Author's Notes. Right, I am back again. I am liking this "every other Wednesday" posting schedule. I think I may keep it; however, nothing is certain, so I won't speak about any kind of schedule too much yet. At this point I would like to thank everyone for the amount of reviews I have been receiving! Reviews are the lifeblood of a story, as they let me know what I've done right, and what I've done wrong. I would also like to mention that I will indeed fix errors that I have made in past chapters (from beginning to end) so if you spot anything (like BlazeWriters69 has been doing) do not hesitate to let me know! Again, thank you for all the reviews! I appreciate them to no end! Seriously, you have no idea how happy seeing all these reviews make me.
Speaking of reviews, let me take a moment to answer some.
To BlazeWriters69: I always make a point to answer reviews, either via this or by PM. And I agree that it is a good idea to know the characters of the stories you read inside out. It makes the immersion of yourself within a story that much more effective.
To Vibrant Sound: Oh, don't get the wrong idea! Wearing a seat belt is always in your best interests... And yes, Anima was the ONLY one to think (sensibly) of wearing a seat belt. I made sure to address it when I was writing the next section following the Catalyst Corps. (I did it way in advance, so I am unsure as to when I will actually post that particular section.)
To xCrysis-x: I like Xavier too. Wacky person that he is. Ooooh! Your idea for a story sounds interesting. Hey, if you ever make it into an actual story, let me know! I would love to check it out. I always encourage individual deviations from my original ideas by other authors. Have fun!
To madmanwithafork: Hmmmmm... I think I will try that out. I've been working really hard to stay away from goldfish currently (with limited success) and so a substitute might be of use. Thanks!
To FocusedStream: Thanks for the compliment. I really work hard to ensure that conversations maintain a sort of "natural" feel. I think it is resulting in me getting schizophrenia, but never you mind that. The quality of the work is all that matters! Probably... I hope... I think I'm going to go eat some goldfish now.
To SquirtlePWN: As I said in my PM, thank you soooo much for this exceptionally constructive review. I've taken a lot of your suggestions to heart (they are good ones, after all), and have begun to work out the best way to write up some of the things you asked for. I will do my best to take into account all that you have said, and I appreciate your honesty, as well as your opinion. Keep looking over stories with a keen eye, it makes you that much more valuable to writers. Oh, and one more thing... I am glad you like Lyric and Summer. They are, by far, my greatest work.
I do believe that is all for now! I will ramble a bit later after the chapter. Enjoy another section pertaining to the adventures of Lyric and Summer!
Dimension: My Little Pony
Planet: Equestria Earth
Specific Location: The Southern Jungles, the Stallion Empire
Time: Four days after Lyric and Summer ventured into the Southern Jungles.
"Okay… I've changed my mind. I don't want to do this," said Lyric, breathing heavily. He looked like a little foal, his muscles locked up as he stared down the zip-line that stretched from the tree he perched on all the way down, through the canopy roof, to the unseen depths of the jungle below.
He was just so high up. The tree he clutched to was towering in the air, vastly taller than any of the others. It was like a lighthouse, surrounded by an ocean of musty green. A humid wind rustled the thick branches, and the clouds above rolled lazily along. The landscape was deathly quiet, with only a harsh bird call here and there to break the silence. The tree-scape below murmured and swayed, with green waves building up to a froth that dissolved into a flurry of small leaves that were carried away in gusts that caused them to spiral into the blue abyss above.
To most this would have been a breathtaking sight, but to Lyric it was breathtaking in a way that made him want to vomit. Though he had clambered over his fair share of massive mountain peaks during his time as a survivor in the Stallion Empire's Frozen North, he had never felt so completely isolated by sheer drops. A wrong step in any direction would send him tumbling to a death many, many meters below. At this point zip-lining sounded pretty much like suicide. But not to Brag.
He just laughed. "Don't get cold hooves now, kid! We've just started! Do you want to rescue your filly-friend or not?"
"She's not my filly-friend!" gasped Lyric, who instinctively denied the thought of an intimate attachment like any regular teenager would do. However, he then remembered how he would probably kill himself if he came to rescue Summer too late and found her dead. The thought of losing the only thing that mattered in his life scared him more than the sheer drops about him.
This realization hardened his fluttering stomach like iron. He gulped and then gritted his teeth. "I've changed my mind… About changing my mind. This drop doesn't look TOO bad!"
Brag laughed again. "You keep telling yourself that, mate! The sun is well past its zenith now. All we do is wait until it's dark, and then we can pay our Agrinian friends an unwelcomed visit! I hope your partner has held out this long!"
Lyric bit his bottom lip worriedly. "Oh please… Oh please be okay Summer."
Dimension: My Little Pony
Planet: Equestria Earth
Specific Location: The Stallion Empire, the Southern Jungles
Time: Four days after Lyric and Summer ventured into the Southern Jungles.
Summer groaned softly as she tugged gently at her bonds. The thick ropes that bound her were made of rough vines, and the coarse flesh of the bindings were eating away at her skin, cutting deep. She bent her knees inward a bit and sighed; there was no way for her to escape by herself, as exposed as she was. It was a miracle the Agrinians hadn't decided to cut her body open yet. However, she wasn't as scared as she had been when she had been initially captured. Thanks to not being absolutely terrified anymore, Summer decided she should get her bearings, just in case there was some tool lying around or some piece of the environment that she could exploit that would allow her to escape her predicament. Her ears twitched and she cocked her head to one side as she let her senses drift away.
The air was cool, and there was a quiet that almost beat against her ears like a cacophony. It was definitely sunset. Summer lifted her backside from the ground and let it fall to the ground with a "thump." She felt the vibrations spread out, and with that she was able to locate a massive jungle tree to her left. Something was wrong with it though. Summer stuck her tongue out in concentration as she lifted her rump up again and let it fall for a second time. Yes, there was definitely something off about the tree. Summer's eyes brightened a bit as she came to a realization: The tree to her left had deeply rotted roots. So decayed were they that if a significant push was provided, it could possibly fall in the direction of the Agrinian camp, which, from the noise and the coarse laughter, was probably located south from her.
Summer sighed. This knowledge was useful, and downing that tree would cause considerable damage and chaos, but there was really no way for her to utilize what she had learned. The tree's thick trunk was located just outside the cage (which was built beneath the massive shadow it cast) and her hooves were bound. There was no way for her to do anything. Summer cocked her head further as a new bit of information reached her: A cold wind blew through the trees, and a single cricket's chirp was carried with the vanishing sunrays. The coolness of night was definitely here; darkness had fallen.
Summer attempted to tug at her bonds again, fruitlessly. Now was the prime time to escape, as the night gave her cover, but there was still no conceivable way for her to get out of her bonds by herself. The vines that held her was just too strong. There was nothing she could do.
She let herself go limp, and let her mind wander. Her soul began to meander through the annals of her memory, thinking upon the first time she had met Lyric. It had only been a year since they had met, and yet he had matured so much. He had gone from being selfish, hurt, and morally-confused to the strong and kind colt she knew and loved today. She had almost never left his side through all of the trial and tribulations they had encountered, and the only time she could remember where she had been separated from him by force was when they had wandered into the earthly hell that was Haven of Star Circle. That had been a dark time, and the consequences of their foolishness had cost Lyric a limb. But that danger was past… And had led up to this, another danger, another trial. Summer brushed away the sickening sense of panic and fear that ate away at her stomach. She couldn't let herself dwell upon her death, which lingered as a gruesome possibility in the near future. Summer shook the sense and dived deeper into her memories. From entering the Southern Jungles… To exiting the Frozen North to wander into the unknown… To being dragged from the frozen wreckage of a downed airplane by a bemused colt… To nothing. Darkness within the darkness. That was as far as she could remember. That was it. She knew that there had to be more to her life, for she could not truly have been born from ice and snow as a child of the Frozen North of the Stallion Empire as she insisted nowadays. But her memories were blank from the time beyond opening her eyes and seeing the worried and slightly disgruntled eyes of Lyric for the first time. This blankness bothered her sometimes, but she always pushed this feeling away. The unknown was the unknown, and there was nothing to do about it yet. From the ramblings of Lyric – who insisted on learning more of her mysterious past – she had gleaned that she was certainly from Equestria, possibly even from Ponyville… But those names sounded foreign on her tongue. Equestria was as cold and unforgiving as the plane of ice in the north to her. There were many that praised the glorious land of Equestria, and praised the Men of Power, the Dimensional Travelers that were said to stand sentinel over the land of sun and moon. But Summer was not one of those. She had no interest in this place, all she wanted to have in her life was to be beside the side of Lyric. Summer cocked her head to one side slightly, her eyes still closed. This was love, wasn't it? She and Lyric had been with each other through thick and thin, but they had never slept together. But that didn't really matter, did it? Perhaps their love would never be consummated, perhaps it would… But in the end all that mattered is that she loved him, and he loved her. She wanted to be with him from the light of dawn to her final breath.
Summer sighed a little, half-sob, half-moan. Final breath. There was a good possibility that that was coming… And it wouldn't be with her beloved Lyric beside her. For the umpteenth time Summer tugged at her bonds, a little more vigorously this time. She twisted and pulled at the vines until the rough skin of the binding plant cut into her flesh, and blood seeped down the ropes, dripping into the dirt and staining the wood of the posts driven into the earth. There was no yield; the ropes did not even stretch a little bit.
"I'm a wimpy… Weak… Scared little filly," muttered Summer angrily. "Mattimeo would have broken these bonds, killed all the Agrinians with a look, and then proceeded to raze this entire continent with a gesture for good measure. I'm so useless…"
Suddenly, Summer heard a sound that had not been drifting through the night air before. It was soft, certainly inaudible to the average ear, but she detected it even through her own mutterings. It was a gentle zipping sound, like something sliding down a metallic string. Then another sound similar to this one emanated throughout the air. There were two things sliding down this metal string. Then she heard it: Breathing. There were two beings sliding down this metal string… Then she recognized it: One of the breathing patterns. It was Lyric. She could recognize his breathing pattern and heartbeat anywhere, and now his scent drifted lazily in the night air to permeate her sensitive nostrils with the aroma-equivalent of pure hope. Lyric was sliding down the metal wire… And he was undoubtedly heading in her direction. The zipping sound was getting closer and closer, and soon Summer began to worry that the zipping sound would soon become audible to ears other than hers, but whoever had prepared the metal wire was skilled at their craft. Probably the owner of the heartbeat that she had heard with Lyric was the one to do this. Odd. Ponies generally didn't help other ponies in the Stallion Empire. It was killed or be killed; climb to the top or be climbed upon.
Nonetheless, Lyric was coming, and he was coming for her. It was all Summer could do from squealing out loud like a filly that had just found out that she was going to an amusement park. She was still a filly, technically, despite the fact most of her childhood had been burned away by the crash of an airplane, or frozen away by the ice and snow of the harsh north. A single tear of utter joy squeezed from her right eye and trickled down her cheek.
The metal wire seemed to be attached to a tree just outside the camp. Summer nodded to herself slightly. That was a good idea, as their arrival would be shrouded in shadows. The two arrived, and she heard the hooves as the gently clambered over branch and leaf to near her. Then she heard them begin to whisper. First came the voice of the stranger.
"Now that wasn't too bad, was it mate?"
"I… I guess so, Brag. But don't expect me to do that again… EVER."
"Your loss! You will never feel more alive than when you're diving in like that!"
"I think you've gotten alive and dead mixed up… Ohhhhhh… That explains a lot actually!"
"Very funny. Say, is that your filly friend down there?"
"S-S-Summer! Oh thank the Emperor… Oh my God… Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you…"
"Get a hold of yourself, kid! She's not out of the red yet! Hmmmmm… She's got a damn nice body, young'un. What a sight…"
"She's fourteen."
"… And I was talking about that female Agrinian keeping watch by the fire there. Look at that flank."
Summer sighed quietly in exasperation. A rogue. Of course Lyric would end up getting help from some over-the-top, loony loner who only was rescuing her for the kicks and a chance to get himself gloriously killed in combat. She tilted her head back and her blank eyes stared straight in the direction that Lyric's quiet whispers were echoing from. She shook her head vigorously and scrunched up her muzzle in annoyance to show him that she did not appreciate that he was unknowingly prolonging the conversation with his unwitting remarks.
"Hey… Mate… I think your filly friend is shaking her head at us. How can she know exactly where we are? She's blind… Ohhhhh… Super-hearing and the likes. I get it. Neat."
"Sorry, Summer. W-we're working on freeing you down. Here, hand me the knife and that rope. I'll climb down and…"
"Whoa there… Not so fast. Remember that Agrinian I was 'oogling' just seconds earlier? She's a guard, and she is facing this way. If we climbed down now we would be spotted in an instant. We need a subtle distraction. Something important enough for her to leave her post but also subtle enough that she will not even think upon calling for help."
Summer bobbed her head slightly. This "Brag" pony knew what he was talking about. She tilted her head and her blank eyes stared quizzically towards the direction of Brag's voice, silently asking him for a solution.
"Huh. Hmmmmmm… Right, I have an idea. I'm going to circle around and cause a minor distraction to draw that Agrinian away. When you hear a macaw call twice, then you'll be free to lower yourself down and cut your filly friend free. You game, kid?"
"Y-y-yeah…"
"Chin up mate. Don't look so terrified. You'll look bad to your filly friend. An unimpressed filly is a gone filly."
"Summer loves me. I love her. I will save her despite my fear."
"You're no fun. Right then, lovebird, let's get moving."
Summer held her breath as she listened to the movements of Brag as he moved away, as silent as a phantom, invisible and inaudible to all but herself. Then she heard Lyric. He was muttering under his breath, but he was speaking to her, like he would when he wanted only her to hear in a crowded room or across great distances. A great joy filled her and she listened to his voice carefully.
"Hey Summer. I'm so sorry for leaving you and getting stuck like that. Do you forgive me?"
Summer knew that he had left to find a safe place. It wasn't his fault he got trapped. She also knew that he must be torturing himself over the fact that when she needed him most to protect her, he had been helpless as well. It wasn't his fault either way, but she smiled gently and nodded her head.
A small sob escaped Lyric's lips. There was a pause before he continued. "I… I love you Summer. I… I want you to know that."
Summer nodded her head again knowingly. There was another pause as Lyric fought for words.
"I… I… Ever since I've found you, all I've wanted is to protect you… To keep you safe. You are the only thing that can keep me attached to this life, Summer. You are my life."
Summer smile softened and she slowly closed her eyes, willing her own feelings to drift out to Lyric, waiting to rescue her high above her head. She stayed like that for a whole minute, willing peace and joy upon the pony that she loved more than life itself. Then she heard rustling in the bushes on the far side of the Agrinian camp. It was Brag, positioning himself to distract the guard.
Brag was as silent as a wraith as he set himself up for the feinting maneuver. As soon as he was pressed up against a large tree, consumed in shadows, he reached forward with a stick in his right hoof and struck a bush in front of him. He rustled it so that it was audible, but just barely. Then from deep within his throat he made a burbling noise, simulating the sound of a wild wildebeest, foraging for food near the camp's outer perimeter. The Agrinian guard immediately got up with vigor. An animal, that meant food for her as a reward for her overnight watch. She snuck toward the bush as quietly as possible. She would kill it and consume it in silence, no need for her brethren to know about this.
That was precisely what Brag wanted her to think. The moment she snuck in close enough, he shuffled forward and snuck around her as she searched the bushes. He kept to the shadows until his back was to the campfire, framing his shadow in its dull orange light. The Agrinian guard turned around when she realized she was being engulfed in the shadow of another being, but it was too late. Brag slit her throat with a rusty dagger and gently lowered her body to the ground. He then retreated with her corpse, dragging the body with himself deep into the lair of the darkness once more. But as he did that, he made sure to cup his hooves about his muzzle and squawk like a macaw twice.
Summer heard it practically almost before the sound actually left Brag's mouth. Lyric heard it too. He whispered what sounded like a prayer and then began to lower himself toward Summer's cage. Soon he was above her, standing on the top of the barred container. He pulled a knife out of a strap about his waist via magic, and levitated it high above his head. He swung it down and sliced the ropes holding the top open. The wood tumbled down, swinging inward by the ropes that still bound the poles to the walls like hinges. The falling wood was not particularly loud, but it caused both Lyric and Summer to wince painfully and clench their teeth in horror. Lyric clung to his rope, his eyes scanning the camp feverishly.
The camp was quiet, with nothing but the crackling of the dying campfire to break the silence. The orange light that emanated from the aging flames illuminating the rough skin tents that were scattered about the natural clearing, casting shadows, long and harsh. The sky above was dark, with a thin waning crescent failing to do much but illuminate its own state. The sky above was speckled with countless dots of light, framed by the thick foliage of jungle trees high above in the dark canopy. Almost no light escaped to the mottled earth below, bound by moss and rotting plants. An archaic scene of true nature, and yet not a single sound reached out from anywhere, almost as if the entire forest was at a stand-still, watching Lyric's rescue of Summer like a crowd watches a play.
Lyric almost vomited as the pressure and consequences of what he was doing finally reached his brain. His hooves trembled and he felt very small, but as he doubled over, clutching at his butterfly-filled belly, his eyes landed on Summer. She was still suspended, belly-up, between the four posts, blood trickling from her hooves where the rough vines had cut into her. She was looking up at Lyric, straight into her eyes. He wasn't quite sure if she was doing that on purpose, but he saw what reflected within the two pupils staring back: Hope and love. She was waiting for him to save her. If he didn't, she would die… And then he would, in soul, and then in body.
Lyric bit his lip and slowly let himself down, sweating heavily as he neared his goal. She was so close… Almost close enough to touch. Then he was there, beside her side. He veritably tacked her, practically throwing himself upon her as he hugged her tightly. She began to cry silently as he whispered to her.
"I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry…"
"Oh Lyric," sobbed Summer in hushed tones, tears falling from her eyes without a sound. "Oh Lyric, you came back for me…"
Lyric gently eased away from her and gently ran a hoof down her body, from cheek to lower abdomen, tracing the deep scratches, heavy bruises and dark burns she had received from the Agrinians and the Fire Swamp. He tried his best not to cry as he took up the knife and cut away at her bonds, freeing her.
Summer fell to the earth, but she immediately scrambled up, despite being in pain and being exhausted. She embraced Lyric and kissed him on the cheek, hugging him close. Lyric leaned in and closed his eyes.
"You know, I would say this is sweet and all, but we need to get a move-on, kiddies."
It was Brag, standing in the tree above them, unravelling the rope so that it would be easier for them to climb up to him. His words were joking, but his eyes were deadly serious, his tough features set grimly.
Lyric looked up to Brag and nodded, his face changing from a picture of pure bliss and happiness to wariness.
"Brag is right, we need to move…"
It was too late. The flap to one of the skin tents was flung open. The Agrinian that had beat Summer with a rod trotted out, his eyes glinting with evil intent. His eyes immediately went to the cage, which denoted the evil idea which had caused him to leave the tent in the first place. But instead of seeing his captive, exposed and helpless, he saw that she was free, accompanied by another pony armed with a knife.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The scream that ripped from the Agrinian leader's throat was something between a shriek of anger and a battle cry, and it echoed throughout the camp, waking every single tribe member in the vicinity. They came flooding from their tents like technicolored ants, armed to the teeth and ready for war. They swarmed and bunched about their leader, preparing themselves to break upon and cover their targets like waves upon the sand.
"… Well, then. Time for us to go."
Brag slowly drew a long machete as he slowly lowered himself to the ground. The entire camp was silent as they waited for their chief's signal. However, it was Brag who made the first move.
"Run for it mates!" Roared Brag, shoving Summer in the rump and sending her skittering up the rope with Lyric supporting her from behind. The Agrinian leader screamed out a war cry, and the savages rushed Brag. But he was a warrior, a veteran. He was not deterred by their large numbers and their savage features, and he immediately cut down the first dozen to come at him. His blade flickered in the night, reflecting the dull light of the campfire like a lightning bug of death, dealing out the end of existence to anyone that drew near. Another group of savages grouped behind their Agrinian leader like another wave swelling before the shoreline. They rushed in again to assault Brag, this time circling him to perform a crude pincer movement. But Brag, again, was ready. He dodged outside of the crushing grip of the assault pattern and broke into their ranks as they ignored the climbing Lyric and Summer and turned to face him as a group. However, Brag was amidst them before they could react, with his machete swinging left and right.
He was an expert at the art of fighting, and he drove them back once… Then twice… Then thrice. But as the fourth wave assaulted him, he faltered, and soon they were driving him back. The blunt of a spear struck him across the face once, and then twice. He stumbled.
Though all of this was transpiring unseen to Summer, she knew exactly what was going on as her other senses translated the equivalent of the scene to her flawlessly. Her eyes widened in horror as a spearhead missed Brag's left eyeball by a centimeter.
"That pony needs our help, Lyric!" she cried.
"I know," exclaimed Lyric, almost a wail. "But what can we do?!"
Then Summer remembered: The tree to the left of the cage had deeply rotted roots. If given a shove it would collapse, covering most of the camp in the splinters of its humongous trunk. That was the course of action they needed to take.
"I-I-I remember now!" she shouted. "That tree beside my cage! Its roots are nothing but mush! We can shove it over and send it toppling into the ground! That will give us all time to escape!"
Lyric didn't even stop to question her. He trusted her senses far beyond his own. He gently touched her cheek and then shouldered their equipment (which Brag had thought of bringing along). He then began to shimmy down the rope to topple the targeted tree.
Brag spotted Lyric returning to the earth and shouted: "What the hell are you doing, mate? I've got this!"
He stopped abruptly to dodge another spearhead. He straightened up and slew the wielder with a single expertly-aimed thrust. "Well… I THINK I've got this. I could be wrong. I've been wrong before."
Lyric didn't stop to explain. He rushed to the tree and situated himself behind it, bracing his powerful legs to deliver a strong kick.
"I'm going to topple this tree on top of this entire camp, Brag! Get ready to move?"
"THAT monster of a twig? You're mental! There is no way you can-"
"MOVE!"
"Moving right away kid!"
Brag feinted to the left, slashed to the right, and then dodged backwards with another quick feint to the left. He then went into a roll, and dashed for the outskirts of the natural clearing. Just as he did that, Lyric delivered a massive buck to the tree. It tilted a little bit. He bucked it again. And again. And again. Then, with a large, tumultuous groan, the giant of a tree tilted and began to fall, its roots coming apart like spider webs and sending earth and mulch skywards with a roar that rivaled the crash of thunder. Brag had gotten safely to the tree line just as the tree began to fall, but most of the Agrinians had not. They turned to look upon the tree as it fell earthward with a deafening rumble and began to scatter like dandelion seeds to a gale. Unfortunately for them, quite a few were too slow, and the massive tree crushed about a score of them beneath the untold megagrams of wood. Brag dashed back to Lyric (who was climbing the rope like a scared squirrel) as chaos and confusion reigned supreme and joined them at the top of the tree. He slashed at the zip line, severing it, just as he reached the top to join Summer and Lyric. As it snapped, and the two ends shot away like rubber bands, he nodded to Lyric.
"Thanks for the distraction mate, but we are going to have some really large problems on our hooves soon."
Lyric looked over Brag's shoulder. There were only a couple dozen Agrinian savages alive (in addition to the leader) and they all seemed a bit in shock.
Brag shook his head. "Listen."
Summer and Lyric did, and then the sound came: War cries. Countless. Distant, but still, too many to count.
"Reinforcements are coming," Brag explained grimly. "We need to get the hell out of here, and fast. Follow me, kids."
Brag pulled up the rope and stashed it. And then, like a phantom of smoke, he vanished into the trees beyond. Summer gently touched Lyric's shoulder, and then they too proceeded to vanish like ghosts in the mists of time.
Author's Notes: And so Brag, Lyric, and Summer vanish into the depths of the jungle, pursued by countless blood-thirsty savages, intent on their demise! What will happen next? Find out... Sometime. I am still trying to figure out which story sections go well with each other. It's a process, but I'm getting there as I progressively work on an effective writing rhythm. Now, please let me know what you thought of this chapter! I would love to know what you think of this part of the overarching story. If you leave a review, I will send you goldfish! As I stated previously, I am doing my best to eat less of them, and so it would be a good idea if I just gave away all the boxes I have to you guys. I've gotten a teleportation machine all ready-made to send them to you all. However, there are a couple bugs, so the goldfish boxes might end up simply turning invisible as they arrive at your house. Let me know if this ends up being the case.