They experienced no more trouble after the unexpected wolf attack. The woods were almost pleasant to stroll through, even if the sun had trouble penetrating the overhead canopy at times – but it was, at least, still quite a nice day.
Fluttershy’s new pet wolf wandered lazily at her side, occasionally jetting off to paw at something it had seen in the distance.
She decided to name him - having quickly ascertained his gender - Wilder, after one of the friends she had met in Stormwind City in the Dwarven District. Now tamed, he was happy and playful, a far cry from his behaviour before.
They were back onto the road down from Goldshire after just over an hour, and were happy to discover a sign pointing down a south-west path to the Westbrook Garrison, their destination. They took a break for lunch, clustered around the nearby trees, munching on the cool cheese sandwiches and sweet apples they had been given.
They resumed their journey after a short time, when Twilight judged it to be midday, and started down the road towards the Garrison. The cobbled stone was not all that pleasant to walk over but it was better than the variable ground they would otherwise have to walk across.
“Hey, look! Someone’s coming up the road!” Rainbow suddenly pointed and they all looked ahead, where, indeed, a man had appeared from over the horizon.
“Robbed me for all I’m worth!”
It was obvious that the man was extremely distressed, and in a near-complete state of undress, wearing only a shirt and some undergarments. He was also quite clearly dazed and confused - he nearly walked straight into Pinkie Pie without seeing her.
“Disgusting animals!” the man babbled, too worked up to be able to offer them a coherent response. “The ‘gnoll king’ indeed! I’ll be taking this up with the Stormwind guard! Hogger and his hyena scum will not be allowed to get away with this! They will not have the last laugh!”
“Sir, wait-” Twilight tried, but the man was already staggering along the road, cursing and ranting away as he went, leaving the girls stunned into silence for a moment.
“He was weird.”
“Wonder what he was on ‘bout?”
Twilight looked around, as far out into the forest as she could, but the trees were too thickly packed to give her any insight. The woods were as quiet as ever, the only exception being the rapidly fading buzz of the angry man’s voice.
“Elling warned me about bandits when we left. Maybe he was attacked?”
Fluttershy shivered at the possibility, but Rainbow was unworried. “Chill out, it’s no big deal. They wouldn’t dare attack a big group like ours!”
It wasn’t ironclad logic, but it did make them all feel a little safer.
“Let’s hope you’re right. We’d best keep going.”
---
The road south turned out to be empty, safe and quiet – they saw not a single soul on the way down, and only the occasional deer or wolf through the trees.
At least that was the way it stayed until they came to a small wooden bridge crossing a slow flowing river.
They were about to step across when Wilder tensed up and barked, eyes darting around as he swept his gaze to their right. The reason for his sudden agitation became obvious when two tall figures came sloping out from the shadows at the side of the bridge.
They had brown fur and tiny, angry eyes, powerful-looking teeth and expressions that took cackling to the point of a grimace. They glared angrily at the party as they approached.
And yet…
The creatures were animalistic, sure, but the predator’s cunning in their eyes and the way they held themselves spoke to Twilight of more than just feral intelligence.
“You… on our land! Get out! Leave!” one of them barked, proving her right. They can speak Common! She’d read about the language ubiquitous throughout Azeroth that she and her friends had all suddenly found themselves able to speak – either that or perhaps Common was exactly the same as Equestrian anyway.
Wait… Hyena-like features, aggressive towards those they feel are encroaching on their territory… these must be the gnolls that the man from before was talking about!
Maybe I can reason with them...
She raised her hands up high as a non-threatening gesture and took a slow, conciliatory movement forward, but Rainbow stepped up first.
“Hey, buster! We’re on the road, and last time I checked, the roads are public property!”
Technically Stormwind owns the roads around here. Twilight thought, then focused onto the immediate problem. Rainbow needs to calm down. These gnolls already seem pretty angry. At this rate, they might just attack us!
Indeed, the gnolls were tensing up. Their well-muscled bodies were marred by a crisscross of scars and cuts that had become infected and had never quite healed. Rainbow clapped a second hand onto her hammer threateningly.
“Rainbow, I think we should back off.” Twilight whispered hurriedly, tugging at her friend’s arm. “This could escalate into some serious violence!”
Rainbow looked at her, eyes narrowed, pupils wide from the adrenaline rush she was experiencing from the tense situation.
“So?”
With a bestial roar, the gnolls threw themselves at the group, teeth bared and clawed hands whirling their poorly maintained weapons.
Rarity backed off immediately, hissing something derogatory about the filthy brutes. Rainbow stood her ground in front of Twilight and Pinkie as the gnolls charged, joined shortly after by Applejack, shield to the fore.
Fluttershy screamed, and Wilder, seeing his mistress’s distress, snarled and slunk away into a nearby bush.
The gnolls came in swinging wildly. The first’s mace met Applejack’s shield, while Rainbow blocked the second’s rusty hatchet with the thick pole of her hammer.
Neither of their enemies had the skill of the weapons masters of Stormwind, that was for sure. But it quickly became apparent that what they lacked in finesse, they made up for in sheer brutality.
Even as their weapons were blocked the gnolls continued to attack, snapping for the girl’s throats or trying to claw open their bellies. Rainbow was more than quick enough to avoid the surprise lunge, easily ducking it, and the second’s attack bounced cleanly off Applejack’s chest plate.
Yet still they kept coming, swinging or biting or ripping, all while chittering a high-pitched screech, and it took all the girl’s skill to avoid the pain coming their way.
“Hey!” Rainbow groaned through gritted teeth, engaged in a test of strength having once again locked weapons with her opponent. She looked back at the group as the gnoll slowly started to win. “A little help here, guys?”
Everyone in the rear group was stunned by fear, or paralysed by indecision - except Pinkie, who twirled her way forward and stretched out her hand. “Don’t worry girls! Look what they taught me to do!”
It seemed that nothing had happened, but when the gnoll swung for Rainbow again its weapon went nowhere near her. It collided mid-air with a near-invisible barrier, which shimmered for a moment upon the contact, leaving the gnoll open for Rainbow to beat it away with a heavy swing to the side.
“Pinkie!” Twilight gaped, barely able to form a coherent sentence. “Y-you… you just shielded Rainbow with magic!”
“Yep!” Pinkie beamed. “Neat, huh? And so sparkly!”
While that was going on, Applejack was having problems of her own. Her gnoll was faster than Rainbow’s, and hit harder. She had little opportunity to counterattack as it slowly pushed her back up towards a tree.
Darn it, if this fella keeps forcing me back I’m finished! She thought as she sidestepped another attack. I gotta think o’ something fast!
Help came, however, in the form of Wilder. The wolf picked his moment carefully, leaping out at last to land a powerful bite at the gnoll’s shoulder. Blood sprayed from the wound and the gnoll cried out in pain, immediately shifting its attention away from Applejack to the smaller target.
Big mistake.
She lashed out with a heavy kick to its chest, and then followed up with a strike from the pommel of her sword to its ugly face.
Bruised, bleeding and outnumbered two to one, the gnoll saw sense, yelped and ran away.
“Yeah, tha’s right! You get outta here!” Applejack shouted after it. She nodded to Wilder. “Thanks. Yer not so bad after all.” He barked playfully, and she chuckled.
Rainbow was doing much better against her foe, but it refused to quit. No matter how many times its blows careened off of Rainbow, it stubbornly chose not to learn its lesson, allowing her to score hits with impunity. She smiled, clearly enjoying the fight.
Twilight had had enough of her toying with it.
“That’s enough, Rainbow!” She started forward. “It’s beaten, let’s just go!”
“Coulda fooled me, the way that it’s still swinging!” Rainbow shot back, and then to her surprise the gnoll was very suddenly not where she expected it to be.
It had heard Twilight speak, seen her move away from the protective weight of numbers of the group, and had come to the not very difficult conclusion that she would be an easier target.
Twilight froze as it came at her. She barely heard the shouts and screams of her friends, urging her to get away, as the gnoll closed the final few feet and raised its axe to deliver a blow that would surely end her life…
Then Rainbow appeared out of nowhere, fast as ever. She shoulder-barged the gnoll so hard it was sent sprawling to the floor.
Then, before Twilight could stop her, before she could even beg her to stop, Rainbow brought her hammer down on its filthy skull.
They walked on through the forest, careful now to keep to the road and avoid straying into the trees. Nobody spoke – each of the friends was more than a little unnerved by the little skirmish they had just been through.
“So, the map says we can jus’ keep followin’ the road until we take a right at a sign and go to the garrison, right Twi?” Applejack asked eventually, more to break the silence than anything else. She looked over at Twilight when there was no reply. “Twi?”
“Huh?”
“You okay?”
“Oh, sorry… I’m just a little distracted. Yes, that’s the way we need to go.”
Applejack nodded, and Twilight withdrew into the private war her thoughts were waging inside her head.
Rainbow killed that gnoll. She killed it. It was a living breathing thing, it was clearly sentient, sapient, and she bashed its brains out onto the floor.
She couldn’t look at one of her best friends without feeling a little sick. One of her best friends.
Killings, whether murder or in self-defence, had been rare in Equestria. Even when they had fought villains together as the Elements of Harmony, the intent had been to reform, to deny, or at worst, to contain.
Never like this. Never to kill.
Never such open, gory bloodshed.
Oh, Celestia, has this world already started getting to us?
They came to the sign at last, a clear left turn down a path leading to where they could just about spot a large, blocky stone building through the woods.
The sign should have said “Westbrook Garrison”, but had been smeared over with a gooey brown substance that Twilight didn’t even want to speculate the identity of. Instead, very simply, the sign read “GnOl land”.
So spelling isn’t their strong point. But at least we've made it to our destination!
“Look over there.” Rarity said, pointing into the woods in the direction away from the garrison.
Twilight looked, and could just about see the signs of primitive habitation. Poorly erected tents, barely worthy of being called ‘shelters’. Dim, recently lit fires.
“Wanna bet that’s where all gnolls live?” Rainbow said. Twilight grimaced at the glint of excitement in her friend’s eye.
“Would be surprised if it ain’t.” Applejack agreed.
Rainbow looked up at the sky. “We’ve got a while until the sun sets. Think we should go teach em a lesson? Maybe even find that “Hogger” the guy mentioned?”
The two nodded to each other, and set off, determined, into the treeline.
“Girls!” cried Twilight. “We can’t just—”
Wilder barked enthusiastically and followed them. Fluttershy hurried after him, too concerned about his safety to be worried about the danger.
And then there were three.
“It seems we have no choice.” Rarity said, as Pinkie Pie proceeded to bounce after the others.
Twilight stared at the fashionista, exasperated. “Rarity, not you too?!”
“I’m no more keen about this idea than you are, dear.” she replied. “But we can hardly stop them, and it would be better if we kept an eye on them. Besides, maybe we can talk this “Gnoll King” down?”
The encounter earlier that day didn’t inspire much hope in Twilight about that possibility, but what else could they do? We certainly can’t just let AJ and Rainbow charge in alone…
Sighing, she nodded. “All right. Let’s do this.”
They had the advantage of being in such a big group, six plus a fairly large wolf. A mass attack likely would have given them some trouble, but the gnolls were either not that smart, or each individual gnoll simply did not want to be the one to make the first move. Either way, they passed into the centre of the makeshift encampment unmolested, save for the dark glares and raised hackles of the inhabitants.
The gnoll that got away earlier ran this way. It must have warned all of its friends about us. Twilight realised belatedly. She turned her head back the way they had come, and found it blocked by a few of the gnolls. They weren’t acting aggressively, but the point was clear.
And cut off ahead, too. She could hear the rushing river to the east of them, straight in the direction they were heading, and from its depth earlier she doubted that they could easily cross it, especially while attempting to escape.
There was no way out. They were committed, now.
Applejack had clocked it too. “We gots no trouble with y’all unless ya want to make some.” she shouted to the watching crowd. “We jus’ want to see yer boss.”
“Yeah, get him out here!” Rainbow brandished her hammer again. Twilight couldn’t help but wince every time she did it, couldn’t help but see the image of it descending in her mind’s eye… “Unless he’s too scared to face us!”
More chitters and murmurs, then, suddenly, a sharp bark stunned everyone into silence.
A huge gnoll, taller than any they had yet seen, swaggered out of cover ahead of them. It had the most scars of any of them, and more trophies clattering around its neck than would probably be wise.
It was immediately clear that this was Hogger, and they could tell why the agitated victim had been so distressed.
Talking this through won’t be easy. If only we had the elements of harmony…
“You have one chance.” Hogger spat, throwing down an ultimatum. “Leave my forest now! Or I kill you!”
“Look, uh, Mr. Hogger.” Twilight started, drawing his attention. “My name’s Twilight Sparkle. Nice to meet you! My friends and I were hoping to talk to you today about your actions, and the problems you’ve caused some people in this forest, and whether we could negotiate a way forward that would benefit us all. What do you think?”
He stared incredulously at her for a moment before breaking out into a deep, reverberating laugh.
“You like mocking Hogger?” he snarled as he finished. “Long words… kind words?”
“I’m just saying, there’s no need to go round having your friends attacking people!” Twilight pressed. “We can find a peaceful solution to whatever’s making you do this!”
“You not know what gnoll is? We live to fight! We live to kill! Leave or we kill you, ugly mage!” He spat again, this time directly at her, though it fell well short.
Silence, calm for a moment in the forest. And then…
“All right, that’s enough of the diplomacy!” Rainbow yelled as she barrelled forwards. “No-one insults my friend and gets away with it!”
Rainbow’s haste nearly cost her dearly. She went straight in with a mighty swing to the giant gnoll’s chest, but…
Hogger caught her hammer with a single paw, jarring her arm painfully and catching her completely off-balance. So off-balance that she stood transfixed as his axe descended towards her head…
CLANG
The dirge of the grisly metal weapon bouncing off Applejack’s shield echoed across the forest. Rainbow staggered back, clutching her hammer tightly as Hogger let go, concentrating his might on the new challenger who had just charged in.
“C’mon, you overgrown hyena! Try pickin’ on someone who can take it!” she taunted. Hogger growled and swiped for her throat with his now free hand. She parried the strike with her sword and exerted enough force through her shield to knock his axe away and push him back.
“T-thanks AJ.” Rainbow spluttered as she recovered from the blow that had briefly knocked her senseless,
A furious howl signalled Wilder’s entrance into the combat, having snuck away from Fluttershy early on to flank their foe. He went in low, striking for the gnoll’s leather-protected legs. Hogger yelped in surprise and swung wildly, clattering against Applejack’s unyielding defence.
The vicious gnoll suddenly seemed to realise that three on one wasn't particularly good odds for his survival. “Get them!” he bayed loudly, calling for help from his closest minions.
Three of the braver ones answered his call, bounding towards the fray with guttural war cries.
“We can’t allow them to be boxed in!” Twilight gasped, seeing the danger. “Pinkie, you keep them safe!” She didn’t know how Pinkie’s newfound magic worked, but trusted that she would be able to use it to protect the others somehow.
“On it!” Pinkie bounced up and down and clapped her hands. Another shimmering shield appeared to stave off one of Hogger’s swipes towards Rainbow, although this one dissipated immediately; evidently the gnoll king was much stronger than his subjects.
Twilight looked around for Fluttershy, confused by her friend’s sudden absence from view, then heard a chattering of teeth and whimpering from below. She looked down to find the woman cowering beside her legs. “Fluttershy…”
Her friend shivered, on the verge of tears, and gazed up at Twilight, mortified and overwhelmed at the situation. “I’m s-so s-sorry Twilight… I’m just so… helpless. “
“It’s okay.” the mage comforted her. “Just stay next to me, okay? Rarity, we need to keep those other gnolls off their backs!”
Rarity straightened up and frowned at the oncoming trio. “I am not suited to this combat that Applejack and Rainbow Dash have become so fond of, darling, but leave one of them to me.”
“All right.” Twilight replied, surprised. She had expected having to ask Rarity to stay back, but the fashionista seemed confident that she could be of help.
Wait, where’s she gone? Where Rarity had stood seconds before now only shadows remained. Never mind, I have to help the others! She had to trust that Rarity knew what she was doing.
Looking back at the oncoming gnolls, she picked one out, the closest to the fight, and concentrated. Drawing on arcane energies, she muttered a delicate incantation, one of the first she had learned under Malin’s tutelage. It had quickly become one of her favourites, as it caused no lasting harm.
She finished the spell a heartbeat later and extended a hand out towards the chosen gnoll. Another moment, and it was no longer a gnoll, but a very confused rabbit, hopping along and chewing on the grass.
The second of the creatures made it a few more steps before stopping dead in its tracks, falling to its knees with its head hung. It was alive, but stunned, incapacitated.
Wha-? How did Rarity do that? She saw her purple-haired friend appear momentarily out of the shadows cast by the trees and wink before fading out of sight once more.
Never mind that now. All of her friends’ new abilities were mysteries to be solved another day. There’s still one gnoll to deal with…
But they had taken too long in removing the first two from the fight, and the last was too close now. She desperately ran through the spells she had learned, but few ones could be used without having a negative impact on her friends, too, and those that could…
Malin had said that she possessed a high level of innate magical power – not surprising, really, given her past. She could weave together a bolt of arcane force to assault her foes, much like she had at times in Equestria, but…
She had spent years upon years practicing those spells in Equestria. She wasn’t sure she could regulate this magic, drawn from the ley-lines of Azeroth, in the same way.
Her spells could go beyond hurting and outright kill the creature. But if I do nothing, my friends could be hurt…
She watched Applejack and Rainbow trading blows with Hogger as the last gnoll minion drew within striking distance. It felt like time had slowed down as she hesitated, frozen by her moral dilemma.
Then Applejack solved it for her, though not in a way she liked.
The blonde noticed the smaller gnoll coming for her at the last moment and shifted her stance ever so slightly as she blocked another of Hogger’s wide cleaves. In the same motion, she lashed out with her sword to the side, cutting a deep wound into the other savage’s throat.
And then, without even a pause to contemplate her actions, she threw herself back into the ebb and flow of the combat.
Twilight clapped her hands to her mouth to suppress her gasp at the sight of the body falling to the floor, and choked back some vomit as it quickly bled out from such a grievous wound.
Not again!
Meanwhile, Hogger was slowing, tiring. His experiences of brawling with the other gnolls and denizens of Elwynn Forest had left him a dangerous fighter, to be sure, but he could not penetrate Applejack’s resolute defence; whatever damage he caused, Pinkie Pie simply healed off anyway. Rainbow and Wilder kept up a constant flurry of blows and cuts, bruising and injuring him whenever he let down his guard in an attempt to overwhelm the armoured warrior, backing off whenever he turned his attention to them.
After giving it one last go, battering himself futilely against Applejack’s shield, he decided that discretion was the better part of valour and tried to flee…
…which gave her the opportunity she had been waiting for. She rushed forward, bashing him hard in the back with her heavy shield and sending him stumbling to the floor.
She then raised her sword high above his neck, a surge of adrenaline pumping throughout her body.
“Applejack, no!” Twilight cried, half-begging. “Don’t do it!”
“Hold your blade, adventurer!” A sharp voice cut across the chittering of the nearby gnolls and Twilight’s panicked plea. Applejack wavered mid-strike, bringing her sword safely down to the side of the sprawling gnoll’s head.
Everybody turned to the source of the noise, and the boom of light and sound moments before, to find…
“General Marcus Jonathon!” Twilight gasped, remembering the human knight from their first day in Azeroth, mounted on his horse.
The soldier nodded at the recognition as he rode past, flanked by two men garbed in the purple of Stormwind’s mages – evidently the source of the teleport.
Jonathon came to a halt mere feet away from Hogger, glaring down at the growling ruffian in contempt.
“This beast leads the Riverpaw gnoll gang and may be the key to ending gnoll aggression in Elwynn.” He bent down in the saddle slightly as he addressed Applejack. “To kill him would be a temporary salve for the greater issue, at best.”
Applejack nodded, and sheathed her blade, but Rainbow stepped forward instead.
“He can’t be allowed to get away with what he and his gang have done!” she cried. “That isn’t justice!”
“Quite right.” The general agreed as he straightened up again, gesturing to the mages, who moved forward. “We’re taking him into custody in the name of King Varian Wrynn.”
Hogger let out a low moan. The casters chanted briefly, weaving a web of rainbow energy that solidified into a pair of heavy looking manacles that they manipulated onto his wrists, then used to drag him into a standing position.
Rainbow was satisfied and backed down. “All right.”
Twilight let out a sigh of relief. Finally, a solution that doesn’t involve killing! Somebody understands!
A month, even a day ago, she couldn’t have imagined a possible scenario where she would ever have such a thought. And certainly not where it was her friends doing the killing.
“Your efforts are appreciated, friends.” The general was saying. “You have stopped a great menace to Elwynn Forest this day. I will ensure that the King himself hears of your good deeds.” He turned to one of the mages. "Take us to the Stockades, Andromath.”
The three men and the bound gnoll disappeared in another bright aura of light, leaving the six ladies and the wolf alone in the clearing. There were no more chittering onlookers or keen-eyed opportunists.
They would have no more trouble from the Riverpaw gnolls, and, hopefully, nor would the people of Elwynn Forest.
That was a victory – their first in this world, she supposed. But all Twilight could think about as they trudged across the field to the garrison was that, after the events of the day, she wasn’t so sure she knew two of her best friends anymore.