The Land Unspoken

It was a clear midsummer morning and PonyVille dozed in the heat. The village was slowly awakening, its inhabitants emerging in ones and twos from their houses and going about their business. For one particular pony, however, the wakeup call was rather more abrupt.

“Applejack! Applejack!”

Applejack emerged into the sunlight, blinking away sleep, and her younger sister collided with her at full gallop.

“Applejack! Come quickly!” exclaimed Apple Bloom. “There’s a strange pony in town, he says he wants to meet all the important ponies! That’s you, right?” She was bouncing up and down with excitement.

“Apple Bloom, wha-” Applejack shook her head and refocused as the torrent of speech from her younger sister reached her brain. “A strange pony, y’say?” she began then, as her sister bobbed in agreement and made some more ‘follow me’ movements, “Alright, alright, slow down. Let me get my hat and I’ll come with you”.

Several frantic minutes later the sisters were heading down the hill towards a growing crowd of ponies near the centre of the town.

“Applejack!”

“Hey, Pinkie, what’s up?”

Pinkie Pie fell into step beside the Apples and began talking animatedly.

“Well, there’s a big crowd down outside the hall, someponies were up really early just to get to the front but I don’t know what’s in the middle and Twilight told me to go find you, she said she’d seen Apple Bloom there earlier and wanted to know what was going on so I told her okay and rushed to find you but I thought I could have a look first because you never know there could be sweets or something going spare but there’s such a big crowd I couldn’t see a thing so I came over really quickly to wake you up but you were already awake so here I am!”

There was a pause while the others mentally inserted the necessary punctuation.

“Oh, Pinkie” Apple Bloom replied with a smile. “It’s nothin’ special. There’s just a grey pony in the centre of the crowd, he’s askin’ to see some of the important ponies. So I rushed straight off to get ma sister, ‘cause she’s important, right AJ?”

“Yes, Apple Bloom,” replied Applejack tiredly. She still wasn’t fully awake. “So we came right on over to see what all the fuss was about. Any idea where the others are?”

“Hey Applejack!”

Twilight and Rarity arrived and joined the procession. With them came Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo who rushed off with Apple Bloom. Left to themselves, the four others reached the outer ring of ponies and immediately encountered a problem.

“The crowd’s even bigger than last time! I still can’t see anything!” exclaimed Pinkie in frustration after a short period of jumping up and down.

“Ah?” replied a new voice from above, “well if only you had wings!”

“Quit playing around, Dash, and tell us what you see,” sighed Twilight. Obligingly, the pegasus glided towards the centre of the crowd. She returned seconds later wearing a rather disappointed expression.

“It’s just a pony. He’s not even doing anything, just standing there,” she reported. “He looks dull. Grey mane, grey tail, grey body. I’m going back to bed.”

With that she took off again and was gone within seconds. Twilight opened her mouth to call the pegasus back but she was already out of earshot.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy was having a very gentle argument with Angel. The rabbit had spotted the crowd and was urging Fluttershy to go down but the pegasus remained adamant.

“I’m not that important” she insisted. “Besides, it’s almost time for the morning feed; the birds won’t like it if I leave them hungry. I’m sure Twilight and the others will tell me if anything interesting happens.”

Angel, seeing that the argument was pointless, stalked off and Fluttershy was left alone. Just then, there was a knock at the door.

“Something doesn’t feel right,” commented Twilight. Her dreams the previous night had been troubled and a sense of foreboding had been gripping her ever since she had first lain eyes on the scene in front of them. She now stood with Pinkie Pie, and the earth pony had picked up on her anxiety.

“Don’t worry Twilight; I’m sure everything will be fine. He probably just wants to buy something. You know how it is. Big scary pony, comes into town, scares everypony in fifty miles half to death, turns out the really only want some lunch, right? Remember Zecora? You told us then we had nothing to worry about, and you were right!”

Twilight was about to reply when the crowd began to move away. She shared a glance with Pinkie Pie and they stood their ground. Thankfully not every pony trusted this newcomer, and many others remained as the crowd left the village.

Just then a scream sounded and they all turned in alarm. Twilight’s horn instinctively filled with magic. She saw another, identical grey pony dragging a screaming filly from her house. The youngling was clearly distressed and calling for help so Twilight wasted no time in charging the captor, followed closely by many of the others. Seeing the rescuers the grey pony dropped his charge and turned to flee but a brief burst of magic froze him in place. With Twilight stopping to cast the spell Pinkie arrived at the scene first and stood between the grey pony and the youngster. Her gaze was fierce.

“And just what,” she shouted angrily, “do you think you were doing?”

Twilight released the magic holding the pony’s mouth but he merely hissed at them and refused to speak. Just then another scream came from nearby, followed by another, and Twilight was forced to fully release the magic as she sprang to the rescue with the others. Behind them, the grey pony vanished in a puff of smoke.

The attack subsided as quickly as it had come, but even the short period of action had left Twilight gasping. She was exhausted by all the running; with many of the ponies distracted by the newcomer (“exactly his plan”, she muttered angrily) they had been stretched thin defending the village.

“The first pony was clearly a decoy,” Twilight reported to Celestia when the princess arrived at the village shortly after the raid. “He was there to lead the ponies away from the village so his friends could capture some of us, but thankfully enough of us stayed behind to head them off. I don’t think anypony’s missing.”

It was at that exact moment, with impeccable timing, that Applejack burst through the door. “Twilight!” she exclaimed, gasping for breath. “Fluttershy’s been taken!”

Twilight groaned. The normally reclusive Fluttershy would be the perfect target; if she were taken nobody would notice until it was too late. As, in fact, had happened. Before she could speak, Celestia broke the silence.

“It seems the raid itself was also a decoy. Somepony doesn’t want the Elements of Harmony active any time soon. We must organise a rescue team. Meet me in Canterlot as soon as possible. Bring your friends.” She spread her wings and flew away.

The calmness in her voice reassured Twilight and Applejack and, without delay, they rushed off to alert the others.

Less than an hour later, the five stood, their usual semi-circle now sporting a conspicuous hole, in the throne room at Canterlot. Celestia stood before them with her usual regal bearing in place, but it was clear she was anxious about the raid. According to the reports, the grey pony who had been the distraction had simply vanished into thin air when the raid began, and the confused crowd had been too far away to help until the attack had already passed.

“It is clear we are dealing with something serious here,” the princess began, “and I know of no better ponies than you to investigate. Do whatever is necessary to retrieve your friend and investigate the threat to my kingdom. But be warned, I detected very powerful magic at large earlier today. I have already lost a subject; I would not like to lose five more. Now go!” She flared her wings. “The raiders fled north. Take, once more, the Elements of Harmony, and may they aid you in bringing peace to this land once again!”

The five bowed low, then turned and raced from the room.

The journey back went by quickly, and every second was spent discussing plans. As they re-entered PonyVille, Rarity finally spoke something that had been bothering them for a while.

“But assuming we can follow these kidnappers and find where they are going, what happens if Fluttershy is…” she hesitated “unavailable? With only five of us we can’t properly use the Elements.”

“And not only that,” added Applejack, “but Fluttershy has got us past obstacles where the rest of us were beaten before, what if we encounter one of those without her?”

“Well” replied Twilight, a hint of smugness entering her voice “I think I’ve already solved both those problems in one. We need to take another pony with us, and it’ll have to be somepony who’s kind. Thankfully, there’s no shortage of those in PonyVille. So all we need to do is find somepony who wants to come with us!”

Rarity opened her mouth to reply but was cut short as a voice came from behind them.

“Uhh, Rainbow Dash?”

Four of them spun round. Dash, who had recognised the voice, placed a hoof to her forehead and turned more slowly with the words of denial already on her lips.

“Derpy” she said in the voice one might use on a small child “go away.”

“Rainbow Dash!” exclaimed Rarity “she’s not a child!”

“Eugh” the pegasus exclaimed. She saw the look in Rarity’s eye and dropped her gaze hastily, muttering: “she’ll be as much use as one. Please don’t tell me you’re about to-” but Rarity had turned as soon as Dash dropped her gaze, and now stood between the two pegasi.

“Hello Derpy” she said in a much kinder voice.

“Uh, Miss Rarity” said Derpy “I heard you talking about an adventure. Could I come?”

Rarity opened her mouth to say yes, but Rainbow Dash got there first. “No!” she exclaimed, leaping in front of Rarity to face Derpy. The two pegasi were now nose to nose, and Dash’s narrowed eyes met Derpy’s walled ones. The rainbow pegasus spoke again, a note of a growl entering her voice: “Just go home!”

This time Rarity shoulder charged Dash out of the way, and stood protectively in front of Derpy, facing Dash furiously. “And why,” she snapped, “should she be excluded? Hmm? Is it because she can’t talk very well? Can’t fly properly? Should somepony be excluded, ignored, because they’re different to you? That isn’t very good friendship Rain-bow-Dash!” With the last three syllables she moved her face ever closer to the rainbow pegasus, who was now leant backwards as far as she could go.

“No, no!” exclaimed Dash frantically, her eyes wide “I just meant that- that I don’t want to put her in danger!” the hesitation made the lie obvious and she wilted under Rarity’s glare. “Alright! She’s nice and everything, but she’ll be useless on a quest, okay?”

“That sounds a lot like Fluttershy” muttered Applejack to Pinkie Pie. Her voice was drowned out by Rarity’s screech.

“And just because her talents don’t match yours gives you the right to call her useless?”

“No! I-”

She was cut off as both ponies were lifted into the air and silenced by magic. An exasperated Twilight walked between the two.

“That wasn’t getting us anywhere. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, what do you think?”

“I think we should take her with us” replied Applejack after a short pause. Derpy, who had been cowering under the argument she had caused, perked up at this. “We sure could use some help, and she’s kind enough. If anypony can stand in for Fluttershy, it’s her.” Pinkie Pie nodded agreement and a smile broke across Derpy’s face. Twilight smiled back, and then turned to face the floating ponies, face serious.

“Now then” she said, releasing the magic “can we be civil?” They nodded agreement, neither trusting themselves enough to speak. “Dash, we’ll take Derpy with us and that’s the final word.” The pegasus nodded sullenly. “Now come on! All this arguing is wasting time, and Fluttershy is getting further and further away every second. We need to prepare to leave. Meet me in my house in one hour. Bring what you think you’ll need on the journey. Derpy, you can come with me.”

Soon they were rushing off towards their respective homes. Twilight was left alone with Derpy.

“So” she said as they began to move off towards her house at a brisk trot, “are you sure you want to join us? It’ll be hard going?”

“Yes, of course, Miss Twilight!” replied the pegasus, her eyes lighting up. “I’m not useless, like Rainbow Dash says!” Her face fell a fraction.

Twilight began to feel some of Rarity’s previous anger at the reaction Derpy had to Rainbow Dash’s criticism. She hid it, however, and answered with a smile.

“Of course you’re not! And it’s just Twilight, thanks; we’re not your teachers.”

“Sorry Twilight!” replied Derpy “I just get so nervous around other ponies!”

“That’s quite alright. I’m sure you’ll have time to get used to us while we’re adventuring” replied Twilight as they stepped through the doors of her house. Once inside she called Spike and, together, they began to pack two medium sized saddlebags with various things she considered essentials. She also added a variety of books that could be useful on the journey. In a special container suspended below her belly she placed a bag given to her by Princess Celestia containing the Elements of Harmony. As Twilight worked she continued chatting to Derpy, and it was only a short time later that they were ready to go. Handing one of the saddlebags to Derpy, Twilight settled down to await her friends.

Soon the others began arriving. Twilight eyed them as each walked in the door. They had all brought a bedroll and some food along with other items they considered essentials. Applejack had brought some rope, Rarity had packed many items of clothing, including hats and scarves, whereas Pinkie Pie…

“Pinkie Pie, what in tarnation are those things?” asked Applejack as Pinkie walked through the door.

“These?” replied Pinkie, indicating the two long horizontal tubes resting on each of her shoulders and extending down her back “they’re improved party cannons of course! Now I can fire twice as much stuff!”

“And why” replied Applejack in her best I’m-talking-to-Pinkie-Pie voice “do we need those?”

“For the parties of course!” replied Pinkie.

“But we’re not-”

“Girls” interjected Twilight “this is just wasting time. Pinkie, you can take the cannons so long as they don’t get in the way. I see you were at least sensible enough to bring some non-party related items too. Now move, all of you. Every second we waste takes Fluttershy further and further from us”

They quietened down and turned to leave without further comment.

The sun had already passed its zenith and they made haste, mindful of the half day disadvantage they had. As the sky began to darken with the promise of rain they hurried on, seeking the cover of the distant forest before the bad weather escalated.