Chapter 3: Kobold.
Rainbow Dash had wondered when things had become so quiet; it was like there wasn't anything going on or as if something was missing from the town. Ignoring that feeling Rainbow Dash launched from the cloud taking off towards the post office, it's been a slow week there and maybe Dolly had some time off to teach her a trick or two in karate. While she was doing this she was recalling the fact that the entire town of Ponyville seems overly interested in her orientation when as far as she can see she had none.
When she arrived at the post office she was met with an odd sight, Pinkie being quiet and with a mare that looked kind of like Derpy except her eyes weren't looking off in opposite directions.
"Well of course things in Ponyville have gotten better since you started delivering the junk mail." Pinkie was being rather supportive there wasn't much to dispatch Dixie to do, but she needed someone to talk to her. Dixie was a social pony that has been talking to Pinkie the substitute dispatcher for the past hour or so.
"I don't know, I mean has anyone been getting any junk mail since I started delivering it?" At Dixie's words Pinkie gained a bright smile.
"I think that's the point Dixie, Dolly knew you'd make ponies happier by losing the mail that no pony wants in the first place, whoever is getting it must almost never get any mail to begin with and that might be making them happier even if it's stuff they don't really need." Pinkie could just imagine whoever was getting the mail; that Dixie somehow miraculously lost while trying to deliver it, was probably getting a surprise at least every other day and that it was spreading joy somehow.
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In the vast reaches of space a giant robot opened a tiny letter and read what was inside of it intrigued.
Even if it was junk mail, it was still brightly colored and interesting in an otherwise drab world of wars and constant fighting. He could transform into a jet and he might be a chronic backstabbing machine, but he really was beginning to have an unusually friendly attraction for ponies.
If only he could find a machine that transformed into a giant unicorn and was run by a female intelligence he'd be set. He really didn't need the entire universe at that point, but until then he would just plot his days away trying to overthrow his lord and maybe try to conquer the universe. After much thought he knew taking over the universe was an impossible dream and despite that, it was something to look forward to while waiting for the machine of his dreams to appear. Besides what would they do with the universe once they had it, their cycles had to run out eventually.
But until then the robot had to smile or in most cases smirk.
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"Pinkie, what are you doing here and where's Dolly?" Pinkie and Dixie turned to Rainbow Dash, one with half hearted smile and the other has yet to be introduced and had muffins to spare.
"I'm standing in for Dolly… she's went off on a secret mission. Oh and she took Twilight, Derpy, Zecora and even Trixie with her." Pinkie smiled as she saw the disbelieving twitch in Dashie's eyes.
"Why in the world would Trixie be with them? She's just a braggart who can't back up her stuff." Rainbow Dash obviously still had a grudge against what Trixie did to her, Applejack and Rarity when she was last in Ponyville.
"Oh I don't know, every pony deserves a second, third and maybe fourth chance. She didn't seem to be a big bragger after she met Dolly. OH… we need to have a welcome home party for them for when they get back!" Pinkie brightened up; if she had a party on standby then surely Dolly would have to come to it.
Because anything that has to do with the mail like a party celebrating Ponyville's premiere ponies of the mailing system is sure to attract a fussy Dolly saying they should be delivering mail to the ponies instead of cake to their mouths.
"Well there goes my idea of finding someone to teach me some hoof-to-hoof lessons, now what am I going to do." It was when Rainbow mentioned hoof-to-hoof that Dixie perked up; maybe it'd get her mind off trying to give Dinky a stable home if she sparred with someone who was willing to let Dolly use them as a hoofing bag. Dinky had a lot of problems behind her and Dixie wanted her to have good future, she wanted to go over it with her mail team to share the unicorn between the four of them, then they can all care for the little one.
"Maybe I can help? I'm on Dolly's level, but I don't like being aggressive so don't expect me to throw to many attacks at you but I can correct you on your form." Both Pinkie and Dixie saw the bright eyed look in Rainbow's eyes.
Seriously someone on Dolly's level of karate and basic hoof to hoof without being aggressive? Rainbow was going to have a field day. Pinkie gave a smile as there was no mail going anywhere except local area which she took care of herself, so she had some free time to join in on the fun before she had to work at Sugar Cube Corner.
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The two regal ponies with horns and wings, sat together alone in a throne room in a castle built into side of a mountain. One was dark as night and the other was bright as day.
"So… this Dolly, she's special like Twilight? Then why didn't I see her when I went Nightmare Moon on every pony?" Luna was sitting beside her sister discussing the mail dispatcher in Ponyville and why she required special attention.
"I had her away from Ponyville on other business, Dolly was better off not getting involved with you. Plus I didn't want you to get hurt, she's a good freelancer and if you mess with the mailing system you better hope that it isn't her that comes after you. Just trust me my beloved sister, she can probably take us both out if necessary and that's only if she has the full help of the elements of harmony and maybe their wielders behind her." Celestia was seen as a wise and wonderful bright cheerful being. That couldn't be further from the truth of how the princess truly felt as she leaned on a phoenix for companionship for over a thousand years in grief with but a few respites by several generations of friendly ponies.
Celestia has been more relaxed lately spending much more time with her sister who's taken a liking to golfing because of Derpy the mail pony. Her sister Luna wasn't bad at golfing but there was no way she could beat that mare without enchanting the ball personally and that would be cheating.
"Take us… what are you saying?" Luna looked kind of stricken, she'd understand if Celestia had said to take her; the moon mare herself, out, but Celestia has never done anything wrong. She'd rather imprison Celestia than hurt her physically.
"Look, despite the constant sunshine of a pony I represent, I'm not perfect and even I know that too much sunlight will cause painful burns with over exposure. Luna we may be powerful but we must never forget we can be dealt with and that we are not invincible. If what happened to you is what happens to me eventually I too would want to be stopped before I hurt some pony." Celestia looked away from Luna tears brimming upon her usually pristine form, before she got up and trotted away from her wide eyed sister leaving a few words unsaid.
Luna thought her sister would appreciate a thousand years of loyalty from her subjects... the truth of matter was actually a little more complicated then she was willing to comprehend at the moment. She needed to make more friends; Derpy was busy with that Dolly pony. Who could she spend time with? An explosion was heard and Luna looked out a nearby window and saw a building collapse, this stuff had been happening all day and Celestia said it was a construction project… maybe she could help! It'd get her mind off the fact that her sister was afraid not only for her, but of herself and what she was capable of doing. The day that lasted forever was as equally devastating as the night lasting forever and Luna quickly shunned the thought that Celestia could be driven to be like what she had become.
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A Kobold was a forest spirit, a five foot tall armored lizard warrior that walked on its hind legs and usually wielded a scimitar blade, a spear or an axe with a shield that had a spike extending from the center. It didn't need a helmet to protect its head and with its toothy maw being relative to an alligators. Its claws could rend a pony in two if given a chance.
There were several kinds of Kobold's, some with wings and others with the ability to chill a pony to the bone with its frosty breathe. They exist in another realm and magic can draw them into the world and as soon as that magic runs out the Kobold would go back. No unicorn has ever survived summoning one on purpose or by accident, as after they are called into the world they usually have enough energy to eat their summoning master before dispersing to from where they came from.
Only Celestia or Luna would have hopes of actually controlling one and it was a good thing neither would actually try to summon one on the fact that it might actually kill some pony, even Nightmare Moon didn't summon one because she didn't want to kill the ones she wanted adoration from. For all she wanted was the beauty of the night to finally be appreciated.
Twilight figured she was about to get a crash course in what a Kobold could do and exactly how powerful they truly were as they were led by the Brownies toward a ravaged area that looked like the remains of a small village. Her eyes looked at the damage trees, the area strewn with shattered arrows and no blood anywhere, she felt the eerie quiet settle over every pony as they stood there.
The village was even smaller then Ponyville but considering how big Brownies were and their relations to actual Foxes it was understandable. The bravest Brownies that led them into the area ears were twitching wildly they were constantly on alert and their bows were always notched, their eyes darted everywhere and their noses sniffed for even a hint of the reptilian stink that destroyed the homes they had made at the base of some of the currently toppled trees. Twilight was studying the Brownies having never met creatures so intriguing since the Parasprites, there were a lot of things in the world that needed to be catalogued judging by the way that only Dolly seemed to know what they were.
Suddenly the brave Brownies tensed before leaping for nearby trees and blending in with the bark, Twilight took notice that all male Brownies were covered completely in brown fur and female brownies had green colored fur in splotches around their bodies. Obviously the females lived off the ground whereas the males lived closer to it and they moved like flying squirrels with leaps and bounds between the trees. They smelled like the kind of trees they were born in and she in particular liked the pine scented one she had been near.
Zecora took a moment every once in a while to scoop something or other into a pouch bought in Ponville by Dolly, there was a cornucopia of useful flora as long as the fauna didn't mind them stopping every once in a while for her to pick some useful herbs for any number of occasions. It wasn't too slow, but the sudden disappearance had her back away from a bush towards the others and they were all suddenly alert as the Brownies had been.
"Why do I get this feeling that the lizard has landed?" The agitated and slightly contempt Trixie said sardonically as she and Twilight had been conversing what they knew about Kobolds between them. It was agreed that only magic can summon one of these foul creatures into their realm and whoever could control one had to be powerful. Given that they were knowledgeable about the subject, except they've never seen one in person or much less fought one. This should be an interesting experience. The other ponies, and present zebra, had been listening in, picking up on what Twilight and Trixie knew of the drawing the Brownies created on the ground. The Brownies were actually pretty good artists if the party if equines were to judge after they saw a Kobold for themselves.
They were standing out in the open looking at the trees watching for any movement from the ground or from above, the Brownies had vacated the area or were watching from safety for what was about to happen. Dolly had a very bad headache at the moment and it was getting worse, depending on how close the Kobold was. It was already adding much to the migraine she already had about the entire area being flooded with danger.
The Kobold lunged for them and appeared to be quite intelligent as it managed to target the least alert looking pony, unfortunately that was a mild mistake that anyone would make. As it brought down its sword Derpy lifted herself onto her front hooves into a perfect upside down hoof stand narrowly avoiding getting her rear end sliced in half losing a minute amount of tail hair in the process.
The lizard eyes narrowed on the frightened wall eyed expression on Derpy's face before she flexed herself inward and bucked out into the creatures face staggering it before it could bring its shield up.
Derpy rolled from the impact with the iron muscled face and her legs were numb. At least she was standing as she controlled her roll so that she was facing the lizard as it roared at her causing her mane to flop backwards wildly. Hitting it was like bucking a solid brick wall and she wasn't very strong in offensive maneuvers to begin with, she should probably stick to the Bumbling Pony Style of martial arts and not try that again.
"Why isn't my magic working? It's like there's a void where the Kobold is." Both Twilight and the scared and panicked Trixie's magic reacted in the same way. Upon the Kobolds speedy entrance; they both tried to levitate it or alter its course and failed to have any effect much to their disbelief as their horns glowed strongly trying to affect it.
Zecora was scaling a nearby tree and was going to stay out of the way unless she could figure out a way she can stop such a beast, at least she wouldn't have to step in unless it was about to make a pony into a feast. Even then she wouldn't know what to do as a fighter she was not, this situation to her has gotten way too hot.
Derpy wasn't going to be able to dodge with the way her hind legs were currently wobbling as the Kobold gained its equilibrium and jumped at her raising its sword high in the air, held tightly in its right claw. This caused Derpy's ears to flatten and her eyes to widen as it came down at her.
It was soon body checked by an angry looking Dolly in slow motion as she wrapped her hooves around the creature's midsection. She managed to buck the sword out of its claws before she got stuck in a tumble that ended with the creature victoriously on top of her. The sword landed point down near some bushes forgotten as the Kobold had a victim now.
Its left leg was stomped down on her lower torso with a mild noise of pain from Dolly as the most of her right hind leg was under its crushing weight, the other foot dug into the ground as it thrust its right claw down to hold down her left front hoof and moved its toothy maw in for the kill.
Dolly threw her free right hoof into its face as hard as she could too little effect and then again putting a bit more force into it dazing it slightly but not enough get out from under its weight. All Dolly did was make it mad and in response it raised its left arm claws, shield and all back. It swung down sending blood flying from the left side of her face instantly taking the fight out of her as she screamed.
Trixie's pupils shrunk; the bloody visage was back and this time it was a reality, she reacted almost instantly realizing that using magic to directly affect the Kobold was not going to work just turned her attention to a nearby tree. If Twilight couldn't affect the Kobold even with raw power she had then something a little more solid might work as she lifted the once standing tree and stumbled to the right slightly from the weight of the levitation spell she was using. Taking a few more steps to the side, she lunged to her left and snapped her head in the same direction as well sending the tree hurtling straight for the Kobold.
Dolly could feel its jaws coming to a close over her head only for her right eye to see clear sky through the canopy of trees a second later, as her left eye was covered with blood she could tell she was bleeding badly from the claw marks along her face as she felt it trickling along her nose. She was in pain and she quickly she flicked her short mane into her the left side of her face, where her white hair became slightly pink as it weighed down by her blood soaking into it. Trying to stand up she felt as if her back right leg was broken; she'd simply have to write it off as a sprain and keep fighting.
"Mommy!" Trixie ran up too her crying and was hugging poor Dolly before she knew what was going on.
"Tricks get it together, whatever happened to your mother I'm not her. Besides we still have a Kobold problem, I don't think throwing logs at it will get rid of it so easily." Dolly didn't know what to do as Trixie wasn't letting go and she appeared to have mentally snapped. Well helping the alone and lonely Trixie to stop being a braggart of a pony was now coming back on Dolly and she had to deal with the consequences of a distraught mare while in a bad condition.
"Don't go… I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough mommy… please don't go." Trixie was in a different world altogether, she wasn't seeing what was really going on anymore and cuddled up to an injured Dolly who was trying her best to calm the poor mare down.
Twilight looked quite heartbroken and tried to make her way over to them, or at least Trixie to provide comfort for reliving whatever trauma she was going through. Twilight knew for sure Dolly wasn't her mother and was now intrigued to hear the story behind how Trixie became like she was when they first met. Derpy was finally getting some feeling back into her legs and tried to move in the same direction.
"No! The danger has yet to pass; the Kobold is still in the grass!" Zecora yelled mostly to Twilight and Derpy who looked up at her as Dolly and Trixie were currently busy dealing with each other.
From her position Zecora watched as the Kobold with slightly shattered armor was already getting up and its left side was only mildly bruised, what happened to it next left the zebra entirely confused.
The Kobold reached out with one of its claws and touched a bush before disappearing, it reappeared near its sword laying around the bush it landed next to and grabbed it before disappearing once again. Its shield and sword were still in good condition and it was choosing a new target.
It would save the other two for later, they wouldn't be getting very far. It licked its lips with its tongue before licking the blood off its left claw in wondering how sensational the live and fresh meat would taste if the blood was that good.
"I am mostly perplexed; it appears to be teleporting around you. Have I been hexed?" Zecora wasn't making much sense to Twilight who knew now to heed the zebra's advice on anything now after the poison joke affair and the fact that the Kobold could teleport dropped the other shoe. From the look on her face Twilight didn't exactly know what to do.
"Zecora where is it?" Twilight wasn't going to panic, she was better than that. These equines were relying on her to help them, but her magic was useless against that thing. For some reason it didn't work on the Kobold at all and she knew she was casting a spell but it didn't seem to connect.
Zecora bit her bottom lip and lifted a hoof making a light motion and pointed behind her and to the right, Zecora currently saw the eyes of the beast in the bushes around the small destroyed villages clearing looking at Twilight.
Twilight's ears dropped to the side her tail went limp and she twitched, it was behind her? But what was she going to do, she couldn't fight that thing!
Twilight galloped out of the way as the reptilian monster as it rushed out with its shield held aloft in an attempt to skewer her, it was more cautious than before even knowing that magic other than what brought it here personally wouldn't affect it and it could teleport when it comes into contact with a bush. There was a saying about how Kobolds put the word 'bush' into ambushed, even if Twilight hadn't heard of it she was lucky that the Kobold was actually wary of them to commit fully to a high speed charge.
Twilight ducked, jumped and dodged out of the way of the sword it swung wildly and avoided getting spiked on its shield when it was thrust forward as she was trying to figure out how to stop it. In the background Derpy was worrying over Dolly's face and she was comforting Trixie.
"Derpy stop worrying about us and get in there and help Ms. Sparkle that's an order mail mare. I want you to deliver!" Dolly was slightly cross with Derpy worrying about her injuries when she was perfectly fine standing on three hooves and currently blinded in her left eye. Derpy threw a quick salute with a serious looking wall eyed expression before her eyes straightened out and she looked around before marching off and away from the frantically dodging Twilight. Twilight lost a bit of her mane and got a small cut across one of her legs almost getting a worse injury after that in the scuffle throwing a rather ineffective buck whenever she could.
"Tricks can you let go of me please… um… mommy has to help her friends now." Dolly felt awkward saying that as she was sure Zecora or even the actual and internal Trixie herself were hearing it, she tried to pulled away but the cape and hat wearing mare just wouldn't let go. Dolly knew she was the only one here with no innocence to be broken as she has ended a life before, not necessarily a pony's life but a few exceedingly dangerous creatures nonetheless that Celestia herself was worried about dealing with.
"But if I let you go now, you'll never come back... you'll never come back." Dolly was going to hate herself for this later, as she moved to do something about the sobbing and obviously hysterical Trixie. She paused in her action as Derpy shot by smiling and holding a Super Mare pose kind of like one of the many failed Rainboom attempts by Rainbow Dash.
Twilight had managed to get some kind of levitation effect on the Kobold. Only she was affecting its armor or what was left of it, shield of which at some point she had magically snapped the spike off of it and wrapped it tightly around the Kobolds left arm cutting off its circulation a bit and the sword she was currently busy trying to pry from its grasp but it was resisting her magic more than the armor or shield.
Twilight didn't seem to take the obvious route with crushing it in its armor, but that would have saved them all a lot of time except that poor Twilight the book smart pony didn't have an overly violent bone in her violet colored body. Derpy however did when she came flying in from out of nowhere into the creatures chest destroying the rest of the Kobolds armor. Twilight's concentration lost hold over its equipment at that time as she switched focus to catch Derpy after she rebounded off the Kobolds body leaving a small bruise mark on its chest, joining the mark in its left side.
The Kobold roared angrily as Twilight gently set down Derpy with her wonky eye and victorious smile except her front left hoof ached from the impact and she was currently sore in three different places all of them centered on her legs. That little moment of Victory died with the realization that using Rainbow Dash's tree branch slingshot maneuver didn't stop the Kobold much less keep it from wielding its sword as it tossed away what was left of its armor and shield ripping both off of itself while getting very, very angry. Twilight couldn't get any hold on the sword with her magic it seemed completely immune now; it was probably the close proximity with the armor that gave her any control over it in the first place.
"Please Tricks be a dear and do a trick for me using this, on that. Oh and stretch and wrap as much of it as you can around the thing, show mommy how you wrap presents." Dolly decided against instantly snapping Trixie out of her state and instead went with digging into her bag and coming out with one of several special Pinkie Pie Products she got back in Ponyville. She pointed out the Kobold and smiled coldly sure this might be using Trixie a bit, but if it made Trixie herself helpful… no pony would say anything.
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"Hello and welcome to a Pinkie Pie interruption, I'm Pinkie Pie the Party Pony of Ponyville and here's a little fun fact about me and my products. Oh I could go on and sing you an entire song about how wonderful some of them are but it is a sad truth that some of them are not for the kind of parties I like to throw. Some of them aren't very nice at all, I'll pop in when a product is used to explain its function but not if it spoils anything." Pinkie appeared with a black screen at her back and she pulled out a single button remote and used her other hoof to hit the button, a simple looking five foot streamer appeared on the black screen in nifty three dimensional graphics. She giggled a bit as the streamer on screen stretched out over several extra feet and changed colors as it was stretched. A second diagram soon appeared revealing a different streamer only it was solid green and marked as 'for freelancer use in place of ropes when necessary'.
"This is my Pie Party Product zero zero one, a favorite of mine since streamers are always welcome at any party. My streamers however are exceptionally built to last and you only need one for an entire party as they can stretch around a whole room without snapping back to the original five feet. That's why I call them Stretchy Streamers; they sound so cool like Rainbow Dash." A wistful look crosses Pinkie as she stares off into space and then snaps back to attention once she realized the text talked about her wistfully thinking of Dash even if it's unsure whether or not she'd swing her way.
"Well that's not much of a problem I swing both ways, I'm sure there's a colt out there for me that looks just like her with such a wondrous wingspan and can maybe create rainbows... and mmmm…" PINKIE GET BACK ON TOPIC AND STOP BREAKING THE TEXT WALL! Pinkie garnered a sheepish look on her face as she let loose a small stream of giggles into her left hoof.
"Oh right, sorry, silly me it's just a lot of shippers like the idea of me and Rainbow together and well I like reading about it too, so I'm open to the idea. Anyway my product the "Stretchy Streamer" is as tough as steel and can stretch up to twenty times its length. It's for one hundred feet of streamer fun compacted into five small feet." Pinkie you might as well tell them the issue with your product because we don't have all day and you're stalling the story quite a bit.
"Well of course I'm stalling silly, how else will you keep the chapter's length to the maximum? Anyway my products always have these teensy weensy little design flaws… my streamers for example go up like flash paper at the slightest spark and I never quite worked that bug out but at least if it goes up that fast nothing else can catch on fire right?" Are we done here Pinkie? We have a few more of your moments in this chapter to go through and you'll have to keep them all short now. Pinkie Pie smiled with cheery exuberance.
"I'm good, oh and all my products are made with my version of Earth Pony Magic and are guaranteed to do what I say they do! Till next time readers this is Pinkie Pie currently with Rainbow Dash and Dixie Day having fun with "Fluffy Boppers" another Pinkie Pie Party Product for safe play and hitting your friends with the equivalent of a soft pillow wrapped around your hoof".
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Twilight leapt aside as the Kobold brought it sword down vertically and then suddenly lashed out with its claws catching Twilight around the throat. Before it could do her any harm, Derpy leapt in and gave its arm a moderately average one legged stomp causing it to drop Twilight. It screeched and snapped at Derpy with its maw while bringing its sword around, missing the winged pony by a few centimeters as Derpy stumbled and flopped backwards out of its range.
It turned and lunged at Twilight again, it has been having a hard time trying to injure her and she was covered in bumps, bruises and an assortment of self inflicted injuries she got from avoiding damage that would be far worse. Rarity would have been complaining about how dirty she was getting avoiding this thing; it had taken a few swipes at Derpy when she interfered to attract its attention away from the unicorn that was barely getting a buck in edgewise against the sharp blade it was holding.
Twilight figured things weren't going well and this wasn't coming to a quick conclusion, it didn't seem to be tiring at all and she didn't know how to deal with it. However that matter was taken out of her hooves when it was caught in the middle of another lunge by what appeared to be one of… was that one of Pinkie Pie's streamers?
It was encompassed by magic as it stretched out and wrapping around the sword, the right claw holding it and then once around the torso to the tail of the Kobold, thus making sure it couldn't get to Twilight as it stressed against what should be feeble bindings. The other end of the streamer was tied to a tree and the tree buckled slightly at the strength of the Kobold's pull as it tried to reach Twilight with its free left claw grazing her coat slightly as she backed up a few steps.
Twilight looked over to see Trixie working her magic over the streamer to keep the Kobold at bay and that Dolly was tossing another streamer to Zecora then pointing in her direction while giving an order to her. Zecora nodded and made her way towards Derpy who was with Twilight and keeping the wildly thrashing Kobolds attention on them making sure it didn't think about going after the others which were within the range of the slack the streamer would give it.
The Kobold however did take notice of Zecora and went to rake its claws in her direction barely being slowed down by Trixie tugging magically at the streamer; Zecora backpedalled to the best of her ability ducking and weaving backwards away from its left arm.
Then the lizard did something unusual, instead of continuing to attack Zecora much to Dolly's disbelief it smirked and leapt over her and grabbed a nearby bush before disappearing leaving the stretched streamer lying loosely on the ground after Trixie stopped channeling magic to it with a sad look on her face.
Okay the Kobold was a lot smarter than they gave it credit for and it was already freakishly strong enough to possibly fight a teenage dragon, but it did give them a useful bit of information that she and possibly anyone else who saw that picked up on.
"It teleports by touching bushes? Not good." Surprising Dolly, Derpy was the first one to voice the information before she could say anything.
"Sorry mommy, I failed." Dolly turned her head toward a teary and remorseful Trixie and forced herself not to be cross with the mental stage magician.
"Its okay Tricks you did your best, now please do your best and help me quickly limp away from here." Next to the tree the streamer was wrapped around were several bushes. Trixie obliged in a tender manner still not actually seeing things in the right frame of mind.
Dolly's hair was acting as a nice bandage keeping her from losing much more blood, but she needed medical attention though she were loathe to admit it at this point. Just when they were barely far enough away from the bushes is when the Kobold burst out at them.
It spooked Trixie badly enough to cause her to have a unicorn foal reaction, which was that she cast a random bit of magic when she became stressed. It was a heavily ramped up fireworks spell with as much power as Trixie could have possibly put behind it, which was shot point blank directly in the Kobolds face causing it to back off with a pain screech as it was temporarily blinded and burned. It stumbled back into a bush and disappeared from sight.
Trixie though frightened continued to help Dolly limp to the center of the destroyed village away from all the bushes, now it was understood why there was no blood and why there were so many useless arrows littered everywhere. The creature could teleport faster than a Brownie could shoot, they needed to tie the monster down and keep it to one spot and away from any bushes.
Well it was a good thing Dolly had Zecora delivered another streamer directly to Twilight with quick instructions on how to use it. Despite how scared she was Zecora actually went along with the idea before the Kobold revealed its last secret to them, it was immune to magic and it was able to teleport but only with the application of a single touch to a bush and only then would it teleport to another bush.
The range of its teleport ability was in question, but that wasn't what was important right now. All they needed to do now was lure it to the center of the clearing in the village and tie it down and ultimately destroy it afterwards.
The how would be settled by Dolly's special supplies, the 'when' would be settled on if she could set them off safely and without dying. Dolly figured it was a moment to use one of the four C Four sticks mixed with as many BB's as she was willing to use, because that was definitely going to kill the Kobold unless it was impervious to that kind of blast.
"Derpy I hate to ask this of you but can you make sure not to panic when I finish off this nuisance? Trixie please go over to Twilight. Twilight, Trixie get ready to hold the Kobold down I'm going to need time to set up to finish it off or else we're not leaving the area at all. Zecora stay safe and be prepared to patch me up after we're done here, if you can't help me I know a place in case this causes me even more serious injury if I don't time it well." Dolly had an idea but it was about as risky as the many other things she's done in the past. It made her recall having a limb magically reattached and restored to her body without any ill side effects except maybe a short stay in a pony medical ward.
Dolly took to standing alone out in the middle of the open area in the village and she was about to attract the Kobolds attention the only way she knew how, she really hated what she was about to do to herself but it was the only way to make her a convincing target to the Kobold.
Lifting her right hind leg Dolly grit her teeth and thrust at the ground hard and she immediately howled in pain, that seriously hurt and she probably made the injury she had already been dealt even worse and she started crying. Her tears were only visible from her right eye and if that didn't attract the Kobold's attention then nothing… oh crap.
The Kobold immediately leapt out of a tree to prey on her weakness and almost got to her before two streamers stretched out entangling the Kobold, it was followed along with a copious amount of vines wrapping up its tail and legs. In fact it seemed like Twilight and Trixie didn't think that was enough when they added several fallen Brownie homes to keeping the Kobold pinned down. Dolly thought it was a necessary precaution as it looked to actually be warping the stretchy streamers almost coming close to snapping them until the trees slammed into it.
"Dolly whatever you're going to do, you better do it now while we have it contained I don't know how long we can hold it down." Twilight was using continuous amount of energy to keep the Kobold from freeing itself, it looked a little silly with having only vines bind its mouth but apparently it had the same problem as an alligator in jaw department.
"Nobody get too close to me then and wait for my signal to release it." Okay it was official Dolly was crazy from Twilight's perspective, but in the lost and confused Trixie's eyes she didn't want to let the monster get to her mother but she wanted to follow her command and be a good little filly.
Dolly moved so that she was next to a tree and opened her pack and plucked out a tube like object with a hollow opening pointing out of one end and several rubber balloons. This got her nothing but curious looks and they wondered what she was doing when she started blowing up balloons, followed by rubbing them carefully against her body before using the static electricity to gently stick them to the tree wincing as she did so trying to support her entire body on her left hind leg which had an arrow lodged in it not long ago.
The Kobold was a thrashing mess and it's binding were actually beginning to weaken leaving Twilight to wonder how strong this creature exactly was, not to mention who in the world summoned the bucking thing in the first place. Twilight felt this situation was going far beyond what she had been expecting when Dolly called her for help yesterday.
After sticking ten balloons to the tree, Dolly carefully wedged the tube like device so that its hollow end was pointing outward in the middle of the balloons and she pulled out a simple looking party popper. She stared the Kobold down as it somehow managed to get itself turned around in its bindings, it's sword was actually beginning to cut into the streamers. The trees the streamers were tied to were buckling almost ready to fall and its thrashing was getting worse.
"Let it go, NOW…" Dolly's voice was flat, cold and several kinds of wrong that said she might be about to die and was prepared to do so. Dolly's headache was just getting worse and worse by the minute, this was an outrageously stupid ploy.
Twilight really did not like the looks of this scene she really didn't know Dolly well but it seemed like she knew what she was doing. Twilight didn't know what a bunch of balloons and a tube like object would do not to mention why Dolly had a normal looking party popper in her mouth, but the Kobold was going to get free anyway so she may as well oblige with Dolly's plan.
The quiet and longing Trixie was a nervous wreck, she was watching a messed up pony she saw as her mother stare down a monster with not an ounce of fear. Trixie wanted her mommy to be okay; yep she was still mentally gone but she still her magical talent as she along with Twilight let the Kobold go.
Derpy didn't panic or looked like she was about too and she simply gave a salute with her eyes both focused on Dolly and a slight smile playing on her lips. Dolly planned to live, she didn't plan to die and she was obviously holding a going away party for the Kobold. Hopefully Dolly wasn't going with it and that she had enough room for one Ditzy Doo size of an error.
()
"Ditzy?" Luna asked questioningly as she saw one of the four grey delivery ponies that went cross-eyed and said weird things often, not to mention she couldn't fly straight at all.
Ditzy turned her head to Luna who was hovering over the latest structure and then she felt the great urge to sneeze come over her. So she did and the entire building in front of her subsequently toppled much to the construction crews consternation to how she managed to topple a building with a sneeze instead of just using her entire body like she always did.
"Oh hello one from the Land of Nightshades, she who flows through the sky as a reflection of the burning gaseous energy ball." Ditzy wasn't even paying attention to the construction ponies disbelief but then again it was just her being part of a secret crazy pony society that broke the laws of physics and a few other things quite often. She wanted to win craziest pony of the month and this month Fluttershy was surprisingly in the running despite not being part of the disorder, but then again their society was crazy so anything was possible.
"Um… hi." Luna felt awkward about never having actually gotten to know Ditzy and she was a friend of Derpy's and even slightly resembled her only her eyes went inward instead of outward, then there was the bizarre invulnerability she had to almost everything. Luna figured she was about to have an interesting experience as soon as she started helping these ponies with their project. That would be her minds worst understatement ever.
()
As the Kobold was released it charged straight for Dolly, she held her mouth over the drawstring of the popper and kept her eye that was not covered by blood, hair and maybe dirt pointed at the Kobold. She was in pain yes, but she doubted it would survive what she was about to do it and she did have some doubt she'd survive if she didn't time it correctly. If the Kobold somehow did survive this, she would welcome the aftermath and she would always be remembered as a courageous pony that never backed down.
There were more elements then the elements of harmony, such as the element of courage for one. Sure it didn't combine to create a seven colored magical rainbow but it got the job done without being special like the six elements of harmony.
The Kobold swung the sword for Dolly's neck as she reared up on her hind legs leaning on her left leg and pushed her body backwards putting herself against the balloons on the tree. She put her all into activating the popper by pulling down with both her front hooves and pulling up with her teeth and head as her right eye stared into the shocked look of the Kobolds face.
What happened was a devastating explosion that decimating anything within forty feet and leaving a half circle melted crater. Within the blast the Kobold atomized leaving behind a small crystal which quickly dissolved to nothingness in the blast.
Three ponies and a zebra sat still blinking the spots out of their eyes as apparently Dolly had just had her final party; the streamers that had once held the Kobold went up in a flash seemingly as an afterthought as soon as part of the blast touched them.
()
"Pinkie Pie interruption moment… I don't want to talk about what the tube object is yet." Pinkie looked horribly depressed her hair was almost straight.
"Pinkie Pie Product zero one two, Ballistic Balloons" Taking out a remote she pressed it dully, she really didn't like the fact that one of the C Fours had to come into use. A three dimensional representation of a balloon inflating then exploding appeared on the screen. A different representation showed a balloon attach to a bottle of soda and a pin was pricked into the bottom of the balloon causing a jet of fire to shoot out and cause the bottle of soda to shoot into the air. The last representation shows it taking down a brick wall like a rocket fired without the rocket launcher.
"This is one of my…'not so nice' inventions. It just didn't turn out the way I wanted it to turn out, Ballistic Balloons started out as an idea for mixing fireworks and balloons. I was successful, but not in the way I planned. The balloons have multiple different uses such as a reverse depth charge (An Altitude Charge), an explosive device, a hoof held and launched rocket and it can work as a one burst flamethrower. The flaw with this product is obvious, it's just too dangerous and not fun at all… well maybe the letting the balloons go into the sky as fireworks portion works but it doesn't make that great a show during the day and it might accidentally hurt a Pegasus." Pinkie wasn't particularly proud of turning balloons into volatile weapons. She looked at the text and figured she had become too dreary so she decided to plan for the next time she popped up which was in another few moments, then she would be back in full Pinkie force.
()
There was a bright light but it wasn't at the end of the tunnel, Dolly was freefalling from high up and she struggled for control of her fall. She could control her wings again unluckily before she could open them and fly or steer herself she hit the canopy and slammed through several tree branches before landing among the somewhat mourning ponies. She had injuries from the tree branches from the fall, the fall itself, the migraine headache, a rather large facial wound and a broken right hind leg, being scratched up, the arrow wound might have been reopened as the leaf had probably fallen off her flank and if she were right her back was burned, so it was any wonder why she felt horrible at the moment. She couldn't even open her right eye from the pain, but at least the migraine was ebbing.
Standing around Dolly's body which had fallen out of the sky Trixie was the first approach and nuzzle Dolly, her back was covered with one large scorch mark and her left flank was bleeding slightly with a reopened wound.
"Please, tell me the Kobold isn't still around after that." Dolly said softly as Trixie snuggled up to Dolly curling up at her side and closing her eyes with a smile knowing that 'mommy' was alright, now it was nap time. The poor mare really needed help and so did the addled and childlike Trixie.
"You know, of all the people I expected to go off the deep end I actually thought it would have been you." Twilight meant nothing by it when she turned to Derpy, but the mail pony didn't react to the accusation poorly.
"I'm not Ditzy Doo. Though she would have been the first one to go crazy and she would have done it proudly." Derpy moved over to the laid out and summarily pained unmoving red coated pony on the ground with a mental but still quite able magician pony cuddled up against her asleep
"Derpy I appreciate the fact that you aren't panicking, but please pick me up and carry me to the northeast of here, don't follow any roads just keep heading in that direction… I have a few friends in strange places that can offer medical help if Zecora can't help me." Then Dolly lost consciousness leaving two ponies and a zebra to make travel to these friends she mentioned, making note that she said nothing about setting up camp.
"Help her I can't, her numerous injuries would cause a medical expert to rant." Zecora obviously agreed that even with all the herbs she has she couldn't possibly figure out how to fix this many injuries, she didn't even know where to start. Zecora however could help Twilight and Derpy at least doing her part.
Some herbal rub to wipe away the soreness in Derpy's legs and something to fix the small cuts and bruises along Twilights body, making sure to pay special attention to her single sword wound on her leg to make sure it didn't get infected.
Twilight sighed; she would have to take control of this situation. Derpy however decided otherwise when she pointed to the northeast and flared her wing out surprisingly while glaring at them and holding a compass which she soon placed back in Twilights bag. This was much to the confusion of Twilight until she noticed the magical presence had cleared up with the Kobold being blown back to its dimension.
Twilight was the one to carry the sound and asleep Trixie, she didn't know what to do to help her. Trixie was snuggling into Twilights back in her sleep causing Twilight no end to the discomfort she felt about having to carry the mare. Twilight started following Derpy to the northeast watching as the mail mare carried Dolly. Zecora took to carrying Dolly's stuff, having applied what passes for burn medication on Dolly's back after doing so.
Twilight had checked a map and there was nothing out there, but Derpy was determined to follow Dolly's orders and she couldn't make the Pegasus change her mind for a safer venue to help Dolly.
Zecora on the other hoof wondered how the Brownies would take the mess and she heard yipping in the form of cheering as they marched towards the northeast for whatever Dolly knew was out there. There were beautiful chirping sounds heard as they left the area.
Zecora gave a smile; things would be just fine for a while.
()
"Hello and welcome to another Pinkie Pie interruption, you're wonder how Dolly survived that right. Huh, huh, huh do ya? Huh? Well think back to earlier in the story where I mention ten poppers or any poppers at all." Pinkie's cheer was back in full force as she didn't have to talk about her more yucky party items, she didn't like talking about her worst ideas. Pinkie pulled out a remote and hit a button. On the screen were a party popper and her activating it, then appearing elsewhere.
"It's Pie Party Product zero zero two. This product was made mostly for my use and I have to say I love these things, but I don't require them to do what I do. Though having a short range one use teleport device on hoof is always worthwhile in the mild case that I can't do the Pinktastic things I'm known for right Mr. Text?" Right you are Pinkie but there is the slight issue with the flaw and you're needed to explain it. Pinkie crossed her forward hooves looking angrily at the text before smiling cheerily.
"Do I have to point out the flaw of every single project; this one is almost flawless in design and almost as fun as my one size fits all streamers!" Yes, but you might as well explain as to why you made all this stuff and how you came about specializing in magical party items.
"Oh, right I forgot to explain how all this ties back into when I got my cutie mark." Pinkie paused to giggle again and she started bouncing around as she recalled her youth.
"Oh those were the mostly boring days, when I discovered happiness of the smile through a rainbow appearing to shine down on a little rock farm I lived at with my family. In fact this is where my knack for inventing party items comes from; there aren't many stores out in the boonies so all that stuff for my first party ever was made by hoof and a bit of whatever I could find and work into what I needed. Now farming rocks is an entirely boring day to day job, but that doesn't mean it doesn't pay well as my family is practically rich. Please note that I said practically, because my family wouldn't know how to throw a party unless I was currently with them if they tried. Being happy and making others happy is all the riches in the world to me. At least my family all remembered to send me birthday cards even when my friends stopped seeming to be my friends. I guess my family doesn't worry about me all that much because I can handle myself quite well what with a lucrative business in party throwing and selling special items on the side in my secret shop." Thus Pinkie Pie has explained where all the stuff came from for her first party and how she came about making magical party items.
"Well the magical party items portion came a smidge bit later, but oh that was the most wonderful funderful time ever when I figured out how to work magic and break reality! Then the secret crazy pony society came to me and made me their queen! In fact the way I came up with Portation Poppers is because I wanted to pop from place to place and what has more pop than a popper?" That is not entirely true but Pinkie was visited by the crazy pony society for being absolutely bonkers. That much is true, but she is not their queen.
"Okay since I'm so happy reliving those wonderful memories of my sisters; who I haven't messed with in ages, I can't possibly be a downer about the flaw of my product. Portation Poppers (AKA Portable hole Poppers) will only send you where you want to go sixty percent of the time, the other forty percent of the time is a surprise where you might end up and that's actually not a bad thing because it means every single popper has a small chance to surprise you despite them all being one use, short ranged and everything. You just got to feel sorry for Dolly falling from at least six stories straight up and just a smidge over, that doesn't look all that fun like the time Applejack face flopped multiple times trying to launch Rainbow Dash with that seesaw." Well this has been another Pinkie Pie Interruption.
"When I was a little filly and the sun was going down… my sisters and I would snuggle together and I'd never ever frown… we used to have so much fun, when I became a party of all. My sisters they are so wonderful, they could find no fault in me at all. Because I'm Pinkie the one who will always stand up tall… doo dee doo, doo, doo... till next time every pony!" Pinkie disappeared continuing to hum her favorite song which she modified the words for multiple times and faded from view like a ghost without a sound and she didn't use a Portation Popper, in fact some would say she could do any of the magic she can attach to her Party Products without needing the objects.
Others however would say she's just doing it all on the sugar she consumes alone within a day, just about everyone is right when it comes to Pinkie… she's so random.
()
Rainbow Dash didn't know where Pinkie kept going, but she probably was too busy at Sugar Cube Corner in Sugarcane Junction to stick around and watch her get her flank handed to her by someone who never attacked her. At least there was no more fluffy boppers to interfere in the real training, but she was doing more damage to herself then actually touching Dixie.
Dixie was like one of those scratchy voiced ninja ponies, just plain untouchable. At least Rainbow Dash was learning a lot of stuff that she could incorporate into tricks to show off for the Wonderbolts, of course that Stumbling Pony style of Karate hoof-to-hoof stuff had her stumped as it was hard to read what Dixie's next move would be.
"Um… I think you need to take a break you look to be tired and besides I promised all the little fillies cookies and I need to get started on that now. Hope we can do this again sometimes Ms. Dash and thank you for a wonderful session." Dixie wasn't even winded despite stumbling around like a drunken pony who didn't know up from down, she just took an honorable bow and started to pick her gear off.
Rainbow was kind of like Dolly except Dolly understood how to defend and when to strike. Dixie had much better sparring matches with Derpy as neither of them ever really took the offensive all that much and just tried to get under each other's guard with a single hit to call an end to the session or to go for a five minute break. Rainbow kept her on her hooves but the poor mare didn't seem to be getting the strategic side to the hoof-to-hoof lessons very well and was more in it for the physical aspects. At least Applebloom isn't as bad when it comes to training her blocking skills.
"Yeah, go ahead I'll pick myself up when I'm done getting air back into my lungs." Rainbow had never put up so much effort for so little effect, sure Rainbow was fast but Dixie was had quick reflexes that Dash just couldn't keep up with.
Rainbow laid her head on the mat and sighed, she was really beginning to believe everyone was right in saying she was at least bisexual in the town vote, the reason why is because she caught herself staring at Dixie's grey flank as she left. It's not like Rainbow hasn't stared at a colts flank before, she just didn't know what was considered intriguing about another pony's body except the cutie mark being a warning for some pony's having personality disorders. Dixie didn't have a personality disorder, but Rainbow noticed she had a lot of hobbies and was kind of like Fluttershy except twenty percent more social, active and heavily talented in multiple areas at one time.
Tired, Rainbow didn't know what she was going to do for the rest of the day, maybe she could bug Rarity or get Applejacks goat. If she went with Applejack then she could get yelled at angrily by her which was somewhat appealing for some reason as she was cute when she was mad. Getting up Rainbow Dash pulled her sweatband off and flew toward her home she really needed sleep because she was starting to think of Applejack, Pinkie and maybe even Fluttershy in a different light. She'd rather stay their friends then try anything like that, maybe she wasn't as into colts or stallions because of those bullies that picked on her when she was little. She should probably find a colt to be her friend that wasn't a complete jerk to even her out without going overboard with the relationship. There was no way that Rainbow Dash was going to fall in love; she would always be the cool adventurous high speed flying mare and eventual Wonderbolt.
So nope, she had no interest in Pinkie's butt, Applejacks muscles or Fluttershy's soft and cuddly personality... Rainbow Dash would spend the rest of her day with her head buried under her pillow screaming. She really needed to find a male to be friends with and only friends... wasn't there a male mailing Pegasus that came to town and got dragged off to the hospital?
Yeah that would work and she'd get to know him tomorrow, she could probably ask if he knows Dolly as any pony who delivers the mail to Ponyville would know her.
()
Celestia sat staring over the horizon as it was getting dark, she liked hearing those messages from Twilight and they were helping her sister so much. Now it was going to be hard to go a while without hearing from the purple pony she let toddle her way into her eternal heart. Twilight was the cutest little filly she had ever seen and it hurts a lot to watch them grow up and then eventually wither away, hopefully Twilight will have foals of her own that are just as cute. She wanted to be an aunt to a bunch of ponies that weren't snobbish for once, but that's what she gets for being royalty for eternity.
"Dolly…" Celestia said with a calm look on her face as she turned and went into her bed chambers as it was soon time for her sister to start raising the moon as she finished painting the sunset with her mind.
"We'll always be friends, even if you won't show yourself or even talk to me anymore." Celestia sighed as she lay down upon her bed to just simply think about things and eventually get some recreational sleep.
When she got that letter from Dolly her heart jumped and then fell flat to the floor at the news that someone was disrupting the mailing system. Not a single word of how she was doing, just a request to possibly have a chance at recruiting Twilight to go on a crusade against an unknown entity that is threatening pony kind, more specifically winged ponies that deliver the mail. And Dolly only sent her that letter because someone else asked her to which made Celestia feel a bitter pang of hurt in her heart.
Celestia wondered if maybe she should have offered Spitfire to help; she was the leader and face of the Wonderbolts. Or maybe she should have offered one of the higher echelons of the Guardian's to help, maybe even send her own royal guards. No, all that would have just made Dolly mad. She wanted to see Dolly and talk to her again, but being as busy as she was and how Dolly refused to show up whenever she did make a visit to Ponyville, it was rather disheartening that Dolly was avoiding her. Even when she got Dolly out of Ponyville for Luna's return she still hasn't seen even a single hair of that pony since the day she left.
Sure Celestia had the love of a lot of ponies, she just felt at a loss for why she didn't seem to have the love of one that she still considered a dear friend.
(End Chapter)
Hope I didn't miss anything in the editing.