Hello Everyone! No I am not better, still sick, week three and counting. No class tomorrow though so I get to sleep in. Joys of the little things. Anyways I came up with some great ideas for the story and got pumped up to write, hence why this one is my longest chapter yet coming in at almost 2.5k words. Please enjoy, and PLEASE leave a Review! It really does help me out and gets more people to read the story. Definitely a huge plus for everyone. More people reading = More motivation to write = more chapters. You do the math. So Fav&Follow and leave a Review. Enjoy!
UPDATE 11/1/12 - Sorry that the next chapter is taking soooooo long, haven't had much motivation to write, I'm sure my fellow writers can sympathize. Am working on it tonight and tomorrow because i don't have class *high five*, I've also been talking with another Author about co-writing a story which i will be hosting so keep an eye out for that.
[Spark's POV]
Ditto and I saw the cloud of black ponies flying at us and before I could say anything Ditto grabbed my tail and pulled. He didn't have to tell me twice. We booked it for town. I felt like I had a strange sense of déjà vu, then I remembered the Manticore.
"Oh right, at least there aren't any of those around." I said aloud. Ditto just gave me a look. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a few of the lead ponies break into big toothy grins. They erupted into cones of green flames and suddenly there were about half a dozen manticores leading the swarm of ponies.
"Ditto! What the hell are these things?" I yelled. He just kept running. "Enough of this." I thought. I spread my wings and flew to Ditto, grabbed him, and bolted to town. Once we were over Ponyville Ditto pointed to a field meadow on the far side of town.
"What's down there?" I asked him while slowing down a bit. He just punched his one hoof into his other. "You sure?" I asked, but he just gave me a stern nod and a smirk. "Alright, time for a fight." I darted for the field.
When I touched down Ditto quickly broke out of my arms and turned and readied himself for the incoming swarm. They quickly approached from straight in front of us and started to fan out. They began to land all around us and soon it was two ponies surrounded my hundreds. For some reasons a song came into my head.
A year or so ago I managed to sneak into a symphony back in New York. I hid below the band section and just listened, I love music, all types. I think it was something by Mozart, Requiem or something like that. It came back vividly to me and it was oddly fitting in our current situation.
The black ponies slowly started edging closer to us, Ditto rushed forward a socked one in the snout and it crumpled. I turned and bucked one right in the chest, sending it right into another one of them. Ditto and I stood practically back to back, cracking out the blows. Luckily they were coming pretty slowly. Just as I was thinking that we might actually stand a chance they all started to jump in.
We were swarmed. I received a couple jabs in the chest as well as a few good kicks. I'm sure Ditto was getting the same. I heard some loud roars and some loud crunches; I hoped those weren't the manticores making a meal out of someone. I was shaken by my thoughts by a sharp pain in my neck. I thrashed wildly and broke loose from all the ponies. I bucked and jabbed wildly until I cleared a small circle around me.
I glanced down to notice a large red stain in my hoodie and followed the trail to a nice pair of holes in my neck. I didn't have time for this. While I had time I pulled my hood tight and tied it off hoping that it would hold until…well until the end I guess.
I looked around for Ditto but only saw a manticore with a white mane taking on a group of ponies and another manticore. It took a big swipe and took a couple ponies out and grabbed another manticore and slammed it into the ground before some black ponies jumped on its back. I was pulled back by getting tackled.
Before I could act a huge red explosion took out a whole side of the pony group and five shapes bolted through the red cloud coming at me. It was Cloud and some of the others. I saw Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack. Man, I was glad to see them, could've been under better circumstances though.
Cloud ran up to me and quickly lifted his goggles.
"I knew we'd find you here!" He said with a smile.
"Oh shut up, Ditto and I were doing fine." I told him while batting away another pony.
"Ditto? Who's Ditto?" Cloud asked while bucking two ponies into the sky for Dash to send flying in a rainbow blur. There was a green flash and Ditto landed roughly between us. I helped him up.
"Storm Cloud, this is Ditto, Ditto, This is Storm Cloud." I made the introductions while dodging a flying pony.
Ditto nodded at Cloud and jumped back into the fight.
"Huh, interesting character." Cloud said.
"Yeah, he doesn't talk much." I said while jabbing a pony in the throat. Just then a purple wall appeared and crashed into a group of ponies while a rather satisfied looking Twilight trotted by, horn aglow.
"Say Cloud, got any more of those firestick things?" I asked while holding a pony for Applejack to kick, she sent it flying. "Well yeah, what do you have in mind?" he asked with a smile.
"Give em here!" I said, he tossed me two. I grabbed Applejack and handed them to her. I picked her up and took to the sky. Once we were about 100 feet above the rumble below, Applejack held the two sticks up to me, I grabbed the two strings in between my teeth and pulled.
"Aim!" I yelled and AJ complied. "Hey Cloud! You might want to get behind something!" I yelled. Then both the firesticks went off, sending huge red fireballs at the ground. The right side of the circle of ponies was gone. When the cloud cleared I saw Cloud and the others under a purple glowing bubble. I landed and went over to them.
"That actually worked pretty well." Twilight said with a sign of relief.
"Wait, you weren't sure you could protect us?" Cloud asked
"Heh, well, you see…" Twilight rubbed the back of her neck.
"No time, here they come again." Dash said while landing next to me. The black ponies formed a solid line opposite from us and held their position. Just then Pinkie rolled in behind us riding a large blue cannon. She had one of those roll up noise makers in her mouth, when she came to a stop she gave it a strong blow.
"Uh, Pinkie dear? What are you doing?" Rarity asked with a concerned look.
"Hiya guys! I'm just riding the party cannon!" She gave the large cannon a pat and it went off showering the entire enemy line in colorful confetti and streamers.
"Well, that was helpful." Cloud said while rolling his eyes. Just then the ground began to shake and the black ponies began to break rank and run and fly away.
"What the hell is that?" I yelled while trying to keep a footing. Ditto came out of nowhere and stumbled in front of me.
When the rumbling stopped I turned to see a line of giant purple translucent bears. They gave a mighty roar at the retreating ponies. I was just about scared shitless until I saw who was riding on the lead bear's back.
Fluttershy slowly floated in front of the lead bear and gave it a gently scratch on the nose.
"Awww, thank you so much Mister Ursa! You were so helpful!" she said with her soft voice and then glided down to us. I think all our jaws were on the ground.
"Fluttershy, how are you friends with Ursa Majors?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, it's nothing really, I just helped them the other day with putting their baby to sleep. It was nothing." She said while hoofing the ground nervously.
"That was amazing!" Cloud let out it a shout of joy.
"Is everyone alright?" I asked while trying to take a headcount. I didn't see Rarity or Applejack. I panicked. "Applejack! Rarity! Where are you?" I yelled while looking all over the former battleground.
"Over here dear!" I heard Rarity yell. I looked over and saw here helping Applejack up off the ground. I ran over to them and gave Applejack a big hug.
"I'm so glad you're alright." I said softly to her. When I pulled away her eyes seemed to glow a little. I didn't really give it any attention. When I turned back to everyone one of the Ursas was looking at Ditto funny and smelling the air. When it leaned down to him and let out a low growl he ducked behind Fluttershy.
"I think that's all we need Mister Ursa, thank you for all your help." Fluttershy said softly while waving goodbye to the giant bears.
"I don't know about you guys, but I think that's enough of that for one day." Twilight said while making her horn glow a bright purple. There was a flash and suddenly all nine of us were standing a library.
"Where are we?" I asked while I rubbed my eyes.
"My house." Twilight said while opening several doors and looking inside. "I need to let the Princess know about this immediately. The changelings shouldn't be anywhere near here…A HA!" she pulled a wicker basket with a blanket over it out of a small room.
"So that's what those things were? Changelings?" I asked while eyeing up the basket.
"Yeah, they never come out of the deepest part of the Everfree, we need to find out why they were so eager to come out this time." Cloud said while pulling off his saddlebags and grabbing map after map out of them. Twilight took the blanket off the basket and inside was a little purple dragon.
"Uhh...Twilight, what do you want?" It said while turning over in its basket bed.
"Spike get up, we need to send a message to the Princess immediately. We were just attacked by changelings." Twilight said. Spike hopped out of bed and pulled a feather and a piece of paper out of his bed. "Ready!" he said, posed to write.
Twilight started dictating a message to him, but I was more concerned with Ditto. He was eyeing up Applejack.
"Whoa, dude, she's spoken for." I said with a chuckle. He just shook his head and looked at her even more closely. It was a little creepy.
"…your most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle." Twilight said finishing the letter. Spike rolled it up and blew fire over it, sending it away in a cloud of ash and green fire.
"Now we wait." Rainbow Dash said while settling into a beanbag chair. We didn't have to wait long, there was a bright white flash and the next thing I know, all of us, Spike included, were standing in Celestia's throne room.
"Princess!" Twilight said while quickly bowing, as well as all the other ponies. Ditto, Applejack, and I were the only ones still standing straight up. But AJ quickly bowed after she saw everyone else was bowing. I was still watching Ditto, he was looking closely at Applejack.
"There is no time for formalities my little ponies." Her motherly voice had a sense of panic. "Is this report accurate?" She said while levitating Twilight's letter in front of her. "Are the changelings back?"
"I'm afraid so Princess." Twilight said.
"Yeah but we sent them packing!" Rainbow Dash said while flexing her front legs.
"Swift Foot! Bronze Back!" Celestia called out. A white pegasus and a dark brown, almost black, unicorn ran to Celestia and stood at attention. They were dressed in full suits of gold colored armor. "I need you two to go find Shining Armor and tell him to cast the Canterlot protection spell immediately." The Princess commanded. Both ponies saluted and took off through the door.
"Princess, do you think that there are more of them? I mean more than what we just faced at Ponyville and even more than at the wedding?" Twilight asked fearfully.
"I'm afraid so, we need to take every precaution possible. They've been quiet since the wedding, something…" Celestia looked right at me. "…must have peaked their interest." My mind was racing, did I somehow cause this? I put people in danger, I couldn't let people get hurt because of me. I had to get away from everyone, maybe hide in forest.
My focus was drawn to Ditto. I saw him looking at Applejack again. This time he saw something he didn't like. His eyes went wide and he jumped at her and landed squarely on her.
"Ditto stop!" I yelled while running at them. He just cocked his hoof back and let it fly catching Applejack in the jaw. That was too far. I lowered my head and rammed him, sending him skidding across the floor. I turned to see Cloud and Pinkie helping Applejack up, a trail of dark almost black blood running down her cheek. I looked back to Ditto, he nodded and pointed to her flank. My eyes followed his gesture and I saw it. There was only one apple.
I walked over to her, gesturing Cloud and Pinkie away. "Applejack, are you okay?" She nodded slowly. "Can you feel everything? Anywhere hurt?" I asked and she nodded again.
"It's good that you can feel everything, because this is gonna hurt." I said, when she looked up at me I turned and bucked her, catching in the side of the face.
BOOM! Cliffhanger! I know I suck for ending it like this but it was the best way to break up this section. Leave a Review! Fav&Follow! Goodnight/Day/afternoon/morning/evening...you take your pick!