//------------------------------//
// The Attack 
// Story: The Irish Man 
// by The Irish Brony 
//------------------------------//

“What do you mean?” Dash asks as I take a quick glance over to Finn’s tent to make sure he hasn’t come back.
I turn back to face Dash, who has a worried look on her face. “Dash, Finn used to tell me stories of his adventures. I remember a story he told me a lot. To cut to the chase, I think it was about me. I always thought he made it up, but it might be true,” Dash’s ears perk up as Finn walks out of his tent with a blue backpack that has a green strip down the center of the back where the latch holds the flap down. We turn to face him, both putting on a smile.
"Isn't that your bag?" Dash whispers into my ear. I node yes as Finn walks over to us.
"As I said earlier, the meat-eating butterflies are coming through soon, just a few clicks to the north. You too are welcome to come along if you like," Finn says, heading out into the forest.
"We should follow him," I say, standing up. Dash grabs me by the hand as she flies up to my level.
"Brogan, if you know what happened, then can't we stop it?" Dash asks as we follow Finn into the forest.
"Not really," I reply. "What's about to happen has to happen, or else I might never have come here, then it would be a paradox,"
"You've been hanging with Twilight too much," Dash complains to me before flying ahead to fly next to Finn.
"So, what have you been up to since I last saw you mister adventure?" Dash asks, getting the attention of Finn.
"Mostly research into the wildlife and its magic," Finn says as he casually snaps his fingers. A flash of white light consume his hand before fading away and revealing a small red notebook had appeared in his hand along with a pencil. "I've also learned some magic,"
He turns to look back at me while still walking forward. "I should teach you it some time, it could come in handy,"
"Trust me," I pause to raise my arm up and pull my hand close to me while whispering "Gaoth ar ais," A gust of wind just powerful enough to pull Dash back to my side. She wobbles in surprise before correcting herself and looking at me with daggers in her eyes. "I know magic is useful,"
"Don't do that again," Dash whispers angrily at me as Finn turns back around.
"I was just making a point," I whisper back. Dash rolls her eyes right before we both run into the back of Finn.
"Finn, why did you..." Dash stops talking after getting a better look at why he stopped. Right in front of him was a gaping ravine with a river at the bottom.
“Well, that explains why you stopped,” I say, looking over the edge of the cliff.
“Come on, it’s not much further to the bridge that leads to the butterfly fields,” Finn says, waving for us to follow. We walk along the edge of the ravine for a while to the point my feet starts to hurt.
“Can we take a break, my feet are starting to hurt?” I ask, stopping as they turn to face me. Dash looks aggravated, but Finn smiles warmly.
“Sure, it’s a good time to get a snack,” Finn says, sitting down. I follow his lead and sit on the ground as Dash lands next to Finn. Finn slides off his bag as I do the same. Finn pulls at an apple and looks up at me. “Want a úll?”
“Sure,” I say as Finn tosses the apple to me. I ketch it and look at it. The skin was green and shiny. I take a bit out of it to feel the sweet taste of a granny smith apple hit my tongue. I looked over at Dash to see she was nibbling on a dandelion that was growing nearby her. I smile and shake my head at the similarities that they have with horses on earth. I take another bite out of my apple as I hear a crunching sound of a branch being broken behind me.
I turn around to see nothing behind me. “Was I the only one who heard a tree branch break?” I ask, slowly turning back around. Dash and Finn looked at me and shook their heads. “So I’m not going crazy,” I slowly stood up, Finn and Dash following my lead.
“What do you think it could be,” Finn asks as I look around at the forest.
“Fís teasa,” I whisper, but nothing happened. “Wurth a shot,” I think as I put my foot back in a fighting position as I raise my hands over my head. “Nocht tú féin!” I yell as a blue ball of energy forms in between my hands. The wind it stirs up does nothing to cool down the heat it radiates. I push my hands as hard as I can towards the forest, shooting the ball to the trees. The blue ball splits once it hits a tree and thousands of little blue streaks go from it. Nothing happens for a while, to the point Finn speaks up.
“What was that supposed to do?” Finally one of the blue sparks hit something not too far from us, maybe two hundred feet away. Lighting the thing up with a bright blue border. Dash and my jaws drop as Finn looks at it shakily.
“Is that a,” I say before Finn cuts in.
“That’s a timberwolf,” Finn says. “We should run,” The timberwolf jumps out at me. I slide out of the way as it lands on the ground with a loud thud. The wolf was completely made of oak wood. It looks up at me with its shark wood teeth ready to kill. Its yellow eyes burn into me as it rises to full height. It towered over us like a skyscraper.
“Brogan!” Dash yells at me. I blink, snapping myself out of the trance before yelling.
“Ar ais!” I yell, pushing my hand, palm up, towards the timberwolf. Wind rushes past me, hitting the timberwolf and sending it into the raven.
“We better go, there will be more,” Finn says, running. I turn and follow with Dash flying next to me. It wasn’t long till two more timberworlfs show themselves. One jumps over our head and in front of us as the other one corners us from behind.
“I’ll handle the back one, you two get the one in front,” I say, turning to the one behind us. I raise my hands up and spread my feet in the most generic fighting stance ever.
“You sure?” Dash asks.
“I can handle myself, thanks,” I say, making it come out harsher than I meant to. The wolf looks at me and charges straight for me. I rase my left hand over my head in an arc before stopping it informant of me and clenching my fist.
“Trasfhoirmigh!” I yell, feeling my legs shake. I take a sharp intake of air as the timberwolf stops in its tracks. The world falls apart as I lower my arms. “That’s.. not how that’s supposed to work,... but whatever,” I say, shrugging my shoulders. I turn around to see Finn has his hands to his chest with a shield symbol formed out of his fingers. A blue shimmer of light is the only thing showing there is anything there. Dash was flying around the wolf, flying by and hitting it every so often. I run over to them as Dash is swatted out of the air. She lands on the ground and rolls towards us. I pick her up and drag her into the shield.
“I didn’t know you could do shield magic?” I ask more than I state.
“It’s a lot harder than it looks,” Finn says calmly. I then notice his eye were closed as he was completely focused on the shield. The timberwolf was now pawing at the shield as Dash slowly stands up and shakes her body. “Try setting him on fire,”
“I’ll do that,” I say, outstretching my arm behind me, then bringing it forward as fast as I could. I feel the heat build-up as I say, “Liathróid Dóiteáin.” I feel the fireball fill my hand as I throw it like a baseball towards the wolf. It lands on his head, sending him backward in a blind ferry as it swipes at the fire on its face.
“We need to go now!” Dash yells sleepily as she stands up, pointing behind us. We turn around to see the timberwolf from earlier was reforming.
“We should,” I say, turning and running past the wolf on fire. Dash and Finn fallow behind me as the timberwolf fully brings itself together. I look back to see it was running towards us. Then a loud thud comes from next to me. I look to see Dash had fallen face-first into the dirt.
“Dash!” I yell, turning around and squatting down next to her.
“Brogan!” Finn yells, stopping to turn and look at us. I look up to see the timberwolf jump into the air.
“Gaoth iomlán!” I yell, putting my hand in the air. I felt the wind push up from where I was standing to where I was pointing to. I feel my energy drain as the timberwolf is sent into the raven. I slack down as I take a few deep breaths. It felt like I couldn’t go on anymore.
“Note to self, don’t overuse magic,” I think as I hear Finn walking over to us.
“You two ok?” I turn just in time to see Finn miss-step, slipping into the raven. He grabs at the ground unsuccessful as he falls. I lung and grab his arm. We slid until my chest was over the edge of the ground.
“Dréacht suas.” I say, trying to pull Finn up. Nothing happened as I struggled to try and pull him up. Fin tries to grab the side of the ground but is unable to get a good grip. I look at the ground as my eyes start to water as I know what I must do.
“I’m sorry, I can’t hold on much longer,” I say as I slowly let go. I stare at the ground as I hear Finn splash into the water below. I close my eyes as I slowly sit up. I open my eyes slowly as I hear Dash getting up.  I stare across the raven as my emotions hit me like a truck.“What if I never came? What if I didn’t use up all my magic?” I think as I hear Dash walk over to me as she groans.
"What happened?" Dash asks, standing next to me. I ignored her as I continue to think over what happened. "Brogan?" Dash asks, putting her face in front of me. She flies in front of me as she waves her hoof. "Earth to Brogan, what happened?" Dash looks around then turns back to me. "Where is Finn? Did he get away?"
"Yes he did," I think as I slowly stand up. Dash sighs as she flies up to me.
"So, what happened?" She asks as I start walking towards the campsite. The timberwolves were gone. Dash flies up next to me as I stay silent. "Brogan? What happened?" Dash says, starting to get worried.
"I'll tell you when we get back," I say, continuing to walk.
"No!" Dash yells, she flies in front of me and stops me. She places a hoof on my chest. I look up at her angrily as she looks down at me with disgust. A part of my heart breaks that wasn't already broken. "I am not having this stoic, hard Bullshit." Dash lowers her hoof and lowers to eye level. "This isn't you, tell me what happened," Dash says with the most sincere sadness in her voice.
"Talk and walk," I say, walking past her. She flies up to me as I start telling her what happened.