//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 (part 1) // Story: Last of the Dragonlords: A Good Mare Goes To War Part 1: The Passing of Harmony // by Fluttershy20 //------------------------------// The silence now lingering across the Vale of the Lost hadn’t changed much compared to the other times it had reigned. Strictly speaking, each bout of silence was the same. But to the young Dragonlord, each reign of silence was just as horrible as the one before it. Yet, even as she tried to figure it out why she felt that way, Fluttershy felt the same, unearthly chill crawl like a spider along her back because of it. ‘Why does it have to be so quiet? I think I would take the cries of those beasts more than this,’ she wondered frustratingly, looking around for anything but a rat-faced creature with fangs and scythe-like weapons at the end of gangly limbs springing out from its back. But all she saw was bushes, trees, and old, worn paths that split off from the road they were currently on, and disappeared into the forests and the Vale as if they were on a quest of their own. Yet none of it was any comfort to the pegasus. Fluttershy fixed her eyes down a small path running through the forest at her side, praying nothing was waiting to pounce on them. Thankfully, there was no sign of the monsters that had her scared half-witless. As soon as she had passed it, Fluttershy let out a deep sigh of relief and bowed her head, slumping. ‘I can’t keep doing this,’ she thought, frowning at herself. She looked ahead once more, sighing wearily as the path continued for what seemed like miles. ‘We must be nearly there now, surely.’ She looked back at Trixie, who looked exactly like she felt; exhausted to the point any resting place – even the grave – was welcome. Fluttershy shook her head rapidly at the thought of that. ‘Okay, wouldn’t mind the grave elsewhere, but being ripped to tiny bits by monsters would not be the kind of grave I’m looking for.’ Still, it was great to see them again. It had been almost half an hour since Cadence and herself rescued and reunited with Spike and Trixie, and around twenty-five minutes since they had last seen the creatures, or ‘kakos’ as they liked to call themselves. Since then, the only thing they have heard of the beasts hunting them were the harsh screeches that echoed across the Vale, calling to one another like wolves moving in for the kill. That’s what Fluttershy originally thought, anyway. Fortunately for them, the screeches sounded like they were miles away from the group, given a sense of ease across the ponies and dragon as they followed the river along the way. Spike was able to relax on Fluttershy’s back, and Trixie and Cadence were able to chat amongst themselves. But those calls were only the first. As the minutes dragged on, the screeches seemed to get louder and more sudden every second; one moment the world was quiet and tranquil, the next, the world was alive with screeches of hate and pain. And every time the screeches sounded across the Vale of the Lost, the more Fluttershy felt her nerves frazzle and break open like an egg. Now, her nerves were tingling all over her body, making her jump at any sound made, from hooves stomping heavily onto the ground behind her, to Spike sniffing his nose. Hoping for some kind of aid, she looked to the trees at her side in the hope she could find a bird of any sort that she could sing with. Sadly, nothing fluffy and avian appeared in the many branches sticking out over the path. “Why did all the birds and animals that live here have to run away?” “What was that?” Spike asked suddenly, bringing his head up from Fluttershy’s neck. Fluttershy squeaked in surprise at the sudden loudness of Spike’s voice, and spun her head around to find the little dragon staring at her oddly. “Oh my, did I say that out loud?” Spike nodded. “Oh, I’m sorry, Spike, I was just talking to myself. I didn’t mean to wake you up if I did.” “Nah, it’s fine,” Spike responded, waving a claw assuredly. “I wasn’t asleep, anyway. Just resting my eyes.” As if to prove the statement, Spike allowed his head to fall back to rest on Fluttershy’s neck, and with a content sigh closed his eyes. Fluttershy smiled as she listened to his calm breathing, then looked around her once more with wary eyes. To her right, a huge row of trees followed along the path like a wall, and continued going along and over the horizon; the woodland itself went right back to the mountains themselves, over hills both small and tall that were scattered across the woodlands. To her left was the river, which flowed gently alongside of them, and followed the path around the bend and continued until it was out of sight. Seeing there was a large group of rocks sticking out of the river, creating foam and a loud slapping noise that was like music to her ears, Fluttershy inched a little closer, closed her eyes and smiled at the trickling sounds of the river. Before she knew it, she was humming to the relaxing and comforting sounds that now seemed to echo across the Vale. After a few minutes, she didn’t feel as scared anymore; if anything, she felt as if she was just taking a stroll through Ponyville Park like she used to before her world came crashing down. “Enjoying yourself?” Cadence called. Fluttershy stopped humming instantly, and opened her eyes in shock. ‘Goodness. Was I humming so loud?’ She looked over her shoulder, and sheepishly blushed in embarrassment at Cadence and Trixie, who walked one after the other just behind her; Cadence had a raised eyebrow and one side of her lips was raised in a small smile. “Sorry,” she said, lowering her head a little. “I just wanted to say or at least do something; this silence is putting me on edge.” “It’s putting us all on edge, Fluttershy,” Cadence replied. “Don’t think for a second that you’re not alone in that regard. Sorry I stopped you.” Fluttershy shook her head. “Don’t worry, I won’t forget. Thank you, Cadence.” The pegasus looked back at the river again, watching as a fish suddenly appeared in the deepest part of the water. She did a double take when she realised what she was staring at. ‘Oh my goodness!’ she gasped. She immediately and mentally slapped herself across the face. ‘Of course fish would still live here. Those things can’t even touch the water without dying.’ Before she could say something the fish shot ahead and vanished. Fluttershy sighed ruefully. ‘It would have been nice to know how long those things have been here,’ she thought. If there was anything that knew about them more than they did, it was the fish. “Did anypony see that fish?” she asked aloud, pointing to the river. Cadence was immediately at Fluttershy’s side, and rapidly searched the river bed for any sign of swimmable creatures. Fluttershy looked, too, her eyes wide as she prayed to the Zodiacs that there were more. Eventually, Cadence’s ears fell flat in disappointment. “Sorry, sweet, but it looks like that was the only one.” “But there must be more out there,” Fluttershy persisted, continuing to stare at the river out of desperate hope more than anything else. “If those things can’t even touch water without dying, then some had to have survived this… whatever happened to them.” She felt a warm, loving hoof touch her shoulder, and she looked up to see Cadence staring down at her with a comforting smile. “Perhaps they did survive. And if they were smart, they would be swimming for their lives out of this place before those beasts mean to block the river and drain it.” The thought turned Fluttershy’s coat a lighter yellow. “Do you think those creatures are capable of doing that?” Cadence shrugged as the group continued along the path. “Might do. They are smart, for certain. Give them a while, they might learn a way. Hunting creatures are surprisingly intelligent, Fluttershy. They learn new ways of luring prey slowly but efficiently.” Fluttershy nodded in agreement, knowing more than most that Cadence’s words were the case for many parts of the world. “And you know this, how?” Spike asked, raising an eyebrow. Cadence sighed, closing her eyes and flattening her ears. “Because it was the first time I had ever killed something,” she replied, tilting her head towards the ground. Fluttershy’s mouth opened in shock. “What happened?” Cadence opened her eyes and looked to the sky, as though finding a way to explain the story – or a way to get out of it. Eventually, she spoke. “A few months ago, in fact, just before the Equestria Games were announced to be taking place in the Crystal Empire. A few groups of crystal-wool sheep were going missing on several of the farms on the outskirts to the west of the Capital. “With Shining Armor focusing on other matters, I decided to investigate the matter myself, and flew off towards the farms. When I got there, I learnt that somehow, they had broken out of their paddocks and were making their way north, towards the mountains; the footprints they left behind enough evidence to back that up. I followed the trail to the mountains. Halfway there the sheep tracks had stopped, but something bigger had taken their place. So I followed them, albeit cautiously. When I reached the base of the mountain range, I discovered what was taking them – or rather, what had been luring them away from the farms: a Mountain Troll. “Savage beasts, trolls. However, a Mountain Troll is the worst one to encounter by miles. Intelligent, cunning, massive, and can both heal wounds rapidly and repel magic.” Fluttershy’s eyes widened in surprise; she never knew some creatures of the world were resistant to the powers of magic. “It had somehow learnt to make itself smell like a ram, luring the ewes away from the farms to the prospect of mating. Anyway, I fought the beast for an entire day, throwing everything I had at it; magic, arrows, daggers, rocks, anything I could throw at it. But nothing worked. If anything, the troll was just growing stronger.” Fluttershy and Spike couldn’t say a word, for they were too enraptured by her tale. Trixie, however, scrunched up her forehead in wonderment. “So how did you kill it in the end?” Trixie asked, tilting her head away. “I crushed it by collapsing the cave it lived in,” Cadence answered solemnly, as though she regretted killing it in the first place. “And after that, I set the whole cave on fire, just to be safe and not sorry.” Fluttershy frowned, feeling rather sympathetic to the former Princess. She slowed herself down until Cadence was alongside, and then affectionately nuzzled the mare’s chest. “Don’t beat yourself up over it, Cadence. You did what you had to do; if you hadn’t, it might have started luring ponies… or worse, fillies and colts. If it helps, I know I would do anything to save critters like those cute little ewes.” Cadence smiled warmly at her, then turned away to stare at the woodland around them, her smile slowly falling. “I bet you feel terrible about not being able to help any of the critters here, then.” Fluttershy’s comforting smile turned into a frown in a flash. She looked around as well, staring grimly at the woods and hills they could see. “You would never believe it. I just don’t understand where would all the land and air animals that lived in here have gone? I would have thought we would have seen at least one of the natural inhabitants of this place by now, or even one that had encountered those beasts and survived.” Trixie let out a little whimper as she shyly lowered her head, prompting Fluttershy to twist her head around to look at her. The longer she stared at Trixie’s worried face, the longer she could feel her own frown growing. “You know where they’ve gone, don’t you?” The unicorn nodded, though going by the look of her face, and from what she had seen so far across the Vale so far, it wasn’t hard for Fluttershy realise what had happened to them, as well. She looked away again, clenching her jaws together to suppress both her anger and sorrow. ‘How could they do that to so many animals?’ She could not argue with nature’s laws – carnivores and omnivores killed and ate prey; they had to for survival, after all – but none of these creature’s habits made any sense to her. A predator knew by instinct that to survive it would have to let the many go and prey on only the old, the young and the weak, to keep that supply of food coming. Yet, if these creatures had killed nearly every living thing in the Vale, how could they survive without that precious food supply? She was thrown out of her thoughts when a mighty screech echoed across the Vale, putting her nerves – and her coat, considering she could feel it sticking up – on edge for what felt like the millionth time today. She stopped and looked behind her to see Spike scanning the land around him, his eyes wide with fright, while Cadence and Trixie had also stopped and unknowingly inched closer together, their magic gripped around the hilts of their swords. For a moment, silence reigned once more, but suddenly that silence died as more shrieks followed in quick succession. “How far do you think they were?” Trixie asked, looking to Cadence, then to Fluttershy for answers. “Not that far, possibly a few miles away,” Fluttershy replied, though she wasn’t entirely sure herself. But they needed a confident answer, and she was the only one that could give it to them. ‘They need a pony to guide them, and if Cadence is unable to do so, then it falls to me,’ she reminded herself, pulling her sloping shoulders back, lifting her head and puffing out her chest. ‘I need to be strong, for them.’ She flicked her ears up at their highest, hoping she could pinpoint the exact positions those shrieks came from. But nothing, not even a squeak from the monsters hunting them, echoed across the Vale. It was if they had all disappeared like they did last night. “I think it is best we move on,” Fluttershy suggested. The others nodded in agreement, and pretty quickly, the company was on the move once more, going down the path at a trot. “So, um… does anypony actually know what those things are?” Trixie asked, breaking the silence once more. “Beats me,” Spike replied, shrugging his arms. “I lived in a library with a nerdy unicorn that had hundreds of books on strange and wonderful creatures. I read them all when I was bored out of my wits or on a rainy day, and I still don’t know what those things are.” “When I was Princess there, I’ve been through every book in the library of the Crystal Empire, and I don’t recall seeing a history or nature book with so much as a paragraph with the word ‘kakos’ in it,” Cadence said. Trixie tapped her chin in thought. “Okay,” she said, nodding thoughtfully, “so these things aren’t creatures that have been seen before and confirmed to exist anywhere in history, right?” “Right? So?” Spike said, tilting his head in confusion and doubt. Fluttershy turned her head as well, curious as to where the unicorn was leading with this. “So,” Trixie oozed, her face confirming her disbelief at how the ponies and dragon around her haven’t got it yet, “why don’t we think outside the box and think of creatures that have been reputedly seen, but widely believed to be made up?” “You mean like myths and legends?” Cadence ventured. “Yes, exactly!” Trixie exclaimed, pointing at her. “So come on, everybody, think of some creatures you have only heard about but have never been discovered.” “But have you ever heard of any creatures that have only been seen as merely a myth?” Spike asked. “Nope. Trixie doesn’t deal with myths and legends; only history,” Trixie said, grinning. Her three companions rolled their eyes. “You all seem to be the bigger history and creature experts and all, so if we lock our heads together, mortals and immortal alike, we are bound to remember something soon.” “Um, I’m not actually immortal,” Cadence said quietly, adding with a mumble, “thankfully.” “And I don’t usually pay attention to myths and legends,” Fluttershy said, bowing her head. “I avoid them, actually.” Trixie’s jaw suddenly dropped. “But, you’re an animal expert! You’re supposed to know about all the mythological creatures that reputedly exist, right?” “Well, I actually look to those kind of books when a creature I have never seen before comes into my care, otherwise I just look through nature books to find what I’m looking for,” Fluttershy explained. “I always believed I can sleep easier at night knowing those kinds of creatures that are in those books don’t exist.” She bowed her head upon seeing Trixie’s look of disappointment and squeaked, “Sorry.” “Oh. Well that plan has just gone up in smoke, then,” Trixie said, hanging her head low. Cadence and Spike went silent as well as they listened to the river’s current flowing past them. Fluttershy looked ahead again and sighed wearily. After a while of staring at the path ahead, and listening to the river sing its tune, she looked towards the sun, and saw to her surprise that it was halfway through its descent across the sky. ‘It’s mid-afternoon,’ she thought. She hastily swung her head round to look behind her, and stared confusedly at the path behind them. “Still no sign of those creatures from earlier,” she said aloud. “We’re in luck, then,” Spike said, his smile growing as a result. “They must have gotten lost.” Cadence, with a grim frown across her lips, shook her head, throwing that look on Spike’s face away. “No. Those things should have caught up to us by now,” she said. “If they were going as fast as they did on that plain, then we would be able to see them coming up from behind. Either they got lost, found another scent worth following, or…” “They’re biding their time,” Fluttershy finished. Cadence looked to her and nodded. Fluttershy turned away and shook her head. “This is just weird.” “What kind of game are they playing with us?” Trixie enquired, staring at the ground. “They split us up, chase each of us into the night, then retreat and wait until the next day to start chasing us again. They could have had us all last night, but instead gave up as soon as the moon came out. Why?” Spike and Cadence looked elsewhere, uncertainty in their faces of what those creatures were actually doing. Fluttershy had a thought of what to say in reply, but a weight of fear held her tongue back, keeping her silent. ‘What if what I say damages their spirits even more?’ she thought. She looked back at them all, and felt her heart crumble at their solemn faces. ‘I don’t want to be the one to do that.’ “What do you think, Fluttershy?” Cadence called, turning everyone’s attention onto the Dragonlord. “You haven’t said anything yet.” Fluttershy inwardly sighed. ‘Guess there’s no way out of it.’ “I think – well, it’s my opinion, so it might not be right – but, um, maybe those creatures don’t have a reason to be chasing us around the Vale. Maybe they’re just doing it because they like doing it? Perhaps they enjoy making ponies and little baby dragons suffer.” The colour on Cadence and Trixie’s coats turned a considerable white very quickly. “So you’re saying that those things get a kick out of tormenting us?” Trixie simplified, her eyes wide in fear. Fluttershy shrugged. “Well, like I said, I might not be right, but it’s the only thing I can think of that might make sense. Sorry if I am right.” “Don’t be sorry about that,” Cadence said, smiling softly. “Let us just hope that you are wrong.” Fluttershy nodded and looked ahead again, watching as they turned a corner to find herself staring at another long straight. At the far of the straight she could see the faint outline of a arched bridge made of stone going over the river; the ground appeared to go up at a gentle incline, either that or the river was getting shallower by the second, Fluttershy could not be sure. Along the rising riverbank, long blades of grass, some longer that Drage Bane, grew alongside and arched towards the path as though tired. “Did anyone notice that creature Spike set on fire was still burning even as we were leaving?” Cadence asked suddenly, looking to each of her companions. “It just seemed strange to me that the others disintegrated as soon as they died, yet that one didn’t.” Fluttershy felt a gasp of shock against the back of her neck, and glanced behind to see Spike staring at the river in horror. “I did that,” he whispered, beginning to tremble in fright. “I killed something. I set fire to it and let it die in agony.” He sat up on Fluttershy’s back and stared at his claws with disgusted eyes. Fluttershy clenched her eyes shut as she heard a strangled sob escape Spike’s mouth. “Oh, stars. What have I done?” Fluttershy stopped and stared at him in great sympathy. “What you had to do, Spike,” she said gently. “If you hadn’t set that thing on fire, then it would have killed you and Trixie, and I would rather not think about what would have happened if I was a few seconds, or even a few minutes late.” Spike’s mouth opened, but he kept his silence. Fluttershy continued to walk after Cadence and Trixie, who had trotted past her and were now quite far ahead. “I know how difficult it is for you, Spike, to know that you have taken a life. I have felt it before, remember. The guilt hanging over you, the regret, the hatred you could feel for yourself as well as the creature you killed for forcing your hoof to commit such an act. I felt it all. And sometimes, I still do.” Spike simply stared at her, unblinking. “So how can you act like nothing happened?” he asked, as if he was disgusted by the notion of Fluttershy continuing like she did not care that she took a life. Fluttershy grimaced at the tone, yet her eyes stayed sympathetic. “Because every time I remember what I did and feel the regret from doing it, I remind myself why I killed that reman. To save my father. To know him for a little bit longer. Remind yourself as to why you took that creature’s life, Spike, and though it won’t take most of the regret away, you will feel a little bit better.” She turned away from Spike, leaving him to his thoughts, and looked ahead once more. As they continued to walk in unnerving silence, Fluttershy’s mind wandered dangerously. ‘Was what I said to Spike right?’ she thought, her eyes wandering back and forth. It seemed to her the right words to say at the time, but now, she feared it had only made things worse for him, and herself. Her mind started to drift back to that day, when she became a little less innocent. ‘Was I right to kill that reman?’ At that moment when she saw the reman towering over her unconscious father, she felt it was the right thing to do; her father lived for a while longer – enough to know what reason had he to leave her at the orphanage – that was justifiable enough. But her mind kept telling her that there were a few other ways she could have saved her father without resorting to the sword. She could have tripped him up, or called out to the reman, or even given herself wholly to… Fluttershy shook her head rapidly, throwing out such thoughts and concentrating on other matters. ‘Try not to think of what could have happened, Fluttershy. What’s in the past is done,’ she thought. Strangely, that thought sounded like something Vidarr would say if he was with her. A screech from above, unlike ones she had heard before, caught Fluttershy’s attention. ‘Oh my, what kind of bird was that?’ she wondered. She looked up, expecting to see a bird of prey or even a vulture of some sort. What she saw was none of those birds. In fact, she was quite sure it wasn’t entirely a bird. “Everypony, get under the trees, now!” Fluttershy hissed, leaping off the path and into a bush beside the road. Cadence and Trixie complied without question and jumped after her, huddling together in the bushes; Spike’s grip around her neck felt even tighter than before. “Why are we hiding?” Trixie enquired fretfully, shivering out of fear. “It’s not why we are hiding, Trixie,” Cadence answered, looking up at the sky in terror. “But it’s who we’re hiding from!” She pointed to the creature as it came into their view. “What under Terra’s sun is that thing?” Fluttershy was unsure what it was, but she instantly knew it was a relative of the monsters that had been pursuing them all day. It had the head of a rat with long, pointed fangs and, like its kin, white eyes that spoke of hate and a savage lust for violence. Its forelegs were missing entirely, but instead had three fingers at the end of two large bat-like wings sprouting from its back. Its hind legs were tucked tight under its bony stomach, and its long, snake-like tail swayed about in the high wind like a snake slithering through the grass. The flying creature stopped and began to hover over the forest like a kestrel on the other side of the river, and its head began to swivel from spot to spot, as though it was hunting for something. Or rather, Fluttershy realised, for some ponies. ‘It’s looking for us.’ She looked to her left to see how her friends were doing, and watched in shock as Cadence carefully brought her bow off her shoulders and readied an arrow. Instantly, Fluttershy reached out and pushed her bow towards the ground. Cadence looked stunned for a moment, before looking up at Fluttershy angrily. The pegasus shook her head warningly. “If you miss, then you’ll get its attention, and that’s the last thing we need,” she whispered, hoping Cadence would listen to reason and not her fear. Thankfully, the anger in Cadence’s face melted away and she nodded, and with a slow reluctance dropped her bow and allowed the arrow in her magic to fall back into her quiver. Fluttershy nodded in thanks, then looked at the creature once more. The more she stared at the monster as it started to circle the forest like a hawk, the more she felt her stomach tie itself into a painful knot. ‘What kind of creatures are these things?’ she thought, absently rubbing her pained belly with a soothing hoof. Were they shape shifters like changelings, capable of changing into a form according to their needs, or were they just three breeds of the same race, much similar to the pony race? The sudden thought of them having a similarity to ponies sent a sudden chill down through Fluttershy’s head, through her spine and out through her hind legs. Now, she had another possibility to what those monsters were. ‘What if they all are cursed ponies, and they want us to become cursed as well?’ The number of possibilities running through her mind as to what the forces assailing them were was becoming too many for her to handle. She desperately needed answers, and the only pony that might know anything about them was somewhere out among the forests and hills of the Vale, seeking them, too. ‘Oh, Luna, I hope you are all right.’ She suddenly felt a few gentle pokes on her side, and turned her head in the direction the poke was coming from to see Cadence with her hoof halfway stretched out as though ready to poke her again. “That flying thing,” she whispered, swirling her hoof about to point to the trees. “It’s gone.” Fluttershy shot her head around to see for herself, and sure enough, the only part she could see of the beast was its wide wings flapping against the light breeze and heading south rapidly, screeching for others to join the search or follow it. After quietly asking Spike to jump off for a bit – which he did – she stepped out of the bushes and back onto the path, looking up for any more of the flying creatures that might be hovering over them, waiting for them to appear. Thankfully, there wasn’t. She looked back at her hidden friends, and smiled soothingly and gestured with her head for them to come back out. “You can all come out now. There isn’t any others about,” she coaxed encouragingly. After a few seconds to be sure, Cadence, Trixie and Spike crawled out of the bushes, their wide, fearful eyes locked to the sky instead of Fluttershy, and stood up and quickly brushed off any leaves or twigs that had decided to travel on their coats. “Right, now that’s perfect,” Spike grumbled, as he brushed off a few leaves from his shoulders. “Not only have we got to look out for tiny scary monsters and big scary monsters, we gotta look out for flying scary monsters as well.” He puffed out a lot of air and slumped. “Well, at least it can’t get any–” Before he could finish, Cadence and Trixie shoved their hooves into Spike’s open mouth, silencing him; Fluttershy merely rolled her eyes at their superstitious nonsense. “Do you want the Fates to curse us any more?” Trixie growled, her eyes narrowing at the little dragon. As Spike shook his head rapidly, Cadence turned to face Fluttershy, her hoof still in the dragon’s mouth. “What’s our next move, Fluttershy?” she asked. “Stick to the forests and hope we can keep out of sight, or keep following this path west and pray we don’t run into anything?” Fluttershy looked to the ground and tapped her chin in thought. She then looked back at the forest on the other side of the river, and after a moment, her eyes widened in delight as an idea sprang into mind. “We cross this river and go into those woods there,” she said, pointing. “Then we keep going west.” Spike spat out the hooves in his mouth, and after a moment to wipe his tongue clean of horsehair, stared at Fluttershy incredulously. “Is that the wisest thing to do, Fluttershy?” he asked. “I mean, that thing did just go over there.” “Exactly, so it won’t come back over there for a long time, giving us a distinct advantage. Since they searched this bit before, they will think we haven’t come through yet or we are ahead. So, they’ll look in other places while we sneak through where they have been,” Fluttershy explained, grinning at the masterpiece that was her plan. She clapped her hooves together nervously. “Did that make sense to any of you?” Cadence, Trixie and Spike stared at one another concernedly for a moment, then looked back at Fluttershy and slowly nodded as one. “Yeah,” Spike oozed. “That will work… uh… what word would fit?” “Splendidly?” Trixie offered, looking at Spike. Spike looked at her and nodded. “Yes. What Trixie just said. It will work just spenlidl… uh, splenduda… nah, it will work just fine.” Cadence nodded with them. “We just have to be keep our eyes and ears open throughout,” she cautioned. Spike hopped up onto Fluttershy’s back once more, as Fluttershy nodded to Cadence. “We are being cautious as it is, though,” she said. With her friends behind her, the Dragonlord broke into a trot across the low river and over to the other side. As they crossed, Fluttershy spoke in a strong, commanding voice. “Now, the best way to get through this is a mix of stealth and speed. So I suggest that if we have to go through a meadow or a large plain, we do it at a run. While we walk through the trees and stick to the shadows. That should not attract any attention, don’t you think?” Cadence nodded in agreement. “That could work,” she said. Trixie nodded as well. “You’re the boss, Dragonlord,” she said. ‘The boss,’ Fluttershy thought, looking at her forehead in thought. It had a nice ring to it, really. ‘Fluttershy Firewing, the boss.’ “I’m the boss,” she whispered, giggling to herself. “I do many things, like a boss.” “Fluttershy, for the sake of everypony else here, please don’t ever do any of that ever again,” Spike said sternly. “Sorry,” Fluttershy squeaked in response, blushing in embarrassment of being caught. The silence that had been following them since they left the kakos behind took over once more as they entered the forest on the other side of the river. For a next fifteen minutes or so, the three ponies and one dragon slowly navigated their way through the woods, hoping they wouldn’t run into any of the beasts hunting them. Even if they were close by, Fluttershy knew, they wouldn’t know about it unless they heard them first or they were right next to them. The trees that made up this small forest had branches as long as the three ponies in a straight line, and they all pressed against one another as though trying to make contact. And the leaves upon these branches were so many they were shrouding many areas of the ground in complete darkness, leaving the ground below lifeless. “This way.” Fluttershy looked back upon hearing the call, and saw Trixie pointing between two trees and turning to walk in that direction. Fluttershy instantly turned around and followed the mare, with Cadence warily following behind. ‘She still doesn’t trust Trixie,’ the Dragonlord thought, sighing sadly to herself. ‘When will that trust be regained, or has it been too damaged to ever be repaired?’ After a moment of following Trixie through the woods, Fluttershy could see in the distance a large wall of light beyond the forest boundaries, telling the pegasus that a clearing is not too far ahead. “How far do you think it will take us to get out of the Vale, Trixie?” Fluttershy asked, looking back at the unicorn. “We must be getting close by now.” Trixie’s ears fell flat. “I… I don’t know,” she admitted, bowing her head in shame. “What do you mean you don’t know?” Spike shouted, glaring at her. Fluttershy looked over her shoulder and glared at him into ridding his own glare off his face. “I’ve… I’ve never been to this part of the Vale before,” Trixie admitted. “If we were by the crossroads then I would know where to go from there. But here, I’m as lost as you all are.” Her head seemed to go lower. “I am sorry I’m so useless.” Fluttershy own frown deepened, feeling her heart crack at the sight of her sad friend. Without a word, she trotted forward and once she was close enough, leaned forward and nuzzled the side of Trixie’s face. “No, you’re not useless, and don’t you dare ever call yourself that,” she said kindly, smiling. She pulled away and stared at her, still smiling. “I know how you must feel a pain in your chest, telling you that you are useless. Believe me, I felt the same way many times, especially when things have gone wrong. But now I know different. I know that if things go wrong, your friends – your true friends – will accept you and love you, no matter what.” She quickly leaned forward and gave Trixie a friendly nuzzle. “Don’t think you’re useless, because you’re not. No one here is.” Fluttershy blinked rapidly as a ray of sunlight hit her vision, forcing her to look away. She noticed that they had moved out onto a large, pear-shaped clearing, with it going gently downhill till it reached the very end. Trixie looked up at her, her eyes sparkling with admiration. “I’ll try not to, for you,” she replied, a small smile on her lips. “You’re too kind, Fluttershy.” “No, I’m just telling the truth,” Fluttershy said, looking away bashfully. “You just needed to be reminded about it.” “And you need to be reminded of the truth, too. You are kind, even in your most violent moments,” Trixie said, smiling. That smile suddenly turned sad, and the unicorn looked away. “Listen, I am sorry I called you a hypocrite earlier. It wasn’t–” “No,” Fluttershy said strictly, throwing her hoof up to silence. “Don’t ever be sorry about telling the truth.” She sighed and bowed her head. “You were right, Trixie; I am a hypocrite.” She expected Trixie to reply with a few comforting words that would say she wasn’t a hypocrite and was the kindest pony she knew, but all she heard was a stretched out gasp of horror. She looked up to see Trixie staring ahead with wide, terrified eyes, and an open mouth. “By the stars…” Fluttershy brought her head forward, and her eyes widened in horror at the sight before her – it was all she could do to control herself. Like a torrential flood, hundreds of the kakos creatures started to emerge from the trees on the far side, spreading themselves out across the opposite end of the plain, and hissing and screeching vehemently at the four ponies and one dragon set before them. “I guess I was wrong. Things can get much worse,” Spike muttered flatly, trying to sound calm and collected, but his voice gave way to terror near the end. “Back the other way! Quick!” Cadence cried, turning to gallop back into the forest. Fluttershy stared in growing horror as the horde of monsters advanced, with shepherds, armed with swords, axes, spears, flails and other gleaming but deadly weapons, leading and herding literally hundreds of smaller creatures, their teeth bare, their scythe-like weapons stretched out and ready to slay, across the plain. Above the small army, about twenty of the flying creatures they had seen earlier were hovering above them like vultures awaiting a feast. Even if it were just the flying creatures assailing them, the Dragonlord knew that this was a fight they could not win. ‘We need to get out of here,’ she thought urgently. She looked right, and could only watch as those on the far right were beginning to swerve towards them, cutting off the right flank Feeling desperate, she looked left, and felt her soul sink further into despair as the ones on the left were, like their comrades on the right, herded forward and swerved around so they cut off the left, too. Just as they blocked off the left flank, a shepherd at the front raised his big axe into the air, and just like that the entire force halted, waiting for the order to attack. Fluttershy quickly saw an opportunity, and decided to act against it. “Like Cadence said, back the other way! Quick!” she ordered. She spun around and prepared to gallop back into the forest, but the sight of more creatures emerging from the way they had come brought her to a halt, and allowed her heart to sink into despair. She followed the edge of the forest, watching with solemn eyes as hundreds more began to encircle the group. She looked back to where the shepherd with the axe was, and narrowed her eyes in anger as she could spot a sneer stretched across its lips. “It’s a trap,” Cadence said, swinging her bow off her shoulders and getting ready to shoot. “It has to be. There’s no way they could have all come here by sheer chance.” Wordlessly, Trixie drew her short sword and positioned herself into a fighting stance, staring mortifyingly at the horde around them while her blade trembled in her magical grasp. “They’ve surrounded us!” Spike cried, standing on Fluttershy’s back with eyes wide as plates. “There’s no way out of here!” Fluttershy couldn’t nod to agree, nor could she bring herself to disagree. At least just yet. She wasn’t good at math, but she could tell that over a hundred – maybe more, she couldn’t be too sure – had them completely surrounded, and were all standing well over twenty or thirty feet away, waiting to sink their fangs, scythes, and other nasty pointing things into their flesh. Her Dragonlord mind quickly analysed the situation, and quickly concluded how hopeless it was for them. Cadence couldn’t fly away due to her damaged wing, and Trixie didn’t know how to teleport, leaving her and Spike the only ones who could possibly escape. But even then, she knew with Spike weighing her down and those flying creatures close by, she wouldn’t make it into the clouds above. As far as she could tell, she was about to die here. And she was going to take Cadence, Trixie and Spike with her. Fluttershy clenched her eyes shut to hold back tears, but they still managed to break free from her eyes and roll down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry, everypony,” she whispered, bowing her head in shame as hot tears wetted her cheeks. “I… I led us here. And now I’ve doomed us all.” She looked up when she felt a hoof rest on her shoulder, and saw Cadence looking back with a warm, yet strained smile. “This isn’t your fault, Fluttershy. None of us could have been prepared or have even anticipated this,” she said softly. She briefly looked up at the creatures flying overhead, then turned back to Fluttershy. “Listen, I can shoot a few of them down with a few arrows, and maybe cripple the others, too. That should give you enough time for you and Spike to get to safety. Once you’re in the trees, run for your life.” Fluttershy simply stared at Cadence with solemn and resigned eyes. “Thank you for the offer, Cadence, but I don’t think there’s a hope for the both of us. Those creatures are too fast. They’ll catch us before we even make it above the treetops,” she said despairingly. “How do you know that, though?” Cadence demanded, jabbing her with a hoof. Fluttershy didn’t offer a reply, but simply lowered her head slightly further. Cadence continued, however. “I know I’ve given you some advice on being a leader before, and it’s been nice to see you actually listening to it. So here’s some well-needed advice all leaders should know. When you see yourself in a situation that you feel you cannot walk away from, then take a risk and do something not even yourself would have anticipated.” She leaned her head forward and said quietly, “If you don’t, then you’re just dooming Spike. Think about him for a moment and ask yourself, ‘Is his fate mine to make?’” The moment Cadence mentioned the little dragon shaking with terror on her back, Fluttershy felt utterly selfish for losing hope. She might have thought there wasn’t a way out of the trap, but like Cadence had said, she would be stupid not to try. For Spike’s sake more than her own. ‘After all,’ she thought, ‘what do I have to lose?' She looked back at Trixie, who was swinging her head left and right, watching as their enemies positioned themselves. Sudden realisation dawned in her mind as she looked between Cadence and the unicorn, her mouth opening in horror. If there was an actual chance of getting Spike to safety, then that would mean... “But… if we leave, you will both surely die,” she said, finishing her thoughts aloud. Cadence swallowed nervously, as though resigning herself to her fate, and then took a step back, drew an arrow from her quiver, and notched it to her bow. “Don’t worry about us,” she said, trying ever so hard to hide the fear in her voice. “Just get out of here while you still can.” Fluttershy looked away from Cadence, her mind wrestling with itself. While a small part told her that she should run for her life, never looking back to those she’d left behind, another told her that it was wrong to just abandon them to a horrible fate such as this one. She loved her friends dearly and equally, even though she knew Spike the longest, and hated the idea of choosing one over the others. To abandon them would mean turning against her morals, her very perceptions on kindness and friendship. She sighed inwardly to herself. ‘But then again,’ she realised, ‘my morals have all been thrown into question lately.’ And that was proved when her mind and her nerves screamed louder than ever before to ditch them, and take Spike and get out of the clearing before the monsters closed on them. Reluctantly, Fluttershy nodded to Cadence, and rapidly spread her wings, turning away from her friends lest the guilt she could feel in belly build up to a breaking point. “Spike, grip on tight. We’re flying out of here,” she ordered, the disdain she could feel for herself evident in her voice. “But, what about Cadence and Trixie?” Spike asked, looking back at them. “We’re just gonna leave them here to die?” Fluttershy heaved back a sob, and looked back at the young dragon. “Please, Spike, don’t make this any harder for me than it is,” she pleaded. “Just, do as you’re told and hold on, or else none of us will make it out of here alive.” She set her wings firmly spread out, ready to fly, and then glanced to Cadence, who was ready to shoot, and nodded briskly. Cadence nodded, and brought her bow up, aimed it at the closest flying creature, drew her arrow back, and loosed. The arrow soared upwards, spinning like a javelin as it launched itself towards one of the flying monsters. The flying beast watched as the arrow began to dive towards its chest, and simply flinched as the arrow simply bounced off the creature and fell like a rock back to the ground, just before the horde facing the group. Fluttershy’s jaw dropped in shock, her eyes watching the arrow plummeting back to earth. ‘But, that’s impossible. Not even a dragon’s hide is as tough as that,’ she thought. The flying monster snorted with amusement, and then squawked, its screech echoing across the Vale. Its cry was something Fluttershy imagined a re-animated corpse would emit, only much, much louder. She flattened her ears against her skull, and clenched her eyes closed as she tried to bear the horrible noise the monster was making. When the creature’s screeching finally faded into the sky, Fluttershy opened her eyes and looked up. She took a step back and gasped in horror as her gaze wandered across the army now advancing towards them at a trot, while the flying creatures were now circling over their heads, just close enough to grab them should they attempt to fly above the trees, and close enough so they could chase after them should any of them try to make a getaway. Fluttershy looked at the ground, clenched her eyes shut and stomped against the ground in frustration. ‘Fluttershy, you idiot!’ she berated herself. ‘You should have taken that moment and ran, and now we’re definitely trapped.’ “I’m so sorry, Spike,” she whispered. “I failed you.” With enemies completely around them, and their chances of survival now gone down a drain, Fluttershy resigned herself to her fate. “Spike, get off my back and get behind me. I’ll protect you for as long as I can stand,” she said. Spike silently complied and slid off the Dragonlord’s back, taking cover under her tail. With Spike safe, for the moment, she lifted up her right leg and drew Drage Bane. She looked up once more, her eyes narrow with concentration. The army before them broke into a canter, snorting, hissing and screeching loudly with bloodlust and hatred she had rarely ever seen. She glanced over her shoulder to watch Cadence and Trixie step back so that their backs were pretty much against one another’s. Trixie was trembling in fright, and Cadence looked prepared to fight once more, her bow replaced with her mace-sword. She forced herself to smile a little. Though this would likely be her final death, at least this time she was not dying alone. She looked up suddenly when the creatures coming towards them let out a vicious barrage of screeches and yells. ‘Battle cries,’ Fluttershy realised. As one, the horde broke from a canter into a charge, their heads low, and their scythe-like weapons stretched out and ready for them. Behind the rapidly approaching horde, the shepherds raised their own weapons to point to the group, as if eagerly anticipating their blood spread across their ice-like blades. Fluttershy lowered her body, spread her wings, her wing blades glimmering in the sunlight, and thrust Drage Bane ahead of her, fully prepared for the charge. The monsters were only a few feet away from her, and about to leap on them and bring about pain and agony she knew she could never endure, when suddenly a black spot appeared on the ground five feet from the Dragonlord. Fluttershy blinked and inched back, taken aback by the sudden shadow. ‘Where did that come from?’ she wondered. She looked to the sky to see what was making the shadow, and was baffled to see the flying beasts circling above were not the cause. ‘Okay. So what is…?’ Her thoughts disappeared when a growling sound began to emerge from the shadow, drawing Fluttershy’s attention. Beyond the growling shadow, the creatures had stopped and were staring perplexedly at the shadow, which started to grow rapidly until it was an oval shape. The shadow began to bloat from the centre, until it was shaped like a small dome. But the dome didn’t stop growing. It continued to rise like a loaf of bread being baked, dragon-sized fingers clawing out from within, until it was slightly taller than Cadence. ‘Wait, hold on?’ Fluttershy thought, tilting her curiously as the dome began to spin, slow at first and then began to go faster and faster until she feared it was about to lift off the ground. The creatures surrounding them had stopped their charge and were now starting to back away from the mysterious object. ‘Just a bit bigger than Cadence? There’s only one pony I know that size.’ A smile threatened to crawl across her lips. ‘Could it really be?’ The dome continued to spin faster than Rainbow Dash could ever fly around a cloud, throwing air into Fluttershy’s face and forcing her to close her eyes. The low growling was gone, replaced by an ever-growing whining sound that was like nothing she had ever heard before, but was painful to her sensitive ears. She pressed her hooves against them, muffling the sound just a bit, but enough for her to not feel like she was in agony. “What the heck is going on?” Cadence yelled over the noise. “I don’t know, but as long as it’s keeping them away and we are alive for a bit longer, then I don’t care!” Trixie replied. “Look, everypony!” Spike shouted. Fluttershy peeped an eye open, and stared towards the spinning dome. It was starting to turn from a starless nightly black to a bright, moonlight silver, so bright Fluttershy felt compelled to shield her eyes with a hoof. The moment she lifted a hoof an inch from her ears, however, she had to endure an agonising pain. Crying out in agony, she quickly shielded her ears again, and wished through gritted teeth that whatever was happening would end soon. After a few painful seconds, ones that the pegasus thought would blind her forever, a booming voice echoed out from within the dome, a voice very familiar to her and everyone around her, and one that had been dearly missed. “RETURN TO THE WASTELANDS FROM WHENCE YOU CAME, CREATURES OF SHADOW!” it bellowed. With that, the dome exploded outwards. The creatures beyond, above, and around them screamed in fright before being obliterated by the light, while others further behind were thrown back by the blast. Yet Fluttershy didn’t see the rest, for as the wall of light came towards her, she threw her wings before her eyes and pressed her hooves into the ground. She felt the blast ram into her like a wall of flame, threatening to throw her off her hooves. Amidst the roaring that surrounded her, she could hear Cadence and Trixie screaming at one another to hold on. Behind, she could feel claws holding onto her tail for dear life, causing her to wince and grit her teeth in pain as if her tail was being ripped out of her body. Finally, the pressure being forced against her suddenly faded away, and the roaring faded into nothingness. Fluttershy took a deep breath, amazed that she was still alive, then quickly looked herself over. ‘Head, legs, wings, rump, tail, mane, ears, eyes, mouth, nose. Yes. Still all here,’ she thought, while checking each part of her body. She took another deep breath and rubbed her chest with a hoof to calm her frantic heartbeat. As she did so, the Dragonlord took a look at her surrounding, starting with her friends. Spike was still alive, though his head was firmly entrenched in the ground and his claws clenching onto her tail. Cadence and Trixie were okay, too. The pair had their forelegs wrapped around one another and had their heads pressed against each other’s chests, trembling in fright. Trixie was the first to look around and, seeing that they were still alive, jumped out of Cadence’s hold and looked as though she hadn’t been holding onto her at all. Cadence followed Trixie’s example and quickly sat up, pawing at the ground with a hoof and blushing in embarrassment. Fluttershy briefly smiled wryly at her, then turned to look around them. Out of the hundreds that had surrounded them, over fifty remained, mostly comprising the smaller beasts with just a few shepherds left to guide them. A majority of them were lying on the ground, surrounded by the dust of their comrades, and struggling to get back up. Two of the shepherds were the first up, however, and were already barking out orders for them to get up and kill the ponies and dragon. And just standing before Fluttershy, her wings spread out, her horn shimmering with a blue aura, and her mane and tail flowing in an unnatural breeze, was Luna. “Auntie!” Cadence cried joyfully. Fluttershy glanced behind to see the younger Princess had a wide smile on her face and her eyes were bigger than a plate. She couldn’t help but smile and share her delight at seeing the older Princess again. Trixie and Spike both shared looks of disbelief as they stared at Luna, yet the Dragonlord could see how pleased they were to see her. She looked back at Luna again, and nearly jumped back in surprise when she saw the Princess was now staring at them with a faint smile across her lips and really tired eyes, something she had rarely seen in the old alicorn. “You all look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she said, her voice faint and gentle. Cadence suddenly rushed forward to hug her, but stopped short when the remaining creatures let out a cry of rage and charged forward with nothing but death in their eyes and their snarling teeth. “No time for exchanging pleasantries, my friends,” Luna announced. “I thinned their ranks. Now is the time to take up arms. Fight them. Fight! Banish them back to the hell from where they came!” With that, Luna charged forward, her sword Nightbringer drawn and held by her side. The closest of the kakos creatures to her leapt for her neck, but Luna quickly acted and swung her sword up, throwing one half of the beast away from her. She slashed right as another charged her, ripping open its chest and throwing it to the ground. Her scimitar flashed in the sunlight, and swung left, cleaving through two more of the beasts. More and more of the beasts charged at Luna, and yet the Princess had no problem holding them back and avoiding their own attacks, some of which the Dragonlord had thought were impossible even for her to avoid. Fluttershy had heard tales of the fighting prowess of Princess Luna, Lady Knight of Equestria and Supreme Commander of all its forces, but she would never imagined that they were all completely true. She was like a painter, throwing her paintbrush across the canvas like she knew what she was doing the moment one was in her grip, yet had only one colour available. Red. Or in this case, light brown. She heard Cadence and Trixie give out cries of their own, then the sound of their swords being picked up and heard their hooves hit the ground as they scattered across the field, preparing to face some of the creatures that were closing in on them. The Dragonlord looked back and watched as Trixie plunged her sword into one of the creature’s stomach before it could get back up. She pulled it out, then slashed left, then right, and then thrust it into the chest of a beast coming at her. Cadence was doing just as good, if not better. She swung her mace-sword left, hewing through a kakos creature, before swinging it right and ripping another’s head off its shoulders. Seeing she was okay and coping on her own, Fluttershy looked back at Luna, whose sword began to glow a bright blue as a large group of beasts charged as one towards her. With a cry escaping her lips, she swung Nightbringer down, embedding the point into the ground. With a sound similar to a screech of an eagle, a shockwave of magic flew across the ground and threw the creatures back, disintegrating a few while throwing the others onto their backs. Fluttershy glanced left and saw ten of the creatures – including a shepherd – charge for her and Spike, and sighed, regrettably knowing what she had to do. She flicked her tail, freeing it from Spike’s grip, and looked to him. “Spike, stay here, and don’t try anything. If you get into trouble, call me and I will come,” she said rapidly. Spike faintly nodded, though he never lifted his head out of the ground. Fluttershy gave a firm nod at him, before turning towards the creatures charging at her, and broke into a trot. The creatures saw her moving towards them, and seemed to speed themselves up, as though they were eager to get into the fight. ‘Such eagerness will get them killed,’ Fluttershy thought, as she picked her trot up and broke straight into a gallop. The gallop turned into a charge as she got closer, and she gritted her teeth together to control her nerves. The creatures ahead broke into a full charge as well, and yelled cries that would break even the most fearless warrior. Yet Fluttershy wasn’t a fearless warrior. She knew fear, having been its companion for most of her life, and knew what it was capable of. But she knew it could also be a useful friend as well, like now. She was terrified of the creatures already, so what else could they do that they haven’t done already? She blanked out her thoughts and concentrated on the fight ahead as she was about to smash into them. Just as she was about hit her first target, she spread her wings out, slashing open the faces and necks of the creatures at her sides. She leapt up and pushed the beast in front of her to the ground with Drage Bane and Firewing, and swiftly moved past. She continued to gallop, ripping open her opponents’ bodies as she passed by. She stopped and spun around, slashing open two more of the creatures’ necks open, and reared up and drew Drage Bane and Firewing once more. ‘Four down, six to go,’ she counted, as her enemies recovered from her attack and charged her again. The first one swung its scythe-like weapons over its head and thrust them down towards her own. Fluttershy raised Drage Bane and Firewing up and blocked the attack. It was at that moment she noticed for the first time the metallic clang that came with two – or in this case three – opposing swords hitting one another. ‘They’re made of metal? Living metal? Is that even possible?’ She didn’t have time to answer that as another flanked her and leapt for her stomach. Fluttershy pushed her first attacker back, then jumped back to avoid the second attack. The right-sided scythe leapt out to strike at her, but Fluttershy swung around until it was in front of her. Before the creature could retract it, she grabbed hold of the weapon and thrust it into the head of a creature coming from her side. As the creature tried to pull its blade free from its screaming comrade, Fluttershy spun and slashed open its side with Drage Bane. The shepherd charged her from her front, its spear lowered and aiming for her chest, while another kakos swung around her to take her from behind. Fluttershy immediately ducked the strike from the spear, which whisked over her head and into the neck and back of the kakos coming up from behind. Fluttershy rolled away from the creature’s claw, and then sat up and swung Firewing, cutting off the shepherd’s leg. The monster screamed in pain and went down onto its stomach, allowing the Dragonlord to jump onto its back and thrust Drage Bane and Firewing into the back of its neck. As soon as she knew the creature was dead – or ‘banished’ as Luna said they would be – Fluttershy jumped off and run her blades through the back and belly of another kakos waiting for her below. She pulled them out, and then thrust Firewing forward, spearing another through the chest and out its back. She ducked as another came at her from her right with a swipe of its paw, and slashed Drage Bane across its chest and then thrust it through its lower jaw. She sighed regretfully as the screams of the creatures faded into echoes across the clearing, which then became nothing, and felt the creatures’ in her swords’ grip disintegrate into dust. ‘Why does it always have to come to this?’ she wondered sullenly. ‘Every time we face them, we either fight them or run away. Why can’t we talk to one another?’ Fluttershy set herself back onto all fours, and looked around the battlefield and to see how her friends were doing. Luna was facing off two shepherds at once, deflecting their attacks with relative ease and trying to strike at them in turn. Yet always the shepherds were able to dodge and parry her attacks. ‘I could give her a helping hoof,’ she thought, tilting her head a little. She looked left of Luna, and watched as Cadence brought her mace-sword over her head and swung it down onto the head a charging kakos creature. ‘She’s okay.’ Her eyes wandered across the clearing until she came onto Trixie, who slashed open the side of a kakos, then spun and blocked the strike of another coming up from behind. ‘She’s getting good,’ Fluttershy thought, watching impressively as Trixie rolled away from the charging beast, then cut off one its scythes, then diving her sword into the creatures back. All her pony friends were accounted for. That only left Spike. ‘But where is he?’ she looked all around the clearing for any sign of the little baby dragon, worry growing in her stomach. She stopped looking, and felt the worry in her stomach turn into full-grown panic when she saw Spike running across the field, chased by the only flying beast remaining. “I’m coming, Spike!” she yelled. Fluttershy spread her wings and took to the air in a flash, heading straight for the flying creature. She narrowed her eyes and streamlined her body together to go faster, the determination to save Spike the only thing she could think about. She soon made it above the creature, and visibly paled at how big it was. ‘This thing has to be the size of those teenage dragons Twilight mentioned to me about,’ she thought. She shook the thought from her head, fearing that having the thought lodged in her head would weaken her chances, and then veered down into a dive, straight for the creature’s back. “HEY!” she bellowed, getting hold of the creature’s attention. “Leave! My! Friend! Alone!” The flying beast stopped its pursuit of Spike and turned towards her. Just as it did so, Fluttershy slammed her hooves into its stomach, pushing it out of the sky and into the ground, throwing up dirt and grass around it as it skidded across the clearing. The Dragonlord felt herself tumble and roll off the creature, before coming to a stop on her back. Fluttershy groaned, feeling the soreness in her back and in her hooves flowing across her legs and her body like water coming from a shower. ‘Note to self, never do something like that again,’ she noted. A pained cry from the flying beast she had felled forced the pegasus up onto her hooves, watching as the creature tried to get on its feet, its wings swaying like flags at a parade. The Dragonlord lowered her body and prepared to fight the creature. The beast suddenly jumped up, rolled around and landed on its feet once more, glaring vehemently at Fluttershy. With a mighty roar, it clumsily charged the mare, its mouth open and its bloodied teeth visible for all to see. ‘Three,’ Fluttershy thought, crouching further. The beast’s charge seemed to be going faster the closer it came. ‘Two.’ The creature let out a roar that would cower any other pony, yet despite her fear’s best efforts, Fluttershy held her ground. ‘One.’ The creature was about five feet from her. ‘Now!’ Just as the creature’s head leaned forward to snap the mare in half, Fluttershy spread her wings once more and shot up into the air, missing the strike. The creature, confused as her sudden whereabouts, stopped and looked around. It was the perfect moment to strike. Fluttershy swung her body around, tucked her wings in, and fell straight towards its head, Drage Bane and Firewing drawn. The creature looked up, and with a shriek of alarm batted her with a wing, throwing Fluttershy to the ground. The pegasus let out a shriek of alarm when she felt the wing hit her side, and cried out in pain when she hit the ground hard, feeling a few new bruises appearing across her side. She shook her head to clear her dizziness, and looked up just in time to see the flying creature gliding towards her, talons spread out and ready to impale her. Fluttershy rolled out of the way, then sat up and slashed at one of the creature’s legs with Firewing. The creature let out a shriek of pain, and looked back at her with a hateful gaze. The Dragonlord felt a nasty shiver crawl up her spine at the gaze, and briefly shook her head to clear the thought. ‘Concentrate, Fluttershy. This thing needs to die… or be banished, like Luna said they should be,’ she thought, confusion temporarily in her mind at the wording Luna used. The creature hollered and began to veer around for another attack. Fluttershy spread her wings, took flight, and began to charge the creature, Drage Bane drawn in front of her. The creature saw the blade and veered right, trying to miss the strike. Fluttershy swung about and slashed at its wing, hoping the strike would be enough to send it falling to the ground. She silently cursed her aim when it only hit the air. The creature turned back towards her and attempted another attack, positioning itself like an owl about to snatch its prey. Fluttershy raised herself into the air and swung her body around, using her wing blades to slash across the creature’s eyes and face. The beast screamed in agony as the blades pushed themselves deeper into its face. It tried to turn and catch Fluttershy, but began to fall. Before it could, however, the beast flapped its gigantic wings one more and kept itself in to the air. Fluttershy silently cursed. ‘How can I take this thing down?’ she wondered. “Fluttershy!” The pegasus looked to the ground to find Luna looking up at her, her face straining as Nightbringer was locked against an axe of a shepherd. “Aim for the harpy’s wings! Once you’ve crippled one, the harpy cannot stay in the air!” Fluttershy’s eyes widened at the name. ‘A harpy? Like an actual harpy? But those things don–' She cried out in shock when the harpy rammed into her, throwing her across the sky like a tennis ball. Fluttershy’s world spun for a moment, before she spread her wings and flapped rapidly, stopping her spinning, and setting herself upright. Just in time to see the harpy was charging her with its talons bared. Fluttershy screamed and shot upwards, slashing her wing blades across the harpy’s face. The strike caused the harpy to scream out and throw it off balance. Fluttershy noticed this, watching as the beast shook its head to clear it of ash as it poured across its face. ‘Right. Let’s do this. Um… I need a war cry of my own,’ she thought. She spun around till she was facing the ground, and with a thrust of her wings she flung herself at the harpy. The beast didn’t notice her, or acknowledge she was even close by. ‘I must have stunned it,’ she thought, grinning at her luck. She angled her charge so that she aimed for the wings, then noticed the tilt of the harpy’s head. Her eyes widened in horror. Before she could alter her path, the harpy swung around and lunged it head at her. Fluttershy turned, only to cry out in shock when she felt the beast’s mouth close onto her back, pinning her wings in. The harpy began to shake its head violently, hoping it would distort and maybe kill her, but Fluttershy only screamed, her eyes closed as she felt the jaws of the beast tighten and the wind rushing back and forth across her body. She drew Drage Bane, praying it would be long enough to reach, then stretched the front half of her body around and stabbed the very end into the harpy’s face. The beast screamed in agony, throwing its jaws wide open. Fluttershy ignored the pain in her back and flew out, then spun around and slashed the edge of the harpy’s right wing. The harpy lunged forward but missed, giving Fluttershy the chance to slash Firewing and Drage Bane into the wing, ripping it apart. The harpy began to about turn and face her again, but cried out when it noticed it had started to fall. Seeing the opportunity to end it, Fluttershy drew her blades once again, shot into the air till she flew above it, then dived and thrust her blades through the monster’s neck. The creature’s screams faded into gurgling croaks of pain as the pair smashed into the ground once more, dirt and grass flying everywhere. Fluttershy took a few heavy breaths to calm herself down, and slowly opened her eyes. Below her, the flying creature was dead and disintegrating into dust, its wings spread out and twitching. She breathed a final sigh of relief, and hauled herself to her hooves. A screech from behind forced the pegasus to turn around, and she gasped in fright as a small kakos creature leapt towards her. Before it could hit, an arrow shot through into its neck, throwing it away from her like a doll being thrown away by a filly in a tantrum. Fluttershy looked to where the shot came from, and bowed her head in respect to Cadence, who nodded in return, then set her bow back in place, drew her sword and swung it around, decapitating another creature as it came for her. Fluttershy moved to turn around, watching Luna as she moved towards the Dragonlord, striking down some more of the creatures that assailed them, and looked towards Spike. Her eyes widened in horror and she leapt off the fallen beast when she saw four kakos beasts were hurriedly closing in on him. “Hold on, Spike, I’m coming!” Fluttershy yelled as she pushed her exhausted legs to their limits, and galloped harder than she had ever forced herself to go. She looked between the four beasts, seeing which pair were closer to him, and realised the ones on the left were quicker and were merely seconds from him. She lowered her head, and charged towards them. Spike, however, was prepared. Before the kakos creatures could get to him, the baby dragon took a deep breath, then let out a deluge of hot, dragon flame around him, creating a circular wall of flame high enough for even the greatest jumper to have second thoughts. The four monsters instantly stopped their charge and backed away in horror, a foreleg covering their faces from the heat of the flames. Fluttershy seized her chance. She pounced on the closest creature, pinning it to the ground with her blades, which pierced its chest and side. The second beast heard its dying comrade’s cries and turned in time to see the Dragonlord coming towards it. The creature raised its scythes and brought them forward, intending to strike at her shoulders. Fluttershy rolled out of the way, then sat up and slashed at its hind leg, severing it from the body. The kakos screamed in agony, but even that was cut off by Drage Bane being plunged through the back of its neck. The other two creatures charged their way around the dragon flames, straight towards Fluttershy. The pegasus spun around and broke one’s muzzle with her hind hooves, and blocked the other’s attack with her wing blades. She then pushed the creature back with a mighty shove of her wings, then thrust forward with Firewing. The creature recovered, and blocked the attack with one paw, refusing to budge. The creature sneered, and with the other claw slashed at Fluttershy’s neck, trimming a bit of her mane away and drawing blood, while sending the pegasus to the ground with a yelp. Fluttershy heard the other creature get up and move towards her, and heard the other bark out something akin to a command. She set a hoof to her neck, feeling blood run around her hoof, and looked up. Her eyes widened in horror at the sight of the two beasts making their way towards her, their eyes sealed with hatred. The pegasus, ignoring the pain as best she could, tried to get back up and face them, but her left foreleg gave way under her and she fell back onto her stomach. ‘I can’t keep this up. I really can’t,’ she thought, exhaustion from the day’s events beginning to kick in. She looked up again when she felt a hot breath against her face, and trembled in fright as the beast before her opened its mouth, revealing its fangs; the other creature manoeuvred itself around her, sneering in delight at an easy kill. Just as the beast was about to thrust its head forward and bit into her face, a cry from the creature behind stopped and brought its head up, staring in shock. Fluttershy looked around as well. Her eyes widened in horror as Spike had jumped onto the creature’s back, riding it like a cowpony would ride a bull. The creature leapt and hopped around, trying its hardest to get the baby dragon off its back, but to no avail; Spike stayed where he was as if he had been glued on the thing’s back. Wasting no time, Fluttershy jumped up and thrust Drage Bane through the chest of the creature in front of her. She pulled the blade out and turned around, just in time to watch Spike fly into the air, screaming. The beast, free of the dragon on its back, looked towards Fluttershy with a hateful gaze, and raised its scythes to pounce. It leapt forward, but didn’t make it far as an arrow shot through the top of its head, sending the body to the ground like a rock. The Dragonlord looked to where the arrow came from, and nodded to Cadence as the mare released another arrow from her bow and sending it into a shepherd’s heart as it came at her. ‘That’s twice now,’ she hastily noted. Fluttershy turned her attention to Spike, who had just landed on his stomach with a very loud thump – or at least it was in Fluttershy’s ears. “Oh my goodness!” she shouted. She galloped through the flames Spike created, and when she reached him, picked him up and looked him over for serious injuries. She let out a sigh of relief to know that he was all right. A few hisses close by forced her to look away from the little dragon, only to move so she stood above him as four more kakos beasts stalked closer to her and Spike. ‘Come on, Fluttershy, think, think, think! You can’t face these creatures all of the time, you need another solution!’ her mind yelled. The beasts broke into a trot. ‘Oh, but I already tried talking to them, and they seemed to ignore everything I say,’ she protested. If her mind had a body of its own, Fluttershy imagined, it would be raising an eyebrow at her. ‘Really? Yes, you tried talking to them in Terran, and Equestrian. But you haven’t tried in your ‘other’ language, have you?’ Fluttershy’s eyes widened at the thought, even as the kakos creatures broke into a canter. ‘Of course!’ She spread out her legs, setting herself in a defensive pose, then shouted as loud as her voice could go, “Du skal ikke komme lenger (You will not come any further)!” The beasts instantly stopped in their tracks, and stared at the young Dragonlord with terror. “Jeg har bare vært i denne delen av Rangen i noen timer, og jeg har allerede begynt å hate deg og dine. Du har ikke vært noe annet enn dyr som vil terrorisere oss. Vel, du har plukket opp en gal tid å irritere meg og mine venner, og jeg er ikke så snill når jeg er sint (I have only been in this part of the range for a few hours, and I already hate you and all your kind. You have all been nothing but animals out to terrorise us. Well, you picked a wrong time to mess with me and my friends, and I’m not so kind when I am angry)!” she yelled, walking slowly forward. The creatures began to cower at her sight and her voice, which seemed to her that it had been amplified by her anger. “Men nå er jeg nådeful. Mange av ditt slag har falt for mitt sverd, og jeg ønsker ingen andre å møte samme sjebne. Du vil dra nå, dra dit du kaller hjem, og tenke på hva du har gjort. Og hvis jeg noe gang ser deg igjen, will våres neste møte ende godt... for deg, mener jeg (However, this time I will be merciful. Many of your kind have burned away at my swords, and I desire to see no others share the same fate. You will leave now, go back to whatever you call home, and think about what you have done. And if I ever see you again, then our next meeting will not end so well… for you, I mean),” she said. The creatures seemed to understand her this time, for the four of them nearly tripped one another up just to get away from the mare with the voice of a dragon. Once they had disappeared into the trees, Fluttershy took a deep breath and fell back onto her rump, shaken by what happened, and at the same time surprised. She briefly remembered Spike was behind her, and turned around to see if he had moved. To her worry, however, he hadn’t. She briefly looked around once more, hoping there wasn’t any more opponents to deal with, and gave a silent thanks to Vidarr the First when she saw none; they were all fighting Luna, Cadence and Trixie. She looked back at Spike, and gave him a gentle shake. “Spike?” she asked. When only a tilt of the head came as response, she shook him again. “Spike, wake up.” Thankfully, she didn’t have to wait long for a reply. Spike let out a pained groan and opened his eyes, which flickered closed again as sunlight hit his face. “Urgh…” he groaned once more, shaking his head lightly. “Did you use the Mirror Pool, Fluttershy? Cause I swear there was only one of you the last time I saw you.” Fluttershy’s face scrunched up in confusion. ‘Oh dear, he sees more of me,’ she thought, grimacing at the thought. She rubbed his head soothingly and smiled. “You’ll be okay,” she whispered. She lowered him to the ground. “Just stay there and get some rest. And don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” She turned around to look towards the field once more, keeping Spike safely tucked under her tail, to see how the rest of the battle was going on. To her surprise, however, the few remaining kakos creatures left were starting to flee into the forests, giving the raging Princess of the Night a look of fear before disappearing within the trees. A few were crawling out of a cloud of smoke – obviously caused by Trixie, who suddenly appeared and struck down another as it tried to get away. The rest fled for their lives. Cadence, on the other hoof, was slowly making her way towards Fluttershy, her strides heavy with fatigue and her coat covered in sweat and ash. Fluttershy nodded to her as the former Crystal Princess finally stopped before her, and collapsed onto her rump, gasping for air. “I thought… they would never… ever… give up,” she remarked, glancing behind her to see the large piles of ash that were now the only evidence of them ever being in the clearing. Cadence looked back at Fluttershy, then nodded towards Spike. “Is he going to be all right?” Fluttershy smiled at her, and looked back at Spike. “He’ll be fine, I think. A dragon hide is tough; tougher than any armour. I’m sure he’ll be back on his feet in no time, fresh as a daisy.” “Did somepony say daisy sandwich?” Trixie asked as she trotted up to them, a large smile across her face. “Cause I could kill for one right about now.” She stopped as if she had just realised what she had said, then looked back at the remains of the creatures behind her. “On second thoughts, I think I killed enough for that daisy sandwich.” Cadence and Fluttershy shook their heads. “Sorry, but no. Just talking about Spike here,” Fluttershy answered, pointing behind her to the little dragon. Trixie shrugged it off. “Oh, that’s okay. I’m sure I can have one later.” The unicorn looked back towards the field covered in ash once more, and let out an impressed whistle. “Wow. We certainly kicked some rump today, didn’t we? To be outnumbered a hundred to one, only to come out the victors. If I ever have grandkids, I’ll be telling them this tale until I am on my deathbed. Hey, did you see the moves I pulled? I was like, ‘wham!’” she yelled as she thrust a hoof out at an invisible enemy. “And they were all like, ‘Arrgh!’ And I was like, ‘oh yeah!’” “I’m sure you were, young unicorn. You all fought valiantly,” Luna called as she slowly moved towards them, her horn glowing with her dark blue aura. Cadence jumped up and moved to hug her, but stopped herself short when she saw why Luna was moving slowly. Fluttershy craned her neck to look beyond Cadence, and let out a loud gasp at the sight. Luna let out a gasp of air as she dragged a captured creature towards her companions. Its two hind legs were missing, with ash and dust pouring out of what was left, while its forelegs were trying to grip into the ground to escape its fate. The beast screeched and cried for help – or was cursing them colourfully, Fluttershy could not really know – for its comrades nearby, but none of them replied; they had abandoned it to its fate. Once she was close enough, Luna hurled the beast onto the ground the group circled, then pressed her hoof against its head, pinning it. At that moment, Spike woke up with a heavy groan. “Wha… what’s going on?” He noticed the creature trailing behind Luna, and his eyes widened. “Why have you brought that thing–?” “All in good time, dragon youngling,” Luna said wearily, her chest rising and falling rapidly. She set the creature down in front of her, binding its forelegs with magic, then gestured for them to gather around. “Quickly now, gather round in a tight circle, tight as possible if we are going to do this.” Cadence, Trixie and Spike quickly complied, and inched together until their noses were touching. Fluttershy was the only one hesitant to do so, feeling fear binding her to her place at the sight of the monster before her. “Trust me, dear Fluttershy, it is safe,” Luna said encouragingly. The others looked back and smiled bravely, showing they were not afraid. For the most part. Fluttershy licked her lips, then nodded, seeing that she was outspoken by the majority. She got up and moved to stand between Trixie and Cadence. “All right. Is everypony set?” Luna enquired. Four heads nodded in her direction. “Okay, then brace yourselves.” She bowed her head and powered up her horn. Fluttershy heard a gasp of horror from Cadence, and looked up to see the young alicorn staring in horror at her aunt. “Wait a second. Isn’t that a teleporta–?” There was a bright flash shrouding Fluttershy’s eyes, followed by nothing but darkness as the five companions and their one captive departed the ash-covered field.