Midnight's Shadow

by Ponibius

Midnight Begins: Chapter 11

We left Apple Butter’s corpse for the ravens. There was no time to deal her body in one fashion or another. Besides, it struck me as appropriate to let the unkindness have their reward for helping us win the battle.

The four of us took Carrot Root to Red Steel's home. We tied him to the bed to ensure that he would not be taken by the fog if he woke up while it was still in effect, though we left the knots tied in such a manner that he could untie himself if he still had power over his own faculties. That would give Root at least a remote chance of survival if we did not return. 'Twas not ideal, but 'twas the best we could do with what we had available. 'Twas possible we were all going to our doom, but everypony with me had chosen to see this affair to its end.

Red Steel had been busy with unloading her cart of her blacksmith goods ere she dragged it towards me. "Hop on in," she instructed with a jerk of her head. "Take the opportunity to rest while we are walking."

"I can still walk," I informed her. "Dragging along a cart will only exhaust thee and create more noise."

Red Steel grunted in disapproval. "You say you can walk now, but what I see before me is a mare who can barely even stand, much less hike up mountain trails."

I was about to protest when Gale placed a hoof on my shoulder. "She is right, Midnight. 'Tis clear that thy trials have exhausted thee. A bit of rest would do thee some good."

"And what about the rest of you?" I looked around at my companions. Gale and Stalwart's armor had been dented and dirtied from the battles of the last couple of days, and neither of them looked much better than their armor. Dried blood still matted the fur on Stalwart's brow, and Gale walked with a slight limp, though I could not glean its nature.

Red Steel looked the worst of us. While the graver injuries the mob had given her had been treated, her swollen face and the bandages that adorned her did not inspire confidence for her condition. While she bore her injuries with admirable grace, she must have been fighting through pain to keep going.

"I have suffered from worse and have training to continue despite such things," Stalwart assured me. "And 'twould be best if Gale and I remained awake to scout ahead of the cart to watch you and the militia captain."

Gale examined the straps on her shin guards and took a moment to tighten her laces. "Aye, and I would feel much better if our magus was rested enough to confront the warlocks ahead of us. Facing practitioners of the dark arts is far easier when one has magic readily available to counter it, and while a trained warrior can often summon their reserves of strength when battle is joined, I have found the constitution of the magi to be more brittle in comparison. Especially when they need to draw upon their magics."

I bit down on my lip as I considered my options. They did have a point. In truth, I could not remember the last time I had felt so exhausted. Likely 'twas stubbornness alone that kept me on my hooves at this point, for I was not used to the types and scale of the trials I had gone through. I did not like the idea of being a burden on my companions, literally in this case, but 'twould be far worse if I were so exhausted when we met the hags in battle that I could not even cast a spell.

"Very well then," I said with a sigh. "I concede your points."

Red grabbed a bale of hay by the side of her house and spread it along the surface of the cart. She grinned as she patted the cart invitingly to me. "There, something for milady to sleep on."

I could tell she was trying to bait me. The ponies of Canterlot did have a rather infamous reputation for our love of comforts, though I did not see why such things should be frowned upon. I knew I missed my soft bed with its silk sheets back at my mother's tower and saw nothing wrong with that. I could never quite understand why some considered living in discomfort to be some great and noble virtue.

Still, I did not raise to Red's bait, but instead pulled myself into the cart with dignity. While I did not like the feeling of straw upon my coat, I endured it as best I could. "My thanks for thy consideration, Captain."

"You are welcome." Red Steel rolled her eyes, no doubt disappointed I had pre-empted her fun, and proceeded to tie herself to the cart.

I felt as though I should say more, mayhaps something to irk Red in return for trying to tease me, but my mind felt as though it were trying to wade through mud. I gave up my attempt at a witty response and instead put my saddlebags down on the cart and laid my head upon them.

Red pulled the cart along, with Gale and Stalwart flanking her as we headed deeper into the fog. They had ensured me on the way to Red's home that they could easily enough follow the trail left by the townsfolk. That was easy enough to believe, considering we were talking about many scores of ponies all shambling in one general direction and making no efforts to hide their tracks. No matter how powerful a spell or ritual might be, they always had their weaknesses, even if they were not always readily apparent. I doubt Grandmother Carrot had put much thought into the fact that we could follow the trail of her victims to find the source of her ritual, but such oversights had led to the fall of more than one warlock.

I closed my eyes to try and get what rest I could. I had to wonder if this would be the last moment of respite I would ever have ere my final and eternal rest. It was a sobering thought. 'Twas quite possible I was living my final hours and I was using them up trying to sleep on the hard wood of the cart with only a thin layer of straw covering it, and occasionally jostled whenever the cart hit a hump on the trail. I could not recall many times where old tales of honor and valor ever mentioned such thing, though I suppose recounting the times where the hero of the story needed to sleep or relieve themselves was not particularly riveting. (1)

1. Though this does not seem to keep Midnight from doing just that in this instance.

Despite my weariness, I found it difficult to fall asleep. The regular jostles of the cart and uncomfortable bedding made the experience miserable for me. I had heard that a proper soldier could find sleep whenever and wherever given the opportunity, but I was no soldier and my rest was less than what I would have hoped for.

I awoke with a start, but found my movements restricted somehow. I blinked as I tried to get the fuzziness out of them and wondered for a moment where I was. My throat felt painfully dry, my head throbbed, and my body ached from where it lied on the cart.

"What is—" I was cut off by a hoof covering my muzzle, something that stung far more than it should have.

Ere I could puzzle out what was happening, I heard Gale quietly shush me and slowly removed her hoof from my mouth. She leaned in and spoke softly into my ear. "We think we are drawing close to our quarry. We have spotted what we believe to be patrols of more of those trees creatures, so 'tis time to abandon the cart. If thou dost understand, nod thy head."

I nodded and tried to move but found I had been tied down to the cart. I gave Gale a questioning look.

"Thou wert influenced by the fog," she said softly. "Without warning, thou rose and fell off the cart. We were worried when thou landedst on thy face."

That would explain why my muzzle still stung. I supposed I should be thankful that was the worst of it.

Gale went about untying me. "We have had to watch one another. This fog is a subtle thing, and we must be vigilant against it.”

My freedom restored, I slid off the back of the cart with slow, deliberate movements and tried to ignore how my legs groaned with fatigue. To my woes, however long I had rested had only served to remind me of just how tired I was. All I saw was more of the fog, so 'twas nearly impossible to tell exactly what time it was. Though in the end it mattered little. What mattered was saving the ponies of Appleton.

Red Steel gave me a curt nod when she saw that I was up. She had already unhitched herself from the cart and looked ready to go. No doubt she was all too aware of what was at risk this night. I could only imagine what my own response would have been had Canterlot faced the threat looming over Appleton. Likely I would seek a terrible vengeance upon any who would dare such a thing. Of course, that was more or less what I intended to do in Appleton anyway.

Still, I could not let my thoughts become too distracted from our immediate concerns. Instead, I concentrated on more practical matters. I stifled a cough and cleared my throat ere asking, “How many of the trees are there? Do you know?”

If I had to guess, I would say they were probably some corrupted form of treant. They usually came to be either naturally due to growing in an area with much magic, or by direct intervention by a practitioner of the magical arts. They met the descriptions of what I had read in my books. Regretfully, I could not consult my books directly, so I could only guess for the moment.

“More than I would like to fight.” Stalwart pulled his head away from the bushes to look at me. “We have spotted at least half a dozen of the creatures. While not all of them are as large as the previous two we defeated, I do not like the idea of wasting our strength with such battles. Not when we have multiple warlocks to battle at the end of our path.”

Red Steel crossed her forelegs over her chest. “Mayhaps we could sneak past them?” I could sense from her tone that she still had plenty of fight in her, but even she was not overly eager to face one of those creatures again. It turns out fighting trees was rather difficult once they started moving and actively tried to kill you.

"We could try,” Stalwart said softly. “But ‘tis risky, for we do not know how those creatures can sense us.” He looked to me with a questioning glance. “Does her ladyship know?"

I considered the question. "'Tis difficult to say," I admitted. "It depend exactly what type of construct the hags made. They do not possess eyes, but they clearly have some means by which to find us in order to slay us. They must use more than some sort of tracking spell or direct instructions from the hags if they feel confident in using their creations for patrols." I shook my head. "I fear sneaking by them would be dangerous. Likely our own senses would be more hampered by the fog than whatever the tree constructs are using."

"Is there any spell thou couldst use to aid us?" Gale asked.

"Aye, I think one of my veils should be equal to the task." I took a drink from my canteen to give some relief to my sore throat. "I can cover all the senses they are likely to use. Unless they have been built to detect unicorn magic, we should be able to slip right by them."

Red Steel frowned. "How likely are they to be built to sense unicorn magic? While battle is inevitable, I would prefer to save my hammer and strength for Grandmother Carrot and her ilk."

"I think it unlikely," I said. "Doing so would be a significant investment in strength and resources. Every sense given to them will restrict what other strengths they could possess. Nothing in magic comes for free.” I rubbed my chin as I thought the matter over. “Furthermore, the warlocks would consider their main enemies to be their fellow villagers, earth ponies mainly, and maybe the odd Guard patrol. Grandmother Carrot had not planned for a magus to interfere with her plans, so I declare that my veil is likely our safest course to get past the patrols."

The others looked to one another and nodded. "Then our course is set," Gale said. "Thou wilt be able to maintain the veil long enough to cover all of us?"

I took a moment to gauge how much my magic had recovered. 'Twas not as much as I would have liked, but I was certain I could cast spells without losing consciousness at this point. "Aye, I think I can manage as long as I do not have to maintain it too long. Are we close to our destination?"

"Tis difficult to say, exactly," Stalwart informed me. “The tracks of the ponies drawn by the fog have been converging for a time and most now follow the same path up the mountain."

While I could not see far into the fog, I did take note of the animal trail that we must have been using to get up the mountain. It seemed large for an animal trail, and I wondered if that was due to the hags' influence. 'Twas likely that they needed to drag supplies up here to do their evil works.

I wondered how difficult it had been for Red Steel to pull her wagon with me inside it—and for that matter, how tired I had been when I had not been woken by the shakes from the trail, though it mattered little now that we were abandoning the wagon. At least as long as Red Steel was still strong enough to continue forward.

"Then we shall go onwards if everypony is ready." I waved for everypony to come closer. "Gather around me and be sure to stay near. If you stray too far I will not be able to keep you under the veil. I would prefer to not have to make the decision of having to save one of you from the trees and risking our quest coming to a premature end as we are o'erwhelmed and slain, or leaving you to be squashed into the dirt and your blood and organs squeezed from your bodies by our foes while the rest of us watch on." I gave them all a flat look. "I think either of those things would be bad, so let us not allow that happen."

Once everypony scooted a little closer to me, I cast the spell. The air around us shimmered for a moment until the veil settled over us, rendering us invisible to most conventional senses. While some would balk at using the amount of magic necessary to block taste, there were a number of animals that hunted through such senses, and I preferred not to take the chance that the blighted trees were drawn to us by some queer means. At least for myself, preserving my own life tended to make me more paranoid. Then again, I suppose 'twas not truly paranoia when there were in fact creatures actively trying to kill me.

We continued up the mountain trail. As I had been warned, there were indeed more of the blighted trees patrolling the path. The creaking of the moving wood and the loud thumps of their footfalls reverberated along the mountainside. How many of the creatures had Grandmother Carrot and her coven made? It could not have been a small commitment of time and resources to have made all of them, even if they only had to be powered for a short period of time to allow them to complete their ritual. While none of them were as large as the ones that had attacked us thus far, even the smallest of their numbers would have weighed as much as any three ponies combined, and as the Sergeant had shared, it sounded as though there were at least half a dozen making their way through the woods. I could only imagine there were more on the mountain somewhere.

Seeing no better path, I lead us down the trail near where a pair of them stood watch. Red Steel eyed the trees as we drew near, and Gale's wings twitched nervously. They must have been growing wary over the predicament. After all, they could not sense the magic that kept us invisible like I could. They were going under the premise that I was promising that it was going to be fine for us to walk around the creatures that had previously attempted to slay us two times already.

Still, they silently kept pace with me as we trotted past the patrol. I could feel the stress in my companions release once we were in the clear of our immediate enemies and their composure became more relaxed.

I sustained the veil, and we continued along the trail. Stalwart and Gale periodically confirmed with me that many of the ponies of Appleton had come this way recently. We could hear more of the blighted trees in the distance, but due to the fog and darkness we never caught sight of them. Even with the darkvision spell I was using, I could not see too far due the vegetation that covered the mountain side.

The pain in my injured knee seemed to increase with every few steps as we ascended the trail. It was not long before my limp prompted Gale step besides me.

"Come, Midnight. Lean on me,” she invited, wrapping a wing around me.

"My thanks, Gale." I leaned against her and it felt good to be able to take the weight off my knee. Though I had to worry about what would become of me should I need to flee. It seemed that I personally would only have the option to hide or fight in the event we were confronted. My sickness was not helping matters either.

Eventually, the slope of the trail levelled and we reached a plateau on the side of the mountain. Besides the hags' free constructs, we had seen nopony else on the trail. Though the mind fog had muddled the villagers' senses, it seems it had not impaired their ability to reach their destination. It also meant that we probably did not have much time to stop the hags. If they had all their victims gathered, then it was only a matter of time until Grandmother Carrot sacrificed them for whatever evil ends she had in mind.

Red Steel pointed further up the mountain side "I see a light."

I peered ahead and saw a green glow seeping through the forest. "Then let us see what is before us. Though be cautious; every step brings us closer to our quarry."

We proceeded carefully as the vegetation gradually became less dense. ‘Twas there that a structure came to rise out of the forest. It appeared to be some old, decrepit fort that time had forgotten. Its walls were badly crumbled and were overrun with vines and weeds. A massive tree had even come to grow out of the central building that dominated the fort. It must have dated at least back to the time of the Great Migration, if not before. (2)

2. Looking over the records, this structure seems to be one of the forts built on Equestria’s frontier by the earth pony government. Due to the ring of forts being extremely expensive to maintain and garrison and the fact that they proved insufficient defense against threats such as gryphon reivers, most were abandoned in favor of fortifications closer to more densely populated regions.

The fort felt strangely familiar. It took me a few moments to realize I had seen its counterpart in the fog of the Dreamscape when I had attempted to disrupt the ritual there.

About the fort grounds,the ponies of Appleton lie motionless upon the ground. Each of them were covered in bramble vines that extended from the fort, as though it were some great web.

“What is this?” Red Steel asked in a harsh whisper.

I leaned down and examined one of the enwrapped ponies. “No doubt a part of the hags’ ritual.” After a few moments of study, I found at least some of the answers I sought. “They are being kept asleep by the magic created by these vines. In fact, they are draining their victims of their very life force in order to power the ritual.”

Gale turned her head to look about the clearing. “So they are in danger?”

“Aye, or at least they will be shortly.” I followed the leylines of the vines and confirmed that they lead into the fortress. “As of right now, the toll of maintaining the ritual is not life threatening, but likely ‘tis only intended to keep these ponies passive. When the time comes, these ponies will probably have their lives snuffed out.”

“To what end?” asked Stalwart.

“I am not sure yet.” I followed the leylines of magical energies as far as I could, but my magical senses could not reach the final destination. “I am certain ‘tis to fuel something, but what I cannot determine. Not until I discover where the life force of these ponies will end up.”

“We need to stop Grandmother Carrot ere that happens,” Red Steel said firmly. “There is no time to waste.”

Gale nodded. “I agree. The sooner we move, the better.”

I stood from the pony I had been examining. “Aye, we should—” I was cut off when my veil suddenly dissipated. My heart sank at the sudden loss of my spell. I had not ceased the casting myself and had plenty of magic to keep fueling it.

“There you all are,” called out a familiar voice. Outside the main gate of the fort stood Carrot Juice. She gave us a nasty grin. “Ah was wondering when you lot would show up. Grandmother said you would try and use some sort of veil to sneak up on us.”

I realized that it had probably not been my wisest move to say that I was capable of using veils before everypony in Appleton. Knowing that, it had been advisable on the hags’ part to make precautions against me using veils to ambush them. Veils and illusions were very useful spells, but much less so when an opponent knew they were coming. The hags must have set up some sort of counter to my veil. Not a promising start to our final assault.

Red Steel dug her hooves into the dirt and looked as though she were going to charge at Carrot Juice. “So you were working with Grandmother Carrot all along?”

“For many years now, aye,” Carrot Juice confirmed. “Not that it will matter once we are done with our work.” She hummed dissatisfactory to herself. “Figures Butter did not have it in her to kill you.”

“Not for a lack of trying,” I replied back to her. While Carrot Juice had caught us by surprise, I was not about to let her see that I was perturbed by her revealing us. “She is feeding the ravens, by the way. In case I was not clear enough that she is dead.”

Carrot Juice frowned. “Ah gathered as much. Butter always was an idiot. ‘Tis probably for the best that she is dead now, since it saves me the trouble of putting her down like a rabid dog." She spat on the ground. "Though Grandmother should have sent me to finish the job where all of you were concerned. If she had, we would not be having this conversation.”

I nodded in agreement. “Of course not. Then thou wouldst be dead. As thou wilt be soon if thou dost not step out of our way.” I stood up straighter. “Run away, Juice. Flee now, and ‘twill be most difficult for me to ever find thee. ‘Tis thy grandmother and the ritual I am most concerned by.”

It would be to our advantage if Carrot Juice fled now. While I had no intention of letting her run forever, my priorities lay with preventing the ritual from slaying the ponies of Appleton and stopping Grandmother Carrot. Such a task would be made easier if Carrot Juice were not a factor in the battle during the critical juncture.

The hag scowled at me. “Ah do not think so.”

“Thou art outnumbered, Juice,” Red called out. "Thou cannot hope to stand against all of us."

"Neigh, but Ah need not do so." Carrot Juice waved a hoof towards the forest, and I felt her magic flow forth.

From the trees came a great commotion of creaking and breaking wood. She must have summoned all the blighted trees to converge on us now that we had been revealed. That was troubling news; while the blighted trees were not overly fast, 'twould not be long before the nearer patrols were upon us. We would have to break past Carrot Juice quickly or risk being taken from the rear.

"Ah only have to hold you down long enough for them to crush you.” She let out a harsh, unpleasant chuckle. “Butter was but a novice in spellcraft. Ah, on the other hoof, have perfected mine. Ah am the equal to any of your magi. Especially the sorry looking creature you have brought with you." I felt her draw upon her magic, a corrupt and sickening well of power that sent my senses on edge. "This farce ends here, fools."

Then a crossbow bolt shot out from the fog and smote Carrot Juice on the side of her head. She went sprawling down into the dirt, seeming quite dead from the massive brain trauma of having a two foot length of sharpened steel rammed through her skull.

It occurred so suddenly that it took me a moment to realize what had happened. I look to where the crossbow bolt had come from and saw a veil shimmer and then fade out of existence. To my surprise, Subtle Song and Silent Forest now stood in front of us.

Subtle Song flashed us a confident grin. "Greetings everypony, I trust that our surprise was to everypony's satisfaction?" She looked down at Carrot Juice with an amused smirk. “I think she got the point.”

“Being dead makes it difficult to learn,” I pointed out.

Subtle Song quirked one of her eyebrows. “Er, right...”

“She is dead, aye?” I asked.  “Not merely terribly wounded? I do not wish for her to suddenly hop back to her hooves and disembowel me from behind. I hate being sloppy about such things.”

Stalwart trotted up to Carrot Juice, and with a swipe of his wingblade sent her head rolling from her body. As was the case with Butter, the glamour she used to hide her true nature ended with her life. “Aye, she is dead.”

I nodded to him. “My thanks for confirming that, Sergeant.” While it was a remote possibility Carrot Juice had survived the crossbow bolt, she was highly unlikely to have survived decapitation as well.

Gale stepped forward to place herself between me and the bard. “And where hast thou been? Last we saw of thee, thou wert with the ponies of the mayor’s household. What became of them?”

Despite Subtle Song and Silent Forest saving us the trouble of fighting Carrot Juice, it seemed that Gale was still did not trust the mare. Though I had to admit that she brought up an important question.

Subtle Song shrugged. “When we fled the farm, we went up into the mountains to hide. ‘Twas our plan to stay there for the night until matters had settled down in Appleton. But then that fog came. I barely had time to draw a circle ere it fell upon us.”

“Then how did you find your way here?” Gale asked, none of the suspicion leaving her tone. “We were only able to move about the fog with the aid of Midnight’s magic.”

“The fog was not as strong in the mountains.” Subtle Song let out an exasperated sigh. “We waited until its magic weakened ere escorting everypony further up the mountain and beyond the range of the fog. By then ‘twas safe enough for us to traverse the fog and do what we could to help.” She patted Silent Forest’s back. “Silent here was able to track where everypony was going. Probably the same way you found your way here.”

Silent Forest finished reloading his crossbow and nodded in agreement. For her part, Gale frowned, and I could see the wheels turning in her head. No doubt she was thinking of any problems with Subtle’s story. “So what, didst thou only arrive just now to just happen to save us at an opportune time? For all we know, you two are working with the hags and were merely eliminating some of your competition within their ranks. They have clearly shown little loyalty to one another.”

Subtle Song snorted. “If ‘twas my goal to aid the warlocks while betraying Juice, then ‘twould have been wiser of me to allow you to battle her. At the very least you would all be weakened by the fight, and make it easier for me to wipe out whoever survived the encounter. Not to mention I think ‘twould be far easier to kill Juice with one of Silent’s cold iron bolts than to fight all of you. ‘Tis simple math.”

“Then how didst thou maintain thine own veil while Midnight’s had been defeated?” Gale shot back. “Unless thou art arguing that the timing of your arrival was perfect. Something that is suspect.”

Subtle Song shook her head. “Neigh, I daresay that we arrived before you. I was inclined to go ahead and investigate the fort and the ponies lying about around it, but as Silent Forest pointed out, such would be perfect bait for anypony seeking the warlocks.”

Silent Forest nodded in agreement.

“So we took some time to look the area over and noticed that the area had been warded with a spell to detect anypony that drew too close and to disrupt veils.” Subtle Song smiled, clearly pleased with herself and her compatriot. “We were in the middle of trying to find a way around the ward when all of you came waltzing up to the fort and set off the ward. That being the case, we decided to use the lot of you as bait and ambush the ambusher.” She grinned. “A pony setting an ambush rarely expects to be ambushed themselves.”

That all struck me as a logical course of events. It irked me that I had been outdone by some traveling bard. I should have been more cautious about being attacked, but my wits had begun to erode from being on edge for so long. ‘Twas impossible to remain completely vigilant forever. Eventually one’s energy would be sapped and weaknesses opened in one’s defense.

Gale opened her mouth to protest, but I cut her off by raising a hoof. “That is enough, Gale. I believe she and Silent Forest are with us on our quest. If she were trying to sabotage us, she had better options available to her than she took just now.”

There was a loud crash of wood as a patrol of the blighted trees smashed through the tree line. It seemed that the death of Juice had done nothing to counteract their last order to return to the fort. That meant our time to do our work was limited.

“Come, we need to find the hags and end this before they can complete their ritual,” I bade.

“‘Tis past time.” Red ran towards the main gate of the fort. Seeing a danger, I bit down on her tail ere she could get to the gate. She dragged me along for a few steps before she stopped to shoot me a scowl. "What are you doing? There is no time to waste.”

I let go of her tail and trotted to the gate. “To waste, neigh. But the gate may be trapped.” I was overcome by a nasty cough that made it feel like a cheese grater had been scraped against my throat before I was able to continue. "‘Tis common for a warlock to ward such a door to stop trespassers."

Many magi did the very same, for that matter. Mother had any number of nasty wards on her tower—wards that I had also contributed to once I had learned the craft. They had been tested a hooffull of times over the years, and it had always been irritating to clean up what remained of the would-be intruders. Being the target of such wards was not something I wished to experience myself.

"Canst thou deal with any defenses?" Gale glanced back at the slowly approaching blighted trees. "Preferably sooner rather than later."

"I need a moment to see." Extending my magical senses, I felt around the gate. It did not take me long to feel a magical aura draped over the entrance like a molding blanket. After a moment of study, I determined that the ward had been finely crafted. The fibers of the spell were tightly interwoven to inflict a number of nasty effects on anyone foolish enough to simply try and batter the gate down.

"It is indeed warded," I warned the others.

"Can you disable them?" asked Subtle. "Because we're going to have a fight here very quickly if you cannot."

I could hear the patrol coming nearer behind me. While we might have been able to fight one patrol and come out victorious, the effort would sap our strength, and then there would be more behind them. Neigh, our best chance of survival was getting inside. Killing the hags might very well disable the tree constructs, and at the very least we stood a better chance of defending ourselves within the confined spaces of the fort. The trees would have trouble moving inside, and we would be all the closer to our true enemies and stopping the ritual.

That brought me to the question of disabling the ward. I did not doubt I could do so relatively safely given enough time. While the ward was indeed a finely crafted bit of magic, I could see the marks of an individual who, while talented and having spent no small amount of effort building the ward, lacked for a proper education in the magic arts. The ward was too structured and neat in its building. Its parts were only placed on top of one another instead of interwoven to make it difficult to safely disassemble. Clearly the work of an individual who had no experience dealing with trained spellcasters. All it would take to destroy the ward would be to take it apart piece by piece.

Shame that there was not the time necessary to do that safely. Thus, I would have to use the brute force method if we were to survive.

Bracing myself for what I was about to do, I reaching out with my magic to grasp onto the ward. A mental jolt of pain shot through my horn and down through the rest of my body as the ward fought against my hold. Despite the pain, I held on and pulled on the magical fabric. The ward ripped apart like an old and worn quilt, and the magical energies of the defensive matrix went wild and I grasped at them to keep them contained. My efforts caused the malevolent energies to lash out at me. They coursed through my body, overloading my senses with pain.  My body went rigid as the backlash washed over me. It felt as though I was going to be destroyed as the power and pain seemed too much for me to bear.

Then the ward’s energies dissipated. My senses faltered a moment, and I awoke to Gale lifting me onto her back. “Stalwart, the door!”

Understanding Gale’s intent, Stalwart bucked the gate. The rotting wood gave way, and the door slammed open.

Gale waved for everypony to enter. “Hurry in and barricade the door!”

Not particularly eager to face the blighted trees, everypony rushed into the fort. Gale carried me in, allowing me to get a look into the interior of the fort. The large atrium showed the same wear of time that the exterior had. The walls were badly cracked, and vegetation and moss had both overgrown sections of the wall and grown through the cobblestone floors. The hooffull of furnishings in the room looked poorly used. It seemed that the hags had not taken much effort to maintain their hideout. The only real decorations the warlocks had seemed to add were a series of small clay gargoyles placed in nooks around the ceiling about the room.

Stalwart and Silent quickly pushed an old, decrepit weapons rack against the doors. Though I had to wonder how long that would hold back the tree constructs. Some of them had been small enough to fit through the entrance, even if it would be a tight fit.

I patted Gale’s side to get her attention. “Put me down, please. I think I can walk now.”

She did as I requested, and while my discomfort forced me to use Gale for support for a few moments, I was able to stand on my own hooves. I still felt pain in my muscles from the backlash from the wards, but ‘twas not so o’erwhelming. I would worry about the damage that had been done to my body once the hags were defeated. I needed to do what I could to keep us alive to complete our quest.

The others were busy stacking what ever furnishings they could find in front of the gate. Shame the poor state of repair of the gate did not inspire my confidence in its ability to hold back intruders. Still, 'twas what we had.

I suppressed a jab of pain as I cast a spell. When I completed my magic, all the moisture in the air collected about the door and encased the gate within a solid wall of ice. While I had no illusions how long the barrier would likely last, I had bought us precious time.

I was about to address what should be done next when Subtle first raised her voice. "Um, everypony?" She raised a hoof to point up near the ceiling. "I think we have company."

I looked up and saw that the small clay gargoyles were beginning to move in their alcoves. The score of them were a misshapen mixture of animals, though each had wings, claws, and long pointed teeth of one variety or another. Golems, no doubt. Of course there were guardians to the entrance of the hags' lair. Why would there not be based on how well this day had gone thus far?

The clay golems let out a deafening screech that made my hair stand on end. They all leapt at us, their wings carrying them as they dived down to slay us. I cast a wide shield spell to block at least a few of the golems. A half dozen of them collided with the shield, but to my shock, they were only delayed by it for a second ere passing through it. They must have been magic resistant somehow. Mayhaps the hags had mixed their blood or cold iron into the clay during their construction. Either way, my magic was not going to be as effective in this battle.

Which was disconcerting as one of the golems dove right for my face, intent on clawing my eyes out.

I instinctively flinched away from it, but knew I was not going to step outside of its range. The golem came within a few paces of me when Stalwart stepped forward, and with a speed that belied his size, smacked the golem down with his hoof. He struck with such force that the golem bounced when it impacted the floor and was sent rolling away. I resolved to never complain about having a bodyguard ever again.

Silent leveled his crossbow and shot at one of the golems. The bolt hit it dead center in its chest and sent it careening to hit a wall.

Subtle’s horn glowed and a dozen illusionary doubles of our party formed about us. The golems seemed to suffer the usual lack of intelligence of their kind and divided their efforts between all their available targets, both real and not. While the illusionary doubles winked out of existence as soon as they were touched by the golems, the spell had bought us valuable moments to regain our footing.

One golem dove at Gale’s head, bird-like talons extended. Gale ducked under the blow and there was a screech of talon on metal as the construct scored a glancing blow against my friend’s helmet. She sidestepped another golem coming in at another angle, and stuck out with a wingblade. The enchanted steel used the golem’s own moment to bite deep into its clay and sent the creature tumbling through the air. It crashed into the floor, but only seemed to suffer superficial damage to its body.

Another golem had dived through one of the illusionary doubles and caused it to blink out of existence. Seeing an opportunity as it sought a new target, Gale reared up and bucked the golem in the chest, sending it flying away.

Silent had dropped his crossbow, probably seeing that there was no time to reload it. Instead, he pulled out a small orb out of his bag and tossed it at one of the golems recovering on the floor. It struck the golem and exploded into a gray goo. The golem struggled to stand and take flight, but the tanglehoof held it in place. Silent pulled out more of the tanglehoof capsules and did the same to two more golems.

Subtle was busy dodging and weaving out of the way of our attackers with practiced grace. Her horn glowed all the while as she created more illusionary doubles to continue to distract and confuse our opponents.

For a moment I thought we were doing well in the fight. The golems were proving incredibly resilient against damage, but we were holding our own. Then I was reminded of one of our other problems when there was a loud crash against the gate. The gate held, but I could hear the ice beginning to crack as the gate was struck once again.

Right then, my spells were ineffective against the golems, and the room inside of the gate was about to become a death trap the moment the blighted trees broke in. While we were holding off the golems, it was proving to be a difficult and protracted battle. We could not afford to remain here. Neigh, we needed to find Grandmother Carrot and bring the battle to her.

Thinking of a solution, I turned to one of the nearby walls and placed a hoof in its shadow. “Sergeant, guard my back!”

“Aye, Magus!” Stalwart slashed with his wingblade at a golem that tried to dive at me, forcing it to dive out of the way and in a direction that did not allow it to land on my back to cause any number of nasty gashes along my withers.

Wasting no time, I fought through the throbbing pain in my horn and cast a spell. The spell caused my senses to extend into the shadow I touched. Through the spell I came to feel the outline of the gatehouse, and from there I reached out to the shadows of the other rooms in the fort. Soon I was mapping out the entire building. Once that was done, I redefined my senses, seeking out any source of magic. I quickly discovered a great wellspring of energy above us in a large room at the top of the complex. The life energy of the ponies outside was slowly seeping to a central nexus there. ‘Twas a prelude of what was to come, I knew, as the ritual built itself up to completion.

After making a quick double check of the architecture of the building, I ended the spell. I pointed to the nearest hall to me, leading up a stairway. “Everypony! Go up those stairs, down the hallway on the second floor, and then go up the next flight of stairs to reach the chamber there! The warlocks are in that room!” I ran towards the door, my blood now pumping after discovering where Grandmother Hag must be.

“Finally!” Red crouched down to duck under a golem diving at her. She sprung right back up and ran full tilt to hit the stairs at a run.

I was not long after her to get to the stairs, but I stopped short of them to turn back to the gatehouse. As soon as everypony was through I would close the opening with a wall of ice, thus giving us time to deal with the hags once and for all.

Stalwart was busy warding off any of the golems from following me too closely, and ‘twas Gale who next managed to break off from the battle to run towards me. She was about to reach me when the bricks of the walls started to shift, and to my horror, closed off the way to the stairs. The last I saw of Gale were her eyes widen with realization as the last of the stones moved into place, making it seem as though there had been a dead end all along.

I slammed my forehooves against the stone that divided me from the rest of my companions. “Neigh!” I drew upon my magic, intent on smashing the wall down with my strength, but then stopped myself short of doing so. I could not afford to waste what magic I had left, I told myself. Instead I took the time to feel out the stone with my senses. There I felt the dark presence of another. Grandmother Carrot, I knew.

It figured that she would have power over this place. She had no doubt spent the past few decades building her strength over this fort and making it her own. That was very bad. She would have the leverage against me if I wished to shape this place against her will. Breaking down this newly formed wall may very well drain what remained of my magic.

Worst still, Red Steel had run ahead of everypony else. She would soon be facing the hags, and they would be ready for her. Without anypony else to assist her, she would likely be doomed. I knew there were other ways around the fortress I could use to find the others—assuming Grandmother Carrot had not blocked them off too. But they would take time to use and I could feel the ritual coming close to fruition. The fort hummed with growing cascades of energy that throbbed against my senses.

Meanwhile the rest of my companions were in a vicious battle against the golems, and all too soon, against the tree constructs if they could not get out of that room. ‘Twas possible Grandmother Carrot had blocked off all their other exits, and I might be their only way out of that room.

That brought me the question of what I was to do. Go after Red Steel and hope that the two of us would be enough to defeat the warlocks and whatever traps they had in store for us, or link back up with the larger body of my companions to aid them in their own desperate battle? ‘Twas a dire decision, and ponies could easily die no matter which decision I made.

There was precious little time to deliberate.

I ran after Red Steel, praying that I was making the right decision.