Samuel Weathers
What in the name of all that is good does that mage think he’s doing?
Watching him go all-out had been as terrifying as it was inspiring. It had almost given me hope for a while.
The horde of wolves was never-ending, however.
I stand here, in possession of a slightly elevated view of the field, thanks to Mender’s cart. With one gauntleted hand I’m doing my best to pry some crystals out of my shield as I stare in wonderment.
The monster before us puts to shame anything we've seen so far. It also is apparently our objective; as I watch, more of the accursed wolves form from the fallen branches around it.
It spoke.
The sound was nothing compared to the cacophony that was its earlier roar, yet it rolled over our ears like thunder nonetheless. I understood none of it, yet like Rainbow's voice, I could almost mistake it for a man’s voice. If that man were the size of a small mountain.
I finally pry the first crystal loose, and raw information jackknifes its way into my head.
In an instant, I know what Rodin wants from me. Grasping the other four shards, I hurriedly work them loose from my shield.
Raising my voice, I speak so that all of my soldiers can hear me. “I need five volunteers for a suicide mission.”
Roughly a dozen hands rocket into the air.
Rainbow Dash
This fire is spitting in the face of everything I know as a weatherpony. It’s actually starting to make me mad!
Rain clouds, whirlwinds, nothing extinguishes it!
That isn't stopping most of us from trying, however. I was woken up for this! A forest fire in the Everfree, now that’s an emergency worthy of disrupting nap-time!
Smoke pollution and massive thermal aside, Ponyville is far too close to the Everfree to just ignore this. So I don’t exactly blame Cloud Kicker for waking me up for this.
If these dumb clouds would just-
Yet another cloud squirms out of my hooves and goes on its merry way.
“UGH!” I exclaim, disgusted with it all.
I’m tired, sweating so much I’m surprised that alone hasn't put out the fires below. The several dozen other pegasi with me are in no better condition. We've been trying to fight this fire for hours!
At long last I hear the voice I've been waiting for.
“Alright! *pant* *pant* I’m here! *pant* *pant* What’s the problem?”
I turn, hovering in place, to see Twilight finally arriving. She looks just as tired as I feel, and she just got here!
I really need to get her to work those wings more often, this is just silly.
My voice is scratchier than normal from all the heat and smoke, “Well Twilight, there’s a forest fire, in case you haven’t noticed.” I cough into my hoof. “But nothing we do works right! It’s as if that fire isn't even fire!”
She tries to respond but doesn't seem to be able to catch her breath.
I roll my eyes and round up a few others to help beat a small cloud into submission. Twilight is grateful for the place to rest, smiling her thanks at me.
I return the smile uneasily. It’s hard to just gloss over one of your friends not believing you about something important. But- Hayfeathers. Well, now I know how she felt at Shining Armor’s wedding.
But that doesn't matter right now. The fire down there does. “So what do you think?” I ask, waving my hoof in the direction of the inferno.
She takes a long look at it. Her horn glowing as she examines it with her magic as well. Her breathing slows as she recovers from her exertions too.
Eventually she answers me. “See how it’s not spreading beyond its borders, but burning what it does have really slowly?”
“Yea?” I’m no expert on forest fires, but that does seem odd.
“A real forest fire would be spreading really quickly, but this doesn't seem to be spreading at all. That alone indicates a fire magical in nature. But that raises more questions; who would start a magical fire? The lack of further spread indicates that only this area was desired to burn, but that makes no sense. Why would someone want to burn some random portion of the Everfree?”
I… don’t know. Could the humans have something to do with it. Wait, ‘The lack of further spread’?
“Actually Twilight, it has been spreading.” I gesture northwest into the distance. “But it hasn't been spreading in all directions, just sort of in a line, but that line is heading away from Ponyville, so why worry about it?”
Twilight looks surprised. “Well, without knowing more about what caused the fire, I’m not sure what I can do to help that you haven’t already tried. If I can watch how the fire spreads, I might be able to figure out what’s causing it, or work out a way to starve the magic at least. It has to be drawing power from something…”
“Alright then, lets get going!” I say, hooves crossed over my chest. “We won’t get there floating on a cloud, you know!”
She groans and spreads her wings, hesitating at the last second.
“You know that cloud is about to dissipate, right?”
Eyes wide in alarm, Twilight is airborne again in a matter of moments.
Chuckling to myself, I take the lead. If I’m careful, we might be able to catch some of the thermals the fire is giving off, to make this easier for Twilight.
It sort of works; we’re able to glide for as long as we can stand the heat and a little smoke. With the increase in altitude, however, more and more of the Everfree’s clouds hamper our vision, making it hard to see our destination.
After a few hours of flying, we can see the end of our bright and fiery trail, and it isn't moving forward. At all.
“Are you bucking kidding me?” Twilight doesn't sound happy to see that.
I for one, am not listening to her whining at the moment.
Another sound has caught my attention.
It sounds… like a sort of clanking, far off.
Trying to remember where I’ve heard it before, I’m reminded of memories of busy streets, and stuck up nobles.
Canterlot… The Guard! It sounds like combat practice, the sound of metal hitting stuff!
Twilight’s voice calls out to me from somewhere above me. I guess I’ve been spiraling downwards.
The sound is getting louder as I approach the ground where the fires stops. “What was that?” I call back up to her.
I can hear her faint cry of frustration, before she dives and levels off close to me. “I said-”
She gets no farther before she is rudely interrupted.
*ROOOAAR!!*
A blast of sound stuns us both, and we drop like stones.
I recover first, then saving Twilight from what would likely have been a long stay in the Ponyville Hospital’s Burn Ward.
“What was that?” I ask.
The question seems to bring her to her senses. “Probably whatever started the fire. Let’s go find it.”
That sounds like a good plan. Thankfully, the thunder of giant hoof-falls and the sight of trees crashing down to make way for something big made whatever it was really, really easy to find.
Quickly, we fly below the upper canopy of the Everfree, alighting on some of the higher branches of the trees as we looked on at the scene below.
My first thoughts are fueled by many surprises, each one following on the hooves of another. Wow. The ground is really far away. These trees are really tall! That monster is HUGE! Are those Timberwolves down there?! Why are there so many of them? I mistook them for the forest floor! We must be really deep in the Everfree, because I don’t remember seeing stuff like this before. Are those Humans over there? Horseapples, that monster is HUGE!
Herbert Senthson
For the first time in… I don’t know how many days, I’m finally back to sneaking through this horrible forest without any armor on.
In one hand I clutch an orange shard, some strange magic filling my head with the knowledge I need to proceed.
Even now I can see the spell in my mind’s eye, the five shards forming the points of a massive diagram around the monster before us. The details elude me, but somehow I know my survival is unlikely.
I don’t even care anymore.
I’ve already felt my life-blood slipping through my own fingers once today. It was only through the grace of one James Mender that I still live to perform this final act.
It’s the least I can do for those who have already died today.
Ever since we came here, it’s been a hard life, but these wolves will kill us, either with those teeth, or through starvation.
What is five lives against hundreds?
I dart from tree to tree; the dark leathers of the padding under my armor letting me blend in with the shadows quite nicely.
My history as a hunter serves me well; my footfalls making almost no noise in the underbrush, a rather sharp contrast to the booming conversation taking place, some distance through the trees.
“We are strangers in a strange land, O great one! We seek only to carry on living! As for our intrusion, we beg of you to pardon our foolishness as we had no choice!”
I quickly loose interest, as the booming rumble that is his response is not one I understand. I pause in the shadow of a tree as I wait for the ground to stop shaking before continuing.
From the shard I hold, a flash of understanding rides up my arm and forces its way into my head. With perfect clarity, I know that one of the other shards is in position.
A few second later, two more flashes signal the arrival of two more.
As I continue my broad, curving path through the trees, my eyes are drawn to the scene this all is revolving around.
Our battle mage stands in a sea of wolves, their blue eyes fixated upon him as he speaks with the monster. I can see more and more of them forming from the undergrowth at the feet of the wooden monstrosity, this being all the proof I need to know that my sacrifice is truly called for.
In all honesty, I had expected some sort of humanoid witch to be at the center of the whole wolf problem. We’d have cut her and her pets up, burned her spellbooks in a bonfire and have called it a day.
Instead I’m looking at what might as well be a forest god, furious at us if its voice is any indication.
Perhaps it has something to do with the whole ‘forest fire’ thing?
I can sense that I’m getting closer to my target, and the shard in my hand lets me know the fourth shard is in position.
I’m the last one left to go.
Peering between the trees, I have to suppress a curse under my breath.
My destination seems to be a sphere about two meters wide, suffusing its surroundings with a light red color. Instinctively, I realize this is visible only to my own eyes.
The problem lies in the wolf standing not even three paces from my destination.
It’s back is turned, but what passes for its ears are perked up, waiting attentively for some signal.
It is monstrous, easily the size of the monsters that attacked us from behind and wiped out the next squad over from mine.
I know I’m no match for it in a fight, and even I’m not foolish enough to believe I can sneak up on an alert, attentive, wolf-like construct.
On the verge of despair, not for my life but for the failure of my mission, I realize that the target sphere overlaps, ever so slightly, with the trunk of a nearby tree.
Do I have to be in the sphere, or is it just the shard?
I receive no answers.
Backing off a dozen paces, I unload my pack and re-string my bow as silently as I can.
Taking out a length of rope, and one of my many remaining un-enchanted arrows, I look critically at the shard in my hand.
I really hope this is as good of an idea as I think it is.
Rodin Eveblaze
It’s a long shot and I know it.
“We are strangers in a strange land, O great one! We seek only to carry on living! As for our intrusion, we beg of you to pardon our foolishness as we had no choice!” I shout, hoping my words are well received.
The behemoth grumbles. I don’t think it’s satisfied.
“Strangers you say? How do I know you are not spies from the pony goddesses? It would have been simple for your kind to slip across the border and occupy their old fortress!”
There’s so much I don’t know… can’t know about this world, but that means that they likely don’t know anything about us either.
“We serve no goddesses! Our lot was thrust upon us! We seek only survival and will do anything to preserve it! Can we perhaps aid you against your foes in return for your blessing to live in your forest?”
It’s single, massive eye roam over me, weighing me. It turns next to our little army, only just visible to me through the wreckage and char of the battlefield. Eventually it speaks.
“I will not take you so blindly on faith. There will be a test.”
My entire plan hinges on the Immortal in front of me being unable or unwilling to read my mind. If it’s unable, there’s no problem, I need only stall for time. If it’s only unwilling, however… I need to keep it that way.
“We long to prove ourselves! Whom might we bring down fire upon O great one?”
I suspect that I might be laying it on a little thick, but this guy is eating it up.
Returning its gaze upon me, the behemoth smiles. It’s a pretty freaky thing to see. It's worse up close.
“You will march east to the border between my domain and the domain of the pony goddesses. You will find a pony village, guarded by beings of power, gifted to them by their goddesses. Burn it to the ground. If you can do this, I will accept you as my servants, and see to it that no harm comes to your women and children.”
My blood runs cold. Not at his request, but at his choice of words.
If this thing has a gender, I'll eat my robe. Are the words for women and children so universal? Or did it pull the terms from my mind? Or is it some translation gimmick? I’d give a lot to know exactly how we’re communicating.
Thankfully, my mouth manages to keep working, the words rolling off my tongue like water. I’m running out of fuel, but I think I can drag this on for a bit longer.
“The village is as good as destroyed, great one! We will fall upon them as lightning from the sky! We only request to know your name, so that we might chant it as we slaughter your enemies!”
The alien smile of strangeness widens and a sound like boulders falling down a mountain comes from somewhere inside the thing. I think it was laughing.
“I am the Titan of the Everfree. You mortals may call me Timber.”
No sooner do the words leave the orifice it uses as a mouth than I feel the familiar thrum of power. All five points of the circle are now complete. The spell that had been suspended when I fragmented the crystal on my staff is finally reinstated, in an altered form, with the completion of the circle.
It now awaits only one of its two triggers to be unleashed.
I smile in spite of myself, feeling that I've all but won. One of those triggers happens to be my death.
I open my mouth to speak the other trigger.
I've been waiting to use this line for over twenty years!
“Well then, Timber, on behalf of Humanity, I ask you to BURN WITH ME!”
Power I could never hope to otherwise shape explodes from the crystal still embedded in my staff, red streams of energy radiating outwards, latching on to the other five shards somewhere through the trees.
I get a fraction of a second to see the priceless look of surprise on the monster’s face.
Then, all I can sense is my own fire.
Rainbow Dash
I’m totally ready to go smack Sophia’s dad a new one, but Twilight’s magic, and the knowledge that I would likely die mere seconds after doing so keep me at bay.
Twilight for one seems to be torn between terror and wonder, and she’s rooted to the spot.
I had gotten my montage of “I told you so! See! Humans! Right in front of you!” out of the way pretty early on, but then I realized the horror of the conversation going on in front of my own eyes.
I had remembered that Sophia seemed to think her dad would be able to speak with and understand me like she did, which makes this evil stallion her dad.
Still, something seems off. If this monster wanted Ponyville gone, why doesn't he do it himself? He looks powerful enough to wreck the town. I know I haven’t a clue how I’d go stopping him. I’d die trying though, not roll over and become his lap dog!
“Twilight!” I snap, still stuck in her magical grip, “We have to do something about this!”
That seemed to snap her out of her trance.
Her eyes were still pinpricks, and she looked moments away from a panic attack, but at least she was active again.
“You’re right! We have to report this! The princesses will know what to do!”
I nod, and we spread our wings, taking to the sky.
No sooner do we clear the canopy, than do we hear the human’s voice shouting; at once ecstatic and hateful, it’s enough to send a shiver down my spine.
“BURN WITH ME!”
Strangely, even though the rather solid obstacle that tree trunks are, I can see a diagram light up on the forest floor in a red glow.
Something about that voice and that red diagram captures my attention, even as we fly away. A five point star, surrounded by a circle of the same red glow, the image completes itself with a final point in the center brightening and reaching outwards, connecting with the corners of the star.
In a flash so bright I’m blinded through my rapidly closed eyelids, the whole thing sounds like it erupts into a rending avalanche of sound that deafens me as well
Unable to see, and with the Everfree wreaking havoc on my innate sense of direction, I’m having a whole lot of trouble flying!
I can feel the touch of Twilight’s magic, pointing me up a little, in what I hope is a climbing pattern.
A second later, what feels like a massive storm is thrown in my face, the wind doing its best to pull me back the way I came.
I’m not having any of that!
Wings pumping, and trusting Twilight’s guidance, we slowly make headway through the wind. It’s a vicious wind, fueled by a vacuum, if my senses aren't lying to me. There’s a reason nopony likes going into the Everfree.
Eventually we break free of the wind and just keep flying. I’m assuming Twilight can see since she hasn't crashed us yet, so I’m just trusting her to guide me.
Finally, I think I’m starting to get the use of my eyes and ears back.
I close my eyes, silently urging my sight to come back.
Being blinded, even temporarily, really hurt
Slowly I become more and more aware of the wind whistling as we fly through it, as well as a quiet roar of noise in the background.
Eventually, when I open my eyes, I find that I can see… adequately. Not a whole lot of detail there, but I can make out Twilight, flying in front of me. She glances back towards me, seeing my eyes track her, and starts descending.
I follow her, everything slowly getting clearer as we descend into a broad stretch of cleared forest.
My hooves set down on cool ashes, and the smell of burned things is strong enough to choke.
Is this the stretch the forest fire was burning?
Twilight doesn't seem to care about getting charcoal all over her coat; she’s collapsed on the ground, trying to recover from the exertion.
I’m glad she’s such a strong flier, that seemed to come with the wings, but she really needs to work on her endurance.
Its several moments before I break the silence. It’s odd, that the Everfree is this quiet.
“Twilight. What just happened?”
She turns her head to behold me. Now I can see her expression. It’s one of confusion and fear. “You didn't see it?”
I gesture towards my eyes. “I went blind and deaf for a bit there, actually. It really hurt.”
“I wasn't so lucky.” She turns to look back the way we've come, and I follow her gaze. Above the trees is a massive expanse of smoke, curling upwards like a mushroom cloud.
“A column of fire, the size of Ponyville, reaching up to the sky… like it was reaching for the sun,” she sounds hollow, as if she couldn't summon the energy to care. But then she grows quiet, her voice cracking, “And that monster… That thing that wanted the Humans to come kill us… It was screaming”
I never thought I’d say I was glad to be deaf.