//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: The Stallion of the Forest // Story: Darkness of Ages - Book 1: Greyhield // by YoungQuillMaster //------------------------------// A rabbit jumped out from a bush with a few twitches of its nose. The clearing it had entered was just like every other, except for the lack of timber wolves, manticores, and any other beast resident to this rabbit’s ferocious home in the Everfree forest. The rabbit scanned the surrounding area for a bit, until his gaze fell on a certain berry bush. Its berries dangled temptingly heavy from the small twigs of the bush and the leaves blew in the gentle breeze, becoming the little creature to partake in its bounty. The rabbit, not one to give up free food, hopped over to the little bush in a few brisk hops. The rabbit poked at a berry a little, making sure it was alright. The rabbit, satisfied that it wasn’t going to kill him any time soon, took a berry and chomp down on it. The sweet juices flowed through his tiny mouth with an explosion of extraordinary flavors. The little creature relished each moment of the bite before popping the last bit of it in his mouth. After that first berry, there was no way to stop the greedy little rabbit from enjoying its feast of berries, whose pits soon lay scattered about the little animal. As it picked another berry, its ears shot up; it had heard something approaching through the bushes beyond the far end of the clearing. He looked behind himself to make sure, but there was nothing visible above the branches of the bushes guarding the other side of the clearing. The rabbit returned to eating his berries, until suddenly a shape broke through the bushes and darted across the clearing. Fearing for its life, the rabbit jumped into the bush closest to him and hid himself as best as he could. Suddenly a dull thud resounded through the forest as whatever it was had smashed into a nearby tree. The rabbit looked out and saw something that he had only seen once before, a pony, and a small one at that. The colt shook his head, clearing the stars that marred his vision and the pain that electrified his skull. He slowly stood up, fighting against the intense pain that shot through him, and began to inspect the clearing around him. Not much to be seen here, save for a berry bush, but besides that, nothing of interest or concern was in sight. The colt sighed and began walking out of the clearing, barely noticing as the rabbit reappeared and continued munching on its delicious berries. The colt walked slowly, still trying to recover from running for so long and the fact he had hit a tree at his top speed. All of a sudden and rustling of bushes sounded out behind him as something large charged through then with great speed. Ignoring all of his pain and fatigue, taken by sure survival instincts, the colt ran at full speed, ducking and weaving expertly through the trees and bushes that lay in his path. As he ran, his hoof caught on a root, causing him to tumble forward and collide with something a little softer than a tree, and too smooth for a bush. He looked up and saw a tall hooded creature, a pony by its shape, but its entire pelt was covered by a black cloak. “Whoa there, what has you in such a hurry?” The cloaked pony, who by his voice was a stallion, asked the colt. It became quickly apparent that the colt was out of breath, and at the moment, in no condition to tell why he had been running. “It’s alright, catch your breath then tell me.” The colt nodded while desperately gasping for air. The colt finally took one final breath and began. “My family and I were traveling from Dodge city through here to get to Canterlot. Our wagon was attacked by a monster and I fell out from the wagon. I think the monster is still following me.” The colt said finally. The hooded pony stayed silent for a second, probably considering the situation. “Follow me, my house isn’t too far away from here, we’ll be safe there.” The hooded stallion said finally while turning one way and beginning to walk briskly. The colt looked around, and having no other options, he followed the stallion. The stallion had been correct; the small hike through the forest to the hut had been nothing more than a few minutes. The colt was glad that it was; he distrusted the forest around him. The stallion opened the door with a golden aura, revealing him to be a unicorn. The inside of the house was rather plain, only the necessities since overly lavish decorations were not essential to survival in a forest as this, not to mention they usually took more space than they were worth. The hut itself seemed to be made of cobblestone with dried mud as mortar. The inside wasn’t very fancy either. It had a bedroll at one end of the room, a fire pit with a kettle hanging over it in the center of the room, and a few barrels lay in the corner opposite the bedroll, filled with the necessary supplies for life in such a formidable place. The colt, In spite of this simplicity, looked around fascinated at everything around him, and became so enthralled that he bumped into the barrels at the far end of the room. The barrels swayed to and fro, and one of the higher ones even fell rather ungracefully to the dirt floor bellow. Its lid popped off with ease and revealed it to be devoid of all contents it had once housed. Judging by how easy the rest of the barrels had swayed by the colts near nonexistent force, it was easy to assume that they too were most probably empty. “I’m sorry, sir,” the colt said quickly while placing the barrel back in its place with his hooves, “I wasn’t watching where I was going.” The stallion chuckled lightly. “It’s quite alright; I’ve needed some new barrels anyway, not to mention that these ones are starting to show their age.” The stallion said while pointing at a crack in the wood. The colt nodded slightly, not sure if he had created the crack or if it really had been there before he had so clumsily tumbled right into them. The stallion eyed the colt a little. “You should get some rest. Use my bedroll; I need to get some supplies anyway.” The colt looked at the stallion. “Will you be long?” The colt said with a hint of worry in his voice. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back before you wake up. Now slip into the roll and take some rest.” The stallion said in a cheery tone of voice. The colt nodded slightly and walked over to the bedroll. After unfolding it and crawling inside, he suddenly felt a wave of weariness over take him. He looked to his host with drowsy eyes, only barely noticing the faint golden glow coming from the shadows of his cloak, as he felt the silky fabric of the cover shift over his coat. As the colt slowly drifted off into sleep he heard the stallion speak one last time. “I’m sorry for doing this to you...” With that a flash of bright light consumed the room. When the light dimmed, the stallion saw the colt sleeping soundly. He nodded firmly, and then walked out of his hut. As he walked farther into the forest a fog swirled about, and soon concealed his image. Slowly, but surely, the hut in which the colt slept faded into a collection of rocks with no sign of a habitation, except for a colt in a bedroll. The colt woke up slowly from his rest. It had probably been a few hours by the colt’s guess, especially accounting for how it had been slightly bright outside and now it was rather dark. The colt stood up from the bedroll and stretched his limbs slowly, only to stiffen at the sound of a low growl. He slowly turned to see what had made it, only to lay eyes on a timber wolf with two others right beside it. The colt swallowed hard, not entirely sure what to do. As he deliberated what to do, one of the wolves launched itself at him. With lightning speed, the colt ducked under and to the side of the beast, leaving it to slam into the crumbled wall behind him. The colt whipped around, his back facing his assailants, and kicked a stone backwards at one of them. He smiled in satisfaction as it crumbled to a pile of sticks. Looked in front of him and saw the pile of sticks that formed the wolf that had jumped over him starting to come back together. The colt charged forward and before jumping over the decaying structure, he stamped on the pile of stick, causing it to fall silent once again. The colt bolted through the forest with the echoes of the last wolf howling, probably calling the rest of the pack in for their newly found meal. The colt gained a sudden burst of speed as he bolted through the underbrush with the wolves doubtlessly close behind. As he continued running, he suddenly burst into a clearing, which promptly led to a drop off. Not wanting to lose the head start he had gained early on, he quickly scanned for a way to cross, and soon lighted upon a rickety old bridge that had some boards already fallen or falling. The colt slid as he changed course, and with a mighty kick against the ground, launched himself towards the bridge. He darted across the bridge with the sound of the timber wolves approaching him quickly. He quickly lit his horn and pulled the two stakes from the ground that held the bridge on his side. He heard the howls of the wolves as they fell down the chasm. The colt turned around to see if they had all fallen, only to see two wolves on his side of the gorge. He lifted one of the hefty pegs from the guard and pointed it at the wolves. One wolf circled around to the left while the other crept slowly to the right. The colt quickly attacked the one on his left, and successfully dislodged its head, causing it to turn into a jumbled mess of sticks. He quickly turned to the other wolf, only to be tackled. The colt quickly smacked it several times in the face with his peg, but to no avail. He then lit his horn and fired a bolt of magic, causing it to fall backwards from the colt. The colt, quickly got to his hooves and brought his rod down between the wolf’s shoulder blades, causing it to falter a little, but not fall apart. The wolf launched itself at the colt with a bloodthirsty look painted across it snout. The colt quickly lifted his pole, and impaled the wolf on it, causing it to fall apart. The colt sighed in relief, only to be interrupted by the rattling of sticks as the two wolves’ part combined to form a larger one. He raised his weapon and stood ready to begin, only to be tackled from behind. He looked up and saw an even bigger one on top of his back. Apparently the ones that had fallen down the chasm had formed together and climbed up the steep slopes of the gorge. He slammed his pole across the beasts face, only causing it to falter slightly, allowing him to roll away from its grip. The colt raised his stick, but was terrified to see what was happening. Both of the monsters had destroyed themselves and now were quickly forming back together into the largest timber wolf he had ever seen. As the beast completed itself, it released a mighty roar laden with the stench of the timber wolves. The colt gathered his courage and began to attack it fiercely with quick blow across its chest. The beast was surprised, and so began to lose ground, edging ever closer to the drop off of the gorge. The wolf quickly recovered, raising one of its forepaws before promptly bringing it down towards the pony. The colt quickly rolled to the side and slammed his pole into the right rear leg of the beast, causing it to fall, only to pick itself up quickly. The colt raised his rod into the underbelly of the beast before pulling it along its wooden chest. The colt's horn grew brighter as he shot a fire bolt at the figure, only to have it wrap around its massive frame and dissipate as quickly as it had formed. The colt snorted in extreme frustration as he slammed his stick down on his adversary’s head, causing it to grimace and lower its head slightly due to the impact. The colt smiled as he drew close to the wolf, he then twirled around and preformed a solid buck into the massive creature’s snout, causing it to backpedal in pain. Unfortunately for the wolf, this meant its back paws began to slip off the edge. It desperately clambered at the edge in an attempt to regain its footing. The colt slammed his stick across the beast’s right cheek, causing the peg to finally crack and splinter into two pieces. The colt quickly grabbed the piece that was flying away in his magical grip and jammed the pieces of wood into the beast’s eye sockets. It immediately howled in excruciating pain. The beast, infuriated at the puny assailant, began to thrash with its forepaws in which ever direction. Unfortunately for the timber wolf, since it could not see, it missed pathetically, but the negative effects of this action did not end there. As it attacked the colt, it lost its only remaining connection to the cliff, and so began to fall off the edge, into the gaping gorge beneath. The beast scrambled at the edge as it realized far too late the folly of its actions. The beast scratched its last claw full of earth as it began to plummet down the chasm. The colt watched as it struck the rocks bellow and was dashed into bits. The colt lit his horn again and sent down a fire ball, which lit the branches that were now devoid of their protective spell. The colt, once again sighed in relief. He turned around from the cliff and walked farther away from the edge. He had noticed a few boulders and broken down stone barricades as he had fought, but being a life threatening situation as he had been merely put the scenery around his on lower priority. The colt looked around the rubble, and spotted a shape of a building through the fog. Not being one to stay out in these conditions for too long, he started towards it quickly. The structure was obviously centuries old as the walls were crumbled and many parts of the ceiling had fallen inward. As he looked inside from the stair that led to the two grand oak doors, he was surprised to see some materials and tools of reconstruction. Parts of the ceiling that had fallen were replaced by some tarps, while many piles of rubble were scattered at the corners of the room, creating a rather spacious and easy to move through environment. The colt looked around for a few more seconds, then turned and began walking away, only to feel a brush of something beside him. He looked and saw a stallion in fine clothes, and soon the colt realized he too was wearing fine clothes that seemingly appeared from nowhere. But besides that, some other drastic changes had occurred. When it had been in the twilight hours only a few seconds ago, now it was only a few hours after noon, the castle itself was in full repair, guards stood erect in front of the doors with servants visibly scurrying about inside, not to mention the obvious smoke rising from the kitchen’s chimneys. The colt looked questioningly at the stallion, and watched as he walked towards the door. Not fully understanding what was happening, the colt followed the stallion into the main room of the castle. As he did, he saw scenes flash before his eyes. A scene of ponies huddled about a decaying room, trying to stay warm. A duel between two alicorns during the years of the castle’s glory, a horde of monsters rushing towards them from the outside with ponies all around him calling for his help during their time of peril, the clash of swords as he locked eyes with his enemy, the blood splattering across his armor as he slashed at his enemy, and the thrill of victory as he vanquished his foe. The colt shook his head violently, releasing his eyes from the horror of these visions. He looked up and saw the room dead and decayed with the tarps covering the holes flapping lazily in the wind. He turned around to leave this place, hoping that he wouldn’t have to suffer through anything like that ever again. As he walked out of the doors, he saw the stallion that had took him in pushing one of the pegs from the bridge into the ground with his magic. The colt dashed up to him quickly, hoping that he might have answers. “Sir, what happened? I woke up and there were timber wolves in your hut, I even had to fight them off!” The colt said as he stood in front of the cloaked stallion. The stallion looked towards the colt. “There are many things in this land you have yet to understand, even I can’t know all. But you must leave this forest that much is for certain. The way to leave is down this path, follow it and you will soon arrive at the forest’s edge.” The stallion said finally to his friend. The colt fumbled for words to reply and press for answers, but none came to him. The stallion slowly turned and began to walk across the bridge he had only just fixed. The colt realized that he was losing his chance, but he had no idea how to stop him. “A-at least tell me your name!” The colt shouted finally at the stallion. The cloaked pony stopped and turned to the colt. “My name… my name is Glowing Flint.” He said finally. “What is yours?” The colt stopped before he even began. He finally shook his head a bit and focused on the stallion. “My name is Blaze Eternal.” He said in the end. The stallion nodded, and disappeared into the thick fog. Blaze looked after the stallion and shrugged. He might as well get out of the forest; he had been trying to for the last several hours before meeting Flint. And so, with no other real option, Blaze started across the newly repaired bridge. As Blaze stepped off of the bridge, he turned back to see the castle once more. What had been those things he had seen? Had they been visions of the future, or were they just his imagination running wild? Again Blaze shrugged, if they had been the future then he could only wait and see, if not then it didn’t matter. Blaze sighed, and then chuckled lightly as he shook his head with a smile across his snout. Blaze turned to the path, quick to begin the walk down its shadowy embrace. At the bottom of the gorge a noise was heard. Not the noise of the small stream or any other normal occupant of the chasm. It was the sound of rattling wood. Sticks tumbled their way out of gaps between rocks, saved only by luck from the fire, and soon they began to come together, forming three small figures. When they finished forming, they snarled and growled at each other in anger at their defeat at the hooves of a pony. One of them looked and saw stair leading up from the bottom of the chasm they now were at the bottom of. He jerked his head, and soon all three of the wolves charged towards the stairs, hoping to get their revenge on the pony that had defeated them. Blaze shook himself off as he climbed to the opposite bank of the river. As he had been walking, he came across a river, and after inspecting it, he concluded it had to be rather shallow because of its calm nature, but upon entering, he found it quite deep. Had it not been for a kind sea serpent, he probably wouldn’t have made it at all. Blaze turned and nodded to the gentle beast. “Thank you, sir, I appreciate the help.” Blaze said with a smile to the aquatic serpent. He noticed how odd it seemed that he had a curl of hair laced around a string of thick cord. The kind serpent had an orange mane like thing coming from the top of his head while a rather artistically shaped mustache curled out from his snout. “Oh it was nothing, I’m just glad to see a pony in these parts, it has been almost an entire year or so since I last saw one and was able to talk.” The serpent said, adding the last part with a slight frown. “But I am glad to help in any way I can.” He said as he touched the purple curl gingerly. “After all, a pony helped me first.” The serpent said as a tear touched his eye. Blaze nodded with a smile. “Well, I need to go; it’s been good meeting you, sir.” Blaze said gratefully. The serpent nodded and plunged into the depths of his river. Blaze chuckled to himself lightly, that serpent was truly something. Blaze turned around and began to go down the path. For the most part his journey so far had been uneventful, and all in all, he liked it that way. The path had no real splendid scenery, just the usual tangled thickets with the usual gnarled trees that stood testament how long they had stood there for many years before and how in all likelihood they would continue to do so. As Blaze walked, he heard the sound of rustling bushes around him, and then an ear-splitting howl of a timber wolf pierced through the sound of the forest. Blaze whipped around and saw six timber wolves charging through the forest towards him as three others joined the charge. Blaze grabbed a nearby stick and slammed it across a timber wolf’ snout, only to hear the weapon splinter into two pieces upon contact. Blaze’s eyes widened as he snapped a branch from a tree and launched it at the wolf, only to have it break like the first one. Apparently those stakes that held up the bridge were made from wood that was not from around the area. Blaze quickly scanned the area, but found no other weapons to use, and just as the wolves were upon him, a figure flew out from one of the nearby bushes. With a golden aura, he drew a sword from under his cloak and slashed the lead wolf’s neck in half with one clean blow, causing it to crumple into a mess of sticks. Glowing Flint then drew another sword out with his magical aura and levitated both of them beside him. Blaze then noticed his cowl was down, giving him a glance of the stallion for the first time. His mane was silver while his coat was a deep maroon. But his glance at the stallion was only for so long as Flint lifted his hood with a golden aura. Flint looked back to Blaze for a second. “Blaze, get out of here. I’ll hold them off while you run.” Flint said as he turned back to the wolves. Blaze nodded and charged off through the bushes with the sound of wood against metal coming from the fight that rage behind him. Blaze ducked and weaved through the trees while trying his way back to the path. As he ran, he saw glimpses of a few wolves running parallel to him. Blaze took a hard right and jumped over the surprised wolf that had been following him. Blaze smirked as he heard a satisfying crunch as the wolf that had been running to his left ran full force into a tree as it had been trying to turn and follow its prey. Blaze poured all he had into his legs as he ran, until he suddenly burst through the forest and came face to face with a gigantic rock face. Blaze turned to meet his assailants, who were almost out of the forest. Blaze lit his horn and lifted several small rocks from the ground and aimed them at the first wolf, which soon fell under the barrage of stones. Blaze was about to lifted a few more, when suddenly he was tackled by something. Blaze looked up and saw another timber wolf that had snuck up skillfully to beside him. Blaze launched his fore hoof into the creature’s snout, then wrapped his leg around the back of its head and slammed it into the ground beside him, causing enough damage to the beast that Blaze was quickly covered only by a pile of sticks, the wolf now gone. Blaze lifted the sticks in his magical aura and launched them towards the other timber wolf. Unfortunately, the sticks did not damage the wolf, instead combined with it, not mentioning the already reviving wolf that had been taken down by the rocks that Blaze had launched earlier. Blaze looked up the mighty stone barrier behind him and tried to find some way to climb it, but the rock face was completely solid. Blaze looked back to his aggressors who were slowly advancing on him. With no other conceivable option, Blaze shot a bolt of magic upwards towards the mid-section of the wall, causing several large boulders to break off and fall. Blaze lit his horn and created a ramp from his aura so that the rocks would be redirected towards the wolves. He felt the strain on his magic increased as the boulders struck his shield. His right leg buckled under the strain, but he continued to hold up his shield as long as he could. He closed his eyes as beads of sweat began to form on his brow as he exerted himself. His right leg buckled under the pressure, now leaving him only supported by his hind legs. Blaze’s magic began to falter, and finally gave way, releasing the boulder, letting them fall before reaching their target. Blaze fell to the side and cracked his eyes open to see the wolves leaping over the boulders. Blaze then fell unconscious, completely at the mercy of the wolves. Flint gazed at the wolves in front of him. They showed their wooden teeth that were sharp as knives and growled fiercely, but it wasn't enough to scare Flint off. He lifted his swords and charged the wolves with no restraint. He brought down one sword on a wolf’s back while driving the other into the chest of a different wolf. He watched as the two wolves before him turned to sticks. He lifted a sword and slashed it across the chest of another wolf as he bucked one wolf behind him as his second sword chopped the head off another. Flint watched as three wolves charged after Blaze. He turned to his foes again and shot a blast of magic at one of them, only to have four appear from the blast. Soon Flint found himself surrounded by fifteen or so wolves. Flint lifted his blades and charged at the nearest enemy. Flint slashed and hacked his way through the hordes of wolves that constantly were regenerating. He was tired of his enemies constantly coming back from a death-like state; there was no conceivable way for him to win against these kinds of odds. Flint then lit his horn in frustration as commenced a spell. He sent a shockwave of magic rattling through the forest around him, causing the wolves to fly away and eventually slam into something hard enough to make them fall apart into a messy arrangement of sticks. Flint smiled and dashed towards where Blaze had charged off to. He quickly realized, whether or not Blaze had yet, that Blaze had doubled back and was heading in the opposite direction of the path towards the forest’s edge. Flint dashed through the forest, and seeing signs of combat ahead in the form of a magical glow only made him gallop even faster. Flint burst through the forest’s edge and saw the boulders scattered around the area, and without thinking twice, Flint jumped and lit his horn, allowing himself to get to the top of the line of boulders. Flint saw the two wolves approaching the limp form of Blaze that was surrounded by an indentation in the ground, showing that he had preformed an exceedingly straining spell. Flint teleported himself between the wolves and Blaze, and faced the oncoming wolves. Flint sliced the leg of the larger one out from under it, causing it to fall into a heap of jumbled branches. Flint swung his second sword at the second sword at the other wolf, only to have the wolf duck under it. The wolf spied his opportunity, and jumped on top of Flint and bit down on the stallion’s shoulder causing Flint to grind his teeth together. Flint jammed his sword into the side of the beast’s head, causing it to fall limp, deforming into a heap of wood. Flint watched as ten wolves jumped on top of the boulders before jumping down to the ground bellow. Flint sighed while popping his neck. Using his magic he tossed the sticks of the wolf he had just dispatched over the boulders so it wouldn’t come back together behind him and have Blaze as an easy target. Flint swung one of his swords at the approaching wolves, knocking one to pieces, while he used his other sword to bash the one wolf he had dispatched that was beginning to regenerate. Flint slashed another wolf across its head. He then smashed another wolf on the top of the head while slashing another across the neck, and watched while they both fell into a heap of wood. Flint continued to fight back the mass of wooden wolves, hoping he could buy enough time for Blaze to get up, fortunately he only had to deal with the injury on his shoulder at the moment, but even that was draining him. The magic he was using for moving his swords produced very minimal drain, but it was starting to have its effect on the stallion’s effectiveness as the stress of battle was compounded each time one of his foes came back together. Suddenly two wolves made it passed Flint’s swords and pounced on top of the near defenseless stallion. Flint rolled to the side, allowing the wolves only to strike the dust. He slammed one of his swords down on the first of the wolves while slicing all the other one’s legs out from under it with one clean slice. As he finished the two wolves, another one tackled him from behind and pinned him down. Flint attempted to lift one of his swords, only to find a wolf standing on it. Flint grabbed his second sword and swiped at the wolf on top of him, only to strike air. As he tried to gain more accuracy, a wolf slammed one of its paws into his head, causing him to lose his magical grip on his weapon. Flint’s vision swam as he struggled with the pain, and as his vision cleared he saw Blaze stirring as he began to come around. Flint grimaced as he felt a wolf bite into the same shoulder again. Flint ground his teeth together as he tried not to faint because of the pain wracking his entire being. Flint lifted his eyes to Blaze and saw he was still on the ground, still rather unconscious. Flint felt furious, he already felt lightheaded as it was and he knew he would slip any second now. With a surge of desperation, Flint groaned then shouted as loud as he could, “Blaze! Wake up I need you now!” Blaze slowly stirred from his unconscious state and found himself in the middle of a horde of timber wolves. His vision still swam slightly as he tried to recover from his leave of consciousness. Blaze heard a muffled shout somewhere around him through his ringing ears. Looking around, his vision began to clear much more, and soon he saw Flint struggling against several wolves that were perched on his back. Suddenly he heard a scream pierce through the ringing that still plagued his hearing. “Blaze, get up and fight back! My sword is over there, get it and help me!” As Flint finished his plea a wolf bit down into his hind leg, causing him to scream in agony. Blaze looked over to where Flint had pointed and soon saw the blade. He lit his horn and lifted the sword and swung it at one of the larger wolves of Flint’s back, causing it to fall to pieces of wood, followed by all of its compatriots. Flint stood to his hooves, only to stagger a tad as he placed a small amount of weight on his hind leg. He looked to the sticks scattered around the small hallow as they began shaking as they drew in the energy around them to return to shapes they had previously occupied. Flint grimaced again as his leg sent another wave of pain shooting through him. “We don’t have too much time before they get back up. You need to get out of here before it’s too late. As soon as they get up, neither of us are going to get very far from here.” Flint said as he lifted his sword from the ground. “And leave you behind to face these things alone? That is not going to happen, Flint. Your leg is injured and I doubt that after I leave you will last too long yourself. No, I’m staying right here with you.” Blaze said with determination etched deeply in each of his words. Suddenly the sticks around them started to form up into a large timber wolf, larger than most of the boulders that lay scattered about them, and much, much larger than the two ponies. “Alright then, let’s at least move over towards the boulders. There is no way we can hold out longer than they can, so our best bet would be to beat them into nothing but branches and make a break for it.” Flint said as he slowly began making his way towards the edge of the accidentally made arena. Blaze nodded and followed Flint, already lighting his horn to try to shove a boulder away from the wall, allowing for some manner of escape. When they finally reached the wall of stone, Blaze had been successfully moved the boulder, how be it only a few inches, but still it provided a bit of leverage that Flint could use to help the colt. But as they were pushing the boulder away their adversary came back together as the last piece of wood slid itself into place. Flint, fortunately, had looked back and saw it completing itself. The wolf let out a piercing howl that echoed throughout the forest and was replied a few seconds later by several hundred other howls. Blaze’s eyes widened in fear, and in a desperate last attempt of obtaining freedom from the stone prison, he turned around and landed a solid buck to it surface, sending a wave of intense pain shooting up his back legs and through his spine. Blaze collapsed in pain, watching as the stone slowly rolled towards the direction he actually wanted, but what happened next drained the moment of any sense of victory. When the stone finished rolling, a horde of smaller timber wolves was revealed emerging from the forest. Flint pointed his sword upwards towards the giant monster in front of him as Blaze lifted himself and lifted his sword while preparing a spell. Blaze launched an orb of energy so that it would hit the ground just in front of the wolves, giving him all the advantage he needed as it kicked up a volley of dust and small rocks. Blaze jumped through the fog and landed on one wolf, causing its quick demise, while swinging his sword, crashing it through another one’s back. Blaze shot another bolt of energy at another wolf, causing it to fly back, crashing into a tree as a small collection of sticks. Blaze then slammed his sword’s hilt down on the head of another poor wolf. Blaze felt a body tackling his, and out of instinct shot his sword backwards at the being on top of him. He was met by a satisfying crash, followed by a pile sticks spilling about him. Blaze shot a magic bolt at a wolf that was jumping towards him, causing it to fly so high that it actually cleared the forest’s highest trees. Blaze then jumped to his hooves while bashing a wolf upside the head with a rock that had landed nearby. He then slammed a wolf’s back with his sword. Blaze shot another wolf with a magic bolt while slashing another across the chest. Suddenly a wolf bowled him over, sending a wave of pain through his side. He hit the ground hard, only to feel claws scratching across his pelt as a few wolves jumped on top of him. Blaze lit his horn and began shooting bolt out randomly, some hitting some missing. Eventually Blaze was only covered with sticks, but his fight was far from over as a larger wolf again tackled Blaze with his back to the ground. Blaze shot a bolt of energy at the wolf, only to have his horn fizzle before it even truly formed. Blaze launched his right foreleg into the wolf’s snout, causing its head to jerk back. The wolf looked down at the colt a growled fiercely as it slammed its forepaws on top of Blaze’s forelegs, leaving no way for Blaze to fight back. Suddenly a golden bolt slammed into the wolf’s side causing it to lift away and slam into a tree. Flint limped up to Blaze as fast as he could. “Are you alright, Blaze?” Flint said as he looked at the pile of branches scattered underneath the tree. Blaze slowly stood up while picking up his sword. “Yeah, only minor scratches, but we got some bigger problems.” Blaze said as several sticks began shooting by. Behind Flint, a true horror was unfolding. A wolf was forming that even dwarfed the slope behind it. Flint turned around and lifted his sword with Blaze beside him doing the same. “How are you holding up?” Flint said as he gathered magic for a spell. “Well enough, but I’ll be better once this thing is done for.” Blaze said as he gathered a little more magic, only hoping his magic wouldn’t putter out again. Flint nodded and shot his bolt of energy at one of the legs that had formed, causing it to crumble while the rest of the shape seemed unaffected. “Blaze, I want you to get out of here, there is no way I could have you harmed by this thing.” Flint said as he charged his magic again for another attack. Blaze shot his energy bolt, although it was only half the size of the ones he had fired before. “Flint, I can’t leave you, especially when you are this hurt. We’re fighting this one together. Now let’s do this.” With that Blaze charged directly at the beast and began hacking at it, trying to cause as much damage as possible. Flint smirked at the colt’s enthusiasm while he launched another bolt towards the beings stomach, causing some branches to rain on Blaze. But even with all their efforts the wolf still slowly came back together. With a massive wooden paw, the beast swiped Blaze away, slamming him against the boulders that had made such a formidable fighting arena before. Flint swung his sword into the wolf’s leg, only to have it simply wedge itself between several sticks. Flint shot three bolts of magic at the same spot, only to have them chip a few sticks away. Blaze stood up slowly and looked up at the colossal beast before him. The beast lifted a paw and swiped at Flint with killing intent. Flint tried to jump back, only to be stopped when his back leg shot a massive bolt of pain through his entire being, causing him to falter. Unfortunately, this was all that the wolf needed to deliver his attack, and so its claws slashed long thin scars on Flint’s side. Flint felt searing pain rip through his being as he flew the air, only to slam into a tree. This must be how it felt when he had done it to one of the wolves. Flint fell to the bottom of the tree with pain coursing through his body, causing him to go the point of near unconsciousness. Blaze stared in shock at Flint’s limp form, then gazed in great anger at the beast, that for some reason seemed less of a challenge then it had only a few seconds before. A surge of furry shot through his entire being as he felt his muscles grow stronger and his power increase. Flint creaked open his eyes and saw Blaze, but not as he had been before. While as the colt had been mid-sized and all around average, now he was anything but that. His mane, which had been smooth but a second before, now was rippling in a nonexistent wind, he was at least a few inches taller, and his coat twirled at the edges, as if a flame. Blaze was no longer just a colt; he had entered ‘Rage Shift’, and nothing was standing in his way to lash out at anything nearby. Blaze lit his horn, and by some unknown spell to Flint, he created a long sword of pure magic. Blaze lifted his enormous blade, and then charged the gigantic wolf. As Blaze drew closer, he jumped, and with the assistance of magic, cleared the top of the beast. He slammed forcefully into the creature’s back, causing the wolf to have to bend its knees in order to stay on its paws at all. Blaze then began sliced and hacked at the wood bellow him. Blaze lifted his head, as he continued slicing the wolf fiercely, and began to gather magic for an apparently powerful spell. The wolf soon realized its peril, and attempted to kick of the pony, only to be met with little success as Blaze used a magical lock to secure his hooves to the it’s back as he continued to slice at its back while gathering more and more magic for his spell. The wolf became more and more frantic to remove the pony from his back as he sensed the power that cracked through the air above him. Blaze remained stalwart as it bucked and shook more and more frantically. Blaze smirked as a few more wolves appeared from the forest, only to shrink back in fear. Blaze then released the locks, and felt the air rush past his pelt as he gained more and more height. Flint watched as the pony became no more than a speck in the sky, then, something bright flashed; it was so bright it even drowned out the noontime sun above. As he watched, a silver beam crackled down towards the wolf. At first it was only as large as a sword’s blade, but then it widened its effect until the wolf inside it was no longer visible. As the light faded, it revealed nothing but a charred patch of earth with no wolf or even sticks in sight. Blaze slowly let himself down in the silver embrace of his magic until his hooves were set firmly on the burnt earth. He looked towards the wolves that looked at him with great fear. “You’d do well to fear me.” He said calmly. “NOW BEGONE, YOU DREADFUL BEASTS!” He shouted in something akin to the ‘Royal Canterlot Voice’. That was all the wolves needed to get them running, and soon they were out of sight and hearing. The power in Blaze suddenly dissipated as he became his normal self again. He felt slightly lightheaded and off balance by a tad, but all in all he was physically alright. He looked to the edge of the clearing, and surprisingly, Flint was gone without even a trail of blood left. Blaze looked around him, and then a flash off in the thick of the forest caught his eye. Blaze nodded and charged off through the forest towards the light, hoping beyond hope to find Flint again. The clearing was silent, no wolves or any other being was visible, but then from a tree, a shape tumbled down. Flint slowly stood up to his hooves and looked towards where Blaze had charged off. His spell had worked, and Blaze was headed for the edge of the forest. Flint nodded and began his trip into the forest with his bad leg hovering slightly above the ground, wincing each time he accidentally put any weight on it.