Our blades rang together again and again. Despite his being so much smaller than mine, it had little trouble parrying and deflecting my much larger blade. A quality of it being a divine element, no doubt.
I was starting to get frustrated, though. I had to get away from this guy. His people were after one of my boys, and I had to stop them, but he was keeping me from them.
I charged again, swinging a powerful strike at his head. He moved his sword to parry, but I fired a round from my canon. He dodged, but it threw him off balance. There was nothing he could do.
My blade was inches from his thigh, inches from crippling the werewolf, before I flew off my feet. I looked down to see the chain on the end of his sword retracting from my ankle, shrinking back to its original size.
I should have been looking out for things like that. All divine element weapons and armor have multiple abilities. Unfortunately, I only knew the ability to change the size and proportions of mine.
Unfortunately for him, I still had some tricks up my sleeve. As he approached, sword at the ready, I spun to my feet, throwing a roundhouse kick at his hip. Apparently, his battle instinct was great, as he stopped and braced himself, moving the flat of his blade to parry my kick.
I drove my leg into his blade, driving through. Even if he noticed my kick was powerful, he didn’t realize how powerful. He was sent flying, so I took the opportunity to rush back toward town.
I had to find Midnight before his thugs did.
Midnight and Applebloom ran as fast as they could. A shadow passed overhead before one of the werewolves landed in front of them.
“Come quietly, little colt, and we won’t hurt the filly,” the werewolf said.
“Tsh,” Applebloom scoffed, scooping up a rock and throwing it with all her strength. “Ah don’t think so!”
She didn’t even wait for the rock to hit or miss. She grabbed Midnight’s hoof and ran another way. A smirk crossed her face at the pained yelp behind them.
“Fine!” one of the wolves roared. “We do it the hard way, then!”
That wiped the smirk from Applebloom’s face. This was a very serious situation. These guys weren’t just some random thugs. They were after Midnight, specifically, for some reason. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t really care. She wouldn’t let them hurt him.
She had to make a sudden turn as a wolf leaped at them from the side.
Another landed in front of them, having jumped down from one of the trees. Applebloom turned again, only for the other wolf to blindside her with a foot to the face.
She went tumbling into a nearby tree. Without her support, Midnight stumbled and fell, as well.
“Grab the colt!” one of the wolves ordered. “Ignore that one.”
Applebloom looked up and saw a wolf with a bloody eye standing over her.
“No way,” the wolf snarled. “This little shit messed up my eye. It’s only fair I take hers.”
“Hurry up, then. We need to get this one to the boss,” the first one said.
Before Applebloom could try to get to her hooves, the wolf stomped on her chest, knocking the air out of her and cracking at least one rib. She looked up, fear taking over as the wolf raised a sword.
“Stay still, little one. You don’t want me to accidentally run you through,” the wolf said with a sadistic grin.
Applebloom slammed her eyes shut as the wolf struck, lunging down at her helpless form.
“The hell?” the wolf cried.
Applebloom opened her eye, just enough to see what was happening, but what she saw quickly had both eyes wide in surprise and confusion.
The tree above them seemed to have reached out and wrapped the wolf’s paw in its branches. Then, fast as lightning, the tree pulled the wolf into its trunk, wrapping it in wood, only leaving its head exposed.
Applebloom looked back to see Midnight, glaring at the wolf, eyes glowing white with power. “Don’t you dare touch her!”
He turned his attention to the other wolf, and the grass seemed to reach up and try to swallow him.
In his panic, the werewolf lashed out with his sword, cutting a deep gash across Midnight’s side. Midnight yelped in pain and fell away. As soon as he did, the grass halted its attack and the wolf pulled itself free.
The wolf snarled as he approached midnight, sword at the ready.
Applebloom, though, decided to give him a demonstration of some good, old-fashioned Apple family apple buckin’. Despite not quite being full grown, she was easily stronger than the average adult earth pony. When her hooves connected with the wolf’s skull, she felt the bone give way and the cracking sound of bone breaking.
The wolf slammed into a tree and fell in an unmoving heap.
Applebloom rushed to Midnight’s side. “Midnight, talk to me! Tell me you’re okay!”
“I-it... hurts,” Midnight struggled to say.
“Don’t move,” Applebloom said, forcing herself to stay calm. “Ah’ll patch you up as best Ah can. Someone’ll be here soon.”
She looked at the wolf she... knocked out. Ah only knocked him out. That’s all. Ah just gotta run to a shed to get a rope and a first aid kit.
I raced into town, trying to ignore the damage all around me. Honestly, I was surprised it wasn’t worse.
I slid to a stop as a mass of werewolves came charging at me. I readied myself for a fight, drawing my weapon and preparing myself.
“It’s gonna kill us all!” one of the shouted in sheer terror.
That was when I realized, they weren’t charging me, they were running away from something else.
“That pegasus is a demon!” another shouted.
“Did... did something happen to Dinkie?” I asked myself outloud. “Wait... no, they’re still alive.”
That was when I saw what they were running from. It was like pure, elemental fire in pony form. As it flew over burning buildings, it sucked the flames into itself and launched it at what few wolves were brave or stupid enough to remain.
“What the hell is that?!” I asked whoever was close enough to hear.
“It’s Cedric,” Pinkie said as she ran after him, slowing just enough to speak. “He saved Pumpkin from a fire and then, woosh he was all fiery and super angry.”
What the hell did I miss? I thought to myself.
I couldn’t waste time on that, though. Cedric had the town under control and I could figure out how he channeled the Phoenix Force later. I needed to get to my son.
I ran through town as fast as I could, occasionally blasting a werewolf that was harassing someone with my canon set to a less-lethal concussive blast. It wasn’t because I was worried about killing the werewolves, but because I was concerned about accidentally hitting someone else.
When I finally arrived at the farm, I picked up four scents, Midnight, Applebloom, and two werewolves, running into the orchard. I ran as fast as I could while keeping the scent.
Then, I smelled blood.
I ran full speed until I spotted Applebloom, sitting over Midnight’s prone form.
“Applebloom!” I called, she turned with a start, her eyes wild and fearful.
“M-mister Shiro, he’s hurt,” she said, her voice as shaky as her demeanor.
I immediately grabbed a first aid spell from my belt as I ran to Midnight’s side. I cast it as I checked him over. Aside from the nasty looking gash on his side, I didn’t see anything. He was breathing, though. That was a relief.
I looked around, spotting the two wolves that were chasing them one was tied up on the ground by a tree and the other was somehow merged with another tree, looking terrified.
“Ah... Ah tied him up... in case he wakes up,” Applebloom said, a terrified quiver in her voice.
“Applebloom, go get a doctor, right now,” I ordered. “Hurry up. I’ll make sure he’s okay, but he needs a hospital.”
Applebloom just nodded her head and ran off.
I watched her go. When she was out of sight, my eyes drifted to the tied up wolf, staring at nothing with glassy eyes.
I forced myself to look away and focused on my son. The first aid spell wouldn’t heal him, it would only stop the bleeding. It basically creates force fields to reinforce arteries and organs while dulling pain.
It wasn’t very durable and didn’t last very long, but it could and has saved lives. That, and it took about a minute to take hold.
“D-dad?” Midnight muttered. “Wh-where’s-”
“Shh, don’t talk or move,” I said, playing a paw on his shoulder to try and soothe him. “You’re okay, but you got hurt. Applebloom’s gone to get a doctor to take a look at you. She’s... goin’ to be fine, too. She’s not hurt, just...” I glanced at the body. “Shaken.”
“Okay... I’m kinda tired,” Midnight said. “Is it okay if I go to sleep? I heard it’s bad when you’re hurt.”
I brushed a paw across his cheek. “Yeah, it’s fine. Sleep is good when you’re hurt.”
“Okay,” Midnight said before going silent and trying to relax.
After a moment, when I felt he was asleep, I roseto my feet grabbed Gaea's Thorn and turned to the wolf in the tree.
“P-please, I-” He started to speak, but I silenced him with a finger to my lips and a blade to his neck.
“Wake him, and Ah cut you,” I threatened in a whisper. “Now, why were you after mah son?”
“Y-you’re...” Confusion turned to horror. “Oh, shit... we... I... I don’t know. We were just told to grab him. We weren’t told why, I swear.”
I had a feeling he was too scared to lie. However, there was one thing he had to know.
“How did this happen?” I gestured to the tree he was encased in.
“I-I’m not sure,” he said. “All I know is that colt’s eyes started glowing and this tree grabbed me.”
I looked back at Midnight. Midnight did this? How?
I looked back at the wolf. “And what were you doin’ when he did?”
“I... I was...” he closed his eye shut, bringing to my attention that he only had one good eye. “I was trying to take the filly’s eye. I was mad and I wasn’t thinning because she took mine.”
I barely stopped my blade before it cut his head off, close enough to cut a line in his neck. I forced myself to pull away and lodge the blade in the ground so I could punch him in the face.
“Damn it,” I hissed. I hadn’t meant to knock him out. “Now Ah gotta wait for him to wake up.”