Hey guys, back from long hiatus. I will hopefully be posting new chapters fast then this one ^_^;;. Also shout out to GAMMADAWN14, and his OC. Anyway here is the story.
Nightwing was struggling to get his hooves out and was failing miserably. It was like trying to move through molasses. He looked over at Icewing and Silvermist and they both were having the same amount of trouble. "Come on there has to be a way out of this. Keep trying." Nightwing said trying his best to encourage his friends.
"I'm trying my best but I can't get my hooves free. Silver this is your fault. You said this was a place that we could rest!" Icewing yelled.
"Hey I was just trying to find a place for us to rest. Excuse me for not knowing this was quicksand." Silver yelled back.
"That's enough you two. We don't have time to sit here and argue as we are currently sinking to our dooms. Now if you would please, focus on trying to get your hooves free." Nightwing Scolded.
"Sorry Night but it becoming harder and harder to move and I…" Icewing was saying before she stopped abruptly.
Nightwing was about to ask what was wrong when Silver shouted out "HEY OVER HERE! HELP US!"
Nightwing turned his head in time to see a figure retreat back into the forest. Ice wing turned and yelled at Silver. "Great you idiot there went a chance to get out of this pit. Why did you go scare him off?"
Nightwing phased out there arguing as he continued watching around him. He saw the figure a couple more times. It seemed like he was scoping out the area for trouble or seeing if this was a trap. The quicksand was now up to their torso. The figure disappeared once again but this time showed up near them where they had entered the quicksand.
Nightwing turned toward Silver and Ice. "You two settle down. He is back." Nightwing turned back to the figure and asked it a leveled voice. "Could you help us? We seemed to have gotten stuck in this quicksand." The Quicksand was up to their necks now.
His response was a vine being thrown out him. "Okay I am going to grab the vine, Silver I want you to grab on my tail and Ice I want you to grab onto Silver's tail."
They responded at the same time. "Got it." They grabbed onto their respective tails and Nightwing grabbed onto the vine. The figure began pulling him and the other slowly but surely out of the quicksand. After a minute or two of the figure pulling, they came out with a loud "POP".
They struggled to their feet and failed miserably. They decided to lie down and get there energy back. After a minute or two of resting, Nightwing decided to get a better look at their savior. He was almost as tall as Night himself. He was a dark blue unicorn with a light blue tail and mane. He couldn't see any obvious cutie marks.
"Thanks for saving us, what is your name?" Night asked.
"Tundra, what are you doing out here in the middle of the night, it's dangerous and they're creature who shouldn't be disturbed." He asked the group. Silver told him about the training exercise, and how they had to survive the night. He then told them how the ogre had chased them here and then just abruptly stopped. "Ogre? I thought they were extinct." was Tundra's response.
"So did we, which reminds me. How did you piss it off in the first place." Said Ice.
"Well I was walking and I didn't notice it lying on the ground and I sort of stepped on his eye." Said Silver as he flushed with embarrassment.
"How do you not notice an ogre sleeping on the ground?!" Night said with exasperation.
"Hey it was dark and I didn't pay attention to where I was walking. Any pony could've made my mistake."
"Anyway, we need to get back to our supplies so we can get back to base in the morning. Do you think you can help us find our camp Tundra." Asked Ice.
"As long as you keep up. Come on, we shouldn't stay around here much longer" Tundra said as he started walking away toward where they came from.
"Well let's get moving, we have a long night ahead of us." Night said as he followed. More than once did they get lost and had to wait for Tundra to find them again and lead them onto the right path. At one point he disappeared and didn't return for a long bit. As they started getting worried he reappeared before them.
"The way is clear just continue straight and your camp should be there." He said with a nod.
"Where did you go?" Silver asked.
"A small talk with a friend." And with that he went back the way they came with the forest swallowing him up. They continued forward until they finally reached their camp. The place was a wreck; their tents were flung all about and collapsed, as well as the firewood and nearby trees being all over the place.
"Looks like we are going to be using the plain old dirt tonight. I suggest we sleep in shifts so nothing comes up on us unnoticed. I'll take first watch." Night said as he gathered what was left of their bags together. The other two nodded and laid down to rest. The rest of the night went more or less uneventful.
When they woke in the morning, they decided to find high ground so they could find their way out of the forest. The entire process took them longer than it should have if they had a map or compass. Finally leaving the dreaded forest behind them they reported back to the base camp. They found Breezetail and Greywhoof under the pavilion that was setup and reported to them.
"What took you maggots so long? Everyone else already made it back before you did!" Greywhoof said angrily as they plodded into the base camp.
"Sir, we lost our map along the way while we were chased by an ogre." Nightwing said.
"Are telling tales to me son, they are extinct, everyone knows that!"
"It's true sir, we were with him when it chased us down." Silver said standing next to his friend.
"Hmm, let me look into this, the other team report hearing crashing noises and roars throughout the night. Where exactly did you see the creature?" Breezetail asked.
Silver showed them on the map where they camped and where he found the creature. "I'll send a team to scout the area, see if they can find anything." He said. "Looks like we are down to 15 ponies now." And with that he left.
"Did he say 15 ponies? What happen to the rest?" Icewing asked. "Only five groups came back and that's including yours." Greywhoof said. "Now dismissed, go and get some rest before we break camp." They left and went to find the mess area to grab some food. After that they went and go showers.
They broke camp over the next couple hours and then headed back to Canterlot, where they went straight back into training. Over the course of the rest of the week their training was kicked up a notched and it weeded out five more ponies by the time Saturday came upon them.
"Okay listen up. This competition will put to test everything you have learned and know. There will be five stages. Stage 1 will be a physical test, putting your strength to the limits. Stage two will be a test of endurance, see how long you can go to keep the princesses safe. Stage three will be a mental test, to make sure your mind is as in shape as your body should be. The last two stages we will put you into situations to see how you perform under pressure. By the end of the first three, there will only be four of you. And by the end of the competition, there will be only 2 of you. Those two will be the winners and the new personal guards for the princesses. Now dismissed and get a good night's rest. You're going to need it." Breezetail briefed.
Nightwing went to bed after the debriefing. So close, I didn't think I would make it this far. Well, I need to push the rest of the way. I hope the others will be okay. Hmm only ten of us left. I wonder which one of us will make it to the top. I sure will try to make sure I am one of them. Hopefully one of the others will be the second. Anyway time to get some sleep, it's going to be a long day tomorrow. Nightwing fell asleep dreaming of what it would be like to be the personal guard to the princess.
The figure watched him from his hiding place. It would be easy and probably best if he took him out now, but those he worked for wanted him to live a little while longer. To see how he turned out, they said he may be able to be turned to their side. The figure didn't see how but kept watch anyway. He hope this pony would be worth the trouble.
Hope you like it, also if incase any of you were wondering this is taking place just a little bit before "A Canterlot Wedding". Hope you liked the story so far, R&R if would. I loved to read your comments on how you think i could improve or just your general opinion on the story.
