Compared to Valiance Keep, Star's Rest was a haven of tranquillity.
It was almost possible to forget for a moment that they were in the middle of a frozen, hostile land full of things trying to kill them.
Almost.
The danger the camp faced came more from the local wildlife that needed shooing away, and the arcane-infused spirits and elementals roaming up from the southwest than it did from the Scourge. There was something about the ruins, about the light of the moonwell, that gave the undead pause and kept them from straying too close.
It was the first real break that any of the members of the platoon had had for a month, and they took full advantage to get a good night's sleep.
But it passed all too soon, and they were back to work the next day, as Azuresteel gave Twilight the platoon's sentry assignments. Unlike at Valiance Keep, those on the rota found themselves with just one eight-hour shift per day. They were either assigned to guard one of the paths leading into the camp; to traipse around the perimeter and be watchful for the enemy, or to assist with mending any of the injuries and ailments picked up by the personnel.
There were only around twenty, twenty-five people - mostly night elves - based permanently at Star's Rest. Having another twelve on hand for sentry duty made the task much less of a burden on everyone, and so the platoon's presence was much appreciated.
They settled into this routine for a few days, all appreciative that they were at least a little safer in the camp than out on the road.
And when the first set of orders from above finally came through, they were not at all what Twilight had expected.
She'd expected that the platoon would stay together - if not at the camp, then out to the east. She'd expected that they would all stay a few more days at least before moving on.
She'd expected to have at least an opportunity to make amends.
But no - Wintergarde had desperate need of mages and healers to make progress against the forces of the dread citadel Naxxramas. A steam tank had been dispatched to collect Arin and the healers from Third squad, and it would then make the long journey back to the keep.
As for herself and her friends... Azuresteel had called in a couple of favours, she explained, and had managed to arrange to keep them, as well as Lady Memoria, at Star's Rest for a little while longer. She had some scouting missions that she wanted them to undertake - missions that would speed, stealth and wit rather than through weight of numbers.
There was no fighting their reassignment. She didn't even question Azuresteel when she was told, other than to clarify when the tank was due to arrive - in two days - and when it was scheduled to leave - the day after that, once the crew had had a chance to rest.
Maybe it was for the best.
The moment of departure arrived at last, and it was as awkward as she'd expected. Twilight trying to find the right words to say; Tyrae and Vernor barely holding themselves back, and Arin, Donovan and Stonewrought silent between them.
Finally, Twilight said, "Good luck," and that was that. Tyrae and Vernor were up and inside the steam tank without another moment's hesitation. Arin followed them, pausing briefly to bid Twilight farewell by way of a solemn nod.
Donovan was next. "Goodbye, ma'am," he said as he embarked, not meeting her gaze, and then disappeared from view.
Which left Father Stonewrought. He hauled himself and his kit up onto the transport, but lingered on the ramp and turned back to her.
"I'm sorry about Tyrae and Vernor, ma'am," he said, clutching at his beard. "It'll be a while 'fore their hearts begin to mend. But least they've got each other, and me'n'Arin too."
She shook her head, and replied, "I deserve it... I should be the one apologising... after everything that happened, everyone we lost... because of me."
"Ye... were not the best," the dwarf admitted reluctantly, then added, "but ye were not the worst, either.
"Chin up, lass. Ye've got your friends to look after, an' they'll look after you, no doubt. An' you've got this death knight to keep you busy now. Think I'd prefer Naxxramas to tha'."
She couldn't help but chuckle at his grim attempt at levity.
He raised his hand. She reached down and took it.
"Safe travels, lass."
"Goodbye, Father."
A few minutes later, its passengers and cargo safely on board, the tank chuntered off into the forest. Twilight lingered, just a little longer, until the sound it made had ceased echoing amidst the trees.
Bored. Frustrated. Bored.
Life in the camp was turning out to be exactly as Memoria had expected it. Dull, uneventful, boring.
All this waiting around would be the death of her, or at least the death of her sanity, but she would follow the orders she had been given. The Argent Crusade and Ebon Blade had only just begun to push into Zul'drak, from what Valdrana said. She knew she still had plenty of time to catch up.
Commander Azuresteel had given her very explicit, frustratingly clear orders not to range too far away from the camp. "There could be a mission at any moment," she'd said, "for which your skills might be required."
And Memoria had dutifully obeyed... so far.
Circling the outer perimeter of the camp during the day had only succeeded in entertaining her for a few hours, at most. The sentries were too vigilant, too cautious.
They'd left nothing for her to fight. Nothing for her to kill.
She'd ranged a little further out when night fell, pacing out a wider patrol of an hour, which at least led to her encountering some prey in the form of a stray elemental or feral beast. Easily dispatched, no challenge at all - but prey nonetheless.
She'd turned to examining her gear as another way to alleviate her boredom, stripping off her armour and laying it out, along with her weapons, atop a fallen pillar on the outskirts of the camp. She was sat on the pillar in only a simple cloth top and pants, but remained untroubled by the cold.
The foes in the tundra had been worthless, but their overwhelming numbers had amounted to a little wear and tear on her armour. Her magical blades remained undulled, but there was no doubt that she would need to see an armourer for everything else at some point, or find the supplies to do it herself.
"Hi!"
The voice snapped her out of her thoughts, and she silently cursed herself for letting someone - worse, Pinkie Pie, get so close unchallenged.
"What do you want?" she asked, looking up at the pink-haired woman.
Pinkie inhaled deeply, then rambled, "I want to know what's up with you! How's your day going? How're you finding the camp? Do you enjoy walking around in circles as much as I do?"
Memoria had forgotten how difficult it was to keep up with Pinkie's rapid-fire delivery, and wasn't happy to be reminded now.
"No. Go away."
If Pinkie even recognised the threat laced within her words, she didn't show it.
"Okay!" she replied and then, to the death knight's great surprise, she skipped away, humming a little tune.
Memoria waited, casting her eyes about the grove suspiciously.
Nothing happened. No impromptu party or improvised confetti cannon in sight.
The entire interaction had been... normal.
Too normal.
Though seeing the remainder of the platoon off on such uncomfortable terms pained Twilight, it was a blessing in at least one way.
Double so that Pinkie had promised that she would "look after" Lady Memoria, and Twilight hoped that she would be able to work out a long-term solution to that particular problem.
Together, these both meant that she had much more time to focus her attention on the person she knew needed it the most.
The problem was pinning Fluttershy down.
Just as she had been in Stormwind, Valiance, and throughout the Tundra, Twilight's animal-loving friend kept herself to herself and disappeared off to be alone when not tasked with a duty on the rota.
The rota itself wasn't helping. It would have been best if Twilight's allocated work of acting as an aide to Azuresteel clashed with Fluttershy's allotted sentry tasks. That way, she could have made a point of speaking to her friend during their shared downtime...
...but no such luck. One followed immediately after the other, which severely limited any such points of crossover. By the time Twilight had been released from her own duties on any given day, Fluttershy was roaming the woods, paired with another sentry. And after that, they were both meant to be asleep - and even if Twilight was willing to stay up, Fluttershy seemed determined to get her full eight hours, without fail. Catching her before she bedded down proved impossible.
A few more days passed and - at last - an opportunity arose, where due to a fluke of re-scheduling their free hours for the day happened to match. Twilight went to bed the night before, resolved and excited to finally have a proper conversation with her friend.
So when she found herself woken up early by an apologetic sentry, who said that Commander Azuresteel needed to see her urgently, she wasn't exactly enthusiastic about the meeting - albeit nor was she truly surprised.
After slipping out of her comfortable sleeping bag and getting appropriately dressed - which meant pulling on a few more layers of warm clothing to fight off the Dragonblight cold - she made her way over to the commander's tent. Dawn had yet to break, but the moonwell provided enough ambient light that she had no trouble making her way over to it.
Once inside, Azuresteel bade her sit and offered her a steaming cup of coffee. It was one of the few luxuries they had at the camp - a mishap with logistics that occurred long before Twilight's arrival had led to a ludicrous amount of the hot drink being delivered from Wintergarde. There was a running joke between the sentries that even if all their weapons dulled and broke, they could still fight off the Scourge by scalding them with coffee.
"I have a mission for you, relating to certain intelligence we received last night," the night elf explained. "But first, to give you an idea of the background..."
She unfurled a fresh scroll on her desk, revealing a detailed map of the southern coast of the Dragonblight.
"There is a large area of ruins to the southwest, not far from the sea. These ruins are all that remains of a settlement that my people once inhabited, many years ago."
Azuresteel indicated their own position on the map, then moved her finger down by the coast.
"The tragedies that befell them, and the weight of time, have caused the trapped and twisted souls of my kind to congregate around the ruins. Some are vengeful, but most are simply mournful and wish only to be left alone. We destroyed many when we first reclaimed Stars' Rest, but have had neither the time nor the resources to mount a more effective campaign."
"So you... want us to free the spirits from their fate?" Twilight guessed.
Azuresteel looked surprised and shook her head. "No. As much as I wish for it to be done, and am heartened that you would suggest it, we have a greater concern at this time. Specifically, the number of spirits that our scouts have encountered while on patrol in the forest near to the ruins has dropped over the last few days. Normally, some would wander a reasonable distance, but none have been seen at all."
"Uh... I think there might be one explanation. Lady Memoria—"
"I spoke to her before calling you here," Azuresteel said. The beginnings of a scowl tugged at the corners of her mouth and gave Twilight the impression that she hadn't enjoyed her conversation with the gruff death knight. "She said that she has not ventured far enough southwest yet to have encountered them, let alone to wipe them out.
"No - my concern is that it could be the Scourge, carving out a new stronghold away from Azjol-Nerub, or perhaps the blue dragonflight... though to our knowledge they have not challenged any Alliance patrols closer to Wyrmrest.
"It could even be the Horde. Their commanders say that they have not pushed out their patrols from Taunka'le Village any farther south than the road, but I take their word with a pinch of salt."
The comment saddened Twilight but did not surprise her. As Valdrana had said, in parting, of her treatment at Star's Rest: I didn't receive the warmest of welcomes when I last passed through this camp... they look at me, and they see a member of the Horde.
"You'll need to leave the road to get there, so proceed with caution. It is unfortunately unlikely that the spirits have diminished without cause. In addition, the town was built extremely close to a leyline - one of many that act as a conduit for magical energy across our world."
"A magical element to this would suggest the blue dragonflight, I suppose?" Twilight said.
"Possibly, but we can't rule out the other forces until we can get eyes on the ruins, and we don't have enough sentries to detach a few from their regular duties... without confirmation of a threat." the commander replied. "I need your squad and Lady Memoria to leave camp as soon as possible today, and scope them out."
Leaving the tent to find that the sentries had already woken the rest of her friends, Twilight gathered them by the Moonwell - with Memoria hovering nearby - and passed on Azuresteel's orders, which were accepted without complaint. It was a break from the norm, at least, and that was something. They all scoffed down a light breakfast, then had fifteen minutes to ready their gear and prepare their supplies.
They all packed light, with enough each for a day's travel. The ruins were only two hours' walk from Star's Rest; too far for the sentries to patrol on their normal rounds, but not far enough that they would need to camp out in the forest.
Their daily routine had given them the time to check and maintain their gear to some degree. It had generally all held up well, especially given what they had been through - and they all felt a lot more comfortable carrying it now, too. Twilight found that she was still getting used to regularly using her staff to aid in her casting, when she had been so accustomed to casting without material assistance back home.
It seemed much longer than three months that she had received it when they had departed Stormwind, as a gift left by her teacher's daughter.
With their preparations complete, they departed under cover of darkness, sticking to the open trail with only the light of the moon to guide them. It didn't take long before the sun began to peek over the horizon, thin rays of dawn slicing through the trees, and they were able to step off the path and follow Twilight's compass southwest through the more difficult woodland. They stayed together as a group this time: no ranging out when they were only seven.
An hours' walk, a short break, and then another uneventful hour of trudging through the snow... before they finally saw the first hint that their destination was near. An archway made of some kind of stone, still upright and relatively undamaged. They paused for a moment as Twilight consulted the map the commander had given her.
"This looks promising," she said. "I think we're at the very edge of the old town. Let's press on and see what we can find."
They moved to pass through the arch, but Rarity - at the front of the group - suddenly blocked their way with an outstretched arm, before they could all get through it.
"Wait - look there, carefully" she whispered, pointing the way.
A group of figures were gathered together about fifteen yards from the other side of the arch, inspecting a fallen pillar. Most striking among their number were two creatures with four legs each. They carried swords and were clad partly in cobalt armour, but were otherwise protected by matching scales that covered the majority of their bodies. Twilight knew what they were from her reading in the library at Stormwind keep - dragonspawn.
There were humans, too - a man and a woman, garbed in cerulean robes and carrying gem-tipped staves that resembled Twilight's own.
"Who are those guys?" Pinkie asked.
"Dunno, but they look like bad news," Applejack replied. "We should stay far away from 'em."
"They belong to the Blue Dragonflight... and yes, they look like they're ready for a fight," Twilight agreed. "Rarity, Fluttershy, can you— oh, no."
Memoria was no longer standing behind the arch with them. She had broken cover and was making her way over to the fallen pillar, striding across the snow with her blades drawn.
"D- Lady Memoria! Come ba—" Twilight hurried to say, but it was too late. For her part, Memoria did nothing to announce her presence as she approached, but the crunch of her heavy boots on the icy ground did the job for her.
"Look there!" the male mage shouted. The group turned towards the oncoming death knight, and collectively broke into a panic. The two dragonspawn gambled over to meet her, hefting their weapons to match the new threat, as both mages hastened to cast spells of alacrity and warding.
A wasted effort, on their part. Memoria drowned the first of the spawn in frost before it even reached her, and easily parried a vengeful swing from the second, before dispatching it with a thrust through the throat. She contemptuously finished off the first with a slash across its chest, then looked at the horrified mages.
They descended from panic into hysteria in a heartbeat, and fled towards the south, through the trees and out of sight.
From the treeline, Twilight winced at her frie—, at Memoria's brutality. Admittedly, the effect was lessened a little by the odd way in which the creatures bled - instead of spurts of crimson or azure fluid, a strange mix of dark ichor and what looked like raw, violet magic seeped from where they had cut - but it was deeply unsettling nonetheless.
The death knight hadn't moved to chase the mages, but instead turned back and waited for the six to catch up.
"Thanks for the help," she said sardonically.
"It looked like you had everything under control," Rainbow shrugged. "Besides, that whole thing was over in, like, ten seconds."
"I was hoping that the dragonspawn would put up a bit more of a fight, but I suppose I should better manage my expectations."
"Is that what they are?" Applejack asked. She gingerly tapped one of the corpses with her foot, and shuddered a little as more of the odd ichor oozed from it.
"They're a hybrid of mortal and dragon," Twilight explained, clenching her fist a little. Though the difference was stark, the similarities were enough to bring images of Spike to her mind, and the thought of this slaughter being directed at his kind... She looked angrily at Memoria, unable to keep her feelings from spilling out. "And they're sapient. Intelligent, even. Especially the blues. There was no need for you to kill them."
Memoria shrugged; remorseless, uncaring. "Because they were blue, I had to. The true enemy in the north may be the Lich King, but the blue dragonflight won't hesitate to wipe us out if we allow them to work their schemes."
"But-"
"The threat of Malygos's crusade was made quite clear to me when I left Valiance Keep. Was it made clear to you, Lieutenant?"
Applejack, Pinkie and Rainbow were lost in this conversation. They had been told of the Blue Dragonflight, and that they were a potentially hostile force, but only Twilight knew exactly what the death knight meant - what she alone had been briefed on back at the keep.
It wasn't something she had wanted to share in great detail with her friends. She hadn't wanted to worry them, or to worry herself by dwelling on it. On the great blue wyrm and his determination to restrict the use of magic, and to hunt down any mage who abused their gifts.
Which was to say, any and all mortal mages who refused to bend the knee.
"Clear enough," she sighed.
Memoria seemed satisfied with the feeling of having won the argument. "Besides, Azuresteel will be happy. We have her answer - the blue dragonflight have moved in and culled the spirits."
"We could head back to camp and tell her," Rainbow suggested.
"I bet they'll be real well prepared, after those two got away to warn em," Applejack pointed out.
"I should hope so," Memoria replied. "I wouldn't have let them get away, otherwise."
Shocked expressions all round. "You let them get away?" Twilight thundered. "We have - the camp has just lost the element of surprise!"
"Exactly. More of a fight that way, when it comes to it."
"Ugh..." She shouldn't have been surprised. Just from a few days of knowing her as she now was, Twilight should have known that this was exactly the kind of thing that the death knight would have done.
What could they do now? Chase after the mages? Try to stop them before they made it back to their fellows? Maybe they could reach them in time.
She looked around at her friends, and Memoria, and made the decision to return to camp. It would have been nice to have been able to gather some more information on the blue dragonflight's numbers, position in the area, and an estimate of the threat they posed, but if the enemy had been warned and was ready to counterattack, then the five of them--
Five?
Twilight took a slow, stressed breath.
"...where are Fluttershy and Rarity?"
The two mages were both young and relatively fit, but were unused to running across the uneven, snowy ground. They were ill-equipped for travel across such a winter landscape - normally, if they were to run like this, they had time to prepare spells that would ease their passage.
They had thrown aside their staves and everything else that had been encumbering them. They would take the punishment for that later. Their first priority had to be getting to safety, away from the death knight and warning their forces.
"Hurry!" one shouted, "If we can just reach the beach, and alert Captain Ma—"
The first arrow struck the ground just ahead of the quicker mage. The second arrow landed just short of the other's heel.
A few moments later, one of the mages yelped and staggered as a projectile found his neck, but to his surprise, he found that he could keep running as it slipped out of his body. The wound stung, but he could shrug it off. It was a tiny arrow, it had barely pierced the skin, and—
—he fell flat on his face, fast asleep, as the poison took hold.
His companion looked back as he dropped, and quickened her pace. The cliff was in sight, she was almost there. She began to cast a spell of some kind over her shoulder, just in case—
—and then she hit the floor too, unconscious, as Rarity stepped from the shadows nearby.
Fluttershy caught up with her friend. They stood together over the prone forms of the mages and surveyed their handiwork.
"Nicely done, dear," Rarity said.
They didn't have to wait long for the rest of the group to join them. They bustled out of the forest, all - save Memoria - out of breath from running.
"Nicely done," the death knight said, her helmet dipping in approval as she approached the unconscious mages. "But you're only halfway there. I'll finish the job for you."
"You're not going to kill them!" hissed Twilight as she caught up and realised what the death knight had in mind. "We'll tie them up instead, and worry about them later." Memoria shook her head, her helmet clanking from the movement, but obeyed, sheathing her blades as Applejack and Rainbow set about binding the mages with rope from their packs.
"And you two!" Twilight rounded on Fluttershy and Rarity. "How could you run off like that, without letting any of us know? You could have gotten into even more trouble!"
Fluttershy looked down at the ground and offered nothing in response... though she didn't exactly look guilty, either. Rarity, on the other hand, had something to say. "I apologise that we rushed off without warning, darling, but it was of vital importance that we intercepted those ruffians before they were able to alert their comrades to our presence."
She paused, gesturing to their prisoners. "I would say that we succeeded."
"That's not—" Twilight began, but Rarity wasn't finished yet.
"Furthermore, there is another matter that demands your immediate attention." She pointed towards a clump of bushes towards the south, where the ground tipped upwards, obscuring what lay below the horizon. "Something that you need to see."
Twilight sighed, accepting from Rarity's tone that she wasn't just trying to deflect the issue. The group edged carefully over, cautious of the unknown ahead, then peered out over the bushes to look beyond the edge of the cliff.
It wasn't an encouraging sight.
The cliff dropped away to reveal the beach below, where cold grey waves brushed back and forth against dirty grey sand. Of much greater importance than the terrain, however, were the figures on the beach, and the structures they were tinkering with.
There were about twenty of them, all clad similarly to the two mages they had chased to the edge, carrying a mixture of staves and swords. They had set up an impromptu campsite with tents and small fires, which Twilight assumed had to be magical from the way their persistence against the Dragonblight windchill.
Unnatural stone objects dotted the beach, marked out by glowing purple runes, and the majority of the figures were gathered around them, performing some kind of examination or maintenance. Orbs of magical energy stood out across the landscape: most were stacked atop the runic platforms, but some dotted were around the beach as if they had simply been forgotten about amidst the blue flight's ongoing work.
And just to make matters worse, a greater problem presented itself in front of their eyes. A creature that they had never seen before in this world appeared from the west, borne by leathery wings. They all ducked a little closer towards their cover - just in case - as it glided down, landed on one of the embedded platforms and began conversing with one of the figures in blue. Their leader, perhaps. Or maybe that was the dragon.
"Everyone else sees that, right? Is that a dragon?" Rainbow asked.
"Perfect," Memoria said gleefully, fidgeting with her runeblades.
"That's a drake - a young dragon," Twilight explained, shooting the death knight a look. "And all those men and women - they're not just mages. They're mage hunters."
"Why're they called that?"
Twilight grimaced. "I think you can guess from the name."
"Never mind what's going on down here - what are they doin' over there?" Applejack directed their collective gaze to the west, beyond the beach, from where the dragon had flown down. There, atop more snow-topped cliffs, stood the ruins they had originally been sent to scout... as well as some kind of... beam of light?
"It looks like... a giant floaty glowing needle?" Pinkie Pie offered.
"I must say that the shape isn't far off," Rarity agreed.
They couldn't have seen it from Star's Rest, or in the densely clumped forest... but now it stood out clearly against the Northrend morning sky: a translucent spike of azure energy, stabbing into the ground, capped by a floating stone platform. It was hard to make out any more details from so far away, but it was clear that the what was happening in the ruins and on the beach were connected.
"They're doing something with the leylines, with the magic running through the ground. Tapping it, or disrupting it?" Twilight shook her head. "I can't tell from this far out. But whatever they're doing, I don't think it can be good for us."
They all took a step back from the bush and straightened up, safely out of sight from anyone on the beach. "So what's the plan?" Applejack asked.
"Please, wise leader, enlighten us," Memoria added.
Suppressing the urge to roll her eyes, Twilight said, "We need to head back to Star's Rest. Commander Azuresteel can decide how best to deal with the information we provide her, and maybe she can learn something from our prisoners too."
"Maybe if I got a little closer, I could make a more accurate assessment of the situation and report back to you?" Rarity suggested.
"It's not safe, not with the numbers they have done there" Twilight replied, then hurried to add, "and no sneaking off this time!"
She swept her gaze from Rarity to Fluttershy - who both had the grace to look a little guilty this time - then on to Memoria, who did not. "Even you would struggle against the entire camp, and especially that drake."
"...is that a challenge?"
Twilight ignored the remark but kept her eyes firmly on Memoria. "Come on, let's go." She went to take a step away from the edge of the cliff...
...and, naturally, the ground gave way beneath her feet, taking the entire group with it.
They tumbled down the cliff, landing in a painful heap at the bottom - though without any serious injuries. The crash of their landing resounded across the beach, particularly from the crash of three sets of platemail, and attracted the attention of just about everyone on it.
Including the leader of the mage-hunters, and the drake.
First to hit the ground and first to drag herself to her senses and her feet, Twilight tried to pull her stunned friends together. Clutching her staff and using it to push herself to her feet, she shouted, "Get up! Get—"
But next to react was not one of her friends, but the drake. To her horror, she saw it raise its head up, open its mouth—
"Get down!" The group hit the deck again as a bolt of azure energy soared over their heads and crashed into the cliff behind them.
Staggering back to her feet, she heard Pinkie begin to sing, felt the bruises she'd sustained hurt just a little less - then heard the leader of the mage-hunters shouting orders, saw them sprinting in across the beach from all angles - five, ten, thirteen all told.
Oh, no.
"Scatter!" Twilight cried. "Spread out, try to keep them at a distance!" It would have made the most sense to stay together if the mage-hunters were all they had to worry about, but with the drake's breath and magic...
Something about the beach made it feel easier for her to draw forth arcane power than ever before. Effortlessly, she wove a bolt of energy and tossed it at the ground in front of the closest group of approaching foes. It exploded with a thunderclap and hurled three of them back, unconscious, as another of their fellows dropped to the floor with one of Fluttershy's arrows in his knee.
Memoria charged ahead, spitting curses and threats - a terrifying sight for both sides to behold. She certainly caught the attention of the mage-hunters, who all threw what magic they had at her, in an effort to stymie their advance. Fireballs and frostbolts flew, but offered their casters no victory against the anti-magic shell erupting around her body as she closed in for the kill. She raised a sword and answered their magic with a howling blast, making five corpses of those who had clumped together, then turned and skewered two others who had made the mistake of getting too close.
As awful as it was to watch her work, Twilight couldn't argue with the results.
And nor, apparently, could their foe. "Captain - the death knight! Lock it down!" snarled the drake, taking to the air on its sinewy wings.
"You aren't safe up there," Memoria scoffed, lifting her sword once again. "Prepare to—"
The drake thrust its wings forward and threw a burst of air at Memoria. Caught off-balance, the force even from across the beach was enough to send her clattering back towards the cliff, and tore one runeblade from her grip. It span through the air and skewered one of the mage-hunters duelling Rainbow.
"It'll take more than that to—"
But now it was the mage-hunter captain's turn - and this time Memoria had no anti-magic shell to protect herself. Azure bindings sprang from the cliff wall and entrapped Memoria, pulling her up tighter against the stone even as she struggled against them.
"—agh! Cowards!"
Oh, that's not good.
"Get me out!" the death knight demanded, as Twilight hurried over.
A few seconds of concentration and Twilight shook her head, "I can't break it," she replied said, "It's a complex spell, I can't work out how to unpick it. But I don't think that it'll last very long."
"Then deal with that mage until I'm free," the death knight hissed.
Twilight nodded, and stood up. The remaining mage-hunters were charging in, buoyed by their leaders' efforts in removing Memoria from the battlefield, and her friends pushed up to desperately hold them back. The drake hovered overhead, just observing everything for the moment, and the mage-hunter captain was still at the back, yelling commands Twilight couldn't make out.
The best thing she could do would be to confront the captain, she decided. Maybe if she could incapacitate them, take them prisoner, it would turn the tide of the battle - maybe draw the attention of the drake away from the rest of her friends. Though, so far, for what was practically the opposite of an ambush, it could have been going worse. Her friends were taking knocks and scrapes, but nothing yet that Pinkie couldn't handle.
"Keep them busy, girls - I'll get their leader!" she called out, receiving cries of assent in return.
Then she blinked, and the spell - buoyed by the ambient arcane - carried her much farther than usual, landing her behind her target. The captain was still shouting orders to their remaining troops, and hadn't noticed Twilight appear behind them.
Holding an arcane blast at the ready with her staff, and with as much confidence and volume as she could muster, she shouted, "I order you to surrender, in the name of the Alliance!"
The captain hesitated; froze, even... "Twilight Sparkle?" they said, slowly turned on the spot.
It took only a heartbeat longer for Twilight to understand the reason for their hesitation, and how they knew her name.
"...Emmy Malin?"
The drake wheeled about in the sky, surveying the intruding force below with contempt - then banked, and dove for the ground. "It would be a waste of much-needed energy to fight such pathetic prey from the sky," it declared as it touched back down behind the battling mage-hunters. "I will crush you face to face!"
It started forward but found its way blocked by Applejack. It seemed determined to ignore her at first, forcing her to back up as it kept advancing, but a painful slice from her sword gave it pause.
"Oi, ya big dumb reptile!" she shouted, adding insult to injury, "You'll have to get through me if you want to get at my friends!"
The drake's eyes narrowed at the taunt. "Very well, insect. If you are so determined to be the first of your group to die, I will grant you your wish!"
A sideways glance made it clear to Twilight just how much trouble Applejack was in. With Memoria incapacitated, Rarity and Rainbow duelling for their lives, Fluttershy's arrows unlikely to do much good against the drake's tough hide, and Pinkie limited in what support she could provide from afar...
She needed to help, but to do that... she had to stop the mage-hunter captain.
Captain Malin.
Emmy Malin.
The one who had left her the staff. The daughter of her teacher back in Stormwind - the daughter of a friend.
Not a close friend, by any means, but still a friend, herself.
And there she was, standing on the filthy beach, in those blue robes... on the opposite side.
"Just leave!" She was still a distance away, wrapped up to her neck with her hair and the top of her head obscured by her hood, but that voice - that face - was definitely Emmy's. "Please, Twilight, you can just walk away from this!"
"Fight harder, captain!" The drake's deep and guttural voice echoed through the din of battle. "Malygos demands it!"
Emmy grit her teeth in response to its words, but any reluctance she held didn't stop her from aiming her next arcane blast straight at Twilight's embattled friends.
Twilight caught it mid-flight with her own power and scattered the energy to the wind.
"Why are you doing this?"
She didn't really expect a response, but wasn't pleased with the one she got.
"It's what Malygos wishes! Please don't interfere!"
The words cut deep, straight to Twilight's heart. So it was as simple as that, then? Emmy's allegiance lay truly to the blue flight?
"Keep the drake still, and keep that mage occupied!" Memoria shouted, struggling to free herself from Emmy's magic. "I will end this!"
The drake, unsurprisingly, wasn't keen on giving them such a chance.
"I grow tired of this!" it snarled. It lunged forward at Applejack, snapping with its jaws—
—she dodged right, raising her sword to strike—
—and it crashed into her with its left arm, its claws ripping across her side.
The screech as she fell to the floor was unlike any sound Twilight had ever heard the apple farmer make, and she never wanted to hear anything like it, ever again.
"Applejack!" Rainbow cried, pummeling the last mage-hunter she was engaged with to the ground and hastening to her friend. She managed to get between Applejack and the drake, parrying another swipe and beating it back a small distance. Pinkie jumped in right behind her, a song on her lips and healing light at her fingertips as she worked over the warrior, leaving just Rarity to occupy the last two mage-hunters.
Despairingly, Twilight realised there was nothing she could do to aid them. Any spell she tried to direct at the drake would only be countered by Emmy.
...it didn't stop her from trying, and she managed to slip a subtle spell of slowing past Emmy's guard, targeting the drake...
...to no obvious effect.
"Please, Emmy!" Twilight begged, "I need to help my friends!"
"Malygos cannot be denied! I will defend his work with my life!"
The other mage's words were fierce, but her voice was devoid of any passion, of the devotion that they implied. She'd seen Emmy excited before, during a presentation to Twilight's teacher... Emmy's father. How her eyes had lit up as she explained the flaws in Sylerian formulae, and what they could do to counteract the side-effects of such an approach.
There was no spark there today, just... terror.
She can't really believe in Malygos's crusade.
Or can she? She's become a captain, not some raw recruit. Am I just hoping against hope that she doesn't truly believe what she's saying?
Rainbow fought valiantly, sweeping her hammer left to right and even managed to land a decent strike against the drake's snout just as it went to cast another spell, but ultimately she had no more experience fighting dragons as a human than Applejack did. Another sideways swipe crashed her to the floor, bruised and moaning next to Applejack and Pinkie.
Their attacker reared up above them, unfazed by the plink of Fluttershy's arrows against its scales. It was a testament to Pinkie's bravery that she kept chanting, kept singing to mend Applejack's wounds, even as the danger loomed in front of her...
"Such is the fate of all who oppose Malygos!"
No!
Abandoning all efforts to hamper Emmy, Twilight ripped as much power as she could from the realm of frost and hurled a chunk of ice at the drake. Anything to distract it, or buy time for someone - anyone - to do something. Anything.
It soared through the air and almost made it to the drake - before dissipating harmlessly as Emmy unbound it with a potent counterspell.
There's nothing I can do!
...then the dragon roared in pain, crumpling back down. Memoria, free of her bonds and surrounded by her anti-magic shell once more, had dashed back in and found her opening in its distraction.
"Got you, drake," she hissed in satisfaction. Channelling frozen power through her runeblade, she turned it into a popsicle in an instant. Its scream was quickly snuffed into silence by the icy prison encasing its flesh, and she smashed it to pieces to finish the job.
Twilight almost had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief, tempered by the horror of the slaughter, but she suffered for her moment of distraction. She saw a flash of azure, felt something snake around each of her wrists, and then found herself on her knees in the sand, caught by the same kind of spell that had held Memoria.
"I'm sorry, Twilight!" Emmy said, and now Twilight could see tears spilling from the other mage's eyes. "You just don't understand!"
"What don't I-"
Ripping her blade from the drake's mutilated corpse, Memoria looked towards a new target... the last remaining target, as Rarity knocked the final mage-hunter unconscious. "Your turn, mage!"
"No!" Emmy cried. She took a few steps backwards, and - as Memoria bounded forward and came within striking range - smashed her staff into one of the purple orbs surrounding a nearby platform, weaving a spell as she struck.
The orb expanded with breathtaking speed, enveloping Memoria, Pinkie and the ailing Applejack - all too close to avoid it - in an arcane shroud. It didn't stop there, consuming the rest of the group before they could so much as cry out in alarm.
Twilight just about caught a glimpse of Emmy, sprinting away across the beach, before the orb fully claimed her, and her world gave way to violet.