My Little Pony - Friendship is magic : New adventures

The next day’s morning and afternoon in the library were not productive either.

"It’s useless !" Rarity complained in the exact same fashion she had done the day before. "We have searched through all of these books ! Letters are dancing before my very eyes ! I…"

The books suddenly began to shake lightly on their shelves ; had they not been so close to them, they would not have seen it : the vibrations were almost unnoticeable. Another light tremor shook the ground, another seconds after and so on ; everyone recognized the cadence of footsteps.

"It’s coming !" Pinkie Pie screamed ; she hastily and uselessly hid under the nearest desk.

"Make the preparations ! Send the guards ! Hide Flurry Heart ! Quick !" Cadance directed to Shining Armor who quickly complied. "I’ll go to the throne room to erect the shield. You’re welcome to help, she told the others".

"You can count on us", Twilight assured. "I’ll help you with the shield. I think Starlight should go with Sunburst to see if there’s a spell that could stop that thing".

"Thank you. After Flurry Heart, the most important thing is the Crystal Heart. You know what will happen if it’s destroyed…" Cadance warned as she ran to the throne room.

"I don’t want to think about it", Twilight replied as she imagined dark clouds laying an icy hell on the Empire.

"What can we do ?" Rainbow Dash interrogated.

"Can you tell us where the monster is precisely ? I know you fly fast, but beware, the sun is setting, it could see you", Cadance answered ; she readied her magic and her long horn glowed with a pink aura.

"Count on me !" The pegasus replied before flying towards the exit.

She was stopped mid-air by an aura of purple magic.

"Wait Rainbow !" Twilight warned. "I don’t want you to do something reckless ; we don’t know what this creature can do. You don’t approach that thing say… under two hundred meters in all directions. We just want to know where it is, where it’s going, its speed and nothing more. You should come back quickly in that case ; we might… no, we will need your help here. And don’t let dusk betray you, that thing’s probably coming from the East ; even with the sun in its face, it just has to look up to see you".

"Twilight, I’m a Wonderbolt. I know how to handle that : the sun’s angle, the reflections, the clouds, all of that stuff. But gotcha. I’m not gonna kick its butt, even if I surely can", the pegasus added cheekily.

"Perfect. Good luck. Come back quickly".

Twilight released her magic grasp and the blue winged pony left the building.

As soon as she was outside, Rainbow Dash flew above the castle to have a better view ; as she turned to the East, she faced a part of the Crystal Mountains ; as she prepared to turn away again, a dark spot caught up her attention : it was a tiny spot that moved very slowly across the mountains, causing avalanches that Rainbow Dash had trouble to discern.

“Twilight’s right, it’s coming from the East”, she thought. “I’ll approach from high in the sky, just above the sun ; the clouds will hide me… gotta be careful with my shadow though”.

She darted towards the dot at high speed, but even at her altitude and with her speed, it took some minutes to be above it.

“I must go down a little. Can’t see a thing. Two hundred meters, huh ? I’m at least fifty hundred meters above it, and the clouds are so dense it’s just impossible to see my shadow”.

She went a few clouds down and stopped ; she could now see the monster perfectly : the spiked turquoise shell, the horns, the tail…

“That beast’s creepy, sure. But it’s walking so… slowly… It almost reminds me of Tank… if he was standing on two legs. Well, maybe except waaay bigger too. And waaaaay creepier. But it’s just a big turtle with horns and hair ! No way I’m slower than that thing !”

She went down a few clouds again. She stopped here, as there were no clouds to hide her further. “Eep. No more clouds. I must go up or it’ll see me… But… it’s so slow, and its head’s bowed… It must only see its feet when walking… For that thing to catch me…”

As she was observing it, the beast abruptly stopped in its tracks.

“What the hay it’s…” The thought dried out. The thing had lifted its head. Even in the distance, Rainbow Dash could see and feel it was staring at her. Her blood froze.

A terrible voice echoed around her :

"I see you".

The winged pony was petrified on her cloud ; she sweated in fear : she was not going to kick that monster’s butt ; she was literally nothing before its mass, and she was only seeing it from high above.

"I see you standing on the clouds, resident of this world. I see not only your shadow as you may think, but your whole body too. Let me prove it… Blue. Rainbow-colored hair. Mark on your flank, a cloud with a lightning bolt… made mostly of the same colors as your hair. Magenta… no, cerise eyes. But it is useless to continue to describe you ; I think you believe me now. Besides that, something much more important is in my line of sight : a castle. Not far away… I suppose you come from there. I dare to suppose there is a princess inside its walls… You should move away, inhabitant of this universe".

The monster crouched : it flattened itself as hard as it could and suddenly, it jumped. Even without the warning, Rainbow Dash had seen it coming. She flew away from the trajectory not only to dodge the creature, but to avoid the powerful air displacement. And even with that maneuver, she was almost sucked in the vortex created by the mass of the thing. Where it had jumped, a large and deep crater was imprinted in the rock beneath the thick snow.

The monster had destroyed and moved many clouds with the vacuum it had created : Rainbow Dash made the way back in a minute. But it was too late : the beast had landed less than a kilometer away from the Crystal Empire ; the shockwave had already collapsed some houses.

“It’s my fault !” Dash thought as she flew back in the castle, crushed with regrets and shame.

Their friend back, Twilight and Cadance chose this moment to enact the barrier spell.

"Twilight ! It’s my fault ! I-I… That-that thing saw me in the clouds ! Wi-with or without shadow… I’m-I’m…" The pegasus’ voice abruptly broke and she fell silent.

Twilight shook her head.

"It would’ve come anyways", she replied softly.

"East… Slow… like a turtle… But it jumped…" Rainbow Dash spluttered with wet eyes.

"Rainbow, it’s not your fault", Twilight repeated.

"It-it talked ! It-it called me “resident of this world” ! And-and it’s co-coming for Cadance !"

Twilight had never seen Rainbow Dash in such a distress ; she put her hooves on her friend’s trembling shoulders.

"Stop", she ordered, staring in the magenta eyes of the pegasus.

Rainbow Dash slowly stopped shaking but retained some shivers under her blue fur.

"I’m-I’m sorry ! I-I-I was too close. On the-the closest cloud. My-my shadow was visible mi-miles away. But I-I thought it-it wouldn’t see me. I-I underestimated it. I’m such a… a…"

"Amazing flyer. Wonderful friend. Awesome Wonderbolt", Twilight complimented with a smile.

Her friend smiled back weakly.

"That thing won’t have me, because it won’t break the barrier", Cadance asserted. "Everything will be alright, don’t worry".

Shining Armor stormed in the room, sweating profusely.

"The emergency exit has collapsed because of the earthquake ! We must evacuate Flurry Heart another way !" He exclaimed, tears forming in his eyes.

"We can’t !" Cadance denied. "If Twilight and I lower the shield, it’ll take too long to reconstruct ! And there are hundreds of guards that are keeping it activated too ! Hide Flurry Heart deep in the castle ! The deepest you can !"

Her husband complied and darted away with the confused baby alicorn.

"Your friends should make an announcement", Cadance instructed Rainbow Dash. "I hear the citizens outside".

"Got it", the pegasus replied as she flew away, but not as the same speed as before.

The tremors increased in intensity as the monster approached the encased city. Pegasi soldiers were flying underneath the pink dome, waiting for the enemy to come, while unicorns were ready to fire beams of magic should the thing broke through the shield. It arrived sooner than expected ; its size dwarfed all the buildings, safe for the castle. The monster stopped in front of the gigantic magic force field. Its red eyes looked at the soldiers, then the castle. And there was no warning : the punch shattered the magic dome like it was just a thin pane of glass. None of the soldiers had seen it coming ; it was the quickest move they had ever seen, unexpected and unbelievable for a monster of this size. Unicorn soldiers fired beams of magic on the creature which, with the dome destroyed, resumed its walking, attempting to spare the buildings whenever possible. The magic hit the beast to no effect ; pegasi prepared to dive on the attacker, but the bolts of blue electricity forming on the shell dissuaded them to do so.

"Cadance, it’s coming !" Twilight shouted from the eastern balcony.

The purple beam she fired from her horn was twice the size those of the guards ; it was also well-aimed : it struck the monster in the face in an explosion.

"It didn’t work !" The young alicorn exclaimed as she saw the creature still walking at the same pace towards the castle ; her attack had left absolutely no traces on it.

Starlight hurried on the balcony with Cadance.

"I hadn’t enough time to search through the books ! Let’s try an immobilization spell !" The unicorn suggested. "With Princess Cadance’s power, it might work ! If no kinetic force can stop it, maybe freezing it in place will at least buy us some time !"

Putting their horns in contact, the two alicorns and the unicorn fired the combined beam ; with that much power, it could have frozen the entire Empire for days. The creature did nothing to dodge the rapidly traveling multicolored light which disintegrated on its torso. Nothing happened ; no glowing immobilization aura, no explosion and no change in the speed of the attacker ; it took several seconds for the ponies to recover from the shock.

As the thing was getting closer, it saw Cadance on the tiny balcony : it has found its target. Still attacked by the guards, the “turtle” began to accelerate slightly, crushing some buildings along ; fortunately, the habitants had evacuated towards the other side of the city.

"You must evacuate the Crystal Empire !" Twilight advised to Cadance. "We can’t do anything ! But now that the shield’s broken, the citizens can flee, and so can Flurry Heart !"

The three ponies retreated in the castle and Cadance made the announcement of the evacuation ; hundreds of citizens immediately began to flee towards the train station.

"It won’t stop going after you. What are you gonna do ?" Twilight interrogated her foalsitter.

"I will face this thing. You go warn Princess Celestia and Princess Luna."

"No way I let you alone !" The purple alicorn refused.

"Twilight. As a princess, my duty is to protect my kingdom and as such, face any fate that might befall me. You already know this".

"But…" Twilight began only to be cut off midway.

"As your sister-in-law, fellow princess and former foalsitter, it is my task to protect you too".

"Yes, but…" Twilight tried to interrupt again.

"Lastly, my role as a mother is to protect my child. Go to your brother and take Flurry Heart far away from here, all of you. Protect her and my husband in my place should something happen to me".

Cadance turned her head to face Twilight, her eyes full of tears.

"Please Twilight. Protect Flurry Heart at all costs".

Twilight cried too ; she tightly hugged her ex-foalsitter.

"Come back, please", she whispered before running away.

Cadance faced the monster again, closed her eyes, took off and slowly flew towards it. It was visibly closing the distance, its terrible eyes set on her and her alone. The intensity of the stare was crushing, even with the creature three hundred meters away.

Cadance looked on as her husband, her daughter, her sister-in-law and her friends escaped towards the train station. As she turned again, the monster was two hundred meters away. She reminisced about her life as she closed the distance too. Hundred meters. Fifty meters. Twenty meters. Ten meters.

"What do you want ?" Cadance asked with a powerful voice once the creature was close enough to hear her.

She waited for an answer as the creature seemed to analyze her. Suddenly, in a bright flash of light, her young foal appeared beside her ; the sight of the monster terrified the baby alicorn who cried and screamed, unleashing a beam of energy between the eyes of the thing just as it was about to answer Cadance’s question. The powerful beam that could pierce walls, however, did absolutely nothing to the creature.

"Flurry Heart ! No ! RUN !" Cadance screamed.

The monster set its eyes on the crying baby which was flying erratically around her mother, who managed to immobilize her with her magic.

"You will not have her ! I will never let you lay a claw on my child, even if it costs me my life !"

The intensity of the monster’s stare – a pure reflection of Hell – finally made Flurry Heart faint, and Cadance had to magically maintain her foal in the air. The creature spoke with its terrible voice, revealing all of its fangs as it did so :

"Neither you nor your child is the princess that I am searching for. But rest assured that I will find what I want. Now, I will go. Move if you do not want to be crushed".

"Wait ! For what purpose are you searching a princess ?" Cadance interrogated as she flew away from the beast.

"I am just tired of being alone".

The monster jumped without crouching this time ; even then, the princess had to strengthen the magic grip she was using on her baby to avoid her being swallowed the vacuum created by the jump. An earthquake shook the land a few seconds later, and a much distant one once again. The creature was gone to the West, towards Luna’s Bay.

“Or towards Vanhoover”, Cadance thought as everyone was running towards her. The sun shone its last rays on the horizon, magnificently illuminating the Crystal Empire. Almost enough to erase the destruction it had suffered.