//------------------------------// // Firefight - Part 2 // Story: Past Actions, Future Consequences // by Rill //------------------------------// Shadow’s chest felt like it was about to explode. His lungs were on fire while his legs felt like they would give out any second. He didn’t know how long he had been running. Hearing a roaring sound behind him growing louder, Shadow leaped to the side. A ball of fire half his size flashed past him before exploding against a tree in front of him, showering everything nearby in a fountain of flames. Igniting his horn, the colt called upon the spell he had learned only days earlier. Around him, the forest suddenly disappeared in an impenetrable wall of grey. Running through the smoke screen, Shadow barely saw the wall of rock as it seemingly leapt out of nowhere. Taking a hard left, the young alicorn ran around the outcrop, all but diving into a small opening in the rocks. Barely able to catch his breath, Shadow sat down heavily on the small cave’s stone floor. He knew he wouldn’t be able to stay there for long, but perhaps just long enough to catch his breath and think about his next move. Outside, he could hear the roar of the advancing wall of flames, the sound amplified by the rock walls until it sounded like an Ursa Major was growling at him. Looking himself over, the colt could see that he had lost more fur than he had thought from all the near misses. Was he getting slower or were those things getting more accurate? Coughing from the encroaching smoke, Shadow nearly retched as he forced himself to hold his breath. Swiveling his ears, he could barely hear a pair of voices over the slowly growing roar of the fire. Channeling energy to his horn, the world outside the cave slowly turned grey. He could feel the beginnings of a headache, but he pushed that out of his mind. There was nothing he could do about it now. He knew he had to keep running, but as he stood, his stomach sank as his legs shook and wobbled. How far could he get like this? Groaning to himself, the colt ignited his horn once again, channeling more energy than he preferred into the spell. Around him, nearly two dozen black forms materialized. Suddenly feeling lightheaded, Shadow felt a body lean against him, keeping him on his hooves. Looking to his side, the clone looked back with a tight lipped smile, “Dude, you are so screwed.” “Thanks.” “What the fuck did you do this time?” One of the clones loudly whispered as it pushed its way through the other clones, stopping in front of Shadow “First a giant sea monster, and now this?!” “Keep it down, you idiot!” The clone supporting Shadow hissed back. “Shut it!” The irate clone replied, barely keeping itself from yelling. “Last time he was in trouble, my ship got destroyed! Do you have any idea what it’s like to burn to death?!” “No, but I do know what it’s like to have several tons of angry tail dropped on you!” Ignoring the clone’s reply, the clone gestured to the cave’s entrance “Last time: fire. This time?” Outside, everypony could see glowing embers raining down from above. The clone turned to Shadow “You better fucking survive, or I swear I will kill you!” Shadow wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the statement, but thought better of it. Outside, one of the clones saw a point of light in the smoke “Hey idiots! What’s that?” Before Shadow could say anything, the clone was thrown into a stone wall before exploding in a cloud of smoke as the fireball slammed into it, its short lived scream echoing around the stone chamber. Igniting his horn, the world became solid grey around Shadow and his clones. Not needing to be told what to do, the clones bolted from the cave, each choosing a different direction. Wincing as his body protested its abuse, Shadow was the last out of the cave. Diving into the grey nothing around him, he heard an angry shout as a flash of white exploded behind him. Celestia barely felt her hooves leave the ground; the grounds of her home falling away as she rose into the air. The princess didn’t glance to the side as she flew; she knew that Commander Gale Force was next to her. A quick glance behind told her that everypony was airborne. Below, she could see ponies on the streets stop and look up at the naked show of force as it passed overhead. Out of the corner of her eye, Celestia could see the Commander sneaking glances at her. He was nervous. She couldn’t blame him. He had never flown at the head of a force this large before, and the last time she had, the gryphons had decided to invade. Celestia had been impressed at how quickly he had marshaled his forces. As the ground below gave way to a sheer cliff as they passed over Canterlot’s edge, the solar princess noticed that her horn was tingling with magic, the sensation growing as they approached Ponyville. How much pent up magic was the fire releasing? What would happen with all that wild magical energy being released so quickly in such a relatively small area? In the distance, she could see her sister Luna racing to Cloudsdale, the Night Guard having to work to keep up with the younger Princess. The report she had read had said that the Weather Factory would be functional within a day or two. While she would have wanted her sister by her side, Celestia knew that Luna would be more useful in Cloudsdale, ready to provide the magical charge necessary to start the equipment as soon as it was ready. The fact that ponies were still nervous around the lunar princess years after her return was an added bonus she hoped would get the equipment operational sooner. Hearing her Commander coughing, Celestia lit her horn; a golden bubble of magic appeared, surrounding the stallion’s head. With a burst of energy, she cast the Clear Air spell on everypony in the formation. “Ma’am” Celestia looked at Gale Force, “What are your orders?” By the time she had stepped out of her castle, she had known where most of her forces were going, but a glance at the fire destroyed most of those plans as a stray thought entered her mind. “I want a most of the medics to set up a triage in front of the hospital, the rest I want patrolling the town.” Angling her wings, Celestia caught an updraft from the fire, sending her soaring. Behind her, her forces followed her lead. “Chariots are to fly SAR patrols, with any unicorn or pegasus not flying SAR defending the town. I don’t know how the Everfree’s predators will react to the fire, but they cannot be allowed into the town.” “Yes, ma’am” Saluting, the pegasus fell back. As Ponyville grew in the distance, Celestia could see ponies running around in panic. Already a house along the town’s edge was engulfed in flames despite the ponies around it trying to fight the blaze. In the center of town, the princess could see a knot of ponies, a familiar purple dot in the middle. Angling her wings Celestia dove, her guards following her lead without a word. Shadow was in trouble. Around him, the world had become a solid wall of grey that hid everything that wasn’t within a body length of him. Coughing, Shadow pushed blindly through the haze, his lungs and throat burning from the smoke as he ran. Around him he could hear voices shouting in a language he didn’t recognize, their outbursts occasionally punctuated by an explosion. Behind him, he heard what sounded like an approaching blast of wind. Without thinking the colt leaped to the side, a ball of yellow and white heat roared through where he had just been before crashing into a tree. Shadow barely managed to keep himself from crying out as pieces of flaming bark struck him in the face and along his side. Stealing a quick glance behind him, the young alicorn threw himself to the left as another fireball appeared behind him. As a tree twice as wide as him leaped out of the smoke, Shadow felt his saddlebag scrape against the bark as he ran around it, using the tree like a shield as he changed directions. Off to his right, the colt could see the wall of smoke brightening as the flames from the fire approached. As he ran Shadow racked his brain, trying to figure out what he had done. Had he not shown enough respect to the first Spirit? Had he been too slow with the greeting? Try as he might, the alicorn couldn’t figure out why they were trying to kill him. Caught up as he was with his thoughts, Shadow never saw the terrified clone bolt out of the smoke in front of him. Crashing to the ground, Shadow screamed out in pain as he rolled over his broken wing. With his vision swimming, it took the injured pony a moment to realize that the floating sensation wasn’t in his head. “Sorry about that” the clone said as its magic picked Shadow off the ground. “Forget it” the colt hissed as a fresh wave of agony crashed over his left side. “How many are left?” “Besides me? One, maybe two, I don’t really know.” Shadow groaned at the news. How was he going to get out of this? Leaping to the side, Shadow and his clone dodged the fireball that had appeared out of nowhere. Whipping his head around, he saw a black line of leaves stretching into the smoke behind him, a pair of bright orange Spirits standing at the other end. “Um… run!” The clone hissed as a golden barrier burst into existence between it and the two attackers. Before he could turn, a pair of fireballs slammed into the shield, the magical barrier shattering as it deflected the hits. As the heat of the attack washed over him, Shadow’s legs seemed to move with a mind of their own as he and the clone tried to put as much distance between them and their pursuers as possible. Behind them, the colts could hear a pair of enraged shouts as the chase began anew. Colonel Ash snarled as he watched his attack against the two colts fail. As they turned to run, the sprite officer was certain that one of them was the colt from the island. Cursing at the retreating figures, the colonel chased after them. This was taking much too long and he knew that with every passing second, the odds of being discovered grew. While the officer had no desire to go to war with Equestria, he had no doubt that Celestia and her ponies would pay heavily if war did break out. “Captain, gather the troops and cut those two off. One of them is our target and I want them both dead!” Next to him, the colonel’s companion threw a quick salute before diving head first into a flame covered tree. Turning his attention back to the two ponies, Colonel Ash hurled a grapefruit sized ball of flames at the colts, snarling as they managed to avoid his attack. The officer knew he didn’t have the time for a chase, but if the captain was quick enough… Putting on a burst of speed, Colonel Ash started to close the distance between him and his targets. One way or another, everything would end today. Crying out as he dove, Shadow saw the fireball flash overhead. Scrambling to his hooves, the colt and his clone got clear just before a second ball of fire slammed into the open ground where they had just been. Dashing to his right, Shadow barely managed to skid to a halt as the ground in front of him simply stopped. Peering over the edge, both could see a thin, sickly ribbon of water slowly flowing nearly fifty feet below. “What now?” Hearing a groan, the clone turned to see a pair of Spirits staring at them in the distance. As they watched, the two quickly multiplied as Spirits began stepping out from the surrounding flames. “Never mind” the clone replied as any hope of running away died. Shadow felt his stomach sink as he saw the forest before him disappear in flames as the number of Spirits continued to grow. Any illusion he had of escape died as a lone Spirit stepped out from the crowd and pointed a clawed finger at him and his clone, shouting to the rest. At that moment, Shadow knew that he was about to die. As his heart hammered against his chest, the young alicorn felt an odd sense of peace slowly wash over him. Standing there, he realized that he had done something no pony back home had ever done. He had snuck into Equestria without the solar tyrant noticing. Shadow had little doubt that she had noticed the smoke and was on her way, but he didn’t feel any of the terror that he thought he would. Soon he would join his family and his only hope was that his death would be quick. Taking as deep a breath as he could, Shadow closed his eyes, silently hoping that he didn’t look scared. In his mind, he could see his sister and parents standing at the gates of the Eternal Fields, smiling at him. Hearing a quickly growing roar, Shadow felt something slam into his injured wing. Dropping to his knees in agony, Shadow’s eyes snapped open as he unconsciously threw a shield between him and the incoming ball of fire. Unable to do anything else, the alicorn watched as a second shield joined his as the Spirit’s attack struck. Rubbing his eyes as his vision returned, Shadow felt his jaw drop as his shield glowed weakly before him, the bare rock on either side burned black by the heat. Snapping his head to the side, the colt glared at his clone. “You’re not done yet!” his copy shouted back. “There is no way in Tartarus that I’m going to let you give up so easily, so get to your hooves and grow a fucking set already!” Shadow didn’t know whether it was the clone’s words or the fact that it had actually hit him, something no clone had ever done before, but Shadow found himself struggling to his hooves. In front of them, he could see shock ripple through the assembled Spirits as he stood. In seconds, that shock changed to anger as their leader yelled, balls of fire bursting to life in their hands. In the eyes of the lead Spirit, the colt could see his end. Even as he poured energy into his shield until his head felt like it was about to split in half, the young alicorn knew that it wouldn’t be enough. If he hadn't been nursing a broken wing, if he hadn't been running for Luna only knew how long, his shield might have held against the combined attacks. Looking up at the lead Spirit’s shout, Shadow saw more fireballs than he could count racing toward him. As he saw the balls of fire grow, Shadow turned, throwing himself off the cliff as his shield shattered behind him. Colonel Ash could barely comprehend what he saw as the colt slowly got to his hooves. How had he survived the attack? How was that possible? “Kill him!” the officer shouted as he saw the colt strengthen his shield. If his blasted shield could barely survive one attack, there was no way it would withstand over a hundred strikes at once. With a barely contained smile, thee colonel watched as his company’s attack flashed across the short distance between them and the colts. Through the flames, the officer smiled as the colt leapt from the cliff as his shield shattered. As he hung in the air for a brief moment, the blast from the destroyed shield slammed into the colt, turning him in the air until he presented the perfect target for the colonel. The senior officer didn't hesitate as he hurled the ball of flames in his hand at the colt. The fire sprite leader watched as his attack raced across the short distance between him and his target, before slamming into the colt's saddlebag, destroying it while spraying fire across the young pony's side. Ignoring the pony’s scream, Colonel Ash felt his jaw drop for the second time as he saw the colt drop out of sight as he fell off the cliff. How was that possible? How could he survive an attack that should have reduced him to ash? Before he could say anything, the clone turned and followed its creator over the edge. Rushing to the cliff’s edge, Colonel Ash saw the clone hit the water below and disappear with a splash. Feeling his rage growing, the officer rounded on his cheering troops. “Until I see a body, that bastard colt is still alive. Major, take third and fourth platoons up stream. First and second downstream with me. If you see the colt, kill him then inform me immediately!” Celestia’s wings strained as she pulled herself out of the dive. Flaring her wings, the solar diarch hung in the air for a brief moment before hitting the ground with all four hooves. Around her, ponies jumped at the sound of her landing, scrambling to bow as she strode past them. At the foot of Ponyville’s town hall, the princess saw her former student look up from a map before her, relief etched on her face. “Princess!” The youngest member of Equestria’s royalty ran to her mentor, embracing the larger royal. Celestia smiled as she returned the hug. How she had come to miss such moments. “How’s the situation?” “Not good” Twilight replied as she trotted back to the table. “One house has already been lost and we got two more on fire.” Twilight indicated the houses on the map as she spoke. “The fire started just over half an hour ago, and is already beyond any hope of control. Fortunately it seems to be moving away from town.” “What about the forest’s wildlife?” “We evacuated Fluttershy’s cottage and her animals, but other than birds and a few deer, we haven’t seen much come out of there.” Celestia quietly sighed in relief to herself. She knew first hoof just how dangerous some of the Everfree’s residents could be and her second greatest worry had been that the predators might use the disaster and chaos as an opportunity to attack the town’s inhabitants. “Commander, send a dozen squads to protect the town’s farms and I want continuous updates on the fire’s progress.” “Yes ma’am.” Tossing a quick salute, the pegasus officer jumped into the air before disappearing. As the stallion vanished, the princess saw a pair of mares galloping towards her. Even from a distance, it took Celestia little effort to recognize the town’s rising fashion star and one of the most famous farmers in the country. Stopping, the two mares dropped to the ground before her, much to Celestia’s chagrin. She might be their ruler, but they had helped save her and everypony several times over. If anything, Celestia sometimes felt that she should be bowing to them. “Princess, thank the fates you’re here!” Celestia nodded to Rarity as the unicorn stood. “I came as soon as I heard, my little pony.” “We’re sorry to bother ya when ya got so much on yer plate, Princess, but have ya seen our sisters?” The eldest Royal Sister shook her head, her heart aching as she saw the two mare’s faces fall. She knew all about the two fillies in question. Looking around, she spotted a pair of pegasi guards pulling chariots trotting toward her. “Corporals” the two soldiers snapped to attention before her “We need your help…” Shadow panicked. His mind was blinded by pain as half his body felt like it was on fire while the other half felt like it was trapped in a blizzard. Thrashing around, the colt opened his mouth to scream, only for any sound to be drowned out as water rushed down his throat. Snapping his eyes open, he couldn’t see anything more than a leg length away. He could see orange and yellow light dancing and shimmering overhead, yet as hard as he tried, the light slowly got farther and farther away. As darkness ate at the corners of his vision, Shadow felt a sense of calm settle over him. It wouldn’t be much longer until he was reunited with his family. Waiting for the end to come, the young colt found himself wondering why he was still alive. By all rights he should be dead. How did he survive that hit? Before his failing brain could try to figure out that one final mystery, Shadow felt something grab him around the chest. Fresh agony stabbed at the young colt, his mind going blank as he involuntarily tried to scream. Feeling water flood his lungs, Shadow began to thrash again. Before he could break free of whatever had him, something collided with his face, leaving him stunned as his vision blacked out. The next thing the colt knew, his head broke the surface. Feeling the air for the first time in what seemed like an eternity as he was dragged out of the water, the young alicorn felt his chest heave as he vomited everything he had swallowed that day. Groaning, Shadow felt his body start to shake. Forcing an eye open, he could see the clone standing next to him, a small shield covering the both of them. “Can you move?” “We don’t have a choice” He responded as he ignited his horn, a fresh wave of pain drilling into his mind as he used the pain soothing spell his dad had taught him. Slowly getting to his hooves, Shadow felt his world swim around him before the clone leaned up against him. “What now?” Despite the thick smoke, Shadow looked around. Behind him he could see flames rising above the trees as the fire continued to spread. He knew that trying to cross the river was out, and even if he could swim, the fire had jumped the river. “Can’t go back, can’t swim, can’t see... Hopefully this river leads somewhere that isn’t trying to kill us.” Shadow winced as he felt a flash of pain lash his mind as he put weight on his right leg. Gritting his teeth, the colt forced one hoof in front of the other. Around them, the world was silent, other than the distant roar of the fire and the river to their left. Shadow didn’t know how long they had been walking before he heard the scream. Stopping, he almost dismissed it as a hallucination until he heard the scream again. Breaking into as fast a trot as his battered body would allow, Shadow and his clone raced for where the scream was coming from. Following the river, the two colts came around a sharp curve and stopped. Ahead of them, a trio of fillies were slowly backing into the river’s shallows as a pair of Spirits slowly closed in on them, balls of fire growing in their hands. Without thinking, Shadow ignited his horn as he shouted at the two beings of fire. Shock was etched on the two creature’s faces. Before either being could move, Shadow jerked his head to the side, a stream of water as tall as him leaping from the river before slamming into the lead Spirit. With just a split second of hesitation, the other Spirit hurled its fireball at the colt before diving into a patch of burning grass. Before he could react, Shadow saw a wall of golden energy flash before him, the fireball glancing off the shield before slamming into a nearby tree. Hearing a scream, Celestia looked up from the two Corporals as Rarity screamed again “That’s Sweetie Belle’s!” Turning her head to where the young mare was pointing, the princess felt her stomach drop as a shaft of white light shot into the sky, pulses of light purple occasionally flashing from the beam. Everypony knew what a unicorn emergency signal looked like, even if they had never seen one used before. It was a simple spell taught to every unicorn filly and colt that would bring any nearby help to them if they were in danger. Before she could turn to the two soldiers next to her, a gust of wind whipped across her fur as Rainbow Dash, who had arrived just moments earlier, blasted for the signal, leaving a rainbow colored contrail behind her. Shadow winced as the fireball struck his shield before ricocheting into the forest. Behind him, he could hear the three fillies crying as they lay in the river. He didn’t know how these creatures communicated, but they had had less than a minute of peace before the spirit who had escaped had returned with its friends. What had started out as a dozen attackers had quickly ballooned into over a hundred. Slowly being forced back, the young alicorn deflected another attack, sending it into the ground in front of him. Hearing a shout behind him, Shadow looked up spotting a rainbow streaking towards them. Behind him he could hear the three fillies cheering. Staring at the lead Spirit, Shadow wished he could do something more than defend himself with a thin magic shield, but every attack that bounced off his shield felt like a slap across the face. Feeling the pure hatred flowing from the lead Spirit, Shadow felt his heart skip a beat as the creature hurled a ball of flames as large as the colt at him. Reacting on pure instinct, the colonel’s target changed his shield’s shape into a wedge, splitting the ball in half as it struck. Ignoring his clone’s shout of annoyance at nearly getting hit, Shadow glanced up at the rainbow streak, which had resolved itself into a sky blue pegasus. Colonel Ash saw the colt’s eye’s flick up into the sky. Following the colt’s gaze, the sprite officer spotted the incoming pegasus “Covering fire!” He yelled as he channeled the forest’s magic into his hand, a blinding white ball of heat flashing to life in his palm. He didn’t relish the idea of taking down an innocent pony. It was bad enough that there were three innocent fillies that had to die, but no pony could know that he and his troops had been there. Shadow slammed his shield into the ground at an angle as he threw as much magic as he could into it, making it as large and thick as he could. The area between him and the spirits quickly ceased to exist as the creatures launched wave after wave of fire. His chest heaving, Shadow looked through his shield, spotting the lead Spirit who was looking to the sky. The colt felt his stomach sink as he knew what the creature was staring at. From behind the relative safety of his shield, Shadow watched helplessly as a blinding white ball of fire shot into the air, clipping the pegasus’ left wing. Behind him, he could hear the fillies scream in shock and horror. Glancing at his clone, the young alicorn bolted from his spot. His horn glowing, Shadow waited for the right moment. If he acted too early, the downed flyer would be a sitting target; too late and they wouldn’t survive hitting the ground. If he hadn’t spent most of the morning running and fighting for his life, he might have been able to catch the pegasus, but as it was, all he could hope to do was soften their crash landing. Watching the pegasus, Shadow reached out, grabbing the falling pony from the air and redirecting them into the river’s sandy bank. Shadow fell to his knees as the mare rolled to a stop next to the fillies. His horn felt like it was on fire while his head felt like it wanted to explode. Looking up, he caught his clone’s eye. “I got this, go help them!” Unable to do much more than nod, Shadow forced himself up and stumbled towards the fillies. Hearing an enraged shout, the young colt turned to see the spirit leader’s eyes flick from him to the fillies. Shadow’s heart stopped as the spirits attacked as one. Before he could react, both his clone’s shield and his own collapsed under the attack. Hearing a scream, Shadow’s head whipped toward the fillies before turning to the spirit’s leader as he hurled a ball of fire as large as the downed pegasus at the other ponies. Unable to do anything, Shadow watched as the clone leaped into the air, throwing itself between them and the attack. Shadow felt something snap inside of him as the echoes of his clone’s final scream faded. He had felt this surge of power only once before, back on the Tranquility during the attack. The light from his horn made the sun overhead seem dim by comparison as he grabbed a chunk of the river and hurled it at the spirit’s leader. With no remorse, Shadow watched as the shaft of water smashed into the spirit and any Spirit unable to leap out of the way in time. Not waiting for a response, the enraged young alicorn reached for the river with his magic, forcing it over the bank and between him and the spirits. A slight change in the spell, and the stream of water shot into the air, until it became a barrier twenty feet high and as thick as him. Turning to the fillies, he could see the shock and fear in their eyes. Glancing at the young white unicorn with the pink and purple mane, Shadow said as calmly as he could, “Get that signal back up and keep it up, or we’re all going to die.” As if they didn’t want to be forgotten, the remaining Spirits gave a shout before resuming their attack. Turning to face them, Shadow gritted his teeth. Each strike felt like a pin prick, but he knew it was only a matter of time before they succeeded. Back at Ponyville’s town hall, everypony held their breath as they waited. Had Rainbow reached the fillies? Why had the signal gone out? Everypony gasped as the beam lanced into the sky a second time. Rarity and Apple Jack both shouted their sisters’ names before Rarity passed out. Before panic could set in, Celestia pointed at nearby medic, “Sergeant, get on board now! You two” She pointed at the two chariot laden pegasi, “Follow me!” Without waiting for a response, Princess Celestia, eldest ruler of Equestria, leaped into the air, her escorts straining to keep up as she raced for the signal. Shadow felt numb. He knew that he should be in agony, yet he felt nothing. Around him, the world ceased to exist as he concentrated on keeping the water shield up as long as possible. He could feel the spirits’ attack as they continued to batter the wall of water, each strike feeling like a dash of salt on an open wound as each flashed to steam on impact. Caught up as he was, it took Shadow a moment to notice the spirits’ attack slacking off before dying altogether. As the final strike flashed to steam, the colt finally became aware of the trio of shouting and cheering fillies behind him. Glancing up, he spotted a trio of pegasi flying toward them. The smile that slowly formed on his face vanished as the purple maned pegasus behind him shouted three words that he had hoped to never hear; “It’s the princess!” Ignoring the spirits, Shadow studied the three fliers, his stomach sinking as he recognized the lead pony. While no pony back home had ever seen her in the flesh, everypony knew what the solar tyrant looked like. Behind him, he could hear the sound of wheels on wet sand and the squeals of happiness from the fillies. Shadow ignored all this as he concentrated on his shield. As he stood there, he could hear somepony slowly walk up behind him. “It’s time to go, my little pony.” Shadow barely kept himself from flinching. He didn’t recognize the voice, but he didn’t need to. He knew exactly what was standing behind him. Looking at the spirits hidden in the wall of flames ahead of him, the young alicorn could see the glow of his eyes in the wall of water. Perhaps it was the fact that he had spent the morning running for his life, being beaten and battered at every turn, but Shadow was in no mood to cooperate, especially now. “No.” He stated simply and without emotion. “You can run if you want, but this ends here.” Growling, Shadow’s horn brightened as he channeled every last ounce of energy he could through it. Gritting his teeth as his head felt like it was about to split in half, the young colt focused his magic on the thin band of water behind him. Glaring at his attackers, Shadow threw his shield at them. It broke apart almost immediately, but he didn’t care as he pulled on the section of river behind him, sending it arcing over him and Celestia. He knew the spirits weren’t stupid, and as the two walls of water crashed together, he saw the last attacker retreat back to where it came. Wrapped up in his attack, Shadow hadn’t anticipated what would happen to the water once he released it. Before he could react, a wave of water half his height slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. Panting in exhaustion, the battered colt forced himself to his hooves. Taking one look at Celestia and the look of shock on her face, he turned to run. With his first step, his leg gave out and Shadow collapsed, dead to the world before he hit the ground. Celestia looked around at the destruction the young colt had wrought. Other than the river, everything within a hundred yards of her was a torn up, burned out mess that hissed and steamed as the burned logs and stumps cooled. Beyond the scorched area, the fire raged on as if nothing had happened. Overhead, she could see a small twig flying through the air. Catching it before it could land in a puddle; the solar diarch brought the piece of wood up to her face. Within moments, a tiny pair of black eyes appeared among the small flames. The sprite looked around for a moment before noticing her towering above it. Narrowing her eyes, Celestia could see the sprite's fear and a small part of her felt glad at that. "Let me make myself perfectly clear: this. Ends. Now. The pony you are after is now in my custody." As she spoke, the princess slowly lifted Shadow out of the mud and onto her back. "By the terms of our treaty, you will end this incursion, and return to your realm immediately. If you do not, I will consider the treaty void, and I will do what I have to, to protect my citizens." She let the threat hang in the air for a moment. "Do you understand?" For its part, the sprite hastily and aggressively nodded. "Good." Celestia voice, which was already cold, dropped to a level that would have made the polar north in the dead of winter seem like a tropical paradise in comparison. "And inform General Cinder that I will be talking to him very soon." The sprite nodded furiously. "Now go." In the time it took her to blink, the sprite vanished. Tossing the flaming twig into the river behind her, Celestia looked behind her to the unconscious colt draped across her back. Above her, she could see a pair of chariots circling overhead. Crouching down, Celestia leaped into the air, her wings quickly carrying her above the flames.