//------------------------------//
// Just another Day Just another Disaster part 2 
// Story: Shards of Nightmare 
// by Stonedpony 
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Just another Day
Just another Disaster
Part 2

  The night came and went like it would on any other. the mares slept close together around the fire. Big Macintosh stayed close to the cart, he had been given quite the tongue lashing before and after dinner. Winchester meanwhile slept near the unforgiving bush. As the morning sun rose overhead everypony was awaken by a gruff, almost angry voice. Twilight opened her eyes to see Winchester stomping out the fire saying, "You need to wake up and eat fast. We need to get moving." before the stallion looked up at the sky through the trees.
  Twilight yawned as she rubbed her eyes. She wished she could have her morning tea perhaps even have a honey bun with it, but unfortunately Spike had not come along to make a real breakfast. For someone so young he did tend to wake up fairly early only to eat and return to bed. The lavender mare was the one who had the drive to actually open the library. she hoped he had done so on time today without her.
  The young librarian looked around as her belly rumbled. Pinkie Pie was hopping in place happily watching as Big Mackintosh and Applejack retrieved honey hay cakes out of the cart for breakfast. Rarity tried to sneak by Applejack to get some of the beauty supplies she had hidden in the cart, the white unicorn failed and Applejack wasn’t too happy she had brought something so frivolous. Fluttershy was trying to wake Rainbow Dash up, but the stunt flier mumbled “Five more minutes.” tiredly as she pulled the small cloud she had brought down the night before to use as a pillow over her head. 
  Twilight Sparkle yawned again and stretched her back she looked over at Winchester as he trotted by still staring up at the sky through the trees. “Um, what are you looking for?” the mare asked.
  “Scouts.” Winchester replied.
  “What?” Twilight asked confused.
  “Scouts!” Winchester snapped angrily, Twilight backed away startled.
  “What bit your butt?” Applejack asked with a smirk. “Oh yeah.... some Apple Family apple whiskey.” Winchester didn’t even respond... “Well, that’s rude.” Twilight nodded agreeing with her friend. Rarity meanwhile helped Fluttershy with waking up a certain somepony, they eventually succeed with enough pestering. 
  “Damn it why are we getting up so early the suns barely up.” Rainbow Dash groaned as she stretched her back, "Anyway, I'm going to go stretch my wings." with a flap of her wings the sky blue pegasus was airborne. A few more wing beats later and she was heading for an opening in the tree limbs, only to be halted and pulled back to the ground rather roughly. "Hey! What's going on?" Rainbow dash said looking behind her for the culprit, it was none other then Winchester standing there with his horn still glowing.
  "Dumb filly, what do you think your doing?" The pained stallion said looming over her with grimace.
  "I said I was going to go stretch my wings." Rainbow Dash said jumped to her hooves with an angry growl, she was ready to buck Winchester right in the face.
  "That’s not a good idea. Just eat so we can get going." The writer said staring down the blue pegasus like so many authority figures had before.
  "Now see here..." Rarity began as she stepped in front of him, she was tired of the stallion's antics. "Why should we listen to you? All you've done is annoy us, argue every decision that the group had agreed on and-."
  “Look, I’m a k-” Winchester cut in he was fed up with the situation but so was Rarity.
  "I’ll tell you what you are. You are such a pain that even my patience is running thin." Winchester glared at her for a moment, then looked at the ground as he dug at it with his hoof. "Look at me when I’m talking to you..." The irritated white unicorn paused when the blue stallion regained eye contact now holding up a hoof full of dirt a worm wiggled its way free of the dirt ball. Before Rarity could say anything more Winchester stuffed the mess into the large curl at the end the of the mare's mane, then pulled his hoof out to the side, absolutely ruining the curl of her hair.
  The stallion turned away after that, his actions fueled by more then just a hangover. He was about to speak, until Rarity interrupted him yelling. "HOW DARE YOU! YOU, YOU!..." Her words where lost in a primal yet somehow elegant snarl as she used her magic to rip a thin dead pine out of the ground with a loud creak, and swung it at Winchester. He reflexively ducked under and jumped over each of the wild swings. Everypony else was just too stunned to react for a few moments. the writer finally leaped onto the dead tree midair and used his own magic to break Rarity's magical hold before he kicked it out of the white mare's reach.
  The stallion deftly landed on his hooves and shook his head, as the other mares tried to talk some sense into Rarity and hold her back. Applejack said something that he didn’t catch, before she pulled the worm out of the unicorn's mane. Big Macintosh stepped beside Winchester and asked. "What ya go and do that fer."
  "I’m not sure anymore." Winchester finally admitted with an exasperated sigh. Big Mac could feel that there was something bothering the other stallion, but decided he didn't care what it was.
  It took a good fifteen minutes to get Rarity calm, and another ten before she would even think about continuing on the road. After Rarity had cooled down and her friends stopped staring daggers at the blue unicorn, Winchester finally approached them and began to say. “I must apologize for my actions. I...”
  “Look. We really don’t care.” Twilight cut uncharacteristically cold much to everypony’s surprise, even herself. still she continued. “Let's just get this over with so none of us have to see you again. Okay?”
  Winchester stood straighter as if he were soldier taking orders. “Understood.”
  Not long after that the group was on it's way again, and Winchester walked in front of the group now. It took about an hour for the mood had lightened again thanks to Pinkie. A little before lunch time they had made it out of the forest and were back on the main road to the mountain again. Rainbow Dash was happy to be able to fly around again, which she did to her heart's content till they decided to eat. Winchester didn’t say a word the whole time, even if it seem like he had something to say. there was something going on inside of his head that none of them could fathom nor cared to find out about.
  When they sat down for a meal, Winchester sat apart from the group, barely eating with his eyes trained to the sky. About halfway through lunch he jumped to his hooves abruptly “Oh Celestia, no...” The blue unicorn nearly whispered his words through clinched teeth.
  Rarity looked up from her daisy sandwich and rolled her eyes, she still couldn’t stand the stallion. Fluttershy never looked away from Big Mac as she shyly tried to start a conversion with him, Applejack joined in on the chat hoping to get her brother to open up to somepony other then herself. Dense old Big Macintosh just thought that Fluttershy was just being polite, his own shy personalty having something to do with that.
Winchester eyes were locked on the sky, he had not noticed the cute hyperactive mare beside him. Pinkie Pie hopped up and down saying. “OOOHHHH what is it? Wait.....It sounds bad.” She looked at her friends, immediately drawing their attention from what they were doing. “I hope it's not bad.”
  Rainbow Dash looked up from preening her wings and replied nonchalantly. “It's just a couple of pegasi. What's the big deal?”
  Winchester looked at the sky blue mare, and asked. “...And where are they coming from?”
  “Uhh...”
  “The castle.” Twilight answered for her friend, finally acknowledging the stallion's presence again.
  The writer nodded. “We have to stop them before they tell their comrades.” He looked up from the mares to the cart behind them, but decided against whatever idea he had been planning.
  “Why?” Pinkie pie asked with an impossibly cute inquisitive look on her face.
  “Because.” Winchester said as he watched the two dots turn into ponies wearing black robes that ruffled in the wind. “Those poorly dressed foals will warn their leader and then we'll have to deal with prepared defenders rather then just a few guards.” The two distant scouts stopped a few miles away in the air, the keen eyes of the ominous cult ponies locked on the Element Bearers and their escorts.
  “Well...” Winchester said plainly as he looked over towards Twilight, “What do you want to do?” the blue stallion asked as he stood at attention once more.
  “Um...I don’t think there’s really anything I can do, I can't hit them with my magic from this far away.” The lavender unicorn said recalling the few offensive spells she knew that could take down a pegasus, although the thought of hurting them made her stomach feel like it was being twisted in knots.
  “Looks like I’ll have to take these boys down.” Rainbow dash said with a flutter of her wings, adding. “Those two can’t match my speed.” The sky blue pony flapped her wings to rise off the ground, but found herself held down by Fluttershy.
  “Rainbow Dash don’t.” The shy pony pleaded meekly. “You could get hurt.”
  Winchester cursed as the dark clad pegasi turned and swept back around the way they came. Rainbow Dash shook out her yellow friends grasp saying, “I could have taken them!” however, deep inside she did actually agreed with Fluttershy a tiny bit. 
  “I'm sorry...” The yellow mare whispered reluctantly, while the two distant figures flew out of sight. Rainbow Dash took the apology in her usual rough manner, to hide her own doubts.
  A few minutes later, they were on the move again. Twilight and her friends now realized that Winchester was right about the Cult ponies looking out of them. The cooling breeze that had followed them yesterday had long since left them, making this day hot and uncomfortable. They would be fine so long as they had some water, but Rarity was very vocal about her dislike of the situation. The trek to the mountain was long, only made worst by the heat and sweat. It was late afternoon when the group at last made it to the base of the mountain.
  "Well that was easy peasy!” Pinkie Pie said hopping alongside Rarity and Applejack, her ever present smile across her face.
  “NOOO!” Rainbow Dash yelled pouncing on the pink pony from above, covering the pink mare's mouth “You really shouldn’t have said that!” Winchester looked back at them mirroring the sky blue Pegasus’s horror.
  “Why?” Twilight and Fluttershy both asked together. Pinkie climbed to her hooves worried that she may have upset her friend.
  “Because every time somepony says something like that something really bad happens...” Rainbow Dash replied hoovering above the group again, hopping to see the danger before it came. “It happens all the time to Daring Do.” The pegasus said not realizing how that sounded.
  “Darling.” Rarity said with a slight smirk. “That’s just a book. There’s no such thing as a jinx or-” the white unicorn was cut off by the sound of rocks rolling across the ground and grinding together.
  Fluttershy squeaked. “What was that?...” Looking around before she jumped behind the cart Big Mac was pulling.
  “See?...” Rainbow dash said as a few previously inconspicuous boulders freed themselves from the mountain side and formed into a huge creature, like the golem that attacked Ponyville the day before.
  The stone golem stood tall with a roar. It looked around for a moment before it spotted the ponies, it went into a frenzy despite Pinkie's friendly greeting. Winchester jumped out of the way of one of the golem's wild swings, and picked up Pinkie Pie with his magic as he ran past her. The writer sprinted back to the cart with Pinkie giggling on his back, and the unicorn dropped her next to Fluttershy. Who was trembling so badly that she shook the whole cart. 
The two apple siblings on the other hoof charged under the beast's arms as they swept wide, smashing through the few trees near by. Applejack and Big Macintosh bucked both of the golem's legs hard enough to dislodge a few of the boulders that made up the beast's limbs, at that same moment Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves into the golem's face, knocking it over. The two earth ponies would have been crushed if Rarity and Twilight had not pulled them out from under the falling golem. The beast colossal weight caused a small tremor as it crashed to the ground.
  The beast slowly started to stand as Winchester sprung onto the thing's chest, and his horn glowed as he reached inside of the golem with his magic to grab a hold of something. The golem made a sound akin to a roaring rock slide as it struggled trying to grasp the pony on it's chest. however a powerful high speed kick from Rainbow Dash knocked it's left arm off, while Twilight held it's right arm with her own magic. Winchester let out a loud growl as he ripped a hoof sized red stone out of the golem's chest. It's bellow echoed around them as it's right arm came off in Twilight's hold, and with a flick of the blue stallion's neck he sliced the red stone in half with his horn.
  The golem roared and shook for a moment before becoming nothing more than a pile of rocks, dropping and rolling until they all found a resting place among each other. The unicorn writer rode out the shifting stones before he jumped off to join the rest of the group, and something in his eyes told mares that he thought differently of most of them now not that they cared. After everypony had settled down, they moved on, if a little more wary of boulders on the way.
  “There are such things as jinxes.” Winchester stated as they continued along the path around the mountain. Luckily the rocks hadn’t blocked much of the road.
  “It was still easy to get here.” Pinkie said in her ever cheerful voice. 
  “You know she has a point.” Rainbow Dash added shaking her throbbing hooves, she thought of worse scenarios that could have happened few as they may be.
  “But you should never say it out loud. It's bad enough to just think it.” Winchester said in a good mood for the moment. Rainbow Dash nodded agreeing with him.
  Meanwhile, as the others lead on, Big Macintosh carried Fluttershy on his back as he pulled the cart up the mountain, the golem's roar had caused her to faint. After about half an hour the unconscious yellow mare awoke with a start, she started to blush when she realized who it was that was carrying her. 
  the trip up the mountain was rough and Rarity of course let the others know it. However her friends ignored her, they all knew she was venting her frustration. The sun was making it's way down to the horizon when the road they were on leveled out. It was easier but no less nerve racking with a precarious drop to the left and the jagged mountain side to their right. They had a good view of most of Equstira at least, the beautiful sight was not enough to forget the danger around them.
  Then with hardly any warning other than a sudden whisk of shadow, out of thin air a large black unicorn stallion appeared, long black wings bearing his impressive muscular form aloft as he laughed. “You foals! Celestia's dogs cannot hope to stop me!” The upstart dime-god fired a swath of dark magic into the mountainside above the group, causing massive cracks to form through most of the mountain side. A fissure formed in the path as part of the mountainside fell away. The stallion vanished as suddenly as he had appeared, his maniacal laughter echoing through the coming avalanche.
  Things happened quickly as the ponies tried to escape. Pinkie Pie easily avoided the falling rocks her Pinkie sense guided her to safety. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy easily flew out of reach of the falling rocks, and watched almost to afraid to act. Applejack, Big Macintosh and Rarity turned around and hurried after Pinkie. Twilight jumped and dodged the rocks, but the panicked unicorn tripped as she ran back to the safety of the firmer road.
Winchester saw her, and paused just long enough to toss the lavender pony out of the way of the rock slide. The blue stallion cursed as the path collapsed under him. Twilight grunted as she landed hard on what seemed like stable ground, but as she put her hooves underneath her the ground gave way as well.
  Twilight screamed as she slipped off the edge, but Applejack caught her tail just in time. The earth pony dug her hooves into the dirt as the unicorn's weight drug her closer towards the cliff. The orange mare's eyes went wide as her front hooves slipped over the edge. Twilight saw her life flash before her eyes as Applejack too began to fall. Luckily Big Macintosh caught hold of his sister's tail, and his weight held both of the mares firmly in place. Rarity stood behind him and the used her magic to deflect stray rocks. She lacked the knowledge to conjure a magical shield, but she was an expert with telekinesis. Pinkie tried to help by cheering, and warned Rarity of unexpected rocks.
  Rainbow Dash looked between Twilight and Winchester. “Fluttershy, help Twilight.” The sky blue pegasus ordered before diving hard toward Winchester. Rainbow Dash didn’t want a death on her hooves, and Fluttershy could easily save Twilight.
  “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...” Fluttershy stammered meekly as she flew toward Twilight. The unicorn's tail started to slip from Applejack’s mouth. The yellow pegasus got about a pony length away before a hoof sizes rock slammed into the top of her head. She flipped end over end unconscious before she started to fall, and she was saved only by Pinkie telling Rarity to grab Fluttershy before it happened, Rarity just wasn’t fast enough to stop the rock.
  Rainbow Dash skillfully dodged the falling boulders as she neared Winchester yelling. “I’m coming!”
  Winchester was barely able to keep from getting crushed by the boulders as he jumped across them as they rolled down the cliff. He looked up as Rainbow Dash neared him. The unicorn's horn glowed. and the sky blue pegasus lurched out of the way of a large rock, he yelled. “Your Friends need you more!”
  Rainbow Dash lost Winchester in the rocks before she looked up to see Twilight Sparkle desperately trying to climb backwards up the steep cliff face while Applejack had at best a tentative grasp on her tail. Big mac had the strength to pull the mares up, but every step he took caused Twilight to slip dangerously closer to falling. The sky blue mare sounded like a jet as she flew straight up and grabbed Twilight by hooking both of their forelegs together. Big Macintosh pulled Applejack up as she spit out a few purple hairs with a relieved look, only to gasp when she saw Fluttershy laying on the ground next to her. Neither Rarity or Pinkie Pie knew how to react.
  Twilight's heart pounded in her chest and she panted as she tried to calm down, but the moment she realized Fluttershy was hurt she forgot her own near death experience and rushed over to her friend. The growing red stain in the yellow pegasus's pink mane sent a nervous shiver down Twilight's spine. the lavender unicorn was glad she had studied up on healing spells during the day before. After a few deep breaths, she felt steady enough to cast one. 
Her coat began to shimmer with traces of magical energy as she whispered the mantra of the mending spell, before touching her glowing horn to Fluttershy's head. Light encircled the top of Fluttershy's head for a few then faded before she awoke, and looked up at her friends with her mouth shut tight in pain.
  “Are you okay?” Twilight asked, her breathing somewhat ragged after all that had happened. Fluttershy mumbled something too quiet to hear she winced in pain and closed her mouth tight. “Um, could you repeat that?” Twilight was used to not being able to hear the shy pony, but something was different this time.
  “I pit my pungoe.” Fluttershy managed to say, her voice distorted by the bloody and painful bite mark on her tongue.
  “Okay, stick it out.” Twilight said her horn glowing again, she shimmered with magic as she waited for Fluttershy to do as told. The wounded pegasus winced as she opened her mouth, and was thoroughly embarrassed as Twilight touched her horn on her bloody tongue. The Pegasus was glad when Twilight withdrew her horn so she could close her mouth. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash giggled as light shown through her cheeks and lips.
  Fluttershy appeared very uncomfortable as she spoke. “Twilight...Your magic tastes like pop rocks.” She hated the copper taste in her mouth almost as much as the odd popping sensation on her tongue, luckily both faded as it healed.
  Twilight was about to reply to explain why, but Pinkie jumped over to her friends saying, “Really?! Pop rocks are my 24th favorite candy!” and without another word or thought she started to lick Twilight's dimly glowing horn vigorously.
  “Ah! Pinkie, stop!” Twilight gasped as she pushed the overly excitable pink pony away, as a tingle ran down her spine and to lower parts of her body. Twilight blushed bright red as she stepped away shyly.
  “Pinkie dear, you should never do something like that to a unicorn's horn.” Rarity said, moving in between Pinkie and her fellow unicorn. Twilight ignored her friends as she tried to shake the blush off her cheeks.
  “Why?” Pinkie asked as innocent as can be.
  “Yeah? What's the big deal?....Other then well, that you should never lick a friend.” Rainbow Dash asked looking Twilight over, much to the lavender pony's embarrassment.
  “Um.” Rarity thought of a right way to put it. “It's kind of like...When your wings get stiff? The lady pony blushed as she let her eyes explain the rest.
  It took Rainbow Dash a second to figure it out what Rarity was getting at, “Oh.” she giggled as Fluttershy blushed and Applejack hid her amusement with her foreleg. Big Macintosh tried to be a gentlecolt by ignoring what he was hearing and the thoughts it provoked.
  “I don’t get it.” Pinkie said slightly confused, till Applejack whispered into the pink pony's ear. She just smiled, quickly apologizing. “Oh, oopsy! I’m sorry Twilight.”
  “It's okay Pinkie...” Twilight said her blush now gone. With a glance she took a head count. “Wait, I think we lost somepony.”
  Rainbow Dash had almost forgotten. “Oh shit.” She said, the lighthearted mood suddenly darkened as she looked over edge of the broken path. “Winchester...He kind of...” 'Sacrificed himself to save you Twilight.' she left the last words unspoken, they stared down into the ravine below with a sense of dread and regret.
  The other mares and Big Mac looked over the cliff as well. He wasn’t a friend and had been awfully annoying sometimes, but nopony ever deserved such a fate. After a short prayer to Celestia and Luna, they moved on, they had a job to do and tried not to dwell on the subject. Twilight cast a simple spell so the flightless ponies could cross over the large gap in the path to continue on. But no matter what they did after that, there was a morbid feeling that had lingered over them as the actual possibility of death felt more real than ever.
  A chill settled around the group as they stopped for a quick dinner after the sun had set. There was an unnerving silence now where once was small talk, even as Twilight took the time to pass out the elements of harmony. Big Macintosh stood guard, he had a feeling that they were being followed or watched. After dinner, the group continued along their dreary way, not even Pinkie could lighten the mood.
  Twilight lead the way along the road. The lavender unicorn tried not to show her nervousness, although with each beat of her heart her body sparked with power. She was on the verge of losing control. As she rounded a sharp corner of the cliff, Twilight stopped and allowed her friends to gather around her. Their destination was within sight, before them stood the ominous castle the moon rising being it.
  The castle was an overgrown ruin, reminding them of a certain other castle within the Everfree Forest. It's high walls were still mostly intact, however one of the battlements on the cliff side had long ago collapsed along with much of the main keep. A few lights flickered inside the windows of the few buildings that still stood, trying to keep the darkness at bay. In the still of the moment Twilight heard something, like the twang of a tight string. She was barely able to cast a shield spell before several arrows ricocheted off of the solidified air around herself and her friends. One would have hit Twilight right in the face, and her heart skipped several beats as she realized it.
  “Well, they know we're here.” Rainbow Dash said as Fluttershy shivered behind her. The stunt flier flinched as another volley of arrows bounced off the shield, some were inches from the pegasus.
  “Eeyep...” Applejack agreed as more arrows hit Twilight's shield, some arrows also lodged in the ground surrounding them. “So, what we going ta do?”
  “Get in there, and kick some butt.” The sky blue pegasus stated, pushing Fluttershy off her back warily as the shy winged mare still trembled hopelessly.
  “Let's just get in there. Stay close to me.” Twilight told them, before she charged forward. The other mares and Big Mac stayed close to the lavender unicorn. A few arrows stuck into cart as they rushed through the broken gate. They truly had no plan, they assumed there would be one single villain to hit with the elements of harmony to end the cult for good. They were dead wrong.
  Inside the Nightmare moon look-a-like was nowhere to be seen, but ponies dressed in wicked black robes brandishing an assortment of frightening weapons. Rarity eeped as a vicious unicorn jumped from a nearby staircase at her with a chipped sword floating over his head, Big Macintosh bucked the attacker in the side of his chest before he could swing his weapon. The darkly robed unicorn was sent flying, he crumpled to the ground about ten feet away. Rarity sparked her horn alight with magical energy, she lifted a slab of the ruin's architecture to prevent a few stray arrows from hitting the big red stallion.
  “Rarity! Bring Tom this way!” Pinkie Pie said aiming the unicorn's head at another pony with a small crossbow attached to his foreleg, pointed directly at them.
  “Pinkie!” The white unicorn exclaimed both from surprise of being moved by the pink pony and that she brought up one of her most embarrassing memories. She did as told and raised the structural piece to deflect more deadly projectiles.
  From atop an alcove up high, a muscled pegasus stallion studied the invaders before dove at the group from above. intending to create a diversion for the archers that were positioning to fire on them. But in an instant Rainbow Dash took to the air to intercept him. She hit the stallion square in the jaw, knocking a twin bladed knife out of his mouth. The weapon fell to the stone pathway below. It landed with a clatter inches from Fluttershy as she cowered behind Applejack, the farm mare bucked a pony in black over a rock.
  Rainbow Dash had been in a fair share of scuffles in her life, but this was something else entirely. This stallion was really trying to kill her. Locked together, they flew around cursing, biting, kicking, and scratching one at another. As they struggled to crash each other into whatever objects was closest, the pegasus cursed Celestia as he bit the sky blue mare's neck with an unnatural veracity. He would have tore a chunk out of Rainbow if she hadn't slammed both her hind hooves into the soft part of his belly. He released her as the air was forced from his lungs. Tears of pain filled the stunt flier’s eyes as her wings flapped hard. She made a hard fast loop around and planted both fore hooves into the stallion's broad chest from above as she came down hard, using the same technique she used to bust old barns.
  Rainbow Dash gasped as she felt something in his chest pop and shift under the impact. The other pegasus shook, and fell head first into the rubble below. He landed in a bloody heap and didn’t move. She knew what she had just done, but didn’t want to believe it. “I’m not a killer...I...I just knocked him out!” She told herself panic seeping into her voice. A strange warm presence overcame Rainbow Dash and alerted her to a group of pegasi flying toward her. She had no time to think as they dove at her. Fortunately they were not nearly as talented as the previous stallion, he apparently had been their flight leader. She dispatched all of these airborne cult ponies with relative ease, none of them could keep up with her.
  Below Applejack used the top of a barrel to block a hooded unicorn's curved sword before she slammed the barrel lid into his face then kicked him into a broken pillar, he slumped to the ground unconscious. The country mare yelled, “Twilight! Ya got ta use yer magic on these guys!” before she was tackled by another cultist.
  Twilight took a deep breath to steady herself, her coat shimmered as she began to cast a spell. The mare noticed something was wrong, and before she realized it Twilight was in a magical battle of minds with the combined will of three other unicorns. In her panic, she threw up a somewhat feeble mental defense against her opponents. As a student of Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle was easily more powerful than all three of her opponents, but her mentor had never prepared her for things like this. A mind war wasn’t exactly on her normal school curriculum, and any attempt for an amateur to practice with the princess could easily end in a overly messy way for the unfortunate amateur.
  That, however, did not mean Twilight had not read about these things. She had done quite a lot of reading, but reading about something and actually doing it were two entirely different things, and The force of the three unicorns was starting to wear on the young mare's defenses. She could feel their will reaching for her like invisible claws ready to tear her mind asunder. A warm familiar presence overcame the young mare, explained how to fortify her defenses and guided her counterattacks. Soon, the one sided ordeal began to turn around. Twilight countered her opponents' attacks, but she was never able to make a decisive blow. her three adversaries worked well together, as they protected one another with a terrifying amount of devotion to each other throughout the mental struggle.
Suddenly a robed pegasus fell onto the unicorn to Twilight's left, distracting the middle one for a moment. That was all the lavender unicorn needed. Guided by the warm presence, she growled as a portion of magic flooded through her horn to strike the distracted unicorn. The force of Twilight’s will smashed though the unicorns mental defense like an invisible train, shattering his mental scape like glass. He immediately fell limp to the ground, not a wound on him but defeated just the same. If he survived would all be up to his broken mind.
  The last darkly dressed unicorn was about to take advantage of Twilight's momentary gap in her mental defense, due to her erroneously overstepped attack. the cultist failed to see Applejack, the country mare sent the robed pony flying over her fallen comrades, into a old pile of hay. 
“Twilight!” The orange mare yelled to get the lavender unicorn's attention, who could barely hear over the ringing in her ears and the rapid tempo of her hart. Twilight panted as she stared blankly foreword, sweat dripped from her muzzle. Applejack noticed and nudged Twilight desperately. “We need your help!” Twilight finely responded, she slowly turned her head to meet her friend's gaze. She swallowed her fears and took a deep breath to regain her senses.
Twilight took a moment to recuperate before she went on the offense, she released a concussive blast of magic that sent a group of black robed ponies careening into the wall behind them, before they could attempt to flank Big Macintosh he already had his hooves full protecting Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. Following that, she channeled forth an immense wave of purple fire that took off the top of the front wall where a group of archers had been firing upon them. Applejack whistled as she watched Twilight blasted an approaching robed stallion in the chest with a fire ball. “Oh no ya don’t!” The farm mare yelled aloud when she noticed another cultist behind her friend, before Applejack jumped clear over Twilight and tackled the cultist to the ground.
  Big Macintosh tossed a cultist into a wall and panted as he looked around, more armed cult members charged out of a small building across the yard. Another robed unicorn lead them, yelling praises to their cult leader as his magic held a longsword aloft, Big Mac decided to charge as well.
When they met, the red workhorse dug his for hooves into the dirt and spun around to slam both of his power back legs into the front stallion's chest. The cult pony flew back into the gathering behind him, but his sword grazed across Big Macintosh's back in mid-swing. Big Mac grunted loudly as the blade cut deeply, before it fell to the ground, it's metal stained bright red. The workhorse felt his life blood seeping from the stinging wound. he gritted his teeth and continued on, he had work to do.
  He glanced back briefly to check on Fluttershy and the others. Fluttershy was okay other than being completely scared out of her mind as she hid under the cart. Pinkie Pie pointed out another pony in black to Rarity, who in turn brought her new favorite rock in between them. Big Mac then watched in horror as a cultist flipped on top of the piece of rubble that Rarity was using to defend herself, and prepared to pounce. The farm colt was about to charge the robbed pony, but an warm presence warned him that he had other problems. He pivoted around to face the new threat, and saw what the feeling meant. About half of the cultists he had knocked down a moment ago were on their hooves again. With a deep breath Macintosh Apple was ready to fight for his life once more, and with the assurances of the holy presence he vowed to keep on fighting.
  Rarity and Pinkie Pie stared as the agile cultist stallion dropped down from the rock, and grinned wickedly as he whipped back his hood reveling his handsome face and arrogant eyes. His thin sword waved menacingly as he spoke, “Your false god has no power here. I am your king now. You'll bow to me.” then he swung the sword at Rarity. He deliberately missed, he simply wanted to scare the mares now that he was too close for the white unicorn to rely on her rock for protection.
  The lady pony jumped back with a shriek. Both Rarity and Pinkie Pie's hearts pounded in their chests. The cultist moved in demanding that they bow to him again, and renounce their princess. A warm presence washed over Rarity and gave her the courage to fight back. Listening to it, her horn ignited with magic as she used her telekinesis to hold his rapier at bay.
  Pinkie Pie eeped seeing her friend attempt to wrestle the sword away from the evil stallion. The pink mare was on the verge of panic when like her friends she felt the presence of holy warmth calm her. She knew it was more then just something in her head, but like the presence told her she didn’t have time to think about the it, Rarity needed help. The next thing Pinkie did was the last thing anypony would expect of her, she kicked the cultist in the face.
  The cult pony shook his head and spat out a tooth, his eyes burned with rage as he turned to the pink mare. Rarity blinked as she watched Pinkie sheepishly apologize, merely earning an eye twitch from the vain pony, till the white unicorn realized she had the sword. Pinkie Pie backed into the cart as she closed her eyes while the large stallion reared up, expecting to be pummeled. When the expected beating didn't come the pink pony opened her eyes she saw the stallion laying on the ground with the sword pierced through his back. Rarity now looked absolutely horrified, even more than when he was attacking them.
Applejack wiped the blood from her nose after giving a cultist a bloody nose for his own, causing him to stagger backward and fall to the ground. the country mare panted, as one last dark robed pony jumped on her back. “Ahh! What the hay?!” Applejack cried out as another robed earth pony used his powerful forelegs to lift Applejack up and slam her to the ground. He pinned the farm pony down with one hoof as he raised the other smash her head. She growled at him as lightning bolt struck the stallion in the chest, he was thrown to the ground twitched for a few moments as static coursed over his body before he laid on the ground without moving.
  Applejack stood up, her fur and hair all standing on end, “Dang Twilight, that magic stuff got some kick!” she said and she shook herself to get her hair to lay down. She looked around at the aftermath of the fight, Twilight had blown several ponies into unconsciousness or worse and brought down several of the stone buildings around them. Her brother had fought a score of cultists and won, while Applejack herself had taken on her fair share as well.
  Magic still emanated from Twilight's coat with each labored breath she took. “Yeah...” She paused, and panted as she admitted. “I've...never cast so m-many spells at one time.”
  “Really?...” Rainbow Dash asked huskily as she landed next to the cart with a wince, the gash in her neck was bleeding pretty bad. Fluttershy gasped as she crawled out from under the cart, and blood dripped onto the grass in front of her from her wounded friend. Rainbow Dash was starting to look faint, but was determined to not pass out. “Hope you got enough left to patch me up...”
  “sweet Celestia, that looks bad.” Applejack remarked with out thinking. Rainbow Dash did well to hide the shiver that ran down her spine, although Applejack hadn’t made it through the fight unhurt either as she spit some blood on the ground.
  Twilight was probably the only pony that hadn’t been hurt. She was a little more tactful as she spoke, “Yeah...I have enough m-magic to patch you up along with everypony else.” her horn glowing a soft purple as she recited the spell under her breath. Rainbow Dash was first, the torn and bruised flesh of her neck glowed, then it sealed and smoothed over as if the bite had never happened aside from the red stain that ran down her body.
  As Pinkie watched Twilight heal Big Macintosh, she lowered her head and said sadly. “This adventure isn't fun any more.”
  “That’s because this 'adventure' was never meant to be fun darling.” Rarity answered, her voice was shaky but she held her head high. “This is a mission to defend Equstira.” The mare's voice caught in her throat for a moment, “And that means we must do everything in our power to do complete it.” Rarity glanced back at the cart, and saw the darkly robed pony she had slain behind it. “...Even if it's something we never wanted to ever do.” Pinkie listened intently, and nodded as her mood felt somewhat alleviated after Rarity's speech. The pink pony looked around and saw how everypony else kind of felt the same way. At least she wasn't alone, and friendship would help them get through, like it always did.
  As Twilight was inspecting the rest of the group for injuries a loud boom echoed around them. Fluttershy eeped and cowered under the cart again, most of the others readied themselves for another fight taking up defensive stances around the cart, including Rarity as she lifted a reliable rock shield for battle. Except Pinkie she pointed out a cloud of dust on the other side of a fallen section of the fortress.
  “Maybe Twilight's magic broke something over there.” Applejack suggested.
  “Or one of the pegasi. Who I totally out flew by the way, crashed over there and knocked something down.” Rainbow added.
  “No, I felt a burst of magic so I think it was somepony else.” Twilight explained a little worried. She looked to her friends and they all decided to move into the castle hoping to avoid who ever it was.
  The cart squeaked as Big Mac and the mares entered the partially fallen fortress. Just inside was a hub of rubble filled hallways, with a balcony that overlooked the main floor. Most of the railings had long ago deteriorated beyond usefulness, and some of the second floor had collapsed as well.
  “So, which way do we go?” Applejack asked Twilight, her voice resonating through the halls surrounding them.
  The lavender unicorn was about to reply a deep voice cut her off. “You can go to oblivion!” A few ponies in black cloaks sprang from hiding spots, and fired at them with their hoof bows. Rarity eeped as she hastily pulled up a large section of fallen balcony flooring to block several arrows as the white unicorn prayed none of the shots would hit her friends before she could attempt to defend them.
  Two more black robed ponies armed with spears lunged from their hiding spots among the rubble, Applejack and Rainbow Dash jumped out of their way. As the cultist turned to follow their targets they tripped over shaking yellow and pink ball. In the next instant, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were on them, which after a few scrapes and bashes, they knocked the two spear wielding ponies out. After that the two mares helped Big Mac fight two more of the cultists on the other side of the cart. 
Meanwhile Pinkie noticed that her ears flopped involuntarily, followed by a flutter of her eyes and a couple of twitches of her knees. Her Pinkie senses were going haywire, and she didn't even know how to explain how dangerous the coming danger was going to be! Amidst the frantic ambush, she tried not to get in the way, as she hid behind the elegant mare once again.
A beam of purple light shot from Twilight’s glowing horn sending one of the archers on the second floor into the wall behind him. She reflexively cast another barrier spell to stave off the hail of arrows, Rarity joined her in warding off the arrows of their enemies. With the guidance of the warm presence none of the deadly projectiles got though to them.
with no warning, a door on the second floor was engulfed in a blue aura and was ripped off it's hinges. The flying door hit one of the archers, propelling the robed pony over the side of the walkway and into the rubble below. A mysterious unicorn wearing a dark red cloak came out of the door less room, his horn glowing the same shade of blue as the aura encasing the door had. Multiple archers shot at the newcomer, he used the door to block the deadly projectiles and leap down into the hall using the door as an improvised floating platform for him.
The archers were trying to reload their bows when Rarity threw a large section for floor at them, the black robed ponies jumped into the room behind. The rock Decimated a portion of the balcony in the process and trapped them in their hiding place.
  Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Big Macintosh had successfully knocked out the few ponies that had attempted to charge the group, or at least they had hoped so as they made their way back to the others with Fluttershy trailing close behind. The cloaked figure jumped down from the door as he dropped it in the rubble and addressed the element bearers with a voice they didn’t expect to hear again. “Hello again fair bearers of harmony.” Winchester grinned as he approached. He looked a little worst for wear than when they last saw him.
  The mares gawked at him in disbelief, but before anypony could say anything a tall black mare, the spitting image of Nightmare moon herself with a flowing ethereal mane but no wings, materialized just behind Winchester. She laughed just like the evil deity as she conjured a gout of flame from her horn, and without a second thought the Blue stallion threw himself in front of the mares. The magical fire exploded on contact with Winchester, and sent him flying over the group. He landed on Big Macintosh with a audible thud.
  “You foals!” She laughed deeply and mockingly as she cast another spell to encircle the mares in a ring of fire. Rainbow Dash escaped the ensnaring flames and flew straight at the false Nightmare moon. The black mare simply cackled as Rainbow Dash noticed something strange about the air around her target, it seemed denser than it should have been. The sky blue pegasus tried to pull up, but it was too late she slammed face first into the hard air of an invisible magical shield. Rainbow Dash was lucky that she only busted her lip and nose from the collision. she fell to the cold stone floor in a daze.
  The Nightmare looked down at Rainbow Dash, then to the other element bearers, as her horn shone she grinned having no need to speak the words of a spell. Twilight's horn was glowing brightly now as well, the young librarian thought she could maybe match a fake incarnation of an alicorn deity in power. She just hoped that she was fast enough to keep up with it.
  Twilight gravely underestimated the Nightmare Moon look-a-like. With little effort, the being unleashed a beam of dark malefic energies that sizzled across the main hall before Twilight even could properly form a spell. It was too fast react to, too large to avoid, and too late to make a barrier.
  But, just before the beam of swirling black magic struck, Winchester darted in front of the group with a massive sword. The stallion stabbed the weapon into the floor, the feather shaped slab of pure white metal reflected the death ray. After the beam's remnants flickered away, Pinkie pointed out that Winchester's red cloak was on fire. To which the stallion gasped and tore the garment off, revealing a heavy chest plate and a coat of fine scale mail hidden underneath. Twilight gasped recognizing the craftsmanship of the enchanted relic, only those of the highest rank in the Equestrian military got anything so fine. However there was no general in the army with enough favor to be blessed with armor capable of turning the the full force of a demigod. 
  through hazy eyes, Rainbow Dash watched everything happen with her friends in danger she forgot her pain. She shook the stars from her eyes and sprung upright in the blink of an eye, and relentlessly pounded her hind hooves against the dark mare's shield as hard as she could. The repeated impacts broke the larger pony's concentration, as she glared at the stunt flier’s assault. Winchester hopped to the side, allowing Twilight to cast a potent charged spell, she released a lightning arc that crackled over the false Knightmare moon's magical shield. Rainbow Dash jumped backwards to avoid being shocked, and the rubble Rarity was throwing.
  The tall black mare reared up in anger as a stone slab was broken over her shield, and visible cracks began to form in it. Her horn glowed as she prepared another spell, but something large and white caught her attention. Near the roof Winchester's large blade flipped end over end with the blue unicorn right behind it. “What?” was all the false Nightmare moon could say before he kicked the sword down at her. The point of the weapon bit into her shield and seem to stick there for a moment. The armored stallion then landed on the handle a second later and drove the blade through, shattering the barrier spell.
  Twilight and her friends along with Big Macintosh watched as Winchester stood on his sword's handle, his nose inches from the false Nightmare Moon's face while her mind caught up with her body. The sword had impaled the villain, all the way through her chest, body, and pierced into the floor below her. Winchester's horn glowed as he lifted the helmet from her head, revealing the pretender to be an ordinary earth pony mare as her guise dissipated, and she slowly reverted to a dark orange color and shrank to a normal size.
  Winchester stepped off the weapon and used his magic too pull it form the ground, then flung the remains of the earth pony through a battered wall off to the side. The stallion turned around as the walkway above him collapsed from the prolonged battle. He paid little heed to the falling rocks as his feather shaped sword spun above him to deflect the debris, and with a final flick the white blade was rid it of it's red stain.
  Still without a word The blue unicorn pulled a pouch from his mane, and a feeling of hate seeped through the strange purple fabric. With a flick of his horn he shattered his vanquished foe's helmet, he let the shards drop to the ground leaving a long sliver of black metal that made up the core of the false horn. Winchester quickly placed the sliver inside the pouch and closed it, the hatred was barely contained within.
  “These things are hard to resist, even with my resolve.” Winchester finally said, as he looked back to the mares. He slowly turned and walked toward them. On his chest plate was as a crest, half was of the night sky and the other half of the morning sun, with a white winged unicorn and a black winged unicorn flying in a eternal dance of balance. The crest of Equstira's Knights.
  “My apologizes fair bearers of Harmony for my earlier actions, they were not wholly my own.” Winchester said with the accent of Canterlot. “I pray that we may start anew with those transgressions forgotten, and most importantly stricken from the record that our Princess will most likely receive from her student.” The armored stallion said with a hopeful gaze at Twilight Sparkle, who, along with some of her friends did not grasp how cruelly he had disposed of the villain’s corpse. Applejack and Rarity however were completely aware of the complete disregard for pony life, although she was also about to do the same to all of them.
  “Uhhh...Hold on a second.” Twilight said as she and friends huddled together to discuss what they were going to do. Words like pervert and annoying were heard in hushed whispers, while Rainbow Dash did say the move he used on the fake Nightmare moon was cool. Winchester watched the mares talk with a smirk till Big Macintosh cleared his throat. The two stallions had a silent exchange with their eyes about how Winchester shouldn't ogle, and the blue stallion retorted with the fact Big Mac wanted to do it too. After a roll of his own green eyes the work horse agreed, and stole a brief glance of both Fluttershy's and Twilight's rears. The two stallions grinned at each other before they returned to neutral faces when the six mares turned to address the blue unicorn.
  “Okay, we'll start over if you’ll explain why you were acting like you were yesterday.” Twilight said, none of them really expected to like his explanation, especially after all the trauma they had been put through recently. Except for Pinkie Pie who really didn’t care one way or another, as she bounced up and down happy once again.
  “Very well.” Winchester said with a bow, as a sheath for his sword, along with shin guards, shoulder plates, and hip plates that floated over to him and strapped themselves to their appropriate places on his body. “I am Sir Winchester the Writer, a knight of the court of Celestia...and Luna.” He looked at the mares, and added. “My actions were fueled by jealousy that was not wholly my own.”
  “You were jealous of us?” Twilight asked confused, Rarity and Rainbow Dash both nodded having their own reasons to think he would be envious of them.
  “All of the armed forces of Equestria are jealous of the bearers of harmony.” Winchester replied, his voice losing its Canterlot accent over time. “The Knights like myself most of all.” The mares looked at each other confusedly, knowing that the knights of Equestria were living legends, a single one capable of slaying a dragon as though it were a bug.
  “It is Celestia's will for peace to be maintained, but it is of our strength that this is so.” Winchester continued, his voice grew grim as he looked away from the mares. “We bleed for this country and it's pony folk. As do the royal guard, they are the shield that holds the line, while we are the sword that breaks the back of our enemies. We fight and die thankless battles without the public knowing.” Fluttershy eeped and hid behind her mane as the blue stallion’s eyes glowed slightly with anger, then he looked to the bearers once again. “But our Princess gives the most powerful weapon at our despoil to six little mares that have never felt the pain of service.” He now almost growled his words. “It's as if she took the years of our service we have given her and slapped us in the face with all of it.” The mares recoiled slightly, unsure what he was going to do next.
  After a deep breath Winchester returned to his original calm, his eyes filled with an odd form of grief, relief, and acceptance. “However, with a clear mind I now realize why none of the knights would ever be able to wield a certain element. Which without one, the others would never work.” The bearers looked at each other wondering whose it would be till they noticed where Winchester's eyes fell, Fluttershy hid behind her mane even more. “Kindness or mercy is beaten out of us before we ever become a knight.” He stated, with a low bow.
  Twilight Sparkle would have never thought that this stallion was a knight. Among Equestria's protectors they were supposed to be some of the most chivalrous and noble of anypony, not somepony like Winchester. However, she didn’t have time to think about it, they had to stop the Cult leader. If one shard could make an earth pony more powerful than her, then what would two shards do to a unicorn? The very thought chilled her to the bone, and made her that much more aware of how much the real Nightmare Moon had been toying with them all.
  Applejack and the lavender unicorn then tried to convince Big Macintosh to stay behind with the cart while they confronted the leader. The quite stallion refused though, saying it wouldn’t be right for them to put themselves in danger while he stayed safe. Fluttershy listened while her mane hid her expression, as she admired his bravery yet again.
  Meanwhile Rainbow Dash was talking very fast in a high pitched voice about how the move Winchester had used to take down the false Nightmare Moon was 'so cool', along with how he didn’t even look when the upstairs walk way collapsed over him. Rarity examined his armor before pointing out that he did kill that mare, and that point deflated the sky blue Pegasus’s mood. Winchester hadn’t understood a word of Rainbow Dash's fast talking. Pinkie Pie was entertaining her self by making funny faces in his polished armor.
  Soon their hooves reverberated through the stone halls as they pushed onward. Winchester led the way with his sword drawn to protect the front while Big Mac brought up the rear. Fluttershy tried to stay close to Big Macintosh, the Red workhorse thought she kept trying to say something but he couldn’t for the life of him think of why she would try to strike up conversation now, even Pinkie was being as serious as she could be.
  Twilight had cast a spell to track a substantial source of power, assuming that it must have been the cult leader. After many turns and a few dead ends they finally made it to the chamber the cult leader was in. The door to the room stood little chance against the knight's massive sword. the enchanted weapon cleaved clean through it in a single swipe.
  Inside the destroyed war room was lit by the dim light of the moon. In the center stood the cult leader with his black wings held out as he laughed aloud, “So, Celestia's dogs, you've made it pass the falling rocks and my little pony puppets.” before Twilight could reply or question why he was just standing there like that, Winchester was on the attack. His massive sword cut through the air where the cult leader had been. The black alicorn hoovered in the air and stared down at Winchester, both of the stallion's eyes filled were with rage and hate.
  The blue unicorn didn’t let the false alicorn go far, his massive white blade wrought gashes through the floor as he swung at his opponent. In an instant the cult leader conjured a sword to defend himself, the dark magical blade barely held against the attacks of the knight. Currents of electricity sparked violently from the two swords as they clashed. Winchester relentlessly pressed the attack, his sword seemed to weigh nothing as he swung it, and its momentum would pull him out of the way of the leaders attacks. They didn’t noticed the growing hum of magic as Winchester flipped end over end holding his sword out, he looked like a circular saw he cut into the conjured blade. The Nightmare moon look-a-like stepped back as his magical blade shattered like glass and faded from existence.
  Winchester landed on his hooves with his sword clenched in his teeth ready to cut the cult leader in half, until the false alicorn sent the knight flying across the room trailing magical fire. It would take more then that to injure Winchester in his armor, which was said to be kissed by a goddess. The blue unicorn slammed into the wall hooves first and fell down onto a statue of a pony, Winchester coughed as he tried to catch his breath. The blue unicorn glared at the false god as a bolt of lightning streaked toward him casting dancing shadows on the walls, aware that his armor would not protect him from the shock to his organs he had to get out of the way.
  Winchester jumped out of the way as the magical lightning hit the wall and scorched it as the knight’s massive sword stuck into the wall for him to land on. The unicorn leaped again as the lightning followed him cutting a jagged line into the stone surface. Winchester pulled his sword out and jumped higher, he stabbed the sword into the wall again to land on. Certain death was on his heels as he jumped from his sword again.
  Soon the lightning had chased the unicorn to the roof. Luck was on Winchester's side however, the self-proclaimed deity couldn’t hold his spell any longer, his horn had heated to an unbearable degree. The knight dove for the cult leader, magic coursed over both of them as they prepared for their respective spells. The cult leader was the faster and fired a magical blast at the comet that was Winchester, his massive white blade caught the blast and flipped over sending the blue unicorn to the ground faster. The knight struck the ground, discharging his power in a shock wave that tossed stones into the air, and shook the entire room.
  Blood and feathers fell from the injured cult leader, but it wasn’t enough, he was still ready to fight. Winchester looked up, still seething with rage as his body recovered from expelling his meager store of magic. His sword would not heed his call as it was stabbed into the ground a few feet away, he could stand, but it would be few moments before he would be able to fight. He made a mistake, he should have used a different spell, but he only knew a few. Winchester cursed himself and the cult leader as he searched for a way to escape.
  “WINCHESTER MOVE!” Big Macintosh bellowed, and the blue unicorn rolled out of the way. Twilight's eyes flashed open with an otherworldly white light, as the elements surrounded their bearers and levitated them off of the ground. The power of the Elements of Harmony shot upward in a dual spiral, then merged into a light made of every color of the rainbow as it flew over in a bending arc and washed over the false god like a tidal wave. His angry curses were quickly drowned out by the loud ringing of the cleansing magic of Harmony.
  Seconds passed as the elements of Harmony powered down, and the cult leader sat up slowly from the smoking crater the elements' magic had made around him. His helmet was now in pieces, his wings were gone, his coat a dark gray, and his normal unicorn horn sparked gently as he looked around.
  The stallion looked at the mares he had never seen before, as his memory slowly returned the cult pony asked. “Wha-what have I done?” He grew horrified as every evil act he had done flooded his mind.
  Winchester stepped beside the scared unicorn and picked up two more slivers of Nightmare's armor, his face turned grim as the shard pouch returned to it's hiding spot in his mane. “You have committed grave crimes against the crown. As a knight of Celestia and Luna's court, I hereby execute you in their names.” His sword floated above the ex-cult leader's head like a gallows blade. “May you find peace in death were you found no honor in life.” The knight closed his eyes and tipped his head down, and the mares gasped.
  Seconds passed with no sound. Winchester opened his eyes and looked to see the trembling pony staring up at him. The blue stallion then looked up to his sword still in the air. Fluttershy had all four legs wrapped around the handle of the sword as tightly as possible, her wings trying desperately to hold her and the sword aloft. Winchester seethed with anger as he shook the yellow pegasus from his weapon. She landed on her rump with a eep.
  Winchester glared at her his jaw clenched as he turned to tower over her, rage etched into his handsome face. Fluttershy stared at him, tears welling up in her eyes as fear froze her in place. Before anything that anyone would regret happened, the mares and even Big Mac were by their friend's side, and pushed the angry knight away. They all glared at him as they tried to comfort Fluttershy. she sobbed uncontrollably into Applejack's chest. Winchester's face turned from enraged to horrified as he realized what he had almost allowed to happen, and in the dark, no one noticed that his coat had started to darken. “I’m...... I......But...” The knight stammered over his words. “S-sorry...I’ll, uh, meet you at the gate.” He turned and hurried out of the fortress, stumbling as his sword took it's place in it's sheath on his back.
  Fluttershy finally calmed down after a few minutes of crying. Twilight turned to the confused and frightened ex-cult leader. “If your truly sorry for what you did, you’ll gather your ponies and lead them to Canterlot so the Princess can judge you.” She paused for a moment to think. “If you go, I’m sure she will be merciful to all of you if you got. but if you run, you won't get far.” Twilight felt a shiver in her spine as she spoke coldly to the scared unicorn. 
He only nodded solemnly in reply, his mind seeming miles away at the time. Twilight and the other bearers of harmony trotted out of the ancient war room. Big Mac lead the way just in case there were still more cultists, but anypony they saw were as confused as the leader was. As if they had been released from some sort of enchantment.
  The group made it's way outside, and retrieved the wagon on the way. Outside they saw Winchester standing atop of a pile of rumble, as the moon illuminated him. he pulled his sword from the ground and slide it in it's sheath on his back. He joined the element bearers, but couldn’t bare to look them in the eyes as he spoke. “You will never know the depth of my regret, and I hope you never have to feel how something like these blasted things can cause the seeds of envy to grow so fast and what it can do to your thoughts. It's not like any spell. I....” Twilight could have sworn she saw something twinkle as it fell from his cheek as he turned to Fluttershy. “I am so sorry for scaring you kind Fluttershy.”
  “It's okay.” Fluttershy lied meekly.
  Winchester sighed. “We shouldn’t camp here.” Everypony agreed for many reasons and they moved out of the fortress. They made camp in a large cave up the road from the ruins. Most of the group went to sleep, albeit some not as soundly as they would have liked. However, in the light of her horn Twilight Sparkle penned a letter to her mentor.
[
i]  Dear Princess Celestia,

  We have completed the task you appointed us. We had help from a knight named Winchester who is transporting the shards we recovered here along with a few he had already collected. He will give his own report on the encounter when he returns to Canterlot. I will include my report on the adventure with this letter on what I have learned.
  I learned a great deal, mostly just how naive I have been about the way the world works and what is done to keep this country at peace. I even learned that not everypony in Equestria is happy with my friends and I being the bearers of harmony, and that some are even unhappy with your rule although I have no idea why. However, the most important lesson I have learned is about friendship.
  Not eveypony can make a good first impression. It can be as simple as the pony is just too shy around new ponies to make a good impression, or they may have something going on in their lives that causing them to be grumpy or snap at others for no visible reason, or drive them away, or just be a plain old jerk. Fluttershy for example was so nervous when I first met her she could barely tell me her name. Winchester the writer on the other had made a bad first impression when he broke into the library in the early morning to use the books to help him write. I know, I've done that too. Traveling with him didn’t help my impression of him ether. However he was not only fighting off the influence of the shards, but also the jealousy they fueled.
  So in conclusion, even though a first impression is very important and you should always try to make a good one. If somepony should make a bad one you should always think about what may be causing somepony to be leaving such a bad impression and give them a second chance. Like I will when I meet Winchester again.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle

PS - I sent the cult leader and his followers to you, hopefully he's a stallion of his word so that they will show up soon. I think he was truly sorry for what he has done and that you will help him find his way back onto the road of harmony.
When Celestia read the letter the next day, a tear fell from her eye as she looked up at the gallows that were being prepared in the back courtyards and said to herself quietly. “I wish it were that simple Twilight...”