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// 94 - To Viljatown 
// Story: A Dangerous Sparkle 
// by David Silver 
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Twilight perked her head up when she heard steps coming out of the darkness. A smile split her features when she spied Spike and Soft on the way. "Already done? Why are you still holding your...?"

Spike waved a claw at her, "Nah, we figured we'd eat out here, with our friend." He soon set himself down beside Twilight's reclined form, and Soft joined him.

They resumed eating and chatted idly for a few minutes before Soft pointed at Spike, "Alright, real talk. I don't want to be strung along forever, you know, like... you and Rarity. Are you," she rolled a hand in the air, "interested? Or was there something else behind that hug and I'm way blowing this out of proportion?"

Spike went red, even if it was hard for Soft to see in the dim light. "Oh, well..."

Twilight spoke up, "He is in love with you wildly."

"Twilight!" gasped out Spike, "I thought it was a secret!"

Twilight shook her head, "Oh, Sorry... I mean, I think? It just felt like the right thing to do." She frowned, looking thoughtful.

Soft shuffled a little closer, "Is it true?" She reached for one of his claws, wrapping her fingers around it gently, "Tell me."

Spike swallowed heavily before the faintest of nods escaped from him.

Soft leaned in all the closer. Her breath smelled a bit of clover and mint, "Tell me, with your words."

Spike nodded more firmly and marshaled his courage. "Soft Mane, I really... like you. I'm... willing to give this a chance, a real chance."

Soft knocked Spike over into the dirt as she tackled him and hugged his prone form. She said nothing, but the fierceness of her hug and the few drops of moisture said more than Spike needed to know. He returned her embrace and they hugged together in the dark of the night, with Twilight looking on with a quiet smile.





After the sun had risen, and the plates returned, the party was ready to head out, supplied and rested. Before they departed, they stopped by the merchant's square to pick up some clothes. Soft spoke as they approached, "Nothing at all, or a hat, might be good enough in Equestria, but you'll get more than a few nasty glares if you walk into a city flaunting what you have."

"Ahm not flaunting," said Applejack with a blush.

Despite her objection, it wasn't long before they had Applejack in a reasonably fitting set of explorer's clothes, with a shirt for her front end, pants fit for a pony, and a belt round the middle. They also came with hoof coverings to spare hooves on long journeys from sharp objects.

Rainbow was not spared, corralled into the selection of clothes. She pointed a hoof at Spike, "If I have to wear something, I'll wear that. That looks like it's made for kicking tail in." Her wish was soon granted as they found something about her size. Neither outfit was perfect, being bought 'off the rack', but they were good enough to not get in the way and provide modesty to the two mares.

The trade road was as easy to find as promised, a twin set of lines heading away from the town with many other paw and hoof prints all along. They made good time, hiking through the wilderness, until an arrow went flying through Twilight's head to crash against a rock behind her.

"Ow!" yelped Twilight in surprise, a hoof quickly raising to rub her sore noggin, "That hurt!"

"How does an arrow go hurtin' a ghost?" asked Applejack even as she spun in place, looking for the source of the projectile.

"I got this!" cried Rainbow just before she took off into the underbrush, and the sounds of a struggle became clear. Applejack quickly ejected Soft Mane to her feet then galloped off after Rainbow. 

A fresh wave of arrows began to rain down from the direction Rainbow had fled. Each individual arrow was actually relatively small, but this didn't erase the pain of them jabbing into Applejack's barrel and withers. One shattered on Soft Mane's stout armor as several failed to find purchase on Spike's toughened scales. Spike threw himself on Soft, covering her with himself and throwing her prone.

Twilight gave an otherworldly snarl before she zipped into the fray, phasing through the brush like it wasn't there to reveal Rainbow in heated combat with about a dozen small green humanoids with equally small weapons. They had Rainbow surrounded and were inflicting scores of tiny bludgeons with their little maces. She lashed out at them, but they were working as a team, keeping her strikes confused and off mark. "Stay still why doncha!" complained Rainbow as she struggled.

Applejack arrived at the rumble and spun around in place. With a sharp flick of her powerful hindlegs, she sent one of the varmints flying several feet away in a pile, "That's what ya get for messing with ma friends!"

Twilight seethed with fury. With an angry toss of her head, four of the attackers were flung violently against nearby trees, knocking the wind from them, "Get away from my friends!"

The next volley of arrows erupted from overhead, where apparently more of the humanoids lurked with bows. They focused fire on Twilight, and most of the arrows passed through her harmlessly, but then there was that one that made her flinch, bringing her attention to the canopy.

Spike came in with his supernatural speed, crashing into one of the small assailants harassing Rainbow Dash and driving a claw through its midsection entirely. "Focus on one at a time! They're trying to confuse you."

"Yea, one at a time," said Rainbow Dash, picking one from the crowd and coming down on it with both forehooves. It crumpled beneath her satisfyingly and she laughed, "Yea!"

Applejack was a more methodic warrior, lashing out at one at a time from the start and doing a fair job of removing one with every double hoofed power buck she pulled off. "They're more intimidatin' than effective when ya get down ta it."

Arrows rained down in a volley. Instead of focusing on Twilight, they rained on the melee combatants, several finding their marks in Rainbow and Applejack's hides as they grunted in pain. Twilight was beyond incensed, and it showed in her form as it deformed with her fury into a hollow mockery of her normally soft and smiling self. She propelled herself upwards into that canopy high above the others while shouting, "Get away from them!" The shout chilled the archers to their little bones and they began to flee in a panic in all directions. A few held their positions, either too brave or too stupid to flee the enraged ghost.

They fired at Twilight, causing that flinch of pain in her. She raised a hoof and the canopy lit up with a powerful line of electricity that caught one of the archers firing at her and several others that were fleeing away. "You had your chance. Now, you die," she announced coldly as their lifeless bodies fell to the ground from the treetops.

"Watch this," declared Rainbow as she lashed out with each hoof, catching and breaking one of her little attackers with every swing but the last, "Shoot. Three out of four aint bad."

"Reckon it ain't," agreed Applejack as she crushed the missed one, "That's the last of 'em down here." She turned her gaze upwards, where flashes of deadly magic could be seen through the leaves, "Twi's really going at it."

Soft Mane had caught up with the others. Her soothing touches and prayers did much to ease the stinging wounds. A few of the arrows were pushed out by the magic, to fall to the ground harmlessly. Though there were still aches and soreness to go around, none were bleeding.

Spike had scarcely taken a few scratches and flew straight up to assist Twilight. When he arrived, he saw that most of the small creatures were dead, and Twilight was chasing the last one through the branches. "Uh, Twi? I think it's done fighting."

Twilight pounced on the last one, smothering it in her hateful form. Its little squeal quickly weakened before it fell to the ground, a withered husk. Twilight seemed to heave in place, looking around for more of them to destroy before she finally took notice of Spike. "Spike? Are they all gone?"

Spike nodded, "They're all... gone, you can relax, Twilight. Everyone's OK."

Twilight began to return to her usual visage, smiling, "Oh, that's good." She drifted down towards the others as if nothing had happened. Spike was slower to follow, looking quite uncertain. Below, Soft Mane was wandering around, picking up some of the weapons. Two of the little maces and one of the bows caught her eye and she brought them to Applejack, stuffing them in her saddlebags.

"What's so special 'bout these?" asked Applejack, "Why not take all of 'em?"

"One," said Soft Mane, "They'd get too heavy. Two, those are the ones that are magic."

"Ah ha!" exclaimed Twilight, "No wonder they hurt. Magic weapons can hurt ghosts, a little."

Soft Mane nodded in agreement, "Check them for coins everyone."

Rainbow and Applejack were not eager to rifle through the corpses, but Spike and Soft made quick work of it. Twilight could do little but flip them upside down and shake, hoping coins would fall out. In the end they had a collection of small gems, a pile of copper coins, and a handful of silver coins. Soft instructed, "The weapons will make this detour worthwhile. Magic weapons are worth a lot, even little ones."

They returned to the road and resumed their journey towards the capital. Rainbow soared along over the others, alongside Spike, "So, is that how things go all the time?"

Soft shrugged, "Goblins? Sometimes. They like ambushing travelers. At least it wasn't a whole gnoll pack, or an orc war party."

Spike made a face of distaste, "Ugh. That's what we ran into when we first came here, Twilight and I. A bunch of ugly orcs. I wasn't so good at fighting like a dragon and they caught us both after a good tail whooping."

Applejack looked up towards Spike as she trotted, "So what'd you do 'bout that?"

Spike snorted, "Me? Not much. This nice pony showed up and bought us both from the orcs and took us to a big city called Kadiston. That's where we learned how to fight."

Rainbow snorted and began to laugh, "He bought you? You belonged to him? Does he still own you?"

Twilight shook her head, "He released us as soon as we reached the guild. He was a stallion of his word, and we owe a lot to him."

The tales of their exploits continued to be shared as they hiked through the grass lands. It was several days journey, as promised, but they were not subjected to a second ambush. It gave plenty of time to catch up the girls on what had happened during their last visit, and to give some advice on dealing with Everglow. When Viljatown came into view, it was late afternoon. They picked up their pace into a hustle, eager to return to civilization.

As they approached the gate, a mare in armor approached them, a long sword strapped to her side and wearing the crest of Queen Iliana on her chest.