The hut was silent after Zecora gave the ominous warning. Thorax, her lover, slightly tapped a candle in the room as he looked back and forth inspecting the three mares’ reactions. Twilight was obviously shaken despite her confidence. Fluttershy’s usual shyness was now a look of caution. And Applejack looked defensive. “So, Zecora, what shall we do now?” Twilight muttered with her throat tightening as panicked welled up inside of her.
“Leave. That’s the best I can offer. And you go to Thorax.” The Zebra spoke pointing her hoof to the three mares and to coltfriend. Thorax looked at her with a clear frown as his black ears perked up.
“Uh, babe why are you staying?” Zecora’s expression was somber as she looked down at the table as the dim candlelight overcast a shadow on her hooves.
“I’m not doing this out of a hero complex, but out of the fact that I am a liability. They know that I understand so much about them, yet so little. I am the one that gives off information that sparks ideas. Isn’t that why you needed me? So my wisdom could give you advice on your future actions?” Her voice was monotone with dread that drained out like a waterfall.
Twilight gave a slight reassuring smile as a droplet of sweat rolled down her mane. “Well, yes, but you could still live-"
“No! I don’t want to live. Why should I constantly be haunted by this legend with people I care about next to me? Why should I be a risk?” The zebra pulled out a long hoofgripped semiautomatic rifle from underneath the shadow of the table. Thorax recognized that rifle as his old one and tried to grab it from her. But Zecora simply put a hoof on his chest and looked him in the eyes. The changeling’s ears perked back and he walked away to the exit. The other three followed him as well and opened the wooden door that loudly creaked as it’s metallic hinges grinded against each other.
The forest was silent as usual but the three knew that somewhere amongst the shrubs there was something watching. As soon as the group reached the top of the forested hill that overlooked Zecora’s hut, a bang echoed out of the house and stopped as soon as it started. The three didn’t want to look back because they knew the results and danger. But Thorax sincerely wanted to go but his imagination wandered to the large hole at the bottom of her jaw that went through her head. They turned around, ignoring the urge to go as they walked through the woods.
Twilight stared at the stars that shone through the gaps in the tree cover. The forest could be described as a pitch dark that only had the stars above as the source of light. None of them brought a flashlight so the only unicorn in the group used her horn to illuminate the woods in a dim purple glow. The trail they walked on was long and it felt shorter the last time they walked on it. Now with nothing but the night and the obstruction of darkness. It felt like a longer trek.
Fluttershy suddenly stopped with a weary look on her face. “What are we going to do now?” Applejack’s eyes looked at the element of kindness sternly but had a sense of drowsiness from the red in her eyes.
“What d’ya mean?”
the pegasus looked back at her friend with a shivering sigh that matched her wide-eyed hopeless frown. “I mean we’re running in circles. We’re chasing something we don’t know how to get rid of and we’re doing this for what? Like I’m not this good around danger. Sure I may have met some Timberwolves once or twice but… we’re playing a twisted game that has no clear goal. We’re wasting our time discussing the threat rather than solving it.” Tears visibly ran down her yellow fur that trickled down to the leaf-covered ground.
“Fluttershy we gotta stay focused on what we can do best right now. We can not resort to hopelessness.” Twilight reassured, unaware of the slight rudeness in her tone.
“No, no, of course you have to keep moving because we’re going to die. We’re going to die in a much more peaceful place of course. I’m only doing this to help my animals and you’re doing this to help Spike? You know he’s probably already dead so why search if you know the fucking answer.” Fluttershyes voice was calm but her words hinted that she truly meant it as an insult.
Twilight backed a hoofstep away from her raving friend. Twilight in all honesty felt something internal that she had buried in order to fix a threat. She missed Spike. He was like an adopted brother to her, and yet her friend dared talk about him in such a way that made Twilight reconsider calling her friend the element of kindness. So then Twilight sucked up in the natural magic that flowed amongst the forest and blasted a concussive bolt at the pegasus in which she tackled upon. “Fluttershy I usually don’t tell you this, but shut your mouth! Shut it before I make you look like Jeff! Before you join those fucking foals in the woods!”
Now the only ones standing with any sense of reason were the earthpony and the changeling. They stared at their friends gawking as they seemed to lose their grip on their mental stability. Thorax could especially feel this. It was like the two mares’ pain and anguish burst open like a toxic volcano that destroyed themselves and the people that they loved. He could tell that Twilight’s internal grief was her motivation for fighting and ended to the entity. But then with those same rageful tears she and Thorax turned up to see as the purple light illuminated the tall silhouette that stared down at them emotionlessly.
The two mares struggled to get back on their hooves as they attempted to dash away from the thing they swore to destroy. The pegasus followed behind her friend while her friends waited at the other end. Twilight’s horn was flickering deep and in pain as she continued to run. The mare in the woods was following them at an otherworldly pace that it seemed like she wasn’t even walking. Thorax was in pain as well as he felt the thing’s emotions, emotions which were too complex for something below the creature’s intelligence would understand. As the two magic users hyperventilated with deep panic the other two didn’t. Their natural magic stemmed from their soul and only assisted them when it came to physical force.
The group quickly jutted to the other side of the trail as they attempted to outflank the otherworldly pursuer. But then, a throwing axe launched itself between the bark of a tree next to Twilight’s head. Then out of the bushes a stallion, younger than Twilight’s age, looked at her with a mask obscuring his muzzle and orange goggles glaring down at the group. Thorax then stepped in front of the mares and looked at their mortal assailant. The changeling flew up in the air and soared above the ground until he could plummet into the attacker. But the stallion only stepped out of the way, Thorax couldn’t fully make his plummet his pale green magic reared his back leg into the assailant’s face. But in return, the assailant wrapped his four hooves around Thorax’s leg and slammed the thrown axe into Thorax’s flank.
The two wrestled while the other mares ran. Twilight had only seen the stallion’s fighting style once before on military training grounds when Celestia gave tours to her and this fighting style was only used in special gorilla forces of the Equestrian military. Now Twilight wondered how the Tallmare got a hold on such a skilled fighter. Thorax ended up retreating with green squishy blood leaking out of him onto the grass as they ran.
The pain in Twilight's horn seemed distant now as they saw the lights of the town in the distance. They were so close, yet they still felt the Tallmare's presence following them. The grass shuffled behind Applejack as the proxie with goggles caught up with them. Applejack kicked him down from the legs and trotted closer so she can give 3 more kicks to his chest before running again.
The young stallion coughed as he looked up at the retreating group with a glare behind his orange goggles. "T-t-they are f-f-fucking l-leaving. T-THEY A-ARE F-FUCKING L-LEAVING!" His yell echoed as his voice ticked as it normally did, even if no one could tell the stranger's motives, he was enraged.
As the group was almost out of the woods a sudden flash of dark blue flashed at the entrance. Luna waited for the group to catch up to her before teleporting away. When they appeared back in the library Luna's head slouched down in pain from the pain of being near the horror. casting that spell while under the influence of the presence of the Tallmare clearly made her brain ache, and all she could think of is pain