Chapter 8: Ascension.
Trotting along the snowy slopes the grey mare sighed and stopped in the middle of a rocky out cropping and turned around. She was already having enough problems finding places to get extra sleep; she didn't need to lose more over some stupid ponies that wouldn't leave well enough alone.
"Would you two please stop following me, you're going to get yourselves killed if you plan to even try and survive the stuff I do on a daily occasion when I'm not sleeping." Dipsy Duh hadn't been able to get rid of Goldie and Sham. She wished the two earth ponies would wise up and go back to their lives in snowy hick town in the middle of a frozen wasteland next door to Mangora Mountain which she was almost finally managing to reach. She had two saddle bags of supplies, and sticking out of one was a staff ending in the wood wrapping around a large bubble shaped jewel. Other than that she was simply wearing a snow cap and scarf.
"Ach, you neigh be getting rid o' me that easily! It's that prissy hair lover you should be having worries about she's more likely to die then I am." Sham was sober for the most part of the trip of following around Dipsy. Sham Wreck's forest green coat had been restored to its natural appearance by her annoying trichofillyac friend Goldenrod. Sham's hair was shiny and silky smooth for once in her entire lifetime instead of rough and hardly maintained. Sham had hated the fact that she was too bruised to beat off the busy body who was following her following Dipsy into the dangerous mountainous terrain. The earth pony was carrying a full complement of survival gear and was wearing a winter camouflage suit that covered her flank and her front legs warmly.
A landslide happened nearby and stopped short of the two mares that were three feet apart. Both Dipsy and Sham stood there as the second members of the unwanted followers of the sleepy Pegasus popped up out of the snow with stocking cap, a scarf and a sweater. She didn't have supplies or anything more than a bag of hair care products slung over her torso.
"Ow… why are we going to a place so dangerous and cold for anyway? This freezing cold temperature can't be good for my mane and I feel like my tail might fall off." Goldie picked herself up out of the snow and her long brown hair still touched the ground as she made her way toward the two mares.
"I swear ye' needn't be following us any, because mountain climbing is a real mares sport and this mare knows where the action is!" Sham put her hoof around Dipsy who was rather uncomfortable with the close contact, not to mention the anti-flight magic that prevented her from just flying to her next destination.
"NEWS FLASH, I never asked for either of you to follow me up here nor did I ask for any help with what I'm doing out here. Which brings me to an even bigger question, why am I not stopping you from doing something so horribly stupid? Is it my curiosity in how long it will take you to die from the numerous things I'm bound to run into? Now I know how Dolly feels when she sends us into dangerous territory." Dipsy Duh was cross with these two mares for multiple reasons, the main one being that they weren't 'Team Forty Mailing Ponies'. The others reasons were these ponies were not entirely trained for survival situations in extreme conditions, Sham might have some combat ability but she was a berserker at best and Goldie was about as strong as a stick of butter, but that was only if her hidden talents didn't pan out to being more then she appeared.
"Name one thing lass, one thing that a Rocky Clan pony can't handle with their bare hooves!" Sham lifted a hoof out of the snow and flexed a muscle. Dipsy had to admit she could come close to Ditzy in having half a brain.
"Have you ever dealt with flying spaghetti monsters, dream demons or two crazy mares on a camping trip to hell itself? I swear I can't even begin to tell you why I've labeled those things as noodle incidents and put them in deep dark corners of my mind." Dipsy wasn't kidding about dealing with those things, but that last one was the worst. To explain it in simplicity, imagine spending two weeks in a place worse than the Ever Free Forest. Now imagine spending it with a mare who is insane on purpose and one who was born of insanity. Those weeks with Screw Ball and Ditzy were almost the worst in her life, but at least she made a good friend in Screw Ball, who was quite a nice mare despite being birthed by a psychotic male chimera parent without a mother.
"Flying spaghetti monsters? Hah ye' have to be pulling me hoof on that one. There is no such thing as a flying monster made out of noodles." Sham had a completely relaxed look on her face; however her friend Goldie didn't and was looking around fearfully.
Dipsy's eyes widened when Sham said that, she really should have told the mare to never question the existence of a spaghetti monster that could fly. Also spaghetti monsters are more common than one pony would expect. Looking around she spotted the exact monster that Sham said didn't exist hovering towards them at insane speeds and its noodle tentacles were waving wildly in the air. Apparently anti-flight magic has no effect on that which doesn't use wings.
"OH BUCK ME, NOT AGAIN! CELESTIA DAMN YOU WORLD!" Dipsy reached for the staff with her left hoof and as she wrapped her hoof around it the gem started to glow and she leapt in defense of the unaware Goldie who had yet to see the monster barreling down on her with its noodle appendages reaching out to entangle the poor pony and possibly strangle the life out of her.
Poor Dipsy Duh was on the wrong end of another noodle incident, which involved plenty of expletives.
()
It was later in the morning at Hippolytus. Twilight after finishing her tale of Novascoltia coming under attack and her subsequent quick retreat, the three other DERP members opted to continue later in the morning when they weren't so tired and were better at thinking straight. Derpy went straight to bed with a disturbed look on her face. Zecora felt pang of hurt rolling off of Trixie and tried to console her as best she could, the zebra even tucked the moping and sleepy Trixie in while giving her a soft nuzzle that she was safe and warm. Zecora waited for Twilight to go to sleep before she herself would be able to come to rest.
Now that they were well rested and full thanks to some of Marahute's cooking, they were just about ready to start discussing their next course of action and the two objects left behind by Dolly.
"So to recap, while we dealt with the wargs here in Hippolytus, two other attacks were going on one possibly at Snoneigh Heights and the other definitely happened at Novascoltia. Each place was hit with a varying amount of danger, Hippolytus got off light in comparison to the Taurus attack on Novascoltia and we aren't even sure what the Wyverns did in Snoneigh Heights if anything. We currently lack enough information to know what's going on anymore; Can humbly I suggest we set out for Novascoltia to lend aid where necessary. We might do so after we discuss what Dolly has left behind for us, any objections?" Derpy received a few stares, yes that was a rather accurate summation of what happened into the night. Instead of saying anything against her they nodded.
"Great then I guess we'll open the box." Twilight was almost immediately halted by Trixie and Derpy raising a hoof and stating a simple quiet no against.
"Okay, why don't either of you want to start with opening the box." Twilight was curious as the other unicorn mare hadn't really spoken much since actually doing something heroic last night and Derpy had a calculating look in her eyes even if one was currently pointing off to the side.
"Well I the intrigued and curious Trixie would like to know the contents of the bag Dolly left to us first. What exactly is in there?" It was a perfectly fine question by the once upon a time show mare and they both turned to Derpy for her reasoning.
"Oh, it's my turn again? I think Dolly might have left some instructions behind for us in the bag before we open the box. It's in the mail pony manual to always check a bag hoofed to you by a dispatcher to see if there's any mail that needs to be delivered, Dolly might have a letter for someone and it might be important." Derpy's reasoning didn't seem to be as well thought out.
Twilight looking into the bag among the other stuff that was already known to be in the bag, there was a letter addressed to DERP and from Dolly. She blinked blankly and looked to Derpy who nodded as the letter read: 'open immediately upon discovery'.
Zecora got up and wandered behind the three gathering mares and looked over their shoulders as Derpy read the letter Twilight floated out and opened in front of them.
"Dear DERP members it has come to my attention that I might not be present with you soon, so I'm writing this letter ahead of time. If anything I know Derpy probably suggested something to do with not having delivered a letter by hoofing a bag to Twilight out of the blue. Remind me to buy her a blueberry muffin later. In any case in this bag is some supportive party gear that I got from Pinkie as I might have mentioned to Twilight." Derpy stopped reading and Twilight started down the list of what was left in the bag mentally subtracting a bit because she used some of the ballistic balloons earlier.
"C4, do not pull from bag unless you are absolutely sure you want something dead in a flash. Aim open end of tube at target, then activate. One of these can also be helpful if you need to make a hole in a wall of solid stone, but its primary function is to kill so don't make any mistakes in its use." Three pale ponies and a zebra without black stripes for a moment didn't like the sound of that. Twilight was squeamish to think of killing anything, much less even Nightmare Moon. Trixie started to read the final passage of the letter.
"Twilight, just work your 'MAGIC' it's all you'll need. Trixie, I brought you into this because you can think on your hooves, just remember that you can't put on an act without giving it some thought. Derpy, I need you to recite the team forty's mail pony motto to yourself, sorry we couldn't talk history with each other if you are receiving this letter with the others. Zecora, I may seem cold and aloof but I think we both know that's not what you felt coming off of me and why you became suspicious of my nature. If Zecora doesn't feel like explaining anything, please flip this letter around and read the back." They all turned to Zecora and she just sat there pondering on what she thought of Dolly before she spoke.
"If my suspicions so do hold, then the last of Dolly we haven't seen or so I'm told." Zecora didn't say anything further and Twilight spun the letter in mid-air to show a small amount of writing on the back that they hadn't noticed with opening the letter from before.
"If you have yet to open the box, do so only if you feel you can handle the responsibility I've placed within. It doesn't matter which one you get, just keep it near you at all times and make sure to read the message I left in the box. 'UNDERSTANDING' is key and let it be known that Celestia isn't the only one that can orchestrate things to such a fine degree." Twilight looking at the capitalization on the word 'UNDERSTANDING' and wondered what it meant. Asking Derpy about it didn't get much except a shrug from the blonde mare. That was when they turned to the box, average brown flip open lid affair and not very big.
Opening underneath the lid of the box was sheet of paper also written by Dolly but it looked to be old, as in the last time the box was open, underneath the sheet of paper was a red cloth with swirling white and black circle symbols.
"To whoever opens this box, if stolen return immediately to where you've taken it from. There is no treasure in here, only responsibility. In the event that this is stolen and I'm still alive to know about it, consider yourself out of luck and try to make use of the two day head start you are likely to get. YOU WILL NEED THEM." Twilight blinked a bit, Dolly probably had a tight watch on this box at all times and she couldn't even begin to believe how fast the mare stated she would track down some pony. The question of why it mattered so much to Dolly a lot is probably answerable by the contents.
"If however you were given the box by me, you most likely have earned my permission to take what's inside. They may not seem like much at first, but if you know of the elements of Harmony or are with an active element of Harmony then the contents will make much more sense to you. If you are an element of harmony I beseech you seek the trinity to wield the contents. From the element of Courage, may all holders of my element preserve the future to and beyond death till the next holder rises." Well that was strange and a bit morbid considering what Dolly had told Twilight about the element of Courage, but something snapped in Derpy's eyes.
"WAIT… Dolly is an element? There's more then the six elements of Harmony?" Derpy seemed confused, but then again she was a pony that loved following the exploits of the elements of Harmony. She was a fan of the elements and aspired to be a good pony like them, she even liked Rarity though she wasn't much for high society styled ponies and Pinkie was always a blast when it comes to parties at the mailing office. She gave idle thought to the always popular Rainbow Dash who had that anxiety attack in Cloudsdale during the young flier's competition but didn't sit on it too long.
"Yes, surprisingly Dolly told me a bit about the elements. More than I would have ever been expected to have learned on my own. She says there are more combinations out there that have different effects when the holders of certain said elements are brought together, it's the first time in a thousand years that the elements of Harmony have all been active at the same time." Twilight can actually see a bit of surprise in Derpy's eyes, if she had known she would have started stalking her boss too. Maybe that's why Dolly didn't say anything about her stalking the six ponies as long as it didn't interfere with her job.
"So she's the element of Courage? That's kind of neat and I wouldn't have expected any less of my dispatcher." Derpy asked with a bit of excitement, she worked for an element even if it wasn't one of the Harmony elements. Zecora and Trixie were practically background noise at this moment not knowing what to think of the conversation.
"Yes, she's the current element of Courage Derpy. Now let's see what's under the cloth." Twilight had an idea of what would be under the cloth and when she pulled it away with her magic, she wasn't disappointed. Underneath it was a block of foam with three cylindrical holes filled with stone spheres. A rather familiar kind of stone spheres no less, like the elements of harmony were before Twilight jump started them with her friends. Trixie chose this moment to blow up at the contents whereas Zecora slowly moved a hoof to a stone and plucked it from the box and a small smile formed on her face when she felt a foreign sense of kinship from the bland looking sphere. The Zebra could hear the rhythmic playing of drums.
"That's it, all of this for some stupid rocks? What are we supposed to do with round rocks? Throw them at the Minotaur you told us about?" Trixie was not attracting much attention to herself.
Derpy; however, certainly took notice of Zecora's actions to grab a stone too and she felt like every goal in life could be achieved if she persisted at them, as nothing was impossible if you put your mind to it. As long as she kept hope and always moved forward she'd never be stalled by anything, but she also knew not to go too fast to leave any pony behind.
"Trixie that's what the elements of Harmony looked like before they changed form and became necklaces, mine is a little different as it's a tiara. Then again, Dolly kind of told me what these elements are, but not what they are of." Twilight saw a pensive look cross the blue equines face.
"So these stones are what the elements of Harmony are supposed to look like normally? How do you cause them to change or take a different form? I've heard about them before, I just didn't really buy into the whole saving the world business until recently." Trixie was examining her stone from every angle as she floated it in front of her face. Twilight took a keen interest in each of their reactions.
Derpy was curious and excited at possibly becoming an element, she had always dreamt of something like this and it was kind of a pipe dream at best before she held the possibility of her own element in hoof. Now if only she could truly live up to the responsibility of having an element. Trixie didn't seem entirely convinced of the stones purpose or what exactly it was supposed to do, she distantly studied it and rolled it in a magical field projected by her horn. Zecora seemed perfectly happy to just sit there staring at the stone between her hooves in curiosity.
"I'm not sure how you're supposed to do it, I was only guessing of what to do when the elements of Harmony chose each of the six of us at the time. The elements of Harmony might have activated when they found some ponies worthy of wielding them or they might have activated by the situation, all I know is how to use them when I'm together with my friends. I've never actually considered using the elements on their own or combining them in unusual ways for different effects or that there was more than six." Twilight watched as they poked and prodded at the spheres before they put them away.
Zecora put her stone into a pouch among her medicines and herbs. Derpy stuffed hers into a mail bag while messily getting crumbs everywhere from a muffin Marahute dropped off in passing with a smile. Marahute found Derpy just plain adorable given how her wings always sprang up when eating one of the Hippogriffs muffins. Trixie just stuffed the stone into the tip of her hat, it was light enough to not bother her favorite piece of headgear and it was heavy enough to keep the tip of the hat bent downwards slightly so that it'd stay in the hat as long as it was on her head.
"I know that the six elements of Harmony are Laughter, Honesty, Generosity, Magic, Kindness and Loyalty. So what elements could we possibly have or be getting sometime this year? I mean, the stones we have are supposed to be a powerful artifacts or something that are supposed to help us, but what's the point in having them if we can't immediately use them at all? Don't we need some kind of practice first to be able to understand how they work?" Trixie had finally garnered some smarminess back into her tone almost trying to convert back to her old self.
"Trixie, being an element holder is a responsibility. You can't abuse whatever the element gives you or improves upon once it finally decides to connect with you. Besides, I think it will only activate when it's ready, when it thinks you're ready or if you've proven you can be responsible with the power that comes with it. I've only had to use my Tiara twice, I've never considered any other applications it could have and without it I'm already powerful enough on my own through hard work. If I were to misuse it, the repercussions could be dire enough to the point I could cripple myself as a unicorn and never be able to use magic again." Twilight decided to let that sink in not only for Trixie, but also for herself and to allow her own little doubts to seep out into the open. It's any wonder why Celestia told her she and her friends could make better use of the elements then she could. After a few moments Twilight decided to continue.
"To answer your question Dolly told me that you three have the possibility of being the elements of Perseverance, Empathy and Wisdom. To remind you, I'm not sure as to what those three elements will do when combined together or what that combination of elements would be called. In fact I'm unsure on a lot of things, but I think it'll all work out if we stick to what we know." Twilight at least hoped that's the way things would go when they got started on using these untested elements. Like her and her friends were the elements of Harmony, she wondered what kind of power these three elements would hold and what kind of friendship could be forged between these three completely different beings.
"Are we all going to Novascoltia now or do I have to fly myself there and then meet you at the base of Mangora Mountain to start climbing!" Derpy enthusiasm certainly earned a few reactions; she was a cheerleader of the Harmony elements for a while and what they represented. Now she wanted to represent something as equally special as the friendship they had. Zecora could feel the infectious mood coming off of Derpy like nothing else, but she figured it was the muffins Derpy just finished eating.
There moods would quickly change once they reached Novascoltia later that day. When new things were brought to light, more things would be put on the line to stop the magical intrusion plaguing the surrounding lands.
()
With a splash of what smelled like warm tomato, parmesan and basil paste, Dipsy exploded her way out of the dead pasta monster eating a bit of it as she did. She then used her staff to widen the opening she had just made in its carcass. Dripping fluids not her own she stalked up to Sham and looked her dead in the eyes and then held up a hoof pointed to the sky that wavered in anger before she brushed pass the knuckleheaded earth mare who made her life more miserable by Star Beards Law. Never speak of that which you don't want to see or happen, doubly so if pasta based monsters are mentioned. Only one reason why it was called Star Beards Law, he was the one who accidentally gave birth to an entire race of pony menacing pasta monsters. Sham didn't look to terribly upset but she was cowed and ashamed all the same having watched the spectacle of noodles going where they didn't belong. The reason for Shams shame is that she stood there and did nothing while all that was happening and so did Goldie who hid her eyes behind her hooves.
"Is it safe to be eating that?" Goldie said shivering not from the cold but from the way Dipsy slowly stalked up to her putting her staff back in her left hand saddle bag dripping with the dead monsters life blood of pasta sauce.
"Perfectly fine, animated spaghetti creatures are entirely vegetarian for a pony to eat except for the meatball ones, they actually have blood in them from creatures they've killed and are much nastier to deal with. Though I like the Fettucini Alfredo Sauce versions and might actively hunt for one later. Now I've got some really good questions for you." Dipsy flat half lidded stare caused Goldenrod to cower away from Dipsy slightly digging her body into the snow and the side of the mountain path leading towards Mangora Mountain and away from Snoneigh Heights.
"Wha… what do you want?" Goldie's thick bountiful brown hair fell in front of her body as if it were a shield and she was afraid of what the pony was going to say next.
"Why didn't you two help me? Do you know how to get tomato sauce out of a mane? And I've been wondering why you aren't more aggressive… for a Medusan." Dipsy's second question almost caused Ms. Brunecutte to squeal with delight as she wanted to play with Dipsy's mane and maybe talk the mare into growing it out some. That train of thought was quickly derailed and burning into a quick pile of cinders like a Stretchy Streamer lit on fire. The cause was the sudden horrified realization of Dipsy knowing about her secret. Her eyes sudden went reptilian as she backed away in fright, but Dipsy didn't bat an eye at such a reaction.
"Medusan? What the kilt is that and what's wrong with your eyes Goldie, they look…? Ach, why are you being such a wee whiny foal and shying away from me like that for, are ye' hurt lassy?" Sham trudged up behind Dipsy through the snow and was about to pass her when she was halted by a grey hoof held aloft in front of her. Dipsy really thought Sham knew or else she wouldn't have confronted the scared mare about it, but the mare didn't seem to be volatile. Goldenrod was only scared and it affirmed Dipsy's assessment quite well, the earth pony only wanted to fit in.
"You haven't told your friend? Well you might as well tell her now, the hot muffin is out of the bag and I've been dealing with mystical crap almost nonstop for a week with barely any sleep. You don't think I just got this magic staff from those possessed ninja ponies by waving my hooves in the air and saying that I'm great and powerful give me everything I desire. But I gave you a benefit of a doubt, even suggested you can help me clean my mane out and I could care less about what kind of mysticism is in your blood as long as you're not evil. Because I'm sick and tired of all the stuff that been going against me and it's about time I got some decent news for once that something mystical or possibly poisonous isn't aiming at my throat!" Dipsy was upset by the lack of sleep and her patience was shortened by a smidge. Though she kept her distance well enough when she yelled that last part as she was very well aware of what could happen if she spooked the quivering mare in front of her too much. The reaction is what was she expected from the brunette haired mare, the mare curled up into herself crying and her hair weakly lashed out at Dipsy not even reaching her nose before the mare curled up tighter and wrapped her mane and tail around herself whimpering. Dipsy swore there would be days she'd turn into Dolly, such as being cold but not entirely heartless. By nature Dipsy was a complainer and she usually only complained after the fact, this however was a special occasion where Ms. Duh would lose her cool by having taken on too much stress.
"If I wanted to hurt you I wouldn't have put away my staff before asking for help with getting the sauce out of my mane, also for your information Sham a Medusan is a pony with a very odd genetic background that begets a few special abilities. I'm wondering if she has any of the following, stone encasement, snake hair transformation both poisonous and non poisonous, poison fangs, poisonous body lethal to the point that even touching a nearly invisible single shed hair could kill you, the ability to charm live beings into doing things for you and finally the ability to transform into a monster of various types including but not limited to chimeras, wolves but thankfully nothing like a werepony in viciousness or size, miniature types of dragon or commonly known as a whelpling and a type two lamia." Dipsy seemed bored as she rattled off everything she knew of Medusans.
"Ey' that would have been useful to know so I could invite Goldie to a bar brawl sometime. But I don't be seeing why she's being so scared of ye' if ye' mean her no amounts of harm." Sham didn't care if her friend was a whatever Dipsy had just called her, she may be an annoying mane loving mare but she's still about as much companionship as Sham could get outside the roughhousing colts or barmaids that loved a good scrap as much as she did in such a snow covered community. She tried to move over to comfort Goldenrod but the mare cried out and lashed out at Sham causing Dipsy to pull her back a bit by wrapping a hoof around her tail and pulling the earth pony physically backwards.
"She's not just scared of me, she's scared of you too you know. She's only scared of me because she thinks I'm a Medusan hunter, which I'm not unless the situation warrants I end up fighting a Medusan as a mail delivery pony. This situation however does not; THANKFULLY ENOUGH, require violence if every pony would just calm down. She's scared of you because of what you'd think of her once you found out what she was, I don't see it all too much of a problem if you don't care but I'm glad I don't have to fight you to protect her seeing as you don't seem to be showing any signs of actively wanting to hurt her. Just give her some time to collect herself before approaching Sham or at least we can wait until she wants to talk to us." Dipsy might have just gotten an appalled look from Sham that she'd ever hurt her busybody wimp of a friend, but it needed to be said.
"I don't have most of those abilities, I got the charm one but I don't use it I swear and… and… and the only other ability I have is controlling all the hair on my body and I can enhance the speed of growth slightly. I think I might have stone encasement but I'm not sure. How did you know and when did you find out?" Goldie didn't come out of her curled up position in the snow, one day she was just Shams cute if weird friend and then along comes a pony who sounded so much like one of those Medusan hunters her father warned her about.
"Easily a minute into meeting you, also my boss the 'average pegasus' Dolly 'freaking' Verance mail dispatcher pony once upon a time best rookie delivery pony in Canterlot and my best friend. There are only some hair care products that can be found and made out this far and she stocks some pretty expensive magical stuff in case she has any company over at her house, hardly uses the stuff herself though. She really needs colt or possibly a close mare friend; I swear sometimes she can be a boring pony with a simple household if I didn't know how interesting her life gets when she really starts doing stuff." Dipsy's tirade didn't really explain how she knew what Ms. Brunecutte was but the distraction of her voice and her motioning to Sham to go stand by Goldie certainly might help the situation. The mare in question uncurled slightly.
"How does knowing another pony help you figure out what I was…? EEP." Goldie had reacted to Sham having placed a hoof gently on her withers and then gave a nice soft rub causing Goldie to almost curl back up on the ground in fright. She relaxed as her friend kept a comforting hoof on her just looking at her transformed eye curiously and shrugged blankly not caring about it, slowly the gold coated mares eyes reverted back to their chocolate colored nature filled slightly with tears.
"Long story there, quite frankly my boss has had a horrible history of monsters killing everyone she knows and love, her parents at a young age, her adoptive sister and her flight team doing a good will delivery to griffin territory that ran afoul of… wait for it… wyverns. So when she became a mail dispatcher after moving to a place called Ponyville and away from a problematic entanglement and a suicide attempt, thankfully no one was jailed for that and no charges were pressed. I was her best friend at the time and I am currently the longest lasting one too, I moved with her when she went to Ponyville. She started pushing training on every mail pony in the mailing service and not just her own team of me at the time. Later we'd be joined by a crazy mare I'd swear is impervious to harm, a cooking mare with many talent and parents that have heightened combat practices of the celestial guards and a silly muffin loving mare with an enigmatic past that needed a job. Frankly with the exception of Dolly we all look like sisters and act like it too, we even did blood test to prove we weren't related. Sorry if I'm not immediately getting to the point I'm just trying to work off my stress at the moment." Dipsy saw an enraptured Goldenrod with an intrigued Sham who for once didn't have much to say.
"No go on, I think you have both our attentions and we can wait for you to get around to it." Goldie was kind of saddened by the history of another mare, but still quite curious to where this was all leading.
"Anyway, Dolly started travelling around pushing said training and tended to leave me in charge of the mailing office in Ponyville when she did. She made mail delivery a safer place by instituting broad spectrum of skills to handle numerous situations in the mail delivery business, made her quite popular too and she earned her place in the mail delivery manual she practically wrote. Thus mail ponies nowadays freelance on the side when the delivery business isn't so hot. One of the things she made her own mailing team do is read up on multiple possible hostile creatures we could meet while traveling out across the world, plus survival training in case our wings ever got clipped. Mind you not all mail delivery ponies are pegasi. Her own team certainly is though and I'm one of those ponies. This however is not the only reason why I was able to identify one Goldenrod Bruncutte as a Medusan." As she said this Dipsy started walking along the path and they started following.
"Quite frankly that was only a piece of the puzzle; I'm well read on magical creatures fictional or possibly real. Even if Chupacabra doesn't exist I'll probably need to know how to decapitate one on a moment's notice when I find out they in fact do, I've seen too many strange things in these past few days to deny meeting one as a possibility. Second piece, there's a village known as Hippolytus with mixed cultures being the majority; if you haven't been there you should probably drop by the inn for a visit and tell a hippogriff there that Ms. Duh sent you. They are rather friendly folk and some of the nicer Medusan's actually pass through there on occasion and Dolly is a known acquaintance to a few of them, I'm the only other mail pony living outside of Hippolytus that knows it's there to begin with. While they aren't very secretive they don't like to be too well known. Last piece is you personally, by your appearance, by your job and the fact that you preyed on your friends weakness to brush her mane." Dipsy looked back at her followers and saw a question on the tip of Shams tongue. Hopefully it was not about spaghetti monsters or the fact that she was still covered in the chunky tomato blood of a creature that by all rights sounds impossible as an existing creature.
"Saints and Celestia, I was the reason that you knew she was a… Meducken? But how could you have known about that, ye being all passed out at the time." Sham blinked confusedly.
"MEDUSAN!" Both Goldenrod and Dipsy said at the same time, Goldie was the one who yelled it. She was happy her friend could care less about her secret. Goldie just hoped she didn't get dragged to a bar and into a fight because of said secret; she wasn't all too particular about being ousted as unnatural and would obviously refuse to encase a pony in stone. Encasing something in stone is less dangerous then turning it to stone like a cockatrice, at least when whatever is encased in stone it can feasibly still break out. Goldie was still unsure if she had that power or not because there was an occasion she thought she had used it by accident.
"I can remember everything I hear in my sleep and I can sleep at the drop of a hat on command, my special talent and my cutie mark is of sleeping aids dropped into a glass of water after all. 'Dead Weight Dipsy' won't stop being hung over my head in my lifetime because of that. It was also her job as a salon mare, that strip of brown down her back on her nice golden coat and the need to make her friends mane not look like a flying mouse's nest just added to it. Some Medusan's have a slight problem with falling in love with certain things or aspects about others, Ms. Brunecutte yours is particularly glaring. Finally, it's about time you got around to it." Dipsy sighed blankly as Goldenrod happily trotted up next to her and started to brush the tomato sauce out of her hair, using her own mane to hold the brush a she trotted along with a smile. Other than that small debacle Dipsy hopes on the kindness of Luna and Celestia they didn't run into orb weavers, she hated giant magical creatures especially the really aggressive ones with multiple limbs. Soon Sham would start up idle chatter with her friend about what it felt like to be an earth pony with weird abilities.
Dipsy learned long ago that Applejack wasn't a Medusan even though she kept asking Dolly about the farm mare after reading up on the subject, apparently with training you could actually do the stuff she does like twirling a lasso with your tail and more. It was quite the acquired skill to learn and Dipsy found it useful in a pinch to have an extra limb to work with. Really helped her out when she was facing those assassins.
()
"Rainbow Dash I'm really, really, super dee duper sorry for invading your dream like I did, it wasn't right of me." Pinkie just received a shrug from the halfway asleep mare on low hanging cloud. The cloud was low enough to be near a second story window.
"No… awwhhhhh… problem pinks. " Rainbow rolled over and lazy dragged a chunk of cloud over her body. Pinkie decided to make it up to Rainbow Dash, so she went to find some rope so Dash didn't drift away from Ponyville, it was kind of windy today. After she slung the rope around Dashes body and anchored it to the ground with an actual anchor. It was hard to find one so far inland, but she knew a guy.
"Say is Rainbow Dash into getting tangled in ropes too, I mean we know she's possibly a bisexual deviant." Lyra left that passing comment as she walked down the street as Pinkie sat there blinking confusedly.
"No I heard that Rainbow Dash actually enjoyed pain, she apparently crashes into things a lot and at the speeds she goes… Look, can we please stop talking about Rainbow Dash for one day; hasn't she had enough with everyone questioning her libido? She made such a good speech." Bon Bon had spoken up barely out of earshot but Pinkies face gained more pinkness in the cheeks.
As long as Pinkie knew her rainbow colored friend wasn't like that or wasn't interested in a closer relationship she was okay with the rumors flying, though those things weren't beyond another pony Pinkie knew. Given what she saw at Applejacks yesterday, that mare had plenty of uses for rope and tended to be stubborn to the point of liking pain. She really should check up on Rarity and possibly Spike, tomorrow would be the day she'd drag Fluttershy out of her home or away from the animals for one single day.
Later that day Pinkie got involved in helping Spike with the fine art of 'arts and crafts', she was always good with her hooves. Plus several other ponies joined in on the occasion, along with an entire day cares worth of fillies in Rarity's boutique because Pinkie wanted to help Dixie out.
One of the ponies there was Ditsy and surprisingly enough she did not destroy the mayor's home, she actually looked ponderous for once instead of just insane and wondered why Luna was taking so long to get back from wherever she went. Ditzy was even considering calling upon the 'secret order of crazy ponies that every pony knows about' to see if they had any information of anything dangerous popping up. Something like Discord who might have possibly kidnapped Princess Luna to feed her to the Broccoloids, the bipedal broccoli aliens from space. The draconequiss chimera really messed the order up and turned them normal for a day, the prospect was horrifying as much as it was to watch. Ditzy swore the normalcy nearly cause them to try and become valued members of society with desk jobs. DESK JOBS, THE HORROR! Without them the whole of Equestria's balance would have faltered into a boring dreary world!
()
Novascoltia had seen better days. The attack had very few casualties' but they were still deaths that hadn't been avoidable in the attack, there were plenty of injured and none more so then the local Wonderbolts. Families had to be notified of lost ones and the town had to be rebuilt, there were plenty of ponies were still too injured to do anything that needed to be dug out from collapsed buildings. To top it all off Princess Celestia wasn't there directing the towns reconstruction efforts. Princess Luna was though and due to having spent a day or two in the presence of Ditzy and the Canterlot building project, she had an easier idea of how to rebuild things. Currently she was running ponies to and fro rescuing those still trapped under buildings while she worked out plans to rebuild homes quickly for others who had lost theirs in the fires, shadowy harpy's and a rampaging Taurus. She was also wearing a construction helmet she thought looked cute on her, while she poured over several blueprints to rebuilding the town.
Elsewhere DERP was arriving on the scene to the pitiful nature of the area, Zecora immediately set out to help the injured. Trixie moved over to distract the little ponies with an impromptu show feeling the need to brighten their day, launching a flare of fireworks and working on a story about how the evil monster that hurt the town would be beaten by some great and powerful ponies. Twilight was about to move to follow them in finding a way to assist but she stopped and followed after Derpy who rushed over to two ponies who were talking. Lying at their hooves was a blunt weapon covered in dry blood with a conical tip.
"Dizzy! What… what happened here? Where's Dolly, I know that was the sword she got back in the other village." Dizzy turned away from Spitfire, but she didn't exactly brighten at the aspect of seeing Derpy D. Hooves world's most lovable muffin eating scamp rushing up to her.
"I don't know and that's what I was telling Spitfire, the Minotaur grabbed her after she pierced his… well I assume it was male, she pierced its chest with the sword. Obviously not deeply enough, Celestia was on the cusp of arriving when he finally retreated by what I assume is teleportation magic and he took Dolly with him, so she's MIA until proven otherwise. Celestia took care of the last of the shadow creatures and when I went to talk to her about the situation she took off for Mangora Mountain, stating that her sister could handle the mess and she trusts in her judgment." Dizzy had been standing in place for the past three minutes; the only reason why this was important is because she could talk straight without the impending trauma of two left legs on the right side of her body.
Twilight froze and stood away from the conversation, Celestia didn't stay behind to help? The threat must have been big enough to warrant her immediate worry or… she could be going after Dolly. Then everything should be fine right? Princess Celestia was a powerful Alicorn and could handle big problems right? Then again the sun princess couldn't save her own sister and she didn't stop Discord from stealing the elements. Then again if they've always had the ability to summon the elements… and there was the fact that Celestia saved her using her own notes to revive the spark of magic in her. Celestia was a grand planner, but a fighter? There was some cause for worry.
"Well we're heading that way too; if Celestia gets into trouble our team will back her up!" Derpy's declaration wasn't met with any kind of immediate enthusiasm.
"Well good luck with that, I'm stuck here on princess guarding duty with the rest of my squad. Wish I could go though, I bet Dolly needs all the help she can get right about now." Spitfire comment caused Twilight to stop moving towards them with wonder how the mare with the flame colored mane knew of Ponyville's mail dispatcher. She wondered if Dolly had ties with the Wonderbolts and that would explain her odd comment about Rainbow Dash getting into them.
"Um… excuse me, but how do you know Dolly and are you sure Celestia flew towards Mangora Mountain? There's anti-flight magic stopping any winged pony from flying around it." Twilight saw recognition in Spitfires face when she looked towards her.
"Hey, aren't you Rainbow's friend? Yeah, Celestia stopped a distance away from the mountain and took on a glow before continuing on, she probably generated a field to counteract the magic and it would explain a lot. I know Dolly because she once saved me and my folks from some stone gargoyles, it took me a while to find her after that. It was in Canterlot and then I soon became a Wonderbolt. Funny how life leads you from being a circus fire breather to a pyrotechnic specialist for a flight team that the princess is proud of." Spitfire frowned when she saw another Pegasus with dark hair fly up to them with a pie in his hooves. "Also I became a Wonderbolt after I met this knucklehead; he probably wouldn't have survived without me. If your friend wanted to know about my past, that's it in a nutshell."
"MPH MPHHLLE MPHE NOM MPH PHME." Soarin was trying to talk around a mouthful of pumpkin pie; Spitfire slapped him on the back forcing him to swallow and finally speak in a clear dialect. "I said what about when you earned you cutie mark for figuring out your talent with fire related stunts?"
"Ignoring that as it's an embarrassing tale, who else is in your party and who's going to willingly climb up that monstrosity by hoof. Orb Weavers aren't the only things up there that are dangerous you know." Spitfire turned her head while she was waiting for an answer to see fireworks shooting off down the street from a unicorn engaging a small magic act to lift some little spirits.
"Well there's me, Ms Sparkle, Ms Magnifico over there and I forgot Zecora's last name what was it again? She's good with medicine and stuff like my friend Ditzy. We're here to help out first, is there anything the two of us can do. Oh, right… and we also stopped to stock up on supplies!" Derpy put a hoof around Twilight and smiled cheerily hugging the unicorn to her body.
"Derpy is that you?" Turning to the pony that spoke Twilight immediately bowed to Luna, while Derpy waltzed up and hugged her without a second thought. "Yep, it's you. You don't care about me being a princess. What are you doing out here my friend?"
"Apparently these two and two others are following after your sister. They are also going to run a rescue operation for a mail dispatcher that happens to have been last seen in the clutches of a Taurus. But first they want to know if there's anything they can do to help, their friends are already helping out." Spitfire saluted to Luna who nodded.
"My yes, I could use some help from a faithful little mail pony and my sisters student. Come; let me show you where I can use your help. I hope my sister will be alright, the encroaching foul magic upon this land has even me worried." Luna started to trot off leaving behind a wilting Twilight who had to be pushed by Derpy to get moving.
Even Luna was worried about this problem; Twilight was beginning to think she should have just brought all her friends along instead of a ragtag group formed by some crazy mare that might be dead already.
No Twilight couldn't think like that, Dolly was alive and well… she had to be, the sword was just dropped by her. Speaking of which Dizzy was following them and holding the sword wrapped in a cloth, despite tripping over her hooves every five seconds she kept up with them and wasn't very happy about the circumstances of her home being in ruins.
()
Malice just stood there staring at the corpse making sure the pony was dead, before he stalked out of the room. He'd clean up later when he eventually stopped enjoying the smell of death, walking down the steps of the tall tower he made his way three floor down towards the dungeons.
He easily killed that one pony without remorse; he however could not kill the other one for several reasons. One Malice did not want to die by the sun exploding or crashing into his castle, Two keeping her sealed to the areas of the dungeon and keeping her there was much easier than having to fight the powerful pony and three he barely had any magic as it was in his weakened state to keep the immortal pony pinned down in the dungeon. There was a fourth reason such as ripping her wings off to use for his own needs by magically grafting them to his own back, but it wasn't immediately as important as building up his strength again. Those blasted winged ponies repelled his spreading influence and were setting upon him with haste; he needed to be ready for them when they arrived, but first they had to survive getting up to the castle for him to truly start worrying.
()
It was sometime early afternoon when Luna called a gathering of four specific equines. It was also around this time that Derpy found out Marahute slipped some carefully wrapped muffins into her mail bag when she wasn't looking; it was the very reason her face was bright red when they all arrived at the meeting spot. It was the exit out another part of Novascoltia to the northeast leading up a trail that forked between Snoneigh Heights and Mangora Mountain. The Mangora Mountain fork from Novascoltia didn't lead very far up the mountain before it stopped abruptly.
"I've just come to thank you for the assistance, but it is about time to follow my sister up the mountain. I fear she may have gotten in over her own head. Do you have everything you need?" Luna turned to Twilight who had a quill and was putting it to a large piece of parchment.
"Let's see, Food? Check. Large Winter Tent enough for four? Check. Two sets of warm clothing for each of us? Check. A… um… now there's a problem, there's not a more specific map of the mountain or the surrounding mountains. I do have Snoneigh Heights on my map though." Twilight kind of figured there wouldn't be a more detailed map, no pony seemed crazy enough to actually perform cartography while on the topography of the mountain itself.
"Is that the only thing troubling you? I'm sure you can trace the magic back to its source easily enough by feeling alone or you could take this sword and cast a tracking spell when you get far enough up there." Luna received a disturbed look from Twilight as she hoofed at the ground stirring up a bit of dust while Luna levitated the cloth wrapped sword in front of the purple pony and away from Dizzy's hooves. Twilight decided to stash the slightly rubbed clean Neighyashi in her right side saddle bag.
"Well yes, but you wouldn't happen to have a guide to rock climbing on you?" Twilight felt a tap on her butt and she turned to Derpy. Twilight tended to resort to books whenever she can, but when she couldn't she usually asked someone else about a subject and Derpy answered.
"I've been rock climbing, especially when my wings weren't working. Though I wish Ditzy would have asked me before she broke them. Never, EVER, go camping with my friend Ditzy Doo unless you know what you're getting into and want to learn survival training at its hardest. I'll only state for the record that wrestling a Hydra is tame for her and will leave it at that. Now tie one of those streamers to me, I'm taking point as I'm already good at the subject of falling off cliffs without the ability to save myself. The pony behind me has to be either Zecora or Trixie; Twilight should get the tail end of the climbing chain we need to make, my reasoning is if any of us fail to anchor ourselves she is the last line to safety and she has really strong magic for that." Derpy received several nods and they started to pull on their winter clothing. Scarves, woolen hats and sweaters. Zecora was a little put off by her sweater hoofed to her being bright pink and having the words 'Cupcakes: sweet and tasty' on it, but if it kept her warm who was she to complain?
Soon they discussed a plan for how to chain themselves to each other with the streamers. Using three Pinkie brand Stretchy Streamers Derpy took the lead position, the other end of her streamer was tied to Trixie, the end of hers was tied to Zecora and the end of Zecora's was of course tied around Twilight who seemed to be just shy of panicking about how nuts they were.
Three strangers from three different trots of life, with still as of yet entirely explained pasts and Twilight was with them on a quest that she felt would go far better if her five friends were there with her. They weren't a very cohesive group to begin with, so why did Dolly think this would work to begin with again?
"I vote that we immediately change the group's name from DERP to the Neigh Team!" Derpy was immediately shot down by three negative votes against her and she gave of a saddened huff as she stomped her front two hooves on the ground. Her random outburst should have at least caused more chuckles then just Luna's. She started making her way for the trail that would lead them up the mountain.
"Be careful and good luck my friends, I will be sure to keep things running smoothly in Celestia's absence. " Turning back to the ponies watching the scene, Luna slapped her construction helmet back on her head and she started gently relaying orders to the surrounding ponies that moved to follow them. As the distant words were lost on the winds Derpy looked up the mountain to see foreboding clouds building up as they traveled along the path.
"So, how long do you think it will take before we figure out how to use these stone things?" Trixie stepped into snow as the dirt path was starting to turn into mountainous terrain; she stopped to poke a hoof at the tip of her hat causing it to sway a bit.
"I'm not sure my dear, but the need for patience is clear. Don't rush into this situation because of Dolly, or else a disaster may occur at your folly. I'm sure she is fine, so please don't get out of line. But remember her words of Wisdom well, to act quickly without thought is not a plan you can sell." Zecora looked behind her and saw Twilight dragging her hooves; every pony seemed troubled as of late. Derpy seemed to be the only one with an unusual enthusiasm about her that was almost infectious if it didn't seem slightly panicked. Trixie was just shy of being a mental case a while ago and looked to Dolly as someone she could cling to for support. Twilight was probably worried about their collective ability to do anything; Zecora would only do what she could and nothing less.
The air was biting in its chill as they started on up the snowy hill. Zecora shuddered as she never really experience winter to much as the Ever Free Forest generally stayed warm year round.
"Can we move any faster than this Derpy?" Trixie seemingly less moody after a spell of quiet turned back to the blonde pony, whose wings were clamped tightly to her side.
"I would like to but we can't risk causing an avalanche and have to walk up this slope again. The snow here could cause us to backslide. Also if I didn't know any better I swear a blizzard is starting to form. We'll need to find some shelter up here in the next hour or two." Derpy kept moving up the slope, they had to keep pressing forward even at a set slow pace.
()
"Dipsy can we stop, I'm so tired…" Goldenrod fell flat on her face in the snow and Sham stopped and dug her body underneath her friends and lifted her up onto her back.
"Complain, complain, complain… if there is any pony around here that has anything to complain about it's me." Dipsy stopped and looked at the dark shadow sticking out of the mountain in the distance; she felt sense of dread in the pit of her stomach just by looking at it. More magical shenanigans she had to deal with, she was a pegasus not a unicorn.
"Ach, she be much lighter then ye' any day o' the year. Also if it's not too much trouble I could use a wee bit o' a pick me up myself an' another… what is it…?" Sham was halted by Dipsy who silently raised hoof as her ears twitched.
"I think we may be in big trouble… emphasis on huge…" Dipsy said slowly turning around to look behind them and at the trail to see several massive white beasts covered in thick coats of fur slowly stalking up the trail following their tracks, barely managing to navigate it because of their size and some were even crawling along the walls of the mountain. Tusked mouths with rows of jagged teeth big enough to swallow a whole gaggle of ponies and thick long claws that an Ursa Major would be envious of that could cleave most creatures in two.
Dipsy turned to stare blankly at Sham with a slight frown. Even with the magic staff and the veritable odds and ends she had from the ridiculous amounts of questing she had managed in days time, Dipsy wouldn't be able to fight those things and the fact that they were twice the size of elephants really didn't help make it easier for her to keep a cool head or a straight face.
"Run."
End Chapter.