Sandbar hated to see his friends go, but Starlight was a powerful unicorn. And she had a good plan. He waved until he could barely see Ocellus, Gallus, and Smolder. He turned back to his other friends. Yona and Silverstream were staring at a floating crystal as Starlight spoke to it. Sandbar sat next to Yona and watched.
“Okay, we’re ready to come to you,” Starlight said.
“Good,” Hedron’s voice answered. “Here’s a map of the best route to the Nexus. Do you have paper to copy it?”
“Here’s some!” Silverstream pulled out a quill and paper and put them down in front of Starlight.
The crystal flashed. A detailed map appeared on the paper. Sandbar looked it over. The route through the Wastelands went around areas marked as dangerous, but the naturally difficult terrain meant they’d have to take plenty of twists and turns through the rocky canyons.
“Map transfer complete. If you run into any issues, contact me again.”
The crystal stopped glowing and floated down. Starlight placed it in a box and placed a protective spell on it.
“Okay, it’s going to be a long day. I can teleport us past a few of the more difficult parts, but we’re going to need to do a lot of walking and flying, too. I’ll keep the map and guide us. You three can keep an eye out for anything dangerous. Yona, you get the front. Silverstream, you get the sky. Sandbar, you keep an eye on what’s behind us.”
“Sure thing!” Sandbar smiled and took his place at the back of the group.
It was a warm day, and the Wastelands reminded Sandbar of what he had heard of places like Appleoosa or Dodge Junction. The dry, sandy paths were difficult, and the tall sandstone cliffs made it hard to see more than a short distance.
“Hey Yona, do you think that rock looks like a yak?”
“It looks like old grandma yak with big frown.”
Yona and Sandbar laughed. They kept walking until the narrow cliffs surrounded them in shadow. Silverstream perched up above on the edge of a cliff.
“I like how it echoes!” she shouted. Her voice repeated back several times but was fainter each time. “Hello!”
Starlight frowned and looked up from the map. “It’s good that you’re having fun, but we should be more careful.”
The smallest flicker in the shadows caught Sandbar’s eye. His fur stood on end as two blasts of black energy shot from the darkness in a large crack on the side of the canyon. Both hit Starlight. She crashed into the rock wall and collapsed.
“No! Starlight!” Silverstream dove down to check on her.
Yona snorted and charged at the figures made of shadows that materialized in the dim light. Sandbar hesitated. He had seen what Shade and Nightmare could do already. He took a deep breath then yelled as he galloped to Yona’s side. He stared at Shade while Yona watched Nightmare.
“Ah, the little follower of chaos!” Shade’s laughter made Sandbar’s hair stand on end. “But Storm Surge is busy at our old stronghold. He won’t be able to help you here.”
“You hurt Starlight! Say sorry or Yona smash!”
Nightmare’s horn glowed. “A clumsy yak like you will do little against the graceful power of the shadows.”
“They aren’t going to listen, Yona.” Sandbar said it more to convince himself as he scraped a hoof against the ground and prepared to charge. If they could keep these two busy, maybe Silverstream could wake Starlight back up.
Sandbar braced himself as he saw Shade’s horn charge up. He jumped, but the bolt of black energy still grazed his shoulder. He gritted his teeth and ignored the searing pain as he spun and aimed a kick. Sandbar put everything into the attack, and his hoof hit something solid. Shade rolled and crashed into a large rock.
“Leave us alone!” Starlight shouted.
Sandbar could feel an immense amount of magic behind him. Silverstream flew to his side and they both flew at Shade. The shadowy alicorn growled and charged his horn, but a barrier flickered into place and stopped Shade’s attack. Sandbar kicked him in the side while Silverstream distracted him.
“Good hit, Sandbar!” Silverstream said.
Sandbar glanced over to the other side of the canyon. Yona and Starlight were facing Nightmare. Nightmare was smoking from where Starlight’s attack had hit her. She screamed in rage and shot at Starlight. Starlight skidded backwards then stumbled. She fell on her side and didn’t get up.
“Silverstream, keep this guy busy,” Sandbar said. “I’m going to try to help Starlight.”
Sandbar sprinted over. He closed his eyes and placed his hooves on Starlight. Her breathing and heartbeat were both faint.
“Please, by Harmony, you have to get back up!”
Sandbar felt a sudden massive flow of energy from himself to Starlight. He focused on healing her magical injuries and burns. Sandbar was breathing hard when he opened his eyes. Starlight was staring up at him. He helped her up.
“Sandbar, what was that?”
“A little of the magic of Harmony. I don’t think I can do it again.”
“Let’s get back in the fight. Yona and Silverstream can’t do this alone.”
Sandbar ran to Yona’s side. Yona was breathing hard, but she had no other marks from the battle. Silverstream screeched in pain as a black beam from Shade’s horn caught her wing. She nearly fell to the ground, but a faint glow surrounded her. She landed softly and groaned in pain.
“Sandbar, watch out!”
Yona dove in front of Sandbar. Her magical horn rings flashed as Nightmare’s magical attack hit Yona. The dark spell dispersed.
“You are all much more troublesome than I expected,” Nightmare said. “We will have our kingdom back. And what you took from us. But you have won this battle.”
Silverstream and Starlight had somehow locked Shade in a magical cage. The wet paint from Silverstream’s magical paintbrush glistened on the ground in fresh runes. Nightmare teleported over and blasted away one rune. The cage fell apart. Nightmare pulled Shade close to her then teleported away in a loud pop. Starlight’s stun ray blasted the rock where they had been standing.
“I hope that’s the last we see of them,” Starlight said. “But I think they’ll keep coming after us as long as we have their items. We need to hurry and get to the Nexus. Hedron will be able to protect us there with his full power. Silverstream, are you okay?”
“I might have lost a few feathers, but I’m fine. See?” Silverstream flapped her wings then winced. “Ow. Maybe it’s worse than I thought.”
Sandbar held out a hoof. “Here, let me see it.” A portion of the feathers were in bad shape. Sandbar tried to smooth them back in place. Silverstream’s wing was so soft and warm, but also so delicate. He blushed and took his hoof off of it. “It should heal up soon. I’d heal it myself, but I used everything I had on Starlight.”
“I can walk for now.” Silverstream folded up her wing and gave Sandbar a pat on the shoulder.
Starlight pulled the map back out and looked at it carefully.
“I think we have a few options. If we go a little out of our way, the map has a place marked ‘bats’ that is marked as safe. But I think we should use a little of my magic and hurry ahead to the Nexus. It’s even safer there, and Hedron needs us to do something important.”