Gems: Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Race to the Edge

50 yards. That’s as far as Twilight’s magic could take them, just fifty measly yards away from the castle gate, they may not have been in the dungeon anymore but they were in no less danger where they were now. After shaking off the light dizziness she received from teleporting five ponies at once, something which she was hoping never to repeat in the not-to-distant future, the Alicorn couldn’t help but sigh in relief upon seeing that everyone else seemed to be okay, albeit three of them still unconscious. However as much as she was relieved that she and the others were out of the dungeon, once she saw that they were once again in the empty streets of Canterlot, she growled in frustration.

“Oh great, we’re STILL in Canterlot!” she exclaimed, granted she knew she wouldn’t be able to teleport that far given the circumstances but she HOPED she would have been able to at least get them out of the city.

Needless to say Rainbow Dash shared in her frustration once she too shook off the initial dizziness.

“You couldn’t have teleported us further away!?!” she complained, clearly not any happier about the situation herself.

“Not with this many ponies at the same time!” Twilight retorted. “Just be glad I was able to teleport at all, given the circumstances, things could have been a lot worse.”

Obviously Rainbow Dash had to take a moment to regain her composure upon hearing that, but once she managed to calm herself down a little bit, she finally let out a small sigh.

“Alright, fair enough,” she said defeatedly. “So what we are gonna do now?”

But then, before Twilight could even open her mouth, both ponies felt a small rumble beneath their hooves, followed by the sound of several pieces of glass shattering as random piece of furniture were thrown out of the castle windows. Needless to say, Twilight’s first response to the new circumstances was the most preferable to follow with.

“Right now, I think running would be a good idea,” she said, her face filled with fear as she used her magic to quickly lift up the other Princesses’ unconscious bodies.

And they didn’t even have to wait long for the sounds of smashing windows to be followed by the ear-piercing shrieks of the laughter from hundreds of gem-encrusted canines, all of who were now beginning to jump out of the windows and run straight towards them.

“DEFINITELY a good idea!!!” Rainbow Dash squealed, taking a brief look behind her for just a moment to see the oncoming army of Gemnites and breaking into a gallop.

Within moments both mares, along with the three unconscious former-Alicorns being carried in Twilight’s magic, were running for their lives, desperate to avoid the clutches of the army of Gemnites right on their tail. Of course it was obvious that despite having Alicorn magic, and even if she wasn’t still recovering from a five-pony teleport, Twilight still wouldn’t be strong enough to hold onto the Princesses in her magic for long, after all even a Princess has certain limits and Twilight had nowhere near the strength to raise the moon and sun like her mentor, much less three unconscious ponies at the same time. Thankfully a small miracle appeared just ahead of them once Rainbow Dash spotted something just up the road.

“Hurry, get them on the carriage!” she cried, quickly ushering Twilight towards the abandoned wagon that had caught her attention.

It must has been sheer luck that none of the high-class carriage drivers in Canterlot were allowed to take their rides with them when the city was evacuated, otherwise Twilight would have been struggling even more than she needed to during this terrible chase. Seeing that they literally had mere seconds, if not a single minute before the Gemnites could catch up to them, Twilight wasted no time in loading up the Princesses’ sleeping bodies inside the carriage while Rainbow Dash quickly harnessed herself up to it.

“Okay, not to make fun of royalty or anything, but I think Princess Celestia REALLY needs to lay off the cake!” she complained, feeling the combined weight of the three ponies inside the carriage.

However there was no time for funny comments now, for it didn’t take more than a few seconds later for the more faster Gemnites came running around the corner and narrowly miss their target, their downfall being the courtesy of Twilight using a blast of magic to knock them back at the last second.

“GO, GO, GO!!!” she screamed, desperate to get moving again.

And with that, Rainbow Dash nodded and once again commenced running, this time with three ponies literally in tow, all the while Twilight used her own wings to hover just above the rear of carriage and proceeded to blast any Gemnite that came too close. Of course Rainbow Dash would have preferred to fly to safety, and despite being tied down to a carriage she still used her wings to pick up some extra speed, but due to the extra weight AND the fact that the only other flyer that could help her pull was too busy fighting of the oncoming army of canines, this was the best she could do given the circumstances, besides she believed she was strong enough for the task anyway.

“Hang onto your hooves, ladies!” she yelled and she continued to run. “It’s going to be a bumpy ride!”

And sure enough it WAS a bumpy ride, especially for the three sleeping bodies inside the carriage, who due to their condition were unable to brace themselves as their mode of transport tilted and turned during the chase, leaving them to flop about inside like ragdolls. As Rainbow Dash crisscrossed through the streets of Canterlot, weaving through every twist and turn in the road as she tried desperately to shake off the hoard of Gemnites right behind them, she couldn’t help but dread what would happen if they had managed to catch up, would they simply catch them? Or worse, bring them to this Tak creature? If they did then would HE do!?! It made her shiver internally just to ponder just what he might have in store for Twilight and her if they do end up getting caught, if he was able to remove the wings AND horns of the three princesses, just what else was he capable of!?! Suddenly those thoughts weren’t the only worries Rainbow had to worry about once Twilight’s voice rang in her ears once more.

“They’ve got aerial support!” she screamed, her jaw dropping in disbelief upon seeing what was now fast-approaching.

Despite needing to keep an eye on the road ahead, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but risk a small glance behind her shoulder upon hearing those words, sure enough, she too gasped in horror upon seeing what now began to fill the sky above the carriage. Like a flock of crows gliding over the currents of the wind, there they were, several black-sailed hang gliders, all of which were operated by the Brittles, along with many Gemnites who were both piloting AND standing on top of the sails, weapons in paw.

“There they are, youngins!” Moonshine Brittle cried out, leading the aerial troops from his own glider. “Lasso them varmints!!!”

“Okay Pa!” Cornpoke cheered in response, readying his rope as his sister piloted the glider he was standing on.

Needless to say it was amazing how hang gliders of all things were able to support the weight of a few Gemnites much less a full-grown stallion standing on top of it, Twilight could only imagine that such a device was made using some very weird materials for such a thing to be possible, but what was even more strange was the fact that some of the Gemnites standing on the gliders felt the need to take not just weapons but musical instruments too, all of which were now being used to play some theme music for such an event. But as annoying as the added music was, it was nothing compared to the large hoop of rope that sudden tightened around Twilight’s left wing, before she had any chance to react, the Alicorn quickly found herself being pulled away from the carriage with one quick jerk and suddenly found herself face-to-face with a certain Earth Pony standing on his sister’s glider.

“Howdy Ma’am!” he said, giving Twilight a goofy yet evil-looking grin.

Of course Twilight’s first reaction was nothing short of understandable if anyone else would be put into such circumstances, to be more specific she felt no guilt whatsoever in giving Cornpoke a quick jab to his muzzle, he may have been strong enough to pull her up into the air but even he wasn’t tough enough to ignore the instant pain.

“OWEY!” he yelped, still keeping his grip on the rope as to make sure Twilight didn’t break free from her bonds. “My poor nose!”

“Don’t let her struggle Pokey!!!” May Bell hollowed from below the two, her focus shifting of the sky for a brief moment upon hearing the struggle happening above her head.

“Let go of me!!!” Twilight demanded, desperately struggling to break free from the rope.

At first it didn’t seem like she was ever going to get the rope off her wing, but then, with one final jerk, she was finally able to pull off the same stunt that Cornpoke was able to do when snaring her and used the Earth Pony’s own rope to yank him off the glider, within seconds he lost his grip on the tether and proceeded to fall, all the while Twilight was able to keep her altitude by once again having the ability to flap her wings.

“CORNPOKE!!!” May Bell screamed, watching in horror as her brother plummeted from his perch on the glider to the ground below.

However as luck would have it, Cornpoke’s unfortunate landing didn’t come from a concrete road, but rather a small fruit display outside a grocery store that had been abandoned during the evacuation, with a crash and a splat, the Earth pony tore through the tarp of the awning roof, smashed into the wooden crates, and landed directly into a display of tomatoes and lettuce. After the whole thing, Cornpoke was battered, bruised, possibly had a broken leg or two, and looked like he was wearing a salad, but none the less was still alive, all thanks to sheer luck. Instantly reacting to the whole ordeal, May Bell then quickly dove her glider down, made a quick landing and went to check on her brother.

“Woah! You okay?” she asked desperately, receiving a small groan in response.

Witnessing all of this from his own glider, Moonshine growled furiously as he watched Twilight quickly catch up to Rainbow Dash and the carriage, he may have been a bandit and a drunkard, but NO PONY harms his youngins and gets away with it.

“Gemnites!!!” he screamed, looking towards a few of the canines using the gliders to his right. “Block their escape!”

Instantly realising what Moonshine was referring to, a fair number of the Gemnites split off from the others and proceeded to gain some altitude by pointing their gliders upward, after which they advanced onto a diving formation, aiming their gliders at the road a few yards ahead of Rainbow Dash’s path. Before long several Gemnites jumped off their gliders before they impacted with the ground, and thus began forming a small roadblock with their own bodies, they may have only been eye-level with an average pony but suffice it to say they are nothing short of stubborn. However despite the fact that there was a small hoard of gem-encrusted dogs, all of whom were snarling and brandishing numerous weapons no less, Rainbow Dash’s determination never faltered.

“Out of my way, mutts!!!” she screamed, her eyes narrowing with resolve.

Needless to say, this action took a fair few of the Gemnites by surprise, so much so that that soon began to become a little nervous given the fact that rather than slowing down, the Pegasus started speeding up.

“Uh… ain’t she supposed to be slowing down?” one of them asked another to his right, clearly expecting a different reaction from the oncoming pony.

Of course the Gemnite he was talking to seemed to be a little more buoyant, if not cocky, that Rainbow Dash will indeed stop.

“She will,” she said confidently, though not entirely convinced of her own statement is she had to be honest.

But no matter what the Gemnites said or did, Rainbow Dash continued to run straight towards them, gaining even more speed as she flapped her wings violently, thus literally lifting her hooves of the ground and causing a notion of panic amongst the Gemnites.

“She’s not stopping!” one of them yelled in fear.

“Everypony hang on!!!” Rainbow Dash screamed, now flying at full speed.

After that there was only mere seconds left before another Gemnite was able to say:

“Uh oh,”

With the driving force of a speeding bullet combined with her own personal strength added with the size of the carriage, Rainbow Dash ploughed through the hoard of Gemnites, knocking those who weren’t able to dive out of the way like pins in a bowling alley and once again clearing their path. Watching all of this from above, Moonshine’s blood boiled over.

“DAGNABBIT!!!” he screamed furiously.

Of course what was a sign of failure for Moonshine and the Gemnites, was in fact a small breath of relief for Twilight and Rainbow, for with that push through the roadblock, many of their pursuers now seemed to be scrambling out over each other, allowing the two ponies to gain some distance between them. Better yet, upon seeing a few familiar road signs as they ran by, Twilight instantly recognised that they were nearing the very edge of the city, if they were able to shut the front gates behind them and catch a train or something, then maybe they could finally escape this terrible pursuit.

“We’re gonna make it!” she proclaimed, a small smile forming upon her face was they ran ever closer to the main gates.

How wrong she was, speaking too soon, Twilight failed to realise that while she had her focus on behind and Rainbow Dash, ahead of them, both of them were unaware of the presence of something directly below the carriage, of course who could notice a large shadow spreading out from the base of a speeding carriage before it was too late?

“What the…!?!” Rainbow Dash yelped as she suddenly felt herself being pulled back by the harness.

Soon enough, both mare’s attention were taken of their escape as they quickly looked back to the carriage, only to find that for some reason, the large wheels had phased about half a meter into the road without leaving so much as a crack, leaving both it and the princesses still inside nothing more than a sitting duck. Needless to say everyone was baffled, however an explanation soon came in the form of a new voice coming from a nearby rooftop.

“Now who said you can all start a chase without me, eh?” it said.

That voice! One that both Twilight and Rainbow Dash had heard no less than an hour ago, looking up toward the rooftop they saw none other than the zebra wearing blue shades himself, one that was practically famous for the stunt that he just pulled.

“We don’t need any help from y’all!” Moonshine growled, landing his glider on the same rooftop as Zeb, clearly not happy that someone else was interfering with his pursuit.

“Clearly you do,” Zeb retorted, a smug grin plastered upon his face. “Don’t you recall what Tak said about Gemnites? If they’re not causing mayhem then they’re simply useless.”

Moonshine couldn’t help but scoff at that, he always hated it whenever someone else brought up a valid point, granted he KNEW that Gemnites were better suited for destruction but he thought that they would at least be able to catch a couple of ponies without any problems.

“Now, watch how someone who knows what they’re doing takes a crack at this,” Zeb continued, stepping out towards the edge of the roof and looking down and Twilight and rainbow Dash, who only looked back up at him with an expression of dread. “Hope you’re ready for THIS, ladies.”

At first neither Twilight nor Rainbow Dash had any idea what was going on, but if whatever this zebra had in mid was enough to halt ALL of their pursuers then it certainly can’t be good. All of a sudden, Zeb’s eyes shone a vivid yellow through the blue glass of his shade, making them looking like they were giving off an eerie green aura, during the same time he stood up on his hind legs and proceeded to wave his front ones around like a conductor directing an entire orchestra. At first it only seemed like there was nothing special about what Zeb was doing, however it wasn’t long before Rainbow Dash spotted something coming from underneath the trapped carriage.

“Sweet Celestia!” she screamed, desperately trying to unharness herself before a large dark claw shot its way out from beneath carriage directly at her.

Thankfully she managed to fly out of the way just in the nick of time as the claw slashed up part of the street, leaving behind three deep gashes in the concrete.

“What the heck was that!?!” she gasped, taking in deep heavy breaths.

Of course the answer came in the form of another dark claw shooting out from under the carriage, only this time is was aiming at Twilight, who just like Rainbow, screamed and dove out of the way just in the nick of time, however her wing wasn’t so lucky.

“ARGH!!!” she screamed, a shiny red slit stretching across her wing membrane and several of her feathers were forcibly plucked out.

Being unable to stay airborne because of this attack, Twilight was easily forced into the ground with a painful thud, however even though she was clearly in pain, she wasn’t hurt too badly, which was a good thing since it allowed her to get a brief glance at what had just attacked her. It may have been fast but even Twilight was able to see the shadow retreat back underneath the carriage like a snake slithering back into its burrow, this must have been Zeb’s shadow magic in full swing, there was no question about it.

“Rainbow!” Twilight called out. “Stay away from the carriage!”

“Are you kidding!?!” Rainbow Dash retorted. “The Princesses are still in there!”

At those words, Rainbow made an attempt to head towards the carriage in order to get Celestia and the others out before this shadow does any more damage, however this was something Zeb was hoping for.

“You should have listened to your friend!” he cackled, making another motion with his hooves.

Upon his command, the shadow then spread out from all side of the carriage like a puddle growing on the pavement, which was soon followed by several dark spikes shooting out of its depths, reaching towards the sky with the speed of a bullet, almost impaling Rainbow in the process, thankfully she managed to stop herself before any damage was done.

“Woah, that was WAY too close,” she gulped, her eyes widening in terror as the spikes stretched around the carriage, forming an evil-looking cage.

Watching all of this from the rooftops, Moonshine couldn’t help but smirk.

“Ah must admit Zeb, them shadows of yours are pretty useful,” he chuckled, causing Zeb’s smile to widen a bit. “But how’s about we let me and my kin do the rest, after all it was our chase to start with.”

Zeb scowled at that.

“You really think I’d just give you the chance to allow them to escape again?” he snarled with a sneer. “Tak may think you have your uses, you miserable old drunk… but I don’t.”

With that final word, Zeb waved a hoof in front of Moonshine’s face, causing the Old Earth Pony’s face to twist in shock as he suddenly found his own shadow stretching from beneath his hooves and start pulling his into the tiles of the roof, much like what happened to the carriage.

“Now be a good old dumb-dumb, and stay there while I clean up your mess,” Zeb mocked, his focus now returning to Twilight and Rainbow, all the while ignoring Moonshine’s rants as he struggled to pull his hooves out of the roof.

As Zeb’s gaze fixated on the two ponies below, his smirk quickly returned.

“Oh this is gonna be fun,” he muttered, once again motioning his hooves.

Once again acting upon his command, the shadow from under the carriage stretched out again and formed another claw, only this time it was joined by at least two more, it was a display that was so frightening that even the onlooking Gemnites dare not get any closer despite the fact that they had now blocked Rainbow and Twilight’s escape from both ends of the street.

“Oh great!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, narrowly dodging another claw. “What do we do now!?!”

“Well whatever you do, don’t touch those shadows!” Twilight exclaimed, desperately trying to fly despite her injured wing. “I read that Zeb can absorb anything physical with those things and send them somewhere else!”

“Yeah, well why he hasn’t taken the Princesses already then!?!” Rainbow Dash snapped, clearly no in the mood for a history lesson right now.

However Rainbow did bring up an excellent point, if Zeb was able to control these shadows so flawlessly then why…? Unless he didn’t control them flawlessly! Now that Twilight thought about it, there was a strange pattern to how Zeb used his shadows, one claw attacks, then retreats, then another attacks, then retreats, then another attacks, and so on, it was then Twilight figured it out, the reason Zeb  wasn’t moving the princesses was because he could only control one shadow at a time! That had to be it! Granted there were multiple shadows on the scene but one of them was actually moving at a time and it must have been putting so much strain on the zebra just to keep them stable.

“Man, this is the most fun I’ve had in years!” the said Zebra cried out, the glow in his eyes shining even more intensely with his excitement.

Twilight knew there and then that there must have been some kind of flaw that she could take advantage of, something that might give Rainbow and Twilight a chance to escape with the Princesses, but what could it be? Granted Zeb’s control of the shadows was limited, but even if her wing wasn’t injured, he would have been able to see her…

“Wait,” she uttered, her eyes suddenly widening with realisation. “That’s it!”

Of course! Why didn’t she think of it before!!?! After all she read up on this zebra to the very finest details, meaning that she also knew what kind of prison he was put into after he was finally captured… she really needed to find herself a new hobby.

“Hey Zeb!” she cried out, narrowly dodging another shadow claw.

Thankfully Twilight didn’t have to shout more than once to get the zebra’s attention.

“Huh?” he uttered, taking his focus off his shadows for just a brief moment to see who called his name.

“While I’m impressed that you’re able to use such rare magic,” Twilight continued, her gaze hardened as a magical aura enveloped her horn. “You must realise that even you can’t focus on what you can’t see!”

With that declaration, Twilight fired a beam of magic directly towards Zeb, who only scoffed at the action.

“Pft, chump,” he uttered, did she really think that her magic can actually match his shadows?

And just to show just how weak an effort this display was, Zeb casually raised his own shadow in front of him, forming a barrier in front of him… if only he didn’t underestimate the magic of an Alicorn, especially when the spell she had created was that of pure light.

“What the… ARGH!!!”

Those were the last words he managed to let out before Twilight magic literally blasted through his shadow and impacted with his face, knocking off his sunglasses in the process.

“Ahhh!!! My Specs!!!” he yelled, fearfully scrambling about the roof to find his most precious item. “Where’d they go!?!”

But what Zeb didn’t realise then, was the fact that he precious sunglasses had fallen a little further than he realised, to be more specific, as soon as Twilight’s magic hit his face, all it took was a few bounces before it ended up on the street below. Of course Twilight hoped that the sunglasses would have smashed, or at least cracked from falling from such a height, but then again given the fact that they were the only thing allowing Zeb to see anything after 20 years in a darkened prison, she was still happy they were separated albeit briefly. After all, without those sunglasses he was practically blind, and this in turn, gave both Twilight and Rainbow Dash the chance they needed to escape. Moonshine however, saw this as a chance to continue his pursuit.

“NOW, can we send in the Gemnites!?!” he snapped angrily, receiving an angry grunt from Zeb in response.

Knowing that he didn’t have a valid argument against this demand, especialluy given his current state, Zeb had no choice but to sigh in defeat. Upon receiving a nod of the head, Moonshine’s sinister grin returned.

“Get them!” he cried, grabbing the attention of all the Gemnites. “Get them all!!!”

Instantly reacting to the command, every gem-encrusted canine in sight instantly regained their sadistic smiles and started nearing their way towards the two ponies, the circle they were forming growing smaller and smaller with every step. Needless to say, bot Twilight and Rainbow Dash’s fear were once again beginning to grow, with Twilight unable to fly and the carriage now unable to move, there was no possible way to get the princesses to safety now, at least not with the amount of time they had.

“You got something else for these guys, right?” Rainbow Dash muttered, leaning into Twilight’s ear as to make sure she wasn’t heard by the Gemnites.

Did she have something, though? Given the fact that she not only teleported five ponies at ounce, fired numerous blasts of energy, one of which was powerful enough to pierce through a strong shadow-shield, it was a miracle that Twilight’s lack of magical energy hasn’t caused her to collapse out of exhaustion yet, thank Celestia for adrenaline. Still, given the circumstances, which were becoming even worse by the second, she knew she had no choice but to use just a little more.

“It’s gonna cost me a lot of energy but I just might,” she finally said, wrapping her uninjured wing around Rainbow like a protective blanket. “Hang on to me!”

Trusting her friend completely, Rainbow Dash instantaneously shut her eyes and wrapped her hooves around Twilights neck as another magical aura formed around her horn, one that was glowing more brightly with each passing moment. Before the Gemnites had any chance to react, they were all quickly knocked back by a HUGE shockwave that sent them flying back by a good few yards, all the while Twilight and Rainbow Dash stood their ground as Twilight’s spell did its work. By the time it was over at least half of the Gemnites were knocked out by the force of the spell, while the other half were struggling to get up, even Moonshine and Zeb felt the effect of the spell as they now hung desperately off the other side of the roof, trying ever so hard as to try to pry themselves back up again. Daring to open her eye for just a brief moment, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but feel relieved to see that she and Twilight had finally managed to get the upper hoof.

“HA! Is that all you got!?!” she gloated, feeling the need to rub it in the enemies’ face.

Of course Twilight was relieved too, albeit also feeling physically and mentally exhausted after that final blast of magic, all she wanted to do now was just get the princesses out of here so she could take a nice, long rest… if only fate were that kind. All of a sudden, like a fly trapped in the tongue of a toad, Twilight suddenly found herself being snatched up by something slimy and yanked off the street.

“TWILIGHT!!!” Rainbow Dash yelled, instantly taking notice of her friend’s screams.

By the time the force of motion stopped, and Twilight had the chance to take notice of the blue tentacle coiling itself around her, her eyes instantly shrank back in terror as another pair of hissing green ones pierced its way into her very soul.

“Well, well, well,” Tak chuckled, bringing Twilight ever closer towards his face. “And here I thought I was going to have to WAIT for the Princess of Friendship to appear in my grasp.”