"We need to set up a place of rest for the night." Gabriel told the three ponies. "Applejack, you and me will go into the forest and collect some firewood."
Applejack nodded in approval. "Luna and Rainbow, ye will try and look for a decent form of shelter. It is already sunset and I don't want to be around when the lycans are roaming across the land."
"Since when did you start giving orders?" Rainbow asked in a demanding tone.
"I started giving orders when you were made my responsbility."
"Stil-" Rainbow was cut off a second time that day.
"T'is okay, Rainbow Dash. We- I could use the walk anyway." Luna said, desperate to end the rant before it got out hand (hoof?).
Rainbow sighed in defeat and Gabriel nodded in thanks to Luna, she let off a small smile in return.
"Ah' have a question." Applejack spoke up.
"Yes?" Gabriel waited for an answer.
"What are Lie-cans?" she asked. She, Rainbow and Luna looked at him expectantly. It was around a minute before Gabriel answered.
"Creatures with no emotion, bred for a sole purpose, and that is to kill, and pray that you don't encounter a whole pack." He replied vaguely. "Come Applejack, we must find the wood for the fire." Gabriel turned around and began to walk toward the snow covered forest.
The farmer was trying to process what she and the others just heard. 'Creatures only bred to kill.' She zoned out for a few seconds, until she realized Gabriel was heading toward the forest.
"Hey! Wait up!" She called running after him. Rainbow and Luna just looked on at them.
"Well." Rainbow sighed inwardly. "I guess that's our cue."
"Indeed." Luna said. "Let us search!"
The forest was dark and gloomy. The occasional piece of snow falling off the pines made Applejack jump slightly. The animals of the forest were wandering back to their homes, the wind had died down, making it not only easier to see, but hear as well. The rustle of bushes every now and then was enough to put the apple farmer on edge. Gabriel just looked through and around the foilage picking up sticks or the occasional dead log if he was lucky.
Applejack was having a hard time trying to spark a conversation with the man. The silence was killing her. The only sounds being the snow crushed underneath her hooves and Gabriel's armoured boots. Gabriel glanced at the ground every few seconds, making sure they didn't stumble upon a specific paw-print in the snow.
"Let us head back, Applejack." Gabriel said finally breaking the long dreaded silence.
"Probably be best, we'll see how Princess Luna and RD are doing with their shelter search." She replied.
It was now late dusk, and the nocturnal creatures were waking up from their day-time slumber.
Gabriel and Applejack made their way back after around half an hour in the sea of pine trees, to see Rainbow and Luna with defeated expressions on their faces. They perked up when they saw Applejack and Gabriel walking towards them, the latter carrying two armfuls of wood.
"We couldn't find any form of shelter out here." Rainbow said with frustration in her voice.
"So we came back and waited here for you, to see if we could use this structure as a source of shelter." Luna added with a wisp of hope.
Gabriel thought about this, as it would make them light up like a beacon of light in the darkness, but also the fact that the structure could collapse at any given time, seeing as it was ready crumble in ruin, but it'll be a roof over their heads during the night. It was a ratio of 1:2.
"Gabriel, it would be easier to set up here, an' judging from the look of it, it'll collapse in around a few days at most." Applejack said, now weighing out his options to 1:1.
Gabriel sighed and spoke. " It's probably for the best." The three mares returned him a smile and Rainbow sighed in relief.
"Let us start the fire." Gabriel said to them as began climbing the steps up to the building. The trio followed up after him.
Gabriel began setting down the wood on the stone surface; he luckily managed to pick up a piece of flint in the forest, making the fire procedure, easier on himself. He used bark off of the dead branches he had collected for makeshift tinder. Taking out his knife, he began to strike at the flint. Sparks bounced off the flint, landing on the tinders. He tried again and again, but the bark would not light.
The mares sat themselves down two or more meters away from him. The princess of the night was watching Gabriel in amusement. She was silently giggling to herself after watching Gabriel fail for the next five or so minutes, but she decided enough was enough and proceeded to go by his side.
"Anything?" Luna asked trying to hide her smirk and stifle her giggle.
"None." Gabriel said gloomily.
"I could cast a spell to start the fire." Her smirk now showing.
Gabriel huffed and turned to face her. "Why didn't you mention it?" he asked with a slight glare.
Luna was unphased by the glare she was receiving and replied simply. "Thou never asked." Luna failed to hide her giggle this time.
Gabriel sighed in defeat and sat down on the cold ground, and proceeded watch her cast the spell. He looked at the fire with a smile of relief plastered on his face.
"Thank you." Gabriel sighed out.
"T'was no problem." Luna replied with a smile in return.
Applejack and Rainbow stopped their talk and looked up at the fire, smiles of gratitude being shown to Gabriel and Luna. They scooted closer to the fire for the extra warmth and sat close around the flame, an awkward silence was now a brewing. Gabriel zoned out while staring into the fire, most likely thinking of his recently deceased wife. Luna was staring off into the sky, star gazing. Applejack was glancing around, waiting for a conversation to light and Rainbow Dash was in imaginary land because of boredom.
"How did you three get here?" Gabriel asked out the blue.
The trio were knocked out of their trances by this sudden question.
"We- I don't know how we got here, but it was definitely magic that brought us." Luna answered. "And from the magical signatures, it was something from this world. Not ours."
Gabriel was trying to wrap his head around that. A magical force was strong enough to summon beings from another realm, he never heard of such power. He sighed, might as well keep this conversation a float.
"What did you do? Before you got here, I mean." Gabriel asked while getting a tad bit closer to the fire, trying to keep the silence at bay.
Applejack was first to answer this, just beating Rainbow by a few milliseconds. "Ah' was working on an apple orchard just off the town of Ponyville-" Gabriel almost snorted in amusement at the ridiculous name. Almost. "- with ma' family." She left it vague, knowing they didn't fully trust each other. Yet.
Dash spoke up next. "I was working on weather duty." She left it at that. Gabriel was wondering what she meant by 'weather duty'.
Luna was last to answer. "We were in the dining hall consuming the breakfast with mine sister." She paused. "Can you tell us a bit about yourself Gabriel?"
Gabriel thought about this. They practically heard the conversation between him and Zobek. Like what they did, he's going to keep it nice and blunt.
"Knight of the Brotherhood of Light, we protect and defend the innocent from supernatural threats." Gabriel answered, looking up at her.
"My wife recently killed by the Dark Lords." Gabriel kept his serious expression. "I am now hunting them down, in the name of vengeance." Gabriel decided to leave it at that and stared off into the cackling flames once again. The ponies eyes widened as he said he was hunting them down, hunting down another being was something punishable by banishment from the land. They held their tongues, not wanting to get on the bad side of their potential ally. Silence took over once again.
It was a few minutes before Gabriel spoke up.
"I'm surprised I made it this far." He said staring off into the fire." I have done..... questionable things... I was depressed. How I have not committed suicide is simple, because it is easy to answer-" The girls looked at him in shock when he mentioned suicide."- I have hope. Hope drives me on-ward. And I have faith. Faith that I will succeed. And return ye home." The mares looked at him expectantly. "The journey will be long and unforgiving. But hope always shines in the darkest of times, if you have that, then you will strive." The girls looked at him with a new sense of respect, Luna especially.
The mares were processing the wise words of Gabriel. 'Have hope and faith and you will strive.' Whilst the man himself was still looking at cackling flame of the fire, thinking.
The night was peaceful, the stars glistening downwards, the new constellations, this was like a playground for Luna. She was looking up at the skies in childlike wonder. She took her gaze off the stars and cast her vision downward. She began investigating the forest from her spot on the ruin. The wind was blowing gently along the pine needles and foilage. Snow lazily drifted down from the moonlit sky and onto the ground. The occasional hoots of owls were heard flying above. There was the sound of barking in the far distance. Which meant wolves were around. This worried Luna.
Something caught her attention. It was red glow off one-hundred meters in the distance, and it was moving closer to their position. Soon, more and more pairs of glowing red orbs started appearing. The barking was also coming from that direction.
"Gabriel?!" She asked in a worried, loud whisper.
"Huh?" Gabriel could not get to sleep even if he tried, there was too much on his mind.
"There is something over in the forest and it's moving towards us!"
Gabriel got up and fast walked over to her position. When he looked in the direction she was facing, what he saw made his blood run cold; several dozen pairs of red eyes getting closer to their area at an alarming rate.
"Get Applejack and Rainbow up. Now." He said hastily yet sternly. Luna did as she was told, seeing as there was no other option because their lives most likely depended on it.
"Huh... What..?" Rainbow asked groggily.
"What's goin' on?" Applejack asked.
"Lycans." He stated; no sooner than those words left his mouth, he was jumped on by one of them. He fell, trying to keep the werewolve from biting into his neck. He was struggling, as it got the element of surprise on him. His struggles were cut short as the lycan was blasted by a bolt of lightning. The lycan spazzed out due to the electrical shocks it was recieving; it collapsed, and ceased to move. Gabriel looked to the left and saw Luna with a horrified (if I put shocked there it would have been a pun, I hate puns.) expression chiseled on her face.
Luna couldn't believe what she did, she had killed a living, breathing creature. She zoned out and thought back to what Gabriel had said. "Creatures with no emotion, bred for a sole purpose, and that is to kill." Luna's face hardened, these creatures do not deserve mercy, not from her anyway.
"Let us fight back these spawns of Tartarus!" she ordered Applejack and Rainbow. They were currently thinking to what Gabriel had told them as well. They put on their battle faces and ran up to aid Gabriel.
Gabriel took out his Combat cross and flicked the chain mechanism on. The howls of the lycans were heard from all around them, there was definitely a few dozen or so here.
He saw the ponies at his side with battle-ready faces.
"Luna, can you illuminate the area around us?!" Gabriel asked, throwing a dagger into a lycan's throat.
"I'll try!" Luna replied. Her horn was glowing as it set off sparks of magic. Soon the whole area was illuminated by a dull light.
Gabriel's heart skipped a beat. There was at least forty or less of these beasts staring right back at them.
"We have to fight: there is no chance we can out run them." He stated.
Gabriel got into his combat stance. He picked up a lycan that got too close for comfort, by the throat, and smashed it face-first into the ground. A sickening crack was heard, making the girls cringe in disgust. The lycan tried to get back up, but Gabriel was having none of that. He stood over the beast and brought his boot down, hard on its head. Blood, skull and grey matter was now splattered against the stone floor. The sight of it made the girls gag; Rainbow's face a light shade of green.
"Have faith." He said, dodging an incoming claw. "And you will succeed." He finished that sentence by grabbing the lycan's arm and snapping it upwards, shattering it. Its howls of pain were cut short as Rainbow quickly flew over and delivered a swift buck to the face, imploding it's skull.
"Have hope." he said preparing to swing the chain of his Combat Cross. "And you will strive." He finished the line by swinging the cross' chain in a full 360 degree turn, giving around ten lycan's deep lacerations in their throats, making them gurgle on their own blood for a few long seconds, dropping dead on the spot.
These words rung once again in the ponies minds. Their faces hardened for the last time that night. There was at least twenty of the malformed wolves left standing.
Applejack turned around and gave a lycan a devastating buck to its shins, breaking them instantly. It immediately collapsed onto the cold, snowy ground. It tried to crawl. Applejack proceeded to knock it out cold with a (hoof?) punch.
Rainbow was flying around one of the beasts, confusing it every so often, when she got the chance, she smashed into the beast's stomach at super-fast speeds, knocking the wind out of it. It was panting heavily, clutching it's stomach, but its eyes still held malicious intent, she grabbed the nearby flint Gabriel used earlier that evening and jabbed it in its eye socket, killing it instantly.
Luna was on her fifth lycan, seeing as she was a magic user; it was nearly a walk in the park. Nearly. She used her telekinesis to pick up her fifth; it was struggling in the air, trying to break free from her spell; no such luck. Luna turned her head to the left and spotted a jagged branch on an old looking tree. She proceeded to impale the lycan in the chest with the branch on said tree; it squirmed for a few seconds before going limp on the branch, now being soaked with its blood.
Luna felt something warm and wet going down her right side, she turned. Time seemed to have slowed down around Luna. A lycan was standing next to her. Her fresh blood on its claws. The lycan swiftly dug its left claw into her hind leg, cutting through her flesh like a hot knife to butter, destroying nerves and tore along the artery vein. She screamed in which was the most physical pain she had ever received. She collapsed onto the frozen earth.
The others immediately noticed this. Gabriel sprinted to her side in a matter of moments, stabbing her would-be killer through the back of the head with his combat cross, scrambling its brain. Luna was now on the ground in a small puddle of her own blood, she had a long cut going along her side and down her leg. Gabriel was near to panicking, he took out the amulet Zobek gave him from his satchel, remembering his words.
'It will heal you and your companions wounds sustained in battle.' He put the medallion around her neck. Gabriel was silently praying to himself. Applejack and Rainbow were defending them from the attacking lycans.
A few moments passed and the amulet began to glow a dark blue color. Gabriel saw her wounds sealing, veins connecting together, flesh joining back, her blood flowing back into her body and her fur regrowing a top the wounds, bringing back her midnight blue color. A few minutes passed before the medallion stopped glowing blue, a sign that she was healed. He took off the amulet and put it back into his pouch.
Luna got up slowly, but surely she was fine.
"How are you doing?" Gabriel asked with concern, the sounds of battle still going on in the background.
"We-I feel like.... I'm five-hundred years younger!" She gave Gabriel a heart-warming hug . "Thank you." Gabriel was taken aback by this, hesitantly he returned the gesture. A moment passed and they broke up the hug.
Gabriel and Luna returned to the battle, to fight off the remaining lycans with Dash and Applejack. There were now five of them left, and they looked like they weren't going to be backing down any time soon. What a stupid mistake that was.
The Princess of the Night used a spell on one of the last remaining lycans, incinerating it in a matter of seconds, leaving it nothing but a pile of ash. Gabriel used his cross' chain to give deep cuts on the bodies of two, making them bleed to death.
The last two lycans looked at each other and growled at their prey, fuming with anger for destroying their pack so easily. They proceeded to flee but that was stopped as Gabriel threw a silver dagger into the skull of one beast, blood gushed out of the wound like a tap. It died instantly. He then used the hook on the end of cross' chain to grab the last one. The hook impaled itself through the lycan's shoulder, torn pieces of flesh and hide hung limply on hook. He dragged it closer, leaving a trail of blood on the ground. He gave it a free stab to the face with the other end of the cross when it got close enough; it lay motionless on the snow. The snow now being dyed a shade of red.
Rainbow saw movement upon the bodies. The lycan Applejack knocked out was crawling away, desperate to live another day. Like that was going to happen.
"Oh no you don't!" Rainbow yelled as she flew over to the creature at supersonic speeds and broke the hell-spawns head against a rock, crushing the skull; it was definitely asleep for good this time.
The mares and the man looked around at the carnage, letting off a few chuckles and then full blown laughter, for escaping death so easily. This carried on for a few more minutes, until it died down to low chuckles.
Gabriel glanced at Applejack and Rainbow, minor cuts and bruises were located around their bodies, nothing too serious.
They made their way back to the structure, lying down amongst the dying embers of the fire. They were all paranoid now. The lycans were only a taste of what this world had to offer. Trying not to think of the other horrors they would have to face.
None of them had any success.
No one slept that night.
Well... everyone except Rainbow... after awhile that is.