//------------------------------// // What Lies in the Shadows // Story: Legends Never Die: Friendship is Magic // by bookhorse125 //------------------------------// Several shadow wolves crashed into each other, their forms melting where they made contact, but they quickly reformed and glared up at Sunny, who hovered over them like a golden star. Sunny screamed, lit up her horn with a blaze of rainbow radiance, and launched another beam of light at another wolf. She flapped her wings desperately, pulling as hard as she could, until finally the wolf was forced to give up and release the pony it held captive inside. Another pony floated to the ground, finally free, amongst golden light. It was a pony that Sunny had never seen before, but that didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was getting them all free. Adrenaline coursed through her veins, elation giving her strength, and Sunny dove past two wolves as they tried to pounce on her and swung around behind one of the many houses in Ponyville. The second pony had been much easier to pull out. Maybe the wolf wasn’t holding on as tightly as Sprout’s had. Or maybe Sunny was just getting more powerful. As she swooped back around to free more ponies, Sprout watched her from below, his wide eyes following Sunny’s progress, and all he felt was awe and wonder at this amazing pony and all she stood for. But out of the corner of his eye, he caught more than a few wolves sneaking away from the fight, to where a group of ponies was helping each other up, trying to figure out what to do. And all of them looked familiar somehow… But Sprout had no time to think about it, because at least eight wolves were creeping towards them, and they had no idea. “Look out!” he shouted, running towards them, and one of them, an orange earth pony wearing a hat, looked up at him, and then she saw the wolves, and she was pointing, and her friends saw them, and the purple one leaped forward and spread her wings and lit her horn with a dazzling magenta pink, casting a shield over them just as the first wolf pounced. It struck the shield with such force that it began to crack, and all six ponies inside flinched with terror and crowded together at the center. Sprout knew that they weren’t going to last, and that he had to do something. So skidding to a halt, he slammed his front hoof into the ground, pouring all of his desperation and fear and panic and happiness and joy into it, sending it flying through the earth to directly where the wolves were standing. And as he dug into the ground with all of his magic, he felt something else there, something powerful, something that was joining with him, something that was helping him. When the vines burst out of the ground, they twisted into the sky, and half of them were made of crystal. All of the shadow wolves were immediately caught in the coils and branches and whisked high into the sky, where they squirmed and fought but couldn’t get free. Sunny stopped and looked over, sensing that something had happened, and saw eight wolves suspended in midair by magical vines and branches, and she didn’t have to think long to guess what had happened. She zoomed over there as fast as she could, her horn alight like fire, blasting all of the wolves in their turn. They immediately collapsed into shadow with howls of despair, and the ponies they had enslaved were brought back down to earth by the same vines that had held their captors tight before the vines disappeared back into the earth as if they had never been there. There was a lot of gaping. A lot. Sprout could feel the eyes of all six of the ponies he thought looked familiar on him, and gradually all the other ponies they’d rescued, after looking around in a daze, realized that he was a stranger, and were staring at him as well. In fact, it wasn’t just ponies; there were other creatures as well. Sprout could feel his cheeks growing hot, and he wished that his magic could teleport him out of there instead of just growing plants. A shadow suddenly towered over him, and he spun around to see two shadow wolves rearing over him, their eyes locked onto his, and the edges of his vision began to grow fuzzy as his mind slowed and their dark magic began to do its work again, and he could feel his legs growing weak, and all he wanted to do was give up- A flash of gold out of the corner of his eye: Sunny, glowing brighter than the sun, flying faster than he would have thought possible around the massive group of wolves that had gathered in the center of Ponyville. She ducked and swerved under talons and tails, occasionally finding an opening to free another pony or creature and scatter the wolf’s presence. One of the wolves snarled at Sprout, rearing back as if to pounce, and he yelped, coming back to his senses long enough to dive out of the way- Brilliant pink flashed through the air, and the wolf howled in pain and scampered back a few steps. The purple alicorn was hovering in front of both wolves, her horn alight with a ferocious glow as she lashed a long whip of light around one wolf’s leg and dragged it behind her, knocking it off balance. Sprout scrambled to his hooves and hurried around the back of a house, gasping for breath, and trying to calm his racing, panicking heart. A few moments later, the purple alicorn joined him, her mane in complete disarray, her horn still sparking sporadically with her mounted emotions. “I can’t fight them off for very long!” she told Sprout between gasps, just as exhausted as he was. “I don’t know how Sunny’s doing it-” Her eyes widened, and she conjured up a brilliant pink bubble of magic around them as a wolf suddenly pounced on them. It hit the shield with a thud that shook the ground, and bright white cracks appeared on the surface. The alicorn stumbled but didn’t falter; if anything, a new determination entered her eyes, and she planted her hooves in the ground. Turning to Sprout, she asked, “Did you make those vines grow? All by yourself?” “I… don’t know?” He looked down at his hooves. “I mean, I did, but I think there was something else helping me - I’ve never made anything crystal-y before-” Another pounce; another earth-shattering shake. The alicorn really was straining now, and Sprout wished that there was something he could do to help her. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” she murmured, deep in thought despite the chaos that surrounded them. “How long-” The wolf lifted its paw and swiped at the shield, jagged claws sprouting out as it did so, and their protection exploded around them in a burst of magenta-colored shards. The wolf’s paw slammed into the ground between the two ponies, and they both ran in opposite directions. Twilight spread her wings and took off into the air, soaring high over the houses of Ponyville, looking for her friends, looking for Sunny, looking to see how the fight was going. Amazingly, incredibly, impossibly, Sunny was still airborne, her golden wings and horn flashing in the brilliant light that seemed to come from the pony herself. She was positively glowing, glowing with power and radiance and determination. Twilight had never seen anything like it before, certainly not like this, coming from an earth pony who, on the surface, seemed completely ordinary upon first glance. But Twilight had always suspected that there was something special about Sunny, from the moment she first saw her, and this was probably why. But she had no time to wonder about how Sunny could turn into an alicorn, or how the red stallion she had first freed could make plants grow at will, or where the two of them had come from - instead, she needed to focus on the battle. And she could see that, already, Sunny was tiring, and she would need help. Twilight finally located her friends; they were helping all of the ponies and creatures that had been freed from the shadow wolves into her castle. Rainbow Dash was hovering over the door, assessing the fight just like Twilight was. Their gazes met, and Twilight jerked her head, indicating that she needed Rainbow Dash to come there. She glanced down and saw the red earth pony running away from the shadow wolves, aiming for another house to hide behind. She swooped down to follow him, and the three ponies met in an alley between two houses. “Who is that?” Rainbow Dash hissed under her breath, and Twilight shrugged and shook her head. “Not important right now. Look,” she said, addressing the mystery pony, “can you make more of those vines appear?” The pony looked down at his hooves almost doubtfully but nodded. “Yeah. I think so.” “Great.” Twilight turned to the pegasus who hovered at her side. “Just follow me and do what I do,” she said before soaring out of the alley. Most of the wolves were consumed with fighting Sunny (and losing drastically), but a few were still slinking around, looking for other victims. Twilight soared over their heads, just out of reach, and yelled, “Hey! Over here!” Five wolves simultaneously looked up and locked gazes on her. Twilight tried to fight down the panic that rose within her when she looked into their unnerving eyes and darted a little closer. “Come and get me!” she called behind her before swooping around in a loop and flying in the other direction. Rainbow Dash was on the opposite side of the street, taunting more wolves. She and Twilight met in the center of the street, a dozen wolves surrounding them. They prowled closer, their eyes vicious and unblinking, snarls rising in their throats. Twilight couldn’t remember a time that she felt so afraid. The wolves seemed to be all of her worst fears combined into one. She shook her head and tried to focus on her task. The red mystery pony was peeking out from behind a house, and Twilight locked eyes with him. He looked scared, but altogether, she could tell that fighting evil creatures wasn’t something new for him. Interesting. “Now!” she yelled, and the wolves suddenly leaped at her and Rainbow Dash, their sharp teeth just barely missing them. The pony slammed his hoof into the ground, and a green vine curled up out of the soil, stretching higher and higher into the air. Twilight seized the end of it with her magic and dragged it after her as she flew around the wolves, wrapping the vine tightly around them so that they couldn’t move. “Give me one!” Rainbow shouted to him, and he complied, slamming his other hoof into the ground and growing a second vine. Rainbow snatched it in her mouth and wrapped it around the wolves as well. Within moments, a dozen wolves were securely tied up with the vines, and Twilight and Rainbow landed on the ground, exhausted, and stepped back. “Do you think that’ll hold them?” the red pony asked, trotting out to stand by them. As if in response, all the wolves started snarling and howling and snapping at the air viciously. “Good point,” Twilight said. “Can you do anything?” He dug his hooves into the grass, his eyes shutting and his brow furrowing with concentration. His hooves glowed green as the magic began to work, and glowing green light spread out across the ground, racing towards the wolves. More vines launched from the ground and wound themselves around the wolves, holding them even tighter. The wolves, if possible, moaned and howled louder, and now there was a note of despair in their voices. “Neat trick,” Rainbow Dash admitted grudgingly. “Where’d you learn to do that?” Before he could answer, Applejack ran up, calling out to them. “There’s only a few wolves left,” she gasped, sweaty and out of breath. “I reckon only twenty or so, but they’re mad - like, really, really mad!” She gestured to the center of Ponyville, where Sunny was hovering just out of reach of two dozen wolves, leaping up at her and snapping at her. They were working themselves into a frenzy, and now Sunny was doing everything she could just to stay in the air. “Right!” Twilight turned to Applejack. “AJ, take this fellow here to the castle where he’ll be safe, and grab the rest of our friends. We’re going to help Sunny.” “What? No!” the mystery pony cried out. “I want to help!” “I’m sorry,” Twilight said, spreading her wings and taking to the skies. “But this could go very badly, and I want to make sure that everypony’s safe.” Rainbow Dash started flying after her, towards the swirling storm of wolves, and the bright golden star in the center that was Sunny. Applejack turned to the mystery pony. There was something familiar about him, something she couldn’t place her hoof on. “Come on, sugarcube,” she said gently, putting a hoof on his shoulder and trying to lead him toward the castle. But he shook his head furiously and stepped back. “My name is Sprout,” he said, an angry edge entering his voice. “And I’m not going to leave my friend.” “Look, sugarcube, Sprout, whatever, that’s very brave of you, but you can’t just-” “Watch me,” he growled, and his hooves started glowing green. Applejack’s eyes widened, and she stepped back in shock and surprise as vines grew underneath him, lifting him up into the air. Sprout leaped from his tower of plants to the roof of a nearby house, and the vines disappeared into the ground as if they’d never been there. “Sweet Celestia,” Applejack muttered to herself. She hesitated for a moment, then turned and ran off to find her friends.