Chapter 4, alright! I have no idea what weird title I'm going to give it when I upload it, but it'll inevitably be something weird (oh, you think that I actually plan these things?). Before you go ahead and read, however, I would like to direct your attention to my deviantart profile! I recently added some pieces of art relating to this story, namely Pit and Marth's cutie marks and the map of Equestria with all the oozes and flags on it. Insert full stops where necessary! eggplantwitch deviantart com. Anyway, we get to find out what was in that letter now. Quick warning, you're probably going to dislike it just as much as I do D:
"Aha, excellent!" Luna exclaimed as a scroll appeared with a puff in front of her and dropped to the floor. "That was a quick response."
"Read it to us, Princess!" said Rainbow Dash. Luna nodded, using her magic to undo the seal. She began to read.
"Dear Princess Luna," it started. "It gave us all hope to hear that the first of hopefully many foreign heroes had arrived. I would like it very much if you would give them a hearty welcome from all of us in Ponyville," Luna paused, looking at the three of them. "Welcome!" she said, smiling, before carrying on. "We're making progress with the cure – we can now halt the infection temporarily, though we are still a way from being able to fully cure it."
"That's still a major breakthrough," Twilight said eagerly. The others nodded in agreement, and again Luna continued.
"However, I regret to inform you that…" Luna's face fell. She reread the sentence, wide-eyed.
"Princess?" Marth hazarded. Luna gulped, and finally continued.
"I regret to inform you that…Fluttershy has gone missing."
"Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash gasped, as did Applejack and Twilight Sparkle.
"No, not Fluttershy!" said Twilight, looking as though she'd been hit with an arrow rather than bad news. Only Applejack didn't say anything, allowing Luna to continue, her voice slightly shaky.
"She has been gone for two days now, and all of those brave enough to face the monsters are currently out looking for her, even in the Everfree Forest. I remain optimistic for the sake of the ponies, but I fear the worst.
Not only this, but a huge ship of darkness has appeared over Unicorn Range. We don't know what it is, but it's slowly heading towards us. I'm sorry to bring you so much bad news, but it must be said. We will anticipate your return to Ponyville.
Yours sincerely, Mayor Mare."
"I can't believe it…Fluttershy…" Twilight said, her eyes glazed over. "Do you think that she's just hiding away somewhere?"
"It's possible, isn't it? Maybe she went to Cloudsdale to get away from it all…" Rainbow Dash said, though she didn't sound convinced. "She hates heights…"
"My little ponies," Luna said, her voice gaining a louder, more regal tone. "We must remain strong in the face of danger. Those back at Ponyville may need our help -"
"We can't go back to Ponyville, not yet," said Pit. They all looked at him. "I mean, we have this castle almost completely free of ooze, we may as well use it. Also, the ooze was first seen here, yeah? And you can clearly see that it's been spreading out from here. We could try finding out where it first came from. Maybe we could even try clearing out the whole city so people can come back here. You said you were having major problems with refugees."
"Yes, we were, but we cannot do all of that on our own."
"Then get more ponies here. Fighters. Healers. Tacticians, like me. Set up a refugee camp here, only with a twist: every refugee must play their part in clearing out the whole city."
"It's a very ambitious goal, Captain," said Twilight.
"It's a goal with boundaries. The kind where you can really see your progress."
"I think he's right," said Rainbow. "We should get ponies in from all over Equestria. I'll even fly to Cloudsdale to bring some pegasi if you want me to."
"A generous offer, valiant Rainbow Dash, but I am not sure if -" Luna said, her voice slightly meeker.
"I trust Pit. I think it could be achieved," Marth said, standing up. Link got up too, nodding.
"I'll agree to it if you will, Princess," Twilight said, looking up to the alicorn. Luna didn't look convinced for a moment, before seeing all the ponies before her giving her the same look.
"I…dear Applejack, what do you think?"
"I think," she said, slowly. "That I'm not gonna get a lick of rest 'til every last ooze is out of Equestria. They took Fluttershy, they declared war. I don't care what it takes or how long, just so long as they get the hay out of here."
"Well, Captain, it seems everypony here has been swayed by your argument. I have no choice but to agree on behalf of all my ponies. What would you ask we do first?"
"Erm," Pit froze slightly, taking into account the words Luna had just said. The ruler of the kingdom…had just put him in charge. A little shiver ran down him, disappearing out through his wings. He knew that lives had been lost and many more probably would be lost on the way to victory…but hey, there was going to be fighting! And battles! And victory! And no matter how much he could deny it, his body welcomed every drop of adrenalin that was made. "We need fighters, since I can only call on a tiny part of my army for a maximum of ten seconds. Have all of the Equestrian army been wiped out?"
"The Royal Guard stayed to fight for Canterlot, but the last order my sister ever made was that they save themselves and their families. They are scattered," Luna explained. Pit took this into consideration.
"Then we need to get a message sent out to all the major refugee camps: the Equestrian Army is now recruiting, housing and training provided for free. Someone write this stuff down."
"That would be my job," Twilight said, readily bringing a new sheet of parchment from the pile and floating her quill over, starting to write down what Pit was saying.
"We're also going to need food, so we want farmers, grocers and cooks."
"…and cooks…" Twilight echoed, dotting a full-stop and waiting for the next order.
"Medics will definitely be required, and it would be good to see if we can bring the cure research over here and try and give it a bit of a bump. Bring ponies from other places in Equestria here so they can help too. After all, the more ponies working on developing it, the faster we'll find it."
"An excellent idea, Captain."
"Uh, thanks. So we've got fighters, food and healthcare, what else do we need…oh, we might need people who could actively search for food. Brave enough to take the risk. Can either run or fight. And lastly: unicorns like you, Twilight, who can create magic weapons and defences. Any pony with a talent corresponding to ice would be welcomed with open arms…er, open hooves. Whatever you say."
"Fighters, cooks, medics, gatherers and enchanters. Is that all, Captain?" Twilight checked off her list. Pit thought for a moment, before nodding.
"That's it for the time being. Now we need to get these messages spread somehow."
"Make a poster or something and make copies," said Rainbow Dash. "Make lots of copies. I'll take a load to Cloudsdale, get my friends to take them all over Equestria and I'll pin up a bunch."
"Brilliant," Pit declared. "How long would it take to make that many copies though?"
"A few seconds with a duplication spell," said Luna.
"Oh, right…er, yeah, do that. So for now…Applejack and Twilight Sparkle, work on the posters. Marth, Link and Princess, you do a sweep of the lower floors and get rid of any oozes you find. Rainbow Dash and I will go smoosh the oozes from the top floors out. Don't forget, they're vulnerable to ice!"
"Sorry, Pit, but can I stay here for the time being and try to learn how to use this…unicorn magic I have now?" said Marth.
"Er, OK, Marth. You stay here and learn that. Princess, Link, Rainbow Dash, you don't mind, do you?"
"Nah, I can't wait to whoop some slime butt!" Rainbow Dash whooped. Link made no answer, which Pit took to mean he didn't mind, and Luna said:
"Very well, Captain."
"Thanks, guys. Never split up from each other, OK? That's all, see you back here in an hour max."
"So, 'Captain'," Rainbow Dash said, in a slightly mocking tone as she and Pit fluttered through the corridors of the castle. "You said that before you were a pony you couldn't fly."
"Not for very long. Even when Paluntena gave me all the power she could, five minutes max," he replied.
"Five minutes? Man, that's got to have sucked."
"Yeah, it did. My wings are…well, were too small to keep me in the air. To me, it still looks like that, but apparently these little wings work for pegasus ponies."
"Yeah, we have light bones. Break easily, heal easier. Take it from me. I've broken a lot."
"Doing what?"
"Crashing. Don't get me wrong, I hardly ever crash! Just when I was younger I was a little…clumsier. I'm definitely one of the best fliers in Equestria now. I've only broken one bone in the past five years."
"Which bone?"
"Wing," Rainbow twitched a wing to emphasize. "I got over it."
"I guessed."
They fell into a silence for a moment, before the cyan pegasus spoke up again.
"So what's it like where you're from? I thought I heard you saying there aren't any ponies."
"Nope, no ponies, and no unicorns either. We have pegasi, but they're a lot different from you and me. They're bigger, for one thing, more like the Princess, and they're not very smart. We ride them."
"You ride them?"
"Hey, I said they aren't smart! They're just dumb animals in Skyworld. We have a whole cavalry now, thanks to me. My pegasus was called Naro. I was getting to be really good at riding, too. And now I'm stuck here."
"But you wanted to help us, didn't you?" Rainbow looked hurt. "I thought you came here because you wanted to help!"
"I did! My lady gave me a choice and I chose to come. Even though I'm dreights and dreights away from home and I can't go back unless one of the alicorns opens a portal for me."
"…woah. That's rough. Sorry."
"It's OK. All the oozes will be gone from Equestria in a month max. I can cope that long. I've coped with being gone from Angel Land for almost half a year before."
"Where did you go?"
"The Ground World. I don't really know if it has a name apart from that. The ancient texts in Skyworld call it 'Triolof' but that's not what the guys that live on it call it. I was staying in this big mansion with loads of other people – that's how I met Marth and Link – fighting in a tournament that got put on TV."
"On TV? That is so cool!" she said, genuinely looking amazed. She tipped a wing and rapidly dodged around a pillar before she rejoined Pit at his side.
"It was fun. I made a lot of friends. I don't really know if Marth and Link are any of those friends, but they're nice enough. Marth thinks he's smart and Link is only smart when it comes to puzzles, but they're OK."
"Why doesn't Link talk?"
"I dunno. Zelda said that he can talk he just doesn't want to. Psychological trauma or something. I really don't know, he's kind of a mystery to everyone."
"That's not hard to imagine. He's kinda weird to me."
"And I'm not?"
"It's weird that you're still a foal and yet you're so strong and smart, but you're not creepy-weird like that Link guy is."
"I'm not strong or smart," Pit said, his face going to something harsher. "I'm small for my age and not that good at melee. I'm not stupid but I'm not smart either. I'm just good at tactics."
"I meant strong as in…pony-strong. You know. You can get people to listen to you. You made me believe that we can beat out the ooze, so I don't see why you can't make everyone else believe that too."
"Heh, thanks," he gave her a small but honest smile, which she returned in grin format. She suddenly came to a halt mid-air, however, and said:
"Uh oh, ooze! And it's a big one!"
This was Pit's first proper glimpse of an ooze. It was indeed a big one, taller than Rainbow Dash and twice as wide. It seemed to be made of a dark purple bubbling substance, and two yellow eyes glowed underneath the sludge. It made no sound as it noticed them, but a large portion of it spread out in front of it and it slid along towards them. Pit fumbled for his bow, surprising himself with how easily he could hold it. An ice arrow appeared in it as he drew back the string, and released. The arrow made a thwuck noise as it hit the sludge. A tiny part of the ooze that surrounded the arrow went icy white.
"More, more! Keep going, I'll distract it!" Rainbow Dash egged him on, zipping over the ooze. Pit pulled back again, an arrow appearing as he did so, before he released. Again, thwuck and another patch of ice joined the pre-existing one. More arrows came, each creating that little patch of ice.
"It doesn't seem to be doing much," said Pit."
"It can't move all that fast, that's all, you should see what they can do when there's tonnes of -"
"I meant my arrows."
"Wait, watch this!" Rainbow Dash fluttered up to the ceiling, before swooping down, dive-bombing the ooze. She struck the most frozen patch with her hoof, and a chunk broke away. The ooze made a noise that can only be described as brlorp. It evidently didn't like having bits of it chipped off, and as revenge split itself in two. Pit hadn't ever seen that happen before, and so he was startled when each of the two new, smaller globs grew glowing yellow eyes and a mouth. He rapidly released a volley of arrows into the one he deemed the larger one.
"When you're ready, Rainbow Dash!" he called, shooting another arrow. With a swoosh, the cyan pegasus swept in and bashed a hearty chunk out. Pit loaded up more arrows, and in only a couple of minutes it had been reduced to icy shards on the floor.
Now they had their tactic, the second one was easy to take down, being the smaller of the two anyway.
"I need to see if I can get some more powerful arrows for this thing," Pit commented, settling on the floor among the shards, kicking them away with his hoof.
"Aw, I dunno, I think we did pretty well! Way easier than it was before, without them," Rainbow Dash nodded, brushing the ice shards out of the window with her tail.
"How did you take them out when you didn't have ice?"
"Mostly we had to drop something big and heavy on them. It was really hard, even for me."
"That does sound harder. Come on, we've found one up here so it's likely that there's a way up for them."
"Yeah: let's find it and take 'em out!" she grinned and zipped off, leaving Pit to shout -
"Hey!" - and do his best to catch up to her.
So we have ANOTHER character out of the picture. Trust me, I didn't want to do it either, Fluttershy is my 2nd favourite, due to being able to relate to her really well. But hey, perhaps there's hope for her yet. I really have no idea. I make these things up as I go along (for example, when I first started writing Celestia was going to be the one to greet Pit, not Luna). And, last but not least, it would mean so much to me if you'd take the time to write me a few words (or paragraphs, either or) telling me what you liked, what you think I could improve, who you'd like to see appear next. Honestly. And that's it for now, expect another chapter (and more bonus art) soon!