//------------------------------//
// Chapter 29 | Escape 
// Story: A Different World: The Future and Fate of Equestria 
// by Riclo 
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Twilight Sparkle's POV

"Ahhhrghgh!!!"

The gargled scream of a nearby bipedal dragon rang in my ears as the spiked club of an orc rammed into his neck. I watched from within a window of the fortress - that was just one of the many horrible things I had witnessed from this battle alone. Our initial success with this battle had been great. With the royal guards, civilians, and the dragons of the badlands all fighting, we had made short work out of all the advancing monsters. What we weren't prepared for was just how long this fight was going to end up lasting. It felt like we had been battling for ages, and no matter how many of them we killed, they just kept coming. It was endless madness, which was made ever-more obvious by the liter of bodies that were everywhere - it wasn't like they were going to go away on their own. The smell of death was all around us, and at the moment things seemed to be getting grim. We had fallen back to the fortress to try to set up a defensive position, but just about everyone was tired from fighting.

I backed away from the window and made my way over to the throne room, only to see Princess Cadance, Princess Luna, and King Ralphis in a heated argument. Everyone looked like they had been through a war, with the king even more so. He was absolutely littered in bruises, cuts, and bandages - more of which were being put on by his servants while he was yelling.

"Retreating is NOT an option! We stay here and fight to the death." He exclaimed.

"Such a decision is rooted in arrogance and stupidity." Luna replied - even she was ticked off. "We cannot stay here. We must escape so we can fight another day."

"We have to retreat through the Forbidden Jungle." Cadance added. "There are other places we can go - other places we can combine forces with."

"You ponies are infuriatingly soft." Ralphis responded. "We will win this battle. The option of 'retreating' does not exist here and whoever these demons belong to will learn of that when their entire army is defeated by us."

Before the princesses could reply, a royal guard came running and panting into the room. "The front gates have just been breached! Shining Armor has directly requested an immediate retreat. They're going to be in this place in minutes!"

"Idiots!!!" Ralphis cursed out as he stood from his chair, knocking away the servants that were still applying bandages.

"Tell him his request has been granted. We shall escape through the-"

"I'll deal with them." The king interrupted Luna as he already began making his way out of the room.

"Ralphis!! You're going to die if you go back out there!" Cadance protested. I watched as everyone followed him out, so I decided to do the same thing, quickly trotting across the throne room and into the other hallway they had just went down. As soon as we rounded the corner that led to the outside stairs - the same ones that led up to this place - I saw a pony royal guard being flung right inside, slamming into a wall and collapsing to the ground. My audible gasp caught the attention of Cadance, who turned to look at me with a worried expression.

"Twilight! Please stay near us. I fear hiding may no longer be an option."

"Why do we have to listen to Ralphis?" I responded. "I think that the best thing we should do is to just leave anyway - or we'll all end up getting killed!"

Cadance didn't reply at first, not knowing an immediate answer to that question. Before our conversation could continue though, we had already made it to the entrance of the fortress, where Ralphis leaped out and went straight into the fight taking place right outside our front doors. I trotted up alongside the others who were gazing outside, where we could see the dark red skies that were still littered with flying winged demons. The enemy's numbers did not seem to be running out, and my eyes went wide when I caught sight of my brother fighting against two ground creatures. He looked like he had been through way too much, and it was keeping me on a paranoid edge as I watched him, worried that he might make a mistake in the middle of his brawl.

Right when I thought things couldn't get bad enough, I noticed a weird set of flames off in the distance. I narrowed my eyes and looked closer, where after enough strained observing, I saw the outline of what looked to be an absolutely massive monster making its way towards us. It had to have been three times the size of a manticore, and the bulk of it looked like it was at least three times as powerful too. It was holding a huge, flaming axe in one of its hands, and the other demons suddenly became much more rowdy as the being made its presence.

"I think this fight has lasted long enough. Your resistance is commendable, but ultimately futile." The huge demon spoke, marking the first time I had actually heard one of these monsters talk.

"Why are you doing this? Who are you?" Luna raised her voice at the demon.

"I am Lord Mobius. My purpose is greater than mortal boundaries can comprehend." He replied. With that said, he flung his axe straight toward us, causing me to gasp as the flaming projectile quickly approached.

"Get out of the way!!!!" I yelled out, lunging to the side along with the other princesses right before the axe rammed into the fortress with a loud, metallic thunk. The destructive power blew off a huge chunk of the building, and I watched with wide eyes as the large axe proceeded to unhinge itself from the fortress, flying right out and leaving behind a flaming mess of debris. I made my way back to my hooves and hesitantly peeked out to the front again, where I watched the axe glide through the air right back into the demon's hand.

"That's it, we can't stay here any longer." Shining Armor yelled out. "All troops, pony or dragon, I directly order you to retreat into the fortress NOW if you want to live!!"

All the ponies were quick to abide, as well as some of the dragons, and I watched as they all hurried up the steps into the fortress. There was one noticeable figure that wasn't listening though - it was King Ralphis. He was leaping towards the massive demon like an absolute madman, and I couldn't resist staring in awe at either his bravery or stupidity. I was pretty convinced it was the latter.

"King Ralphis! This battle is over!" One of the dragons called out. I watched as the king continued making his way towards the demon though, where he leaped from a rock straight at him, only to be punched right out of the air. He was sent flying back towards us, zooming through the air before ramming into the side of the fortress. The last bit I was able to see was other dragons and a royal guard hurrying over to him before I was ushered by my brother down the hall with the other retreating people.

"We'll escape through the back windows and hug the side of the mountains until we reach the Forbidden Jungle." Shining spoke up. "Come on, let's hurry! Whatever idiots are still out there won't be able to distract them for much longer."

Our group hurried through the hallways, catching Trixie along the way, who surprisingly didn't have anything snarky to say this time. Upon reaching the back of the fortress, we all began to pour out every available window, only because there wasn't actually a back exit designed into this place. We plopped onto the ground below and hid behind rocks and in shadows as we hurriedly trotted towards the crack in the mountains that led to the forest. During our sprint, I eventually noticed a Royal Guard running towards us with something on his back - closer inspection showed that it was actually Ralphis.

"I've acquired the dragon king!" The guard announced as he approached us. "There's even more coming in now - we never would've stood a chance."

Shining seem surprised at first - he probably wasn't expecting to see that guy again. "Amazing work, but we have to hurry."

Our group trekked in the shadows, where soon enough the entrance to the Forbidden Jungle approached - a place rumored to be inhabitable due to the presence of dangerous beasts. What normally would've been intimidating just seemed like foal's play after experiencing the evils of Tartarus in person, and I strongly doubted anything in here would match. We quickly made our way inside, walking past the mountain walls and hopefully away from the demons behind us.





"We can't go any further than this.. This is far enough sir."

Shining Armor looked towards the limping royal guard that was speaking. There were numerous other injuries that had taken place as well, and some ponies were already being carried by others that were more capable.

"I think so too. Let's stop here for now." Shining replied. The wind could be heard blowing against the surrounding trees as most of the ponies immediately collapsed from their wounds and from exhaustion. I watched for a short while, only to be interrupted by my brother when he unexpectedly walked up beside me. "You okay Twily?"

"Oh, um, yeah." I blinked and looked at him. "I'm just... it still feels like none of this is actually happening."

He shook his head and looked onwards. "Me too." He spoke, something that took me a little by surprise.

"But... you're the Captain of the Royal Guard now. I mean, I know obviously nothing like Tartarus opening up has happened, but... You've never been on any missions that dealt with anything similar?"

"Equestria and its citizens only know peace - a war or a battle isn't something that ever happens. Even I've only been in just handful of battles myself, and I'd say less than a quarter of the royal guards have been in anything more than a minor skirmish. I'd go as far to say that it's all just a training regimen, but honestly, that's all that was really necessary."

I nodded slowly as I listened to him talk. "I've read about first-hoof accounts from books dated a long time ago coping with this sort of thing. Well, I shouldn't say coping... it's more of just a recollection of events. I don't think they ever actually cope with it. I remember reading about how even when things go back to normal, that they never actually feel normal, and I never could understand that. I still don't understand that, and I don't think I want to either."

Shining didn't respond, looking on towards the ponies that were resting against trees and lying on the mud-colored dirt. Before our conversation could continue, I heard one of them call out to us.

"Shining Armor! Ralphis has awoken and has asked to speak to whoever is in charge other than him."

My brother began to walk over to him, and I decided to follow since there really wasn't any reason not to. Princess Luna and Princess Cadance were next to the king as well, and getting a closer look showed just how beat up Ralphis was - it was a wonder he was even conscious and talking.

"What happened to my kingdom?" He grumbled.

"We had to retreat, Ralphis, we didn't have any other choice." Cadance responded. "Their numbers were too great, and there was even more on the way. We couldn't possibly hope to.." She trailed off when Ralphis twitched and slammed his fist against the ground, resulting only in him grunting and squirming in pain afterwards from all the movement.

"We saved your life, along with as many of your people that we could." Luna sternly asserted. "If it were not for us, your entire existence would have been wiped out because of your foolishness."

"There is no such thing as retreating." He replied. "Dying in battle as a true warrior is the only way. What you've done is disgrace me and my people."

"There is nothing disgraceful about not being dead!" Cadance denounced. "There was no hope. You're lucky to even be alive - at least this way we can still team up with others. Their numbers can't be infinite."

"Team up with who?" Ralphis asked. "There's no one else near here that's worthy enough to be capable of anything."

I noticed the others looking amongst themselves - it seemed like no one else knew the answer to that either.

"I'll bring the map over. There's gotta be something we can do." Shining proclaimed. He proceeded to walk over someplace else, and I exhaled slowly, taking the time to sit down against a nearby tree. I looked around at the nearby bushes and foliage, taking notice of the dark and breezy atmosphere this place was giving off. In a way it felt nice - it was usually pretty hot here - and before long Shining Armor returned with a couple other royal guards and dragons.

"Ralphis is right, there isn't much around here aside from some rustbucket town and a desert." Shining exclaimed.

The other princesses took a look at the map, and I stood up, making my way over to observe it as well. They were right that there really wasn't anything notable nearby, but there was one thing that did catch my attention. Over to the right, past a small stretch of the Celestial Sea, was a place known as the Dragons' Lair. I remembered from my readings that this place housed the biggest dragons in all of Equestria, and I couldn't think of anyplace that would be safer than that.

"What about the Dragons' Lair?" I spoke up. "I can't imagine these Tartarus monsters standing a good chance against them. We'd also have the advantage of being on a peninsula."

"How would you propose that we all cross the Celestial Sea, Twilight?" Luna inquired.

"Well.." I looked back at the map. "There is one spot here," I pointed with my hoof. "That would be the shortest distance between these two land masses. We should be able to build a raft from there since there would be trees all right next to us."

The others scanned the map more, seemingly looking for any other options. After remaining quiet for almost a minute, Cadance spoke to Ralphis.

"Do you have any objections to this course of action?" She asked. "Any knowledge of this place?"

"They don't like outsiders, but they're not idiots either. I'll convince them to fight one way or another."

Shining Armor turned to a nearby Royal Guard. "Do a head count."

The guard nodded, going on his way, then returning a couple minutes later. "We've got 56 total sir, including Royal Guards, dragons and civilians."

"Specifics?"

"14 Guards, 27 dragons, and 15 civilians sir."

I winced slightly at that number - I remembered there being way more civilians than that with us initially. It made me sick to think about it, so I stopped.

"This might just be the next thing to do then. We should be able to build a raft capable of holding 56 for a few day journey." Shining proclaimed.

"Any other objections to this plan?" Luna spoke up. The silence that ensued afterwards gave her answer, to which she continued. "We will patch our wounded and rest here until the morning arises."

With that being said, I sighed, stepping away with the others as we separated. Looking around once more, it was obvious to notice the ponies that hadn't been involved in the fighting: it was the fillies and elderly that were standing or trotting around as opposed to not being collapsed on the ground somewhere. One of the ponies that was up and walking about was Trixie, and I decided to walk up to her while she was staring at the overgrown pathway ahead.

"Maybe once we reach the Dragons' Lair there'll be something we can do to end this madness." I spoke up, catching her attention and causing her to turn her head towards me.

"Well, I think it'll fix itself without us doing anything." She proclaimed. "You've got Princess Celestia, Klade, and all of your high and mighty friends out there somewhere together. They're bound to do something."

I frowned a little at her remark to my friends, but I really wasn't in the mood to even get that mad over it. "I hope so Trixie. I really do." I looked onwards down the path ahead of us, pondering over what might happen to us next. I was usually the type of person to like thinking over things, but this time I didn't even feel like it - the most I could bother with was just letting things go so I could deal with it whenever the problems presented themselves.

'I wonder how my friends are doing... I should be there with them. There's alot of things I should've done, just like how I forgot about Spike when I was in Canterlot. If anything happened to him...' I shook my head and breathed in deeply. 'Come on, this is the wrong time to be thinking about these things. Nothing's happened to him until I've seen it myself - that's how it's going to have to be.'