Scootaloo's Guardian

by Dirty Bit

Chapter 18

The demon looked down at Trixie, who was lucky to be alive after that vicious retaliation brought upon her without hesitation. He looked away from her and ran a finger along one of his blade's edges as he gazed upon it with a smug expression "To think that one such as yourself could even try besting me in a challenge...and with a simple act of telekinesis. Admirable, but foolish." He then looked back as he pointed the blade towards the helpless mare's eyes "But I musn't stall for time, your's or mine." He then drew it back as he held the face of a killer "Now...watch closely as I turn the Great and Powerful Trixie into a pile of Great and Powerful ribbons!!" He quickly brought his blade towards the showmare as she clenched her eyes shut.

At the time he claimed his creative killing motion, the smaller cloaked figure darted towards the two, the cloak flying off with how fast it went. The demon then noticed the obstacle in his path and stopped the blade before it could pierce the showmare. He gave a slightly annoyed look as he sighed at what had stopped him.

It was yet another bidepal figure, though it was female and appeared to be young. She wore a purple gothic dress, had a blade of her own at her waist, and her red hair glistened in the moonlight as she stared up at the demon with sad and pleading eyes while spreading her arms out in front of him. The demon saw this and grunted "Your cloak! You were supposed to keep them safe!" He looked over to see the smaller cloak on the ground with some lumps inside of it. Growling in annoyance, he turned back to the young lady "Move out of the way, Amy. I'm disposing of this one..."

The one called Amy did not move or change her expression as she stood firm in front of Trixie in her protective stance. She continued to stare up at the annoyed demon with her saddened eyes, while the showmare opened her eyes and noticed the reason for the demon's hesitation 'Wha...Is this one protecting Trixie?? What is the meaning of this??' She was getting lightheaded with her many wounds and began to pass out.

Amy saw this and her heart sank at the sight of Trixie on the ground all battered from her fight. She quickly ran to her cloak and picked it up after pulling out what was inside of it: A set of four shards glowing with power. After retrieving her cloak, she ran over and covered Trixie in it, despite her having one of her own. While he utterly detested his opponent, he wasn't one to see Amy so sad like this "What are you doing? She does not matter to us now! We musn't-"

"Hey. Did you hear that??"

Amy and the demon darted their heads towards the outside of the alley and spotted a light growing in brightness "It's probably more of those gangsters and their juvenile actions! Let's move in and bust them!" an authoritive voice was heard.

The demon cursed under his breath as he sheathed his blade, swept up the four shards along with his cloak, and took Amy's arm with his free hand "Come, Amy! We have to go now!" He turned to run, but he was jerked back with Amy as she resisted him. Looking back, she stared with the same sad expression while she held Trixie in her other arm, groaning at the sight "Amy..." He looked up at the outside of the alley to hear hoofsteps growing in volume.

Two of the night patrols, one unicorn and one earth pony, galloped into the alley and flashed their flashlights around the area "Where are they!?" The unicorn asked as he levitated his flashlight to find nothing but a exploded mess of garbage and a corpse nearby a small puddle of blood. He growled in frustration "Horseapples! They probably knew we were coming, and they already took somepony down!" He looked ahead with a leer along with his partner "I think they went further down inside! Let's go!" The two cops galloped around the garbage and went further inside to investigate.

On top of one of the buildings over the alley, Amy and the demon were looking down at the distant cops running off. The young lady held a bundled Trixie as she looked down, then turned to the showmare with eyes of worry.

The demon turned to Amy "I can't believe you would want to take her with us! She'll only slow us down!"

Amy only streaked her fingers along Trixie's unscathed cheek with a warm smile while she was unconscious. While she had spent her time feeding on other ponies, she wanted to keep one for herself. They brought to her a certain joy she had not found in ages.

The demon saw how happy she had looked and paused for a moment. He really did enjoy seeing Amy like this, but he was appalled at the thought of bringing along unwanted company. He sighed in defeat and placed a hand on his forehead "Very well...Since you're so eager to have her, she shall join us...but I'm not going to invite her to our 'family' just yet."

Amy turned to the demon with the same smile "...Thank you, daddy..." She looked back at Trixie to see her wounds and remembered her condition. The young lady then began to frown "...She needs help..."

The demon noticed Amy's sudden mood shift, and while he despised Trixie, he could not let her be sad. He laid a hand on the young lady's shoulder "Then we shall give it to her. I shall see to it that you are happy, or my name isn't Raphael Sorel..." He smiled at his daughter as she returned one of their own. The two began to run along and leap across buildings as they held their own luggage in their arms.
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Zasalamel and Rainbow Dash continuously clashed with one another, matching their wills with all their might. The cloaked man had to give Rainbow Dash credit for her incredible speed and how well she was holding up in battle. He was lucky to fend her off as she zipped at him from all angles without hesitation. Having enough of her petty onslaught, he embraced himself for the cyan pegasus' next charge, quickly parried her blow and knocked her off-course.

After she slammed into a tree, she pulls herself out and shakes off the pain and glared back at Zasalamel "You're pretty good! But you're stupid to think you could get a lucky shot like that again!" She went to zip at him again as the cloaked man prepared for another strike.

Twilight and the others saw the battle take place, and the lavender bookworm couldn't take much more of this. Planting her hooves in a firm stance, she made her horn glow as she stopped both Rainbow Dash and Zasalamel in their tracks with her magic "No more! I should've stepped in before you two even thought about fighting each other!" She looked up at the two "We shouldn't even be acting this way when there's so much to talk about!"

Rainbow Dash struggled and glared at Twilight "Why'd you stop us, Twilight? This guy's not gonna tell us a thing if we aren't gonna beat it out of him! You know that!"

Zasalamel grunted "You are as persistent as you are magical...What will it take to make you focus your mind on something other than my business?" At his words, a howl was heard as everypony and Zasalamel began to look around.

Pinkie giggled "I love these moments so much! Right next to 'How can this possibly get any worse?'! That's so hilarious!"

Applejack perked her ears up as she heard another distant howl "...Oh boy...Y'all did well t' stop th' fight, Twi. We got bigger stuff t' worry 'bout now!" Everypony present looked around to see glowing eyes popping out of the brushes surrounding their current area. Snarls were heard as more pairs of eyes gathered from out of the shadows.

Rarity and Fluttershy huddled together as they looked around horrifed and spoke in unison "Timberwolves..."

Rainbow Dash noticed this as well and grunted "Great, just great! Way to go, Zasalalame-o! Now we're surrounded!"

Zasalamel sneered at the cyan pegasus' dimwitted remark and readied his scythe for another battle "We're in the Everfree Forest on a night of a full moon...It's common knowledge to realize that we were never safe to begin with..."

The cyan pegasus turned to the cloaked man "Just what do you even know? Or are you just gonna keep hiding stuff from us?" One of the timberwolves pounced out of the bushes and towards Rainbow Dash, making her yelp in surprise as she shut her eyes and braced herself. A slash was heard, and she opened her eyes to see that her attacker's head was sliced clean off, making her yelp again.

Zasalamel spun his scythe after slaying the wolf and turned towards the rest of the pack advancing the group in a circle "Looks like your witty remarks will have to wait, Element of Loyalty..." While the odds did not phase him, the cloaked man hadn't collected enough rest after his many past encounters while inside the forest. He felt that this battle might drain him completely...Unless...His glowing eye gave a glint as he had an idea. He turned to Twilight and barked out "Twilight Sparkle! Do you and Rarity know any advanced illumination spells?"

Twilight flinched at the cloaked man's sudden outburst, but nodded in reply "Yes, I know some illumination spells!" She turned to Rarity "I don't know much about Rarity, though."

Rarity looked back with a look of hurt "H-Hey! Just because I don't study magic as much as you do doesn't mean that I'm completely uneducated!"

Zasalamel caught their attention as he spoke again "Enough! I want you to both to charge for a light spell that could blind every living creature in this area!"

Twilight blinked at this "As good as that sounds, what about y-"

The cloaked man interrupted as he pointed at himself "Me and the others shall buy you some time! Until then, you must channel all of the potential magic energy that you can muster! Can you do that?"

Both unicorns looked at Zasalamel with worry and then turned to Applejack and Rainbow Dash and noticed them give the pair a reassuring smile. The farmpony spoke up "Don't get all worked up, you two! We can handle it! Jus' get t' chargin'!"

Rainbow Dash gave a short glance to Zasalamel before she turned back to her friends "Yeah! Leave it to us while we kick some timberwolf flank, okay?" She turned to the others "C'mon Pinkie! Fluttershy!"

Pinkie smiled "Okie Dokie Loki!" She then hopped in and gave a dog-like growl as she shot the wolves an intimidating look. It was time to fight for her friends once again, even if it's a pack of fierce timberwolves.

Fluttershy was reluctant to fight, not exactly sure if she would handle harming the creatures of the forest. She looked around at the advancing pack and whimpered "I-I can't! I don't want to hurt them!"

Rainbow Dash shot her fellow pegasus an incredulous look "Fluttershy-" She then felt a hand on her shoulder as she turned to Zasalamel, who gave her a serious glance "We'll manage on our own! She can keep the unicorns safe as we fight!"

The cyan pegasus hovered and stared at the cloaked man for a moment and nodded "Alright! Let's go tear'em a new one!" She flashed a confident grin, to where Zasalamel only nodded, and the two along with Applejack and Pinkie began their fight.

Zasalamel fended off two of the timberwolves, slashing at them and causing them major injuries. Another went to pounce at him from behind, but he reacted quick enough and turned to slice the timberwolf in half before it's fangs reached his neck. He looked around, and he noticed that the rest of the team was holding up well on their own, save for Fluttershy. The timid mare was only watching the battle in fear as she stood by Twilight and Rarity while they were channeling their energy. The two unicorns had their eyes closed in complete focus as their horns began to glow more brighter with each passing minute.

Rainbow Dash was simply hovering over the timberwolves at a large height and laughed at their futile attempts to reach her before she performed a nose dive and slammed into one of them, causing it to slam into another one with how much force she was using. The cyan pegasus then bounded back into the air and waited for the next moment to strike 'I forgot just how tough these things are...' She thought as she rubbed her head from how hard she rammed into the two wolves.

Applejack simply held her own and waited for one of the wolves circling her to jump into her space. When it happened at the right moment, she spun around and reared her backlegs with a smirk "Mr. Timberwolf! Meet Bucky McGillycuddy and Kicks Mcgee!!" She then bucked her victim right in the face and sent the wolf flying back. Another then pounced at her from the side, throwing her off of her stance.

Rainbow Dash saw this and quickly swooped down to her aid, knocking the wolf that pinned Applejack away from her "You okay, Applejack?" She then saw a wolf and flew up over it, dodging its gaping maw as it snapped its jaws down.

The farmpony recovered and bucked the wolf away and looked up at Rainbow Dash "I'll be fine, sugarcube! Jus' slipped up is all!" The two then went back to fighting.

Pinkie simply hopped away from a wolf that chased her as it ran after her in a predatious pace, snarling in annoyance to her matching its speed with relative ease. The party pony then jumped over Zasalamel "All yours, Zassy!"

The cloaked man grunted in question until he noticed the wolf bounding over towards him and slashed it along its chest, sending it back towards the rest of the pack. He scowled to see that there were more approaching 'They're growing in numbers...You must hurry, Twilight...' Now wasn't the time to talk as he went back to fighting.

Fluttershy couldn't take any more of this, and yelped when she noticed a small slew of wolves advance towards her, Twilight and Rarity. She dropped to the ground and covered her eyes, whimpering as she awaited for the worst to happen.

At the moment the wolves got close, Twilight and Rarity gritted their teeth as their magic reached its peak "Everypony cover their eyes!!" Twilight yelled to the rest of the group.

Zasalamel threw a timberwolf away and turned towards the others "Do as she says!" He then shielded his eyes with an arm, while everypony else shut their eyes tight. Twilight and Rarity strained themselves, but managed to conjure a large orb of light that could serve as a convenient signal flare with how bright it shined. The timberwolves yelped as the light gave severe pain to their eyes and began to retreat. The ones involved in the fight were exhausted, catching their breath as they watched their enemies retreat.

Rarity was catching her breath and then moaned after she examined herself "Oh, this is just dreadful! Look at me! It was nice to know we'll live to see another day, but now I'm all sweaty!!"

Applejack glared at the fashionista "At least y'all weren't busy dealin' with th' wolves, sugarcube..." She could never understand how Rarity chose to complain even during the most harsh situations.

Fluttershy looked up and noticed the battle had ended "I-It's over?? Oh, thank goodness..." She sighed in relief "I never thought we would make it..."

Twilight wiped a hoof across her forehead as she smiled "Well, all in all, the plan worked out just fine! Good thinking, Zasalamel!" She paused when she heard no response. She looked to see him leaving in a small limp "Zasalamel??"

Zasalamel gave strained breaths as he trudged away from the element bearers. It was good to know they could work together, but he felt he wasted too much time and energy around them. He wanted to carry on without them bothering him.

Or so he thought.

He caught the sight of Pinkie Pie trotting backwards right in front of Zasalamel, matching her pace with his as she stared up with sad eyes "Where are you going? You can't possibly leave now!"

The cloaked man gave a grunt as he continued "I told you...and your friends...to turn back..." He was running out of energy with each breath. At that moment, he found himself enveloped in a magical aura and being pulled back over towards the rest of the group. He was then turned around to face each of their eyes looking concerned.

Twilight stepped up "Zasalamel, you can't continue like this. You could drop at almost any second with how much effort you've given in battle!" She then gave a comforting smile "That's why I'm offering you to stay with us so that we can learn more about what you're keeping from us!"

Applejack chimed in "Ah agree! Ya can't jus' expect us t' turn back now without solving whatever problem yer dealin' with! We wanna help out! Can ya find it in yer heart to have us tag along? This concerns us all if it involves the fate o' Equestria!"

Rarity nodded "And we definitely need to get our rest if we're going to continue this little adventure of ours tomorrow! You simply MUST stay with us!"

Rainbow Dash gave a smile "Yeah, and besides, you owe us an explanation with why you're here and all! Shouldn't you be dead?"

Before he could enlighten the cyan pegasus, Pinkie Pie hopped up on his back and caused a pained grunt from Zasalamel "Silly! He can't be dead! Look at him, all alive! Oh! That reminds me of this song that's called 'Alive'! It's so catchy and-hey, what's that??" She noticed the two glowing shards on the ground at Zasalamel's feet. They must have fallen out after Pinkie hopped onto him.

Rarity and Twilight stepped forward with eyes of intrigue, the fashionista smiling at their tantalizing glow "I must say, you do know where to look, Zasalamel! What are these exactly?" She went to go pick it up with a hoof.

Zasalamel saw this with widened eyes "Don't touch them!" he blurted out. If they got their hooves on those shards...

Both unicorns flinched at his outburst as he knelt down, gathered the shards, and stashed them in his cloak "This is one of the reasons why I specifically told you NOT to get involved..."

Twilight was determined this time with how serious the cloaked man had sounded "Then why don't you follow us back to our campsite and fill us in on the details? We can't exactly walk in on this whole thing blind, you know!"

Zasalamel looked up at the lavender bookworm and the two stared. With how persistent the element bearers were towards him and how tired he was from so much battle, he knew that the odds weren't in his favor.

Later, they were back at the campsite the group made in the clearing, and the element bearers offered Zasalamel some of their food to keep him satisfied. He sighed in content and laid back, wanting to shut his eyes. Twilight and Rainbow saw this and quickly went to his side "Wait a minute, you said you would tell us about this!" Twilight spoke.

The cloaked man waved a hand "The only thing I can tell you now before tomorrow is to NOT touch the shards...They are to stay with me at all times...I shall give you the rest of the details in the morning..." He then took a deep breath as he shut his eyes and went to rest.

Rainbow glared at the sleeping human with how he chose not to speak "Pssh! Pinkie was right...You ARE a miserable pile of secrets..."