The sounds of a train running along its tracks could be heard. Inside the train, in one of the little compartment areas, sat Rainbow Dash, looking outside the window as snow fell softly onto the ground. Besides her was her best friend, Twilight Sparkle. It was just the two of them, not that she minded.
"You alright, Rainbow?" the purple unicorn asked. Dash turned her head to look at the mare.
"Yeah, I'm doing great," she responded. "Especially with you around," she blushed and avoided eye contact.
Twilight, in response, rolled her eyes and leaned forwards to snuggle with her pegasus friend. Rainbow flinched in response, but slowly relaxed as she let her friend lay on her. Is this what normal friends do? She looked over to the unicorn as she saw her breaths slowly fall into a small, rhythmic pattern. She felt the soft fur from the side of Twilight's head leaning on her shoulder. Her hair swaying with the train as it bumped up and down through the tracks.
Rainbow smiled. She didn't mind the current situation at hoof. In fact, she thought Twilight looked cute resting on her, sleeping peacefully as they rode to the Crystal Empire. And as she observed the mare lightly snore away the day, she decided to join her, resting her head on the window frame as the world slowly faded away.
BEEP!
You have arrived at Destination #143. If this is your designated stop, please leave the train. I repeat: If this is your designated stop, please leave the train. The train departs in five minutes.
*Click*
Rainbow groaned as she slowly opened her eyes, rays of sunlight blinding her as she quickly shielded herself from the light with a hoof. "Ugh, what time is it?" she groggily asked as she stood up from her chair.
"It's 'bout 7:30 PM. Now get your flank up, RD, it's time ta leave," Applejack answered as she assisted Dash in lifting herself up.
She looked around the room as the world became clear again. All her friends were there. Except for Twilight. She sighed. "Hey, uh, AJ, where's Twilight?" the pegasus asked, stretching her wings.
"Ah, she decided ta head out a bit early ta make sure that we're at the right place n' all," AJ responded. She stood at the door frame. "Now hurry up, sugarcube, we ain't got all day. Ya heard the train operator, we got five minutes." She gestured for her to follow as she exited the room, making her way towards the exit. Rainbow quickly followed behind.
As they exited the train, they looked around and examined their surroundings. There was practically no train station even in sight. There was what? One area for passengers to get off, marked by some stone, but other than that? Nothing. Nothing but one stray light that illuminated the area they were standing on.
And as they looked out from the train station, there was a thick forest that stretched far out into the distance. Snow blew through the howling air, covering both the trees and the ponies deciding to cross through. There was so much snow that it was difficult to see. And the winds were too strong to fly.
"This is it!" Twilight shouted, wind whipping through her hair. Her horn shined through the blazing storm, illuminating their path. "It should be just up ahead! Follow me, the snow should start to clear the further up we go!"
And fortunately for them, she was right. The wind eventually slowed down to that above a crawl as they made their way through the ever darkening forest. If it wasn't for the purple light shining that came from Twilight, they would be stuck walking through a pitch black environment. Every so often, one of them would accidentally step on a branch, causing everypony to stop and look, thanking Celestia that it wasn't anything dangerous. They kept going straight ahead, trying their best not to go off track, as if they did, they would not notice due to their surrounding environment looking like the insides of a cave.
Occasionally, a rustle would be heard from a bush nearby, only making the woods ever more scary. The walk seemed to go on forever, and it was enough for even Pinkie to keep quiet.
As they treaded forwards, a strange feeling passed through them. Strange, but barely noticeable. The feeling was only noticed by Twilight, who felt the sudden surge in magical power, stopping in place for a good few seconds. "Did you guys feel that?" she asked aloud.
"Feel what?" Rainbow responded suspiciously, reexamining their environment to ensure their safety.
Twilight turned back to look at her friends, who all just shrugged. She decided to go with it. "Eh, it's probably nothing," she concluded, continuing her pace onwards. Unbeknownst to them, they were passing through a magical barrier, invisible to the naked eye. One that once you walked through, you would not be let out.
As their trek continued, the forest around them only seemed to be getting thicker by the second. "How long will we have to tread through this horrid forest? My hooves are getting cold," Rarity complained.
Twilight responded, "I don't know, Rarity, Celestia just said to walk straight ahead, North, without changing direction. I'm guessing it's another mile or so?" to which she got a loud groan from the unicorn.
Then, a rustle was heard from a bush nearby. Probably some small animal, making their way by the group. They kept onwards.
Then, another rustle was heard, this time much louder than before, and much closer too. Everypony stopped in their tracks. "Ya'll heard that too, right?" Applejack asked to which she was met with a 'shhh!' from everyone else.
Their eyes scanned the forest around them, and they backed into each other, forming a tight circle, looking out for any danger. Carefully and slowly, they each leaned an ear forwards to listen for sound.
Crunch... A small step was heard nearby. Crunch... Another. The steps quickened in pace. It seemed to be circling the group as they all huddled together. Crack! The loud sound caused a nearby crow call out and fly away into the distance, drawing the group's attention.
That was their worst mistake.
Behind them, a creature came lashing out into the air straight at the group, much too fast for anyone to get a good look on. Thankfully, Twilight's quick reaction let her put up a shield just in the nick of time. As they looked back to see who the attacker was, it was already gone.
Quickly, she shot a flare into the ground to keep their surroundings illuminated.
No one moved a muscle. Twilight kept her shield up. A good thing too, as another attack was deflected where they weren't paying attention, directed right at the backs of their necks. And as they turned to look again, it was gone once more. "It's attacking us where we aren't paying attention. Huddle up into a circle," Twilight commanded and everyone followed. They carefully examined their surroundings, looking for the smallest hint of danger. Then, a low growl was heard and their attacker stepped out into the open, revealing themself.
"I-Is, t-that a w-wolf?" Fluttershy squeaked. An easy mistake, considering the creature did resembled the look of a common wolf. Except instead of having white fur and white eyes that shined in the moonlight, it was completely see through. Like a shadow. There were darker shades of its shadow-y-ness that made its outline, which was, as you'd expect, looked like a wolf. The mere presence of the shadow substance radiated off of itself, fading into the environment around it. It's eyes were not visible. You could barely see the wolf itself. Could you even call it a wolf at this point?
Then Rainbow made eye-contact with it. Her pupils shrank as she gulped and muttered, "Oh, no." She knew exactly what it was.
The shadow wolf growled louder and reeled itself back as more dark energy surrounded it. It's charging its attack... Rainbow realized. "Look out!" she yelled and shoved her friends to the side of the shield. Just in the nick of time, too. Right then, a loud bark was heard as their attacker pierced right through Twilight's shield, shattering it in an instant, causing her to collapse in pain.
The shadow wolf landed smoothly on its paws and circled back around to view its prey. Applejack quickly got up and shouted to her friend, "Fluttershy! See if ya can talk to it! Imma help out Twilight!" She dove to Twilight's side and lifted her head off the floor. "Ya doing alright their, Twilight?" she asked. The pony in question started to stir.
Twilight groaned as she opened her eyes, met with a spinning world, making it extremely difficult to stand. Eventually, it subsided to a tolerable level and she stood up, using Applejack's hoof as support.
As Applejack helped Twilight up, Rarity was using her magic to deflect any attacks dared to be sent at them, protecting Twilight with her greatest efforts. Rainbow tried her best to distract the shadow wolf by flying around it, taunting it, and dodging any attacks that came close to hitting her. It was successful, too. This gave Pinkie Pie enough time to pull out a- full sized party cannon?!
Gunpowder fired confetti into the air, dazing their attacker and giving Fluttershy a chance to approach. Slowly and carefully, Fluttershy made her way over to the stunned wolf, talking to it softly, "Hey there, buddy, it's okay. You're safe." She looked into its eyes for any signs of sympathy or emotion, but what she found left her paralyzed with fear.
It was empty. It was no animal. It didn't even seem to have a soul.
Rainbow Dash noticed her hesitance and shouted out, "Fluttershy! What's wrong?"
"I-It... I-... I-It's..." she stuttered, walking backwards in fear.
"C'mon Shy! Spit it out!"
"T-That's not an animal!" she shouted and sprinted backwards, away from the beast. Along with spreading a small state of panic to everyone in the group.
Seeing its prey running away with its back turned, the shadow wolf took this as an opportunity to strike. It jumped forwards, attempting to bite at Fluttershy's neck. She shrieked in fear and closed her eyes in fear when, all of a sudden, a blast of purple knocked it back. She looked over and saw Twilight weakly standing, the magic in her horn flickering on and off before eventually stopping all together. She fell to her knees again, struggling to stay in the battle.
The shadow beast easily picked itself up and locked eyes with Twilight. Clearly it was just pissed off, the magic leaving no trace of damage on it. Immediately, it launched itself at her, breaking through Rarity's attempt at a shield and pinning her to the ground. Applejack ran over and bucked the shadow wolf straight in the jaw. It was dazed slightly, but then swept its tail in a wide circle, knocking everyone back and resuming its attention on Twilight.
As Twilight looked up at her attacker, she struggled to keep her hooves up in an attempt to have some sort of guard to defend herself. And as the beast reeled back, baring its teeth and growling, she knew that this was the end. It launched forwards at her.
"NOO!" Rainbow shouted. Her body was surrounded with a flow of dark matter as she skipped through the air like a bolt of lightning, kicking the monster mid air, sending it flying away, crashing into a nearby tree. The animal yelped in pain, but Rainbow showed no remorse as her soul was consumed by rage, growling at the beast. "Stay away from my friend!" she yelled out. Her voice seemed to boom and amplify in volume, causing the shadow wolf to whimper in fear.
She dashed forwards, screaming in rage, and sucker punched the wolf in the jaw, sending it straight through the snow on the floor and into the dirt. As if that wasn't enough, she repeatedly kept beating the wolf like she was trying to pound it to a pulp.
The only thoughts racing through her mind were to protect Twilight. No matter the cost. The thoughts fueled her as each blow applied more force than the last, the cries of the wolf getting louder and louder until a loud CRACK! was heard, the wolf's ribs shattering from the pressure.
Rainbow let out another roar as she tossed the wolf aside as if it was nothing, causing it to grind across the ground. "Get out of here if you know what's good for you. NOW!" she commanded, the last word echoing. Without delay, the wolf quickly scrambled to its feet and ran away, back into the darkness.
Her friends stared at Rainbow in fear. Her body was shaking as she stood there taking heavy breaths. She was still growling, as if a primal instinct had taken over.
As Rainbow stood there, she continued to shake, thoughts still present on the wolf and any other dangers lurking around. She had to protect Twilight. She had to keep her safe. She had to-
Then, she was tapped on the shoulder. Without thinking, she swept her legs behind her and tripped the attacker to the floor as she got on top of them, pinning them to the ground, ready to strike. She stared into the eyes of the attacker and-
"R-Rainbow! It's me! It's me!" Twilight shouted. Rainbow's eyes widened as she realized what she was doing. The world quickly rushed back to her and tears flooded her eyes. She immediately jumped off.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I thought you were something else and I didn't want you guys to get hurt or anything! Please forgive me!" she said quickly, matching Pinkie Pie's speed of rambling.
"Rainbow!" Twilight cut her off. "It's fine. I get it. I forgive you," she said as she leaned forwards and pulled her pegasus friend into a comforting hug.
Tears streamed down Dash's face. "I'm s-sorry! When I saw the wolf was about to jump at you I-I didn't know what to do! I didn't want you to d-die! So I did the first thing that came to mind a- and-" she was interrupted by Twilight squeezing her tight and stroking her hair.
"Shhhh, shhhh. It's alright. I'm here," she softly whispered as she held her friend in a tight embrace. "You saved my life. You have nothing to be sorry for."
Rainbow sniffled. "T-Thanks, Twi..." No one said anything as the Twilight comforted the crying pegasus.
Inside a dark castle with torches illuminating the halls, Sombra sat on his throne. Papers held in front of him in a magical grip, like usual. Of course the citizens had complaints. Complaints that he had to attend to. Stupid citizens and their stupid complaints.
Unfair guard conditions? Starving ponies? Need to expand? Sombra groaned loudly. It was all the same stuff! Over and over, the same complaints and worries from all the ungrateful citizens that lived there. And all of it pissed him off.
Of course, there was the occasional message from outside his kingdom, but that was highly unlikely. After all, he had made sure that no one would know of his empire's existence. Especially from those two insufferable sisters.
Then, without warning, something bursted through the door. Limping and whining. It was one of his minions. His eyes widened when he saw it. "My, my, what has happened to you now, Hades?" he called to his pet. The wolf whined and clawed in the air, giving a clear message to Sombra. "Intruders? Where?" The wolf whined some more and gestured out the window, towards the forest. "Well, mark my words, I'll make sure that they pay for what they've done to you," he growled.
"Come here, boy," he waved the wolf to come towards him. It obliged. "Here, you'll feel better after this." He waved his hoof over the wolf as his horn glowed brighter. After a few seconds, the wolf was happy, smiling up at his master as he pet him. "Good boy."
Then, his voice boomed as he called down the hall. "Guards! There has been note of some trespassers nearby in the forest. Flush them out! I want them here now!"
The guards saluted and responded, "Sir, yes sir!" and quickly made their way out, formed in a straight line. Each step in sync as they marched out of the castle.
"Good. Now we wait."