Crazy, Clever and Cunning

by Fresnor

Forest Jaunt to Trouble

My mind is running around frantically as I put together all the clues I have on the current situation but it always comes back to the same two answers. Either I’m wrong and Celestia just wanted Spike to not be alone while Twilight was gone; or I am right and should be really annoyed with her at trying to manipulating and Twilight and the others are heading into serious danger they aren’t prepared for. While I am trying to piece everything together Spike just looks at me strangely. “What’s so bad about seeing thestrals there? You said yourself that there is nothing wrong with them.”

My attention snaps back to the young dragon as an idea forms that could get me yelled at quite a bit. “The problem isn’t the thestrals, but the reason why they would be there in the first place. That town is nowhere near where they normally live and the only reason why they go any large distance away is to hunt.” He looks at me as if I was crazy until I finish what I was saying. “To be exact they hunt undead of the vampony variety.” At these words his eyes widen as he freezes up in shock.

Not having the time to waste calming him down I grab my packs and start rushing around the manor grabbing everything I think I will need. The first stop is to the attic to grab my mother’s gems, a few I made myself, as well as a good many raw ones. I also grab a few other random components I may need as a precaution and then raid the kitchen for supplies. Lastly I gather up a towel and my magic map as well as a normal one and start to plan my route.

Through all this the others in the place have been staring at me wondering what is going on as they had never seen me like this before. Since the six mares are taking the train to a town near that place before walking I find that the only way I could get there in time to assist them would be to travel through the Everfree Forest while using my magic as a booster and to assist with obstacles. Raising my head from the map I only now notice the others are staring at me.

“What in the hay is wrong with you Flarenza? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” I realize now that there could be a snag in my plan as the Crusaders would probably want to follow along if I tried to avoid their questions. I notice that Umbra is there and realize that I can get some confirmation on my fears. “Umbra, before Princess Luna returned what reasons were there for thestrals to be found outside of your home territories?” She looks at me oddly while Applebloom looks a bit annoyed at being ignored. “We never left those areas at all as we were in hiding from the rest of Equestria; well except for the Hunters at least. Why do you ask?”

I shiver a bit as my guess may actually be right. “Because the town that Twilight and the others are headed to was one I have been to before arriving in Ponyville. I also met a group of six thestrals there that didn’t tell me what they were there for.” Her eyes widen at the implications of this while Selene and the Crusaders just look confused. “I need you to keep an eye on everything while I’m gone, especially these four.” She nods while they start to look a bit defiant but I get an idea on how to get them to behave.

“You don’t want to follow me there as I’m expecting trouble that Twilight most likely won’t know how to handle. This is of the level of Sunny Town trouble and you know what that means Applebloom.” Her eyes shrink to pinpricks at the mention of that place even though it has been gone for a while now. “Um girls I think we had better leave everything to her. She knows best how to handle things like what happened there, right Flarenza?” She looks at me hopefully while the others seem a bit worried considering they heard about that place and their loved ones are heading to another place possibly like it.

“I won’t lie as I’m not sure if I can stop the thing I suspect is there. I hope I’m wrong and I just return after being embarrassed. If I am right though…” I use my magic to levitate the still catatonic dragon onto my back along with my packs. “…Then I will have Spike along to send a message to the Princesses to send help. Just like Twilight should have been ready for in the first place.” They look a bit relieved at this though the dragon snaps out of it at this. “Wait! What do you mean by thaaaaAAAH!”

His words rise into a yell as I rush out the door and into the Everfree at a rapid pace. I make sure he stays on with a simple application of a glue spell so I don’t have to worry about him falling off. His screams continue for a good while as I dash over roots and through the trees in the direction of Whinnysted. I have out a crystal with a compass spell cast on it so I don’t lose my way. About an hour in Spike finally stops screaming though he is still clinging to my back as I am moving at a pace faster than a pony could through this type of terrain.

Soon enough we reach the river and I pause for a second to double check the maps which gives Spike time to be heard. “Are you crazy?! Do you have any idea what Twilight is going to do when she finds out you just up and dragonnapped me for whatever it is you have planned?!” I just roll my eyes and start explaining. “Of course I know, but I rather she be alive and yelling at me than the alternative if my hunch is right.” I look back to him to see the disbelief on his face.

“And how do you even know that there are going to be problems there, especially ones involving vamponies, huh?” I sigh and hope that I just wasn’t overly paranoid. “Well considering that you are always left alone at the library and only now does the Princess suggest staying with someone else is a bit of a tipoff. Sure she may just want you to not be lonely but I would probably be the last one she suggests as she doesn’t seem to really like me much.” It’s my turn to receive an eye roll from him this time.

“Well if you are going to act like this she might have a point. It still doesn’t explain how you came to the conclusion of her wanting you to follow along with me.” I glance back at him one more time as I finish getting my bearing with the maps. “Well she has been tracking information about my kind and actually listed a bunch of the places I had been to when she found out about me. If she heard about me being in Whinnysted and there are now problems there then she could assume that I may have known something. It would have been nice to have her actually ask directly but that really doesn't seem to be her way.” Spike still looks a bit unsure and looks to be deep in thought now.

While he is distracted by his thoughts I make my way over the top of the river and through the trees on the far side. Time passes quickly as I race through the forest and I can steadily feel the drain on my magic reserves as I enhance my endurance as well as keep us both shielded as a precaution. Strangely enough none of the usual wildlife tries to challenge us, though I swear I catch a glimpse of glowing green eyes occasionally.

I try to keep an eye out for anything suspicious while Spike is lost in his thoughts. This changes when I spot a decently sized ravine coming up fast. Deciding that it would take too long to find an alternate way, I decide to just go right over it. This doesn’t sit well with Spike as he notices the large gap rapidly approaching with no sign of me slowing down. “Uh Flarenza, you do notice that big gaping hole up ahead right? Flarenza? FLARENZA?!”

I can feel him cringe back while covering his face as I make a large leap across the gap. When the falling sensation he was expecting doesn’t come he cracks open an eye to see me running across the sky. “Flarenza, since when could you fly?” He sounds a bit shaky and I chuckle and take pity on him while expending a bit of power to cause the barrier I am running on to become visible. “Huh, that’s kinda cool.” He still sounds a bit shaken, but a quick glance back has him watching in awe at the view.

Soon enough he starts to get a bit bored and I start to hear him snoring on my back. Having seen what happens when he usually, sleeps I throw up another shield to stop any drool from getting into my coat. After a while I see the sun starting to set so I begin looking for a place to rest for the night. I find a tree that looks promising and climb up to a branch that looks like it would be comfortable enough for the night. After setting a few wards for protection and grabbing a quick bite to eat I close my eyes and fall asleep for the night.

I am awoken the next morning by Spike poking me in the head with his claws. “Uh Flarenza, you might want to see what’s keeping us company down below.” I release a large yawn as I look down to see a pack of timberwolves surrounding the base of the tree. Something seems off though as I notice that they are all facing away from the tree for some reason. “Huh, that’s rather odd.” As I speak one of the wooden constructs looks up to notice me awake and then growls at the others, driving them off into the forest and out of sight.

Turning to look at Spike I give him a look of confusion which he also returns. “That was really strange behavior for timberwolves. Oddly enough I had been seeing less and less of them as I explored the Everfree but they always attacked on sight still.” He shrugs and answers in his usual oblivious way. “Well at least they seem to be leaving us alone. Bad enough being dragged out here without being attacked by something.”

I just shake my head and decide to think on things later as I pull breakfast out of my bags. Spike seems to cheer up a bit at this and even more when I pass over a bunch of gems as well. “Well you have a point about them not attacking making things a bit easier no matter what is going on with them. I think they may have been following us as well though and possibly driving off the other creatures of the forest. I’m pretty sure I saw them watching us a few times as we traveled.”

He seems a bit unnerved at the news of them following us but continues to munch on his gems. Climbing down from the tree I start to stretch a bit to get a feel of my condition while pulling out my maps. I am surprised to find that we are making better progress than I planned, especially as I had been using more magic than I expected. “Well Spike we seem to be ahead of schedule. If things continue we should reach the town later today and can get a good rest before heading in to meet Twilight as they arrive.”

Putting the maps away I check to make sure he is secured before taking off through the trees again. Spike speaks up shortly after I take off. “You know, no offense to Twilight and the others, but you are a much more comfortable ride. You don’t bounce around as much when you are running.” I chuckle at this and know a bit of what he’s talking about, having taken pony form myself before. “Well they really aren’t built for moving through rough terrain like I am. I’m much more comfortable in the forest than they would be and I can get through it much more easily. Smoother movement is a must if you have to go around and through things. They seem to be built more for the open plains and other areas with fewer obstacles.”

He quiets down for a while then as he just watches the forest pass by. This is probably deeper than any of the ponies have gone before so it would be no wonder that he wants to take in the sights. Around noon I take a quick break for lunch before moving on again towards our destination. I can feel the strain on my powers as well as my body as I start to run low when we finally reach the edge of the forest. Not wanting to rush into anything I find a good sized bush near the edge of the forest and crawl into it to rest as well as keep an eye on the town. I let Spike off of my back so he can finally stretch out and relax as well since he had been stuck there since we left.

“Well we’re here earlier than I planned, but that gives us some time to rest and observe the place before Twilight arrives.” I pull out the rest of the gems I brought for Spike as well as the remaining food. “Since there isn’t a need to save them I might as well give you the rest of the gems I brought for you.” He starts to drool at the size of the sack I hand him and he immediately digs into it to see what is available. While he is doing that I gorge a bit on my own food before lying down to rest for a while.

I was awoken by a strange feeling of energy sometime late at night. I look to my side to find that Spike is still asleep so he definitely had nothing to do with it but I soon find the cause. Looking towards the town I notice flashes of purple and blue and it soon hits me of the source of the flashes and I quickly shake the dragon awake. “Spike wake up, I don’t know how but they arrived earlier than I expected and I think they might be in trouble.” I growl in frustration as he just blindly swats at me as he tries to go back to sleep so I decide to pull out the big guns. “Spike, Rarity is in danger and needs help.”

This gets the reaction I wanted as his eyes fly open and he leaps onto my back. “Rarity is in trouble?! Then what are we sitting around here for!?” Finally getting him awake and serious, I dash out of the bush towards the town. Soon enough we meet an earth pony on the road and stop to have Spike question him, though something feels off to me. “You sir, have you seen a gorgeous white unicorn mare with a purple mane anywhere around here?” I continue to stare at the pony trying to figure out what is wrong while Spike tries to communicate with him and failing.

Acting on a hunch I cast a spell to detect undead being and my eyes widen in fright at how many it detects in the area, including the pony in front of us. Reacting in panic I blast him with the spell I used in Sunny Town and watch as it strikes him dead in the chest causing him to explode into ash to Spike’s horror. “Y-y-you killed him!” I’m shaking a bit myself at what I saw but I clamp down on the feelings and shake my head at him. “No Spike, he was already dead and it just confirms my fears. The only type of undead that die like that are thralls, a kind of zombie, that are under the control of a vampony.”

I quickly cast multiple protection spells around us as I pull out a quill, ink and scroll to write on. “Spike I need you to go through the bags on my left and search for the gem pouch in it. There should be a smaller pouch in it with two wrapped gems; I need you to get out the moonstone while I write this.” Taking a quick second to compose myself I quickly write a message to the Princess.

Princess Celestia,

Urgent, Urgent, Urgent! Whinnysted is occupied by vampony thralls. Considering the numbers I suspect that there is a vampony lord in the area. Requesting the aid of Princess Luna and any available Thestral Hunters she can spare. Heading to aid Twilight and the others now.

From the terrified of undead Flarenza

PS Next time just ask for my help instead of the elaborate schemes please

I roll up the scroll and tie it off before I reach into my bags for one last thing. I set two whistler fireworks in each end of the scroll with a thirty second fuse on them before lighting them and holding the scroll up to Spike. “Quick, send this to the Princess now; hopefully she can get help here in time as we are way in over our heads right now.” He does as I ask and finally pulls out one of the wrapped gems. Only now do I notice that while I was distracted we were surrounded by a good number of thralls. At that moment though, Spike unwraps the gem revealing it to be the wrong one.

“No Spike, the moonstone is the… other… one.” As he holds the sunstone I notice that the thralls shrink away from the light and start to smoke a bit. I knew that sunlight did nothing to them or vamponies, but something about the magical light of the gem was harming them somehow with its imitation sunlight. “Wait, that one might be useful. Give me a moment to think while you get the other one out.”

I take the gem in my magic and look between it and the thralls around us. I notice that it only seems to make them uncomfortable and doesn’t seem to do any lasting harm they can’t recover from. “I wonder what would happen if I somehow concentrate the light though.” Taking a moment I form a shield around the gem and try to get it to block only the light coming from it. Soon enough I succeed at this endeavor to see the light from the moonstone radiate out from behind my head as Spike finds the gem. The effect of this one is just as drastic on the thralls as they get thrown back from the light as it repels them as I hoped it would.

“Thanks Spike, I was hoping that gem would do what I though it did. But I think I have a better idea than what I originally had.” Taking the moonstone I do the same thing that I did with the other gem until I also block out the light from it. When the light from it vanishes, I hear a worried yelp from Spike as the thralls charge in anger. “Flarenza, I hope I know what you are doing because here they… come… T-t-that is so cool.”

Before he finishes speaking I expand the shield on one side of each gem into a long blade and slash them through two of the nearest thralls across their necks. The effect from each blade is immediate as the golden sunblade burns through the one while the silver moonblade effortlessly cuts through the other tuning them both into dust. I manage to let out a small grin at this success while the other thralls back off a bit in shock.

“Well Spike I didn’t think these would work this well but I’m glad they do. Now I think it’s time to make our way towards the others, watch my back and torch anything that gets close and remember to hold on.” With that I twirl the lightblades around my head and dash towards the thralls that our blocking our path to the flashing lights while recasting the glue spell to keep Spike on my back.

They seem thrown off by my actions as well as my speed as I slip between two of them while swinging the blades low cutting through them at the legs. This serves to delay the others as they stumble over the two while trying to chase us down as we make our way towards the center of town. I see more thralls ahead and I start to notice that there have only been earth ponies in our way and wonder where the other pony types are and the griffons that are supposed to be in town.

This thought is relegated to the back of my mind as I stop to sidestep a buck from the thrall in our path and Spike lights it up as I perform a cross slash maneuver on the one beside it. I am glad to see that his fire works well on these things as it flails around into another one catching them both on fire before they eventually burn away into ash.

Soon enough we reach the edge of the town square and I find my previous question answered as I find our six friends surrounded by griffon, unicorn and pegasus thralls. Oddly enough none of the winged ones seem to be flying and the unicorns seem to be barely using their magic except to break through Twilight’s shields. All this leaves my mind as I watch in horror as a griffon gets a good hit in on Applejack, slashing her from her side all the way down one of her hind legs. The others get distracted as it rears up to deliver a final blow that they don’t see another griffon sneaking up on the cowering Fluttershy. “AJ! NO!”

At their panicked shouts I do the only thing that comes to mind and send both blades flying like javelins at the two griffons, catching them both right in the chest. Immediately after I send the blades buzz sawing back, finishing them off as well as taking out two more apiece as the fly back to me. All eyes turn to us and I take the opportunity to dash up between Rarity and another group of thralls allowing Spike to immolate the group threatening his crush.

Fluttershy is actually the first to recover when she notices how badly hurt Applejack is and rushes over to try and pull her to the back of the group. Twilight sees this and helps with her magic while the rest of us try to fight off the onslaught of thralls. “Flarenza! Spike! What in Equestria are you two doing here?! And what are these things?!” I drive the undead back with a wide sweep of both blades in front of me, which allows Rarity an opportunity to kick away another and Rainbow Dash to dive bomb a third, before yelling an answer back over my shoulder.

“Well obviously we’re here to save you though I wasn’t sure from what until now. These are essentially zombies under the control of a vampony, and we’ve sent a message to Canterlot requesting help already.” I take a quick glance back to see her about to say something else but Fluttershy interrupts her. “This is bad; we need to get Applejack to a hospital. I don’t know how to fix an injury like this.” Hearing the panic in her voice I come to a quick decision and pull the green jade out of my pack and toss it back to Twilight. “Twilight, channel your magic through this towards the wounds!” I turn my full attention back to the fight a release a barrage of bolts into the crowd knocking a few away but destroying many that are hit by the spell.

At this display of power the thralls retreat into the darkness to regroup which allows the rest of us a moment to rest. I let Spike off of my back so that he can join the others while I keep watch with both magic and eyesight. I notice that they thralls are all gathering together from around the town and look to be surrounding the area we are in. Strangely enough I get an odd signal from the building behind us as well. I hear a loud crack behind me and I look back to see the jade I passed Twilight shattering into dust. “Ack! I didn’t mean for that to happen, Flarenza, I’m sorry.”

I shake my head at Twilight as I look over the now fully healed farm pony. “Don’t worry, that’s how that one works. There isn’t much that it can’t heal short of death but it only works once. It was probably my mother’s greatest accomplishment.” I notice that the thralls are starting to head back towards us, and upon checking my magic levels I find that they are starting to get lower than I’d like. I notice most of the drain is from trying to contain the energies of the two stones so I decide to stop casting them while putting the sunstone away.

“This isn’t good. I won’t be able to keep them off of us much longer. How long do you think you can keep a shield up around us Twilight?” She looks up from helping AJ to her hooves to answer. “Maybe an hour if they didn’t have those unicorns. They don’t seem to do much but they somehow can break through my shields fast.”

I had noticed that they weren’t doing much magic myself when I arrived. “That seems strange, as well as the fact that none of the ones with wings have been flying either. If they are a problem though I think I can take them out shield you hold a shield up around us letting magic out but nothing in.” She nods as she sets up her barrier within the light cast by the moonstone.

The next hour is a series of attacks by the surrounding undead with Twilight holding the barrier, and me targeting any unicorns I can spot before they can attack the barrier. The light from the moonstone is also able to hold the attackers back for a bit, but it steadily drains over time as well as our own reserves. “I hope you have another plan ready Flarenza, because I don’t and I don’t think I can last much longer.” I can hear the strain in Twilight’s voice, and I don’t feel much better either.

“I don’t have much left either; I don’t have much magic left myself.” Looking back I see Spike with Rarity and I get an idea. “But I have an idea to hold them off for a bit longer.” With the last of my magic I cover the ground around us with a glue spell and turn to the dragon and Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie, I need you to carry Spike so that he can put up a wall of fire once the shield goes down. You’ll know when and where to go.”

The pink pony gets a serious look on her face and throws a salute while tossing Spike onto her back. Soon enough Twilight’s magic is exhausted and the thralls start to charge at us enmasse. As soon as they hit the area with my trap the start falling over each other as the front rows crash into the ground becoming stuck. Soon enough there is a pile of them surrounding us and Pinkie charges around the edge with Spike torching them with his breath. Soon enough we are surrounded by a wall of flames as the ones that were trapped burn down to ashes, while the others watch us from across the flames.

“Good job you two, that should buy us a bit of time.” Spike looks a bit proud of himself, especially with having been complimented. Pinkie Pie though asks the question the rest have probably been thinking. “But what happens when the fire is gone?” I am taken aback as she isn’t acting as hyper as she normally is. “Then we start having problems again. Why were you in front of this building anyways?” I only now notice that we had been fighting in front of what appears to be the town hall and Twilight answers.

“The few survivors of the town are in there. We didn’t expect things to be this bad though as we thought we only needed to calm the town down, not fight off a zombie horde that shouldn’t exist.” I shake my head at her as she still doesn’t want to believe these things are real. “You really need to talk with Princess Luna and her thestrals more about what is real or not. That and learn a few spells to fight these things better as little you were doing was working.”

She seems a bit sheepish at having not believed me when I mentioned these creatures before, but I’ve started to notice she only believes what she can see and explain usually. Turning back I notice that the fire is almost gone and I prepare for one last ditch effort. Thankfully it isn’t needed as the street in front of us is suddenly filled with a large silver beam attack from above and then the war cries of thestrals as they dive in from the night sky.

I let out a sigh of relief at their timely appearance and assume that the beam came from Luna. I turn to the others with a small smile on my face. “See Twilight, this is why you should be bringing Spike with you more often. It’s always handy having a fast way to contact the Princesses for help. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a date with the ground.” With that I relax my hold on the emotions I had been suppressing all night and collapse to the ground unconscious at having to face an undead horde. The last thing I remember is the sound of them calling out to me.

Author's Note:

I could probably have done the fighting bit a bit better but I don't have much practice at it. Still I kind of like how it turned out still but I probably missed something so don't be afraid to ask if there are questions.

Comments

[Imperium Bedlam]

Soooo many mistakes Fresnor!
Sorry for not having read this in a while, been very busy lately.
'Tis still a good chapter.