Forty six ponies had started the run.
Thirty eight managed to limp across Lightning Dust’s finish line. It had been a grueling run. Three long laps, starting at the Black Rook Lodge, circling Ponyville and then coming back to the Lodge again.
Thirty eight ponies had managed to pass the physical trials. Now it would be time for them to train as a unit and for her to weed out those hopefuls who couldn’t work well with others. For now though, it was time for kudos.
“Congratulations!” she declared, flying back and forth before the exhausted crowd. “You have all managed to pass the first round of the trials. I want you all here tomorrow morning with your gear to move into the lodge. That’s when the real work begins.”
Packs of rocks were chucked aside to a chorus of relieved sighs before the crowd began to disperse. Lightning Dust watched them go, when a realization settled into her mind.
“...I need more beds.”
- - - -
Lightning’s hoof falls echoed off the walls of the sloped corridor leading to storage, the hooded lantern she carried casting odd flickering shadows as it lazily swung in her grip. Surely there had to be some extra beds tucked away in all the extra gear and junk the lodge had acquired over the years. Or some cots at the very least.
The edge of her light began to wash over barrels and crates as she stepped into the cavernous room. The more practical and readily needed gear was stored near the front of the room. Crates of crossbow bolts, coils of rope, tents (both hanging and otherwise) for longer term deployments, one box of spare compasses and a few boxes of coins from the other Equestrian successor states (for the rare occasions they had to visit other countries) were all neatly arranged at the front.
Beyond that though was a tangled mess of other crates, bags, and random piles of junk from past endeavors, random events and Harmony knows what else. Finding beds in that mess was going to be horrible. She sighed.
“Might as well get started.”
Placing her lantern on one of the ordered boxes, she began to shuffle through the piles. After shoving her way through a few boxes of snapped bolts and broken crossbows that Fleetfoot had insisted on keeping for her tinkering purposes, Lightning almost tripped over a box of papers.
Grumbling to herself, she sat down and began to rummage through it. What was a stack of random papers doing in the basement? As her eyes roamed over the text though, she recognized the hoofwriting of Soarin and a growing collection of recipes. All for pies.
Lightning smiled softly to herself. “Heh...Soarin did love his pies. Still not sure that spinach and cheese really worked as a filling though.”
But her smile immediately faltered. Soarin wasn’t here anymore. And he’d probably not be eating pies again where he was right now.
“Damn it guys...why did you have to do it? Things weren’t that bad.”
She pushed the box aside and moved deeper into the tangle, but the hits and memories just kept coming. There were Fire Streak’s old scarves that he wove between missions crammed haphazardly into a bag. Another box had wind charts that High Winds doodled here and there. Lightning Streak’s collection of whittled figures. An eye.
“Gah!”
The caprataur eye was preserved in a square block of glass, peering outwards at her in a silent judgement. It took Lightning a moment but the memory of what this thing was slowly began to come back to her. Spitfire had taken this eye from the caprataur warleader that had almost taken hers. She used to keep this thing on her desk until everypony had come to her as a group and told her it was too morbid.
“No need for you,” Lightning said, shoving it into another box. “Seriously Spitfire, what the got into your head sometimes?”
There were some other shadows looming just at the edge of her light, so she moved the lantern a bit closer. As the shadows parted from the lantern, Lightning’s eyes lit up. Spare beds! A nice collection of them shoved in a corner right underneath….
Lightning grinned. She was going to enjoy his bout of training.
- - - -
The prospective rangers dutifully arrived the next morning, gear in tow. The gates were wide open, inviting them inside the compound. Lightning stood at attention just inside the bailey, wearing the sternest expression she could muster.
“Welcome, applicants,” she began. The speech she was about to give was the same one that Spitfire had given when she had tried out for the Rangers. “You are here because either through drive or chance, you’ve decided to throw in with the Everfree Rangers. You are all here because you think you have what it takes to fight in the Everfree Rangers!”
She paused for a moment, giving the group a moment to think about that. Then she unleashed the next round, stomping forward till she was almost nose to nose with one of the recruits. “Well, let me tell you, none of you have what it takes! If you did have what it takes, you’d already be a ranger! Or fighting in a knighthood! Or doing anything but begging for entrance to this lodge!”
She began to pace the line, glaring all the while. “And let me tell you, if you thought that it was hard to get to this part, it’s about to get a lot harder. Hard like a block of granite, or a big log of oak or something! It’s my job to forge the lot of you into a group that can survive the darkest depths of the most evil forest in the world!” She paused again, considering that statement. “...Not that we have that many evil forests to compare it with, but still. Rangers need to be able to do more than just work together. We watch each other’s backs, fronts, sides, tails and manes. We aren’t going to have any repeats of betrayals, understand?"
"No, ma'am, err… yes, ma'am!"
"Wherever you came from before, whatever social class you were part of before, none of that matters here. I mean, if I can be friends with a prissy baroness then we can all get along here, right?” she chuckled. “What matters now is what you’re here for. We protect ponies. We fight the monsters of the Everfree. And if you’re not willing to fight, there’s no place for you here.”
A few of the applicants shuffled their hooves. Most of the others looked confused.
Okay, maybe I didn’t quite nail the Spitfire tone with that one. Lightning thought. Gotta try harder.
“Okay maggots! Stow any gear you have in the barracks, then head over to the mess hall for breakfast. After that, it’ll be time to work your sorry flanks off!”
She watched them go as they shuffled towards the barracks, slumping once they had passed her. Playing the hard mare really was not her style. Biting wit, light hearted jokes, cheesy puns...those were all her tools. But now she had to be the tough pony in charge.
She took a deep breath. It was time to focus. “I can do this.”
- - - -
A few hours later after bellies were full and applicants moved in, Lightning Dust broke the remaining applicants into two large groups of nineteen. Then she walked them through morning exercises and stretches. They were a mixture of muscle building and flexibility exercises, designed to give the Rangers an edge in the tangled growth of the Everfree. It was slow going today with the mix of different skill levels, but that was expected.
After another round of rest, Lightning moved on to the next bout of training.
“The crossbow is the Ranger weapon of choice,” Lightning explained as her charges overlooked their new weapons. “Once, long ago, we used recurve bows. But we ditched them after too many restringing accidents began to drive our eyepatch budget through the roof!”
A round of nervous laughter rippled through the crowd.
She plucked a crossbow bolt from a pile, balancing it on the edge of her hoof. “We use reinforced iron bolts. The monsters of the Everfree have hides and bodies tough as year old biscuits! We also barbed ones for particularly nasty targets, blunt ones for when we need to knock a pony out, a few other varieties we’ll get to later. Now...load up!”
The sounds of dozens of crossbows being drawn taut filled the air. A mighty target had been drug from the depths of the hold’s stores, one of the very ones that Lightning had trained on. It was a wooden mockery of a giant spider, of which the Everfree had many varieties. The weak points on a living specimen’s shell- on the leg joints, near the eyes and along the bottom of the bulging abdomen- had been marked by bullseyes. Every other inch of the creation had been covered in metal plates, mimicking the thick shells of those monstrous arachnids. What couldn’t be seen from here was the collection of complex levers, pulleys and ropes within the shell that made it useful for training.
Once they were all loaded up, Lightning flew to the training spider and opened the hatch on the side. The controls were ready for her and she slid into the seat with ease. Placing her hind hooves on the odd petals, she began to pump and the spider shuddered to life. Hidden wheels groaned and lurched into action, pushing the creation towards the first group of recruits. A tug on a rope made the artificial forelegs begin to wave back and forth in a vaguely threatening manner.
The solid ping of a crossbow bolt ricocheting off metal echoed through her strange vehicle. Sunflower had taken the first shot, as wide as it might have been. Smirking to herself, Lightning leaned over to a wide brass tube hanging at head level.
“Roar! I’m an angry giant spider! I’m going to drink your blood! ROAR! Somepony better shoot me and quick!”
Rather than fire at her, the rest of the group just stared with slack jaws and stunned expressions. Then somepony began to giggle, it spread like wildfire through the group and soon enough almost everypony was doubled over with laughter.
Lightning Dust frowned and bellowed into the speaking tube. “You’re supposed to fire at the target you sorry excuses for ponies!”
Now came a true volley of bolts as everyone unloaded on the advancing “monster”. While many more bounced off the edge of the contraption’s various surfaces, she could also feel the more solid shakes of bolts biting into the wood.
“Roar! It’ll take a lot more than that to stop this spider! Roar!”
“I’m pretty sure that spiders don’t roar!” Angel Wings called.
“Who cares?” Sky Stinger snapped. “Shoot the damn thing!”
“You shoot the damn thing!” Angel Wings shouted back. “I’m reloading!”
“Both of you shoot the damn thing and stop arguing with each other!” Sunflower exclaimed.
“Don’t talk to me like that! I’m not going to be talked down to by a pony who can’t hit a perfectly obvious target!”
“You missed too!”
“No I didn’t! That’s my bolt sticking out of that target on the right leg!”
“No it isn’t! That was Vapor Trail’s shot!”
Vapor Trail winced. “Please...don’t argue on my account!”
Icy Mist rolled her eyes. “Come now everypony! Monsters won’t be vanquished if we’re all squabbling like foals.”
Lightning pumped a bit faster, accelerating into the mob. Quick as a whip, she spun a wheel mounted on the wall and pulled another rope. With a creak and a groan, the entire upper section of the spider spun around, its heavy limbs wildly swinging at everypony around her. A collection of surprised shouts and yelps rose from her applicants as they were scattered by the flailing legs.
It was an engineering marvel and one of Fleetfoot’s greatest training creations. Every inch of it was perfectly tuned and balanced. A scattered collection of shots rattled its body again, most of them rolling off its back and due to its sturdy construction. For a moment the only thing that ran through Lightning’s mind was the thrill of the training and the joy at the thought of the Black Rook Lodge rising from the ashes. They’d come back from it. They’d come back from all of it!
“Get around the side!”
“Shoot the legs!”
“No, shoot the big butt!”
“It’s called an abdomen!”
“Shut up!”
“No, you shut up!”
“Roar!” Lightning shouted through the speaking tube. “Giant spiders eat ponies that don’t work together! Roar!”
The next few minutes where a whirlwind of activity. Bolts whistled through the air, gears creaked and cracked, wood groaned, ponies shouted and cried out in pain. When all was said and done, group one was scattered about her on the ground.
“Good first effort everypony! Group two! You’re up!”
She wheeled back to the start position, eager to see what this group could do. It had that Firefly mare in it and she had done quite the job in the melee. Once she had settled into place Lightning peered through the viewing slits.
Firefly was at the head of the group, radiating a sour expression as she yanked the bow string back into place. The weapon was unsteady in her hooves as she was clearly unsure with the weapon. It was an odd sight, considering how confident she had been facing down Iron Will.
Shrugging to herself, Lightning began to peddle again.
A volley of crossbow bolts hissed through the air, most of them clattering uselessly to the ground a moment later. Deciding to cut to the chase this time, Lightning pumped even faster, accelerating straight towards the heart of the crowd. Firefly cursed under her breath and fell back, struggling to reload her weapon.
While most of the crowd scattered to take up new firing positions, one pony lept into action. Scootaloo galloped forward, darting between the spider legs with those same dance-like acrobatics she'd displayed the other day. With buzzing wings giving her an extra boost just short of true flying, she jumped into the air, and a loud thunk echoed from the roof of the spider’s “head” a moment later.
Fore one brief moment Lightning Dust wasn't sure what that sound was, not a crossbow bolt, but then the next moment she heard the telltale twang. There was a splintering sound and an iron tipped bolt managed to bury itself halfway through the wood before coming to a stop.
Must have fired point blank, Lightning thought. Leaning over to the speech tube again she opted to make a point. “Watch it rookie! I appreciate the enthusiasm, but this is a training exercise, not the real thing.”
The only reply Lightning heard was the ratcheting sound of the young recruit's crossbow being reloaded.
She moved like the wind, yanking ropes, spinning wheels and pulling levers. The spider wheeled and bucked in response, limbs thrashing in a whirlwind of activity. With a shout of surprise, the pegasus recruit was sent vaulting from the surface of the spider. Lightning slammed her hooves on the pedals, surging forward in a burst of speed. Another round of bolts rattled off the spider before the shooters scattered again to avoid the oncoming contraption.
Lightning had seen enough for today.
“We’re done,” she called into the speaking tube. “Everypony stand down.”
Throwing the entrance hatch back open, Lightning scrambled out to address her aspirants. “Wow, some of you squabble worse than a bunch of angry cats! That being said, it wasn’t a bad first round. But you all need to put in a lot more work before you’re Ranger material!”
She looked right at Sky Stinger, Angel Wings and Sunflower. “Fight with each other like that in a real combat situation and you could get yourselves killed. Stinger, you have a long way to go. I think that a blind mare could have hit more shots than you did. Angel Wings, Sunflower? If you rise to every bit of flank busting you get like that, you’ll get absolutely no where, understand?”
“Yes mam,” Sunflower and Angel sighed.
“Hmmph,” Stinger grunted.
“Firefly, you were struggling with your weapon there. What happened?”
Firefly wouldn’t look her in the eyes when she answered. “Just not used to crossbows mam. More used to using my hooves.”
Lightning nodded back. “More practice will see to that. Speaking of which…” She jumped into the air, hovering above both groups again. “Time for some more exercise!”
Everypony groaned.
- - - -
By the time the sun began to set, Lightning Dust had worked her recruits through a full day of what the Everfree Rangers were all about. At least in terms of training. Showing them the actual Everfree would come later, once she was convinced they were up to the task. But for now, it was time to rest...for some of them, at least.
“We’re done for the day! But, we have watches to deal with. Angel Wings, Sunflower, Sky Stinger…”
She kept rattling off names until she had picked ten out of the group. “You have first watch tonight. Find a nice spot on the wall, grab your blankets and keep your eyes open. After six hours, team two will take over and that’ll be Scootaloo, Firefly, Vapor Trail…”
Once the watches were arranged for the night, a chorus of relieved sighs and annoyed groans filled the air as everypony split up to attend to their duties or get some sleep. Lightning watched them go for a moment, before zipping towards her office. Sliding into place behind the desk, she helped herself to a few pieces of paper, a bottle of ink and a quill. Soft scritches filled the air as she jotted down notes and plans for the next day. She’d mix up the teams tomorrow, experiment with different pairings and partners.
But there was a larger concern in her mind right now.
She grabbed her elemental crossbow and soared to a point on the main building’s roof. There was a crook there, where the section above the barracks met the section above the kitchens and mess hall. That was where Lightning took up position, dropping a few cases of bolts at her right side, and a heavy coil of rope on her left. Of one thing she was determined as she loaded her weapon. Her applicants may have been patrolling the walls, but they were green and could easily be fooled or bypassed by a more experienced pony. And that would not do at all.
Any assassins or saboteurs foolish enough to try follow up strike would have to deal with her. Once her crossbow was loaded with blunt tipped bolts, she chose her spot. Laying flat on her barrel, Lightning squirmed her way right to the roof edge and took up a sniping position. She’d stay up all night if she had too. It wouldn’t be the first time she pushed her limits for the sake of her lodge.
Time crawled by as night fully swallowed the surrounding countryside, pale moonlight casting its own illumination in addition to the lanterns on the walls. For quite a long while nothing changed in the grounds. There was just the flickering of the light, the call of the nighttime insects and the idle movements of the rangers in training. She was glad that none of her friends were here to see this. Mostly because she was sure they’d nag at her for being reckless.
The night stretched on and on in an unending slog of darkness. The flickering of the light began to cast odd looking shadows and half formed shapes along the strong stone walls. More than a few times she had started to raise her crossbow to shoot at a perceived attacker, only to realize that it was one of those shadows. Fatigue was beginning to settle in, the long hours grinding away at her Ranger trained fortitude. Stifling a yawn, she set her focus on the walls again. No pony was going to tear the Black Rook Lodge out from under her.
More time crawled past. Just how long had she been waiting around at this point? Despite her efforts, her eyes were beginning to grow heavy.
She had to stay up. She had to...protect...the lodge.
Sleep claimed her before the sun began to rise.
- - - -
Lightning awoke to the sound of muttering.
Ascraids! She mentally cursed. I fell asleep?
Flopping onto her side she peered up at the roof peak of the barracks, where the muttering was coming from. It was that orange coated pegasus that had so strongly attacked the training dummy the other day. Lightning couldn’t quite make out what she was saying as her back was turned, her body hunched over something. Frowning, Lightning sat up, keeping one hoof on her crossbow.
“So...interesting conversation you’re having with yourself?”
Her guest started, something shiny tumbling off the edge of the roof with a loud clatter. Lightning took her weapon in both hooves now, her eyes narrowing at the pegasus.
“What’s your name recruit?”
“...Scootaloo, mam.”
“And what are you doing up here?”
Scootaloo responded by pointing skywards. “Looking for you mam. It’s almost mid-morning.”
Slowly, Lightning followed Scootaloo’s outstretched foreleg, shielding her eyes at the sun which indeed hung in its mid-morning position.
“Celestia’s flaming teats!” Lightning exclaimed. “We’re already behind schedule for today!”
With the question of Scootaloo’s presence blasted fully from her mind, Lightning Dust lept from the roof to wake the rest of the recruits and get them moving for the day. Scootaloo watched her go with dumbfounded expression before shaking her head.
“How would that even begin to work?”
- - - -
“...Are you feeling alright?”
Lightning’s eyes snapped open to find her muzzle an inch from her half full plate. Straightening back up, she looked around at her friends and smiled. “Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”
The dinner had been Starlight’s idea. According to her message, there was something that she wanted to give to Lightning. That worked out fine for her, as she wanted to talk with Starlight and Adagio about a few things herself. On her list was arranging for some reading and writing tutoring for her recruits. While literacy was only a strict requirement for a lodges leadership, receiving an education on such matters was a perk of membership she desired to continue. But she also wanted to check in on the hunt for her saboteur. So far, he (or she) hadn’t moved against the lodge again and Lightning was starting to get concerned about when the next attempt would be made.
Starlight rolled her eyes, waggling a carrot at Lightning disapprovingly. “Should I really dignify that with an answer?”
For a moment the beginnings of a sarcastic joke bubbled to life in the back of her throat. But then exhaustion from a week of training and all night stake outs tamped it back down. The chair was comfortable, its cushions seemingly determined to drag her off to sleep. Wordlessly she looked to Adagio for assistance but the stony expression and single arched eyebrow told Lightning that there would be no help coming from that side of the table.
“Fine,” she sighed. “I’ve been staying up all night for the last few nights. Keeping an eye out. Just in case whoever burnt down the tent city decided to follow up with an attack on the lodge itself.”
“By yourself?” Adagio asked, her one eyebrow somehow raising ever higher.
The disdain of the plan was clear in her voice. Lightning Dust frowned right back. “It’s my lodge,” she declared. As far as she was concerned, that was the only justification that she needed. “But no, not completely alone. My trainees have watch duty after all.”
“Perhaps,” Adagio responded. “But considering that you asked us for help before, why not now?”
Lightning didn’t have a good answer for that. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, in the embers of the tent city. It was her lodge now! She was the last pony standing from the old guard and it was up to her to make sure it continued on. Now in the same room as two of her friends, it just felt silly to perch on a roof all by her lonesome while her charges patrolled the walls.
She sighed. “Okay…I may not have thought the details though on this one.”
Starlight chuckled. “Don’t worry Lightning. I’m one step ahead of you. It’s the reason I invited you over tonight in fact. Just let me get it from my lab.”
Pushing away from the table, she trotted out of the room, leaving Lightning alone with Adagio. Her friend and baroness hummed to herself, lightly tapping a hoof on the table edge.
“I’m going to have my guards help watch the lodge and have the militia patrol out that way once a night.”
Now it was Lightning’s turn to raise an eyebrow, a bristling stab of annoyance running through her. The situation wasn’t that dire and her lodge wasn’t that helpless! Sure, not everypony had taken to the lifestyle yet, but Scootaloo and Firefly were good in a fight. She had her pride, damn it!
“What about your own protection?” She asked. Perhaps playing to Adagio’s selfish side would help nip this in the bud.
“I’m not the current target. Besides, I’ll keep Will for myself. If you don’t mind of course.”
“I’m not-”
“How are the recruits shaping up so far?” Adagio asked, idly swirling her goblet of wine.
Lightning was taken slightly aback by the sudden change in topic but answered all the same.
“One week of training so far...hard to tell. I’m going to have to start making some choices soon though, decide who will cut it as an actual ranger and who might be better working support. There are a few that show some real potential. I like this Firefly mare in particular. Showed a really cool head during the tent city fire.”
Adagio’s brow furrowed at the mention of the name. “Firefly….Firefly...that name sounds familiar. ...Where have I heard that before?”
“Something I should worry about?”
“...Maybe. I’ll do some digging and get back to you.”
The door to the dining room swung open again and Starlight marched through, proudly brandishing a polished wooden box. She proved quite incapable of hiding her wide grin as she slid it across the table and opened the lid.
“And there it is,” she declared.
“It” ended up being a small crystal. No one color dominated its construction, instead being a mixture of red, yellow and orange that swirled about like an ongoing rush of flame. Little sparkles of magic glittered within the larger swirls of color, catching and refracting the lamp light across the room. A light silver chain was set into its top, effectively making a pendant.
“Huh...sparkly,” Lightning observed. “What’s it do?”
“I managed to collect some of the lingering magical residue at the burn site and wove it into this gem! That let me identify the magical ‘hoofprint’ of that container!” Starlight declared, her grin threatening to split her face. “Now, while I’m still not convinced that it was intentional sabotage. But if it was and that magic gets anywhere near you, this little charm will blaze nice and bright! I also worked in a standard alarm charm. Just tap it before going to bed and it’ll give you a mental ping if anypony comes within twenty feet of you.”
Lightning slipped the necklace on. “Nice!”
“Now, promise me that you’ll go and get some rest. You won’t be any good to the lodge if you’re unconscious.”
Lightning gave a tired grin back. “Going to pack me a lunch too mom?”
“Only if you want one dearie.”
“And on that note, I think we’re done for the night,” Adagio said. “Though Starlight, I’d like to talk to you about something before I go.”
Lightning waved goodbye to her friends and headed out. Content with her new trinket she lazily took to the air and slowly wound her way through Ponyville’s buildings. All the while, her mind mulled over her next moves. A few more weeks of training and she’d start to take them into the edges of the Everfree for more hooves on training. Then-
Something slammed into her from off of a nearby rooftop above.
The force of the impact smashed her into the wall of a nearby house. Stars exploded into her field of vision as she plummeted towards the cobblestones below. The heavy weight pressed harder on her back, driving a stabbing wedge of pain directly between her wings. She hit the ground hard, tumbling head over tail. There was a distinct crack sound and a fresh round of agony in her side as she came to a rolling stop.
Tears streamed down Lightning’s muzzle as she pushed through the pain and sprang back to her hooves. A figure dressed in a voluminous, body obscuring cloak stood a few feet from her, its body crouched in a stance that screamed “attack”.
“Don’t suppose you’re just an over eager fan of my exploits?” Lightning asked, forcing a grin.
The figure charged, its cloak flapping in the breeze, revealing the slight glint of a weapon strapped to its side. It drew it with its mouth in one smooth motion swinging it right for Lightning’s throat. Despite her wounds, Lightning wasn’t a slouch when it came to melee combat. As the edge of the blade came swooping in, Lightning pinned it between her hooves and wrenched. The dagger went clattering away, shooting down a side alley.
“That’s a no then?”
A hoof collided with her sore side, eliciting a silent scream from Lightning from the fresh round of agony. Blinking back a fresh round of tears Lightning threw herself forward, slamming her head into her attacker’s. While this brought a fresh round of pain in a stabbing headache, Lightning grinned through it. Nopony won when a headbutt was involved, but at this point she truly didn’t care. Burning the tent city down didn’t work, so they sent an assassin?
Her whole body quivered with anger. This had become personal and her pride wouldn’t allow the attempts to destroy her or the Rangers go unanswered.
By now the attacker had recovered and was circling for an opening. Lightning rolled her neck, popping a few kricks from it before fixing the cloaked pony with her most Spitfire worthy glare.
“So, who sent you?”
Silence.
“The strong and silent type are we?” Lightning asked, keeping her tone light and conversational. “That’s fine. I suppose that fits the whole deadly assassin look you got going for you.”
“I am not an assassin!” her assailant shouted, stomping a hoof. Whoever the pony was, she was effecting an absurdly gruff voice. “If I was so underhoofed to strike you down for money, I would have taken you when you slept! You deserve to see your death coming for what you did!”
Lightning chuckled. “Says the pony with her face covered. So, tell me oh mysterious murderous mare, what horrible thing have I done that has marked me for death?”
“You vanquished Lady Chroma! Prepare to die!”
Oh, right, I did help do that. Lightning thought as the cloaked pony launched herself forward. She moved like quicksilver the edge of a fresh dagger glittering in the moonlight as she vaulted right for Lightning.
Lightning took a few steps backwards, tucking into a backwards roll as she locked hooves with her attacker. As they tumbled over each other Lightning kicked out with full force and almost immediately regretted it. While the cloaked pony was sent skyward, her side screamed in agony again from the sudden movement.
Before she had a chance to recover she was jumped from behind, a repeated rain of strikes landing on her pain wracked flank. The cloaked pony had seized upon her wound and was trying to cripple her with the pain. This had rapidly descended into a gutter fight. The kind of knock down, gritty, battle that played out in grungy taverns on disused stretches of waterfront. Lightning snarled, throwing her whole body backwards. The cry of pain from the mare being smashed against the alley wall brought a smile to her face. She did it again, eliciting another cry from her attacker. Lightning prepared to slam the mare one more time, only to feel her hooves press down and then kick off her back. The cloaked mare flipped over Lightning’s head, landing near where her dagger had fallen. She plucked the weapon from the ground, preparing to whip it Lightning’s direction.
And at that exact moment, Starlight’s necklace began to glow. In the next moment, a heavy twang echoed through the alley. The knife was knocked from the cloaked pony’s mouth. It had been a very close call too, an inch closer and the projectile would have probably buried itself in the pony’s head.
“Halt, criminal scum!”
Barricade came hammering down the alleyway, his mail armor clinking in time with the impacts of his hooves on the cobblestones. Two more militia members were at his side, while a third hung back, the crossbow he had fired still in his hooves.
The cloaked cultist didn’t hesitate. She drew a small sphere from her cloak and whipped it at the ground. A bright flash filled the air, followed by a billowing cloud of smoke that rolled forward like a great cloud beast. Lightning was just able to take a deep breath before the cloud swallowed her and the militia. Its acrid scent filled her nose all the same, but at least she wasn’t reduced to coughing and hacking like Barricade and his stallions were.
As quickly as the smoke came though, it faded away. But it had lasted long enough. Her attacker was gone.
Lightning cursed. “Damn it! Damn it!
Barricade came stumbling over to her, wincing at her cursing. “Sorry Ranger Dust. We’ll spread out and keep-”
“Don’t bother. I’ve seen how she moves and fights. She won’t be anywhere near here by now.” She sighed, shaking her head at the bitter feeling of failure coursing through her. “I suppose I was lucky that you happened to be out tonight.”
“Luck only had so much to do with it,” Barricade answered. “That baroness made her feelings clear. I was...highly motivated to put out extra patrols tonight.”
Thank Harmony for Adagio’s vindictive side.
Barricade eyed her flank for a moment. “We should get you to the healing house.”
Lightning wasn’t in the mood to argue. Her side was still throbbing from her crash and it was being joined by the end results of smashing one’s face against the side of a house and a headbutt. Resigned to the reality of the situation, she sighed and nodded to Barricade.
“Lead on.”