//------------------------------//
// Fight at Canterlots Courtyard 
// Story: The Hunters of Secrets 
// by Arkantos 
//------------------------------//

Back in the courtyard, Twilight's magical barrier was on the verge of collapse. But knowing this, she prepared for a counterattack. Though risky, it was the only thing she could think of.

A smattering of magical bolts of lightning and fire hit the barrier and destroyed it. As the barrier broke apart, it produced magical feedback and every single piece of the magical barrier shot forth. The shards of barrier slammed into everything around with a wave of the purple magical fire produced by Twilight. Every Werepony on or near the magical barrier was sent flying into the walls or the towers.

Suddenly, two bolts of lightning hit Twilight in the face. Then the same two Monsters used their magic to engulf Twilight into a tornado of fire that kept going for an hour. After that hour, the fire tornado disappeared, leaving Twilight with a burned coat. 

Twilight said, "Well, that was intense." She fell onto her side, barely breathing.

As Rainbow ran towards Twilight's burned body, she yelled, "Twilight! Please stay with me! Please! I can't go through this again! I can't lose another friend. I, I, I don't want you to leave like Gilda did. I never told you what happened to her, and the truth is I don't know what exactly happened. The letter they sent just said she somehow got killed, and whoever did it was long gone before any Griffins in Griffinstone knew she was gone, and-”

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Pinkie exclaimed, "I'll save her!" And following her words, the pink mare pulled a defibrillator out of her mane, sprayed some sort of chemical on the metal plates, and rubbed them together. Then, out of her tail, she pulled a bag, which held some machine-like paddles that were constantly beeping. The paddles beeped several times as if they had just gotten a full charge. Pinkie placed the paddles on Twilight’s chest and side, then yelled, "Clear!" Zap! Twilight's body reacted to the charge. Pinkie pulled out some sort of breathing mask and secured it on Twilight's muzzle. Then she put her hoof on Twilight's neck to feel a pulse but felt nothing. She returned to the machine and repeated the process.

Rainbow was lost for words and would have stayed there staring at her friend's side, but her anger reached its peak. She turned around to face the two Monsters that had done this to her friend and used her speed to zip straight at them. However, the Monster with horns was ready for her. Rainbow hit face-first into a magical barrier. Before she could recover, she was hit by a fire spell that burned all the feathers on one of her wings. She glared at the Wereponies around her, then got up and said, "You beasts are as heartless as changelings."

The Wereponies looked at each other before gazing back at Rainbow with hunger in their eyes and drool coming out of their mouths. Then a whoosh sound was made by Rainbow Dash. The Monsters’ eyes widened with fear as they saw a silver arrow hit them in the heart. They disintegrated as quickly as a river flows.

Twilight and her friends saw three Chiroptera fighting more Wereponies. One dark yellow Chiroptera reloaded his crossbow and fired a magical bolt at a nearby Monster. An electrical current burst out of the bolt and sent the Monster flying into a wall before it disintegrated. Then another Monster came charging at the Chiroptera. Thinking quickly, he pressed a button that transformed his crossbow into a silver sword. He decapitated the Monster and yelled, "You call that a sneak attack?! Please! I've seen better attempts!" Then he flew up to get two more flying Wereponies.

Rainbow was about to run back to her friends, but unfortunately one of the Monsters saw her get up. He immediately used his horn to drag her closer to him, claws ready to tear her to pieces. His mouth drooled with the thought of his meal. 

Rainbow did her best to try to get away, but the magic of the Werepony was too strong. A levitation spell continued to drag her to where he stood. When she hung directly in front of the Monster, it began to cut and dig into her; it hurt like hell. The deeper the slashes went, the more the cuts felt like hot metal blades against her flesh. Her vision began to darken as her blood painted the ground. Just as she began to believe that this was the end of her, she noticed something silver in the sky.

Suddenly, a dark blue Chiroptera with a spear zipped up to and impaled the Monster, which disintegrated immediately. The magical grip on Rainbow disappeared and she fell to the blood-covered ground. She looked up and noticed a large hole that wasn't there before. As blood continued to pour out of her wounds, she heard a dark yellow Chiroptera yell, "Hey, that looks bad! Wrap this around it!" And he tossed a long roll of gauzy white hospital cloth towards her. "If he didn't come here when he did, you would have been beyond saving." She wrapped the white cloth around her stomach and looked at her savior. The dark blue Chiroptera transformed his spear into a silver sword and decapitated another Werepony. Then he plunged his hoof into the folds of his cloak, just as three Wereponies came running at him, hunger in their eyes. With a serious look, he said, "You three lack the skill to take us on."

He swung his hoof out and three small silver throwing daggers were flung at the Monsters, each one hitting its target. Rainbow had just finished dressing the worst wounds when he picked up the light blue Pegasus, placed her on his back, and galloped to Pinky and Twilight. There, he dropped her and said, "Don't move." Then he looked at the castle gate. "Ok, Raven, it's all on you now!" Then the dark blue Chiroptera took off into the air.

A minute later, a dark purple Chiroptera landed in front of them wielding a staff. Several Wereponies came running at them then. Raven pulled out a stone from her cloak and tossed it at Twilight, Pinkie, and Rainbow. The stone began to float and the rune on it began to glow. It glowed light blue. Then a green and blue barrier appeared, and the damage that had been done to Twilight and Rainbow Dash became undone. The bloody hole in Rainbow's body disappeared and her stomach was back to normal. Twilight’s burned, blackened coat changed back to purple. 

Then Raven closed her eyes and, relying on her senses of smell and hearing, she got into a fighting stance. A Werepony was about to bite her, but suddenly, time seemed to have slowed down. 

When the Werepony got closer. Raven opened her eyes, she said, "All right, let's get started." 

She hit the Werepony in the stomach with her staff and then hit its face. She started to hit her enemy faster and faster. She zipped around and hit it repeatedly on the sides. Then she swung her staff at its legs to trip it. As the Monster fell, Pinkie could see many bruises underneath its fur. Raven then transformed her staff into a pair of nunchucks with silver blades at the ends. She stabbed the Monster in two places: the neck and the heart. It disintegrated. The dark purple Chiroptera rose up to face her next opponent; she placed her weapon on her shoulder and brought out of her cloak two stones of equal size. One was pure dark gray with glowing dark blue runes on it. The other was light gray with glowing green runes on it. Then she slammed them together. The entire world went black. To the best of her knowledge, there were four more Monsters. There was also a time limit to this darkness, so she quickly zipped and stabbed three of them. She finished the last one off by using her nunchucks. Her fighting style easily worked on the Wereponies. She brought them down with a series of hits and slashes. After a final devastating strike to the head, she transformed her weapon back into a staff and said, "Your deaths shall help balance the world. Thank you for the lesson." She bowed to the disintegrated Wereponies.

Raven turned around and walked toward an unconscious Twilight and her conscience friends. The other two Chiroptera landed next to her. Twilight was still out cold. Rainbow removed the white cloth to see that her wound was completely gone. As she looked up, all she could think to ask was one question. 

"Who are you guys?"