True Valor: Chapter Ten-Found

By: Tammo Woodsorel

Wisdom Tooth was astonished to see Pinkiepie standing there in front of him. He had no idea where he was but he knew that he was no where that was known by the public of the Crystal Empire. However, it was not so strange for Pinkiepie to do something that did not make sense and was able to know something that nopony else knew.

He blinked a couple of times and asked, "Pinkie? What are you doing here?"

She got really close and said, "I got worried so I came looking for you."

This was even more strange and set off an alarm in his mind. She answered that question much too seriously. She could normally not be able to hold back a giggle when she talked to him. Also, she would never give him a straight answer. Wisdom Tooth began to think and remembered that there was one kind of question that Pinkiepie always gave the same answer to.

He asked her, "How did you get here?"

She pointed behind him, indicating a door, and said, "behind that door is a stairway that leads to a courtyard in the outskirts of the Crystal Empire. When I got down here, I started looking for you."

Wisdom Tooth knew at this point that there was no way that this was the Pinkiepie that he had come to know and love. Whenever he were to ask the real Pinkiepie any kind of "how" question with "very carefully" but this Pinkiepie gave him an answer that told him exactly how she did something.

Wisdom Tooth thought as hard as he could in the moment of time that he had before he would be socially required to say something. If this Pinkiepie was an imposter, then that means that she works for Demonstine. Is she works for Demonstine, then she is familiar with the layout of the dungeon. Wisdom Tooth guessed that she did not lie to him about the door behind him since he was probably the first prisoner that she was dealing with. She would not know to give him false information. So that meant that the door behind him would be his escape. However, if he was going to make a run for it then he needed to make sure that this imposter did not give chase.

Wisdom Tooth knew that more than a moment had passed so he said, "So what should we do now? Should we leave out that door?"

Pinkiepie shook her head, "No, I heard one of the ponies here talking about a short cut to the castle down the hallway here. Follow me."

Wisdom Tooth knew that this was a lie. She was trying to lead him right to Demonstine. She turned around and walked quickly down the hallway. She glanced behind her to make sure that he was following her. He took a few steps toward her to make her think that he indeed was following her but, as soon as she turned around, he pivoted and took off toward the door that she had been talking about.

Wisdom Tooth cast the spell that shielded his head so that he would be able to bust right through the door without hurting himself. He had almost made it to the door when he was blasted right out of the air. He felt a searing heat make contact with his side and his wind was actually lit on fire. The force from the blast knocked him to the ground away from the door. There was no use in trying to get up. Wisdom Tooth was in such excruciating pain that any movement at all would cause him to cry out. Wisdom Tooth did a self-check. He saw that the entire side of his body was burned but nothing above the neck was touched. He guessed that if he had not been using the protection spell, he would not have survived the blast.

Wisdom Tooth looked in the direction of where the blast had come from and was very surprised to see the pony that had come into his cell earlier. Wisdom Tooth was sure that he had used some kind of self-destruct spell. Even if it had just been a spell that caused an explosion, there was no way that he should have been able to survive it.

The pony walked toward Wisdom Tooth and said, "I really hate ponies like you. Normally, I'd just burn you to bits but the boss wants you alive for some reason. How dare he restrain me!"

A pillar of fire shot up from his horn and left a scorch mark on the ceiling.

Pinkiepie appeared from around the corner just as this happened, "Now that's what I call hot…"

The unicorn said, "Keep an eye on him will you? Being the baby that he is, he can't move so I'll have to go get the boss. Why does everything have to be so difficult?!"

With that, the unicorn stormed off in the direction that Pinkiepie had come from. Wisdom Tooth tried to move but any use of his muscles resulted in terrible pain. He had obviously received very severe burns from the fire that the pony had produced.

Pinkiepie walked up to him and said, "You should have just come with me. You would have made it so much easier on yourself."

Wisdom Tooth could only grunt in response.

She began to stroke Wisdom Tooth's back with her hoof. The result of this touch sent spikes of pain shooting up his back.

The imposter just smiled and said, "They're always so cute when they're in pain."

She began to play with one of his wings which caused Wisdom Tooth to cry out even though he knew that nopony would come to his rescue.

She seemed to love the sound of his cry, "Oh yes! Yell and…"

Her sentence was cut short and Wisdom Tooth opened his eyes just in time to see her drop to the ground. He strained himself to look around and he saw a cloaked figure standing in front of him.

The figure spoke with a deep male voice, "Can you stand?"

Wisdom Tooth got up slowly. The pain was almost unbearable but he managed to do it in spite of how he felt.

Blood dripped out of his mouth as he spoke, "Only barely… I won't be able to fly or move very quickly."

Hooves could be heard walking toward them. Wisdom Tooth looked to where the sound was coming from and looked back to where the figure had stood. However, the pony that had saved him was gone.

The red unicorn, accompanied by Demonstine, revealed themselves and the red unicorn yelled at the sight of Wisdom Tooth standing and the doppelganger on the floor, "I knew this would happen! You can't trust her with anything! You should just get rid of her, boss!"

Demonstine shrugged and said, "Calm yourself, he was not able to get away due to your burns."

Wisdom Tooth tried to speak but only blood came out and he lost his chance.

Demonstine laughed and gave a command, "Take him with us. We'll bring him to my chamber where I can send him back where he came from."

The red unicorn walked over and there was nothing that Wisdom Tooth could do to keep the pony from throwing him over his back and following Demonstine. They moved silently down the hallway. No pony said anything and Wisdom Tooth tried to think of some way out of this situation but there was really nothing that he could do. He was badly injured, the pony that was carrying him was able to produce extremely hot fires on command, and he still did not fully understand the extent of Demonstine's power.

Wisdom Tooth was wrought with pain and he just could not handle any more. He could feel his consciousness slipping away. As they walked down the hallway, Wisdom Tooth's eyes closed more until he fell into a deep sleep.

He did not know how long he slept but the next thing he remembered was having a massive headache and being outside the hospital. He heard his name being called behind him and he turned around. When he did, he saw a massive hole in the side of the hospital. Walking through the hole, crouched as if ready for a fight, were Shining Armor and Iron Side.

He heard his name again and, this time, he could see that Shining Armor spoke it, "Wiz, are you ok?"

Wisdom Tooth nodded slowly and the two warriors seemed to relax.

Shining Armor spoke to somepony that was behind him, "I think that wake up juice was a little two strong…"

Caffeine Rush stepped out from behind him and said, "Trust me, nothing else was going to wake him up that fast."

The events that took place in the dungeon suddenly rushed back to Wisdom Tooth. He instantly checked his body and while his skin was tender it looked like it was completely healed.

Seeing his confusion, Shining Armor tried to explain, "You should be all good now, you've been in the hospital for the past couple of weeks."

Wisdom Tooth turned to him quickly and asked, "Two weeks?! How could I be asleep for so long?! I never sleep!"

Shining Armor shrugged and said, "I have no idea what happened to you but when Iron Side brought you to me, you barely had any skin on your body and the skin that was there was under severe burns."

Wisdom Tooth directed his next question to Iron Side, "Wait, you saved me?"

Iron Side shook his head, "Absolutely not. I found ye upon the threshold of the castle and, noticing thine critical condition, brought thou to Shining Armor as fast as I could."

Wisdom Tooth was confused, "So you didn't save me from the dungeon?"

Iron Side shook his head.

Wisdom Tooth thought for a moment and exclaimed, "Of course, it must have been the unicorn from before!"

Shining Armor stepped in, "Alright, let's settle down. In order for me to make any sense of what is going on, I'll need you to explain everything that happened to you."

Wisdom Tooth nodded and said, "Of course, but it's not safe for us to talk out here like this. We need somewhere for us to hide out, including you two as well as the princess."

Shining Armor nodded, "I know a place, the princess will meet us there as soon as I send word."

Shining Armor closed his eyes and a few purple sparks could be seen shoot from his horn.

He looked at all present and said, "Alright, follow me. Ms. Rush, thank you for your help but I'm going to have to ask you to head back to your home."

Caffeine Rush seemed a little sad that she would not be included but perked up and said bye to Wisdom Tooth, "Alright, I'll see you at the shop later, Wiz."

With that, she was off.

As they began to walk away, Wisdom Tooth asked Shining Armor, "By the way, what happened to the hospital?"

Shining Armor chuckled somewhat and said, "Well we could not wake you up but your mare-friend came and visited you. She explained that she could wake you up without a problem. She poured some of her coffee into your mouth and you shot up. However, I don't think you were fully awake because you started to throw a fit and bust right through the hospital wall."

Wisdom Tooth thought about what he had just heard and only had one thing to say, "She's not my mare-friend. She's just a mare that I met when I moved here."

Shining Armor shrugged and said, "Whatever you say, Wiz."

It was late at night when everypony was finally gathered at the safe house that Shining Armor had chosen. The ponies that were present were Shining Armor, Princess Cadance, Iron Side, and Wisdom Tooth.

Before anything else, Wisdom Tooth wanted to know a few things, "You're sure that nopony could have followed you here?"

Princess Cadance shook her head and said, "No, since changelings have been allowed in society, all the princess have been given a changeling to take their place in times of crisis. There is a changeling that will handle the affairs until I am safe to return to the throne."

Wisdom Tooth was a little suspicious, "Are you sure that this is a changeling that we can trust?"

Shining Armor said, "Well she was picked out by Princess Celestia herself but I'm having my general watch her every step just in case."

Wisdom Tooth then said, "That brings me to my next question, who know that we're here?"

Shining Armor thought for a moment and said, "Well the ponies who know that we're in hiding are Cadance's double and your mare… erm... your friend. And the ponies that know that we're hiding here are Princesses Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and General Boulder Dash."

Wisdom Tooth sighed, "I don't trust that general."

Shining Armor said, "Well he's been under my command longer than any other soldier in the guard. I'd trust him with my life."

Wisdom Tooth sighed again and said, "Well I guess that is enough for me."

Shining Armor said, "Now it's my turn. What exactly happened? Why did you turn up so hurt. Why were my guards found unconscious two weeks ago? Who is responsible? Where can I found them?"

Wisdom Tooth took a deep breathe and began to tell them all what had happened to him.