//------------------------------// // A Violent Welcome // Story: Upheaval: Breaking Point // by Visiden Visidane //------------------------------// Upheaval: Breaking Point Chapter 11: A Violent Welcome The wolven were a good thirty feet away when they spotted Twilight's group. She blinked once and they had already closed three quarters of that distance. With the rest still groggy and dazed, only Rarity seemed coherent enough to react. Without a single moment to spare, Twilight cast the first spell that came to mind. A mass of black hair sprouted all over the lead wolven's snout. Twilight's heart nearly stopped at the botched spell. Fortunately for her, the sudden growth around its nose startled the lead wolven enough to slow down. The two behind it nearly crashed into their leader, allowing her to get another spell off. This time, the lead wolven levitated, surrounded by a purple nimbus of light. Twilight hurled it towards other two, sending all of them tumbling to the ground. "Run!" she shouted at her friends. Already, the wolven were rising and snarling at them. The urgency in Twilight's voice snapped the rest of them out of their daze. Rarity took one look at the enormous, lupine creatures coming at them before grabbing a hold of her nearest friend. "You can vomit later, Applejack," she said as she tried to get Applejack onto her hooves. "Right now, we need to run!" Applejack tried to run, only to lurch to her left. Rarity caught her before she could fall over, proceeding to half-drag and half-carry her to the doors. Behind her, both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had recovered enough to follow suit while supporting Pinkie Pie, who was doing her best to run…in the opposite direction. With her friends needing more time, Twilight continued to face the trio of wolven. As expected, she was straining to use her magic outside of the Heartland. One of the wolven jumped at her while the two circled around trying to either surround her or get to her vulnerable friends. She caught the charging wolven in her telekinetic grip, and hesitated for a second. She couldn't repeat the same tactic over and over. The wolven were already learning. They had separated to avoid being knocked down as a group, and she was going to tire long before they did. "What are you waiting for? Beat it against the ground until it's dead!" Twilight stunned the floating wolven by smashing it against the stone floor head first. She hurled it towards one of the circling wolven, knocking them over. When the third jumped at her from her side, she ducked and hoped for the best. Its leap carried it past her without letting it get a bite in. A sudden, sharp pain struck Twilight's back as the wolven's shadow crossed the floor beneath her. It jolted her train of thought, and sapped the strength from her knees. Something wet and sticky ran down her side and dripped onto the floor. She didn't need to look to know what it was. Despite the pain, she struggled to her hooves, and looked for her friends. The others had made it to the doors at last. Panic and relief fought within her as she limped towards them as fast as she could. "Twilight, look out!" Rarity cried out. Letting Applejack go, she rushed towards Twilight. The wolven had recovered, and were in hot pursuit. A faint light blue glow surrounded one of them. The telekinetically gripped wolven merely growled in annoyance, only slowed down a bit from the blue magic. Beads of sweat formed around Rarity's forehead as she struggled to maintain the spell, but she couldn't even lift a single paw. "Run, Rarity!" Twilight tried to shout, but her warning came out weak and strained. "Our magic is weakened here, just run!" Rainbow left Pinkie with Fluttershy and flew to Twilight's support. They managed to get to the hallway with the wolven just a few feet away. "What are you ponies still doing here?" somepony shouted. "Get to the-- Terrato's broken horn, they've made it this far already!" A pair of heavily-barded ponies charged into the fray. One of them crashed into the mustache-sporting wolven just as it was about to land on Twilight. Fangs and claws scraped against metal plating as the guard slammed the wolven against a wall. The other two wolven switched from the seemingly helpless, fleeing prey to the armored threats. The second guard followed his comrade, positioning his back against the other guard and rearing up to keep the other two at bay. "Move, ponies!" he yelled. "Get to the evacuation area!" Twilight led the group as they ran for it. Evacuation area? Her friends didn't even know where they were! She had only seen this place once! They were going to get lost if the wolven didn't find them and tear them apart. To make matters worse, she was hurt, and she was slowing the others while drops of blood trickled from her back. Atop Applejack, Spike watched Twilight with concern. "Twilight!" he called out. "Do you know where we should go?" "I've only been here once." Twilight answered as they rounded one corner. "I think…" She tried get her bearings, beating back the rising panic. "I think I can get us to the courtyard from here. If the fort is under attack, there will be more wolven there, but we can also find some ponies who'll know!" The wound on Twilight's shoulder ached whenever she put her weight on her right foreleg, but she gritted her teeth through the pain and limped ahead, passing through one hallway after another. With each turn, she looked around quickly, making snap decisions based on the one time she had been through the place. She also listened closely for the sounds of ongoing battles to determine if she was heading where she needed to go. There were no ponies in the hallways she passed through and, with each corner she turned, she dreaded seeing more wolven. She was panting already when they descended a flight of stairs. That was when Fluttershy started running next to her. "Twilight," Fluttershy said, "we need to bandage your wound." "With what?" Twilight asked as she looked around. This hallway looked particularly familiar. They were getting close. The sounds of fighting were also getting louder. "We don't have anything to bandage it with, and we don't have time to stop." "But-but it's all over the floor!" Twilight looked behind her to find a thin trail of her blood. She had left an obvious trail for anything to follow her. She was also starting to feel a little lightheaded. Each step she took with her right foreleg sent bolts of pain running through her shoulder. If they didn't find help soon, they would be in even greater danger. "No time," she said. "Now, this way." Upon finally coming to the entrance hall, they skidded to a stop at the sight. The main doors had been broken apart. Splinters of wood were scattered across the floor. An enormous battle raged before them. Fearsome snarls and angry neighing mixed with the scraping of claws against metal barding and the cries of the injured, turning into a deafening cacophony that pressed against them. Everywhere they looked, ponies and wolven were locked in fierce combat. One barded pony knocked down a wolven and reared up to bring his hooves down on his opponent's skull. A pair of wolven clamped their enormous jaws on another pony's neck and leg to drag him to the ground. "Where are we?" Rainbow Dash cried out over the din. "What's going on?" Her voice was barely audible. The others could only stare in wide-eyed terror. One look told Twilight what was going on. This was a losing battle. More wolven were pouring into the courtyard. It wouldn't be long until the ponies were overwhelmed. To her shock, all three of the fort's mighty gates had been blasted apart. Enormous gouts of flame lit up the night, bathing the scene of carnage in a red-orange glow. Despite the ponies' efforts, groups of wolven managed to break through and run into the fort. "We can't go through this way..." Twilight said. She didn't know if her friends heard her, she barely had the strength to keep standing. "…there has to be some…some kind of back door." "Twilight, watch out!" Spike shouted. Twilight looked ahead in time to see a wolven jump at her. Its claws were a foot away and about to gouge her face off. She shut her eyes, and prepared for the pain. But the pain didn't come. When Twilight opened her eyes again, she was looking at the black-barded side of a pony. The wolven that had charged at her lay on the ground, its gut sliced open by an enormous blade. She looked at the two-bladed sword clamped between her rescuer's teeth. "Vanguard Clash!" she said. Vanguard turned to face her. Something was wrong. His barding looked distorted in some places, as if some of the plates had been partly melted. He was panting heavily, and beads of sweat dripped from between the plates of his armor. "You're hurt," she said. Her vision started blurring as she fought to stay conscious. "And you're bleeding," Vanguard mumbled through his weapon. To see Twilight Sparkle once more stove off the pain and fatigue for just a little while longer. Twilight was right: he was hurt. But the pain of his burns meant nothing compared to the sting of his failure. He had left the wolven camp as soon as he could put one hoof in front of the other, donned his barding, and made his way desperately back to Fangbreaker Fortress. His injuries slowed him down, and he had arrived too late. He had to skirt around the gathered wolven, then kill several of them just to get into the fort. Once inside, he had decided that he was going to defend the fortress to the death as penance for failing. Seeing Twilight changed that. Whatever the reason why, she was back. His priority now was to get her to safety. Without another word, he put his head underneath her and lifted her up to his back. Twilight didn't protest, which only served to make her state even more worrisome. A group of ponies ran up to him. He didn't recognize any of them, but a quick look to their flanks gave enough of a clue. "Are you her friends?" he asked after replacing his weapon. He didn’t bother waiting for their reply as he turned and galloped. “Follow me!” he called out to them. A sky blue pegasus with a bizarre, rainbow-colored mane flew up to Vanguard as he ran. "Wait, who are you? How can we trust you?" "Introductions later," Vanguard said. "Let's get you out of this fort first. It's me or the wolven. Your choice." He galloped toward one of the designated evacuation areas, Twilight’s friends following behind him. He was lucky that he even remembered where they were. Back in training, he had been inclined to forget about them. As if there was going to be a time when Fangbreaker Fortress had to be abandoned... A yellow pegasus looked at him in concern. "We need to bandage Twilight's wound," she said. "What's that creature on the orange one's back?" he asked. "Put him on mine please." "I'm Spike!" the creature said as the yellow pegasus placed him on Vanguard's back. "And I'm a dragon!" "Tear off strips of my caparison and use those for bandaging," Vanguard replied. "Capri-what?" "The cloth around my legs. Climb down my armor and tear off pieces of it. Go!" The plan was shoddy at best. Vanguard's caparison was a tattered, badly burned mess. Spike would have to make do to patch Twilight up temporarily while they got her to some medics. The very small dragon also had to be careful not to fall off or risk being accidentally stepped on as they ran. Finally, they emerged from the back of the fortress. Still atop the hill, they saw a long line of ponies fleeing southward to Bastion City. Squads of pegasi flew above them, with many carrying the wounded in stretchers. "We made it!" the rainbow-maned pony exclaimed. She let out a long exhale. "Not yet," Vanguard said. He pointed at the pegasi and looked back at her. "Think you can catch up with them?" "Is that a challenge?" she replied. "Sure I can!" "Good. Tell them we have wounded, and see if they have some spare wings to fly Twilight out of here." The rainbow-maned pony looked a little irked by the orders, but she took a single glance at Twilight, who was draped over Vanguard with her eyes barely open, then nodded. She soared towards her target, leaving behind a prismatic streak. 'She's going to give Scarlet a run for his bits,' he thought. He focused on the rest of the ponies still with him. "Let's go." About half an hour had passed since Vanguard helped Twilight and her friends escape the fallen fort. By then, the fighting lessened significantly as the wolven began occupying. The rainbow-maned pony had returned earlier with a pair of pegasi. They put Twilight on a stretcher, and flew her ahead. Spike had asked to come along to accompany Twilight, while his two pegasi friends opted to stay with the group. With the fortress a good distance behind and no pursuing wolven in sight, Vanguard had slowed from a hard gallop to a trot. The half moon out tonight did not help much with the poor visibility. He followed the lit torches from the distant fleeing ponies and hoped that he didn't run into too many obstacles. With the excitement gone, exhaustion began to settle. Vanguard's burns were hurting from all the exertion. He was about to drop, but they were coming closer to the main line of Fangbreaker's retreating forces and he needed to protect these ponies. While he kept a calm exterior, he was fighting through each step. "Excuse me, good sir," somepony said. Vanguard looked back in time to see one of Twilight’s friends, a white unicorn mare, come up to him. "Yes?" he asked. "Now that we're a good distance from the danger, perhaps we can introduce ourselves? We would dearly like to know a lot of things." "My name is Captain Vanguard Clash of the Northern Equestrian Legion," he replied. "You are?" The white unicorn looked at Vanguard blankly at first. He had expected that. "Northern Equestrian Legion" likely flew past her as surely as one of her pegasi friends. She recovered swiftly, however. "My name is Rarity," she said. "Pleased to meet you, Captain Clash." Vanguard raised an eyebrow. This pony had just found herself in a strange land and came under attack by strange creatures. Her friend had been badly injured and had to be flown off for treatment, but she spoke to him with an earnest formality. 'This must be a chosen noble,' he thought. The carefully combed curls of her mane reinforced his guess. "The name's Applejack," the orange pony behind Rarity said. "Could you tell me where in the hay we are? It's bad enough that we've been banished, but banished to the middle of a giant scrap between ponies and…what did you call those monsters again? Wolven?" "My sympathies for your banishment," Vanguard answered. Applejack just confirmed what he had been fearing since he saw Twilight Sparkle again. "You're in the Barrier Lands, the realm outside the Equestria you know." He studied Applejack a little. Here was a direct contrast to Rarity, a pony who was a little rough at everything from appearance to manners. The other ponies began to introduce themselves. The rainbow-maned pony was Rainbow Dash, and the pink one with a poofy mane was Pinkie Pie. After a little coaxing, the yellow pegasus introduced herself as Fluttershy. With the introductions out of the way, they resumed trotting in silence. Several minutes passed when Fluttershy spoke up. Her voice was so weak that Vanguard thought she was just talking to herself. It was only when she approached him and repeated what she was saying did he realize that she was talking to him. "Those ponies lying on the ground…" she said. "They were just tired right? They got tired of fighting, and had to lie down?" "They're dead," Vanguard answered. Fluttershy wilted on the spot. Her eyes focused on the ground while her lips quivered. It wasn't just Fluttershy either. The answer weighed down on each of Twilight's friends like a thick shroud. He softened his tone when he replied again, aware that his dog's growl of a voice served him poorly when dealing with ponies. He was a little thankful that Fluttershy had not seen what the wolven did to ponies after killing them. "We will mourn for them later, Fluttershy," he told her as gently as he could. "For now, let us be thankful that we're alive. Then, we will make sure that they didn't die for nothing. When all of that is done, we mourn." "But why were they fighting anyway?" Pinkie Pie asked. There was something in her voice that seemed incredibly subdued. She was likely far more used to shouting with joy than talking like this. "We fight to defend Equestria," Vanguard replied. "That fortress has been protecting the north for more than a thousand years." "But we just lost it!" Pinkie said. "There's been a betrayal," Vanguard growled. The blazing gates were a clear sign of the culprit. The other ponies quickly noticed his mood and backed away slightly. "Somepony will pay for this." Vanguard looked on ahead, cutting off any more discussion among them. They had finally caught up with the rest of Fangbreaker's forces. For now, they had to rest up and take stock. He had a report to make to Commander Dreadstep, if the pony was still alive, then he would be off to the medics to have his burns treated and to see how Twilight Sparkle was doing. After that, was revenge.