Chapter 8:
The Ancient Grove
After everypony has planned out on what to do next, Celestia has instructed Twilight, Spike, and the others to head to a place called the Ancient Grove, a dark forest that is far, far away from Equestria on the other side of the Everfree Forest, the waters were poisonous and everyone knew it shouldn't be touched, they could tell it was a dark place that only the bravest or foolish to come here, and Fluttershy just felt a little bit of fear as they flew closer and closer to it.
But if there was one thing that concerned Twilight the most, it was the visions she's been having, ever since she has saved Flash, Twilight has been having multiple nightmares, it was a lot like the one she explained to the others about too.
As The Mane 7 and Spike flew closer to the Ancient Grove, Twilight remembered what Celestia and Luna said to them just before they departed for a while.
"There is an Ancient Grove within a forest at the end of the Everfree Forest. It is a secret place untouched by civilization," Celestia explained calmly while Twilight and her friends see the Guardians flying off to do their task and warn everyone of what's to come.
The Ancient Grove is filled with trees and has a flowing river.
"The waters there are poisonous as well are the creatures who are nurtured by it. But you shouldn't encounter any real danger," Luna added as the creatures of the Ancient Grove were seen lurking through the shadows, growling and snarling.
"Trust your instincts, Twilight. Luna and I shall be waiting for you here at the temple when your task is complete," Celestia finished as she and Luna waited on the balcony of the temple for Twilight and her friends to return, praying that they should come back safely.
After they have arrived at the Ancient Grove, The Mane 7 and Spike landed and saw how spooky it is there. There were trees, the waters were a cold dark purple color that told them it was poisonous a small waterfall, and a few smaller creatures hopping around.
"Oh, yes. Lovely, they always send us to the nicest places," Spike said sarcastically, looking around the place.
"Come on, Spike. It's not that bad," Twilight said, assuring her Dragon Brother as she looked around too.
"Yeah, and besides maybe this place has something very cool and amazing for us to discover," Pinkie added, looking at the forest with a smile.
Unfortunately, Pinkie Pie has jinxed it for appearing from the shadows of the forests, seven pair of glowing eyes were seen and a strange low growling sound was heard. Twilight, Sunset, Applejack, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Rarity were unfazed by the sounds and eyes but Fluttershy and Spike, being a bit spooked and terrified, hid behind them.
"Oh, yeah, sure. Let's just ignore the evil beasts, visions of doom, and Infinite Darkness. Which sounds lovely by the way. And now the fact that we get to frolic around in some magical creepy forest to search for some stupid tree and learn more about Twilight's Origin? What's not to love?!" Spike asked sarcastically some more.
"Well, you're psyched, Spike. Let's go," Rainbow Dash said, not noticing Spike is just being sarcastic.
"So, we're going in there, Twilight?" Sunset asked, looking at the Ancient Grove ahead of them.
"Yup," Twilight replied, also looking at the Grove ahead of them.
"Find the tree from your dream and return to the Temple?" Rarity asked next, reminding Twilight of what they must do on their task.
"Yup. And we're gonna just go straight," Twilight said as she and the others begin to enter the Ancient Grove to start their quest to find the tree from Twilight's dream.
"You sure you know which way to go, Twilight?" Rainbow asked, turning to Twilight with a bit of doubt in her voice as they jumped off a moving platform that slowly went down a waterfall that led to a higher ledge, the poisonous water slowed the object down, and they could take advantage of it.
"Like Celestia said, 'Trust my instincts'," Twilight assured her and they were off.
On their way, Twilight and her friends have had a few encounters in the Ancient Grove, making their way through the forest as safely as they can. They fought Grove Mites and more of those Monster Bull-dogs. At some point during these fights, Twilight used her Alicorn Time Magic to slow things down for her and her friends. As they kept going, Twilight began to notice something.
"This sure is taking a while," Twilight commented, noticing this quest is taking longer than they expected as they kept making their way through the place and avoided as many deadly traps they could come across, there were falling trees that collapsed after years of living in weak environments, strange termites that would latch onto them to try and take them down, to vision monsters that would occasionally jump out of the tree to attack.
"Hey, can we play a game?" Pinkie asked, suggesting an idea on how to pass the time while her friends always kept their guard up no matter what here, and they wouldn't put it down until they finally leave the place.
"Okay," Twilight answered while knocking down a tree, which fell down and broke a few more trees, revealing another path behind them, showing a huge mushroom in a boiling fiery purple lake.
"Okay, I'm thinking of an Alicorn who is purple, and she can master all the elements," Pinkie said, describing what she is thinking about as they walked across the broken tree, even though it was pretty obvious to the others who Pinkie was describing.
"It's me, Pinkie," Twilight replied, knowing Pinkie was describing and thinking about her.
"Great, Twilight!" Pinkie said with a smile, Twilight and the others rolled their eyes, seeing how this game will be long and possibly boring as they continued on their way.
Next, Twilight used her Alicorn Time Magic for they were hopping from one moving piece of land to another across another boiling fiery purple lake. While they were crossing, Pinkie Pie was doing another one of her guessing games.
"Okay, this time I'm thinking of two things. One is yellow and does Nature and the other is white and does Water…," Pinkie said, describing what she was thinking about again while stopping for a bit, although it was obvious she was talking about Fluttershy and Rarity.
"It's me and Fluttershy, darling," Rarity said, knowing Pinkie was talking about her and Fluttershy since they are right in front of her.
"Wow, you girls are getting good at this game," Pinkie commented, surprised that her friends know how to play the game so well as she moves on to catch up with them.
After dealing with more of the creatures of the Grove such as Bull-dog Monsters, Plant Monsters, and even Grove Mites, Twilight and her friends wandered into an unknown area of the Ancient Grove as Pinkie then began to do her guessing game one last time.
"Okay, I thinking of two orange Alicorns. Only one does fire and one does…," Pinkie was about to describe until she was interrupted when Sunset spoke.
"Me and Applejack, Pinkie. And the next one is just a guess, Rainbow, Spike, and You," Sunset said, getting a little annoyed with the game Pinkie is playing.
"Okay, that's just scary, Sunset," Pinkie said, not liking how Sunset was ruining the fun.
"Um, Twilight. Are you sure we're going in the right direction to where you saw that tree?" Rainbow Dash asked, turning to Twilight to see if they were going the right way or not.
"Actually, now that I think about it. What are we even doing here? I'm not even sure what we're supposed to be looking for," Twilight said, starting to have trouble navigating through the Ancient Grove to find the Tree from her dreams.
"Twilight, are we lost, deary?" Rarity asked, getting the feeling of what Twilight is trying to say.
"I'm afraid we are lost, Rarity," Twilight confessed with a defeated sigh.
"Oh, great. We're lost in this crazy forest and have no way how to get back home!" Rainbow Dash complained, not believing that they are lost in the creepy haunted forest as she crossed her arms and sat.
"Hey, girls have you tried these gems yet? Hmmm, they're delish," Spike said, pointing to some strange color gems nearby as he began munching on them.
"These berries seem to be delish too," Pinkie said, looking at some berries on a bush as she began taking a hoofful of them and started eating some of them too. "Mmmm, you girls gotta try these," Pinkie said with her mouthful of berries before swallowing them.
"Spike, Pinkie, don't eat those. You two don't even know what those are," Twilight warned them.
Spike and Pinkie then let out some burps, almost like they were vocalizing in burps. This kinda annoys the others, seeing how they seem to lack a little bit of manners when it comes to burping and eating things they don't know.
"Nonsense, these things are perfectly edible," Spike said as Twilight and the others rolled their eyes and kept on going to see which way they were going.
"Anyway, we should be getting close to the tree," Twilight said, almost getting the feeling that they were getting close to the tree.
But as they were about to move on and head down the path…
"Alright, maggots. Time to spread out!...," A low pirate voice said as The Mane 7 and Spike looked around and listened to where the voice was coming from.
Peaking out from behind a root of a tree, The Seven Alicorns and Dragon saw a gang of Dog-like Pirates in their way. One of them was bigger and was holding a medium sword while his followers were three smaller individuals. The Mane 7 and Spike can tell they must be here looking for something…but what?
"Don't bother staring at anything smaller than a Dragonfly or a Scurvywing. Skabb only wants prized winners this time. And double the bounty for the one who captures Arborick!" The Leader announced to his Soldier Followers as they cheered for getting the double bounty.
"What are those creatures?" Pinkie asked in a whisper, she has never seen these creatures in the Grove.
"Sky Pirates. And they're for looking for this Arborick fellow," Applejack replied in a whisper.
"*GASP* Gaia told me about Arborick. They're a type of Tree Monsters that roamed around the Ancient Grove and are very dangerous to capture," Fluttershy explained her knowledge to her friends.
"But this doesn't make any sense. Celestia and Luna said that the Ancient Grove was untouched by civilization," Twilight whispered, recalling what Celestia and Luna had said to them about the Ancient Grove being uninhabitable for civilization.
"Maybe we must have taken a wrong turn or something," Sunset said, guessing.
"Probably. Come on, let's get out of here before they spot us," Twilight agreed as she and the others were about to head back to where they came from.
"All those in favor of turning back?" Spike asked, a little loudly, at the same time, Twilight was beginning to feel a little dizzy and then sleepy again before collapsing on the ground again, which Spike and the others took notice of.
And to make things worst, the Sky Pirates have appeared to have heard Spike's voice and became curious about it.
"Hey, it came from over there. Go see what it is," The Pirate Leader ordered his followers, pointing to where the voice is coming from as they began to approach where the Mane 7 and Spike are hiding.
"They're coming this way," Fluttershy warned her friends in a whisper, seeing the enemies coming their way.
"Quick, we need to move Twilight somewhere else so they won't capture her," Sunset said quietly as she, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack began to gather around the sleeping Alicorn mare to begin moving her somewhere else.
But as they were about to do just that, Spike and Pinkie were beginning to feel something building up in their mouths. Which could only mean one thing…
"Oh, not now. Please not now…," Spike said as he and Pinkie struggled to hold it in while Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Sunset looked back with frightened and nervous looks on their faces, knowing what Spike and Pinkie are about to do and hoping they don't do it.
Seeing that it was no use, Spike and Pinkie let out two monstrous belches which echoed across the forest, catching the Pirates by surprise, and Sunset and the others to facehoof themselves for Pinkie and Spike have given away their hiding spots.
"Great, now what are we going to do?" Rainbow Dash asked in a whisper, seeing the Pirates now coming over to their hiding place to see who made the noise.
At the same time, Rainbow Dash asked that question, Sunset has already come up with an idea as she turned to Pinkie and Spike, who are having nervous looks on their faces, knowing why she was looking at them like that…
As the Dog-like Pirates began to approach where The Mane 7 and Spike were hiding, Pinkie and Spike were flung into the air and landed in front of the Pirate Gang, courtesy of Sunset and Rainbow Dash tossing them up with their magic, catching the Pirates by surprise.
"So, uh, how is everybody doing today?" Spike asked, keeping the Pirates busy while Sunset and Rainbow quietly lift Twilight off the ground with their magic and placed her on Applejack's back.
"Yeah, are you guys having a lot of fun being Pirates and all? Argh!" Pinkie asked, trying to sound like the Pirates while also trying to keep the Pirates busy from discovering their friends.
"Look, a little winged lizard and winged Donkey are no bigger than a bulge rat," One of the Soldier Pirates chuckled, insulting Pinkie and Spike about their size.
"Hey, who are you calling a Lizard and Donkey?!" Spike said, feeling offended by the remark.
"Yeah, besides you look like nothing but a crazy-eyed mangy drool mutt!" Pinkie said, moving her hooves in a boxing motion, only for her to realize her mistake as she and Spike saw how much that offended the Pirates.
"Uh-Oh," Pinkie and Spike said in unison, now seeing they are in a lot of trouble.
"Get them!" The Leader ordered.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!/MOMMY!" Spike and Pinkie screamed as they began running off with the Pirates chasing right behind them, leading them away from the others.
Rarity witnessed the whole thing and let out a sigh of relief, "Phew, they're leading the Pirates away from us," She said, turning to the others and informing them.
"That's good. Now let's get Twilight somewhere safe so she can sleep peacefully," Applejack said as they began to head out to find a spot to set Twilight down to get some peaceful sleeping.
"I wonder what Twilight is dreaming about now," Rainbow Dash said, wondering what Twilight doing in the Dream Realms right now…
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