Chapter Ten

Nightingale’s shortcut was a steep climb, but it did not wind this way and that like the train tracks. It was a straight course, more or less, and it did not take long at all before they found themselves halfway up the mountain. The path came to an end at a bridge that had seen better days, with ivy and moss clinging to its rope rails, and a couple of its wooden planks were missing. The bridge spanned a yawning chasm, on the other side of which the path continued.

“Almost there,” said Nightingale as they approached the old bridge. “Watch yer step now, everypony. This here riggin’s been ’round ’bout as long as the mountain itself, I reckon.”

“Oh, dear,” Lilypad murmured. “Perhaps we should cross one at a time?”

Steel Shield barked a laugh. “Who’s ‘we’?” He spread his wings pointedly and leapt into flight.

Lilypad chuckled at herself, also taking wing. “Oh, right.”

The two pegasi had soared almost halfway across the chasm when a terrible roar resounded from below. Nightingale, Cloudy Day, Juniper Berry, and Misty Moonrise stopped dead in their tracks and took a few wary steps back from the edge of the chasm. Lilypad dashed back with a startled yelp, fluttering behind Misty and peering around her anxiously. Steel Shield, however, glared down into the chasm, searching for the source of the roar.

Then a hairy arm as thick around as three ponies swept up out of the darkness, swatting Steel Shield aside with a meaty hand. As Steel tumbled to ground amidst the others, a knobby, ugly head followed the arm up, and then a second huge arm, a robust body, and two stout legs with great, furry feet. The enormous creature had a bulbous nose and beady eyes, and a broken tooth jutted from its drooping jaw. Its ears were weirdly small and round, and each of its fingers and toes was fat and topped by an unclipped, dirty nail. Its flabby belly was large and round, and it jiggled when it moved; and the creature was covered from head to toe in bluish fur.

Cloudy Day shrank back, joining Lilypad in hiding behind Misty Moonrise. “W-w-what is th-that?” he stammered fearfully.

“A troll,” answered Misty.

The troll glowered at the much smaller ponies, fat lips turned down in a frown. “This be my bridge,” he rumbled, voice like rolling thunder.

Misty Moonrise gulped. She had never met a troll before, but she had read about them. They were a very grumpy, ill-tempered bunch. Still, she stepped forward and attempted a polite transaction. “And it’s a lovely bridge, Mr. Troll. But it’s really important that we get to the other side of the chasm, so could we please use your bridge to get across?”

The troll’s frown deepened. “No.”

“Aw, come on,” said Juniper Berry, bright and friendly as ever. “Pretty please? Can’t we just hop over?”

“No.”

Steel Shield scowled, spreading his wings. “Hey! Ugly!” He darted up to hover before the troll’s face. “We’re gonna cross and you’re gonna let us—got it?”

The troll growled angrily and clenched his meaty hands into fists. “No!”

“That’s it!” Steel swooped forward and kicked the troll square in his squishy nose.

The troll barely flinched. He snarled and raised a hairy hand, flicking the pegasus away like a pestering fly. He laughed as Steel crashed to earth, flabby belly jiggling.

Steel Shield picked himself up and glared furiously at the troll. “Right. Now I’m gonna hurt him,” he growled under his breath.

Nightingale latched on to one of his wings with her teeth before he could take flight again. “Whoa, there, whippersnapper!” she said through the mouthful of feathers. Only once she was sure Steel was not about to take off did Nightingale release him. She spat out some stray fluff and said, “Just ’cause trouble comes a-visitin’ don’t mean ya should give it somewheres to sit.”

Steel shook his head, at a loss. “What does that even mean?”

“It means, when ya’re throwin’ yer weight ’round, be ready to have it throwed ’round by somepony else.”

“Well, that didn’t help at all,” Steel snorted.

Nightingale sighed in exasperation. “Quit fightin’ an’ let me settle things!” She walked off, right up to the troll, and her annoyed expression switched to her usual cheery smile as she looked up at the humongous creature. “Beggin’ yer pardon, Mr. Troll, that feller don’t like thinkin’ with his head much, no sir. Now, let’s talk civil-like.”

The troll glared down at the tiny pony, and then squatted, hands on his knees, to get a better look at her. His immense bulk loomed over Nightingale like a mountain over a pebble. “This be my bridge.”

“I hear ya,” said Nightingale pleasantly. “Ain’t no-pony an’ no thing gonna take that there bridge away from ya. Me an’ my friends’re in a bit o’ a pickle, though, Mr. Troll. See, we need to git to that big city up there.” She pointed to the silhouetted Canterlot with a fore hoof.

The troll scrunched up his brow quizzically and scratched his bald head. “And my bridge be the fastest way?”

“Now ya’re gittin’ it,” answered Nightingale, nodding. “So what d’ya say? Will ya let us cross?”

“No.”

“Well, why not?”

“Ponies don’t like trolls.” The troll rubbed his big nose where Steel Shield had kicked him. “Call us names.”

Nightingale gave the troll her sweetest smile, batting her eyelashes. “Aw, shucks, is that all? Listen here, pardner, ponies ain’t all like that. Most o’ us, why, we’d never kick ya or call ya names. Shoot, we’d rather be friends.”

“Friends?”

“Don’t ya have any friends?”

The troll thought for a moment, but then frowned sadly. “No…”

“Sure, ya do!”

The troll looked at Nightingale in confusion.

“Ya got one right here,” said Nightingale, pointing to herself. Then she gestured to the other five ponies behind her. “An’ ya got five more right there—that’s six friends altogether.”

For a minute, the troll did not seem to quite grasp the situation. Then his face split in a wide, toothy grin that somehow made him appear a little less monstrous. “Friends!” He suddenly scooped them all up and wrapped his great, hairy arms around all six ponies in possibly one of the biggest hugs in all of Equestria. Then the troll carefully set them down again and lumbered to one side, clearing the way across the bridge. “Friends can use my bridge,” said he happily.

“That’s mighty kind o’ ya,” said Nightingale, and she trotted across to the other side of the chasm. Steel Shield, still a little frazzled from the troll’s hug, and Lilypad flew over after her.

Misty Moonrise let Juniper Berry and Cloudy Day cross ahead of her. She turned to the troll and thanked him. The troll beamed, his smile stretching all the way to his ears. Misty returned the smile and trotted across the bridge.

On the other side, the others were already beginning the next leg of the climb. Nightingale hung back to wave goodbye to the troll, who was descending once more into the chasm the way he had come up. When he was gone from sight, Nightingale smiled in satisfaction and began to follow the others.

Walking alongside Nightingale, Misty asked, “How did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Convince the troll to let us cross his bridge.”

Nightingale chuckled. “ ’Tweren’t nothin’, hon. Everypony needs a friend, even grumpy ole trolls, an’ givin’ the gift o’ friendship’s ’bout the best thing a pony can give. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with bein’ gen’rous.”

Misty paused and watched the little mare walk on ahead, struck by the sincerity and kindness of her words.

Nightingale glanced back at her. “Saddle up now, hon!” she called. “ ’Tain’t no time fer dawdlin’!”

Misty blinked, coming back to herself, and hurried to catch up with the others.

*

Princess Luna crashed into the castle gates. Metal screamed in protest, but the gates held fast. Luna pushed herself back to all fours, every inch of her aching and bruised. But these pains were nothing before the challenge she and her sister faced. The Changeling Queen had grown more powerful than either she or Celestia had expected. They were hard-pressed to keep Chrysalis at bay. Most of the changelings were still consumed with searching the city, thank the stars, but it would not be much longer before they realized the whole of Canterlot was empty.

Except for the castle. The castle was where the citizens of Canterlot had been evacuated, where they would all be safe from Chrysalis and her army. The protective spells Luna and Celestia had laid upon the castle to shield their subjects were strong and would withstand much more than a dented gate, but as long as Chrysalis remained, so, too, the danger. This was something the Two Royal Sisters would not allow.

“Luna!” Celestia cried, running to her sister’s aid.

“Worry not, my sister,” said Luna, glaring up at where the Changeling Queen hovered in the sky. “I shan’t be bested so easily.”

Celestia sighed, with both relief and weariness. The battle was draining—they would both be too exhausted to fight if it continued too much longer. “I saw the Ponyville balloon prepare to land not a moment ago. We will have help soon enough.”

A spark of excitement lit within Luna. “ ’Tis nearly time. Chrysalis will fall beneath the combined powers of Twilight Sparkle and her friends, and mine own student,” said she, confident.

“Sister, I didn’t see your pupil among them,” Celestia admitted quietly. “I’m sorry.”

Despair settled over Luna like a shroud. Chrysalis was too powerful now. If they did not have both the pure Magic of Friendship and the Elements of Harmony, no amount of magic could save Equestria…

No! She would not lose hope! Luna summoned a pale beam of moonlight from her crescent moon above, willing it to shine brighter—a guiding light in the darkness to hasten her student on her way. “She will be here,” Luna stated, forgoing any argument to the contrary. “She will come.”

A flash of green magic—Celestia raised a golden dome just in time to deflect the attack. Luna fixed her eyes on Chrysalis, calling forth a cobalt lightning bolt from the heavens to strike down the Changeling Queen. But Chrysalis darted to safety, her insane cackling ringing throughout Canterlot.

Hurry, Misty Moonrise, Luna prayed.