vision swam again, but...... why were flames dancing everywhere, they seemed to taunt her, but no matter how much she blinked they wouldn't go away. She saw the nameless filly approach her, with a .....smile? Rainbow wasn't sure, it looked more of a sneer than anything else, she didn't know how or why but at that moment she felt scared, panic settled in her chest. She was glad that when she looked down she saw that were on solid-er mostly ground, even though she didn't remember ever landing. Must be the heat, wait what!! Rainbow was puzzled, she didn't remember the weather being so hot, everywhere she turned she saw flames, she looked down at Soarin who must've tumbled out of her hooves at some point, she took a couple steps towards him and felt everything around her cool down, she took a few more steps, and the temperature dropped even more, in fact it was almost freezing she shivered but realized that Soarin was shaking uncontrollably. Rainbow hesitantly put a hoof on his cheek and pulled it back almost immediately, his cheeks were freezing! In fact, it felt that she had just touched ice.Oookay Rainbow, this is all just a weird dream and I'm probably gonna wake up with a book on my face, then I'm gonna get a boring lecture from that egghead right? She slapped herself but with no avail. The little filly had reached her, except when Dash looked up...she didn't see a filly she saw a cloaked figure with glinting golden eyes that froze her in place. Dash caught a glimpse of a dark blue (almost black) aurora from under his hood telling her that he was a unicorn. He reached out a hoof and put it on her shoulder. A shock of electric pain shot through her and the flames died from her vision overtaken by darkness, Soarin, the stadium, the screaming it all died away leaving her amidst a black, eerie silence.
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Soarin was shocked that such a small mare could be able to lift such a heavy object, but the way he stared at her like that was plain downright embarrassing. Stupid, stupid, stupid!! he had scolded himself. She had yelled out his name, he was so lucky that she had her eyes closed or she would have seen a tomato instead of his face standing there. He had then grabbed the filly and flew off swerving around the raining debris. His headache came back, worse than ever. Soarin's vision started swimming, but what troubled him even more was the fact that the stadium now seemed to be covered in......ice? Soarin frowned thinking he was hallucinating. He began to shiver uncontrollably, and Soarin had never felt so cold in his life. Everything around him had taken on a shade of a color between gray and blue due to the fact that ice was devouring the stadium. He began to feel faint, and didn't even notice that he had dropped a few feet in the air. The filly on his back seemed to weigh a ton. The said filly rested her head on his shoulder, Soarin could only smile weekly due to the immense pain in his head. In his mind's eye he saw a sweet, scared, lost filly. What he didn't see however was the sinister grin that took over the filly's face, actually Soarin didn't see anything after that but darkness as he let the pain take over and he took shelter in the darkness of unconsciousness.
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Silver Shadow couldn't help but let out a laugh that sounded like the ones crazed villains tended to give in any good horror movie. They wouldn't fail this time, jinx or no, he knew that they were going to succeed with their task. Then, he and Night Shifter would never be thought of as a disgrace to their tribe again, ponies would mention their names and respect and awe is what will be the result. A smile crept on his but quickly morphed into a sneer. He couldn't stress this enough, They. Could. Not. Fail Especially not with the prophecy, not with the prophecy
Rainbow woke up to the sound of water dripping on stone, she raised her head and looked around but saw nothing but blackness. Dash could only make out a little lump in the dim light that came from a small window in the corner of a....room? Dash shook the sleep from her head and propped up on her two front hooves, she looked around, and as she got her bearings back she could tell that the walls were made of stone and the 'window' had bars, so that when Rainbow put her hoof out into the light, it looked like she was wearing a prisoner's jumpsuit.She frowned, knowing for a fact that she wasn't in jail,(despite how much Twilight joked that she would end up in here one day, she was just playing an innocent, harmless, prank, sheesh).Then, all of a sudden the events of earlier came rushing back to her. To put it this way, it was like getting hit with a pan after staring at something for so long(not like it has ever actually happened before). She looked over to the lump in what seemed to the corner of the room. After staring at it for a couple seconds she realized that it was breathing, the thing was rising steadily up and back down. Rainbow approached it warily, as she got closer she could finally make out what it was, She gasped and jumped back, running into the wall in the process. A soft thud came as the wall's protest, which earned her a groan fome the sleeping form of the Wonderbolt that was stuck in this this horrid place with her. Soarin looked like he just went through a-not-so-harsh-as-some-other-beatings-but-it-sure-as-Tartarus-hurt beating. His eye looked swollen a bit, and his wing was bent at an odd angll. She cringed as she looked over some of his bruises and cuts that blossomed all over his body, his Wonderbolts uniform was in tatters, and it looked as if he swam in dirt and debris. She checked herself for any injuries and found that she was perfectly fine, well minus the cuts and scratches she expected to get from flying around in the debris and trying to save that little filly. That little filly. Rainbow let a low growl escape her lips, anger started brewimg for that little fill-er stallion, whatever. And what was up with the hooded cloaked figuers? Why did Soarin look like he got beat up? Why did she see flames everywhere back in the stadium? Why? Why? Why? What was going on? Her head swam with al these unanswered questions. She looked over at Soarin, Rainbow didn't want to wake him, but she knew she had to. She sighed and walked over to the passed out Wonderbolt and gently nudged him with her hoof, she made sure to do so in a place that was free of bruises, which weren't a lot. Thankfully, there was a spot that Ranibow knew Soarin would be comfortable with her touching it. Dash whispered for him to get up.
"Soarin, wake up!" Soarin groaned and curled up in a ball, Rainbow winced knowing that curling up like that has got to hurt with those injuries.
"Mmmmhm, just five more minutes mom," Soarin mumbled. Rainbow tried to kill the laugh that was trying to escape from her, but failed horribly, falling over while clutching her stomach. Soarin woke with a start,a wild look taking over his wide eyes. Rainbow stopped laughing wondering if she hurt him or something, which she normally doesn't do. Rainbow didn't worry about anypony else the way she worried about Soarin just now. Why am I acting like this? she scolded herself. Soarin was breathing heavily in front of her, that scared, panicked, wild look he had in his eyes just a few seconds ago, dimmed, but it was still there.
"R-rainbow Dash?"
"Y-yup the one and only," Dash put a hoof behind her head thankful for the dim light so that Soarin couldn't see her blushing.
"Um, sorry if I um bothered you or anything," Soarin seemed to relax somewhat, he let out a slow smile and put on a small goofy smile which wasn't as big as his signature one, but for reasons that Dash couldn't explain, and would really,really hate to explain, it made her heart flutter.
" No it's fine Dashy, I just....didn't expect to see you there," by now the wild look in his eyes vanished completely which relieved Dash, but her adrenaline had kicked up, Dashy, he had called her Dashy no one ever called her that except well, Pinkie Pie and........her parents, who were gone, they died during what every pony called the Rainbow Factory. It was a story she despised with all her heart, to this day she still cursed herself for being helpless when her parents were in need for her the most, in her head she kept telling herself that she should have done something, she should have been able to rescue her parents, but her heart told her that she couldn't have possibly done anything. Rainbow shook her head to try to block the torturing memories that threatened to come back. She watched Soarin as he took in their surroundings, she watched his emerald eyes scan the place over. A frown came upon his face, just as Dash had expected. The silence would have been maddening, save the occasional sound of water hitting stone from whatever expected,Rainbow didn't waist time on trying to figure out where the water was coming from. Soarin broke her thoughts.
"Um you don't happen to know where we are do you?" Rainbow shook her head , and Soarin let out a frustrated sigh.
"Hey Soarin?"
"Hmm, yeah?" his eyes were still exploring their surroundings-or rather what he could see of them.
"Uh...if ya don't mindme asking, what happened to you? You look like you took a short trip through Tartarus" Soarin looked at her blankly, then realization hit his face.
"Oh uh, heh guess I was more a handful than they thought," Rainbow said nothing to this, she just stared. What did Soarin mean 'they'? Rainbow was lost, she had no idea what he was talking about. Soarin now realized this by the confused look she gave him.
"Oh well I coudn't really find out much as they were dragging me down here, but apparently these ponies are part of an ancient tribe and..." Soarin hesistated before going on."Their tribe is located underground in the middle of the Everfree Forest," he put a hoof behind his head not sure how Rinbow was going to take this in. He saw her eyes widen, and her stance stiffen for about a second.
"So this means we are underground, in the middle of the Everfree Forest, where no one can find us?'' Rainbow did a pretty good job of hiding the fear from her voice, but she couldn't keep her pupils from shrinking. She hated being underground. Whenever she was(which wasn't often) she would feel as she was trapped, not being able to take to the sky in a moment's notice made Rainbow nervous though of course she would never admit it. Not being able to see the sky didn't really improve her mood. Being closed in like this made her feel like one of those poor helpless animals Fluttershy always cooed over, which didn't precisely go well with Rainbow Dash. Besides, Rainbow knew she could totally take on whatever fate had to throw to her. She was the awesomest pony in all of Equestria for Celestia's sake. Yeah she could totally handle this.....right? Dash jumped as she felt Soarin wrap a wing around her. It felt weird but....comforting, and at that moment she was so happy that she didn't go though this alone.
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Soarin felt so guilty for being glad that Rainbow- or anypony- was stuck here with him. It created a twisted feeling in the pit of his stomach, half of himself being guilty, ashamed, and disgusted with himself. The other part of Soarin felt happy, relieved, and in a weird twisted way excited? His mind went back to the horrible events of earlier, the screaming filly; the stadium succumbing to nothing but dust and debris; Rainbow and him meeting in front of the victim of their.....incredible heroic act. Well now that Soarin looked back on in the only heroic thing he did was nothing really, just tried to get himself and the little filly killed. Wonderful display of heroism on Soarin's part right? Soarin's head snapped up as a thought occurred to him and he cursed himself for forgetting. His ahem, subtle sign language didn't go unnoticed by the rainbow maned mare standing next to him who was lost in her own thoughts. Soarin whipped in front of Rainbow Dash causing her to yelp from surprise, and recover quickly gathering back her composure. Soarin grabbed her by the shoulders and started shaking her.
"The filly, what happened to her? She didn't get hurt right? We got her back all safe and sound right?'' the words tumbling out of his mouth at Pinkie speeds, all the while still shaking Dash.
"Dude-chill!" Soarin realized what he was doing and hastily stepped back a moment, embarrassment flooding his cheeks and clouding his mind. He was too ashamed to open his mouth and just watched as the other Pegasus pondered his question for a second a scowl and disgust draped itself over her athletic features. "That little filly buddy-," the door of their dungeon swung open and slammed the wall silencing Rainbow and earing a shocked yelp to blossom out of Soarin as he whipped around. In the doorway stood two bulky figures draped in thick, black cloaks. This was Soarin's first real close-up at their 'escorts' from earlier. And Soarin had to say, it was not a pretty site.
Silence filled the few seconds in which Rainbow and Soarin stood slack-jawed at their new company. It felt like one of those moments where it feels as though time has stopped and the only thing you can do is sit and stare at something waiting for it to explain. Finally, the new arrival showed signs of life as the figure moved aside to reveal yet another pony figure, but this pony carried themselves as if they were the most important pony in Equestria. Soarin snorted slightly at that, being reminded of the snobby Canterlot ponies he wasn't really fond of. A couple more agonizing seconds later a deep, gruff voice radiated from the bulky figure.
"So, these are the ones that the prophecy spoke of?'' his voice dripped with royal sarcasim. Soarin was as confused as ever, What is with ponies? All I hear is prophecy this, prophecy that. Soarin killed the annoyed sigh that built in his chest, it wouldn't do him or Rainbow any good to cause more trouble, they were already in enough hot water as it is. Soarin almost choked as he spied ice clogging his vision again. Soarin sure as hay knew what or why but somehow he knew that was bad. His head was starting to ache like someone was repeatingly pounding his head with a hammer. His throat went dry and the dungeon started feeling like a freezer. Soarin glanced at Rainbow and was surprised and concerned to see her look haggard a bit. She was literally drooping, her eyelids sagging over her eyes, and her stiff, strong stance that she had carried only moments ago seemed to be replaced by a slump in her shoulders and Rainbow's knees bent a little. The air around her seemed thick and hot, and her cheeks carried a taint of red with them, and Soarin guessed it wasn't because of his handsome face. He stepped closer to her and unfolded his wings out in a protective stance, ready to hurt anyof them if they so much as lay a hoof on Rainbow, despite his aching head and sudden case of the shivers. Plus these guys where really testing his patience, why didn't they spit out what they wanted?
"I swear the ponies these modern days are a disgrace to lay my eyes upon!" the same pony from before remarked snidely. He sighed as if this whole situation was merely an argument on what to have for dinner with his wife, if he even managed to get one Soarin thought, suppressing the snort that wanted to come out. Rainbow had been awfully quiet, and concern wove its way onto Soarin's features. He decided things could be hurried a notch.
"Look, who the buck are you and what the hay do you want?" Soarin barked, fed up with the attitude he was receiving. His migraine and worry for Rainbow Dash only contributed to his rage. The pony Soarin had barked at earlier did nothing but huff in annoyance.
"Hold your tongue! The last time I checked you are in no position to speak to me this way, after all this is my domain and I hold the authority here." the angry stallion huffed and seemed to calm down just a bit. "You're lucky I'm in a good mood today." he muttered under his breath. " I am Chief Nightwalker, and I am the leader of a tribe in the Everfree Forest, you," Nightwalker pointed at Soarin and Rainbow "are the two ponies we have unfortunately had the job to hunt you down and bring you here, as you could plainly see. You two are the ponies that have been described in the prophecy, which I will explain in a minute." Nightwalker added as he saw Soarin open his mouth. "Anyway, my ponies have been searching for months with no avail, that is until today. Now as for the prophecy I mentioned earlier, it speaks of two ponies, and it also described you, one mare of a rainbow mane, and a stallion who has a dark blue mane, and so forth. Mind you the prophecy wasn't as straightforward as that, but I'll get into that later. You see there is a way to test out to see if you two really are what I believe you are." Nightwalker finished with a wave of his hoof in the air, talking like this situation was something that was normal for him. Soarin narrowed his eyes, something felt wrong but try as he might Soarin just couldn't put his hoof down on it, something Nightwalker said caught his attention though.
"What way are you talking about?" Soarin started to get dizzy and his vision was once again being consumed by fuzziness, albeit slowly this time for some reason. He started to panic, this could not be happening. They needed help, and Soarin knew there was just no way in all of Equestria that anypony would find them- or even think to look for them- out here. They were in the middle of a freaking forest that nopony in their right mind would wander in to for Luna's sake. Oh this was definitely not his day. He snapped back into reality when Nightwalker opened his mouth again.
"Well actually there are countless ways your powers could be activated, but from my knowledge you would have to come into contact with one of my clan members, for some reason I'm not even going to try to explain to you, but anyways, after you have made contact, it would really depend on you how your powers are activated, for example if you were mad you would shoot, I don't know something that has to do with ice." Nightwalker sighed and rubbed his eyes as if this was a math problem he was trying to explain to a stubborn filly. Soarin could only open and close his mouth, his left eye twitching, but he failed to form any words. Finally he managed to string something together.
"How do you know I have ice powers?" Soarin resisted the urge to slap his hoof against his face from the stupidity of his question. Nightwalker raised an eyebrow and snorted.
"Isn't it obvious?" Nightwalker pointed a hoof at Soarin's own hooves, for a second Soarin was scared to look down, and immediately regretted doing so as son as he did. Ice was spreading from his hooves and swallowing the floor, making crinkling sounds as the floor was getting covered in ice. The ice was approaching a pair of cyan hooves, and Soarin started to panic. He stepped away to ttry and stop the ice from getting to Rainbow, but stopped when he noticed that as soon as the ice got within a centimeter of her it would melt and evaporate with a hiss. Soarin let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He turned to Nightwalker and chose to ignore the smirk that was growing n Nightwalker's face.
"Looks like you could use some help in getting your new powers under control hmm?" Soarin was about to answer with his own snide remark but a mumble from Rainbow stopped him dead in his tracks.
"Why is it so hot in here?" Soarin didn't know how to answer her, so he just stepped closer to her once again for protection and comfort.
"Looks like she needs more help than you." Gee thanks bud Soarin thought bitterly. He draped a foreleg around Rainbow and she leaned on him. When he looked down he saw that she had passed out. Hooo boy this is definitely * not** my day*.
Rainbow........ a voice called out to Rainbow. She was wrapped in what seemed an eternal black field.
"Hello! Is anypony there?" Dash winced as her voice echoed back to her. Though she did get an answer.
Rainbow... the voice seemed closer this time and it was sounding vaguely familiar by the second. Rainbow gasped as she recognized the voice.
"Princess Luna!" Rainbow shouted. Said princess materialized in front of Rainbow Dash, making her jump back with a yelp of surprise. Princess Luna smiled warmly.
"Do not fear Rainbow Dash, we shall not harm you." Rainbow rubbed the back of her sheepishly, this was the first time she had made contact with royalty face to face(does a dream count?). Mostly when she actually was in the presence of royalty it was Twilight that did most of the talking.
"Sorry 'bout that princess." Dash suddenly felt just a little bit self-conscious. After all, it wasn't everyday you get to talk to one of the rulers of Equestria. "Sooo....is this a dream?" Luna smiled sadly.
"Unfortunately, no, we have heard of the strange incident here in Ponyville, as of late you and a Wonderbolt are confirmed missing. Right now you are unconscious, thus the reason I am able to reach you, well more or less." Rainbow took a moment to soak all this in before asking a question.
"Was anypony hurt?"
"Miraculously no, we have quite a few guards working on this situation." Luna paused before going on, this time her voice sounded more urgent and rushed. "Do you know where you and this Wonderbolt are, we are searching for you but we haven't found any trace yet, and it would be impossible to find evidence in the wreck."
"Um I'd love to help you princess, but the only thing I know is that me and Soarin are in the middle of the Everfree, with a bunch of weirdo ponies who are from crazy old tribe or something." Luna nodded and Rainbow noticed she was staring to fade, and panic seized Rainbow. No don't go I don't wanna be alone! she bit her lip.
"I'm sorry Rainbow Dash but I must be going, I will try to come back as soon as I can." with that Luna vanished and Rainbow was lost in a sea of blackness and loneliness once again.
When Rainbow woke up, she realized that she was leaning on something warm and soft. Another thing she noticed was that the heat was bearable now and that her massive headache had thankfully been reduced to a dull throb in the back of her head. Ugh my head she carefully propped herself up on her elbows and looked around, they were still in the dungeon. She sighed, this is * so** not my day*.
"Hey, glad to see you're awake." a voice behind her said making her whip her head around she thought she heard a protesting snap from her neck. She muttered some unintelligible words under her breath. A light chuckle reached her ears and that's when she recognized the voice belonging to Soarin.
"How much did I miss?" Soarin tapped his chin as if thinking really hard about something, which he was, nothing in particular really just the fact that some weird pony, supposedly the chief of this ancient tribe(how he got into a position that important, is beyond Soarin) knows who they are and that they have these totally crazy (but cool no pun intended) powers that somehow have been triggered and now he doesn't know what is going to happen to them. Well, no point in sugar-coating anything. They're already pretty deep into the situation already. Soarin let out a well earned sigh.
"Well, you see...we apparently have these really awesome, but totally freaky powers that we're somehow gonna learn to control and that guy has something really suspicious going on and I don't like it." He gave an over exaggerated smile, with all his teeth showing that would have made Pinkie Pie proud. Rainbow just nodded slowly unsure what to make of this situation. It's not everyday that you would get told something like this.
"Ooookay....so now what?" Rainbow jumped at the unexpected sound of the door opening. It felt like déjà vu to Dash. A figure entered the dungeon, flanked by two other ponies. Rainbow remembered him uh what was his name? It was Night somethingNightwalker....nah that's not it......oh that's right! Nightstalker, that makes much more sense she let out a small smile at remembering this pony`s name. Sure it may be a pretty small feat, but anything to get her mind off of their 'situation'.
"Ah, so she finally woke up, wonderful!" Nightstalker announced a little too happy for Rainbow's taste.
"What do you want now?" Soarin spoke up, annoyance clearly abundant in his tone. Nightstalker scowled, but as quick as a blink, his scowl morphed into a smile. If Rainbow didn't like him before she certainly hated his guts now. This guy reminded her in a twisted way of Pinkamena. Rainbow shuddered at the memory of Pinkie talking to a bucket of turnips. Nightstalker spoke up, this time his voice took on a serious note, defiant of the smile still glued to his face.
"Now, it`s time for your training of course." Nightstalker stepped to right to reveal the doorway that he had been blocking. He motioned with his hoof to follow him. It didn't look like Dash had much choice in the matter so she followed albeit wearily, just in case tried to do something funny. Soarin followed as well, with his eyebrow raised, skeptical of what was to come.
Soarin didn't know what was coming but he had his doubts that this training Nightwalker was talking about wasn't as advanced and sophisticated as the training they had to undergo at the Wonderbolts Training Facility. Boy was Nightwalker going to prove him wrong. The hallway they were walking down didn't prove to be anything special, mainly because the lack of light that was allowed through the place. Soarin began to ponder this as they continued down the dank and musty passageway.
"So......Mr. uh Nightwalker does your um tribe live down here?" Soarin cringed at how stupid and unsure he sounded. But perked up again when he actually got an answer.
"Yes and no. We spend the majority of our time underground due to....some issues. Some of us decide to stay above, but that is none of your concern right now." Nightwalker made sure he stressed the last little part of his sentence, which did nothing except take Soarin's suspicions a level higher. He leaned into Rainbow to whisper in her ear.
"Something is definitely not right with this guy." Rainbow took a moment as if to study Nightwalker. Then whispered back.
"Yeah I know, it's almost as if they're hiding something from us." Soarin nodded his agreement. Best to play along until he and Dash could get more information on these ponies. They passed a small window barely the size of a plate, it appeared to be the only source of light for a while, which would have been bad, but astonishingly it was good in this case. The beams of light illuminated the hallway they had been walking down. The reveal of this wasn't inviting, disembodied pony legs lined the stone walls and Soarin even thought he spotted a head. The pony legs appeared to be covered in armor causing the light to glint off them. Soarin let out a barely audible gulp. He glanced at Rainbow Dash just in time to see her eye twitch. Another few minutes of walking brought them to their- or more precisely, Nightwalker's- destination. A huge wooden door appeared on the right of the hallway. Nightwalker cocked his head to the two ponies who had -unknowingly to Soain- followed them, he made them out to be guards of some type.Makes sense...I think . The two guards grunted in response and moved to open the door. Nightwalker nodded his approval and strode into the room like he owned the place, which ironically he did. What Soarin saw made his eye twitch and his jaw to smack the floor. In contrast to the dark setting they had come to know of this dreary place, this room was filled with windows. The floor had polished tiles that would have put the Canterlot Castle's ballroom to shame. Velvet drapes framed all the twelve humongous windows(he counted). The walls were painted a creamy color that actually made the place rather inviting. The room itself was easily the size of the Wonderbolts HQ with plenty of room to spare. A sweet scent played around the air, it was actually oddly familiar to Soarin. He sniffed and concentrated for a second. Needless to say the answer hit him a second later.It smells like... PIE!! Soarin's pupils grew as his mouth started to water and his face sculpted out a genuine smile. A nudge at his side cruelly ended his pie fantasy. He looked over to see that it was Dash who had snapped him out of it, not that he needed it of course.
"Yes Dash?" she shot him a mildly irratated look complete with a raised eyebrow. She tilted her head forward at Nightwalker. "Oh right heh." Soarin then turned his attention to the unicorn in front of them, who was wearing a smile that actually looked more like a sneer if anything.
"Welcome to the top state of the art training facility, where you will begin your training as my personal protégés." Rainbow and Soarin glanced at each other then returned their gazes back at Nightwalker.
"So.....are we supposed to be honored or something?" Soarin asked with mock innocence. Nightwalker pressed his lips tightly together and let out a long breath through his nose.
"One could only hope." Nightwalker replied sarcastically. "You could stand to show some manners, it wasn't easy to not kill you the minute I saw you." Nightwalker narrowed his eyes for a brief moment .
"Gee thanks, I feel touched.'' Soarin shot back with a roll of his eyes while Nightwalker seethed. Soarin had to hold back a chuckle as Nightwalker regained his composure.
"Now, we begin."
Soarin stood beside Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts and his dear friend. Spitfire had that extremely confident look on her face that he knew all too well. Soarin sighed inwardly, cursing his nervousness before every show. He wasn't really shy, it would be safe to state that he was just a little bit shyer than the rest of his teammates. Soarin explored the stadium with his eyes, it was certainly....different than most other areas they had preformed. The stadium was a tall structure, but the amount of distance between it and the ground certainly wasn't enough to allow the Wonderbolts to preform certain moves, so his show basically wasn't going to be as spectacular as the ones they have done in the past but, it should still be something. The stadium was blue on the inside mostly and what caught Soarin's attention the most where the cloud seats as well as normal seats. The regular seats were royal red that stood out against the breezy blue background, and the cloud seats looked beautiful against the background as well, making you feel as if you were actually in the sky. A thought crossed Soarin's mind, ''What if one of his teammates, heh probably Surprise, were to run into the walls thinking that they were actually outside'' he knew it was ridiculous and that it would never happen, but if it did..... Soarin tried to kill a laugh unsuccessfully and ended up laughing like a psycho. It was one of those oh-my-gosh-this-joke's-so-stupid-that-I-had-to-laugh moments that some ponies' have when they're a little nervous. Spitfire's raised eyebrow and the weird look she gave him made him laugh even more. After a couple of seconds Soarin managed to snuff out his laughter.
''You okay?'' Spitfire asked her eyebrow still rising, pretty soon, Soarin thought, it was going to disappear off her forehead. Soarin shook that thought away and gave her one of his signature goofy grins.
''Sure Spitz, why?'' Soarin mentally slapped himself for giving such a lame answer, especially Spitfire who would (naturally) tease him about it for oh, three weeks give or take a couple days. As Soarin expected Spitfire rolled her eys and gave him one of her famous (at least for him) looks that said;'' Are you serious? Because if it ain't I'm gonna kick your sorry flank into next Tuesday.''
''Well first of all you just burst out laughing outta nowhere, and the look on your face could only mean trouble,'' Spitfire teased, well at least he hoped that she was and that she wasn't in her full-blown Army Commander mode. Soarin was about to reply with his own smart remark when his eyes unexpectedly landed on a certain rainbow maned, cyan Pegasus amidst a group of six other ponies'. They all appeared to be having a good time especially that particular Pegasus, what was her name....Rainbow....Rainbow ah yes Dash, Rainbow Dash, the mare that had saved him and a couple others at the Best Young Flyers competition and had preformed a Sonic Rainboom. Soarin was impressed, no he had and still been beyond impressed. He had never seen anything like it, well technically he didn't get to see it at all himself since he was knocked out, which he keeps regretting, although not wanting to see himself fall to his embarrassing death does sound kind of tempting. Rainbow Dash had also saved his precious apple pie from it's horrible fate at the Gala as well. He starting thinking about her magenta eyes that sparkled with mischief and life. Soarin watched her from above, the way she walked radiated pure confidence and that I'm-so-awesome-and-you-can't-do-nothing-about attitude that made him chuckle inwardly. His thoughts were cut off bye Spitfire's yellow hoof waving like a fan in front of his face.
''Equestria to Soarin, hey show's startin in about....oh I don't know, a minute! Ands what's with the red cheeks Soar, you look flushed,'' Spitfire snorted, then followed Soarin's gaze and surprisingly they landed on the cyan Pegasus that saved them at that one competition. Spitfire's eyebrow started to travel up again,she smirked '' Oh man, wait till I tease him about this later hehe,' Spitfire thought. ''Ooooh, somepony's got a little cruuush...,'' now was her turn to snort with laughter.
''Stuff it Spitty,''Soarin grumbled caught completely off guard. Spitfire narrowed her eyes at being called 'Spitty' yeah...not her favorite nickname. She opened her mouth to shoot back a retort but two shadowy figures lurking at the top rows of the blood red seats. Her eyes narrowed even further. Spitfire was going to say something before she was interrupted by a voice coming over the speakers in the stadium.
''Laaadies and gentlecolts, please rise and join me in welcoming the Wonderbooolts!'' massive cheers erupted form the stadium making a small grin form on her face, she turned back to the mysterious figures only to find that theyhad disappeared. She quickly searched the stadium with her eyes sweeping from one side to the other but no sign of them popped out to her sharp eyesight. She sighed, ''Later...,'' she thought. She looked at Soarin who waved to her to come over. It was time to begin.