//------------------------------// // Part 5 - Ponies Under Fire // Story: The Love Of Shadow And Night - The Story Of The Pony Luna Left Behind // by palelordhiphis //------------------------------// After several hours of walking through forests, large clearings, and over trees pushed across rivers, Bright Eyes trotted up next to Shadow. It was the fourth day of travel and there had been no sign of trouble at all in their journey across the lands of Equestria, but they were headed South-East, towards the Changeling border, and it felt to Bright as if the sky was a little less blue each day. "Marching is sure hard on the hooves," Bright said as he walked alongside Shadow. "Technically we're not marching, we're all just walking in the same direction," Shadow replied dourly, "And if it's too hard for you, you're welcome to turn around and head back to Canterlot." "Oh, I never said it was too hard for me," Bright said with a smile, "I can keep up with you guys." "See that you do. I won't be stopping or slowing down for you," Shadow replied. "You haven't had to yet, have you?" Bright asked. Shadow snorted in reply and scanned the horizon with his keen eyes in silence. "How long until we reach the Changeling border?" Bright eyes asked, trying to get Shadow to talk about anything. Shadow looked at Bright Eyes out of the corner of his eyes and wondered if he trained to be this annoying or if it came naturally, "Since it was eight days yesterday when you asked, it must be seven today... Why do you ask every day?" "Why do you answer every day?" Bright asked impishly. Shadow snorted and smirked slightly, "I must enjoy exercises in pointlessness." "Yes," Bright said in that drawn out, thin, and weary tone that people use when they don't mean yes, "that must be it." "You think it's something el- Get down!" Shadow suddenly pushed Bright Eyes to the ground as a flash of light sizzled over their heads leaving behind the acrid scent of a few mane hairs that didn't quite make it out of the line of fire as fast as the rest of their bodies did. "What was that?" Bright asked as he tried to put his head up to look, but was pushed back down as another blast of energy sailed past. "Dangerous," Shadow said, "Now stay down until I say otherwise!" Shadow looked around the clearing they were in and took note of everything nearby. Several large boulders, a fallen tree trunk, and a few steps away a nice sized rock, "When I say move, you make a run to the other side of that tree trunk. Got it?" He whispered to Bright. "G-got it," Bright whispered back. Shadow leaped towards the rock and shouted, "Move now!" He spun and kicked the rock towards the trees the blasts were coming from just as another blast streaked out towards them. The rock intersected with the blast and turned into a cloud of dust. Bright heard the rush of blood in his ears and the pounding of his hooves on the ground as he dashed towards the tree trunk. He dived and tucked in low behind the old fallen oak and waited for whatever would come next. "Sour and Blade sweeping fire in from south-east. Forth and Chops sweeping from the other direction. Push them into the middle and don't let up until I signal," Shadow shouted at the soldier unicorns as he kept his eyes on the forest. The four unicorns opened fire shooting multicolored streams from their horns in a dazzling display of magic and began pushing in towards a central area. Shadow charged into the forest as the space between the beams narrowed, "Hold you fire and stay here!" he called out to his soldiers. He caught a glimpse of something running into the deep underbrush, "Stop where you are," he shouted after the runner, "None of you ever stop do you?" he said as he barreled after the fleeting shape. Shadow was closing in on the runner slowly, but the shape darted behind a giant pine and as Shadow rounded it there was no longer any sign of the shooter. Shadow looked deeply into the forest around him and listened to the sounds of the natural world, listened for anything not in harmony with the rest. Above him he heard a sharp crack, a twig breaking as weight shifted under hooves not used to being in trees. He held his position and waited. Another sharp crack followed by the sound of a body falling through the air and just as he felt the breeze from his enemy's move he stepped to the side, twisted, and kicked back with all his strength. The dark body of the changeling made a meaty thud as it hit the tree trunk and slumped to the ground. "You should have stopped running when I told you to," Shadow said to the unconscious changeling. After a few minutes he had the knocked out body of the changeling on his back and was plodding back towards the clearing where his guards and Bright Eyes would be waiting. A blue beam of light shot past Shadow's head as he approached the clearing, "Hold your fire, Chops! How many times do I have to tell you to hold your fire until you see an enemy or until I tell you. Curse you and your itchy trigger horn!" "Sorry Sir," Chops called back as Shadow stepped out into the clearing, "Looks like you got him though." "I did," Shadow said as he rolled his shoulders and the unconscious body fell to the ground, "You and Sour keep an eye on him while I figure out what to do with him. Oh, and hobble his legs with some rope." "Yes sir," Chops replied as he pulled some rope from his saddle bag and used some simple telekineses magic to tie the changeling's hooves close enough together that he'd be able to walk but not run. "Do you usually get attacked by changelings on your patrols?" Bright asked. "No not usually, and never this far from their border," Shadow said as he signaled for Blade and Forth to join him, "Blade, Forth, I think you both know that someone needs to return to Canterlot and tell them about this, but that we also need to continue patrol and look for more of these changelings. I'll need you two to take the changeling and Bright Eyes back to Canterlot as soon as the changeling wakes up." "Yes Si-" the two unicorns started to say before Bright Eyes interrupted. "Why me?" he asked. "Because I've made my decision. It's obvious that it's too dangerous out here for someone who's not trained. I can't do my job and keep you safe," Shadow said sternly. "I'm not going," Bright eyes said flatly. "I don't think you understand I'm not asking, I'm-" Shadow started. "No I don't think you understand," Bright eyes said hotly, "I'm not leaving your side. And those two can't get the changeling back to Canterlot AND drag me kicking and screaming with them." Shadow's jaw grew tight for a moment and then he sighed, "Fine, but if you get killed I won't go to your funeral." "Yes you will," Bright Eyes said with his crooked smile and a spark of mischief in his eyes.