Into The Fire

by Jack of a Few Trades

Chapter eight: Exodus

Gust was getting used to the constant darkness that surrounded him. At first, he thought he was going to go insane when he was told that it would be another three days before the bandages could be removed from his face. A few minutes of seething anguish had passed by quickly enough, but were then followed by what felt like hours of depression. Only now was he starting to get a grip on his situation and come to terms with it. The doctor hadn’t spared any details about the extent of the injuries, and the dull pain he felt through his face and chest confirmed that his wounds were indeed real and that this wasn’t just a bad dream.

It wasn’t so bad, he supposed. There were nurses that sounded pretty enough to wait on him, the bed was soft, and now that his sight was out of order, his hearing had become much more acute. His bed was near the nurses’ station, and over the course of the afternoon, he had taken some entertainment from eavesdropping on the nurses as they worked. Lots of what he heard was medical jargon that he couldn’t understand, but there was a fair bit of gossip as one would expect when mares got together. It wasn’t exactly what he would have called first class entertainment, but it worked to keep his mind occupied.

Except now, the hospital was silent. The only sounds in the room were the distant beeps of a heart monitor and his own breathing. It was starting to get unbearable without at least something to listen in on, and his thoughts were often slipping back to the unbearable darkness.

Boom.

Gust’s ears picked up on something that sounded like a distant rumble of thunder.

Boom.

There it was again, this time slightly louder. The bedside cart rattled lightly with the second rumble, and he could also feel some vibration in the bed itself.

Boom... Boom-BOOM-BOOM!!!

The low rumbles suddenly transformed into a terrifying cacophony, shaking the entire room and making dust fall from the ceiling. Gust braced himself in the bed, trying to suppress his mounting fear. The all-too-familiar sounds of explosions sounded like they were coming from all around the building. It had to be the Changelings, he was sure of it. What else could be the source of the explosive barrage outside?

“Nurse!” a voice nearby yelled. A few other yells for assistance immediately after, and a single set of frantic hoofsteps began running back and forth.

Boom...CRASH!!!!!

Gust winced as the hospital shook and the sounds of shattering crystal and a heavy scent of ozone filled the air. His throat choked up and he began sneezing uncontrollably, wrenching his torso painfully each time. Though he couldn’t see it, he knew that a thick cloud of dust had entered his room. He moved his forehooves over his face instinctively and huddled himself as deep into the bed as possible.

The noise outside continued, almost to the point of becoming a constant din. The entire building shook from closer blasts, with at least one more direct hit in the same wing of the small hospital. Gust sat in his bed, unable to move, silently praying to Celestia and Luna that he wouldn’t become a victim of the barrage. As if in answer to his silent plea, the explosions began tapering off. As quickly as it had begun, the barrage faded away to complete silence.

Gust allowed himself to relax to his regular position once he was sure that the explosions were gone. His heart was pounding, and he let out a sigh of relief that he had survived the attack.

A set of hoofsteps ran by at a sprint. “Nurse?” Gust asked. The pony stopped at the nurses’ station briefly, threw open a few drawers and rifled through them in a hurry, and then continued bolting away. He called out again, still not attracting the pony’s attention. A door slammed closed, and Gust knew that whoever it was had left.

“Hello?” Gust asked to nopony in particular, in the hope that someone was still in the ward. There was no answer, and with the absence of the heart monitor’s distant beeps, he could only guess that the only other patient in the recovery ward was gone as well. With no other options, he relaxed his tensed body and lay still, listening for anything he could possibly hear. Despite the fact that there was a new hole in the room somewhere that led to the outside, the hospital was as silent as it had ever been.

“Is anyone there?” he asked again, this time more panic rising in his tone. “Hello?!”

“Don’t leave me!”

---

Sombra stood solemnly in the chilly afternoon air, watching the massive swarm descend upon his Empire from a ridge that overlooked the city from the southeast. The massive group of Changelings looked like a black stain on the pristine snowfall as it slowly filtered into the buildings and claimed its prize. Though it was painful to watch the city he had worked so hard for to fall, he was silently thankful that the hive was not pursuing the refugees further.

A large group of ponies was crossing the landscape between the dethroned king and the Empire; the army had retreated. Most of the civilian stragglers had gotten out already, and the final few that Sombra could discern were right along with the group of soldiers. They were the last ones out.

Not able to bear the weight of looking at the city he had failed, Sombra turned away. The group of survivors he had led to safety stood nearby; instinctually huddled together in a defensive circle. They were shell-shocked over what just transpired. In the course of a day, they had gone from living their lives as usual to fleeing their homes in the path of a surprise invasion.

The sounds of many different sets of hooves drew nearer, and Sombra knew that the final survivors had arrived. He did not turn to face the group of battered soldiers; unable to bear the sight of yet more ponies who were injured because of his inability to protect his kingdom.

“Your highness,” a familiar voice rasped from behind him. Sombra winced and turned to face the commander reluctantly. Nest bore several wounds, one scar on his face narrowly missed his eye and several wounds were still bleeding on his legs. He offered a tired and unenthusiastic salute. Sombra remained silent, unable to find the words to address the commander.

“Hell of a thing,” Nest began, taking a glance back at the city. Even from the distant ridge, they could see the Changelings flooding through the streets.

“How many made it out? Did you see any others in the city?” Sombra forced himself to ask.

“It was deserted. High civilian casualties though,” Nest answered, a twinge of anguish in his voice at the mention of the fatalities.

Sombra’s shoulders fell, and he looked at the ground. “We need to go.”

“Yes, we do,” Nest agreed. “I say we keep everyone herded together tight and bolt southeast from here. What do you think?”

“Good plan.” Sombra turned around and faced the group of ponies. They were all worse for wear, each with some degree of injury and a look of misery plastered on their faces. Their heads hung low, and several foals were crying. The king cleared his throat, “Everyone, we must go. Stay in a group and remain close to each other. I do not want to see any of you straying from the group.”

“ATTENTION!” Nest barked to the soldiers, though also pulling the attention of the civilians away from Sombra. “All soldiers form up on the outside of the group. These ponies are your life now. You protect them no matter the cost to yourself, you got that?”

“Yes sir,” they replied, their voices sounding weary and unenthusiastic. With that, they began spreading out to take their places in the ranks.

The group didn’t need to reposition much, as they were already standing fairly tightly together. The soldiers surrounded the civilians without a hitch, and the group was fully formed within two minutes. Two soldiers were pulled aside and designated to guard the leaders. Within minutes, the group started forward. A few took a last glance back at the city before they began their march.

The sun was falling low in the sky, and travelling without supplies at night was going to be dangerous. It was sure to be yet another trial by fire.

---

The refugees walked in their tight huddle under the inky blackness of an overcast night sky. In their southward journey, the group had passed open fields and occasional thickets, but now the landscape switched to a forest. The trees were mostly devoid of leaves, but a few stragglers were still left to faintly rattle in the breeze. The snowpack had diminished to only patches of light accumulation scattered in places where the sunlight couldn’t reach.

The group was much less tightly packed than before. The dense trees would not allow them to move in a tight huddle without problems, so the tight ball of ponies had spread out significantly. There was no talking and no laughter, only hoofbeats and the quiet sobs of ponies who still hadn’t come to terms with their losses. Even the foals were not in any sort of mood to be active, staying close to their parents and silent.

Coal Dust walked drearily along through the darkness, though he had a decent amount of light from a nearby unicorn’s spell to see. Headstrong walked directly in front of him, holding his place on the perimeter and not saying a word. Beside him was Braided Twist, who had found her way over to him not long after their departure. It was an immense relief to see another pony he knew had made it out alive, and having her nearby was a major comfort. As he walked, he kept hearing quiet sniffling noises coming from her direction. It had been going on for some time now, and he finally brought himself to speak to her for the first time since the attack.

“Are you okay, Braid?” he asked slowly, uncertainly.

“I’m fine,” she muttered, not looking in his direction. It looked like she wiped at her eyes, but he couldn’t tell for sure in the dim light. “I’m just worried about what those roaches are gonna do to my shop, you know?”

He uttered a quiet grunt of understanding, but otherwise remained silent. He could tell that she was trying to act normal, but decided to refrain from pressing the issue until she was ready for it.

“Where do you think we’re going?” she asked.

“Who knows?” Headstrong replied, adding himself into the conversation. “But really, who cares? As long as we get away from those things, I’m fine.”

Once again, the quiet returned. The somber silence that had prevailed for hours was still not ready to break, and the column of ponies trudged onward.

---

The forest was silent at an unholy hour of night, save for the hoofbeats of the survivors quietly resonating between the trees. Given that there were in excess of two-thousand ponies in the herd, it was exceptionally quiet. The only sounds were those of hooffalls and of the gentle breeze that was whispering through the bare tree branches. The cloud cover from earlier had begun to disperse, as it naturally tended to do when no pegasi were around to interfere, and the moon was becoming visible high in the night sky.

Near the front of the column, just inside the protective ring of soldiers, walked the two leaders of the refugees, Nest and Sombra. Neither had spoken in hours, both content as per the majority of the refugees to remain silent and stew in their own thoughts.

As he trudged along, using his own horn to contribute light spells to the group, Sombra allowed his thoughts to flow freely. The stillness of the dark woods provided a perfect place to gather his wits and try to remember exactly what had happened in the course of the day. He remembered that the morning had been fairly routine, and over the course of about six hours, he had gone from ruling his Empire in peace to being ousted by a barrage aimed directly at the civilian population.

It was a disgusting and cowardly tactic, one that would classify as a war crime. And yet a part of his mind felt that the Changelings were much more cunning than he originally thought.

No. There was no way that their barrage was intended to stop the Crystal Ponies from powering the Crystal Heart. Changelings could not have that sort of understanding of the mechanics of harmony magic. It was most certainly an attack with a purely sinister intent: to hit the Empire in their soft spot and directly assault the ponies who lived there; to instill fear and chaos to afford them an easy victory.

Wishing to rid himself of that thought, he moved on to remembering the final moments of his reign. He had been on the ground, helping to coordinate the preparations to fire the Heart as a weapon. Ponies bustling about, getting ready to defend their homes. Despite the fact that he felt it was lacking in some ways, his speech had somehow instilled a feeling of patriotism amongst them. For the first time in years, he had felt nervous about giving a public address. Ruby Splash had been there to support him—

Ruby Splash. Yet again, his worries fell on the whereabouts of his wife. The guards he sent after her when they left had come back without a trace of her. By that time, the changelings had already taken the city. She was likely still in the Empire, but everything else was uncertain. Was she injured? Had the Changelings found her?

Was she still alive?

Panic that had been suppressed for so long was finally beginning to win out. His chest tightened, and he began looking about in a hopeless attempt to find her. He was only met with the sight of a few other distant light spells through the trees, while everything else was black. He needed to go. He needed to do something, some task he could work on to help bring his wife back to his side. He needed-

Sombra shook his head and blinked hard, his light spell faltering in the process. He took a deep breath and allowed his mind to switch back over to rational thought. Running amok in a dark forest with Celestia-knows-what lurking in the shadows would not only turn heads, but likely cause more chaos and panic.

She would be fine. If he knew her, she was doing everything she could to locate any other survivors and help them. She would be busying herself in helping those survivors, though there were so many dead in the streets...

Sombra grimaced. His heart began beating faster as his panicked brain began running images of Ruby lying in the street in the Empire, covered in blood and surrounded by Changelings. They were gathered around her body, dancing in bizarre ways and singing some strange ritual song as they celebrated their victory.

Sombra’s knees buckled as his head suddenly felt like it was filled with helium. Though it was difficult to notice in the dark, his vision clouded over as he faltered. He was halfway to the ground and barely conscious when a heavy hoof caught him around the midsection.

“Get the medic up here!” shouted the guard on his right side as he caught the falling King.

“What happened?!” Nest barked, turning to face the guard.

“He just fainted, sir,” answered the guard. “Get a medic up here now!” Distant hoofbeats of a galloping pony signalled the medic’s approach.

“What is it?” the medic asked, pulling the strap on her saddlebags loose as she came to a stop.

“The King just fainted,” Nest answered, stepping aside. Ponies all around them were stopping and staring at the unfolding scene.

“Sombra, can you hear me?” she asked, tapping him on the side gently.

“Unnf,” Sombra breathed.

“Help me roll him over onto his back,” the nurse instructed, motioning for the guard to help her.

As Sombra was rolled onto his back, the growing crowd of onlookers was becoming unsettled. Nervous chatter back and forth between them was getting louder by the second, and further chaos would result if they were not put at ease. Nest stepped forward, putting himself between the crowd and Sombra.

“Don’t be alarmed,” Nest began in as diplomatic of a voice as he could muster, “He’s going to be okay…”

---

Celestia stood on one of the many balconies in the Castle, facing west. She was in the process of guiding the sun over the horizon for the night, a task that she had been in charge of for the past century, ever since Discord’s defeat. Her horn flared as the heavenly body slipped out of view and the horizon turned to the beautiful oranges and violets of twilight.

On a balcony nearby, Luna was also performing her duty, raising the moon in the east. With her own work done, Celestia took up watching her sibling. Even from her vantage point, she could see the strain in Luna’s face. Granted, raising the moon was more difficult than lowering it, but she hadn’t shown any difficulty in doing her task before. Celestia turned and exited the balcony, adding a mental note to bring that up with Luna at dinner.

Celestia made her way downstairs and through the castle foyer, using the lower passages on her way to the dining hall. Servants were bustling about, guards were doing their duties. The first of the year’s Hearth’s Warming decorations were going up, adding warmth and brightness to the spirit of those inside. It was this time of year that the castle’s vast halls truly seemed alive.

As Celestia walked along, she began to ponder about her younger sister. In the past few weeks, she had seen less and less of her. Often, they only saw each other at breakfast and dinner, and though Celestia never missed attending the dining hall, Luna had curiously been absent more and more often as of late.

It appeared that she had her topic of conversation lined out for the evening, no matter how unpleasant it may be.

She passed through the hallway lined with sets of decorative armor, taking note that a few of them were starting to tarnish and would need polishing. A left turn at the end of that hall led her into another, and one more right turn through a large double door deposited her in the dining hall. The servants were putting the finishing touches on the meal itself, with Celestia’s own plate filled with dinner entrees and Luna’s consisting of foods more normally served at breakfast. Since they were on different sleep schedules, their meals were always served this way.

Celestia thanked the servants as they finished and took her seat in a chair adjacent to the end of the table. Luna was still not to be found, though it was still early in mealtime. Celestia decided that she would go ahead and start without her sister, and began working on her bowl of garden soup.

The door swung open, and she looked up in hope that Luna had arrived. Instead of the Princess of the Night, a magenta Pegasus in a set of armor belonging to the Crystal Empire came staggering in. He was gasping for breath and looked ready to collapse, but he crossed the room and bowed to the Princess.

“Your Highness, I bring a letter…” he sucked in a deep breath and produced a roll of parchment from his saddlebag ”...from King Sombra. It is of...extreme urgency.”

Celestia stood and lifted the scroll from the messenger’s hoof. “Thank you. Would you like to rest a moment?”

The messenger shook his head and made his way to the door. Celestia nodded to him once more as he exited, the tall oak door closing with a resounding click. With the visitor gone, she took her seat again and flipped the rolled paper open.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I have written to inform you of the situation in the Empire as of today. We have strong reason to believe that the Changeling colony is planning an attack. According to the testimony of one of our soldiers, the patrol he was leading last night encountered Changelings in our lands, and three of his command did not return.

This looks to be a major problem, but only one tangible piece of evidence exists to validate this threat. The Crystal Empire will not take full-scale action until more conclusive evidence can be procured. I do, however, ask that you be ready to provide military assistance should things make a turn for the worst.

I await your response.

Sincerely,

King Sombra

Celestia lowered the scroll and tucked it neatly beneath her wing, simultaneously taking one last bite of her soup and rising from her seat. She hadn’t been overly hungry to begin with, and she could opt to eat a light snack before she retired for the evening instead. Before she could leave the table, though, the door opened again. Luna came walking into the room, her expression blank.

“Luna, so good to see you,” Celestia greeted, offering a smile.

Luna’s expression softened a bit at the sight of her sister, “Hello, dear sister.” She crossed the room and took a seat at her place setting. Celestia moved to sit down, but the feeling of the paper beneath her wing reminded her of her business.

“I apologize, Luna, but I am afraid I have to excuse myself. There is an urgent matter that I must attend to.”

“I understand. Will we see you later?” Luna asked.

“Likely not. I bid you goodnight, sister.” Celestia left the table and pushed her chair back in as she walked to the doors.

“Sleep well,” Luna said quietly. She sat in silence while Celestia crossed the room, staring at her omelette in front of her. The tall, heavy oak door creaked open, and boomed closed a moment later . With Celestia out of the room, she raised a hoof towards her food, and smashed it down with enough force to send a fork flying from the table until she caught it in her magic. Yet again, she would eat her meal alone.

---

Sombra awoke to find that he was laying on his back with a mare patting a damp rag over his head and a royal guard holding his legs up. It was still pitch black, and the ground beneath him felt crunchy, like dry leaves. His head was pounding with the intensity of a blacksmith’s forge, and what little bit of his surroundings he could see in the dark seemed to be spinning slowly. To his left, he could hear Nest giving a speech of some kind.

“What happened?” he groaned, moving a foreleg to wipe at his face.

“You’re fine,” the mare answered, rubbing the cool rag behind his ears. “Just take it easy.”

Sombra turned his head to the side and looked over to where he could hear the Commander. In front of him, there stood a larger group of ponies. Many were trying to look past Nest and catch a glimpse of him.

“I do not have time to take it easy,” Sombra grumbled, shaking off the guard’s grip and rolling upright. He fumbled a bit as he tried to stand, but managed to get himself up with the support of the adjacent tree.

“Slow down, your Highness! You’ll only hurt yourself if you don’t take it slow,” the nurse chided. After a few seconds of standing, Sombra felt his head go light again and his vision go dark. He stumbled over to the adjacent tree and used it to lean on while he let the headrush pass.

“I am fine,” he assured, rubbing his eyes instinctively to clear them of the blackness. “How long was I unconscious?”

“Only a couple of minutes, sir,” the guard answered, standing up and placing his helmet back on his head. “Do you need help?”

“No,” Sombra answered. His vision was coming back and his ears had stopped ringing, and he let himself stand on all four hooves again. He noticed that Nest had stopped talking and was walking back towards him.

“Are you okay, your Highness?” he asked.

“Yes, I am fine. Shall we get mov—”

A bone-chilling scream rang out, bringing silence back to the wood in its wake.

---

Coal Dust reared up on his hind legs in a vain attempt to see what had happened. For some reason, the entire group had stopped. No warnings, no orders. Suddenly the whole mass of more than two-thousand ponies had come to a halt. It was puzzling, and not knowing was beginning to get under his skin. He fell back to the ground and huffed a breath of frustration.

“Can you see anything, Headstrong?” he asked.

“Will you relax?” Headstrong answered in annoyance, having been asked the same question three times already.

“This is just weird though. I mean why would we just stop out of nowhere?”

“I think you’re overthinking it, Dusty,” commented Braid from the ground. She had taken full advantage of the stop by laying down to rest her hooves, as had a number of others.

Coal Dust dropped back down to all fours, again breathing out in annoyance. “Maybe you’re right. I’m probably just being paranoid.”

“About time,” quipped a blue unicorn soldier standing just behind the trio. “I never thought he’d shut his mouth.”

“Alright, you want me to come back there and shut yours for you?” Coal Dust snapped, turning towards him.

“Bring it on, shiny boy,” the unicorn taunted, motioning aggressively with his hooves.

“Stop!” Braid shouted, jumping in Coal Dust’s path while Headstrong grabbed him on the withers and held him fast. “Don’t let him get to you, Dusty.”

“What is your marefriend gonna fight for you, you damned pansy?”

“That’s it!” Coal Dust shouted, nudging Braided Twist aside and lunging forward at the unicorn. He ran like a cheetah chasing a gazelle, anticipating the satisfying feeling of driving a hoof into his adversary’s face. At the last moment, he launched himself through the air and caught Vector around the withers in a heavy tackle.

As soon as they hit the ground, the unicorn was throwing punches. He hit as fast as he could manage, landing several blows on Coal Dust’s head before he could react. Coal Dust rolled off of him to get out of the way of the punches. In that moment, he had an opening. As the unicorn was scrambling to get upright, he found himself bowled over yet again by a blur of violet.

Coal Dust enjoyed the feeling of knocking the unicorn flat, maintaining a satisfied grin as he smacked into the ground after the second tackle. In a flash, he was back on his hooves and ready to go in again, this time making more use of his hooves. He managed a single step forward before something wrapped around his belly and yanked him backwards and to the ground. A leg caught him in a headlock and he glanced up to notice that Headstrong had him pinned. The unicorn was being taken care of similarly by another soldier.

“Enough!” Headstrong shouted.

Coal Dust struggled a bit under the weight of his friend, but he was immobilized. Every time he pushed, the weight seemed to crush him down harder.

“Let me go!” he yelled back, his words coming out muffled because his muzzle was pressed into the lichens on the ground.

“I’m gonna let you up in twenty seconds. You can either drop this now or you can go back in and keep fighting.” Coal Dust grinned at the thought that he was about to be turned loose on the unicorn.

“Just remember; if you start again, you’ll be fighting me this time.”

The grin vanished, and he stopped struggling all together. As much as he wanted to go tear the other soldier limb from limb, the prospect of having Headstrong, the biggest pony he knew, come after him, was enough to kill the desire.

The remaining fifteen seconds passed in silence, the drawn crowd of ponies looking on eagerly to see what would happen next. A hushed whisper of excitement was all that could be heard besides the eerie whistling of the wind through the bare tree branches overhead. When Headstrong finally relaxed his grip and climbed off of Coal Dust, they were met with a slight disappointment when Dust turned away from the unicorn and walked away. The gathered ponies began to disperse immediately once the fight was over. Two ponies walked out of the way ahead of him, revealing Braid from behind themselves.

Her stare of disbelief was enough to make Coal Dust regret everything he had just done. Her mouth hung open ever so slightly, and her piercing look of disappointment made it difficult to make eye contact.

“Braid,” Coal Dust began, hanging his head and looking at the ground.

“Don’t even start.”

He looked up in time to catch the last glimpse of her tail as she disappeared into the mass of ponies.

“Way to go, Dust,” commented Headstrong.

“Shut up,” Dust returned, walking back to the outside edge of the group; in the opposite direction that Braid had gone. This was a time to brood, and being in the middle of a group of thousands was not the place to do it.

---

Unbeknownst to the ponies, something had been watching them for the last several hours. It lurked in the trees, keeping a cautious distance as it followed the massive herd before it. Darkness kept it concealed, and it treaded the earth on silent steps, careful not to reveal itself until the perfect moment. It would have all night to wait until opportunity knocked.

And now, that opportunity had presented itself. Behind a bush less than thirty feet from the edge of the herd, it sat in a crouch, ready to spring forward. The clinking of wooden parts accompanied its every breath, and it flicked an ethereal tongue across its lips in anticipation. The herd had stopped, a fight had broken out, and a large part of the group was distracted.

Opportunity had finally rapped at the door.

As it crouched lower, it could sense others of its kind nearby. The others had gathered for this potential feast, and through a magical connection with its brethren, it could tell that they were poised to strike as well. Like a powder keg, all it would take to set everything in motion was a single spark.

A distant scream pierced the air. The spark was there. With a huff, it launched itself forward, towards its waiting prize.

---

The wall of ponies in Coal Dust‘s path was proving quite the challenge to maneuver through. He would manage to slip past one, but then another blocked his route immediately after. Times like this were when he wished he was big like Headstrong, so he could go where he needed to go without worrying about crowds. However much he wanted it, he was not the equine wrecking ball that his friend was.

He was finally nearing the edge of the crowd, after a considerable amount of work. He had been on the outside edge throughout the night, but the fight had brought the crowd to envelop him in their attempts to get a view of the action. A few more steps and he would be free to disappear from the herd and their disappointed looks.

“AAAAAAAUUUUUUUUGH!!!”

Coal dust stopped cold, a mere three steps from his goal. The whole crowd hushed from their quiet din to deathly quiet in an instant, several crouching down and looking to the sky, terror in their eyes.

“Kill it! Whatever it is, kill it!” The distant voice of a shouting stallion followed the scream. Whispers began circulating; few at first, many after a few seconds. The whispers built on each other, quickly elevating to a low roar of voices asking questions.

Above the din, a long, loud howl sounded from the dark woods. The wolf’s howl again snuffed all sound in the forest, commanding absolute silence.

Coal Dust was one of the first to move after the howl subsided. The years he’d spent in the military had taught him to recognize a threat when he saw one. The dark woods, a herd of ponies with limited defensive capabilities, the sudden commotion, and the howl were all indicators that something was getting ready to attack. He glanced around himself, noting that the guards were reluctant to get back into position and stand against the threat.

“Get up! All soldiers up! Defensive perimeter!” His sentences were choppy, his mind racing too fast to put much thought into his speech. The soldiers began rising and readying themselves, drawing swords and putting their helmets back on their heads.

Out of the woods came a heavy thudding, similar to sprinting footsteps, but starkly different.

“Look out!” came a shout from a nearby mare. Out of the woods came two neon green dots, rushing forward at breakneck speed. Before anyone had a chance to react, they were upon the herd. Shouts of distress came from where they entered, also a number of loud growls punctuated by a loud yelp. Seeing that he was the impromptu leader at the moment, Coal Dust took the liberty of running straight to the scene of the attack. He stepped out and ran around the outside of the perimeter, galloping as fast as he could manage.

When he arrived, he found a scene of chaos unfolding. It was about the same place he had been when the fight broke, the obvious place to attack since it had the greatest number of targets available. Now that whatever it was had made its attempt, the ponies behind the defense were scrambling in a panic to get away. A small empty space had opened up around the point of impact, Headstrong’s large silhouette immediately recognizable. Another pony was lying on the ground in the center of the opening, and two others also standing around.

There was no sign of the attacker.

Coal Dust approached cautiously, still unsure of exactly what he was seeing. “What happened here?” he asked. Now that he was close to the scene, he could make out that the pony on the ground was injured in some way, and one of the soldiers was shouting for a medic. The metallic smell of blood wafted through the air, accompanied by a hint of…rotten eggs?

“I’ve never seen anything like it, Dust,” Headstrong answered, beside himself. “It was like a dog, but it wasn’t a dog.”

“What? What’s going on?”

“Medic!”

“It was a wolf. Made of wood.”

“You’re kidding,” answered Coal Dust, in disbelief.

“The damn thing came like a lightning bolt and took Vector down. Just tackled him and started tearing him up. I hit it with my sword, and then it just fell apart.” Headstrong finally afforded a glance in Dust’s direction.

Coal Dust moved in closer, finally getting a good view of Vector. The unicorn’s blue fur was stained with crimson in more places than it wasn’t. A number of gashes and punctures were seeping more blood every second. He was limp, eyes closed and gasping weakly for breath.

The same pony he had fought moments before.

“Where’s that damn medic?!” The accompanying pony’s shouts for help were increasingly desperate. “Either of you got something we can use for a tourniquet? We can at least stop the bleeding from his leg.”

“I’ve got a rag in my saddlebags,” Headstrong answered, reaching his head back and undoing the strap with his teeth. The bags fell to the ground with a dull thump. “Hey Dust, look through this one and see if the rag’s there.”

“Sure.” Coal Dust began rummaging through the bag, using his wingtips to sort through the jumbled mess of items inside.

With everypony heavily distracted, the faint green glow rising from the piles of sticks around them went unnoticed.

“I can’t see anything in here without light,” Coal Dust commented.

“Hang on, I have some matches in my bags.”

The sticks pulsed with energy, making them float above the ground by mere millimeters.

“Hang on a second,” Headstrong reassured, sticking his muzzle into the bag and feeling with his nose. “I know I just had them.”

The sticks began to roll across the ground, slowly but surely working their way across the ground under the cover of darkness.

“Hurry up with that rag, he’s losing a lot of blood here,” warned the soldier.

The sticks were floating along quickly now, passing carefully around the ponies view and never bumping against them. They began to congregate at a point a few yards behind the small gathering.

“There they are!” Headstrong announced triumphantly, pulling out a book of matches that looked comically small in his teeth.

“Good, pass ‘em here,” Coal Dust said, reaching a wing over to grab the matchbook.

The sticks rose up at the meeting point, each taking its own carefully designated place. The form of a canine was beginning to take shape.

“Here we go,” Coal Dust said to himself as he pulled a match from the book and gripped it against the striker strip. With a firm pull, he set it ablaze, bathing the immediate area with dim light.

A pair of piercing green eyes opened behind him.

“Behind you!” Headstrong shouted.

“Wha-OOF” Coal Dust began before Headstrong caught him in a tackle. The match fell from his grip and into the leaf litter below, and a mere second separated him from being set upon by the newly formed wolf, which went sailing past as it attempted to bring itself to a stop. The two ponies tumbled to the ground and watched as the wolf, instead of stopping, switched targets. With a slight realignment, it went crashing into the pony standing over Vector. He did not see what hit him, and was launched forward by the sudden impact.

Before Coal Dust and Headstrong could get back up, the wolf was on Vector again, this time seizing him around the neck. The wooden wolf began tugging at the lifeless pony, dragging him across the ground.

Headstrong was the first back up, and his first move was to charge the wolf. The wolf, recognizing this tactic from the first time it had been defeated, released Vector long enough to sidestep the bodycheck.

“Whoa!” Headstrong exclaimed as he sailed past the wolf. His hooves caught as he tried to stop, and he went tumbling to the ground.

Coal Dust sat up, still dazed from the heavy tackle he had received. Before his still-dizzy eyes, he saw the wolf’s silhouette as it dragged the pony away. Another set of green eyes appeared in the woods and approached, stopping alongside the first wolf and, though Coal dust could barely see it, took up a place to help drag the pony deeper into the woods.

He turned his head and looked in the opposite direction. The civilians had vanished, though he could still hear their frantic hoofbeats as they fled the scene of the attack.

“Come back here you useless piles of kindling!” Headstrong’s distinctive shout echoed in the trees. His white fur made him easy to spot in the darkness, and it appeared that he was limping badly on his front hoof. Despite the injury, he was still determined to give chase to the predators.

“Headstrong!” shouted Coal Dust. “He’s gone! Don’t get yourself killed too!”

“You saw how easy they are to kill! I could take all of them!” Headstrong bellowed, the anguish in his voice becoming more apparent.

Coal Dust rose from the ground, his back stiff from the tackle. “There’s more out there than you could handle. Don’t get yourself turned into dog food.”

“That’s a big steaming pile of crap and you know it!” Headstrong’s shout lessened a bit at the end, the acceptance that he was defeated dawning on him. “We can still fight. We can still save him—”

As if on cue, a wolf’s howl rose from the trees just beyond view. First one, then two, then five, then a dozen low, long, canine voices formed a chorus. The howls came from all around, some distant and some so close that they could still smell the rotten stench of their breath. The wolves’ call was not that of normal wolves, though; it carried some indescribable, ethereal aspect on it, the type that specifically worked to instill fear in the hearts of any who heard it.

Headstrong looked at Coal Dust for a moment while the howls rose to fill the night with dread, then promptly turned and took off in a gallop towards where the herd had run. Coal Dust was hot on his heels, ready to get back to the safety of the herd’s numbers.

The wolves would not give chase.

Author's Note:

These ponies just can't catch a break, can they? Poor Vector, he left us in a bad way. (Thanks to my friend Ice_Hammer for supplying his character designs.)

Unfortunately for you, this is the last chapter I will release for a while. I am taking a hiatus to gather my thoughts and enthusiasm while devoting my writing time towards another fic. Thanks for the readership, be on the lookout for news regarding that amazing new story, and I hope to see you on the other side of the hiatus!

Credits and lots of extra thanks to nucnik for his continued work to help me. Maybe I should start paying him...

Comments

[IceHammer82]

"Wow! Vector and Coal are gonna make up and go on amazing adventures!" *reads rest of chapter*