Chapter 25

Stampede

Horsecules and Flute fought against the force of the crowd, but their strength eventually failed them and they were swept up in the riot. The guard in front of the door was quite surprised not only to see the prisoners escape, but to be trampled by them. Reyna could only watch with a sort of wicked glee at the chaos as it unfolded.

"Oh my goodness!" Flute gasped, "Um, could everypony slow down? Please? Um... hello?"

The forest pony couldn't be heard over the crowd and was soon trapped in a struggle between the prisoners and the guards as the herd of angry equines reached the main hall. Battle and angry shouts surrounded her and she couldn't do much but duck and cover her head for protection. After a few seconds, she heard a familiar voice reassure her, "Come on, Flute! Let's join the brawl!"

She looked up and saw Reyna standing proudly next to Horsecules as they stared down a pair of charging guards. Getting to her hooves, the forest pony steeled herself for the worst. She managed to stammer out, "C-c-can't we just run?" before the two armored dogs were upon them.

The dogs took their swings at the same times, one of them striking Horsecules quite hard across the head and the other just barely missing Reyna. The barbarian spun around while kicking out with her back legs, hitting the guard that had attacked her squarely in the face and forcing him to take a step back. Horsecules reared up and placed on very heavy hoof into his foe's gut, making the dog double over and pass out.

Flute took a deep breath and focused her magic, but nothing happened. "Oh, that's right!" she gasped, "I'm out of spells for the day."

The remaining guard raked a claw across Reyna's face and the savage reeled back in pain. "OW!" She cried out as she threw her front hooves forward onto her enemy's chest, "YOU JERK!"

The guard was pinned to the floor, his head snapping back and striking the hard stone surface. His eyes spun around in his head and he struggled to stand, but gave up very quickly. Reyna glared at him before deciding that he probably wasn't going to get back up for a while and getting off his chest.

Horsecules withdrew at the sight of Reyna's wound. "That looks bad, lass," he told her, "You should probably get a healer to look at it."

"I'm fine!" the savage snapped, "It's just a scratch! Let's find the throne room and end this. NOW!"

Flute looked at Reyna's injury too. It was a nasty set of marks across her left eye that forced her to walk with only the other one open. It was clear that the wounds bothered her, but not nearly enough to stop her. Besides, she couldn't do much to help without her magic. "We should really find a healer," she said in her usual, quite voice.

"I said later!" Reyna yelled, "We're not leaving until that sorry excuse for a stallion is lying at our hooves! I owe him for what he did to my wing."

The barbarian marched down the hall with the other two following. Horsecules and Flute looked to each other, but said nothing. This would have to be be a lesson that Reyna learned the hard way.

Robin Hoof and his new friends emerged from the basement and were immediately approached by another hooded colt. "The castle, sir!" he sounded anxious, "There's smoke!"

"What?" Robin Hoof gave a disbelieving look, "That can't be right. We haven't sent anyone to cause trouble there yet."

Beopony looked to Styles and asked, "What are the chances that your friends did something rash?"

"Very high, apparently," Styles answered, "I bet they're raising all sorts of trouble. I haven't known the barbarian for very long, but she seemed quite... volatile."

Beopony tilted his head, "Vola-what?"

Twin Star explained, "It means unstable or short-tempered. I'm sure that Reyna can take care of herself though, it's Flute R'Shye who I'm worried about."

"What are we waitin' for then?" Jack spoke up, "Let's get over to the castle, kick some flank and rescue our friends."

Robin Hoof looked through the blinds of a window. He looked back to the others and told them, "If that's the plan then we'd better hurry. It looks like part of the castle is on fire!"

The five heroes darted out the door and headed down the road as fast as they could. In the distance, they could hear the sounds of barking dogs and battle cries. Styles commented, "If Pin Kay were here, she'd be singing one of those metal songs right now."

Reyna, Flute and Horsecules continued down the halls and eventually found their way to a large room. It seemed to be some kind of dining hall with a large table in the middle and their captor sitting at the head of it. "Hello, my little ponies," he sounded angry, "Here to wipe your dirty hooves on my hospitality some more?"

"YOU!" Reyna barked, "I don't know who you think you are, but it is GO TIME, COWARD!"

The mysterious figure gave a deep, wicked laugh before saying, "You don't know who you're dealing with, so let me make things very clear; I am Lord Faust. I am your future king. I am the most powerful magic-user in Equestraland and you are just an insect before AN EMPEROR!"

A beam of brilliant light shot from Faust's horn and Reyna was just barely fast enough to duck under it. The attack left a large scorch mark on the wall behind her and she growled as she remembered what a similar spell had done to her wing not very long ago. "That all you got?" the barbarian challenged.

"Taunt later," Horsecules said s he jumped onto the table and started to charge, "Fight now!" He was soon right in front of his target and he brought his front hooves down hard. The unicorn fell backwards, out of his chair. He took a few scrapes, but got to his hooves quickly enough and had managed to avoid taking a very heavy blow.

Flute was about to act, but suddenly heard the sound of someone singing. She stopped and listened, recognizing the voice. "P...Pin Kay?" She mutter as she turned around.

Standing in the doorway was Pin Kay, now with very straight hair and a black dress. She held a strange looking guitar that shone in the light of the chandelier above. Strumming on the instrument, she sang a slow, sad melody, "Now you all know the bards and their songs. When hours have gone by, I'll close my eyes. In a world far away we may meet again, but now hear my song about the dawn of the night. Let's sing a bard's song..."

A strange, dark flame surrounded Reyna's legs but did not burn her. She didn't even seem to notice. "Come on, wimp!" she shouted at Faust as she charged across the room, "Let's do this!"

The barbarian was about halfway across the room when she started to slow down and then stopped. Chills ran through her body and tears welled up in her eyes. "Wha-what?" she mumbled, "Wh-why?" she could help but lay down and start quietly sobbing, "No... no hope... We don't matter... Why try?"

"Lass?" Horsecules turned to look at Reyna and Faust found an opportunity; his horn glowed for a brief moment before white flames suddenly erupted from his mouth! The fires covered Horsecules and sent him stumbling backwards, shouting, "Gah! That's a cheap shot and you know it!"

"The savage scolds as if I'm going to fight fair anyway," Faust narrated, "I'm a sorcerer. I don't even obey the laws of physics half the time and you expect me to obey the laws of war? You're either a foal or a headcase!"

"I'm about to put you in a case!" the large stallion threatened, "Then I'm gonna bury it!" He jumped off the table and tried to buck the magic-user in the head, but to no avail. Faust twisted to the side and out of the way of the hero's hooves. "Curse you! Stand still!" Horsecules ordered.

Flute looked to Reyna and was about to run to her side, but then began to feel very sad herself. Before she was brought as low as her friend, she suddenly found that her hooves had been surrounded by black flames that did not burn her. Snapping out of her sorrow, she looked to Pin Kay and saw a halo of black fire had formed over her head and it pulsated with the rhythm of her song. "Pin!" Flute called out, "Stop singing! You're not helping!"

"Tomorrow will take us away," Pin Kay didn't seem to hear her friend, "Far from home," she then stopped singing, but kept playing her guitar. Reyna continued the next line, "No one will ever know our names," and then Pin took up the lyrics again, "but the bard's songs will remain."

The two seemed to be ignoring everything around them when Flute finally rushed Pin Kay and jumped, putting her shoulder into the bard's face. The pink pony fell back, clutching her nose as Flute apologized, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I just wanted you to stop and you weren't listening and Reyna was... I'm sorry!"

Reyna suddenly snapped out of her sorrow and stood up, shaking her head. Glaring at Faust, she screamed out, "YOU SON OF A..."

Faust interrupted, "Bring it on, savage!"

Reyna ran head-long at her foe, jumping as high as she could and bring down her front hooves hard. She felt a satisfying impact as she made contact with the top of Faust's head, but it was only a glancing blow that left her on all fours, facing a dizzy spell caster. He stumbled back awkwardly, shaking his head to try and recover his senses.

The sorcerer finally regained his balance and, despite a pounding headache, managed to jump back and unleash another beam of light from his horn. This one went past Reyna and towards... "Flute! Look out!" The barbarian called to her ally.

It was too late. The blast hit the forest pony's side and sent her yelping in pain past the bard and out the door. She struggled to get back up, but couldn't find the strength to move. The world around her went black and she slipped out of consciousness.

Horsecules watched helplessly as his new tiny friend fell and could feel his blood boil. "Why'd you do a foal thing like that?" he shouted in anger, "She was the cute one!"

"Tell somepony who ca.." Faust started to say, but the large pony's hoof soon flew across his face and sent him to the floor again. The unicorn struggled to get up this time, holding his injured jaw.

"Hmm..."

Roller rubbed his chin in thought. "This was not expected," he thought aloud, "how should I fix it?"

X asked, "Is there something on your mind, CR? Would you mind sharing it with the rest of us?"

Roller shook his head, "It's HM stuff," he explained, "I'd hate to give you guys that much information. Still... hmm..."

"I know that look," A Capella whispered to Twilight, "That's the look he gets when we're not being challenged enough. It's meant doom for many adventuring parties."

Twilight whispered back, "What do you mean? Do you think it's going to be that bad?"

AC nodded, "Yeah, it'll be bad. If I know Roller as well as I like to think I do, and I'm pretty sure I do, he's going to find a way to make this campaign a lot harder. Something bad is about to happen."

Roller looked back up with a wicked smile. "Told you," AC shrugged his shoulders, "That's the look of a HM who's about to say..."

Roller said in a low, menacing voice...

"Make a roll for Reflexes."

A loud noise could be heard muffled beneath the room, causing Faust's eye to grow wide. "Oh no," he mumbled, "The alchemy lab!"

Reyna gasped as the floor gave out from under her and despite flapping her injured wing, still fell into the dark abyss below. Horsecules ran for the hallway only to be swallowed up as well before he could make it. Faust laughed maniacally as the room continued to shake and cried out, "Lucky me! Enjoy the basement, suckers!"

Suddenly, Pin and Flute fell through the floor into the shadows below as well. "Oh!" Faust yelped, "No! Wait!" he looked down the new holes for a moment before muttering, "Shoot."

Lady Styles and the others reached the castle's moat and could see smoke pouring up from somewhere behind the walls into the sky, blotting out the light of the sun. The drawbridge was up and the thief cursed their bad luck. Suddenly, they felt the ground shake for a second and then stop.

"What was that?" Twin Star asked as she stared at the ground quizzically.

"I can't say for sure," Beopony answered, "but it can't be good."

A/N: The song is The Bard's Song by Blind Guardian. Look it up, it's catchy.