A Shadow Human or 'Shadowman' created by HeimoBauss. Very demon like and super scary, glad Johnson wore brown pants with the duster.
Honor Above All Else
Chapter 36
By Honored Service
Preread by: TheDarkAngel
I watched helplessly as the world around me turned to ash. Everything being destroyed as a powerful wave of blood red magic swept over the land in front of the cave. The trees shriveled up and disappeared into dust scattering into the wind, as the desert was set ablaze, shadow humans slowly crawling out of the sand butchering my friends as they fought desperately to survive. Covert tried to gun down three shadows but was speared by a Shadow Champion. His lifeless body was thrown onto the sand where his black blood soaked into the desert, forever lost.
“NO!” I yelled trying to run to save my friends but I was held in place by some unknown force. I was forced to watch the hell in front of me.
Quick Flurry, Battle Plan, and Hammer Strike were slowly being pushed back by wave after wave of shadows. I clenched my fist and tried to teleport to them, but my magic was gone. I was helpless. I wasn’t able to protect any of them. The guard ponies soon were back to back fighting desperately to stay alive.
“No. Please,” I begged to whatever was holding me in place to let me go. I jerked my head to the side and shut my eyes not wanting to witness their deaths as I had Covert’s. The force holding me slowly and deliberately turned my head back to the violent action and broke my closed eyes open. Tears dripped down my cheeks as I watched the remaining members of Saddle Company get slaughtered. It was almost as I could feel every slice and stab that ripped their bodies to shreds.
“Please. Just kill me. No! I can’t take this! Stop!” I coughed and choked on my own sobs as the lifeless bodies collapsed into the ashes from the burning landscape.
“Oh? But why stop such a great thing?” A dark and malicious voice cooed around me. "The future is bleak and dark for you Honored. Give up and I’ll let everpony live. Everypony. You can protect them by giving up.” The voice chuckled as the world around me shimmered and everything returned to normal. The landscape of lush dark trees belonging to the Everfree Forest blew in a light breeze while the sand glistened in the morning sun.
A red pegasus with an orange mane silently swooped down and landed near me her back towards me. “Sky?” I called out. I reached a hand out and moved towards her. I placed my hand on her shoulder and felt the soft fur in between my fingers.
“Sky, is that really you?” I asked again, stoking her fur and then moving to touch her mane. But she turned around.
Her face was rotting and full of worms. I leapt back and fell on my back. I reached for my pistol; my knife anything I could defend myself but nothing was there. “Why did you do this to me, Johnson? This is your fault.” The Sky before me got closer; I could smell the rotting flesh and the reek of death rolling off of her. She was almost on top of me when a flash of blue exploded around me. Everything disappeared into the flash and I was left laying on nothingness. The world was nothing. Just blackness.
“Honored, are you okay?”
“Princess Luna?” I sat up and looked around. I saw the alicorn walking towards me, her horn glowing as she got closer.
“What the fuck is happening!?” My mind was running a mile a minute as I tried (and failed) to grasp what was going on.
“You are being poisoned.” She said, calmly moving beside me, the tingling sound of bells still filling the air as her horn glowed.
I reached up and began to stick a finger into my mouth.
“NO! Not like that.” Luna slapped a hoof to her face. “Your mind. Nightmare is still maintaining some kind of link to your mind. Granted it isn't very strong, but it would explain any strange memories or dreams you’ve been having.”
I began to think about the past few weeks. There would be periods of time where certain things just appeared. Of course the constant images of Fast Skies just popping up in front of me were the most common or the voice in my head. “That happened once or twice.”
“Then it is as I feared. Day Terror, the Nightmare is trying to break you down mentally. If Nightmare is able to gain a strong connection to you, well then he could… oh no.” Luna’s face went pale.
“What?” I looked at her. “When somepony stops a sentence with ‘oh no’ and then goes pale it’s a bad sign.”
“If Nightmare got a stronger hold on you then he could do anything to you. Fry your brain, make you his puppet, or just simply make you a statue. Take your pick.” Luna rattled off the possibilities. I was dumbfounded. All this time I had through Nightmare’s threats of ‘frying my brain’ were just lame threats, not actually possible, but it could happen.
“Okay, calm down, Luna. How can he do that?”
“Well the easiest way for him to gain the power would be to find a direct link to you. A link that contains magic.” Luna placed a hoof to her chin and began tap it. From out of nowhere a pipe floated into her mouth and she began to puff on the pipe, smoke rising into the void around us.
“Where are we?” I asked looking around at the nothingness.
“Your mind. You should be asleep somewhere on your journey to get the Elements of Sanctuary. WAIT!” Luna shouted and bounced forward knocking me to the ground. The pipe disappeared and Luna’s smile was creepy big. “That’s the magic link the Nightmare needs! He needs to find your Element of Sanctuary. He finds that then he has a direct link to everything you stand for.”
“Good looks?”
I received a quick slap to the back of the head.
“Great looks?” I cracked a smile at Luna who tried to keep a straight face but it was faltering.
“No. Protection. You have to beat Day Terror to the Elements of Sanctuary.”
“Well that will be easy!” I fell backwards into the nothingness that was my mind and kicked a leg up. "We already have a head start and that thing… you know what is that thing that Nightmare doesn’t have…Nightmare doesn’t have a fucking clue where they are and we do!” I said proudly. “Hey, if we're in my mind then couldn't I control stuff?”
Luna just nodded; her face was distorted into one of concentration.
“Neat.” I thought of a few things and they slowly faded into form right in front of me. “Awesome.” I flipped myself onto a bean bag chair and picked up the magazine I thought of. “The latest edition of Jugs and Ammo!” I flipped open the magazine and thought up a class of chocolate milk. “Like a baller.”
“Oh hello there .45 ACP cold loaded HP and Miss July.” I made a wolf whistle and growled at the picture.
“Honored, now is not the time,” Luna walked up behind me and cocked her head, “so that’s a human female. Well not exactly what I expected.”
“What's that supposed to mean?” I looked back to her and waved the very sexy picture around in front of her, “that’s a Colt .45 ACP standard hand loaded cold fired hollow point… oh the chick. Yeah that’s a human female.” I turned around and went back to flipping through the glossy pages.
“I always imagined them to be a little lower or something.” Luna said pointing at some very high caliber things.
“Let’s not have an anatomy lesson right now.” I shook my head and the magazine disappeared. “What were you saying?”
“You have to get to the Elements before Day Terror. And Nightmare does know where they are too if he was able to figure it out. I wasn't the only one with a private library.”
“DAMN that annoying alicorn! She was useless as before and now is just a thorn in my side.” Day Terror stocked around Celestia’s old room, now turned into Day Terror’s private quarters. “I was slow close to breaking him. He would have broken down right there and just welcomed me into his mind, and then oh then the fun would begin. A human warrior just ripe for the picking.”
Day Terror stopped and flapped her wings allowing her to hover out of the room and onto the balcony overlooking the courtyard below her. The Royal Guard was causing quite a disturbance to her at the moment. They refused to assault her strong hold, but any attempt to leave was only meet with resistance. “I’ll kill them all. As soon as I can get this portal working.”
Day Terror walked back into the room to where a large diagram was carved into the floor. Candles and different magical items rested at the points of a six pointed star. “If the foolish little unicorn and horrible excuse of an alicorn can get the human more weapons, then I can do one better.” Day Terror aimed her horn at the center of the glyph and charged a spell.
“If nothing in Equestria can kill a human, then let’s bring something from outside of Equestria to do the job, something that kills for a living, just like our soon to be dead Johnson.”
Day Terror’s horn began to glow a bright red as the spell reached its peak. Sparks began leaping off the walls and jumping forth from her horn onto the diagram. “Yes! YES!” Day Terror cackled madly as the spell leapt forth from her horn onto the star where it exploded into light, causing the alicorn to look away from the intense light. “YES IT WORKED!”
As the smoke cleared and the light began to fade, Day Terror looked for a creature to command. A creature to kill the human and slaughter everything in its path.
“Wait, where is it?” Day Terror looked around trying to find anything but the room was empty. A large scorch mark covered the diagram up and the magical items were all destroyed or lodged in the walls. “NO!” Day Terror slammed a hoof to the ground and heard the crumbling of paper. She levitated the scroll into the air and unrolled it.
-Nope-
-Love Luna
“THAT DAMN ALICORN WILL SUFFER A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH!” Day Terror screamed to the heavens as she picked up random objects and hurled them around the room. A charred book crashed into a wall and slowly the bookcase resting next to it began to spin, revealing a staircase leading down. Day Terror stopped her rampage and stepped towards the new door.
“And hello, what's this?”
She followed the stairs down into a dark corridor that opened into a large dark room. Day Terror charged up a spell and pointed her horn into the air. A ball of light lit up the room showing Day Terror thousands of dusty old books. Thousands of books belonging to the private collection of Princess Celestia. “Oh, maybe I can make something work.” Day Terror said while levitating a book towards her; the title reading, ‘The Other Elements, Volume Two’. “You’ll do nicely.”
I bolted upright on the sleeping bag I was laying on. I was panting and covered in a cold sweat. I looked around; everything was where it should be. The land wasn't burning. My friends were all alive and sleeping around. I got up and walked to the mouth of the cave and gazed out at the night. The stars were sparkling bright and the moon casted enough lit to cover the sea of sand in a beautiful glow.
“Ah, I see you are up Johnson.” The deep voice rumbled beside me. I turned and smiled at Gal who was lying on his stomach watching the desert too. “You were doing a lot of tossing and turning in your sleep young one. Are you alright?”
I rubbed the back of my neck and walked over the impressive dragon. “I had a bad dream. Well let’s just say that it was Nightmare.”
“I may be old and wise but I was never one for I told you so.” Gal cracked a smile, revealing his giant sharp teeth. “Do not fret though, I know you will win. This Day Terror is nothing compared to the demons you have battled. Have faith young guardian.”
“Thanks, Gal.” I sighed and looked up to the red and gold dragon. “It really means a lot to know I have your support.” I sat down and hung my legs off the side of the cave. “Do you know if I’ll find these Elements?”
“Now if I told you the answer, where would the fun in finding them be?” Gal smiled again and closed his eyes.
“Gal, please don’t be Celestia to me.”
This elected a chuckle from the ancient dragon. “Ah Celestia always had a very… strange sense of humor. But yes. You will find them. And I know how.”
“You do?” I said enthusiastically.
“Well of course. Johnson, how old do you think I am?”
“Um.”
“Please I won’t bite. Just guess.” Gal smiled again, his eyes twinkling. He must be so bored sitting out here by himself all the time, with no one to talk to our to just be around.
“Well you know Celestia on a close level so I’d say… 3,000 years old?” I tapped a finger to my chin.
“Hahaha. Sorry but older human. Dragons, especially dragons like me can live to be very long. I’ll give you a hint. I knew ShieldStrong.”
My draw audible dropped open. “But that would make you –“
“Yes I'm over 5,000 years old. I was able to meet with the ancient humans long ago, before Nightmare did. In fact I was once the guardian to the very Elements you seek.” Gal’s face was one of pure pride. He had guarded the most powerful weapons in Equestria. And this was a game changer for everyone.
“So, do you know where they are?”
“Not anymore.”
Okay so maybe not as much as a game changer. “Well shit.”
“That information would be in the Temple.”
“The Temple?” I asked. I pulled out the map and unfolded it before Gal’s massive eye. He peered over the map and gently placed the tip of his claw on a spot located smack dab in the center of Mythartica.
“The Temple is somewhere around here. Now the humans always moved the Elements around to make sure that they could only be found by those seeking them the most.”
“Well, we do need them pretty bad.” I marked the spot on the map and folded it back up.
“Then you will find them. Worry not. And if they aren’t at the Temple than perhaps you can find a clue to their whereabouts. The ancient humans were clever, but not so clever where no one could find them.”
I looked back up to the giant dragon, “Gal, why are you helping me?”
He remained silent for a long time. The silence filled the cave and a gentle breeze blew across the mouth of the cave. “Do you remember when I told you about the balance that runs over Equestria?”
“Yes.”
“You will bring balance to this place.”
“But Gal,” I looked away from the dragon, “but then won’t I have shifted the balance too far to the good side if I wipe away Nightmare’s evil?”
This time Gal didn't say anything. He just looked to the outside world and let out a long sigh. “This is also true human. But maybe we shouldn't dwell on that.” He turned back to me and gave me a smile, but his eyes, those big golden eyes of his spoke of something else. And I had seen those eyes twice before. Once in a dying mare resting in my arms. And the second time in the eyes of a unicorn pulling the pin on a grenade. Death.
“Do not dwell on the future human. For whatever happens will happen, one way or another.”
“But Gal,” I stood up and pulled the helmet down snugly over my head, “I change the future… a lot.”
“He bloody does!” A British accented voice shouted from nowhere.
“Doctor! Shhhhhh this is getting serious!” A second feminine voice responded.
I ignored the voices and faced Gal. “Thank you Gal. But I know what I have to do. Nightmare will fall. Hard. And I’ll be there to make sure he never gets back up.”
“That is good human. Now sit with me and enjoy the sunrise. It truly is something.” Gal raised a claw and gestured towards the desert where across the rolling sand dunes, the sun was just beginning to rise. The golden rays were glistening off the sand, giving the world a sparkling effect. “Human, the world needs protectors like us once in a while. Sometimes the balance can be shifted to benefit the protector. It did once for a young dashing dragon.”
“Is that a good story?”
“It is. But also sad. And also a story for another time. If I tell you then you won't have a reason to come back and visit an old dragon.” Gal cracked another smile and winked.
“Don’t worry, Gal,” I placed a hand against the side of his head, “I’ll make it a priority to visit you once this is all over.”
“You’ve made an ancient dragon very happy.”
We both sat in silence and watched the sun crest over the ocean of sand. The beauty of the landscape cascading over both of us.
“Twilight y’all need to stop fretting. Ah’m sure everything is going fine. Honored and the gang are all pretty capable fighters. Ah know that much.” Applejack tried to calm Twilight down, but she was being extra… Twilight today.
“But what if I gave them the wrong coordinates? What if I’ve sent them in the wrong direction and right into a trap set by Day Terror? What if Celestia is never set free? What if mhmhmhmmhmhm!?” A pink hoof was popped into Twilight’s mouth, silencing the unicorn.
“Thank ya’ Pinkie!” Applejack nodded to the party pony who was rubbing a hoof across her chest.
“Works on me every time!” She stated before patting Twilight on the head. “Now if auntie Pie lets you go, are you going to calm down?” Twilight nodded her head very rapidly. “Good.” Pinkie Pie pulled her hoof away and Twilight sighed.
“Sorry girls, but you know how I get.”
“Maybe I can help?” Princess Luna walked into the library and floated a small box behind her. With a click the container opened and three bottles of Stalliongrad Premium Elite Vodka floated out and landed on the table beside Twilight.
“Oh no, Princess. I don’t drink.” Twilight shook her head and stepped away from the alcohol.
“Always a time to start.” Luna gave a grin and shook a bottle in front of Twilight. Her smile stayed on her face as Twilight looked at the floating vodka and back to her friends.
After much internal debate, Twilight slowly took hold of the bottle in her magical grasp and brought it towards herself, along with a small glass and some juice to mix it with.
“But only one glass.”
“I mean who is he – hic – is anyways.” Twilight sawed to the side and knocked into Applejack who was also enjoying a drink. “He acts all tough and – hic – stuff but I mean I bet he just wants somepony to talk to.”
“Thou art right, Twilight.” Luna nodded a little too fast. She was also downing drinks like crazy. Hell everypony in the room, save Pinkie Pie, was long gone under the influence of Mr. Vodka.
“He may act like a horrible violent brute a lot of the time, but I bet you all my bits that he just wants companionship of a nice mare.” Rarity laughed as she swung around, drink spilling from her glass she was holding in her hoof.
“Ah bet you – hic – he’s a real hard worker.” Applejack sighed and let her mind run wild as she thought about having those hands working on her orchard.
“He might… um be able… to help with animals.” Fluttershy gave a small hiccup as the one glass of vodka and juice worked its magic on her.
“I don’t see why you are so crazy about Honored. I mean have you seen Sergeant Stand Bold. Now – hic – that’s a pegasus. Not afraid to get dirty, fights from the sky and acts all around bad ass. I like me some of – hic – that.” Rainbow Dash was sprawled out along the couch, her words badly slurred.
“But the human is so exotic.” Luna explained, pouring herself another glass of vodka with cranberry juice. “Applejack do you remember when he was back for the first night and Fast Skies went into his room?”
“Of course Ah – hic – do. Ah reckon they kept me up all night with… things and stuff.” Applejack’s face turned beat red as she remembered exactly what had happened. Celestia’s name had been said a lot along with somepony named Jesus.
“Wait. How’d ya know about that yer highness?”
“Who do you think had the room above them?” Luna gave another loud hiccup before falling onto her back, her wings sticking out from either side of her. “Sky was one lucky mare.”
A series of agreements were echoed throughout the room. Except Rainbow Dash.
“I can’t believe all of you! – hic – you act as if you love him or something! He’s cool in all, but you really think he would have feelings for anypony?”
“Well I am a princess.” Luna raised a hoof into the air.
“Well shoot. There go my odds. If only right?” Twilight said glumly.
“I can act like a princess.” Rarity said casually, flicking a hoof through her mane.
Rainbow Dash slapped a hoof to her. “Forget it. You are all too drunk.” Rainbow promptly flew off the couch and wobbled in midair, crashing into the door frame.
Fits of laughter broke out between all the ponies as they all took another drink.
I had sat and watched the sunrise with Gal for over an hour until everypony else began to wake up. The chariots were repacked and soon we were ready to head off on another day long journey. “Thanks again Gal for allowing us to stay in your cave.”
The dragon lifted a claw and waved me off, “It was no problem human. And this isn’t my cave, it belongs to any and all who require it. I trust you to stay safe and return to see me once your quest is accomplished.”
I nodded and lifted my hand to the dragon, “I promise, Gal.”
And in much of the same manner as we had done during my first visit, Gal placed the tip of claw in my palm and a gripped it. I gave it a shake and let go. I turned and boarded my chariot with Quick Flurry and Fresh Greens slowly began to trot and then take off into the sky from the mouth of the cave.
“And we’re off!” I shouted and waved to Gal, who returned the gesture.
“So this Temple,” Quick Flurry poked at the back of my leg, “what do we know about it?”
I sat down and looked at him. “Absolutely nothing.”
“Great.” He rolled his eyes and yelled up to Fresh Greens, “Hey kid, you know you volunteered for a suicide mission.”
“What did I do?” The rookie guard yelled back at Quick.
“You volunteered for, ah forget it. You’ll see soon enough.” Quick turned back to me, his joke having fallen on deaf ears.
“Well I trust you, Honored.”
I gave a deep sigh, “Yeah so did Short Blade.”
SMACK
I reached up and laid a hand on my cheek. Quick flurry pulled his hoof back and gave me a horrified look. ”Let me begin my three part apology by saying you are a great human and I –“
I held up a hand cutting him off. “I have killed creatures for less than that. You get, hmmm, say thirty percent.” I lashed out and punched Quick Flurry in the shoulder, sending him tumbling forward against the front of the chariot. He sat up and shook his head.
“Okay, well, maybe not my best idea.” I laughed at him and grabbed my sides. He started laughing and soon I felt better.
“Well it did make me feel better ya’ stupid pegasus.”
“Hey um, sir.” Fresh Greens called back to me as I lied down on the chariot.
“Yes, Fresh Greens?” I propped my helmet up on my head so it was no longer covering up my eyes. “And you can relax; I don’t need all that sir shit.”
“Oh, alright. Can we take a break; my wings are starting to get sore from the constant flying?” Greens asked very timidly. He acted as if I was going to rip his head off at any moment.
“Shure takes us down Mr. Greens.” I said in best Sean Connery accent. “And when I say relax, I mean it. Being tense all the time can lead to warrior snapping under pressure. Stay alert, but not tense or stressed. Go with the flow, bro.”
“Okay. I guess that makes sense.” Man talk about green. He was petrified. Of me. I let out a sigh.
“Listen kid, I don’t know what you saw back at Canterlot, but that violent murderous creature isn’t always me. I can be a nice guy. Just relax and tell me about yourself.
“Well um my name is Initiate Fresh Greens and I originally come from Latrotette. It’s kind of a small backwoods town located near the Mareissippi River and swamp country. Not very many pegasi come from there, but a few of us reside there for weather duties. I just didn’t want to get stuck there so I joined up in the Royal Guard to see the world. Haha and I got my wish.” Fresh Green gestured to the landscape as we descend towards the desert. Although now more grassy shrubs were staring to spring up through the sand, we must be getting close to leaving the desert.
“Okay, everypony and others,” I looked to Covert and Gilda, “we’re going to take a break for a bit, stretch out and relax.” The chariot touched down easily on the sandy area and skidded to a stop. The other chariots pulled up to the flanks of my chariot and the ponies climbed down as Gilda, Fresh Greens, and Stand Bold unhooked themselves from the chariots.
“I can’t believe we had to leave my ship back at Canterlot! After flying that beautiful girl these little chariots can’t even compare!” Stand Bold complained as he threw his bag down and settled next to it, pulling a carrot out to munch on. “Like a child’s toy.”
“It’s okay, buddy. She’ll be waiting for you once we get back.”
Sergeant Bold flipped his carrot over and pointed it at Fresh Greens, “So, how’s pulling the death dealing human? He didn’t try to scare you did he?” He chuckled as he took another crunchy bite of the carrot.
“It was okay. The stories the other guards always talked about combined with what I saw at the market just got me scared and nervous I guess.” Greens rubbed a hoof along his neck and tried to fix his helmet so it would stop sliding down his head and obscure his vision. I laughed at how much of a new guard he was. It was sad really. I would have to watch over him.
“What did the guards say about me?” My curiosity was peaked. I reached into my pack and withdrew an MRE from the container that Luna and Twilight had teleported.
“Well for starters they said you eat meat.” Everypony around the camp exploded into laughter as I opened the MRE. Sloppy Joe filling with beef and barbecque sauce. Once you got past the fact it looked like dog food, it wasn't that bad.
“I do.” I smiled as the rest of the groups settled down. They all knew I ate meat, excluding Gilda and Fresh Greens. The look on his face was priceless. I dipped the plastic spoon into the plastic bag and took out the glob of meat sauce before shoveling it into my mouth. “What did you think these bad boys were for?” I gestured to my canine teeth. Fresh Greens just gulped and turned a little green. “Remember kid, relax. If I was a pony eating monster, you think I would wait this long to start eating you adorable things?”
“Hey, I'm sure as Tartarus is hot, that I am not adorable!” Stand Bold scoffed at me.
“Keep telling yourself that.” I smiled and took another spoonful of the wonderful factory packaged meat. Thanks government for making sloppy Joes awful. “Keep going, what else is said about the Great and Powerful human?” I loved stroking my ego I guess.
“That you died and then were brought back to life by evil dark magic and sent to do the biddings of Princess Luna as her slave. And that you also put a mare under a trance and she fell in love with you.” I could see everypony gathered around visibly tense up at the last rumor. They knew how I felt about Sky. I just wish they didn't treat me like I was made out of eggshells whenever she was mentioned.
“Let’s see, where to start with these rumors.” I ate more of the dog food; I mean government issued soldier food. “ For one i would never be anypony's slave. And two if I had to be, it would be for Celestia." What? i had a thing for women with power, it was a good change of pace. "I never did die, well actually I've had a lot of close calls, the worse being the time I did die and then was shocked back into life by the Elements of Harmony.”
I summoned a ball of fire in my left hand and hovered it over to float in front of Fresh Greens, where it danced around him, changing colors and shapes before leaping into the center of the group and turning into a normal camp fire. “The result of that much raw magic being dumped into me was me getting my own magic abilities.”
“And I was hired by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to be the newest member of the Equestrian Honor Guard, not a slave. And if I was anypony’s slave, it would Princess Celestia’s not Luna’s.” I had a thing for women in power, so sue me.
“And as for the mare, well I didn’t put her into a trance. But she did love me.” I sighed and looked up into the blue sky. A few clouds lazily drifted by, casting a few shadows over the sandy grassy area. “Her name was Fast Skies. We went through Royal Guard training together along with Quick, Hammer, and Battle here. I don’t know what she saw in me, but she loved me. And I loved her.” I looked down at my meal, my hunger suddenly lost.
“What happened to her?” Fresh Green asked and Gilda leaned in, neither having ever heard the story or being present when it had happened.
“She died.” I stated and looked up to ponies gathered. Covert placed a hand on my back.
“Sometimes it helps to talk about it.”
I let out a deep sigh and peered into the flames of the fire. “She died saving me. Day Terror launched a bolt of magic at me before I got my own magic. I was about to get hit and she flew in front of me and saved me. She died protecting the protector.” I let out a chuckle and looked at the ponies around. I looked up to Covert and smiled. “Thanks. I guess I did need to talk about it a little.”
“Is that enough rest for everypony?” A cough came across from the circle, “And everygriffon, sheesh.”
“Yeah, I think we’re all set to continue on.” Sergeant Stand Bold got up and flapped his wings. He flew over to his chariot and began to strap himself back into the reins. Gilda followed suit.
Fresh Greens tapped me on the back as I walked away from the fire. “Um, thanks, Honored for telling that story. I know it must have been hard.” He flew off to the other chariot and began making himself ready for the flight to the Temple.
“Yeah, it was.” I aimed my hand at the fire and the flames leapt into the air and were swallowed back into my palm, smoke slowly rising from the jeweled center. “But I’ll make sure I get my revenge. I’ll avenge you, Sky and Short Blade.”
I mounted the chariot and we fell in line behind Battle Plan as he directed us through the grass lands of Mythartica towards our ultimate goal.
“Go shadows! You three search section 4C and you three search section 5C. Those Elements will be here somewhere, and as soon as we find them… well that human and his pitiful pony pals will be nothing but fresh graves.” Day Terror smirked as the telepathic link with her scout shadows at the Temple was severed. She had sent a small recon force out and to retrieve the Elements of Sanctuary. So what if the Elements wouldn’t work for her.
They were weapons; they didn’t need power or magic to work. Just slash with a sword or swing with a hammer. What magic is needed for that?