Author's Note

Another chapter. YEEEEEAH. I feel like I am on FIRE with this story! It has taken me to such a great place! I'm so happy with it so far, and I am so glad you guys are enjoying it! I truly appreciate all the likes, comments, and favorites! You guys ROCK!

This was a really fun chapter to write. Especially because I had part of this planned from the beginning. Getting to put it down was so incredibly satisfying. It was such a relief.

BONUS: In this chapter I have strategically hidden a few one liners from one song in this chapter. Whoever can figure out the song and who it's by first will personally get a picture (Likely a meme if possible) of their favorite pony sent to their PM by me. So be on the look out! I know I will be for that first commenter! I just love giving back to you lovely readers, and I thought this might be a nice way to do it.

Enjoy the chapter, because Lord knows I did!

Battleground

The train ride seemed eternal to the six anxious mothers, but finally, it ended. The six of them raced toward the castle. Twilight Velvet led the pack, Windy Whistles right on her tail, and Pear Butter after her. Then, Cookie Crumbles, Followed by Cloudy Quartz, and finally Mrs. Shy. The guards of the castle Recognized Twilight Velvet and allowed her and the other mothers inside. They raced to the the throne room, and then bowed before Princess Celestia.

“Princess Celestia, We’re sorry to intrude but we need your help, please.” Begged Velvet.

“Our children were taken, and we think they’re here somewhere.” Said Windy.

“We know you’re busy,” Began Cookie Crumbles.

“But if thou could help us,” Continued Cloudy Quartz.

“We’d be mighty grateful.” Finished Pear Butter.

“Please.” Added Mrs. Shy.

Celestia blinked, then composed herself. “I will send the guards on a search immediately. You may search the castle as much as you need to. I have court in a few minutes so I will not be immediately available, but when it is done, I will try and help in any way that I can.” She said.

They all bowed to her. “Thank you, Princess.” They said in unison, and then started running. They each checked a different room, but all stayed in the same corridor, so as to not be too far apart in case their daughters were found.

Every floor, every corridor was searched, until finally, they reached the final floor. They all began searching, spreading out. It was Cookie Crumbles who eventually spied a door on the floor, and called for the others.They opened up the door and went down inside. The dark path was lit only by the horns of the two unicorns in the group. After a seemingly endless trek, they saw light. The unicorns put out their horns. They whispered quietly to one another, and all agreed that one of them needed to come forward and see what was there, and if their kids were there, to send someone to alert the princess. It was Pear Butter who volunteered to go.

She quietly entered the light and saw that it was a kind of opening to a gorge. Almost like Ghastly Gorge. Pear Butter poked her head out, and saw her daughter, and the rest of her friends. She ran back inside and nodded to the other mothers, and Cookie Crumbles volunteered to alert Princess Celestia, since she could light the way herself. Twilight Velvet herself had volunteered, but the others had been explicit. She had more knowledge about spells and tactics than anyone there. They wanted to wait for Cookie to return, but the need to rescue their children was too great an urge. They raced to the cage, but she realized that it was enchanted. Their children had had their wings taken, along with, what they assumed, was their magic. The mothers each raced to their respective children. Velvet raced to Twilight, who spoke to her urgently.

“There isn’t much time. He’ll be back soon. You have to get out of here before he takes your wings and magic too.”

“Who is he?”

“Tirek.” She said.

“I’m not leaving without you, Twilight.”

“None of us will leave you.” Said Mrs. Shy.

“We know about the danger, and we don’t care.” Said Pear Butter.

“You will not be alone.” Said Cloudy Quartz.

“We will lose everything before we let anything happen to you. We will protect you, no matter what it takes.” Finished Windy Whistles. Rainbow looked up at her mother with awe. The big part of her said that this was where she got her bravery, and her little self just kept thinking that her Mommy was the bravest pony she ever knew.

Cookie Crumbles soon returned with the Princess, and they all set to work on breaking the cage. But nothing seemed to work. Not even Celestia’s alicorn magic. They realized that it was magic proof, and general strength would simply not do. They were still trying to figure out how to get through the cage when loud footsteps sounded. Celestia, Cloudy Quartz, Pear Butter, and Twilight Velvet made a line in front of the cage, ready to attack at any moment. Windy, Cookie, and Mrs. Shy stayed closer to the cage to protect their children.

Lord Tirek came, his form large and menacing. “Princess Celestia.” He said with mock respect.

“Tirek. I see you have escaped Tartarus yet again.”

“No thanks to you.” He replied. “After you imprisoned me, and weakened me, I thought everything was over. I stopped eating for a time, and one day I was small enough to fit through the bars. I collected the magic from the cage and chains, and I grew strong enough to break them. And Cerberus was easy enough to distract. All the food I didn’t eat needed to go somewhere. Unfortunately for him, most of it was spoiled. He was too busy throwing up to stop my escape. So I collected magic, this time in much smaller amounts, enough to keep Discord from noticing me, and grew stronger. After that, my goal was simple. To take down Princess Twilight and her friends, and in doing so, make you suffer. Killing two birds with one stone.”

Fluttershy squeaked sadly at the terrible metaphor. The Princess stayed stone faced.

“You will not prevail, Tirek. I will not let you win.” She said.

Velvet stepped up. “And neither will we.” The other mothers nodded, looking angry. Tirek laughed.

“You think you can stop me?” She asked.

“I know I can.” She said.

Tirek fired a magic blast at her, but Celestia deflected it with a shield. Twilight Velvet maintained a shield that kept everything external out, but let things from the inside get out. Pear Butter armed herself with apples and began to buck them, aiming for Tirek’s eyes. Cloudy Quartz began firing a hail storm of rocks. Some aimed at his face, others aimed at the ground, knowing that the perfectly round ones would make him slip like marbles left on the floor, should he take a step. And if Pear Butter got a clear shot, that’s just what might happen. Celestia and Tirek continued their magical battle, trying to draw him away from the cage, but he stayed put. He knew that if they got out, he would lose his leverage.

Meanwhile, Cookie and Mrs. Shy were reassuring their children, but Windy was preturbed. If magic couldn’t open the cage, and strength couldn’t either, what could? Something had to be able to break that cage. But what? Something unnatural. Something nonmagical. Something with incredible force.

And then, like magic, she knew exactly what to do.

“Buttercup, I need a perfect shot!” She called.

“I’m on it!” She said, and bucked two apples. They made an almost perfect arc toward Tirek. They just barely missed his eyes. She gathered up two more apples and bucked them, lifting her legs just a tiny bit higher. The apples made contact with their target, and Tirek was momentarily blinded. Celestia shot a blast of magic at him, causing him to stumble just enough to slip on the rocks Cloudy Quartz had strategically placed. He hit the ground with a thud, and Celestia used her magic to release all of the magic and powers of flight that he had stolen. He was weakened again, and she made magic cuffs that inhibited his powers appear. She chained them on him.

“I will personally see to it that he gets back into a cage in Tartarus.” Said Princess Celestia. Nodding, Windy Whistles stepped forward.

“We’ll open the cage.” She said as Twilight Velvet lowered her shield. The Princess nodded, and then took the fugitive back to his imprisonment.

“You figured out how to open the cage?” Asked Cookie.

Windy nodded. “I think so.”

Velvet nodded. “We trust you.”

Windy Whistles started flying, going higher and higher and even higher than that. When the ponies and cage below her were smaller than ants, she started to fly faster than she ever had. Her adrenaline and protective maternal instincts were racing through her body, accentuating every nerve and subtle movement. The wind made her mane fly back from her face, and her lips were flapping as she gritted her teeth against the almost unbearable pressure. But she did not let it stop her. She would save her baby no matter what it took. Images of her daughter raced through her mind, and somehow she was flying even faster than she was before.

The pressure kept building, worse and worse as she got closer to the ground, until she thought she might explode. Suddenly, the barrier was broken, and just before she hit the ground, it happened.

A loud boom was heard, and the force of that was enough to break the lock on the cage. It was a sonic rainboom. Though instead of a rainbow color, it was orange with a bit of blue. Rainbow watched, astonished, and her little self momentarily took over. “Mommy.” She whispered with wonder and more pride than she could ever put into words.

Windy was about to arrive on the ground when she misjudged her landing, vision slightly distorted from the rainboom. She hit the ground hard, skidding with a thunk into a rock wall. The combination of adrenaline, hunger, instinct, and physical exertion had taken a complete toll on her, and the second she heard that lock click open, she lost her grip on consciousness and passed out.

The second the cage was opened, the six ponies got their magic and wings back. Each one went to their respective mothers, and hugged them.

All with the exception of Rainbow Dash.

The second she had her wings back, she darted out of the cage so fast she was certain she might have left burn marks on the ponies unfortunate enough to be close to her. But that didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was her mother. She was teetering dangerously on the edge between big and little, and flew over quickly to her mother. She sat down beside her, and gently shook her. Windy didn’t move.

“Mama? Mama?” She tried, the second call more drawn out than the first, and shook her a little harder this time. Windy didn’t stir.

It was at that moment that Rainbow went over the edge. Her little self had shot through the barrier she kept over it in public and now flooded her system. Any semblance of her bigger self vanished in an instant, and her lip quivered.

“Mama. Mama…” She whimpered, and started to cry. She wrapped her wings around herself, trying to feel some comfort.

Her friends had been so involved with their own reunion with their mothers that they at first didn’t notice Rainbow, but in a little more than a minute, they all had, and the group went over to her.

Fluttershy approached first. “Rainbow Dash?” She asked, and tried to put a hoof on her shoulder. Rainbow sensed her movement and used her wings to stop it before rewrapping herself. Fluttershy looked at her friends, unsure of what to do.

“Are you alright, darling?” Asked Rarity, but when she tried, she got the same result as Fluttershy.

Twilight was about to follow in her friends footsteps when a hoof was placed on her chest. She looked up at her mother.

“No, sweetheart. You need to leave her be. She’s dealing with this in her own way, and if you interrupt that, you may just upset her more.” Said Velvet.

“But what do we do then? We can’t just leave her like this.” Twilight said.

Just then, the sound of hoof steps coming toward them reached their ears, and they all turned to see Hondo Flanks, Igneous Rock Pie, Mr. Shy, Bright Mac, Night Light, and Bow Hothoof coming toward them. Each of them went to their wife and daughter, with the exception of Bow. He froze when he saw his wife on the ground and his daughter crying over her. He raced to them, and felt relief pass through him when he heard the familiar sound of his wife’s breathing. So she wasn’t dead. Just knocked out. Satisfied with this, he turned his attention to his daughter. He took one look at her and knew exactly what was happening. Her capture and seeing her mother hurt had driven her into emotional overload, and her little side must have taken over in response. He weighed his options for a moment before he approached her closer, and bent down to her level, not noticing nor caring that he was being watched.

“Hey there, little trotter.” He said gently.

Rainbow paused in her tears. She knew that voice. Slowly, she lowered her wings. “Daddy?” She asked. Bow nodded, a gentle expression on his face. Rainbow’s lip quivered and she burst into tears once more, and threw herself into her father’s hooves.

“I sorry! I sorry!” She sobbed.

Bow rubbed her back comfortingly. “It’s not your fault.”

“Is. Mama gone.” She wailed.

“Dashie, don’t cry honey, don’t get the wrong idea. Mama’s too sweepy to hear you screaming in her ear. That’s why you can’t get her to wake.” He explained.

She pulled back. “Mama?”

Bow nodded. “Mommy’s fine. She’s just sleeping.” He reassured. Rainbow nodded.

“‘Kay” She mumbled. She leaned against her father, exhausted. “Dada, I sweepy. Wanna nappy.” She said softly.

“You can take a nap when we get back. But first we need to get mommy somewhere she can rest.” He said. “You wanna help dada get her there?” He asked.

“Yeah.” She said.

He glanced at his wife’s saddlebag. “If I know your mommy, she packed you a few things. Let me see what there is.” He said, and went to open it. Inside were diapers, two story books, and Rainbow’s Daring Do doll. The other side held wipes and powder, a pacifier, and a bottle. Bow nodded in satisfaction. “Perfect.”

Bow stood up. “Hop up, little trotter.” He said, and she obeyed. It wasn’t the first time she’d flown on his back, but it would be his first flying her and carrying his wife at the same time.

Twilight stepped up and whispered, “The Castle.” Bow nodded, scooping up his wife.

“Ready now? Here we go, on the count of free. One, two, free.” He said.

Bow took off, and Rainbow squealed happily for the first time since her mother passed out. She giggled all the way to the castle. Spike was there to have the doors open. Bow passed him, and Rainbow pointed to her mother’s room. Bow gently laid Windy down onto her bed and gave her a kiss, Rainbow still on his back.

“Blow her kisses bye bye.” He said. “We’ll let mommy rest for a while.” Rainbow did just that. Then, with one last look at his wife, he took Rainbow to her own room so she could take a nap.