The Dividing Lineby RakoomChaptersPrologue: LessonsChapter 1: EverfreeChapter 2: Friends of Dice...Prologue: LessonsWe hide in the bushes next to each other. We listen for any sound at all. But I can’t hear anything unnatural, looking at Stale reveals that he can’t hear anything either. Figures, he doesn’t really have better hearing abilities than me. I gave Stale a push on his shoulder and pointed at the hilltop straight ahead. And so we made aim for that hilltop. Our target is likely just over that hill, so we have to be careful not to get caught. We can’t take flight, too soon. And we haven’t even made eye contact with the target yet. We slid along the grass, trying our best not to make too much noise. My hair has closer color to the grass than Stale’s, we both know that. I peek over the edge, little by little. Through the straws of grass I see that the open plains where it all started look just as we left it. But he wouldn’t go too far, I know his arrogance will be his undoing. I keep looking, looking for any detail, item or movement that is out of place. The bags lie there still. There are hoofprints on the ground, but they are too far away to get a good look. And I don’t want to risk moving and INCH without knowing where he is. We have to pull this through. I tell Stale I can't see him. He is taking the chance of peeking over the edge as well. The trees look untouched, no broken leaves or sticks were left behind. A sudden poke from Stale is telling me he spotted something I couldn’t. He lowers his head down behind the top. “Six o’ clock from targets ground zero,” he says. If he talked to anyone else, I know they wouldn’t understand. But I do. Under the only tree with a decent shadow under it. I have to look very closely to see it, but he is right! Next to the tree’s core is the abnormality: His coat. He doesn’t know it, but a very feint wind gives away a tiny piece of his Clint Eastwood-like coat. Hiding under that tree is a good choice, especially since I really wouldn’t have hid there due to the lack of space. But he took the chance and opened up a chance for us to spot him. We have him now. I smile to Stale and say “Let’s do this,” I say to him. We exchange a bro-hoof before getting into position. We would have mere seconds to get from here over the hundred meters to that tree, which is almost too far for us to take the chance. We buckle up and get ready to dash over the edge; we only have one chance for this to work. You know, the best thing about this is that I and Stale have such perfect symmetric way of thinking that we didn’t even have to exchange words or ask the other for opinions here. We both know that this was our chance. We start counting at the same time. “One,” we lower our heads a little further. “Two,” my wings are tense and ready to go. “Three,” we beam over the top of the hill. It. Is. On. Our flying speed would surely impress Dice more than a little, but little does it matter now. With Mate at my right side with the same speed as me, we are closing the distance even faster than we expected! We attack from each side of the tree, the black cloak of Dice is there still. We have him. The sound in the wind gives it all away far too soon. But that ain’t even the worst part ‘bout their performance. As I expected, I hear a thud below me followed with yelling and groaning in pain. *Sigh* the worst part is that it actually worked to just sit in the tree. I jumped down. The boys roll around on the ground with their hooves on their head, n’ a little blood from their forehead. Stale had mah cloak over his head, so I went over to Mate n’ gave him a tap on the head. Then I went over to Stale n’ did the same. “It’s okay Acorn, I won,” I yelled. I had made sure that Acorn would have sumthin’ for whatever injury they would get. While me n’ the boys had settled our lil’ dispute, she had sat down n’ mixed some herbs. She came trotting out from the woods, behind her followed her extra-large bear bodyguard. But she began to gallop when she saw the lil’ duo on the ground. “Oh my, what happened?” she asked me after grabbin’ into her pouch n’ grabbin’ some mashed herbs of Celestia-knows-what. Stale was closest, she pulled my coat away from him n’ applied the herbs to his forehead while hushing him. “Shh, it’s okay. Lie still now. Good. Now hold this onto your forehead,” she said to him n’ applied some water to make it stick. He groaned a lil’ less n’ just held the herbs in place while Acorn trotted over to his brother. Breeze, who we had watchin’ n’ judgin’ from above, landed right next to me. He sure got a good laugh, but he didn’t land before finishin’ laughin’. But he still fought to not laugh right in front of the rest. “And the winner is,” he said n’ held my hoof up. “Dice!” “So, we agreed on who gets the last stew?” Dice asked them. They whined a little, mainly since the stew was enough for BOTH of them or one of Dice, but especially since they were the only ones who didn’t get any stew at all. But they nodded their heads, they lost the bet and Dice gets the last stew. They admitted that much. “How did you know we would come from there?” they asked him. “Obvious, that’s the closest hill from the startin’ point. Ya don’ think further than yer nose,” he said. They both did a face hoof; it was embarrassing for them to have been outsmarted. Again! “Don’t worry guys! I and Teddy made this just for you,” Acorn said and handed them both a bunch of dried violet thistles. Didn’t seem to make them any happier though, but they thanked her and ate it while staring at Dice with a grumpy look. “Well guys, you sure know how to live up to your names when competing against each other, but you still have a couple of miles to go before reaching Dice’s level,” I said. The bear (whom Acorn had named Teddy) nodded his head in consent. It’s good he didn’t need any food at all, because he would end our trip long before it started if he did. I guess that’s the reason Acorn’s grandmother chose to let him join us. “But I’ll tell you what. If either of you win in hoofwrestling against the other, he gets my stew,” I said. Suddenly they got that spark in their eyes again. They looked at each other and measure up each other. I had to concentrate to hold back my laughter since they look like nearly perfect copies. They found a stump and immediately began their duel. Fifteen minutes went by without any development at all. Now they were lying on the ground, absolutely exhausted. I took my bowl of the stew and sat down next to them. “Hm, seems like it’s a Stalemate again guys. Guess I’ll just have to take it myself then,” I said and began eating. I could hear them cursing my name into the grass, realizing what I had just done. I and Acorn bursted out laughing. They would never learn. “Um, boys? Ya DO realize that you were supposed to let the other win and then share his stew right?” Dice said. They let out a loud groan, and all of us bursted out laughing. Chapter 1: Everfree(Acorn) "So, we're goin' through the Everfree Forest eh? Let's take a stop here first," Dice said as we took a look over the map before we would depart again. He pointed out a tiny unmarked circle on the map for some reason. "But there is nothing there but a open field," I pointed out. Dice smiled and looked at me. "Yeah, but this map is outdated," he said. "The area around there has changed a lot," "Hm. Friends or relatives there?" Breeze asked; he catched up on Dice's smile. "Some. Now let's go. Ain't got time to fool around ya know, this ain't a fieldtrip," he said. But StaleMate on their side hadn't listened at all, because they were pretty busy getting a tiebreaker between them with a stare-contest. Dice trotted over and sat next to them for a second. "So, how are your little contest working out?" he asked them. "We're pretty close no-" the started. But they couldn't finish what they were doing due to the large amount of grass Dice shoved into their mouth. "Amazing, now let's go," he said before trotting off. Breeze broke down into laughter. "So, who do you know there again?" StaleMate asked. "Oh, just a couple of ol' friends. Ya'll get to meet 'em soon enough, we could get somethin' good to eat as well," he said. StaleMate and Breeze flew above us, but they immediately lowered their altitude to just above him when he said that. "Good food?" StaleMate asked. "Y- Yeah," Dice hesitantly answered. Dice quickly realised their point when they lifted him off his feet. "Let's go then! Acorn, see you by the finish-line," they yelled towards me as they accelerated over the trees. Breeze however kept close. He shook his head. "Enthusiastic as ever those two," He said. "But I really can't tell any difference between them at all yet, can you?" I shook my head; neither of them had changed a bit. Figuring out wether the Shadow recided within Stale or Mate would be troublesome, but that was really half the point with this entire trip: To stop the Shadow. "We'll try to figure it out when they don't think equally," I said. We couldn't figure anything out while the Shadow hadn't made his move. Suddenly Teddy growled. "What's wrong," I asked him. "Hey," Stale said. He had stopped up, flying on the same spot. "Do you hear something?" Teddy stopped as well. But before I could hear it, I could see the cloud of smoke ahead of us. Breeze reacted so swiftly I could only catch a glimpze of his tail as he dashed off ahead. Teddy stormed after him, and I had to hold on to stay on top of him. We got closer to the could of smoke, hoping we weren't too late. As I entered the scene, Breeze had already found Dice. Or... Well... Dice had ambushed Breeze. "What are you doing!?" I yelled when I saw Dice hold Breeze down, he looked at me with a bedazzled look before letting Breeze go. He was obviosly not at his best, so I went over to him and took a look at him. He was badly hurt on his backside for some reason, and he couldn't speak all clearly. I tended to him as Breeze looked after StaleMate. There was smoke everywhere, but only a couple of small fires. "What in Equestria happened," I said. Breeze landed next to me. "Neither Stale or Mate is here," he said to me, clearly with a little panic in his voice. I grabbed Dice and stared into his eyes, the panic got hold of me too. "Dice, where are they?" I asked him. To which he replied with a shivering voice: "Boom." (Stale) I'm shaking my sleep away, then moving on to my insane headache. I'm rubbing my forehead, but my entire body aches like never before. I just can't seem to remember what happened. I and Mate carried Dice through the air, while talking about something. Then why in Equestria am I stuck in a frikkin' iron CAGE!? "Okay no problem, I'll forgive the cliché that so obviously present. I'll just have to find Mate and Dice before finding out what happened. Who knows, maybe this is all a misunderstanding and we'll get out just fine!" I said and laugh a little. But I swallow as I understand what I just said out loud, this can easily end in another wacky cliché. So I'll have to watch what I say from now on. (Mate) The room is poorly decorated, to say the least. A broken stool here, another one there next to a dusty corner. I can barely see anything at all, only a little light shine between the planks on the walls. And I'm numb all over, why were we so stupid as to go ahead? We should have gone with the others. Breeze and Acorn is probably worried now, who knows where we are? And are the others safe? "I've been such a fool, why can't I just cool down a bit and be careful?" A door opens and two very big and strong earth ponies step inside, one is yellow while the other is more dark-blue. But they step aside and let a smaller, thinner, white male unicorn through. He walks up to the cage he has trapped me inside. "So, why am I here?" I ask him. "SILENCE," he bursts out, effectively silencing me. "How rude, introductions first. Don't you agree?" he says with a lower, controlled voice. This is cleary his field of work, the other guys just want to look cool. "Sure," I slowly and hesitantly say. I can't really tell whether these guys are going to gut me or serve me tea in the afternoon. But I'm still grumpy, and why should I let them enjoy this? "My name is Mate, who might the little prince of polite interrogation be?" I say with a hint of sarcasm. I'll play his little game a first to find out how the others are doing. "Mate? What kind of name is that," he says. Clearly mocking me with a short and light laughter while his big boys maintain their poker-face. "You've probably met my twin, Stale. Darker mane, but otherwise the same," I say. "Yes, but I don't get what that has to do with..." he started. But he got the joke and did a facehoof. But now he suddenly decided to get serious. "Great, a joker and his twin brother. Tell me. What do you think were doing carrying around a wanted criminal?" he said while walking towards me a step at the time. But now I have had enough. So, what can I take advantage of here? Hm... Clothing. Definitely. "None of your business. Tell me, who dresses you in the morning? You mother or her sister?" I said. I can pay any price just to see that face again. "YOU TWAT!" He snapped at me. He is almost making this way too easy for me. And WAY too amusing! (Stale) The door opens, and in comes a little filly. She is probably my age, but I'm in a cage so she may be planning to murder me for all I know! Her soft and silky-smooth white coat looks beautiful with her long, soft, light-blue mane. But I shake my head, I've got to focus! "H-hi, where am I. And who are you?" I ask her. Her reply is a soft giggle. Damn she is cute. And I'm usually not at my best when a cute girl smiles at me from less than fifty meters away. "My name is Whitesong. What's your name?" She asks me with her bright and soft voice (which has almost enough d'aww to stop a heart). "S-Stale," I stuttered out. "Well Stale, you are currently in Everfree outpost. Your twin is here as well, but we need to know something from both of you before letting you go," she said. "Ask away," I replied. "Okay, first off. Neither you or your twin is normal, our sorcerers can sense that. You carry something powerful and evil with you. What is it?" she said. She had taken a step forward and lost some of the softness in her voice, now using a more blunt and direct method I guess. "I'll answer you if you tell me where Mate is," I say. But suddenly I hear some muffled voices through the wall to my right. Suddenly a large metal sound echoes, followed by shouting and lots of other noises. "Wait here," she said over her shoulder. "Can't do much else," I yell after her. She rushes through the door and leaves me to listen as her hooves gallop through. I let out a sigh. A gush of wind pours over my face, stronger than you could expect to come through a simple doorway. And with good reason; Mate stood before me with a key in his mouth. He spits the key on the ground and smiles. "Need a hoof?" He asks me. And I choose to shrug and lean back and say "Nah, it's gettin' comfy in here." He smiles for e second, but clearly he isn't in the mood for thos. "Too bad, lets go," he says while opening the gate. "Do you know where the exit is?" I ask him. "Nah, just follow a general direction and you should find a wall to break. This entire place is made from old wood. You would have thought that they would use stone on an entire prison," he says and dashes out the door and waits for me. "C'mon," he says. But a shockwave knocks him to the side. I dash out the door and to the left after him. I help him up, behind us is Whitesong, galloping towards us while charging up for another spell. "The exit is behind her," Mate said before jumping into the air and shooting towards her. She shoots her ball towards him, but he elegantly dodges along the floor before headbutting her in the chest. I'm a little shocked over what he just did, but I follow after him. After a few turns I ask him. "Where is the exit?" "I don't know, I just needed an excuse to knock her out I guess." "WHAT!?" I say. Something isn't right here. "Look, I've had it for today. I didn't exactly get a cute little filly to ask me about my name, let's just get out of here and find the others. These guys didn't bring Dice in, and they didn't know about anypony else. So we'll just get out of here," he said to me. "Sure," I replied. We continued through multiple more hallways and corners. We dodged guards as we passed them, even though one rather huge pegasus almost lifted off in time to catch my hooves as we passed. But we are more than just getting the hang of speeding now, we could probably race towards other pegasi some other day! We pass another corner, but a shimmering light struck my eye for a split second. I stopped Mate. "What is it?" he asked. I flew back and noticed a trapdoor in the ceiling, probably for emergencies. "Hurry," I said and went inside bright and open space. Just as the sound of blowing wind intensified, Mate flew through as well. I closed the trapdoor just as the pegasi guards flew under us. "Lucky us that speed isn't their stron suit," I Mate said. "Lucky us that we are so awesome," I said. We gave each other a brohoof. The trapdoor led to the roof, so escaping now will be a cakewalk as long as they don't get any pegasi out soon. "Hey, remember that mountain over there?" I Mate said. "Yeah, we passed it when we flew with Dice," I said. "Yeah, but since it is standing right there... We must've passed this place as well!" Chapter 2: Friends of Dice...(Dice) Those foals sure had a knack for gettin' in trouble. But they always made it when they were together. We couldn't do nuthin' else than headin' for "the Black-Shack", the place we went for in the first place. The place ah told them so little about. Maybe I should have. But anyways. We had another half n' hour before we would reach the place. N' Breeze flew above us, lookin' for the colts. Not that he FOUND them. The lil' foals tried to fly low, n' ended up crashin' straight into Breeze somehow... "See anything Breeze?" Acorn asked the flyin' blue pegasus that so elegantly howered above us. "No, what happened anyway Dice?" He asked me. My ears still rang a lil' bit, but I heard him. Ah didn't know who in the hay had ambushed us, but I knew who to ask. Acorn n' Breeze didn't know who it was, so I wouldn't spoil it for 'em. "I know we were ambushed, and we'll find out by whom." That was all I could say before Breeze took a dive to the ground when Mate crashed into him. "Urgh, son of a..." Mate started. Don' know what he was goin' to say next, but we couldn't hear it over Stale anyhow. "Dice! Acorn! Breeze! Man am I glad to see you guys!" "StaleMate!" Acorn yelled with joy. It was obvious that she was really relieved to see 'em safe n' sound. Stale flew down n' gave her a hug - n' she returned it. But suddenly the moment got too awkward for 'em, n' Stale flew a foot back n' started to scratch the back of his head while Acorn got busy fixin' her herbal-pouch. I had to grin a bit from lookin' at 'em blush. Breeze groaned n' sat up. "Fancy to bump into you guys mid-air," he said n' rubbed his be-hind. "Where did you go anyways?" Mate - still lyin' on his back - weren't jolly or glad. Ya would think he would be as glad as Stale, but he was more grumpy than ah usually am. Mate sat up and stared at me for a sec. "Dice," he said with a minor pause. "I know that you know who they are and why they attacked us. Spill it," he said. An' it was pretty damn obvious how Stale n' Mate wasn't at the same page, cuz' Stale was just as confused as the rest. They all looked at me, so I figured it was time to spill some beans there. "Look. About the time I left, there was some conflicts in the area. A couple of groups fought n' mercenaries were involved. One of these groups worked as inquisitors, maybe they still hang around n' thought ya was a potential target," I explained. Mate wasn't satisfied, but Stale broke in before Mate could object. "Look. No matter who they are or what they do, they are after us now and we don't have the time. So let's go now before somepony regrets it," he said. Mate just stared into my eyes with distrust, he probably blamed me for what happened. An' ah can't honestly say that ah blame him for it either, but still. Somethin' wasn't right 'bout him. Ah thought that maybe the Shadow rested inside him or the Shadow left some taint that was kickin' in. But we both wanted answers from each other, n' we both got 'em at the Black-Shack. "One of the main reasons I love the Black-Shack is the fact that few know 'bout it. Makin' it easy to know when somepony is spyin' on us or not supposed to be there," I told 'em. I loved the Black-Shack, and ah loved tellin' 'em about it. "Another reason..." ah said as ah stopped. Behind me was a couple'a leaves ah brushed aside to reveal the Black-Shack. "... Is the simple fact that its mine." The Black-Shack wasn't a famous place, it scared away most ponies. Mostly because the wooden sign wearing mah mark n' name; a black spiky mane on the back of a tan figurine. To my pleasure all of 'em where in awe. N' if that bear Teddy ever looked like he was in awe, it was right there. Now the sign ain't too shabby, but the fact that the entire structure stood on top of a floating rock chained to the ground with a line of chained floating rocks in front of it probably did the trick. "Wow. So pretty," Acorn said. Breeze nodded his head and said "Yeah. And awesome." Teddy rumbled. StaleMate grinned and said "You said it Ted," to which Breeze and Acorn looked at them strangely. StaleMate just shrugged in reply, Acorn and Breeze looked at each other before bursting out in laughter. But yeah, it was like an ordinary bar on top of a floating rock. Few know 'bout that place, n' I aim to keep it that way. Breeze walked next to me as we trotted towards the pathline up. "How is that even possible?" he asked me. "Wel-" "MAGIC!" StaleMate interrupted me. I gave them an annoyed stare, they took the hint n' backed off. "Well, nopony ever got to an' explanation to this. But nopony ever needed one either. Me an' a few mates once took a trip here n' made it our lil' spot. But it's kinda public now, for anypony who knows 'bout it," ah said. I stopped at the foot of the road n' paused. "But if it would still be a hunk'a undiscovered floatin' rocks if ah didn't find a lil' foal steppin' about in the woods. Long time since now, an' ah ain't seen his hide since then. Probably off buckin' apples with his family again now." (Mate) I look at Stale and he looks at me. We look back at Dice and back to each other again. But we both shrug and let that one slide for now. It might be too much to ask for that pony to be in the apple family, but we don't have the time for Dice to have a flashback now. We're walking up the road of neatly placed floating rocks that formed a line up to the "shack" Dice called it. I peek over the adge. But hop right back when I realise just how high we stand and bump into Stale. Seems like he peeked over also, because right now both of us stand back to back on our hind hooves. "Wait a minute," Stale says. "Don't we have wings?" We both flap our wings twice. Then we turned around and gave each other a face-hoof. So outside was pretty awesome, but inside looked like typical western scene. Bar stools, round tables with chairs around, a barkeeper rubbing a glass with a piece of cloth etc. A colt with a ragged shirt of cloth sat at one of the stools. Other than him there is also another pony sleeping on a chair tipppet against the wall. The bartender's face lit up when he saw us. He is putting the glass down, rests his in front of him and expectantly wait for us. "So, what can I get you today stranger?" he said with a deep and dry voice. "Just some water for me and some news. And also whatever my friends here asks for," Dice replied. The bartender nods his head and turns around to fetch another glass that he fills with water before handing it to Dice. Breeze and Acorn each takes an order, but me and Stale looks at each other. We won't take any of that grassy stuff just yet so we just order some water as well, just to be safe. Teddy waited outside of course. We hesitantly drink our water by our table while watching Breeze and Acorn gobble their grassy sandwiches or whatever. Dice is talking with the bartender, I can only hear a couple of words. I notice Breeze and Stale raises and eyebrow, and I hear somepony walking in behind me and Acorn. In the door comes a bigass pony. He looks straight at Dice, and he doesn't look content. "Dice," he says and starts to walk towards him. "You got some feathers I'm gonne pluck from ya," he continued while walking steadily closer. But suddenly a magical force flings him straight back out like nothing. Dice turns around with a surprised look, he is just as surprised as everypony else. The pony in the corner is still sound asleep, the other one next to dice didn't do a thing, the barkeeper is a pegasus and none of us can do anything like that either. A moment of silence follows before we resume eating. But then another pony walks inside, but neither of us gets to look at her before her voice fills the room. "The great and powerful Trixie believes you have something of hers," she said. Breeze got showered in the water Stale and I was supposed to drink.
Prologue: LessonsWe hide in the bushes next to each other. We listen for any sound at all. But I can’t hear anything unnatural, looking at Stale reveals that he can’t hear anything either. Figures, he doesn’t really have better hearing abilities than me. I gave Stale a push on his shoulder and pointed at the hilltop straight ahead. And so we made aim for that hilltop. Our target is likely just over that hill, so we have to be careful not to get caught. We can’t take flight, too soon. And we haven’t even made eye contact with the target yet. We slid along the grass, trying our best not to make too much noise. My hair has closer color to the grass than Stale’s, we both know that. I peek over the edge, little by little. Through the straws of grass I see that the open plains where it all started look just as we left it. But he wouldn’t go too far, I know his arrogance will be his undoing. I keep looking, looking for any detail, item or movement that is out of place. The bags lie there still. There are hoofprints on the ground, but they are too far away to get a good look. And I don’t want to risk moving and INCH without knowing where he is. We have to pull this through. I tell Stale I can't see him. He is taking the chance of peeking over the edge as well. The trees look untouched, no broken leaves or sticks were left behind. A sudden poke from Stale is telling me he spotted something I couldn’t. He lowers his head down behind the top. “Six o’ clock from targets ground zero,” he says. If he talked to anyone else, I know they wouldn’t understand. But I do. Under the only tree with a decent shadow under it. I have to look very closely to see it, but he is right! Next to the tree’s core is the abnormality: His coat. He doesn’t know it, but a very feint wind gives away a tiny piece of his Clint Eastwood-like coat. Hiding under that tree is a good choice, especially since I really wouldn’t have hid there due to the lack of space. But he took the chance and opened up a chance for us to spot him. We have him now. I smile to Stale and say “Let’s do this,” I say to him. We exchange a bro-hoof before getting into position. We would have mere seconds to get from here over the hundred meters to that tree, which is almost too far for us to take the chance. We buckle up and get ready to dash over the edge; we only have one chance for this to work. You know, the best thing about this is that I and Stale have such perfect symmetric way of thinking that we didn’t even have to exchange words or ask the other for opinions here. We both know that this was our chance. We start counting at the same time. “One,” we lower our heads a little further. “Two,” my wings are tense and ready to go. “Three,” we beam over the top of the hill. It. Is. On. Our flying speed would surely impress Dice more than a little, but little does it matter now. With Mate at my right side with the same speed as me, we are closing the distance even faster than we expected! We attack from each side of the tree, the black cloak of Dice is there still. We have him. The sound in the wind gives it all away far too soon. But that ain’t even the worst part ‘bout their performance. As I expected, I hear a thud below me followed with yelling and groaning in pain. *Sigh* the worst part is that it actually worked to just sit in the tree. I jumped down. The boys roll around on the ground with their hooves on their head, n’ a little blood from their forehead. Stale had mah cloak over his head, so I went over to Mate n’ gave him a tap on the head. Then I went over to Stale n’ did the same. “It’s okay Acorn, I won,” I yelled. I had made sure that Acorn would have sumthin’ for whatever injury they would get. While me n’ the boys had settled our lil’ dispute, she had sat down n’ mixed some herbs. She came trotting out from the woods, behind her followed her extra-large bear bodyguard. But she began to gallop when she saw the lil’ duo on the ground. “Oh my, what happened?” she asked me after grabbin’ into her pouch n’ grabbin’ some mashed herbs of Celestia-knows-what. Stale was closest, she pulled my coat away from him n’ applied the herbs to his forehead while hushing him. “Shh, it’s okay. Lie still now. Good. Now hold this onto your forehead,” she said to him n’ applied some water to make it stick. He groaned a lil’ less n’ just held the herbs in place while Acorn trotted over to his brother. Breeze, who we had watchin’ n’ judgin’ from above, landed right next to me. He sure got a good laugh, but he didn’t land before finishin’ laughin’. But he still fought to not laugh right in front of the rest. “And the winner is,” he said n’ held my hoof up. “Dice!” “So, we agreed on who gets the last stew?” Dice asked them. They whined a little, mainly since the stew was enough for BOTH of them or one of Dice, but especially since they were the only ones who didn’t get any stew at all. But they nodded their heads, they lost the bet and Dice gets the last stew. They admitted that much. “How did you know we would come from there?” they asked him. “Obvious, that’s the closest hill from the startin’ point. Ya don’ think further than yer nose,” he said. They both did a face hoof; it was embarrassing for them to have been outsmarted. Again! “Don’t worry guys! I and Teddy made this just for you,” Acorn said and handed them both a bunch of dried violet thistles. Didn’t seem to make them any happier though, but they thanked her and ate it while staring at Dice with a grumpy look. “Well guys, you sure know how to live up to your names when competing against each other, but you still have a couple of miles to go before reaching Dice’s level,” I said. The bear (whom Acorn had named Teddy) nodded his head in consent. It’s good he didn’t need any food at all, because he would end our trip long before it started if he did. I guess that’s the reason Acorn’s grandmother chose to let him join us. “But I’ll tell you what. If either of you win in hoofwrestling against the other, he gets my stew,” I said. Suddenly they got that spark in their eyes again. They looked at each other and measure up each other. I had to concentrate to hold back my laughter since they look like nearly perfect copies. They found a stump and immediately began their duel. Fifteen minutes went by without any development at all. Now they were lying on the ground, absolutely exhausted. I took my bowl of the stew and sat down next to them. “Hm, seems like it’s a Stalemate again guys. Guess I’ll just have to take it myself then,” I said and began eating. I could hear them cursing my name into the grass, realizing what I had just done. I and Acorn bursted out laughing. They would never learn. “Um, boys? Ya DO realize that you were supposed to let the other win and then share his stew right?” Dice said. They let out a loud groan, and all of us bursted out laughing.
Chapter 1: Everfree(Acorn) "So, we're goin' through the Everfree Forest eh? Let's take a stop here first," Dice said as we took a look over the map before we would depart again. He pointed out a tiny unmarked circle on the map for some reason. "But there is nothing there but a open field," I pointed out. Dice smiled and looked at me. "Yeah, but this map is outdated," he said. "The area around there has changed a lot," "Hm. Friends or relatives there?" Breeze asked; he catched up on Dice's smile. "Some. Now let's go. Ain't got time to fool around ya know, this ain't a fieldtrip," he said. But StaleMate on their side hadn't listened at all, because they were pretty busy getting a tiebreaker between them with a stare-contest. Dice trotted over and sat next to them for a second. "So, how are your little contest working out?" he asked them. "We're pretty close no-" the started. But they couldn't finish what they were doing due to the large amount of grass Dice shoved into their mouth. "Amazing, now let's go," he said before trotting off. Breeze broke down into laughter. "So, who do you know there again?" StaleMate asked. "Oh, just a couple of ol' friends. Ya'll get to meet 'em soon enough, we could get somethin' good to eat as well," he said. StaleMate and Breeze flew above us, but they immediately lowered their altitude to just above him when he said that. "Good food?" StaleMate asked. "Y- Yeah," Dice hesitantly answered. Dice quickly realised their point when they lifted him off his feet. "Let's go then! Acorn, see you by the finish-line," they yelled towards me as they accelerated over the trees. Breeze however kept close. He shook his head. "Enthusiastic as ever those two," He said. "But I really can't tell any difference between them at all yet, can you?" I shook my head; neither of them had changed a bit. Figuring out wether the Shadow recided within Stale or Mate would be troublesome, but that was really half the point with this entire trip: To stop the Shadow. "We'll try to figure it out when they don't think equally," I said. We couldn't figure anything out while the Shadow hadn't made his move. Suddenly Teddy growled. "What's wrong," I asked him. "Hey," Stale said. He had stopped up, flying on the same spot. "Do you hear something?" Teddy stopped as well. But before I could hear it, I could see the cloud of smoke ahead of us. Breeze reacted so swiftly I could only catch a glimpze of his tail as he dashed off ahead. Teddy stormed after him, and I had to hold on to stay on top of him. We got closer to the could of smoke, hoping we weren't too late. As I entered the scene, Breeze had already found Dice. Or... Well... Dice had ambushed Breeze. "What are you doing!?" I yelled when I saw Dice hold Breeze down, he looked at me with a bedazzled look before letting Breeze go. He was obviosly not at his best, so I went over to him and took a look at him. He was badly hurt on his backside for some reason, and he couldn't speak all clearly. I tended to him as Breeze looked after StaleMate. There was smoke everywhere, but only a couple of small fires. "What in Equestria happened," I said. Breeze landed next to me. "Neither Stale or Mate is here," he said to me, clearly with a little panic in his voice. I grabbed Dice and stared into his eyes, the panic got hold of me too. "Dice, where are they?" I asked him. To which he replied with a shivering voice: "Boom." (Stale) I'm shaking my sleep away, then moving on to my insane headache. I'm rubbing my forehead, but my entire body aches like never before. I just can't seem to remember what happened. I and Mate carried Dice through the air, while talking about something. Then why in Equestria am I stuck in a frikkin' iron CAGE!? "Okay no problem, I'll forgive the cliché that so obviously present. I'll just have to find Mate and Dice before finding out what happened. Who knows, maybe this is all a misunderstanding and we'll get out just fine!" I said and laugh a little. But I swallow as I understand what I just said out loud, this can easily end in another wacky cliché. So I'll have to watch what I say from now on. (Mate) The room is poorly decorated, to say the least. A broken stool here, another one there next to a dusty corner. I can barely see anything at all, only a little light shine between the planks on the walls. And I'm numb all over, why were we so stupid as to go ahead? We should have gone with the others. Breeze and Acorn is probably worried now, who knows where we are? And are the others safe? "I've been such a fool, why can't I just cool down a bit and be careful?" A door opens and two very big and strong earth ponies step inside, one is yellow while the other is more dark-blue. But they step aside and let a smaller, thinner, white male unicorn through. He walks up to the cage he has trapped me inside. "So, why am I here?" I ask him. "SILENCE," he bursts out, effectively silencing me. "How rude, introductions first. Don't you agree?" he says with a lower, controlled voice. This is cleary his field of work, the other guys just want to look cool. "Sure," I slowly and hesitantly say. I can't really tell whether these guys are going to gut me or serve me tea in the afternoon. But I'm still grumpy, and why should I let them enjoy this? "My name is Mate, who might the little prince of polite interrogation be?" I say with a hint of sarcasm. I'll play his little game a first to find out how the others are doing. "Mate? What kind of name is that," he says. Clearly mocking me with a short and light laughter while his big boys maintain their poker-face. "You've probably met my twin, Stale. Darker mane, but otherwise the same," I say. "Yes, but I don't get what that has to do with..." he started. But he got the joke and did a facehoof. But now he suddenly decided to get serious. "Great, a joker and his twin brother. Tell me. What do you think were doing carrying around a wanted criminal?" he said while walking towards me a step at the time. But now I have had enough. So, what can I take advantage of here? Hm... Clothing. Definitely. "None of your business. Tell me, who dresses you in the morning? You mother or her sister?" I said. I can pay any price just to see that face again. "YOU TWAT!" He snapped at me. He is almost making this way too easy for me. And WAY too amusing! (Stale) The door opens, and in comes a little filly. She is probably my age, but I'm in a cage so she may be planning to murder me for all I know! Her soft and silky-smooth white coat looks beautiful with her long, soft, light-blue mane. But I shake my head, I've got to focus! "H-hi, where am I. And who are you?" I ask her. Her reply is a soft giggle. Damn she is cute. And I'm usually not at my best when a cute girl smiles at me from less than fifty meters away. "My name is Whitesong. What's your name?" She asks me with her bright and soft voice (which has almost enough d'aww to stop a heart). "S-Stale," I stuttered out. "Well Stale, you are currently in Everfree outpost. Your twin is here as well, but we need to know something from both of you before letting you go," she said. "Ask away," I replied. "Okay, first off. Neither you or your twin is normal, our sorcerers can sense that. You carry something powerful and evil with you. What is it?" she said. She had taken a step forward and lost some of the softness in her voice, now using a more blunt and direct method I guess. "I'll answer you if you tell me where Mate is," I say. But suddenly I hear some muffled voices through the wall to my right. Suddenly a large metal sound echoes, followed by shouting and lots of other noises. "Wait here," she said over her shoulder. "Can't do much else," I yell after her. She rushes through the door and leaves me to listen as her hooves gallop through. I let out a sigh. A gush of wind pours over my face, stronger than you could expect to come through a simple doorway. And with good reason; Mate stood before me with a key in his mouth. He spits the key on the ground and smiles. "Need a hoof?" He asks me. And I choose to shrug and lean back and say "Nah, it's gettin' comfy in here." He smiles for e second, but clearly he isn't in the mood for thos. "Too bad, lets go," he says while opening the gate. "Do you know where the exit is?" I ask him. "Nah, just follow a general direction and you should find a wall to break. This entire place is made from old wood. You would have thought that they would use stone on an entire prison," he says and dashes out the door and waits for me. "C'mon," he says. But a shockwave knocks him to the side. I dash out the door and to the left after him. I help him up, behind us is Whitesong, galloping towards us while charging up for another spell. "The exit is behind her," Mate said before jumping into the air and shooting towards her. She shoots her ball towards him, but he elegantly dodges along the floor before headbutting her in the chest. I'm a little shocked over what he just did, but I follow after him. After a few turns I ask him. "Where is the exit?" "I don't know, I just needed an excuse to knock her out I guess." "WHAT!?" I say. Something isn't right here. "Look, I've had it for today. I didn't exactly get a cute little filly to ask me about my name, let's just get out of here and find the others. These guys didn't bring Dice in, and they didn't know about anypony else. So we'll just get out of here," he said to me. "Sure," I replied. We continued through multiple more hallways and corners. We dodged guards as we passed them, even though one rather huge pegasus almost lifted off in time to catch my hooves as we passed. But we are more than just getting the hang of speeding now, we could probably race towards other pegasi some other day! We pass another corner, but a shimmering light struck my eye for a split second. I stopped Mate. "What is it?" he asked. I flew back and noticed a trapdoor in the ceiling, probably for emergencies. "Hurry," I said and went inside bright and open space. Just as the sound of blowing wind intensified, Mate flew through as well. I closed the trapdoor just as the pegasi guards flew under us. "Lucky us that speed isn't their stron suit," I Mate said. "Lucky us that we are so awesome," I said. We gave each other a brohoof. The trapdoor led to the roof, so escaping now will be a cakewalk as long as they don't get any pegasi out soon. "Hey, remember that mountain over there?" I Mate said. "Yeah, we passed it when we flew with Dice," I said. "Yeah, but since it is standing right there... We must've passed this place as well!"
Chapter 2: Friends of Dice...(Dice) Those foals sure had a knack for gettin' in trouble. But they always made it when they were together. We couldn't do nuthin' else than headin' for "the Black-Shack", the place we went for in the first place. The place ah told them so little about. Maybe I should have. But anyways. We had another half n' hour before we would reach the place. N' Breeze flew above us, lookin' for the colts. Not that he FOUND them. The lil' foals tried to fly low, n' ended up crashin' straight into Breeze somehow... "See anything Breeze?" Acorn asked the flyin' blue pegasus that so elegantly howered above us. "No, what happened anyway Dice?" He asked me. My ears still rang a lil' bit, but I heard him. Ah didn't know who in the hay had ambushed us, but I knew who to ask. Acorn n' Breeze didn't know who it was, so I wouldn't spoil it for 'em. "I know we were ambushed, and we'll find out by whom." That was all I could say before Breeze took a dive to the ground when Mate crashed into him. "Urgh, son of a..." Mate started. Don' know what he was goin' to say next, but we couldn't hear it over Stale anyhow. "Dice! Acorn! Breeze! Man am I glad to see you guys!" "StaleMate!" Acorn yelled with joy. It was obvious that she was really relieved to see 'em safe n' sound. Stale flew down n' gave her a hug - n' she returned it. But suddenly the moment got too awkward for 'em, n' Stale flew a foot back n' started to scratch the back of his head while Acorn got busy fixin' her herbal-pouch. I had to grin a bit from lookin' at 'em blush. Breeze groaned n' sat up. "Fancy to bump into you guys mid-air," he said n' rubbed his be-hind. "Where did you go anyways?" Mate - still lyin' on his back - weren't jolly or glad. Ya would think he would be as glad as Stale, but he was more grumpy than ah usually am. Mate sat up and stared at me for a sec. "Dice," he said with a minor pause. "I know that you know who they are and why they attacked us. Spill it," he said. An' it was pretty damn obvious how Stale n' Mate wasn't at the same page, cuz' Stale was just as confused as the rest. They all looked at me, so I figured it was time to spill some beans there. "Look. About the time I left, there was some conflicts in the area. A couple of groups fought n' mercenaries were involved. One of these groups worked as inquisitors, maybe they still hang around n' thought ya was a potential target," I explained. Mate wasn't satisfied, but Stale broke in before Mate could object. "Look. No matter who they are or what they do, they are after us now and we don't have the time. So let's go now before somepony regrets it," he said. Mate just stared into my eyes with distrust, he probably blamed me for what happened. An' ah can't honestly say that ah blame him for it either, but still. Somethin' wasn't right 'bout him. Ah thought that maybe the Shadow rested inside him or the Shadow left some taint that was kickin' in. But we both wanted answers from each other, n' we both got 'em at the Black-Shack. "One of the main reasons I love the Black-Shack is the fact that few know 'bout it. Makin' it easy to know when somepony is spyin' on us or not supposed to be there," I told 'em. I loved the Black-Shack, and ah loved tellin' 'em about it. "Another reason..." ah said as ah stopped. Behind me was a couple'a leaves ah brushed aside to reveal the Black-Shack. "... Is the simple fact that its mine." The Black-Shack wasn't a famous place, it scared away most ponies. Mostly because the wooden sign wearing mah mark n' name; a black spiky mane on the back of a tan figurine. To my pleasure all of 'em where in awe. N' if that bear Teddy ever looked like he was in awe, it was right there. Now the sign ain't too shabby, but the fact that the entire structure stood on top of a floating rock chained to the ground with a line of chained floating rocks in front of it probably did the trick. "Wow. So pretty," Acorn said. Breeze nodded his head and said "Yeah. And awesome." Teddy rumbled. StaleMate grinned and said "You said it Ted," to which Breeze and Acorn looked at them strangely. StaleMate just shrugged in reply, Acorn and Breeze looked at each other before bursting out in laughter. But yeah, it was like an ordinary bar on top of a floating rock. Few know 'bout that place, n' I aim to keep it that way. Breeze walked next to me as we trotted towards the pathline up. "How is that even possible?" he asked me. "Wel-" "MAGIC!" StaleMate interrupted me. I gave them an annoyed stare, they took the hint n' backed off. "Well, nopony ever got to an' explanation to this. But nopony ever needed one either. Me an' a few mates once took a trip here n' made it our lil' spot. But it's kinda public now, for anypony who knows 'bout it," ah said. I stopped at the foot of the road n' paused. "But if it would still be a hunk'a undiscovered floatin' rocks if ah didn't find a lil' foal steppin' about in the woods. Long time since now, an' ah ain't seen his hide since then. Probably off buckin' apples with his family again now." (Mate) I look at Stale and he looks at me. We look back at Dice and back to each other again. But we both shrug and let that one slide for now. It might be too much to ask for that pony to be in the apple family, but we don't have the time for Dice to have a flashback now. We're walking up the road of neatly placed floating rocks that formed a line up to the "shack" Dice called it. I peek over the adge. But hop right back when I realise just how high we stand and bump into Stale. Seems like he peeked over also, because right now both of us stand back to back on our hind hooves. "Wait a minute," Stale says. "Don't we have wings?" We both flap our wings twice. Then we turned around and gave each other a face-hoof. So outside was pretty awesome, but inside looked like typical western scene. Bar stools, round tables with chairs around, a barkeeper rubbing a glass with a piece of cloth etc. A colt with a ragged shirt of cloth sat at one of the stools. Other than him there is also another pony sleeping on a chair tipppet against the wall. The bartender's face lit up when he saw us. He is putting the glass down, rests his in front of him and expectantly wait for us. "So, what can I get you today stranger?" he said with a deep and dry voice. "Just some water for me and some news. And also whatever my friends here asks for," Dice replied. The bartender nods his head and turns around to fetch another glass that he fills with water before handing it to Dice. Breeze and Acorn each takes an order, but me and Stale looks at each other. We won't take any of that grassy stuff just yet so we just order some water as well, just to be safe. Teddy waited outside of course. We hesitantly drink our water by our table while watching Breeze and Acorn gobble their grassy sandwiches or whatever. Dice is talking with the bartender, I can only hear a couple of words. I notice Breeze and Stale raises and eyebrow, and I hear somepony walking in behind me and Acorn. In the door comes a bigass pony. He looks straight at Dice, and he doesn't look content. "Dice," he says and starts to walk towards him. "You got some feathers I'm gonne pluck from ya," he continued while walking steadily closer. But suddenly a magical force flings him straight back out like nothing. Dice turns around with a surprised look, he is just as surprised as everypony else. The pony in the corner is still sound asleep, the other one next to dice didn't do a thing, the barkeeper is a pegasus and none of us can do anything like that either. A moment of silence follows before we resume eating. But then another pony walks inside, but neither of us gets to look at her before her voice fills the room. "The great and powerful Trixie believes you have something of hers," she said. Breeze got showered in the water Stale and I was supposed to drink.
