//------------------------------//
// 46.3 Don't Play in the Cornfields after Dark 
// Story: Prey and a Lamb 
// by Lambs Prey 
//------------------------------//

It was the feeling of panic thrumming through the air, and it woke Prey. 

And then the panic was wiped away as Prey's back muscles decided, of all the possible times, right now was the perfect moment to cramp up.

'Zoma'Grika! Why now?' 

Prey's back arched without his control as the muscles coiled in on themselves.

"Gha!" The coarse blanket tangled around Prey as he tried to fight free and jam a hoof into the agonising cramp. Around the room, figures were jumping to their hooves, Crimson had his wings flared, standing at the window.

"What's the situation?!" Gloom shouted, grabbing his short spear.

The watch lanterns were still burning, but next to them on the table the other half of Shimmer's tracking device was pulsing brightly. 

"Oh no, oh no, oh no no no." Scenic was muttering.

"Get ready." Shimmer ordered, straw coloured mane sticking out wildly under his helmet as he gripped his sword hilt in his aura.

People were scrambling, grabbing things from the table. There was a rising gurgling coming from the night outside.

"Prey get up! We're under attack."

'I'm trying!' Prey internally raged through gritted teeth. He half made it back to his hooves, before the cramp ran down his spine and made his leg disobey, dumping him back onto the hard floor.

It didn't even register with Prey that everyone was seeing him in a moment of weakness, other things like pain, panic, and impending death had him a bit distracted.

"Get up." Gloom shouted at him again, or was it at everyone? There was a crash from the barricaded front door, and suddenly everyone was a lot more focused on that.

It seemed to start coming from all sides at once. There were more crashes, banging against the walls and blocked windows, the horrible gurgling proof of the kindersnatches outside trying to get in.

Prey was scared, of course he was, but he was also desperately angry. 'Why now?! Why of all times do I have to get cramp now?'

He was wide awake, terribly so, but it didn't feel like it.

More loud gurgling, the thwacking sound of branches striking against wooden planks, and then, through the gaps in the single window's barricade, flickering orange light appeared out of the blackness.

The scarecrow was here.

"Aww sugar." Lilly cursed.

The orange flicker flashed, right outside. Then the door shook with an almighty bang, bowing inwards, sending the barricade piled against it rebounding backwards ten inches. But somehow the door didn't break. 

"Destroy any branches that come in. Don't kill the kindersnatches. Keep the door braced." Gloom ordered over the din, leaping forwards to push the tables and logs back against the door.

Atlas dashed forwards to assist Gloom, but no sooner had they shoved everything back into place bracing the door, than another mighty kick from the unseen scarecrow outside made it all jump again.

*Thumk!*

Prey swore he heard the sound of splintering even over the gurgling and banging.

"C'mon c'mon." Prey hissed, tottering towards the table, back still twisted up. How could he let pain delay him at a crucial time like this? But it still did. Pain was pain.

The barricade at the window was taking a beating, the kindersnatches outside trying to force the makeshift blockade in. A thorny tendril, as thick as Prey's leg, squeezed inside and began to whip about.

Crimson's wing shot out and the tendril fell to the floor, still madly thrashing. It was terrifying, the blackness outside and the white light inside casting mad shadows.

Another huge crash against the front door, and the whole door frame vibrated. Gloom and Atlas kept re-bracing it.

"I've had enough of this!" Lilly declared, lighting up her horn.

Her pink barrier spell, the one Lilly had only successfully cast once in a combat situation before, popped into existence. A half dome appeared around the besieged door as Lilly magically braced the barricade from their side.

The next mighty blow struck, but this time, although Lilly staggered for a second, the barricade and door barely budged.

"Keep it up Lilly." Gloom called, his flank injury forgotten as he raced around.

"Sir, you can count on me sir!"

'Stupid, naive, brash, foolhardy, overconfident, idiotic-!' 

Prey continued a silent stream of mental insults as he both tried to reach the table top and fight his own cramping muscles for dominance.

Crimson was holding the window, another wicker tendril whipped inside and was promptly chopped off like so much fire wood. Gloom and Atlas had their weapons ready, Atlas only capable of using one wing blade, waiting to see where the next assault was going to come from.

Shimmer, where was Shimmer? What was the unicorn doing?

The unicorn was just standing calmly in the middle of the room, his sword floating and at the ready beside his head. He spoke loudly.

"They're not going to get in."

Who was the idiot trying to convince? Himself? The kindersnatches? The monsters outside wouldn't care, even if the person inside the kindersnatches could still hear and understand Shimmer.

The whip scar cramp finally decided it'd had enough fun with Prey and abruptly subsided. He gasped, finally able to reach the table top and grab the rusted pitchfork. The tool was far too long for him, and the end almost dipped to the floor as he struggled to right it, but he did and charged the window.

He jammed the pitchfork tines into the back of the chair that was just about to be forced out of the window frame, and braced the other end against the table leg. Prey ran back to the table, grabbing a spade this time and used it to jam another gap.

"Horseapples!" The exclamation came from Scenic. The Earth pony was staring wide eyed at a crack between two wooden beams in the wall. Spined wicker tendrils were worming their way through, trying to force the hole that hadn't been there a minute ago wider.

"Don't just stand there," Prey yelled shrilly at Scenic, "Cut them off!"

Scenic came to his senses, and dashed to the table and grabbed the axe. It was a wood axe, the blade half rusted, but it had been made with non-magical users in mind, with an iron loop for the hoof.

However Scenic was too slow, for Shimmer's sword flew through the air to hack and slash the squirming tendrils off, the magical grip allowing the unicorn to do so without getting in range of the danger himself.

"Remember the plan!" Gloom shouted over the noise. More blows were still making the shielded door shake.

And then came the sound of pounding on the back door. Not the shattering strikes of the scarecrow, but the continuous raining blows of the kindersnatches as they beat upon the wooden plank barricade.

"Here they come." Gloom warned. 

There was a groan and a splintering from the wall next to Prey. He jumped back and saw a weaker section of plank being cracked and forced inwards. Abruptly it broke and a spiky kindersnatch leg punched through and then got stuck. The walls were not thin. Whomever had built this house had built it in the traditional farmer way and meant for it to last.

But it wasn't thick enough to stop the kindersnatch, but it was thick enough to for it to get stuck.

There was gurgling and thrashing as the kindersnatch tried to free itself. Prey backed up, nervously glancing to check where the ladder was again for when and if they had to make a hasty escape.

"They're going to break through the walls at this rate!" Gloom shouted. He pointed at the root leg, "Scenic, cut that off."

Scenic raised the axe and began hacking at the leg. It was much thicker and tougher than one of the thorn tendrils and Scenic couldn't manage to cleanly sever it before it was withdrawn, leaving a black hole out into the night.

The sound of wood being struck, gurgling, the pounding on the doors. Prey tried to keep everything in his field of view, but it was impossible. More crashing, more pounding. It was so loud and claustrophobic. It went on and on. Crimson was still fending off any overly ambitious kindersnatches trying to break down the barricade at the window, but they were relentless. 

A kindersnatch tried to tear the small hole in the wall wider, or perhaps it was just dumb enough to try and force its body through whole. Gloom reversed his spear and used the butt to shove it back out. Crimson sliced off more thorny branch tendrils and Lilly managed to continue holding the door with her shield.

Prey was scared, but they were holding out. Crying could come later, or never. They were trapped, but they were holding.

But the attempts to break in were not stopping either, and the strength of wood was finite. Would it hold out until morning? Would the kindersnatches even stop come morning?

Prey's mind was telling him something was wrong. There had to be more to the assault than this. He didn't know how many kindersnatches the warlock had out there, but he still felt there should be more than this.

"Everypony down!" Shimmer shouted over the noise, his sword dropping to the floorboards and his horn starting to glow with a white green light. 

Prey's eyes widened as he and everyone else did as ordered and ducked.

A circular pulse jumped out of Shimmer's horn, trailing sparks. The pulse hit the walls and passed right through, disappearing outside. Prey didn't know what it did, but all the beating and pounding on the walls suddenly stopped.

"What spell was that?" Gloom asked, still crouched low.

"Breathing room." Shimmer answered.

But then a thud came against the wall, almost tentative. When nothing happened, it came again, harder, louder. Thud.

Then another, the scarecrow struck the door again, making it and Lilly's shield vibrate, and the siege started back up. Shimmer's spell had delayed the monsters for less than ten seconds.

"Damn," Shimmer muttered, "I thought it would deter them longer than that."


---


Fear. It did not sink in within the first minute. They staved it off, the walls and door were holding firm after all.

Nor did it come in the second minute as the continued to chop off any limb which made it's way inside and Lilly's shield still held.

The fear was there, floating in the air, but they were stronger.

The Scarecrow continued kicking the door, for some reason not moving onto striking the walls or window instead.

Five minutes, and still they were fine, safe inside their four walls and lantern light. 

The fear began to loose its edge. It become easier to breathe. If they could hold out five minutes without issue, why couldn't they hold all the way out until morning? They could do this for as long as it took.

Irrational. Optimistic. Premature. Hope is a cruel thing.

Ten minutes, and the fear was back, choking in the air as the strain became obvious. The walls were starting to develop cracks. Not much, and only when that wall section was stuck did the fractures show, but they were there. And this was only after ten minutes. How could so little time have passed? Could they really hold out until morning?

The infernal gurgling and flickering orange light drilling in from outside never ceased. The things clear they were utterly relentless. They wouldn't stop. It was an inevitability. 

"Leave us alone! Just go away!" Scenic yelled inarticulately as he madly hacked off another kindersnatches gnarled wooden leg that'd punched through. Timbers were groaning and wailing.

But Prey wasn't done, not yet. His pulse was racing in his throat.

'I will live.'

He'd survived worse odds before, he could do it again.

And then Lilly's shield started to flicker as she reached her limit. The fog of fear was thickening, oily and pervasive in the back of everyone's throats.

Shimmer sent out more pulses of his magic, buying them a hoofull of seconds each time, but they were just stalling and at this rate, soon his magic would be exhausted too.

The inevitable was stealing in, putting down rootholds, tightening its grip. But they were not about to give up, not yet.

They had an escape route prepared, but using it was more exposed to danger than simply staying in here. For now.

"They've got to give up eventually. Surely." Lilly groaned, horn sparking worryingly. Her eyes, which  had been so brash and fiery, now held uncertainty. Even she was realising what kind of situation they were in. No one was coming to rescue them.

And the fear got in. It'd always been there, always inside them. They'd just been denying it until now.

The wall splintered as an entire section of plank was smashed in. Scenic yelled and stumbled backwards. Through the new hole, a shadowed kindersnatch sightlessly glared into the light with all the hate of its creator.

"Plug that hole!" Shimmer ordered.

Plug the hole? With what exactly? 

Prey looked around. What could he use? There was nothing. Everyone else was busy.

There was nothing he could use, which meant only one thing. The house was breached.

No fort is impenetrable, no defence is absolute. And this house was hardly a fort. There was always a way to get inside any defence, as long as you were willing to pay the price. If you poked and prodded long enough, eventually someone or something would give.

Never back yourself into a corner, always have a way out, a back up plan, somewhere to run when everything failed. Because it would fail. 

The only way to win against a foe you couldn't beat was not to fight at all.

So when your walls were breached, when your defences caved in, there was only one choice left. Run.

Run.

Run. The kindersnatches had breached the wall. The house was as good as lost. It was only a matter of time. Prey was not going to stay here.

Run.

It was time to go.

"Prey," Gloom called as he spied Prey making for the ladder, "No! We're not running yet."

Prey ignored him and reached the base of the ladder. They'd dragged the ladder into the house, and it rose the short distance up to the low rafters. Prey grabbed the bottom rung.

"Not yet Prey!" Gloom shouted in a rasp, pushing back a kindersnatch through a hole with his spear.

"Yes now! They're breaking down the walls." Prey shouted squeakily back, already half way up the ladder.

Prey didn't hear whatever Gloom or any of the others might've replied, because the scarecrow smashed into the door again at that exact moment and drowned it out.

Prey reached the top of the short ladder, bracing his hooves on the wooden rungs. Dancing shadows blackening the rafters above him, and for a moment he couldn't make out the seam he was looking for, but he knew it had to be right there.

Prey pushed up and butted his head against the roof planking. Prey heaved, and the section they'd loosened earlier tilted up. Pin pricks of star light appeared in a slot above Prey's head as he pushed himself up, the impromptu skylight riding down his neck and then onto his back as he pulled himself out onto the roof.

The gurgling was suddenly frighteningly loud. The wicker tops of the closest kindersnatch was less than five hooves below him in the night.

Prey couldn't see them or anything else for a moment, blinded as the white lantern light was cut off as the roof fell shut. But the kindersnatches couldn't see him either, they weren't tall enough to and he was near the middle of the roof.

But there was one source of light. The flickering orange on the other side of the roof, where the scarecrow squatted, battering at the door. Prey crouched as low as he could, the rough bark roofing tiles catching at his wool. The scarecrow wasn't tall enough to see over the roof's peak onto this side of the roof either, but who knew how the warlock had been watching them? Did their even method work in the dark? Could they see Prey right now?

Prey wasn't going to wait to find out.

Prey scuttled to the edge of the roof, to the place where they'd stowed the second ladder earlier. He almost tripped over it as his hoof hit the thing in the dark. Heart racing, Prey stabilised himself and groped around in the dark for the end of the ladder. 

What was everyone else still doing down there? Were they going to commit suicide by staying inside?

Prey found the end of the ladder. He looked across, his night sight having recovered just enough for him to make out his target, the roof of the next house over.

Prey shifted the ladder to lined it up with the opposite roof's lip, took a firm grip on the ladder's bottom rung, dug his hooves into the bark tiles, and pushed.

The ladder scrapped across the roof and slid out across the gap. The far end dully thunked onto the far roof, forming a bridge between the two houses.

A bridge full of holes. In the dark. Over a mass of kindersnatches.

"Go already." Prey spun around as Atlas hissed at him. The injured pegasus had been sent up next after Prey, but he'd barely registered the Border Guard's behind him.

Prey's distorted expression of hate was hidden in the night. For a brief second, Prey reached for the handle of the dented bread knife tied around his leg.

'No, now isn't the time.'

Prey twisted back around and gripped the edges of the ladder. Then quickly before he could lose his nerve or think too hard about how one slip would send him tumbling into the clutches of the kindersnatches below, Prey began shimmying across.

He was almost to the other side when he heard a tearing crash of wood breaking. 

Prey almost looked back, but he didn't need to see to know that the scarecrow had finally broken down the door.

The breach should've been followed by a roar of triumph, but none came. The scarecrow was a golem, it didn't feel glee or hate. It just followed orders.

Prey rolled off the ladder and onto the bark tiles of the second house's roof. He'd made it. But what had happened to the others?

Prey looked back, and saw a second figure, then a third outline push themselves out onto the roof. Prey recognised the outlines by memory. Scenic and Lilly. Gloom had heeded his warning, and was ordering a full retreat as the scarecrow and the kindersnatches fought to break down the last of the door's barricade and get inside.

That'd been their backup plan. 

Abandon the house and escape over onto this one while the monsters thought they were all still inside the first. Gloom and Crimson would escape last, holding out for as long as possible. They were the only two still able to fly, thus they had the best chance of escape. 

A pulse of burning bright light flashed out from the house, phasing unimpeded through the walls and Prey got to see and feel what Shimmer's spell did. A sense of wrongness, a repulsing force slapped Prey like a physical strike. His hooves prickled all over like they were crawling with ants.

The pulse instinctively made Prey want to run away, his emotions seesawing out of control, but the feeling was just a compulsion, and those didn't work on Prey, even right now in his already fearful state. However it worked on all the kindersnatches below. In the fading flash of Shimmer's spell, Prey saw the wicker monstrosities all recoiling, gurgling and thrashing their thorny limbs.

Shimmer's spell was almost the end of his own subordinate, too. 

Atlas, almost across the ladder for himself, staggered. Instinctively, the pegasus tried to spread his wings for balance. 

Atlas let out a hoarse yell of pain, wobbling precariously. For a moment Prey's stomach leapt up his throat, not because Atlas might fall, but because he might fall and alert the kindersnatches to their escape.

Prey's warning shout didn't matter. It was lost under the drowning gurgle and sound of the scarecrow progressively smashing its way inside.

Somehow, Atlas regained his balance and tottered the last two steps and made it to Prey's roof.

The flash of light caused by Shimmer's ill advised spell had allowed Prey to count the kindersnatches below and see how screwed they were.

Thirteen kindersnatches, splayed in a ring around the house. More than last time. Did this warlock have even more more than these stored somewhere? Had he already transformed the rest of the captured villagers into more of his or her wicker army?

Lilly had made her own way halfway across the ladder bridge by now. Scenic, still on the opposite roof, was making pointless gestures of frantic encouragement to Lilly to hurry up.

Then Prey saw the house shake, the whole roof under Scenic's hooves shuddering. The kindersnatches and scarecrow were starting to tear into the walls now.

The roof behind Scenic banged open for what was getting dangerously close to the last time. The horned outline of Shimmer pushed free and jumped out onto the roof. Again, the house shook, and an ominous creaking noise sounded out.

Below, Prey could see the kindersnatches were now literally tearing through the walls. Zoma'Grika! They'd be inside in less than sixty seconds. From there, the scarecrow would kill Gloom and Crimson if they hadn't escaped, there was no doubt in Prey's mind about the warlock having any intention of taking them alive.

Scenic was now on the ladder. Prey flinched as he saw the left corner of the house suddenly bend over on itself like a reed, buckling in. The whole place was about to come down!

*Cr-cr-rr-cr-rr-cr-craaaak*

Prey stared, frozen. That wasn't supposed to happen.

'No. No it's too early. Crimson is supposed to get out first.'

The wall facing him began crumpling in on itself. More splintering and breaking noises, and the roof started to tilt dangerously forwards, Shimmer spreading his legs to stay standing.

This wasn't how the plan was supposed to go.

"Get out of there Crimson!" Prey yelled, high pitched. 

There was no way for Crimson to hear his shout. Nobody could hear him over the din, not even himself.

Much like a cresting wave which had reached the breaking point, the roof started collapsing in on itself. 

Why wasn't Crimson flying out? The ladder slipped and tumbled down between the two buildings as the whole house inexorably began to tilt backwards. Bark tiles cascaded off the roof and support posts snapping as they failed, yet somehow Shimmer kept his footing. The stallion telekinetically tore his cloak aside and ran and leapt.

Only a deer should've been able to spring across a gap like that. The house was falling away beneath Shimmer's very hooves, he was weighed down by his armour, but yet somehow Shimmer shot across.

In shock, Scenic's reaction time as he moved to catch Shimmer's hoof was too slow, but he wasn't even needed. Shimmer landed squarely on the roof, not even slipping on the sloping tiles.

But Prey didn't care about him, what about Gloom and Crimson? He owed Crimson!

'-oh my Celestia!-', Someone thought in shock.

Like a felled tree, slowly, then gathering speed the house fell. The already damaged walls ripped in a jagged line like wet paper, the roof went over, and with a rending splintering crash the house collapsed. The thump rattled the tiles under their hooves. Half of the kindersnatches were knocked over by the impact as debris and dust shot out.

"S-saregnt Gloom..." Scenic stuttered from next to Prey in the night.

"Celestia have mercy on them." Atlas whispered.

And there, in the suddenly cleared space in the night, stood the architect of the destruction. It was just a shadowy shape, lit evilly by the flickering orange light bleeding from its headless neck.

It had four legs again. Somehow, someway, the scarecrow had been crudely repaired. The new leg was rough, the joining bulky even in the dark, but the scarecrow was back.

Prey felt an intense surge of hatred for the thing which'd only been previously reserved for the one controlling it.

This thing just didn't stop! This was the third time it had come for them, like it couldn't take the hint it wasn't wanted. If only they'd managed to fully destroy it last time in the forest. If only Lilly had thrown the message bottle true, if only. But she hadn't. And Prey couldn't do anything. Only stare in hate.

The wreckage left of the house was little more than shapes in the dark. Although the building hadn't been completely flattened, it was near enough as made no difference. Less than a hoof's height of the walls remained standing above the foundations, a mess of broken off jagged splinters.

The roof itself had mostly stayed in one flat piece, detached from the four walls by the momentum with which it'd been thrown free as the house collapsed. Now the roof lay like a crumpled blanket, half covering the collapsed house, and the other half spilled out onto the dirt, folded over where the remains of the front wall propped it up in the middle.

Prey's mind raced in circles, looking for a solution. Could Gloom and Crimson have survived that? If so, they were now trapped and at the warlock's mercy. 'If'.

Wait, twelve. There were only twelve kindersnatch shapes gathered around the wreckage. Where was number thirteen?

Prey spotted a cluster of broken wicker sticking out from under the edge of the fallen roof. The warlock had been fine with destroying his own creations to kill the people inside the house. The warlocks ruthlessness made Prey's throat constrict.
Because that was something he would've done.

"No..." Lilly mumbled.

"No... No no no No NO NO! That's not allowed to happen!" She shouted in fury

The scarecrow's body snapped around, jerkily tilting upwards as if to look from its headless stump straight at them.

'I'm going to kill her.' Prey thought with complete calm as everyone and everything froze for a moment.

A pause.

It was the breath before the blizzard.

The scarecrow and kindersnatches charged forwards in a skittering jumbled mass to surround their house, the scarecrow's longer legs carrying it at the head of the pack.

Prey had just watched them tear right through one house, and now here they were coming again. Fury and fear roiled in Prey's veins, 'You'll not take me too.'

Prey didn't look to see what the others were doing, it didn't matter, he just turned and jumped off the far side of the roof. Who cared about them? They were all useless betrayers. Not like Crimson and Gloom. 

They must've survived. No way did having a house falling on them kill them both instantly. They had armour. The house was wooden. They'd survived the lumber yard. Surely they could survive this.

It was not a long drop, homes on the border didn't have the luxury of being built big. Prey rolled as he landed in the thick patch of weeds he'd aimed for. He got a mouthful of the gritty stems and dirt.

Spitting, he managed to roll to his hooves.

He didn't have time to check if any of the others were smart enough to copy him in jumping. He didn't care. The moment Prey got his bearings, he dashed around the corner of the next house before the onrushing kindersnatches could round the corner, see him, and trap him in their encirclement.

The never ending gurgling din followed him, tracking Prey as he dodged around a tool shed in the dark. To his mind, it sounded like they were right behind him, but he couldn't even tell.

He skidded around another corner, tripped on a thick mat of what felt like bind weed in the dark, and ran and jumped the knife slash of the stream as it appeared in front of his hooves.

Prey just needed a moment, a moment to think, to slip away and reset. 

He needed a plan. 

He needed to find and kill this warlock.

Was he being followed? Prey risked a wild look back over his shoulder, own ear nearly swatting him in the face, and and saw the lone kindersnatch which'd chased him blunder around the corner. It lurched the wrong way, seeking him.

Prey threw himself down into the weeds and dirt and held his racing breath. Under all that wicker and black magic, the thing was still operating off the senses of what'd been a normal person, now a victim. It shouldn't be able to see him in the dark.

Prey could've kept running, probably avoided pursuit from the kindersnatch, and escaped Mayflower under the cover of night. Maybe. Maybe not. But he didn't try. Because the more he thought about it, the more Prey was convinced Crimson must've survived. Yes. The Pegasus was just trapped back there under the rubble. Slowly suffocating.

The kindersnatch thrashed ineffectually at a wooden post in its way, twisting its bulbous upper body about as if searching. Prey covered his mouth to hold in his breath. It was less than ten paces away from him in the dark. He could smell the scent of mould and rot it gave off.

The kindersnatch turned back around, still gurgling, and scuttled back the way it'd come, splashing a leg in the stream.

Prey kept holding his breath for as long as he could, then let it out with a gasp. His legs were shaking quite badly.

Prey had sworn to himself he wasn't willing to risk his own life for Crimson's, but, but, but this wasn't risking his life. If he could avoid detection, yes, then there was no risk.

He had the bread knife, already prepared with some runes. He had his mind. He had his ribbon. It would be enough.

It had to be enough.

Prey was scared. Of course he was scared. Prey was always scared. And he was also furious that this kept happening to him. 

Prey closed his eyes for a moment, to breathe, to think.

'This is workable. I can manage this. Even in this tiny village, the scarecrow is no threat if it can't find me. The kindersnatches only have the dulled senses of people, and they're all focused on the others. Not me, the least threatening runt lamb. Now that I'm by myself, I can easily avoid detection. Yes, I can do this.'

Prey opened his eyes and cautiously got up from the weed bed.

From over the roof tops of the small hamlet he could hear the now oh so familiar sound of breaking wood, gurgling, see flashes of orange light against the night, hear Lilly shouting challenges, someone else trying to give orders. Prey pushed it all into the background.

If they died, he didn't care. But not Crimson. Crimson wasn't allowed to die while he owed him.

Prey moved around to the other side of the dark house, pressing himself up against the rough wood. He peeked his head an inch around the corner and took stock.

Prey saw he'd circled nearly completely around the stream and village center, and was now actually standing behind the warlock's minions.

Fifteen yards in front of him the wreckage of the first house they'd tried to defend lay, and ten beyond that, the ring of kindersnatches and the scarecrow besieged the second house.

On this house's roof, lit by orange and sometimes white from Lilly and Shimmer's flashing horns, the rest of the crouched ponies were just visible. The kindernsatches longest thorn tendrils could only barely reach that high, but the scarecrow could reach just fine, and every time one of its long legs came stabbing down into the roof, someone had to dodge for their life.

They were fighting valiantly, trying to avoid blows and striking back as best they could, even if it was hard for Prey to tell who was who. They were only delaying the inevitable. The wicker monsters were already smashing and battering the house's walls and foundations in a pattern all too familiar.

In ten minutes or less, this house too would fall. And this time there was no helpful ladder to provide an escape route.

Prey took a deep breath, trying to dredge up some courage, and then dashed out from behind his cover and sprinted as fast as he could towards the collapsed house.

Prey threw himself flat and skidded the last few hooves to meet the edge of the collapsed roof, getting behind the remains of the wall. Sharp stings of pain stabbed him, his slide having taken him over splinters. It was nothing.

Had he been spotted? No.

In the dark, with the fight for survival going on less than ten yards away, one small  lamb hiding behind them was easy to miss.

Prey felt the pulse of Shimmer's repulsion magic crawl over him as the unicorn drove the monsters back for a few seconds.

Lilly was yelling some kind of challenge to; "Bring it on!" 

The ends of a splintered log next to Prey suddenly spasmed and curled in on themselves like a spider and Prey almost screamed.

He was right next to the crushed kindersnatches protruding legs, the rest of it buried under the fallen roof and wall. Prey scrambled back, but twitching its legs was all the kindersnatch was capable of. It was trapped, crushed, and almost certainly dying. He couldn't even hear any of the omnipresent mentally screamed gibberish coming from under the rubble.

Prey didn't have the time to waste on putting it out of its misery.

Prey peaked as he heard a squealing crash, the scarecrow had punched a leg through part of the house's wall.

'Raven magpie fly away, scarecrow keep at bay~' The old ditty came unbidden to Prey. He gulped and checked he still had the bread knife. He did. Prey psyched himself up, then grabbed the edge of the fallen roof above him and jumped over it and into the open.

Prey landed on the collapsed roof tiles and immediately began casting about, trying to feel any flicker of thoughts under the debris which signalled trapped life, terrified that at any moment one of the kindersnatches might turn around and spot him.

Where were Gloom and Crimson? He was so certain that they'd survived. It had only been some falling wood.

The monsters were fixed on tearing down the other house and killing the cornered ponies, but one of them would have to notice him eventually. Every second was precious, he had to make them count-

Prey's head snapped up and he scrabbled across the bark tiles towards where he'd heard, 'Yes yes yes! Thoughts.'

Gloom's thoughts, and next to them, the mental walls he'd come to associate with Crimson.

He'd known it, he'd known they survived!

They were right in the corner. They must've dived for cover there when the house started collapsing. There was a pocket of space under there caused by the hoof or so of the still standing foundations.

Why hadn't they kicked their way free already? it was just a thin roof, they should've been able to manage it. Was Crimson injured and unable to move?

These worries flashed through Prey's head as he jumped across the uneven surface. He reached the roof section above the corner and pulled his bread knife free. He reversed the blade and stabbed in straight down.

The surface was solid, but the dull blade sank slowly into the wood as Prey lent his weight behind it. He began dragging the blade sideways, the knife juddering and fighting against his efforts for haste.

The thoughts coming from below changed, '-I hear.... something's coming-'

Prey managed to cut half a semi-circle before the runes on the knife were all spent and the blade snapped. Prey almost sliced himself open on the remains as he slipped.

He tossed the handle away, this would have to be enough. "Push up." Prey hissed through the crack he'd cut.

"Prey?" It was muffled, and almost drowned out by the gurgling less than fifteen yards away.

"Push! Now."

The roof section under Prey's hooves began to shift, and he jumped off. He heard what sounded like a strained grunt of pain. Fearfully, he glanced over his shoulder. The scarecrow was tearing down the house's side wall with frightening speed, the ponies on top trying everything they could think of.

He had to hurry. Prey grabbed at the tiles and strained to lift what he could to assist as Gloom and Crimson pushed for all they were worth from below.

The broken roof piece was stuck. It wasn't going to-

The cut section jerk free, homemade bark tiles breaking and Prey falling back onto his rump. When he looked, he saw that the piece hadn't come all the way off, but instead had gotten stuck half up. A gap large enough to craw through was left.

Two cloud steel shod hooves were thrust out of the jagged hole, grabbing each side, and then Gloom dragged himself out, wriggling like a fish on his belly until he fell off the side onto the dirt.

Prey was at the hole in a heartbeat, going to stick his hoof in to help but then yanking it back away, "Crimson? Crimson? Can you get out?"

Gloom was standing back up and at Prey's side by the gap in an instant, making Prey flinch away.

"Grab my hoof." Gloom ordered, sticking his leg back into the gap.

Gloom's armour and helmet plume were covered in dust and bore numerous scratches. Gloom's stitches were leaking blood, and his reflective yellow eyes were slightly unfocused like he'd been hit on the head, but he still stood.

Another hoof emerged into the night and locked ankles with Gloom. The thestral leaned back, and Crimson was dragged out. The pegasus looked even more battered than Gloom, but it was hard to judge in the dark.

Once again Prey dithered, trying to decide whether to grab Crimson's hoof as Gloom strained or not. But he didn't want to touch. Crimson slithered free and flopped down on top of Gloom as they both fell back onto the dirt and splinters. Prey didn't waste any time dropping down beside them and out of sight, behind the ruins as cover.

Both Gloom and Crimson lay gasping for air. They must've been being crushed under there, almost unable to breathe. Prey saw a number of long splinters pierced right through the leathery membrane of Gloom's wings.

"What happened?" Prey hissed in a whisper.

"Jumped into the corner. Old clan trick to survive cave ins. Get close to the wall, roof doesn't ever fully cave all the way in." Gloom wheezed, dazed.

Crimson finally managed to roll off Gloom and onto his back to face the night sky, chest rapidly rising and falling. 

"Prey what's happening? I can hear fighting. Where's everypony else?" He gasped out.

Prey froze, 'Zoma'Grika.'

He should've waited. He should've waited to free Gloom and Crimson until after the scarecrow and kindersnatches had finished up. Now Crimson was going to throw himself suicidely at the scarecrow to try and save the others.

Prey couldn't let allow that, he owed Crimson, and he couldn't let the pegasus kill himself just after he'd saved him.

"It's... They are..." Prey fumbled for a lie that would work.

"Prey? Prey what's happening, I can hear them fighting."

"..."

"No." Crimson muttered, the yellow orbs of his eyes widening. He tried to sit up, using his dishevelled wings to help raise himself, sending wooden debris sliding off his armour and out of his bound mane.

"There's nothing we can do, they're done for." Prey hissed, trying to get Crimson to stay down, "Don't get us killed as well."

Crimson didn't seem to hear him as he continued trying to stand up, "No no no. The scarecrow, how did this happen again?"

"You're injured, you can't help them, stay down and be quiet. Gloom's hurt too, he needs help instead." Prey hastily whispered, trying to distract Crimson even while the gurgling rang in their ears.

"Forget me, I'll be fine. Help the others." Gloom immediately protested, more lucid than he looked.

Just then came a rising cry of frustration and panic over the sounds of splintering wood.

"What's that? What's happening?" Crimson pushed himself up with great effort.

Prey couldn't stop Crimson from looking over the edge of the shattered wall and seeing the situation for himself.

The scarecrow was making rapid progress with dismantling the house with the help of its kindersnatch underlings. Already the roof was only half supported, the four figures on top of it crowded back onto the stable half. They were doing what they could, but it was only Lilly and Shimmer with their magic who were having any impact. Below, the kindersnacthes trashed and sort to snag stray hooves with their longest tendrils, waiting like a hungry shoal of piranhas. Had they gotten bigger in the night?

"They'll die." Crimson protested, "If I don't do anything they'll die."

"Yes they'll die, but we'll die if you do anything. Think, you know this. You can't save everyone." Prey tried to reason with him, pleading.

"I don't care about saving everypony. Just my father."

"What? Crimson, your dad's not-"

But the disorientated Crimson didn't seem able to tell the difference. 

"I was too late. It's my fault. I, I already knew they were traitorous snakes. I should've known." Crimson's voice was raw. He was standing now, wingblades out.

"Please don't do this, you'll get killed." Prey was just considering laying a hoof on Crimson and forcibly knocking his mind unconscious, when Crimson's whole body just, 'stopped'.

He stopped moving, his eyes froze, he didn't blink, he ceased breathing. Like he was caught for a moment in time.

Prey took a step back, 'What's happening-?'

Crimson screamed. 

It was so loud it hurt Prey's ears as he tripped over his own hooves in shock.

The scream was raw sound, hoarse, filled with pain and horror. Crimson, who had faced death, was staring and screaming at something Prey couldn't see. 

Prey back peddled on the ground, casting about wildly for the threat. Crimson sucked in a deep breath that swelled his chest, and then he screamed again. Prey flinched and covered his ears. Prey had heard many screams, and he knew this one. It was the tortured scream of someone who'd just been killed but hadn't died yet.

Something in Crimson's tied back mane flashed emerald green. The jade ring that Prey had given him.

And suddenly Crimson's scream cut off and he coughed explosively, eyes rolling and sweat pouring down his face. Crimson gasped for air and cast wildly about himself, "What? Where? Prey-How? S-sargent Gloom? But y-you were all gone."

Prey stared up at Crimson completely lost for words, and on the ground next to him Gloom did the same.

Crimson's ears snapped upright, and his head jerked up as he looked over the prone Prey and Gloom, over the broken house to what lay behind.

Prey realised the splintering and crashing had stopped. The gurgling and clicking hadn't. And now it was getting louder.

Around Crimson's neck, a sheen of deep jade gleamed in the flickers of orange light. A thin chain of jade hung from Crimson's neck, the links looking like interwoven leaves of ivy.

Prey vaguely pointed, "You've got..."

"...A necklace." Gloom weakly finished from next to him.

Crimson's eyes flicked down in surprise, and then widened in realisation and possibly anger. "So that's what...I remember, there was a price. That's what I paid for? My mane tie?"

The sound of breaking bark and splintering came from the fallen roof next to them, making Prey shoot upright in fear. He stared up, and the headless body of the scarecrow loomed above him, flicking orange spilling from it's insides.

Behind the golem, half the kindersnatches followed, the rest remaining circled around the second house, trapping the other four helplessly on its roof. But the kindersnatches didn't matter, the scarecrow was going to kill them all by itself.

And then Crimson jumped in front of Prey, wide spread wings blocking his view in a feathery shield. Only now did Prey realise, as Crimson's coat was lit by another flash of orange, that his fur was deep red again. Where was the armour enchantments? Under his red coat, lean muscles bunched in Crimson's legs.

Crimson stood between him and the scarecrow. It was like something out of a story, a heroic stand, a knight in shining armour facing down the dark, but Prey knew heroes didn't exist. 

Crimson was protecting him, again. He was trying to save Prey, again.

Prey tried to speak, staring at Crimson's straight back, unbowed, but no words came out.

A hero would've said something reassuring, promised it was going to be alright. Crimson made no such empty promises.

"I have to try. Run if you can."

The scarecrow launched itself at them.

Prey barely saw what happened next, the dark and orange flashes obscuring his vision.

A vibrant green energy seemed to frame Crimson's wings as he bent them for take off, the colour of jade and living water. Just for a moment.

Crimson shot over the scarecrow's back, already in the air faster than Prey could track. He'd seemed to phase through the scarecrow's stabbing leg, such was his speed. Prey had never seen Crimson move so fast, his eyes couldn't keep up.

And then the after wash of air struck the scarecrow blowing in Crimson's wake, and sent it careening backwards. Streaks of living green danced in the wind for a moment, outlining invisible air patterns that struck the golem.

The back wash of air arrived in Prey's face, almost sending him from his hooves as his eyes were forced shut and his ears streamed out behind him. There should've been the roar of wind it was so strong, but all Prey heard was a gentle whisper of air billowing in his ears. The streaks of green wind did not harm him or Gloom.

When Prey was able to stand up straight again and open his watering eyes, Crimson had disappeared. Prey cast around for a full two seconds before he could even figure out what was happening.

'We need to get out of here, the scarecrow's going to kill us. We can't...'

Prey's thoughts gave a hiccup. It was a requirement for his mind to jump from one track to another as his eyes presented him with startling new information.

Crimson was fighting the scarecrow. Crimson was winning.

Crimson was little more than a blur in the night, trails of green light trailing out behind his wing tips. The green trail shot around the scarecrow following Crimson's blurring flight path, until about a second after Crimson's passing, those green streaks turned into waves of wind. These waves struck the scarecrow like physical blows, battering its huge frame left and right.

The scarecrow was scuttling around in a circle, limbs slashing through the air, but it was too slow. All of its futile strikes were at where Crimson used to be, and the golem didn't seem capable of making predictions.

A green billow in the air marked the gust of wind that exploded against the golem's side. The construct's body jerked off balance, then was bent low as Crimson struck next from above.

The attacks weren't just wind, they couldn't have been. There was magic in the wind too.

Prey began backing up as fast as he could, looking for cover. If the wind was strong enough to knock the scarecrow about, especially where all their previous efforts had failed, getting hit himself would shatter his bones and pulp his insides.

How did Crimson know how to do this? Did he know how to control this magic or was he operating off instinct alone? 

The jade band Prey had given him had turned into this chain necklace. It was the source of Crimson's sudden new found magical abilities. Prey hadn't planned for things to happen like this. He hadn't known it would activate into this. What happened if Crimson made a mistake with fighting the scarecrow and crashed?

At those magically enhanced speeds, it would kill Crimson.

Prey managed to reach one of the untouched abandoned houses and ducked behind the corner. It was foolish to look back out, he should've just kept his head down, but he had to know what was happening.

Steams of wind tickled Prey's wool, even crouched all the way back here as he stared wide eyed.

Crimson sent a blast of magic wind into the scarecrow's side, then immediately he was already on the other side and sandwiching it between another. The scarecrow's scything strikes which had been so devastatingly lethal in the forest now seemed so slow, so ineffectual. The orange pumpkin light was flickering faster, more erratically, the scarecrow's spider limbs having to brace much wider and lower to remain balanced.

Kindersnatches were getting bowled over by the wind as they scuttled uselessly around the scarecrows legs, their top heavy wicker bodies blown first this way and then that until they fell.

A sharp ringing noise rang out, although Prey couldn't see what had happened. Another one, sharp, sudden, like metal. 

Vibrant green trails twined around the scarecrow's repaired leg and then past it, and Prey realised Crimson had been cutting at the weakened leg.

More strikes, a flash of sparks as metal grated on metal. The scarecrow twisted and stabbed down, its leg impaling the ground. It had stabbed Crimson!

No, wait! It'd been too slow, Crimson was above it in the air. The after image trails of green had deceived Prey. Crimson however was backing off, apparently that had been too close.

Crimson hovered out of range, slowly flapping his wings as he reevaluated the situation. 

Prey could almost feel what Crimson was thinking and feeling at that very moment, although Prey could not imagine wielding such magic himself. Despite their power, Crimson's strikes had done little, the unknown magic the jade necklace gave him did not enhance his wingblades or strength. He needed someway to actually destroy the scarecrow.

Scenic, Lilly, and the others were shouting something from the roof, pointing off into the distance, but Crimson couldn't turn his attention away for even a second.

Crimson's wing beats changed, from one to the next he blurred into motion again in contours of green. More of the trailing wind blasts hit the scarecrow from every side, but the warlock was apparently taking direct control of the golem, because unlike before, the scarecrow didn't try to fight, it just lowered itself to the ground, making the wind do almost nothing to unbalance it. The horrible thing was going to sit and wait him out, either for Crimson to make a mistake, or to exhaust himself first.

Powerful unknown magic like what Crimson had suddenly gained wasn't something that could last. Crimson wasn't even a unicorn. Surely the jade would run out of power or something?

The scarecrow was going to win again. The foul thing was going to outlast them again! The frustrating unfairness of it crashed upon Prey. 

But life isn't fair, and there's a price for everything.

Prey waved his legs frantically and shouted, "Crimson! Crimson!" 

But Crimson couldn't hear him. 

"Crimson!" Prey needed to tell him they had to fall back, to run away again.

"Fly away!" Prey half shrieked, but it was hopeless. The blur that was Crimson was moving too fast for Prey to get his attention.

And then the scarecrow's leg fell off. 

Prey stared at the stump, the metal sheared off at a sharp angle, clearly outlined in the night. 

What? 

A squiggle of green lines danced through the air and appeared as an after image going past the scarecrow's other leg on the suddenly disabled side. There was a screech of metal, and then that leg separated too and toppled over, and the scarecrow collapsed helplessly to the ground.

What?

Crimson appeared in a hover again over the downed golem. He was only still for a moment, but it was long enough for Prey to catch sight of the wisps of vibrant green wafting off the edges of Crimson's wing blades.

Somehow, someway, Crimson had figured out how to bend the jade artifact's magic to enhance his weapons into something which could slice through steel with barely any effort.

Crimson blurred off around the scarecrow again, and in seconds the scarecrow's last two remaining legs tumbled free. There the golem lay, the thing that had almost killed all of them numerous times and driven them to the edge. 

The twisted construct of black magic was now helpless.

But Crimson didn't stop there. The trails of green zig-zagged across the scarecrow's body, slicing and dicing, cutting, stabbing, making flickering orange light spill out.

The orange light flickered, grew more sporadic, guttered like a candle, and then ceased. The scarecrow, the monster which had haunted them, was finally dead. Even if it had never been alive.

A moment of stillness should've prevailed then, a silent moment of sweet victory, but there was none. The kindersnatches were not about to stop just because the scarecrow was gone. They gurgled and thrashed just as fiercely as ever, rolling around and rising back to their multiple root legs.

Crimson landed, probably harder than he'd meant to. The vibrant green light coming from the ivy like necklace was enough to dully illuminate his face, and revealed that he was gasping for air.

But it wasn't over, and he wasn't afforded a moment to rest. The kindersnatches all turned as one, both the ones who'd come with the scarecrow and those who'd been keeping the others trapped on the roof, and advanced on Crimson.

A figure stepped in front of the panting Crimson. Gloom was back on his hooves. Under his wing, he held a length of wood as a makeshift stave, his spear lost somewhere underneath the fallen house.

"My turn." Gloom announced, bracing himself to defend.

Crimson however managed to straighten himself up again. He tapped Gloom on the shoulder and shook his head.

"No sir. I've still got enough left to do this." Crimson managed, breathing ragged.

Before Gloom could protest, Crimson spread his wings and leapt into the air again. The streaks of green spun out behind Crimson like a spiders web in the night as he skimmed low over all the kindersnatches heads. A moment later the jade strands split, and the wind impacted the wicker beasts.

They all went down like bowling pins into the dirt, and then Crimson was dashing among them on hoof, still flashing by at that ridiculous speed. His wing blades sliced down on the first gurgling kindersnatch as he sped a ring around it and then onto the next.

"Don't kill them!" Gloom shouted in a moment of horror when all the kindersnatch's thorny tendrils abruptly went limp, but a second later it became clear why. 

Crimson's enhanced wing blades had sliced all the limbs from the kindersnacth as cleanly as an apple, the root legs and branch arms landing on the dirt.

One-two-three-four  kindersnatches Crimson managed to down and disarm in such a fashion before the first of the others managed to regain its footing. Crimson reared up and bucked it from behind, sending it back to the dirt before he repeated his work on it.

Six and seven, the remaining kindersnatches were all back up now. 

Crimson leapt into the air and once again sped over them. A second later they were all down again in a silent gale of green laced wind. 

Eight, nine, ten, eleven, and then the last one, twelve.

Twelve kindersnatches lay in a gurgling pile, rocking and rolling around uselessly on the dirt. Crimson skidded to a stop, neatly refolded his wings, and then promptly fell over onto his side, heaving and panting.

Prey and Gloom were the first to reach him, the others were still getting down off the roof, Lilly levitating the fallen, half broken ladder up. Their calls and shouted questions were only half heard over the never ending gurgling, but they were ignored regardless.

Prey jumped over a pile of still twitching cut off thorn limbs and arrived by Crimson's side. His eyes immediately weredrawn to the chain necklace, jade green light still wafting from its links like smoke.

"What in Luna's starry mane was that? Is that?" Gloom asked, staring at it. The battering Gloom had taken from almost getting crushed by a falling house was still evident all over his body.

"I don't know," Crimson panted, "I was, just so, angry. And then, and then I wasn't, wasn't here anymore. It was like I was back watching my f-"

Crimson gulped and changed what ever he was about to say, "It's Prey's mane tie. I mean, it was the gift Prey gave me."

"It was just supposed to be a lucky jade amulet. I didn't know it would do this." Prey said before anyone could ask him.

"But are you alright Crimson? You were screaming. Are you hurt? What did it do to you?" Gloom asked urgently.

Crimson flinched and shivered convulsively, "It... this thing exacted a price from me. It took...I don't want to say. And then suddenly it turned into this necklace, and I felt fine again. Strong. I could fly, and make it do what I wanted it to."

He looked down at the chain links around his neck, "It all felt so normal to use, natural. I mean, it still feels so natural."

"You should take it off," Gloom urged, reaching to pull it free, "It hurt you and you don't know what it's doing to you. I don't know what sort of power it suddenly gave you, and it saved us, but all stories say it can't end well."

"No," Crimson almost snarled, drawing away, "I bought and paid the price. It's mine."

"Crimson that sounds dangerously like mind control," Gloom began worriedly, "Take it off-"

"I can take it off if I want to. It's not affecting my mind sir." Crimson cut him off.

"Please Crimson, you don't know what-"

"Sir, I know what I'm doing. Trust me." Crimson raised his head and levelly met Gloom's eyes. They held the look for several long seconds, during which Prey kept nervously glancing at the disabled kindersnatches, before Gloom slowly nodded.

"Alright."

Crimson let out his breath and his head slumped tiredly back onto the dirt. Gloom moved forwards again worriedly, but Crimson managed to roll onto his back and lay there staring up at the starry sky, breathing heavily.

Prey and Gloom hovered over him. "Prey?" Crimson asked after a moment when he got his breath back.

Prey had to force himself not to flinch, knowing what question was coming, "Yes Crimson?"

"Did you know what this would take from me? Did you...It hurt-Did you know?" Crimson demanded.

Why was it so hard to meet Crimson's eyes? He'd done all of this for Crimson's own good. He owed Crimson, and that meant helping him even if the pegasus didn't know he needed it.

"No, I didn't know." Prey said, projecting truth into his voice. 

'It's not a lie. I didn't know it would do this. How could I know it would be this powerful of a magical artifact?'

"This thing, do you know what it is? I mean, what it does? I was just flying on instinct and doing whatever came naturally." Crimson said.

Prey vigorously shook his head in denial, "I don't know, but from what we just saw, I can make an educated guess. It's obvious a magical artifact designed to empower the wearer. It was dormant as a ring until you did whatever it took to...'activate' it."

"But why? And how?" Gloom asked.

"I think I know the second," Prey said, then asked Crimson, "Quickly, how do you feel? Drained? Is it harder to breathe than normal? Your muscles should be screaming after moving so fast, but do they just feel sort of empty instead? Lethargic?"

"I, yes."

"When did it start? About half way through your fight with the scarecrow?" Prey quickly pressed on.

"Just after I finished. Before, I felt so strong, like I could fly for a week. But now..."

"To magically empower you, the necessary amount of magic has to come from somewhere, and it didn't come from the artifact itself. Instead, I think it draws the magic out from you and your environment."

"What does that mean?"

"Your natural magic. Every single one of you ponies has it," Prey couldn't keep the bitterness from his voice, "That necklace was using up all your natural stores, and then it was taking in the magic from the environment instead, which is why you felt so tired yet powerful at the same time, because it was foreign mana."

"What's the difference between-?"

"Another time. It'll have to wait." Gloom broke in. He looked to Prey:

"I have only one question. How bad is it for Crimson?"

Prey glanced nervously around at the prone kindersnacthes again as he answered, "It's not great for him per-say, but it shouldn't do anything permanent. I think. Even if it uses up all the mana close by and can't get any more, at worst all it should do is stop working. But I'm hardly an expert. I'm not even a pony."

Gloom let out a long sigh of relief, gingerly reaching to pull a splinter out of his wing membrane, leaving a tiny hole which bled slightly. "Well... I can't believe that any of that worked. Of all the times for a miracle, that was certainly-"

"Sargent Gloom!" Shimmer yelled, leaping over a kindersnatch and bursting in on the scene. Prey shrunk down and drew back.

"Sargent Gloom get your bucking subordinate back on his hooves, because he's going to damn well do his duty!"

Gloom was completely taken aback, and then he bared his fangs, "What in Equestria are you doing?"

"What am I doing?!" Shimmer spluttered in fury, and what looked scarily like desperation, "Your subordinate left us out to dry. Atlas almost got killed back in the forest and all this time he could've dealt with the golem at any time. And now-"

"-This was all complete luck. Crimson didn't know what the necklace did. You should be grateful, now we've destroyed the scarecrow and captured all these kindersnacthes." Gloom waved angrily about them to illustrate his point.

"-And now," Shimmer didn't look like he even heard, and that desperate look on his sweat streaked face was only growing worse, "They've destroyed them. While you've been sitting here on your tails, they've struck again!"

"Start making sense. They've done what? Who's they?"

"Sir, we've got to help sir!" Lilly shouted, arriving at a gallop, heedless of the downed kindersnatches she kicked on her way.

"Help who? Explain. Are there more enemies coming?"

"Yes, noYes. Crimson needs to go do his flying magic thing again and defeat them." Lilly whinnied shrilly, her thoughts a mess of euphoria at being alive and dread at something else.

Crimson tried to sit up, still struggling to breathe, "I can try."

"Stay down. You're not going anywhere like that." Gloom ordered, pushing Crimson back. "Will somepony please speak plain-"

"It's Alfalfa Dale!" Scenic shouted. 

The Earth pony was standing outside the ring of squirming kindersnatches, gesticulating wildly in panic, "It's burning! Mayflower was just a distraction. The warlock's hit Alfalfa Dale."

"What?" Gloom breathed, wings going slack.

"This, us, we were all just a distraction. The scarecrow was just keeping us trapped here!" Shimmer raged, "The warlock didn't wait to turn the rest of the villagers into kindersnatches, he's already done it. And he's not satisfied with those, oh no, now he wants everypony in Alfalfa Dale too."

"We saw it from the roof." Atlas had finally joined them, his face swollen and bruised. He looked around at all the downed kindersnatchs with disgust and sorrow, "Alfalfa Dale is burning, there's lights going back towards the forest, lots of them. It must be captured ponies." 

A pall of shock descended, as if the ground had suddenly been yanked out from under their hooves as Atlas' words brought home just what had happened. While they'd been hiding here, the warlock's target had been Alfalfa Dale all along. And they'd been tricked into making a stand here.

'-no no no, not this, not now-', Gloom swallowed, and licked his dry lips. "Alfalfa Dale?" 

"Y-yes sir, Alfalfa Dale. Those ponies. All those ponies..." Scenic mumbled hopelessly.

"All those ponies who we've got to rescue!" Shimmer said in a rising shout. He looked around at everyone:

"There's nopony but us! We're their only chance. They've been taken, so it's up to us. Let's go!" Shimmer shouted, wheeling around to to just that.

It hurt Gloom, Prey could see it physically pained him to say what he said next. "We... Can't."

Shimmer and Atlas froze. Slowly Shimmer turned his head back around.

"...What?"

"We can't." Gloom repeated, shame and failure burning in the thestral's thoughts, even while his mind laid out the cold hard facts of reality.

"Even if we headed to cut them off at the forest border, we'd arrive too late. They're at least an hour's gallop away. None of us can gallop for an hour, not in this condition. Or fly. Following them through the forest on hoof at night is suicide. We're all hurt. We don't have the numbers. Crimson is our best chance, but he needs to recover before he can do whatever it was with that shiny necklace again. And there's these captive kindersnatches here to free the villagers from. We can't do anything for Alfalfa Dale."

In a fit of helpless frustration, Gloom reared up and kicked a pile of severed kindersnatch limbs, sending them flying in all directions, then almost collapsed as his body protested, "We can't do anything." He spat.

Scenic and Lilly were appalled, speechless, and shocked. The idea of not being able to do anything to help was repugnant, wrong to them. But no matter how much their minds rejected it, after what'd just happened, the reality of Gloom's words couldn't be denied.

'-buck, buck, buckity buck. I can't reach those poor ponies in time-'

'-I'm useless, I'm still so useless. I'm a coward, I feel relived, I hate myself-'

Atlas stared at the ISND in disbelief, and wordlessly pointed the way with his mouth open. His face clearly expressed what he couldn't find the words for. 

'-those ponies, they need saving. We have to save them. It doesn't matter if you think we can't, but we've got to go. We're needed there, not here-'

Shimmer stared, looking between each of them. Then he shoved his hoof out towards Crimson, still lying on the dirt, "Give me that necklace then. If you're not going to help, give it to somepony who is."

"It won't work for you." Crimson said wearily.

Shimmer locked eyes with Gloom in the light cast by his horn, "Sargent Gloom. Order your subordinate to give us the necklace." He said in an even tone.

"Crimson said it won't work-"

"Cowards! The lot of you. Give it, and I'll go save the ponies you won't." Shimmer yelled, loosing control.

"It won't work." Crimson said sadly. But still, he forced himself to sit up and pulled the glowing green chain over his head and held it out.

Shimmer tried to snatch it with magic, but nothing happened. Shimmer snorted and hooked with a hoof instead, but the moment the twining links of jade chain left Crimson's hoof, the glow vanished. Shimmer stared at the inert necklace in his hoof.

"It won't work. You didn't pay the price to buy it and I don't know how to give it away to anypony else." Crimson said again, shoulders slumped.

That seemed to be the last straw. A hissing, furious note rose out of Shimmer's throat, like a kettle boiling over. Shimmer inarticulately shook his hoof at the necklace, at the ISND, at the disarmed kindersnatches, at the sky, at everything except Atlas. And yet even in his rage, Prey did not hear anything from behind his mental walls. 

Shimmer flung the chain necklace back at Crimson. 

"Hsss'Useless-You piece...Gha! Atlas, with me." Shimmer shouted. His voice was hopeless as he turned around and charged into the night, making to intercept the captured townsfolk.

They all knew he wouldn't make it. But still the Border Guard left to try. Atlas Line did not hesitate. He galloped after his Corporal without a moments pause.

"No, wait! You're going to get killed!" Gloom yelled hoarsely, taking a limping step after them, "Wait!"

They didn't. Prey felt something dark inside him smile, and knew it was his heart. 'Yes, run off and die like the vermin you are.'

Lilly had one hoof raised and outreached, looking like she longed to run after them. But she bitterly knew, '-we wouldn't make it in time. I can't be the hero this time-'

The two Border Guards hoof beats quickly faded into the night, followed by the floating light orb spell as Shimmer dipped over the hill.

No one saw Prey's smile in the dark. Those who could've seen, weren't looking. The two Border Guards were running off to get themselves killed, while he got to survive. Right here and now, he was safe. They'd beaten the warlock's offensive, and all this had only been a distraction to the warlock anyway. Alfalfa Dale was the real target. This warlock wouldn't waste more resources trying to lock down the ISND now, especially since they'd just proved they could beat him or her.

'We beat their scarecrow?' Prey's smile vanished, 'No. They sacrificed their scarecrow.'

That was wrong. The scarecrow was their masterpiece, the commander of the kindersnatches so to speak. But the warlock had thrown it at them here in Mayflower rather than send it to Alfalfa Dale. Why?

"There's more than one scarecrow."

Prey blinked. He didn't say that, did he? Had he lost track of his mouth? Prey's ears finally deciphered the tone and matched it to a voice. Prey looked up. At the top of the rise, looking off after the way Shimmer and Atlas had run, Scenic stood frozen, outlined against the stars on the horizon. His head was turned to stare at something they couldn't see.

"Scarecrow? Where? Is it coming here?" Crimson struggled weakly to his hooves.

"What do you mean, another scarecrow?" Gloom demanded, half limping, half running up the rise to get to Scenic and see what he was pointing at.

Prey wavered back and forth between staying down here with Crimson and going up to see for himself. 

"Oh merciful Celestia." He heard Lilly whispered. That decided it. Prey dashed up the low hill to see.

And there, laid out like points on a map of black, Prey got to see what the others had seen when trapped on the roof. Prey couldn't see Alfalfa Dale itself, that would've been impossible. The small town was twelve miles away and blanketed under night. But there was no mistaking where Alfalfa Dale was, even from all the way out there. Tiny candle flames twinkled and flickered, nothing more than a swarm of fireflies. 

Fireflies that did not move and burned in exactly the same spot as the border town.

And there, half way between Alfalfa Dale and where Prey knew the forest's border lay even if he couldn't see the tree line, was a trail of smaller lights, slowly moving. Shimmer had doused his light spell, and wherever he and Atlas where in the dark was an unknown. But it was what shone at the back of the afar off procession that made Prey's breath catch and his blood chill. An eerily familiar orange light, that hovered above the smaller lights below it, herding them ruthlessly forwards.

No details could be seen, only the presence of the lights, but one thing was clear. The burning orange light towered above the others, and so much brighter too. Prey's mind did a rough calculation. This new scarecrow which had just raided Alfalfa Dale was bigger. A lot bigger. It was at least two stories tall at minimum. 

Around him, despair stiffed the air and made the breath catch in every lung. They didn't stand a chance. They never had. They'd only ever been a distraction to the warlock.

Mayflower was only a stepping stone in their plan. 

But there was nothing any of them could do about it. To Scenic, Gloom, and Lilly, it was like witnessing a natural catastrophe happening. It felt as unstoppable and removed from their control as an oncoming flood. 

It was too late and too far away. All they could do was stand and watch. Like survivors on the high ground as the floodwater washed the valley away. 

Perhaps if they'd ever met any of the villagers here, they might've learnt the story, found some crucial clue, how the warlock had been an abused child who'd run away and sworn revenge. But no. All the villagers they'd ever met were locked inside kindersnatches.

"The kindersnatches." Gloom tore his gaze away from the disaster happening in the distance, to look back down the rise into Mayflower.

There, twelve large shapes wobbled and rolled about gurgling in the dark. Crimson, who'd finally managed to rise, was standing guard over them.

"The...kindersnatches?" Scenic repeated emptily, as if the words were foreign. 

The Earth pony was too slow on the uptake, because Gloom was already stumbling and sliding back down the hill.

Prey went after him, meeting Crimson waiting at the bottom. Gloom's eyes skittered over all the downed wicker figures, knowing that inside each one of the casket like upper bodies; '-a helpless villager is trapped-'

Gloom did not think about Alfalfa Dale and what they'd seen out there. He didn't let himself. There was nothing he could do to help there, but he could save these ones here.

"Sir, what's happening at Alfalfa Dale-?"

"Don't ask Crimson, please," Gloom squeezed his eyes shut, "We lost. We've lost and I failed, but there's still one thing left to us. At least one thing we can do right."

"The reinforcements are arriving in the morning. Surely they'll be able to help sir?" Crimson suggested.

"It might be too late by then." Gloom said, but inside he was desperately hoping:

'-Luna please watch over them until morning. Let the warlock not touch them until then-'

"Kindersnatches. Freeing them. Here and now." Prey said, forcing them to refocus. 

"Yes, freeing them. But how?"

"We'll have to cut them out."

"Yes, Scenic! Lilly! Find an axe, a knife, something."

"Sir, where are we going to find-?"

"Dig through the rubble. And find a lantern. We'll need light if we're going to see to do this properly."

"Sir, I have a light spell."

"You have enough magic to maintain it after all this? It needs to be bright. If we can't see properly, we might miss cut. Can you do that?"

"Er, no sir."

"Then we need to find a lantern. Hurry!"

"Yes sir!"

Desperate to focus on anything but Alfalfa Dale's fate, Lilly, Scenic and the rest of them threw themselves into digging through the rubble, lit by Lilly's weak horn light. Prey however didn't take a single step to help. He backed away from the kindersnatches, not wanting to be near them any longer than he could help.

Even if the others were deaf, he could hear them screaming. All around him, the gurgling was being drowned out by a noise only he could hear.

The sound of twelve minds wailing in wordless pain.

'-Hhhhr-__-_-Gaahhh-....Hissss...--__Awaawhahwh-'

Prey didn't hate the villagers, since they weren't ponies. But he didn't care what happened to them. An yet, even so, he wanted to shy away from what they were about to uncover. The villagers hadn't deserved this.

'But when is life ever fair?'

Prey found he couldn't look away from the closest kindersnatch as it rocked and rolled about on the ground. In the dark, it reminded him of a giant wicker slug. Or a living coffin. 

This was going to be bad, Prey knew. Bad like a battlefield. Like a graveyard. Like the cellar.

'But it has to be done.'

Prey didn't want to hurt Crimson, and this was going to hurt Crimson. Because they were going to be too late. Because they were doomed to fail.

It was going to hurt Gloom too, Prey took no pleasure in that fact either. He would even have spared Scenic from this if it was his choice, but it wasn't, and this was going to hurt all of them.

Because they cared too much. Because they wanted to help.

Prey heard the gurgling and mental screaming, and shook his head. He was giving up before they'd even tried. 'Maybe I'm wrong in my assumption. Maybe they can be saved, and their minds revived.' 

When you have no other choice, attempt the impossible. Long odds are just that, odds, a chance to change the outcome.

"Here!" Scenic shouted, running out of a dark house, "I found a lantern."

It was an old style oil lantern, mostly empty. Lilly ran over and lit it with a spark of her horn, and Prey's vision flared as it caught. The light lit everything up in horrible contrast. It had been better when it was just shapes in the dark, because this left nothing to the imagination.

Every kindersnatch was revealed, splintered wicker and twitching thorns, like a perverse landed fish, quivering and laid out in the dirt.

"Help me." Gloom ordered, grabbing the end of the closest kindersnatch and straining to drag it away from the others. Crimson and Lilly immediately moved to assist, despite how wobbly the Pegasus was, and after hesitating and screwing his face up, Scenic joined in.

The kindersnatch didn't like their efforts. It started squirming and twisting even more fiercely. 

"I don't know if you can hear us," Gloom said, raising his voice over the gurgling and speaking to the kindersnatch, "I don't know what they've done to you, but we're here to help. We're going to get you out of there. Can you hear me?"

The kindersnatch's efforts and rattling gurgling did not abate.

"We're going to save you," Lilly chimed in, "We're Night Guards, Princess Luna sent us here. We're here to save you and, and everypony else we can."

Even Lilly wasn't claiming they could save everyone anymore. How the mighty had fallen.

"We're gonna' get you out, just hold on!"

"Alright, hold him still." Gloom picked up the wood axe to begin cutting, but then hesitated, looking between the axe and the kindersnatch.

"I'll do it sir. My wing blades seem able to cut through just about anything now." Crimson said extending a wing, a green glow lighting around the wing blade's edge.

"No, you definitely shouldn't then. You'll have no idea when to stop if you cut too far." Gloom hastily stopped him.

"Then how are we supposed to do this sir? We can't just start hacking away with the axe." Lilly exclaimed.

It was Prey who spoke. He was avoiding looking at anyone. "Crimson, just make a cut down the middle. Then you'll have to peel it back by hoof."

Crimson look at Gloom, "I can manage it sir."

Gloom met Crimson's eyes and nodded, "Alright. It's up to you. Do it."

Crimson's wingblade tip glided vertically up through the wicker body without resistance. He flicked the blade shut, and they grabbed the splintered edges and dragged them back.


​---I---