When Everything Changed...
It is a foggy night in Equestria. Everypony is asleep in their nice comfy beds...well except for two ponies who are in the Everfree Forest. A teal unicorn stallion with a green mane is lighting up the path and is carrying a map of the everfree forest. A lavender pegasus mare with cyan mane is following right next to him.
“We are almost there Rushy,” the teal unicorn tells his companion.
“Good, nothings happened and I’m getting bored.” Rushy replies.
The unicorn sighs, “We don’t always have to run into trouble every time we go out on these expeditions.”
“But we usually do find trouble, Trapper.” Rushy deadpans.
“Well that’s because you always seem to get into every little fight we see.” Trapper rebukes her claim.
“It’s not my fault...” Rushy says, knowing he has a point.
“I know it is not your fault but you still instigate the fights to happen” He says, while still looking at the map.
“So ho-” Rushy starts, as six timberwolves jump out of the nearby bushes. Rushy then quickly gets up onto two hooves and takes a defensive stance.
“Can I just get one trip that doesn’t involve us getting attacked.” Trapper sighs and gets ready. He uses his magic to place magical traps around the perimeter. “Alright Rushy, traps are ready.”
“Alright...” Rushy replies before charging the closest wolf, ramming it into a tree. Rushy then turns to another one and throws it into one of Trapper’s traps. This trap set the timberwolf on fire and it starts to run around frantically. “Nice.” Rushy said taking a second to admire the trap, luring another wolf into an attack. Rushy whips her left hind hoof around in a roundhouse kick, breaking the timberwolf’s neck and killing it instantly.
A timber wolf starts to charge at Trapper. A small smirk appears on his face. “Nice try mutt.” The wolf sets of a trap that threw a set of magical knives into the timberwolf. Puncturing it full of holes.
“OVER HERE, TERMITE-CHOW!” Rush taunts the remaining two timberwolves, getting their attention and running towards one of the traps. As she approaches, she leaps forward and rolls, missing the trap and luring the wolves into it. The wolves run into a trap which send a boulder at them, knocking them into another trap which captured them into a net.
Trapper walks up to the two wolves with a smirk. He lit his horn and set the net ablaze, burning the two timberwolves to a crisp.
“Well that was fun 2 more and it might have been an issue...” Rushy said as she walks to the wolf that was unconscious against the tree she rammed it into. She grabs it’s neck and gives a quick twist, breaking the wolf’s neck. “What is that 3 for 3?”
“Yep” Trapper walks over to her. “It looks like we tied again.”
“Well considering how boring it was before, this was a nice change of pace. Shall we head continue?” Rushy asks, ready to move on.
“Yea we better go in.” Trapper got his things onto his back. “We don’t want to run into anymore timberwolves.” Trapper says, following behind Rushy. “or a manticore.” As they continued talking, they were at the abandoned castle
“Manticores aren’t as fast as timberwolves, and they’re dumber too.” Rushy remarked heading towards a large wooden door that smelled of rot. “Although, I can’t actually hurt them because they’re too big for hooves to actually do anything.”
“Well I can startle them with my traps but they won’t kill them unless I use a certain trap.” Trapper walks by the rotten door, ignoring the smell. “What about your staff?”
“If it was metal, not wood...” Rushy replies, entering the rotten door.
Trapper walks in the door as well, “Well what about your spear?” he asks
“The tip isn’t strong enough, on a manticore it would be a one hit weapon...” Rushy states, walking down the entrance hall of the ruined castle.
“Well that is true.” Trapper walks by some of the pillars that were knocked down, old age evident from erosion damage. “They do have thick skin.
“Maybe if we designed a new spear or staff, but that isn’t likely...” Rushy deadpans, walking past a collapsed wall.
As they got deeper in the castle, the condition became worse as rubble is everywhere, flags are torn and faded, and the only light source was coming from Trapper’s magic.
“Well when we get paid for this find, I can create you a new weapon.” he tells her.
“Cool just make sure it isn’t made of WOOD...” Rushy deadpans, putting lots of emphasis on the word “wood”.
“Well I will make you a metal one but remember,” Trapper informs Rushy, “Metal is expensive and rare to find so if we don’t have enough for it then we have to use wood.”
“Wish I left the spear and staff... they’re rubbing my back and making me itchy.” Rushy complains, reaching for offending equipment and chucking them out a window, “Whoops.”
Trapper facehoofs at what Rushy did, “Rushy...why did you bring your weapons if you weren’t going to use them and ‘Accidentally’ toss them out the window.”
“Maybe it wasn’t an accident...” Rushy states smugly, a large grin plastered on her face.
Trapper groans, “Sometimes I wonder how I live with you.”
“Because without me, you can’t go treasure hunting?” Rushy asks innocently, her grin still going strong.
Trapper just groans as the duo keeps walking further and further into the abandoned castle. As the duo walk, the castle walls get thicker and thicker in moss due to the intense humidity, until they reach the far end of the castle, finding half of a large double door. They move through the door and into a large ante-chamber, the walls and ceiling covered in moss and vines. In the center of the room is a raised platform with a shrine upon it.
“I think we found something...” Rushy points out, focusing her attention upon the shrine.
Trapper takes one last look at the map and puts it away. “Yep we’re here, the inner shrine.” He confirms.
“So shall we go claim our prize?” Rushy says as she approaches the shrine.
“Well what else did we come here for... the fresh air?” He rhetorically asks and trails behind his companion up the shrine.
As they approach the shrine, the artifact starts to glow and they see an aura form around the pedestal they are standing on.
“What’s going on?” They both frantically say in unison.
Suddenly, the artifact blasts Trapper and Rushy with a blue beam of magic and sends them across the room. Rushy manages to do a roll and begins running towards Trapper, who was blasted across the room and hitting the wall.
“Ow!” he cringes in pain.”That really hurts”
“You okay?” Rushy asks, just as she arrives by his side, “Are you hurt? Can you move?”
“Yea...” he gets up slowly, slightly moaning in pain. “I think I...” Then the room starts to shake violently. The pillars start to crumble and the floor begins to crack. Then the room becomes still.
“That was anticlimactic...” Rushy states sarcastically, but before she finishes the floor explodes in debris. As the dust settles, all that can be seen is a large multi-headed shadow that just radiates trouble.
Trapper’s mouth is agape when he sees the beast. “We’re screwed.”
“RUN!” Rushy says, just as the beast roars loud enough to shake the very foundations of the castle they’re in. The colorful ponies turn tail as they gallop back to the entrance as quickly as they can, the hulking mass of death only seconds behind. Fleeing down the halls, before Rushy took flight with Trapper in hoof. Denying there panicked escape, The pillars started crashing down behind them, and on one occasion, almost hitting Rushy.
Trapper is looking over the map frantically to find an exit. “Rushy! We need to get out of here and my traps won’t work on a beast that big!”
“I know that and I believe it’s called a hydra,” Rushy sarcastically states, flying as fast as she can with Trapper in her hooves. “Now start giving me some directions so we don’t die.”
“Alright” Trapper takes a look at the map. “Make a left here.” He points to his left.
Rushy takes the left, “any turns up ahead I need to take?” she asks as she tries to fly faster.
“Nope just continue going straight and then make the next right.” He keeps giving her directions.
“Great no turns means he is gaining on us now...” Rushy says as they approach freedom, the ceiling crumbling above them and pillars getting closer and closer to them.
“I think this place is crumbling!” Trapper yells over the loud noise of the crumbling roof.
“I don’t think WE can make it,” Rushy says as she closes in on the door, putting a lot of emphasis on the word “we”.
“We have to make it!” Trapper tries to reassures Rushy and himself, “I know you can make it!”
“No, you can make it...” Rushy states as she throws Trapper out the door.
“Wait...what?!?!” Trapper says as he lands harshly on the ground outside of the castle. He gets up and turns around. “What are you doing!?” He questions Rushy’s motives.
“SAVING ONE OF US!” Rushy yells as she rushes towards the hydra, punching it in the eye before the castle collapses.
“RUSHY!” Trapper screams out her name, as the castle falls apart and just leaves a giant pile of rubble in it’s place.
Trapper runs over to the pile of rubble and starts screaming her name. “Rushy!” Trapper keeps looking everywhere for any signs of his companion. “Rushy!” He keeps this up for about another fifteen minutes and notices a bloody lavender hoof jutting out of a pile of pillars.
“No...” He starts to tear up at seeing the bloody hoof. He starts to clear the rubble off of Rushy. “She can’t die...she can’t die.” He keeps searching as more tears start to fall from his face.
After clearing the rubble, he sees Rushy’s bloody body, all torn up and full of scratches. One of her wings were torn off and bleeding profusely. She was missing a right rear hoof as well. There was a pool of blood pooling around her body from her’s and the hydra.
Trapper grabs her and cradles her in his hooves. A stream of tears are falling down onto Rushy’s face. “No Rushy...we were best friends...brother and sister. You were the only friend that I ever had after my family adopted you.” He keeps crying and a headache starts to form in his head. “RUSHY!” He yells her name, as his voice echos into the forest as he just collapses over her body and cries over the lose of his adoptive sister.
“Rushy...don’t go.” Trapper just mumbles into Rushy’s dead carcass. “What will mom and dad say about your death?”
Trapper starts to relive the haunting event that just transpired. “You could have made it out of the castle if you just flew faster, but you had to be the hero and throw me out of the way.” As Trapper continues, a slight headache starts to form. “Then going to attack the hydra like it was nothing and punching it in its eye.”
The headache starts to grow worse and causes an indescribable pounding in his head. “Arg!” He screams in pain, bringing his hooves to his head and dropping Rushy’s body in the process.
Then a blue ring of energy appears behind Trapper and as it goes from the ground up, a lavender set of hooves followed by a body and finally Rushy’s head appear. Trapper continues to to scream throughout the whole ordeal. Due to the indescribable pain, he had to lay down on the ground. Once the ring disappears, all of the pain goes away. Trapper is now in a cold sweat and breathing heavily.
“Aren’t I supposed to be dea-” Rushy starts before seeing herself, dead in front of Trapper, “Am I a ghost?” She fearfully asks herself aloud.
Trapper’s ears perk up after hearing Rushy talking to herself. He lifts his body up and turns to where Rushy was speaking. “R-r-r-rushy?” He stammers seeing his dead sister alright in front of him.
“You can see me?” Rushy questions, worried they are both dead. She then approaches her dead body and touches it, “WHAT THE BUCK, I’m dead and alive?” she asks, thinking she’s gone insane.
Trapper not knowing what to make of this situation, just looks back and forth from the dead Rushy and the Rushy that is alive. “Are you a ghost Rushy?” He asks her.
“I don’t think so... I can still breath and I can touch things...” Rushy utters, growing more confused by second.
Trapper still not sure at what is going on, walks up to Rushy and pokes her body.
“Stop that, I already said I’m solid,” Rushy complains, swatting his hoof away.
This confirms it for Trapper and starts to calm down a little, knowing that his little sister is still alive. “You’re alive!” He then tackles his sister and gives her a big hug.
“I...c.a.n’t..bre..athe” Rushy tries to complain, unable to say anything loud enough for Trapper to hear.
“I miss you so much and I just couldn’t bear with myself to go home knowing that you died saving my life!” His grip tightens and chokes Rushy in the process, killing her.
“Rushy I...” Trapper stares at Rushy’s limp body. He then freaks out again. “OH NO! I KILLED RUSHY!” Trapper tries to perform CPR on her, but another headache starts to appear causing him to stop what he was doing and moan in pain.
The blue energy ring appears again, but moving slightly faster. As it rises from the ground, Rushy appears yet again.
“That was the most painful hug ever..” Rushy complains as she grabs Trapper and shakes him, “HOW DO I KEEP COMING BACK!?” she asks loudly, “I DIED TWICE IN ONE DAY FOR BUCKS SAKE!”’
Trapper starts to regain his senses after the shaking from Rushy. “I don’t know! We were in the castle, walking into the antechamber and...” Trapper stops coming to a conclusion on what’s happening.
“And what?” Rushy questions wanting an answer to something this bizarre.
Trapper runs over to his saddlebag and searches for his field notes.
“So what’s your theory?” Rushy asks, knowing he thought of some form of conclusion.
“Here it is!” Trapper exclaims after finding the notes in his bag. “Now Rushy do you remember what happened when we touched the artifact.” he asks her while going through his notes.
“Yeah, we got lasered across the room by a blue beam... Oh I think i get it....” Rushy recalls as she puts one and one together.
“Yes the artifact gave us powers.” Trapper continues going through his notes trying to find the page. “Ah here it is.” He goes over to Rushy and tells her what the notes say. “According to some historians, this artifact granted somepony special powers of infinite lives but no pony can ever confirm that.” Rushy’s curiosity peeked when she hears him say infinite lives. “However, I read one book that said the artifact needs two ponies for the effects to work. One pony to act as a spawn point for the other”
“So I can fight without worrying about dying, as long as I protect you sort of thing? Rushy asks, wanting to clarify that it doesn’t work vice-versa.
“Yes!” Trapper was enthusiastic at the discovery they made. “You can keep dying as long as I am alive for you to respawn. The ponies at the university will be thrilled!”
“Ok, wanna know something?” Rushy asks innocently.
“What?”
“Dying hurts a lot...”
“Oh,” Trapper realizes where Rushy was going. “Well if it makes you feel any better, I get massive headaches when you respawn.”
“Well, it kinda does,” Rushy explains, “But it also doesn’t, since my best friend and big brother has to suffer too...”
“Well I can probably handle it...as long as you are fine with dying consecutively over and over and over and...”
“That is making me feel SOO much better...” Rushy sarcastically states, “Shall we get out of the Everfree, or wait till something wants to make us a snack?”
“Well the only thing I have to worry about is out running you then” He jokes at his sister.
“Why would I run if I can’t stay dead?” Rushy asks nonchalantly as she trots into the foliage.
“You can just beat them up until they tire out. After all you have unlimited lives.”
“Unlimited lives, hoof-to-hoof skills that make me capable of fighting timberwolves, and I can fly. How can I not tire something out?” Rushy rhetorically asks, heading further into the forest, “You coming or am I leaving by myself?”
“Well it is not like you have to carry anything heavy or something.” he sarcastically says to his sister. He gets his saddlebags on and catches up to her...but not before he takes one of his “special magazines” out of his bag.
“Can’t you save that for when nothing can hurt us or there is at least more privacy so I don’t have to see anything” Rushy mentally facehoofs.
“Hey, it’s not like I am clopping or anything...I am just looking at some pictures.” He snorts, before looking at the pictures with a lewd grin.
“How did you know what I was thinking?” Rushy asks as she abruptly stops, as he comes across to one of his favorite ponies “Ah Fleur...my favorite pony” Then Trapper starts to think dirty thoughts in his head as he just stares at the picture of Fleur.
“Oh god, why is Fleur invading my mind in dirty ways?” Rushy asks loud enough to shock Trapper out of his thoughts.
“What are you talking about?” Trapper looks up from his mag to see Rushy about ready to vomit.
“Stop looking at that, it’s messing with me...” Rushy quickly states as she starts to trot on ahead, “Gah I’m a damn mind reader or something now, great...” Rushy mentally states to herself.
Trapper just stops in his tracks at what he just heard. “I just heard you say that!” Trapper says shocked at the new discovery.
“Is being able to read each other’s thoughts a side effect or something?” Rushy asks, as she stops to look at her brother.
Trapper puts his “magazine” away and takes out his notes. He looks them over and came to a conclusion. “The notes doesn’t say anything about mind reading, so it could be a side effect.” He puts the notes back in the bag. “Well I want to run some tests on our discoveries, but not until we get home. I don’t want to run into another fight tonight
“Fair enough shall we continue?” Rushy asks mentally, enjoying her new found telepathy.
“Sure thing...now I just need to read my “magazines” when you are sleeping.” He thought jokingly to his sister.
“That would just mess with my dreams, so i would recommend that you ditch them or learn to block our new power.” Rushy mentally explains.
“Well as I said before, we need to run tests on the powers so we can understand them in case of future use.”
“Can we read anypony’s mind or just each others?”
“Well we haven’t met any other pony yet so I wouldn’t jump to conclusions just yet. Trapper explains using his mind. “I will do most of the testing on the abilities.”
“Ok, so you can be seen as a creep trying to read the thoughts of others and I get to watch. Sounds like a plan,” Rushy mentally states, trying to find the edge of the forest, “We almost out of here?”
“We are almost on the main path that leads to ponyville. Then once we get on that trail it is just a small walk out of the forest.”
“So how far are we from the trail?”
“We are not that far from it. It should be coming up at any moment.”
“Good, I need a nap and we need to get home to Canterlot. I say we just hope on the last train.” Rushy mentally states, as she yawns, “Do you know what time it is?”
“I say around midnight to one in the morning””
“Cool, so there will be a train to Canterlot waiting for us.” Rushy says as she picks up the pace.
“Hey! Wait for me!” Trapper mentally yells over to his sister, trying to catch up to her.
“I’m obviously waiting impatiently, otherwise I would have just flown to the train.”
“Well it’s not like I can suddenly sprout wings and become an alicorn.” He jokes to his sister.
“I don’t think the princess would like that, but it would be interesting...” Rushy teases innocently, as they arrive at the trail that leads to Ponyville.
“Well, time to head towards the station. We don’t want to miss the train.” Trapper tells Rushy and runs down the path.
“Oh now you wanna hurry...” Rushy replies as she takes to the air towards the station as fast as she can go.
“Catch me if you can”He taunts her as they made their way towards the station.
_______________________________________________________________________
“You got our tickets?” Rushy asks, walking towards the train.
“Yea I do” Trapper takes out his tickets and shows them to Rushy. “See I can at least keep a hold on our things unlike a certain pegasus I know.”
“Who would that be?” Rushy asks innocently as she gets onto the train.
“Oh I think you know her pretty well, Rushy.” Trapper jokes to her.
“Nope, doesn’t ring any bells. You’ll have to introduce me to her later.” Rushy sarcastically states as she sits in one of the seats, falling asleep in seconds.
“Well it doesn’t matter. All I care about is that you are alive, we got a new special talent and we are about to head back to our house.” Trapper states as his sits comfortably in his seat. As he sits down, he hears his sister snoring. This puts a smile on his face as he lays his head onto hers and falls asleep, right by her side.