Chapter Three
EverFree Forest
Central Road
The six of us trudged through the dense forest, me staying near the back of the pack, but completely alert. This area was totally deserted and had been for decades- what structures were left were in ruin, and the forest itself had obstructed most paths with fallen trees and landslides. Often we had to double back and find another smaller road to take until it met back with the original.
Someone remind me why we only brought the equivalent of maybe four professional fighters into this mess? I asked, not for the first time. I had already gotten multiple answers: We (as in Twilight) didn’t want to endanger more people in case something happened, she was confident that who we had would be enough (I couldn’t really complain about this answer), things along that line. I still couldn’t help but think that we would be overrun if they threw too many troops at us with these few numbers, though.
While we trudged through, I went over the mission objectives before us. Luna was a powerful being, to be sure, and we'd need to find much more powerful weapons to fight her. A set of ancient relics, called the Elements of Harmony, lay deep within these abandoned woods, and their power would likely give us a leg up in the fight. However, Luna was well aware of their presence here, and likely sent troops to hinder our progress. Once we found the objects, we'd focus on locating and bringing her down.
We had cleared one of the thicker sections of forest, and were now approaching a more narrow strip of road built onto the side of a cliff. “Careful, everyone!” Twilight called back, but not overly loudly. We all set off down the path slowly, and I began hovering above the path, ready to act.
We were about halfway through to the next even ground (and clump of forest) when a distant noise sounded. Everyone stopped. It almost sounded like...
“Get to the wall, quick!” I yelled, drawing my sword, just as an explosion rocked the foundation of the mountain. Huge chucks of rock fell from the steep cliffs below, and a few loose pebbles from above. Everyone dove to the side, trying to find a solid spot to stand. Another blast, and the path was nearly obliterated.
I looked out in the distance, from where the charges must have come from, and saw a group of figures, completely black, readying a steel tube with something, probably another explosive. I landed on a patch of steady ground and shot a large disc of wind in their direction, followed by several more.
They got off a third shot, then were blown off their feet by the missiles. The remaining explosives were triggered, and the whole setup and crew were consumed by the blast. “One more, guys! Hang on!”
The last shot connected, and the path crumbled altogether. Fluttershy (the one I thought I had seen before- maybe I knew her in school or something) began hovering herself, but everyone else began to fall. I surveyed the situation, and, in a spurt of adrenaline, threw my blade with all my strength, using wind to make it fly even faster. It stuck fast in the rock nearer the edge, and Twilight grabbed hold of it by the hilt, her only lifeline.
I dashed down, grabbed Pinkie (The crazy looking one. As it turns out, I actually underestimated the extent of her craziness. Still, best spear user I’d seen in a while) and brought her down to the ground level below. I could see Fluttershy following my lead and doing the same with Rarity. I could also see Applejack working her way down to Twilight, who was still clinging to the weapon.
I was about to rush up and help them, but saw several more beings- the same as in the stadium- approaching fast. “Ah...” I started, trying to piece together a plan. “Fluttershy, can you go help the other two get down?”
“Ah, I- I can try...” She nodded and flew off.
“Pinkie, Rarity-” I looked to each of my allies left fighting, then to my own lack of a weapon. “... Oh, boy. This’ll be fun... Well, let’s just hold out until the others get down here, huh?”
“No- problemo!” Pinkie said, preforming a fancy spinning move with her spear, ending with her brandishing it toward the enemy.
“I’ll do my best...” Said Rarity, bringing her smaller sword to bear.
I myself attempted to summon another wind attack, only to realize I had already overused it lately, and was out of energy for it. Not even that? Man, how the heck am I going to do this...?
The three of us stayed in a centered group, allowing the enemy to come to us. I readied myself as best I could, and soon the enemy was upon us. I did a backflip (much less impressive when you have wings) and kicked one clear over our heads and behind me, then punched another to the ground with enough force to make it disappear. I kicked another back, then flew up and slammed both fists into a fourth.
“Heads up!” I heard Applejack call from behind me. I turned, and jumped to catch my sword, which she had tossed my way. She had managed to descend the cliff with Twilight, and both were already fighting. Fluttershy was hovering higher above, trying to stay out of the range of the beasts.
I gripped my weapon once again, and tore into the creatures on my own, dashing just above the ground and preforming all sorts of deadly techniques. I finished by grabbing it with two hands and cross-slashing three, ending with my feet on the ground. I looked around, and since the rest seemed to have been taken care of, began to make my way back to the others.
A ferocious roar from behind stopped me short. Sword still in hand, I whipped around, and some distance away, a huge creature stood. ‘Creature’ was about as descriptive as I could get- it mostly looked like a lion, but had horns of some sort and bat wings.
“Seriously?” I said, already beginning to wear out after two fights and no rest. Still, I hefted my weapon again and jumped back, joining the others. “She’s not gonna make this easy for us, is she? AJ, let’s move!”
“Right!” She said, once again keeping things short and sweet (also seeming to be too preoccupied to tell me not to call her ‘AJ’). She hefted her weapon, brandishing it in the direction of the beast, followed shortly by the other two melee fighters. Twilight was last to ready herself, clearly not used to such a large foe or this much combat.
“Go!” I charged forward, diving to the side practically next to the thing and rolling around the side, slicing it in the back. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Applejack doing the same, but no-one else had moved yet.
I was about to yell back, but the creature turned, and after a bit of dodging, slammed me to the ground. I hit the earth hard and rolled back to the rest of the group, my head spinning.
I pulled myself to my feet with effort, facing the others. “Don’t just stand there! Get moving!” I jumped back in, this time followed by Pinkie and, more reluctantly, Rarity and Twilight. I brought my sword down over my head as I was running, and it collided with the beast’s claw, again with enough force to send me reeling. I landed on my feet, shaking my head. This is not going to be easy... Wait a minute...
I looked around frantically. Where’d Fluttershy go? I turned my attention to directly above the creature. At some point it, seemed she had flown up there, and looked like she was preparing something, possibly a spell. What’s she doing?! Agh, I gotta keep that beast busy until she can escape...
I charged again, joining Rarity somewhere along the way. We caught it off guard while it was fighting Applejack around the other side, but it was able to counter us barely after our first hit. It was simply too fast- and showed no signs of wearing down. At this rate...
All of a sudden, everything stopped. From above, a blissful song melody wafted, though in a completely indefinable language. It didn’t take much effort to realize it was Fluttershy singing- though from what I’d seen, it certainly wasn’t what I was expecting: she seemed much too timid to draw attention to herself like that. And when I looked back to the beast, I was again surprised.
It had become placid upon hearing the song, even though it had attacked viciously and without provocation just before. And as the music ended, it seemed to loose interest in our group and simply wandered off, back into the deep forest. I thought I could see a slight wisp of smoke waft from it just as it left view, much like what the smaller beings were made of.
We all (save for Fluttershy) let out a bated breath. I loosened my iron grip on my weapon, and surveyed the damages the team had taken. A few scratches here and there, but nothing major it seemed. However, Twilight seemed to be overreacting to one of her own wounds.
“Ah, that thing was tough...” She said, nursing a claw mark on her arm. “Shouldn’t be too hard to heal though...” She dug around in her pockets until she came up with a bandage, then wrapped the wound simply.
“Hey, Leader.” I called over sarcastically. “While you were busy with your near-fatal wound, I made sure the rest of the team was okay. You’re welcome.” I could tell she understood what I was getting at, but she didn’t respond immediately.
I turned to Fluttershy. “What was that?” I asked curiously.
She had been zoned out for a bit- watching the beast trudge back into the forest and out of sight. “Oh, uh... Well, I learned it from someone a few years ago... someone from another place, far away. I’m not sure how it works, but... It just, makes people calmer. Or creatures. I... I try to use it whenever I can. He was being influenced by Luna’s power, it looked like. Plus, it just doesn’t seem right to kill when it’s just hurt feelings on the line.”
“Good point.” I said. Then, as more of an after point: “I doubt we could have killed him if we wanted to, anyway...”