“It's not going to hold for long.” Midnight said.
The wall of tangled roots was all that was between them and the dozens of demons outside. The sound of hopping was heard from the other side as they hacked their way through. Everyone was gathered, hoping for an answer. Midnight himself was sitting with his grandparents and little brother.
“OK, listen up everypony!” Pinkie said, getting their attention with just how serious she was, “There's an emergency escape tunnel in the back. Everypony needs to make their way through it to safety. Mrs. Cake, you know where it is.”
“What about you?” Asked Applebloom.
“I'm going to give you some time.” She replied, “I hate to burden you with this Inkie, but can you take Surprise for me? In case I don't come back, find her a good family for me.”
“What?” Said her sister, “No no no, you can come with us, there's no need for you to stay.”
Pinkie pulled an old tattered forest green ribbon from her mane. Inkie's eyes widened at the sight of it.
“Pinkie, are you going to do what I think your going to?” She started to ask.
“Yes.” She answered.
Inkie just nodded, “You heard the mare, let's go!”
Pinkie pulled her mane back and tied it back in a ponytail with the old cloth. Rarity would have had a fit at the clashing pink and green, but that didn't matter to the mare. All that mattered was protecting her loved ones, and that ribbon represented everything her grandmother taught her.
Midnight looked back at her, curious as to what she was planning. Just before she disappeared around a corner he felt a pressure wave hit him. What was that? he thought to himself. Whatever it was, it came from Pinkie. He didn't have time to figure it out, though, as he was ushered through a door hidden in the walls. The group ran through the tunnel and came out in the Everfree forest.
Midnight looked around, and a smile came over his face. He had a marvelous idea.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Pinkie sighed a breath of relief. She didn't want anypony else around when she did what she had to do. She calmed her spirit and let it flow. Her body became enveloped by a faint blue aura. She opened her eyes and glared at the creatures as the wooden barrier burst inward.
She stood on her hind legs and said, “This is as far as you go. Oculus Abyssi!*”
Pinkie thrust her fore hooves toward the enemy. A crackle of black electricity arced from her hooves as a sinister black orb formed in front of her. The screams of demons and evil creatures was drowned out by the sound of the hurricane force winds being sucked into the void at the pink pony's hooves. Soon the shelter started shaking as chunks of earth were being sucked up. Just as the whole structure became unstable, Pinkie let herself be sucked into the black orb. The moment she was gone, the vortex vanished and the shelter collapsed on the remaining monsters.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
“You're powerful for a dhampir**.” Clovenhoof said, “ You're no Applesauce, but she actually fought vampires.”
“Ah've done plenty of fightin' thank ya very much.” Applejack said, “Yer not as tough as ya think ya are.”
“Or perhaps I'm stronger than I've let on.” Replied the vampony.
In an instant, he was upon the apple farmer and slammed his hoof into her face. She was sent flying several dozen yards away, skipping across the ground several times. Her trip ended with her back slamming into a thick tree. Before she could even get up, the ancient vampire lord was on her again. He launched her into the air with a powerful uppercut. At the peak of her ascension, Clovenhoof grabbed her in mid air. The two of them floated there despite neither having wings.
“Poor, poor Apple.” He mocked, “Your ancestor was ten times the hunter you are, and even then she barely defeated me. What made you think you had a chance? No more games.”
With that, he opened his mouth wide and sank his fangs into the orange mare's neck. She yelped with pain and she felt him draining her of her life's blood. He was so caught up in his feeding, he didn't notice the burning sensation that was spreading from his stomach to the rest of his body. He retracted from his meal when he finally realized something was wrong. The two fell to the ground, both weak.
“Wh-what did you do to me?” Asked Lord Clovenhoof.
Applejack struggled to her hooves, “Ah injected mahself with silver nitrate. Ah'm immune to silver but still got the resilience that Ah can inject it in mah body without diein’.” She fell beside the vampire lord, “Now if'n ya don't mind, ya took something of mine and Ah need it back.”
AJ smiled at him and bit into his neck, taking back the blood he took and then some.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
The enemy numbers were dwindling, but we were all getting tired. Jynx and I continued wading through the hellish fiends, leaving a trail of death behind us. Her railgun had run out of ammo and she was using her beam swords and magic. We were cutting and magicing through the hordes of never ending enemies The fighting had migrated out of the woods and into the open with only a few trees around.
“Hay, Shiro!” I jumped at Pinkies voice. She popped out of a hole in one of the trees about three inches in diameter, “The shelter was attacked,but everypony got out safe and i collapsed the roof on the meanie-pantses. We're in the Everfree if you need us.”
She retreated her head back into the impossibly small opening. I peaked in to see that it only went about four inches into the tree.
“How the hell does she do that?” I asked myself.
I shook off the thought before my head exploded. I was glad everyone was OK, and with Midnight there they would stay safe. I was more concerned with our safety. We were killing them left and right but they were still coming. There had to be more than a thousand demons here. I could tell Jynx was exhausted. Hell I was too.
“Jynx... get... outta here.” I said between breaths, “Get to... the kids... and protect them.”
“No way...” She replied, equally winded, “I'm not... leaving you.”
“Dammit Jynx... think about them.” I said, “If things... go south... they'll need... one of us. You're the best for the job.”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
“Midnight come back!” He ignored the call of his grandmother.
He was riding on Halkir who he summoned as soon as he could. He was kind of glad his grandmother's wing was sore. It would have been hard to explain why he was going off if she caught him. He and his wooden mount sped deeper into the Everfree forest. He felt his way through the forest, searching for it's heart, the place where the energy of the forest was strongest. Eventually he found it. A hill with a single willow on it. He noticed a ring of stones with charred wood in it and a few old pieces of scrap metal. There were some bones in the ashes of the fire pit. While that was interesting, the willow was what caught his attention. He approached it, feeling the energy pooling around it, SEEING the energy pooling around it.
“What the hay are ya doin Midnight?” Applebloom asked as she rode up on Ank.
“I'm not completely sure. I just got this feeling.” Replied the colt.
He reached out with his mind the way Laalia taught him. He entered the pool and spoke a single word.
“Haka!” Awake.
Suddenly the forest came alive... literally. More than a hundred trees uprooted themselves all at once, their shapes twisting and changing. They began taking on a distinctly feline appearance.
“Ha ha! It worked.” He laughed.
Applebloom stared, her eyes wide and jaw hanging, “Wow,” She finally managed to say, “They're timber wolves but cats.”
“Yeah, like dad.” Midnight said with pride, “Come on, let's go help mom, dad, and your sister.”
Two foals jumped on their timber wolves and headed off with the timber tigers towards the battle taking place.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Jynx was about to start arguing with me again, but stopped and gawked at something behind me. I turned and saw looked like a small army of timber wolves rushing toward us. As they got closer though, I noticed they weren't wolves at all, but resembled wooden versions of me. There were at least a hundred of them, and they tore into the enemy like a tidal wave. All Jynx and I could do was stare in awe. I knew this battle was already over. The enemy was now out numbered, and these timber cat things vicious. In minutes the enemy was hunted down and sent back where they came. The twenty three of us left let out a loud cheer.
“Dad!” That was the only warning I had before a midnight blue missile slammed into my side, “Did ya see that dad?! I made those! I didn't even know how to make them but it was like a little voice in my head was telling me how so i listened and i made them after you cause you're the coolest dad ever and now they're kicking flank but still not as good as you but they...”
“OK, OK, I get it. Slow down already.” I said, “That was amazing, but you shouldn't have come with them. What if you got hurt before we won?”
“I'm sorry, dad.” He said, finding a rock very interesting at the moment.
“Don't be sorry. You saved us all.” I said, cheering him up a little, “We only lost three today, but with how tired everyone was it was only a matter of time before somepony else was killed. You might have even saved me or your mother.” I picked him up in a hug, “But the best thing about your power is you can help from a distance. Next time, if you HAVE to disobey me, do it from safety.”
“K.” was his response.
“I'll be back.” I said as i pulled out my crystal phone, “I'm going to call Celestia, and ask her if she knows why they would attack a little town with such numbers.”
I walked off a little ways and made the call.
“Shiro?” Said the sun goddess, “Where are you? Shining Armor said you left the battlefield... wait. You're a tiger again!”
“It's a long story.” I said, “Ponyville was attacked, and it wasn't some random thing either. They came here for a reason. Do you know any thing here that they would want?”
“No, I can't think of...” her eyes widened suddenly, “Oh no. Shiro listen to me very carefully. I think they're after Twilight's home.”
I was confused “The library? Why the hell...”
“Quiet and let me finish.” She said, “When my mother performed the ritual to create Tartarus and bind father, A sapling grew where she descended into the ground. That tree is the library. If they are attacking Ponyville, that has to be their target. I think they are trying to break mother's spell.”
Just as she finished saying that the ground vibrated.
“Shiro! We have a problem!” Jynx shouted.
I hung up and ran outside to see what was the matter. When I got out there I nearly pissed myself. Approaching the town was the biggest giant I had ever seen. It was around five hundred feet tall and looked roughly human. I knew exactly what it was doing; It was coming here to destroy the library.
“Jet! Phoenix!” I bellowed as loud as I could.
“Yes, my lord?”
“What's up?”
“We need to intercept that thing, and stop it before it gets here.” I said.
Phoenix's eyes widened when he saw what I was pointing at, “And how are we going to do that?”
“We're going to kill it” I answered, “With fire.”
I focused on my spear's magic and took off towards the gargantuan monster with dragony and pegasus elemental at my back.
*********************************************
*Oculus Abyssi! - Eye of the abyss!
**Dhampir – Half vampire half human (or pony in this case)