//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: To be an Alicorn // by Jonuts //------------------------------// CHAPTER 1 It all seemed as a dream to Twilight. The events that led her here were half-forgotten already, and the half she remembered were utterly impossible. There was no way somepony would attack the Princesses, was there? It was almost the entire Unicorn Council, and the magics used were one's she was completely unfamiliar with. Several even had strange, yet powerful, creatures aiding them. Living stones created of fire, shadow given shape, small creatures that stood on two hind legs and threw fire. Something that only had the most base resemblance to a red minotaur with wings. In those few panicked moments, that last one turned on the Council as the chains binding it broke, which lead to the last desperate attempts, the collision of powerful magics from Celestia and Luna, against the vast array of magic from the Council. It was the last thing Twilight remembered before her vision went white, but she knew there was much more she wasn't remembering. It had to be a dream, even if she couldn't recall ever feeling such pain in a dream. She could feel herself being dragged by her tail across a stone floor. A rough stone floor, slate if she had to guess, a far cry from the single granite slab the floor was supposed to be made from. The trail of blood she was leaving behind didn't seem right to her either. It had to be a dream. There was so little of it, and after a few more feet, it seemed to end as a coherent trail, and instead became punctuated by occasional spots. It had to be a dream. That was why she couldn't make out what her guards were saying. That was odd...she only had two guards with her earlier. On the few occasions where tradition required she bring a guard, she only ever brought two. Now there were three, neither of which were 'her' guards, standing with spears at the ready, ready to hold the passageway to the end, and saw a few more in the chamber beyond fighting large creatures. Maybe it was because it was a dream, but Twilight somehow knew that all three holding the line expected to die. It didn't take long before the first creature was upon the three, and it was yet another new one. It too stood on hind legs like a minotaur, but was huge. It stood at nearly twice the height of the guards, seemed to be wearing a loincloth (Rarity's voice sounded in the back of her head, tutting at how atrocious they were), and it swung a huge club at the guards. The middle guard snapped his spear deflecting it into the ground, as the two others rammed their spearheads home in the oversized belly, mortally wounding the creature. But..where were 'her' guards? It was just a dream, Twilight knew it was just a dream. So she shouldn't be worried, but she was. Steel Wool had been her go-to guard since the first time she had to use an honor guard, but today her second guard wasn't just a random guard. A deep sense of shame filled her even as she thought that. It shouldn't matter who the pony is, it really shouldn't. But it did. This time, it really did. This time, it was a Wonderbolt. A very new, and very special, Wonderbolt. "Rainbow?" It had to be a dream. She knew what she said, but she couldn't understand the word that came from her mouth. Trying to think about it just made her head hurt even more. Turning her head, Twilight let out a small breath of relief as she saw a blue pegasus struggling to pull her. Definitely a dream. There was no way that Rainbow Dash would struggle to pull her. Comforted that this was certainly a dream, Twilight dropped her head and closed her eyes again and wanted it to end, wishing Luna were here to help with this nightmare, before her world faded to black. XXXXX "A simple milk run you said." The Paladin absorbed the hit from the ogre, and with a tilt of the shield, redirected the brunt of the swing down to the floor. A quick flash of his sword, and the second ogre's club was parried. There was a time, years ago, when the thought of parrying an ogre's club would have been ridiculous, but with training, experience, and the added enchantments of his equipment, it was child's play. His guild depended on him to withstand the brunt of attacks from full grown dragons. Mere ogres meant little to him. Truth be told, he could cleared the north wing of Dire Maul on his own, if he was exceedingly careful. It was sparsely populated. Maybe forty ogres, at most. As long as he stuck to the side areas at least. Adventurers never tried assaulting the true strongholds, sheer numbers would overwhelm all but the mightiest adventuring guilds, but the North Wing was isolated. It was also quickly repopulated, because the ogres seemed too stupid to realize the only reason they 'held' the North Wing of Dire Maul was because no one else wanted it. It provided a great opportunity for training adventurers with some experience under their belts. The thick walls, combined with the ogre's propensity for isolation allowed a small group to use stealth to bypass most problems, and take down small groups without raising any sort of alarm. This however, reminded him of last week when he invaded Scarlet Monastery with his Guild Master's little brother...who immediately ran through the center of the Cathedral, every member of the Scarlet Crusade looking on in sheer surprise that someone would have the balls to do this, and launched a fireball right at Mograine. One moment, he was fighting a manageable number of enemies, and the next, it was as though the twister nether itself opened up and enemies were pouring in from every direction. Except this time, he couldn't blame the GM's little brother! Whatever that huge explosion was, it seemed to have pissed everything off. Retreat was cut off as more ogres began filling in the areas they already cleared. "It wasn't my fault Mikey!" Swiftfizzle, the GM's little brother and perhaps the most annoying Gnome he ever dealt with, yelled out in a panicked shout while trying (and failing) to stem the tide of ogres with magical fire. "Light, give me the Strength to not strangle this little shit!" With a turn of his body, a third club impacted the Paladin's shoulder, sliding off the pauldron and smashing into the ground. It hurt, but it was a pain he was long used to. "Kanyssea! Where the fuck is your furry ass!?" The third member of their party, a Night Elf druid, responded by rolling a few HoTs, heals that slowly affect the target over time, on him. A year of fighting shoulder to, uh, flank, made her a lot more social with him than the rest, and she was easily his best friend. She was a very capable feral druid...who happened to be wearing nothing but intellect and spirit equipment because this was supposed to be an opportunity for her to train in her healing magics. For nearly a year, she had held the front line alongside him, earning the joking nickname Fuzzbutt from her fellows, as adventurers are wont to do. Swords and arrows would roll off her coat, and even the most well aimed thrust would fail to penetrate her thick hide, strengthened a great deal further by the gear she normally wore. Not to mention her expert movements that meant even the most well aimed blows never amounted to more than glancing hits. While the healing spell slowly taking effect on him felt nice, it wasn't what he wanted. He was far more concerned that she was going to be brutally murdered by the ever increasing number of ogres. There were twenty in the courtyard already, and more were on their way. Thankfully, they seemed to be splitting between heading for the courtyard, and heading for somewhere else. Whoever started this mess, really fucked up, and they were almost certain to die as a result. A fourth ogre was taking his try at Mikey's head, but the Paladin stepped forward, smashing his shield into the ogres throat. The shield was quickly replaced with his sword, and the ogre never had a chance, going down as it's blood added to the quickly growing pool he was fighting in. "Mikey! It's the Legion!" Looking up from the courtyard, Mikey stopped long enough that the next ogre to swing at him nearly landed flush. A last moment turn let his armor take most of the blow, and deflect some of the force. It still knocked him straight off his feet, but not badly enough to keep him down. Rolling his head to the side, he curled into a ball and turned his fall into a back roll. Coming to rest on one foot and one knee, he thrust his sword forward as the ogre tried to follow up on his initial success. He hit straight, but the blow wasn't lethal, nor was it crippling enough in the short term to stop the next blow. The next blow never came as a demon bowled the ogre right over. There weren't many, but between the infernal and the doom guard, he was damn sure the ogres were going to take heavy losses before finishing them off. Thank the Light the demons were indiscriminate, giving him a chance to withdraw. "Mikey, the way out is cut off. We'll be sandwiched between a whole lot of ogres before we can fight our way out." Kanyssea looked disdainfully at the gnome. Orders were orders, and helping Swiftfizzle cut his teeth were the current orders, but this was the most infuriatingly incompetent gnome she ever met. How he possibly found enchanted cloth armor to increase his strength and agility, she didn't know, but it left his mana pool light and his attacks anemic. If they had any of their front line fighters, they could cut through the enemy lines in seconds. "I suggest we circle around and head into the hole the demons came out of. If I remember the layout right, that should drop us near another exit on the east wing." Mikey nodded to the elf. It was a stupid idea, but marginally less stupid than standing in the open. Worst come to worst, Kanyssea could get a minute to change her equipment, and they could likely hold both ends of a passage indefinitely. Unless those stupid elves that still called Dire Maul home finally lost their minds and came for them, but he hoped that wasn't the case. XXXXX The sounds of fighting died down, and Rainbow Dash sincerely hoped it was because the three guards that made it to this strange place her and Twilight held fast, but in her heart she knew the truth, and that time was running out, fast. Knowing she couldn't drag Twilight fast enough to escape, or even hide, Rainbow let go of her tail, and limped between her and the corridor they just left. There were several of the creatures that had attacked them upon arrival here, but they were all dead, and fairly freshly dead if she had to guess, considering the blood was still wet. Intellectually, she knew she should be horrified, but such thoughts were pushed out of her mind by the adrenaline. This was supposed to just be an excuse to hang out with Twilight, something she didn't get to do much of since becoming a Wonderbolt. Instead, what looked to be most the high ranking members of the Unicorn Council just tried to launch a coup, along with a large group of strange, and powerful, creatures. Looking down, Rainbow could still see the mess on her leg, where she crushed a unicorns head. It wasn't just her duty to protect the Princess as one of her guards for the meeting, but he was lining up a shot on Twilight, and Rainbow did the only thing she could think of. She took a unicorns life, before that Unicorn could take Twilight's life. She should have felt horrified at such an act, but it was still too unreal. Judging by the new decor, and the strange creatures that pursued them, Rainbow didn't think she was going to live long enough to dwell on her actions, and a part of her was thankful for that. Looking back, she could see the mangled remnants of her wings. If she lived long enough to get to a hospital, she wouldn't fly again for weeks. There was a time, maybe ten minutes ago, when such a thought would crush her. Now though, it was merely noted by the part of her mind that was unflinchingly loyal to her friends. A minor note, that she wouldn't be able to fly to aid Twilight. Letting her gaze wander down a little ways, and her back-right leg came into view. Blackened, and with the distinct smell of sulfur combined with burnt fur. One of those green fireballs clipped her earlier, and it did worse than she feared. The burn rode to her hip, stopping just short of her cutie mark. Again, the part of mind of that staunchly loyal to her friends made a note of it. Her mobility in the air wasn't existent, and her mobility on the ground was hampered. Slowly, she made her way away from Twilight. She was going to fight, and almost certainly die. But she wasn't going to let Twilight die before she did all she could. Looking for any advantage, she found one. A sword and a dagger. They didn't do their last owner any good, judging by the pile of bones they were next to, but maybe they would serve her. Bending down, she picked the sword up in her mouth and grabbed the dagger with her hooves, her magic allowing her to hold it in a firm grip like all ponies. Then she waited. It didn't take long. The first creature rounded the corner in the passage way, and bellowed a roar in challenge. Rainbow Dash responded in kind, with the best she could with a sword held in her teeth. "Come at me!" XXXXX Mikey spent a moment catching his breath while watching the entrance. Thankfully for all his mental deficiencies, Swiftfizzle could at least follow simple instructions and was watching the back entrance. At the least, he should make enough noise while dying to alert him and Kanyssea, who was changing her gear as quickly as possible. She could still roll HoTs, but she would have to conserve what mana she had for emergencies. "Mikey! Fuzzbutt! Check this out! There's freaking horses fighting ogres! This is so fucking coo-oof!" A half naked Kanyssea transformed into her cat form and tackled him to the ground. A low volume growl got her point across to him, for him to shut up. Too late apparently as several ogres turned to look at the noise. Returning to her elf form, she swore enough to make Elune blush. "Mikey, they know we're here." Picking up the gnome, she bodily hurled him to the other end of the passage. "Watch the back, Mikey, hold the front while I finish changing!" In other circumstances Mikey would have taken the moment to enjoy the view, as it was a great view, but this wasn't the time. Running past the Night Elf, Mikey held the front of the passage as several ogres were advancing towards him. In shock, he noted that the gnome was right, there were several dead ponies strewn about, along with dead ogres. Ridiculously, the dead ponies looked like they held weapons. Even more ridiculously, one pony, the only living one near as he could tell, was trying, and failing, to hold the entrance to another passage. Several dead ogres and two dead ponies, lay around him, but his movements were sluggish. He had to be protecting something, or someone. No one was stupid enough hold a losing defense when they could cut and run. Maybe a hundred yards, and he'd be out of Dire Maul. As much as he could sympathize with the poor pony, it wasn't his problem. The ogres coming for him were. There were only five. It would be moderately difficult to take that many on his own, but there would be no doubt in the outcome, and it favored him. Unfortunately, he had to hold the passage, so trying to do this the quick way wasn't an option, the risk of one slipping into the passage was too great. He only had to hold a minute or so before Kanyssea was ready. Standing fast at the entrance, the first two were upon him, and the last three had no room to join the attack. Assuming a solid stance, he stopped the charge cold as the two ogres found to their great surprise that they couldn't just bowl him over. His sword licked out once, then twice. Shallow wounds, but he was a Paladin, specialized in his training to protect his friends and comrades. He didn't so much kill his enemies as he watched them die to exhaustion. One club bounced off his shield, barely even notable. He parried a second one with his sword, leaving an opening for his sword to take another bite. Calling on the Light, he infused the very power of the Light into the ground he stood upon, making the very stone itself as though it were fire to his enemies. It didn't do much, but it added more and more damage. A few more exchanges and the ogres started slowing. Exhaustion was quickly setting in for them as their wounds began to add up, the blood loss was taking it's toll, and the very ground itself burned them in passing. One grabbed his shield, to quickly lose his fingers. The defense cost him as the second landed a solid hit, but his armor was too good. His body too used to taking hits. His sharp mind too practiced. He didn't even so much as stumble, before his sword found the offending ogres throat, bringing it down to the ground as it quickly bled out. He didn't have room to do this the 'fast' way, relatively speaking, but the slow way was the easy way. Another ogre stepped onto his dying kin, and added his club to the assault, finding no more luck than the one he replaced. The dance continued back and forth for a bit before a second, then a third ogre fell. The last two were looking a lot more hesitant, especially since all the ogres behind them had already filed past the last, now dead, defender of the other passage. Having watched three of their number slowly die by this human's sword and shield, they backed off. It would have been a mistake, if it weren't for the fact that nothing they did was going to keep them from dying. At the beckoning of a growl behind him, Mikey pursued, and a bear came charging out the passage way behind him in support. The two of them made very quick work of the last two. With a nod to Kanyssea, she shifted back to her elf form. Taking a look around the chamber, "Mikey, what's going on here? First Legion, now these ponies?" Mikey shrugged. He was as lost as she was, but between the two of them, they could easily hold out indefinitely at the worst case scenario, or fight their way out, which seemed the more sensible option. They'd have to hold at least a day before anyone in the guild got worried and checked on them, and that was just far too long for his taste. "Think they're legion?" Kanyssea reached down to one of the dead ponies, before withdrawing her hand in surprised. That couldn't be right. She reached down and touched it again. "Druids?" Mikey nodded. Okay. He could deal with this. Strange form for druids, and odd that none of them seemed to be healers..or bears, but not as strange as non-druid ponies with weapons and armor. "No, not Druids. Their connection to nature is too powerful, and this is no shape shift." Mikey grimaced. There went the nice and easy explanation. He watched as her ear twitched. "Hurry! There are more of them, and they're still fighting!" Mikey wasn't sure he agreed. He had no idea who they were, or if they were friendly. Any objection he wished to raise died in his throat as Kanyssea shifted into a cat and made her way forward, running too fast for him to keep up. "Dammit!" Turning, he yelled for the worlds most annoying gnome, only half hoping he was too dead to respond. "Swiftfizzle! GET HERE NOW! We're moving out!" Mikey waited a moment before seeing the gnome come running down the passage. With a nod, he turned around and took off running after Kanyssea, as the sounds of fighting seemed to increase in ferocity yet again. Rounding the last corner in the passage way, he slid to a stop. There was barely any room for fighting here. Kanyssea had already killed three ogres, and standing atop their bodies, she was currently fighting two more. There was more fighitng at the far end of the passage, and plenty of ogres in between. "Scoot over fuzzbutt!" As a paladin, he didn't have the ability to charge the way a warrior could, but he could still charge the old fashion way. Raising his shield, he ran forth, side stepping to Kanyssea's left side as she gracefully shifted over, fully trusting him to do his job. His trusty sword and shield went to work, and the two of them began making short work of the ogres. Even creatures as stupid as ogres began to panic as they found themselves sandwiched in the narrow passage. "Mikey! Hey Mikey! The demons weren't doing so hot! Hehehe! That infernal set plenty of ogres on fire, but they smashed it up real good like! Did you see all the ponies? Wow! Pity they died, I bet we could sell them to the Dark Moon Faire if we caught them!" "Shut up Swiftfizzle! We're fighting!" Kanyssea threw in a growl at him as well for good measure. The gnome waved his objections off. "Psh. Ogres are no match for you. I'll just help you loot all the dead ones. Might want to hurry though, we're probably going to have more ogres pushing through in a few minutes." The panic of the ogres began rising more and more, as the ones in front of Mikey and Kanyssea tried falling back, but the other side of the passage was still blocked them in. Their panic made them easy targets. It still took several solid hits to take one down, but Mikey's fighting style switched from a counter-based defensive style to an all out assault. Kanyssea wanted to save the damned colored horses, and if he were honest, until he knew they were hostile, he couldn't do any less than try to help, now that he wasn't anchored down protecting a single passageway. The two of them managed to drop several more before whoever was holding the other end fell, relieving the pressure. The ogres before them quickly withdrew into the chamber beyond, with a Paladin and Bear in pursuit. Finally stepping from the passage and into the wide open chamber, he smiled. This, this he could do. With him and Kanyssea, there weren't enough ogres left to even prove challenging. He saw what was holding the passage way as well, and it had to be the most horrifically savaged animal he'd ever seen. How it was still alive, let alone still fighting was beyond him, but he could recognize a kindred spirit when he saw one. Behind the beleaguered defender was another pony, laying unconscious on the floor, and any hint of movement towards it was met with a vicious attack. The need to defend. Unlike the rest of the ponies he saw, the defender had wings, and the purple one beyond it had wings as well as a horn, and wore a dress. The last detail he could make out before the intervening ogres cut off his view was that her face was a bloody mess, and it looked to be from a head wound. No matter. He wasn't going to let such a worthy defender leave this world, not to mere ogres. It just had to hold out for a little longer. XXXXX Rainbow Dash didn't know how long she held out for, or even how she was still alive after that hit that knocked her away from the mouth of the passage, but it was all over now. Coughing up the blood she was choking on, a few of her smashed teeth flew out. Likely ripped out when the sword she held between them was knocked away. Dash made her way back to her hooves as the creatures filed into the chamber and began spreading out. "I'm sorry Twi...I don't think we're getting out of this one." She offered a sad smile to the still unconscious alicorn. She didn't know who did it, but something in the original fight with the Council slipped through her defenses, and got her good. It was all Dash's fault too. If she wasn't so careless. If Twilight didn't have to save her from that huge creature that was firing bolts of shadow, she would have never left herself open. Rainbow didn't have time for any more regrets. The creatures were upon her, albeit a bit more hesitant after how many of their number didn't survive to make it this far. Not that it mattered in the end. There were too many, and Rainbow was rooted here. She would remain between Twilight and these things, until she did every last bit she could. The swing was too powerful to parry, but slow enough that Dash stepped in to avoid it. She couldn't fly, so the throat was well out of reach, yet there was much else that was in range. With a quick thrust, the knife she still had slid upwards, between the legs. Dash knew exactly what she was hitting, and took a measure of satisfaction at the creatures howl. The second tried circling around. Whether it was to take her from another angle, or to go for Twilight, Dash didn't know. With a turn, she lashed out with an empty hoof, smashing it with all her might into the side of it's knee. A few minutes ago, it would have been enough to bring it to the ground, where she could easily reach it's vitals. After that last hit she took, it did just enough to get it's attention. The follow up strike with the dagger however, worked a great deal better. She turned and lashed out again at another ogre trying to get to Twilight. It wasn't enough to seriously hurt it, but she hurt enough of them, and it backed off for a moment. A fourth moved for Twilight, and Dash bucked it with all her strength. What would have been a crippling blow was only enough to knock the ogre off balance. “MINE!” The dagger followed up, taking a few bites out of the ogre scrambling out of her reach. “MINE!” Barely dancing out of the way of another club, her dagger found an ogres hand. “MINE!” A few more exchanges, and the ogres backed up just out of her range, intimidated by the small creature that kept shouting at them. Dash stood in confusion as the rest failed to make a move, something behind them was getting their attention. That was when she caught sight of the bear savaging these creatures, and another one of the creatures was beside it, but it was different. It was covered head to toe in armor, and held a slab of metal to shield itself from their blows. Before she could make any more sense of it, she saw the club as it impacted her face, and knew she died failing to save Twilight. XXXXX "LIGHT DAMN IT SWIFTFIZZLE! STOP GAWKING AND START KILLING!" Mikey was sure that if he was a Warrior, he'd have all the rage he would need for years after watching that. That winged horse was definitely dead. It saw him and Kanyssea, and stopped in shock long enough to not even see the attack that killed it until it was too late. He began tracking a mental countdown, but frowned. There weren't that many ogres left, but it was going to cut it close, and that was only if the stupid gnome began doing something! With a grimace, he dropped his sword and shield, and pulled out the larger sword from his back. He wasn't as proficient in this type of fighting, not by a long shot, but their numbers were low enough, he was sure he'd survive it. With a whisper, holy power began to surge through his sword. It wasn't much compared to, well, being hit by a sword, but any extra helped when you weren't killing things in a single swing. Stepping forward, he shrugged off a hit as he rammed his two hand sword home. With a twist, he pulled it from his target, the flesh searing as the holy power began burning it from the inside. Again he struck, then again, and with a fourth, the ogre dropped. He took a beating doing that, as unlike the short sword, this one wasn't made for defense, but he'd be fine. Pushing forth, he took on more ogres. With a mild flash of green, he could feel a rejuvenate spell take hold. It wasn't much, but for this, it was enough. From the corner of his eye, he watched Kanyssea resume her bear form. Between tooth and claw and sword, the last of the ogres fell. The time was close. Too close. The wrong side of too close, because that Light be damned gnome was too busy looting dead ogres to help make more dead ogres. With a toss of the sword, Mikey ran up to the dead winged horse, dropping to his knees and sliding the last couple of feet. A quick visual inspection confirm what he knew, the skull was definitely caved in. That pony was as dead as dead gets. He knew it was too late already, but he went through the motions. Without special preparations, or just plain being powerful enough, there was a very short, and very hard, window of time upon which you could resurrect the dead. With a prayer to the Light, he channeled the very powers of creation through his finger tips. The crushed skull began to reform, a pillar of Light encircled the dead creature as the Light attempted to rip the creatures very soul from the nether itself and return it to the body. He knew it wouldn't work. He knew it too late. "Hey, we saved one. I bet the Dark Moon Faire will pay top gold for it!" Mikey didn't hesitate. He didn't watch the body to see the signs of failure he knew to expect. He turned and smashed his armored fist right into the gnomes face, knocking him unconscious. The GM was going to be pissed, but at the moment, he wasn't entirely sure he cared. Kanyssea placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. She too, knew what it was like. To put your very life on the line. To not just hold the physical shield, but to be the very shield that protects others. As alien as this creature was to both of them, it was a kindred soul to them both. Looking at the passage they came from, and the number of ogres it killed before falling, despite it's light armor barely better than what a rogue would wear, Mikey made one last prayer to the Light for this creature to find the peace and the rest it's efforts deserve. The elf made her own similar prayer to Elune. The only thing left to do was collect the living, the last one of the creatures. Whatever it was, whoever it was, he hoped it was worthy of the sacrifice made for it. They had time though. He was tired. His failure just took too much out of him. It would keep for a few moments. "By Elune!" Mikey turned to look at what startled his companion. "It's alive!" All Mikey could do was nod dumbly. He knew that spell should have failed. He knew he was too late. He knew that for all the fighting spirit the creature showed, it couldn't be intrinsically powerful enough to be resurrected after the hard time limit. None of that changed the fact, that the creature was crawling to it's companion. The creature crawled until it could rest it's head on the other one's neck, before it stopped moving. Both Mikey and Kanyssea shared a look. The resurrection spell healed the body just enough to keep it from dying, and was draining in ways that mere magic couldn't fix. Even if the spell was successful, which it shouldn't have been, the creature should have been out for days. He dearly hoped that purple one was worth this loyalty. Kanyssea moved first to inspect the two creatures. A closer inspection of the newly resurrected one revealed a few more injuries. It's back right leg looked as though it had been on fire very recently. An injury nothing here could have inflicted. Perhaps they skirmished with the demons first? Reaching down, she began to roll the strange creature over to inspect for other injuries that may take more than a simple healing touch or rejuvenate to heal. Unlike the other creatures, when she laid her hand upon it, she felt more than just it's connection to nature, but also the faint echo of power, as though Elune herself had graced the creature. Ignoring it for the moment, she quickly inspected the creatures wounds, and wasn't pleased with the result. “She is beyond my abilities to heal properly. Too much damage.” She wasn't too concerned, as the creature would keep for a while, even without any further healing. Simple breaks were easy enough, even for Kanyssea, but this sort of traumatic damage would tax even a priestess specializing in healing. The mangled wings would certainly need expert care as well if the creature were to ever use them again. “Sharon said she would be at Feathermoon, did she not?” Mikey raised an eyebrow. Sharon was a good sort, and a holy priest to boot, but she was pretty junior for something like this. Well, it wasn't like they had any other options without leaving the continent, or going to someone they don't know. She'd probably be quite happy that anyone in the guild was actually paying attention to her. Most the less experienced members seemed to share the same problem of usually being ignored by the better adventurers as the guilds successes have begun breeding an elitist culture amongst the veterans. “Alright. I'll tie the gnome to a griffon and send him home while we're there.” Letting Kanyssea finish inspecting the two, Mikey began gathering his discarded equipment. They probably only had a few more minutes of peace, and if his estimation was off, he'd rather have weapons on him instead of having to try fighting hand to hand. He'd barely sheathed his two-hander before Kanyssea spoke again. “This creature. The power from it is...different. It is almost like the light of Elune.” Mikey nodded while grabbing his short sword and shield. He'd have time for questions and mysteries later. It wasn't like such creatures were unheard of after all. Cenarius probably got freaky with a horse at some point and spawned the damn things. Certainly wouldn't be the strangest thing he saw since leaving Stormwind. Tucking the unconscious gnome under his arm, and giving one last look around to make sure he wasn't leaving anything, Mikey gave another satisfied nod. “Kanyssea, time to go. There's a lot more pissed ogres, and they'll be coming back.” Approaching the two creatures, he bent to pick up the purple one, before he too felt it. He couldn't aptly describe it, the creature was powerful enough to infuse the very air around with power. It was a feeling he often got near the more powerful guild casters, though a bit stronger. Certainly not powerful enough to warrant a comparison to Elune. Yet, the power was far different. It wasn't quite the Light, but it still felt perfectly right. The only description that could come to mind was that it felt like the exact opposite of fel, even more so than the Light. Shaking his moment of hesitation of, he tucked the creature under his arm. “Time to go Kanyssea. Grab the blue one, and lets get to Feathermoon.” Even through his armor, the creature just radiated warmth and comfort, and he couldn't shake the feeling that the creature he carried was the Light given a physical form. That was just all the more reason for him to get it out of here. Taking off a light jog, Kanyssea quickly shot past him in the form of a huge cat with the blue creature splayed across her back. It was only a couple minutes until they left the underground portions of Dire Maul, coming to the central courtyard. A few dead ogres were still around, their own handy work from maybe half an hour ago when they first entered. With a sharp whistle, two nightsabers came bounding up from their own little hiding place. They were well trained, so he wasn't worried they might harm to the two creatures. Within a handful of moments, he had the gnome laying across the nightsaber's lower back, while the purple creature had room in front of his riding saddle where he could make sure she didn't fall off. Mounting up, he looked to make sure Kanyssea was ready to go. At Kanyssea's nod, they took off. It would take nearly an hour for them to make their way to the dock that would take them to Feathermoon Stronghold, on Sardor Isle.