Hunters of the forest.

by Sylif Daring Doo

Complications.

______*The Everfree Forest, Castle of the Two Sisters.*______

The Castle of the Two Sisters is an abandoned and ruined place, with very few intact rooms within its walls, it was here that Shanda and Twilight Sparkle searched for the Core, an object of Titan origin that held the power to send the Night Elf and her father home.

It has been five minutes since Shanda apologized to Twilight for her behaivor earlier, and while they were making good time in their search, the fact that they found nothing yet began to annoy Shanda who proved to be rather Impatient. "This is taking too long." The young Night Elf complained as she leaned against the wall.

Twilight looked over her shoulder and at Shanda with a raised eyebrow and an annoyed glare, they currently stood in one of many hallways, it held nothing of interest aside from an old suit of armor. "I think we are making great time considering the size of this place." Her gaze softened as she walked over to the Night Elf who was clearly upset. "You really do miss your homeworld...Azeroth right?" She asked softly.

Shanda sighed and rested her head on the wall, she closed her eyes and thought on the question. 'It's my homeworld, I grew up there and I have friends in Azeroth...but still...' She opened up her eyes and looked at Twilight.

"I miss various things about Azeroth." Shanda started. "I miss my home village of Sen'Jin, I miss adventuring with dad and whoever else we decide to pick up along the way, I miss my ragtag band of friends." She held a hand up in her vision and stared at it. "And while I won't admit it to dad...I miss being among my own kind, Sen'Jin will always be my home and the Darkspear will always be my people and my loyalty will always be to the Horde...but I loved my time with the Night Elves, I made friends there and I could feel a sense of belonging." She shook her head and ignited her hand, she stared at the orange flames.

Twilight nodded in understanding. "I think...I would feel the same way if our situation were reversed, I don't think I would be as strong as you are being though." She stated, seeing the raised eyebrow she was getting she spoke. "Before now, have you ever taken the time to consider what would happen if the Core isn't in Equestria?" She asked, Shanda shook her head and Twilight continued. "It took you this long to actually be concerned and you aren't even panicking, I would probably scream within a minute of arriving in a new world." She stated with an eye roll.

Shanda stared for a moment before returning her gaze to her burning hand, feeling no pain from the magical fire. "Can you promise me something Twilight?" She asked, looking at the mare. "Can I trust you not to tell anyone what I'm about to tell you?" She asked, her voice was filled with regret and her shoulders sagged unconsciously, as though she were carrying a great burden, the fire disappeared from her hand.

Twilight noticed this but said nothing, she bit her lip and thought about it for a while, it took a couple of minutes but she eventually looked the Night Elf in the eye. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She stated firmly, going through the motions for the promise.

Shanda blinked. "Uh...what was that?" She asked with sudden confusion.

Twilight smiled. "It's called a Pinkie Promise, and I've heard that breaking one is a sure fire way to lose a friend." She replied with a calm demeanor.

Shanda was about to reply when she heard a faint voice calling out in the distance. "Foreverrrrr!" It sounded like, confused and bewildered, Shanda looked at Twilight who shook her head with a sigh.

Putting her confusion aside, Shanda rested her head on the wall again and slid down to the floor so that she was sitting, she looked at Twilight who took a seat on the other side of the small hallway, she held her hand out and formed a small fireball. "The truth of the matter is I...I LIKE my flames, I know I shouldn't especially when I consider how I ended up with them, but I get such a rush when I release them, I feel free and unbound, the feeling is liberating and comforting, I should hate them, I really should but lately I can't bring myself to hate my flames like I used too." She sighed and dispelled the fireball. "The worst part of it is that It's difficult to avoid thinking about it, like an addiction I can only go for so long before my thoughts turn towards it, and in my case that's releasing my flames whenever I can." She admitted, shame filled her voice as she lowered her gaze to the floor.

Twilight could only sit in silence as she listened to the Night Elf talk, she waited for a minute once Shanda was done talking, processing what she heard, she then sighed. "I'm...not sure what I can say about that, it sounds like pyromania but I don't want to downplay what you're feeling." She said softly, she leaned up against the wall and rested her head on it. "I know you said it's a family matter." She began, getting Shanda's attention. "But I just want to know...is it really that bad? having fire magic?" She asked curiously, wanting to at least get some answers.

Shanda shook her head slowly. "I...I hope not, as I said before I do like my fire magic, I hate how I got it but that's it, I don't even feel resentment anymore even though my dad does." She admitted as she folded her legs and put her arms around them.

The last piece of the puzzle suddenly clicked for Twilight, she opened her mouth to speak but just as she did so, the entire hallway began shaking violently, the two of them cried out in surprise and stood up quickly just as rubble started to fall from the ceiling. "What's going on!?" Twilight cried out.

Shanda looked up and down the ends of the hallway but saw nothing as she struggled to stay standing as the shaking made her wobble and fight to keep her balance. "I don't know!" She replied loudly, before starting to walk to the closer end of the hallway which was where they were going. "Come on!" She called out.

Behind the Night Elf, Twilight fought to get closer, she shook and struggled to keep up, she placed a hoof on the floor and moved another one forward, she almost slipped but was able to catch herself and regained her balance, if only barely, any sense of victory was cut short however as a loud crash came from behind her, Twilight looked over her shoulder and her eyes widened as the floor itself was collapsing quickly towards her, reacting on instinct Twilight lit her horn and teleported closer to Shanda. "Behind us!" She cried out, falling to the ground at the unexpected teleport.

Shanda looked back and before she could do anything the floor beneath her and Twilight gave out, and they both plunged into a black pit which didn't look like it had a bottom, the last thing she saw before the darkness enveloped her was the floor quickly returning to normal, sealing them in wherever they were going.

Unfortunately for Shanda and Twilight, before they could create a light so they could see, they landed on something very sticky which stopped them from falling, and before either of them could react, something large that they couldn't see aside from a faint blue glow suddenly began wrapping them up in multiple layers of the sticky substance.

Shanda ignited her hand at the last second, just in time to watch as a huge spider with eight gray spindly hairless legs stick Twilight with its stinger, the fire from her hand seemed to be enough to cause a panic from another spider behind her and acting quickly, Shanda ignited her entire body, burning away the webs around her and sadly, under her as well.

Shanda quickly started falling down again but she didn't disperse the flames surrounding her, she focused on the massive web above her and without thinking she fired a torrent of flames up at the web, the fire quickly ignited the spiders who let out piercing screeches of pain and the web burnt away.

Shanda stopped her assault and her eyes widened as she watched Twilight falling rapidly, the mare looked unconscious and would be unable to do anything, she mentally berated herself for her lack of foresight when she noticed the burnt fur on the mare, Shanda quickly changed her focus to ensuring they both survive the fall and realized that the mare would be falling within her reach, she glanced down and saw the webs they were falling towards, she narrowed her eyes and managed to flip over, she then unleashed a large wave of fire down the pit, the flames traveled fast and quickly burnt away the webs and any of the spiders that happened to be on them.

Shanda soon spotted solid ground approaching, she flipped over again and saw that Twilight was just about near her, she instinctively dispersed her flames and reached out to grab the mare, once Twilight was in her grasp she held her tight and faced her back to the floor, running incredibly short on time, Shanda braced herself for impact and channeled her magic to one of the few spells that she still had that wasn't fire based.

Glancing down and with her eyes wide, Shanda braced for impact and closed her eyes, she expected to feel the harsh impact of the ground, expecting to die she waited...but it never came, there was no pain at all.

Shanda opened her eyes hesitantly when she felt that she was on solid ground, she breathed a sigh of relief and released her grip on Twilight, feeling her adventurous instincts kick in she set the mare down on the ground and quickly got to her feet, she ignited her hand and held it up, lighting the room she looked around.

The room they ended up in was a small chamber, with about fifteen feet in all four directions, the walls were chipped and cracked but otherwise they were mostly intact, there was a large entryway with broken door hinges and said door was broken and shattered on the ground around the doorway, there was a torch on the opposite wall from the entrance to the room and there were broken barrels all along the walls.

Shanda looked up and to her surprise she only saw a stone ceiling, she threw a small fireball at the ceiling to test for an illusion but to her surprise it only impacted rock, she sighed and looked at Twilight who was out cold, feeling a brief wave of panic but not allowing it to get the better of her, Shanda approached the unconscious unicorn and knelt down, she placed two fingers on the mare's neck and felt for a pulse, to her relief Twilight was alive.

Shanda acted quickly and held her hands over the mare and channeled her magic, again reaching for one of her few non fire spells, she sent a magical pulse into the mare's body which proceeded to eliminate toxins one by one, and after a few more pulses of this spell. Shanda breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Twilight's eyes open. "Oh good...you're alright." She said in a relieved tone, pulling her hands away from the mare.

Twilight groaned and put a hoof to her head as she closed her eyes and slowly sat up. "Ugh...where am I?" She asked groggily, still disoriented from the venom.

"Somewhere under the Castle, I managed to save us before those spiders returned, now come on and get up, we need to get out here...wherever here is." She replied, she turned her gaze to the rooms entrance for a moment before looking at Twilight and reaching her hand out.

The unicorn nodded in thanks and took the offered hand, she pulled herself up and wobbled a little bit. "Whoa." She said as she balanced herself to stay standing. "What did you do to get rid of the venom?" She asked, trying to get some sense of what was going on.

Shanda picked up on this and decided to answer the unicorn, seeing no harm in it. "I was trained as a Druid for years, they taught me to cleanse toxins, poison and disease with magic...its among the very few spells I have that aren't fire based anymore." She answered as she helped Twilight to stand up steadily, the toxins after effects seemed to be quite powerful.

After Twilight was finally able to stand up and walk without help, she tried to light her horn but the light that came from it was weak, she then looked at Shanda. "Ok, I can barely use magic, that venom seems to have drained my magic reserves comepletely, you'll be on your own if we end up needing to fight anything." She stated calmly, referring to her weakened physical and magical condition.

Shanda nodded and walked to the entryway, she ignited her hand and held it up just next to her shoulder, there was a room outside the one they were in and it was empty save a few broken benches and tables. "This must have been a mess hall of some kind." She observed, she intensified the flame and illuminated the rest of the next room, there was one double door on the other side and dozens of broken torches along the walls, there were massive cobwebs in every corner of the ceiling.

Twilight gulped and took a hesitant step out of the room, she waited for something to happen but thankfully nothing did, she then slowly made her way toward the other side with Shanda walking next to her, returning the flame to normal. "So uh, these Druids, you said you learned from them?" Twilight asked curiously, trying to cope with being helpless below an abandoned castle in the most dangerous forest in Equestria.

"I did." Shanda replied simply, she was quiet for a few seconds before continuing. "After I was found to be part of the Horde, I was certain I was done for, but to my surprise they instead disarmed me and left me in the wilds, naturally as a hunter I focused on surviving, I made a makeshift spear, a makeshift bow and some arrows after hours of searching for small stones or flint, I tried to forage but anything edible was too dangerous to retrieve, so I went hunting for food...it uh, didn't go well." She explained, the Night Elf then paused and used her free hand to pull down her right arms sleeve, the bracer coming loose.

Twilight's eyes went wide as she stared at several large scars, they were obviously made by a claw and from the severity of the scar, the wound must have been large, Shanda soon tightened the bracer and pulled her sleeve back up and continued speaking. "I was discovered by a group of Cenarion Druids, seven of them to be exact, they brought me back to their camp to fix me up, when I woke up they told me that they healed my wounds but that I was weak from my injuries, they also broke the news about my scars to me." She sighed before continuing. "Imagine my surprise when the exact same adventurer who exposed my secret turned up at the camp, we locked eyes and glared at each other for a while before he focused on talking to the leader of the Druid group." She chuckled at the memory.

Shanda stopped talking as they reached the ancient and rotting door, both the Night Elf and Unicorn were confused as to how the door was still here after so many years but neither said anything about it as Shanda opened it...the door immediately broke apart and collapsed to the floor the moment it was touched, revealing a hallway.

Shanda focused on the hall, seeing nothing aside from dust, small bits of rubble and cracks in the walls, not willing to intensify the flame, the Night Elf simply walked into the hallway, with Twilight by her side. "As I was saying." Shanda spoke just loud enough to be heard but not for her voice to be heard from a distance. "The adventurer had friends who showed up after a brief discussion and I overhead that they were tasked with clearing the way of some evil cultists who were blocking the way to a Cenarion village." Shanda paused when they came to a crossroads, there were four paths but one of them were collapsed by rocks.

Shanda sighed and chose the one to the left, opposite the collapsed path, seeing nothing ahead by cobwebs and a rusted suit of armor that matched the ones in the castle above. "What happened next?" Twilight asked curiously, eager to hear more.

"Well..." Shanda replied, her tone indicated that she was enjoying the trip down memory lane. "Me...being a generous soul and wanting to repay the debt I owed the Druids, offered to assist the adventurers in clearing the way, saying that I could fight, before the Druids could object and to my growing surprise, my offer was accepted." She paused to breathe before continuing. "That was...a very enlightening experience." She said quietly.

"All of this happened years ago? how young were you at the time?" Twilight asked, not intending to sound offensive, just curious.

Shanda shrugged. "It was years ago, I was only about...twenty?" She replied as she walked.

Twilight paused for a brief moment but continued walking. "Uh...how old are you exactly?" She asked hesitantly.

Shanda stopped walking and looked at Twilight, she raised an eyebrow at the odd question but answered it anyway. "I'm thirty two years old, what's this about all of a sudden?" She asked, wanting to figure out what was going through the unicorns mind.

Twilight shook her head. "I could have sworn Scootaloo said you were a teenager." She muttered quietly but it was loud enough to be heard by the Night Elf.

Shanda immediately put two and two together and spoke up as she walked down the long hallway. "My dad told Scootaloo my age didn't he?" Getting a nod from Twilight the Elf continued. "He's done it before, because Night Elves don't really show signs of age for a long time, my dad tells that lie so that people won't treat me as badly if we get captured, it also makes them underestimate me." She sighed as the two approached an opening in the wall. "I just wish he would stop, I'm not a little girl anymore, I don't need him to protect me like that anymore." She stated, slightly annoyed by what she was talking about.

Twilight nodded in half understanding and they both went silent as Shanda entered the new room to look inside, the room was moderately sized, there were crumbling stone tables everywhere along with torches all over the room, Shanda spotted a few in decent condition and lit them up, they illuminated the room enough to show that the floor was incredibly damaged and that there wasn't anything to see at a glance, so Shanda didn't even bother entering the room and continued walking down the hall.

Shanda then decided to continue talking. "Back to the story, I found myself joining the adventurers to deal with the cultists, there were five of them in total, two Humans, a Gnome, a Night Elf and a Dwarf, the trip was quiet and awkward for myself and the leader of the group, the Human soldier Gerard, he was the leader of the group and was also the one who turned me in." She rolled her eyes and then her eyes spotted something up ahead, she silently braced herself and intensified her flames, she groaned as she spotted a large pile of rubble going up to the ceiling, effectively cutting the path off. "Wonderful." The Elf muttered.

As the two turned around to head back, they heard angry chittering rapidly approaching them from the hall, Shanda glanced down the hall and saw an unlit torch on the left wall, she threw fire at it and the torch ignited, illuminating a huge spider with eight bony legs and large red scars along its back, it's eyes glowed a soft blue and it screeched before charging at a surprising speed toward the two.

Twilight lit her horn but all it managed to do was cause her to cringe, Shanda immediately summoned her flames and threw a large fireball at the spider, it impacted hard which made the spider recoil and let out a terrible screech of agony as the flames consumed it moments later from another fireball.

Shanda sighed and took a moment to breathe, she dissipated the flames from her hand and took a moment to rest in the light by the torch. "Ok, now we know what we are dealing with." She muttered.

"That's certainly disturbing." Twilight added, walking up to the Night Elf. "I'm sorry I can't help you fight, I would if I was able to, but with this magic drain it's like I have no strength." She said, ears drooped a little, showing she was upset.

Shanda said nothing and instead she patted Twilight's shoulder, causing the mare to stiffen up a little at the touch. "It's alright, I protected quite a few people who couldn't fight, It's not a problem, you focus on getting your strength back, deal?" She asked, though it was obvious what the answer was.

Twilight let out a half hearted chuckle and then paused, she then looked at Shanda. "Uh...where's Rock?" She asked, not remembering where the lion was.

Shanda froze and looked up and down the hall for her friend and companion, when she saw no sign of him she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I swear, I cannot keep track of that stupid lion." She complained under her breath before shaking her head. "Whatever, he can handle himself and knows enough to find dad when we get seperated." She muttered before walking down the hall back to the crossroads.

Twilight joined the Night Elf and walked by her side. "So...how did it go? dealing with the cultists?" She asked out of curiosity.

"Ah...the story." Shanda said, though she would never admit it, she forgot to continue it. "Well, we made good progress to the cultist camp and we camped for the night, while everyone else set up the tents I prepared the campfire and Gerard walked up to me, warning me not to do anything funny or I would regret it." She shrugged. "I swore to him that nothing would happen but that didn't seem to help." She explained, sounding a little nostalgic of the memory. "That night, I was able to sleep peacefully but the others didn't fare so well, considering that they were all being kept up all night because of Gerard's orders to keep an eye on me...by the time it was morning I was feeling much better, we continued on after eating and when we finally reached the cultist camp I was given an old bow by Kormac, the Dwarf of the group." She paused to light a nearby torch.

"Aren't you concerned that more will show up?" Twilight asked out of worry, looking back at the lit torches behind them.

Shanda shook her head and kept walking. "It's obvious that these spiders rely on hearing rather than sight, at this point lighting the torches can only help us." She replied calmly before lighting a few torches that she spotted up ahead, further illuminating the path and barely revealing the collapsed hall up ahead at the crossroads.

"As I was saying, I joined the adventurers in attacking the cultists, Gerard didn't trust me and so he kept Kormac and Shylish behind with me to keep me from doing anything to hinder them, not that I intended to of course...though I wouldn't have complained if one of my arrows hit Gerard at the time." She grinned as she stifled a laugh. "It was a brief encounter, with our combined efforts and training, we easily killed the untrained cultists even though some of them knew magic and outnumbered us." She looked at Twilight who seemed to be a little tense. "When it was all over, we made our way back to the Druids, Gerard took the bow and arrows from me and we talked, mostly he wanted to understand me, why I served the Horde and why I spied on my own kind, I shocked him quite a bit when I told him about being raised by the Darkspear tribe, most importantly though I told him that I actually wasn't spying, he didn't believe me but I told him that I used the guise of being a spy so that I could live among the Night Elves without the Horde thinking I was a traitor." Shanda explained, she then scratched the back of her head as they reached the crossroads. "Now that I think about it, I probably was committing treason while I lived with the Night Elves." She muttered.

Shanda faced the hallway they didn't go down and started to walk into it, she took it slow and Twilight took cautious steps forward next to the Elf, the two of them walked slowly and quietly up until Shanda spotted a torch on the wall, using her fire to light the torch, Shanda briefly dispersed the flames around her hand and watched as several large webs were burnt away in seconds. "What happened when you returned to the Druids?" Twilight asked out of curiosity.

"Well, Gerard and his group were paid for their efforts and they went on their way, after they left I joined the Druids as they headed to Moonglade, a safe haven for Druids, as we made our way to Moonglade I talked to the Druids the entire way, learning about them and when we reached Moonglade, I learned that the Cenarion Circle was in dire need of new Druids...so I asked to join them, to see if I could become a Druid." Shanda explained as they walked the halls, hand once again ignited.

Twilight was about to speak when the two of them neared an entryway on the wall to their right, there was a torch just outside the entrance to the room and Shanda lit it with her flame before they entered the new room, it appeared to be a meeting room of some kind with a massive stone table in the center stretching far from one end of the room to the other yet leaving a few feet from the wall.

Shanda looked for torches on the wall and saw that any torches were broken and useless, she said nothing about this and approached the table, upon close examination she noticed that the table was cracked in numerous places up and down, there were small stone figures on the table that seemed to have a map on it as part of a design. "This must have been a war room." The Elf observed before looking at Twilight. "There's nothing here." She stated.

The mare nodded and peeked out into the hall to check and see if any of the spiders were nearby, she looked back at Shanda and motioned to leave the room, after the Elf left the room they both continued heading down the long hall. "What do you suppose this place was?" Twilight asked, curious as to the opinion of her companion.

"My guess is that it was an old military facility back in the days this castle was used or even before that, I know a few people who would love to explore this place once it was clear of spiders." Shanda replied, she spotted a torch and lit it up, the light was dim and flickered out after a few seconds, making it pointless to have even done so. "That's annoying." The Elf muttered.

"So...the Druids, did they accept you?" Twilight asked hesitantly, unsure if it was a sensitive topic.

Shanda didn't notice the hesitation and replied as though it weren't a problem. "They did...they put me through the wringer of course, testing me in a multitude of ways and breaking me of my old habits, but after eight years...it was worth it, it was fulfilling work and I was at peace, the Alliance still didn't like me and the Horde thought I was dead for the longest time...that was on me though, not the Druids, I got into no end of trouble from dad when we finally reunited." She explained, she then looked at Twilight. "You know, one of the upsides to being a Druid is that you can shapeshift into different animals." She added with a smirk.

Twilight's eyes widened and looked at Shanda. "Really! what's that like?" She asked enthusiastically, excited at the chance to learn.

"It's a wonderful feeling actually." Shanda replied simply before shuddering. "Though...when the elder Druids tell you NOT to shapeshift during mating season, you should believe them." She added quietly, making Twilight raise an eyebrow.

"I'm not sure I..." Twilight stopped as she realized something. "Wait, no...don't tell me...Shanda did you do what I think you did?" She asked, wide eyed in surprise.

Shanda sighed. "I don't want to talk about it." She replied with a slight blush, she then looked away from the mare. "Nice cheetah though." She spoke in a very hushed whisper.

Twilight said nothing in reply, blushing a little as well before pushing the thoughts aside and focusing on where they were going, the hallway started to be filled with webs and even more rubble and broken torches, Shanda claimed that the torches were destroyed because they were sources of fire which the spiders were incredibly vulnerable against, which the Elf claimed was odd considering her experience in battle.

The two of them walked for several minutes down the increasingly web covered hall, they weren't able to enter any side rooms as they were collapsed by rocks or there were webs that were incredibly thick, they were silent as they passed those ones, just in case there were spiders inside the rooms.

Eventually they reached a large chamber, Shanda spotted torches along the walls of the surprisingly web free chamber, she raised an eyebrow but lit the torches anyway which lit up the room, illuminating the cracks in the walls as well as the large holes all over. "That's not good." Shanda muttered as she turned to face the exit, it was a large stone door that looked like it was just as ancient and crumbling as the rest of this place.

Twilight walked up to the door and then looked back at Shanda. "Can you help me open this?" She asked, referring to the door.

Shanda dispersed her flames again and walked to the door, she placed her hands on the door and Twilight did the same with her hooves, and after counting to three, the two of them began pushing the door open, it was incredibly sturdy for its age and barely budged, they kept pushing up until they heard a familiar screeching behind them.

Shanda looked over her shoulder and saw three spiders approaching, two emerged from holes in the wall on both sides of the room and one came from the hallway, she then felt heavy pounding on the door and growled. "Of course." She complained before looking at Twilight. "Hold as long as you can." She ordered before letting go of the door to face the spiders.

The middle spider charged quickly and Shanda drew her bow, grabbed an arrow and loosed an arrow at the spider, the arrow flew straight and embedded into one of the many eyes of the spider causing it to recoil and let out a pained screech, Shanda noticed how quickly the other two started to move and put her bow back, she quickly formed a fireball and threw it at the middle spider, it started burning as the flames stuck to it and it ran away, screeching in pain.

Shanda unsheathed her Elementium dagger and dodged to the side as a spider charged at her, it collided with the wall behind her but she was knocked to the ground before she could do anything else, the other spider attacked furiously, it snapped away at Shanda and tried to bite her neck but she managed to keep it from succeeding by using her dagger to block, she was about to use her fire to attack when she felt a familiar sensation fill her, she flinched at the memory which made her lose focus long enough to make her spell worthless.

"Shanda!" Twilight cried out, the sound of the door being thrown open filled the room and the unicorn tried to run away, she managed to fire off a few magic bolts but they did little aside from making the spider chasing her stop for a moment.

The Night Elf growled and threw her fist up, punching the spider under its jaw, it recoiled for a brief second but that was log enough for her to thrust her dagger into the spiders mouth, it's ear piercing screech filled the room and Shanda removed her dagger, followed by her unleashing a fierce fireblast on the spider, it was flung away from the force and she forced herself to stand up, she was soon beset upon by another spider and she quickly grabbed her spear, she sheathed her dagger and dodged a charge from the spider, she then thrust her spear into the spiders giant venom sac, it screeched and she once again stabbed the spider after removing the spear, she did this three times while avoiding the others and then the spider collapsed.

Shanda realized that her spear wasn't working very well and returned it to her back after dodging a spiders furious charge, she took a step back and felt a wall, she glanced back and saw that she was in a corner, she growled and took the strange reprieve as a chance to examine the situation.

There was a small swarm of the spiders in the room, around twenty of them and many of them were focused on her, there didn't seem to be any more coming from the room beyond the doors or the holes in the walls, she ignited her hands and felt an intense burning sensation filling her, she gasped and dispersed the flames, she unsheathed her dagger and glanced at it and then at the spiders, a crazy idea formed in her mind and she decided that it was her best bet.

Shanda suddenly charged forward at the spiders who quickly advanced on her, just before they got close she dropped to a slide and slashed violently, the blade easily cut through the spiders flesh and legs and even sliced into a second spider, she then rolled over as a spider tried to sting her and she then rolled forward, slashing in a wide arc at a nearby spider that was foolish enough to stay near her, the spiders she struck all collapsed moments later, ending in three dead already.

Shanda then stood up quickly and charged at the small swarm again, they charged at her but they seemed to be wary of her sliding under them, so with a grin on her now blood covered face, Shanda jumped as she got close, she landed on the spider and embedded her dagger deep into the body of the spider, she then dragged it forcefully through its body as it screeched in agony.

With another spider taken care of, Shanda hopped off the spider and landed just in front of another one, she thrust her dagger straight into its head and twisted it before pulling it out violently, she noticed another spider charging at her out of the corner of her eye and she waited a second or two before rolling away, slashing at the new spider as she did so, it screeched and soon collapsed as the blade had cut most of its body open.

Shanda stood up and the first thing she noticed was that she was surrounded by the remaining spiders, she gripped the dagger and braced, her heart racing from her recent actions, she felt her blood pumping from adrenaline and she found herself feeling excited at her memories of adventuring, she grinned like a madman, unknowingly allowing her bloodlust to overwhelm her.

All of this came crashing down however, when Shanda heard Twilight screaming, she blinked and felt all her excitement fade in an instant, her head snapped to look in the direction of the unicorn and she watched as a spider knocked Twilight down and proceeded to viciously attack.

Feeling something within her snap, Shanda sheathed her dagger and rushed towards Twilight, seeking to save her friend.

_____*A few moments ago.*_____

Twilight ran away from a pair of spiders that chased her away from the door, the majority of the swarm seemed to be focused entirely on Shanda instead of her which, while not good by any means, meant that all Twilight had to deal with was two very angry spiders who apparently hated her and wouldn't stop trying to attack.

It didn't help that Twilight was drained both magically and physically, she panted as she fired off another magic bolt at the spider on her left, it impacted it in the eye which made it cry out in pain, but it didn't run away, Twilight cursed under her breath and was about to try and make another break for it when she heard a horrifying screech of some kind, she and the spiders looked over and saw Shanda standing in the center of all the other spiders with a strange grin on her face.

One of the two spiders rushed over to help its brethren while the other one focused on Twilight and charged, the unicorn tried to fire another magic bolt but her magic fizzled out, she screamed in fear as it collided with her and proceeded to attempt to bite her with a primal fury, it took everything Twilight had to fend it off and that was barely working, her hoof suddenly slipped and she felt her heart skip a beat as the spider attempted to bite in that instant.

Twilight closed her eyes, unwilling to look at the spider as she met her fate...which never came, she paused and opened her eyes, she gasped at the sight before her, eyes wide and heart racing.

Standing before her in a protective manner was a large feline that was a little larger than her, though the most shocking part of this was that the feline was on fire, Twilight was frozen in place as she watched the feline pounce on a spider that had large gashes on its side, the flames that seeped from the felines burning claws seemed to stick to spider and it ignited in a brilliant blaze, incinerating it in seconds.

Twilight stood up slowly and watched in shock and horror and the burning feline tore into the remaining swarm, taking them out one by one In flame empowered assault, she tensed up and felt sweat form when the feline looked at her, she gulped but made no attempt to move with her legs paralyzed in fear, but when the feline walked over in a relaxed manner, Twilight noticed that Shanda wasn't around, she also remembered Shanda telling her what Druids could do. "Is...is that you Shanda?" She asked shakily.

The feline stopped before her and its form shifted before her eyes, she tensed up but she felt her worry fade as Shanda appeared before her, comepletely unharmed, but she noticed something off about her friend.

Shanda's eyes glowed orange instead of their usual blue, and her hair looked like it was on fire, parts of it looked like they were ablaze with a golden orange glow but the rest was untouched, her skin however now appeared to have reddish orange patterns etched on it, going from her eyes and even down her arms, glowing like an inferno. "What happened to you?" She asked, worried for the Elf. "And what kind of Druid turns into a burning cat?" She added with confusion in her voice.

Shanda looked at Twilight and sighed. "I transformed into what is commonly known as 'cat form' to fight the spiders, I wanted to avoid it if possible but...no point now I guess." She walked over to a wall that didn't have anything near it and sat down, leaning on the wall. "Some time ago, there was an invasion at Mount Hyjal, where the World Tree rests, I was among the first prisoners, through torture and promises of power, they tried to convert me to their side...I don't remember how long I was there." She took a shaky breath as she recalled the memories.

"I...I held out as long as I could, but eventually I surrendered, I wanted to end my pain so I gave up and they made me one of them, a Druid of the Flame." She said, shame was evident in her voice. "By the time my dad and my friends found me, they thought they were too late, we fought and with the assistance of the other Druids of the Flame we almost won...if not for my hesitation at the last second when I finally realized who I was fighting?...I wouldn't have a dad anymore." She continued, tears fell from her face and she cried a little, but she didn't stop talking. "M-my hesitation...it gave them the chance they needed to win, they captured me and brought me back to Hyjal, my dad did a lot to bring me back from the brink of madness, he even put aside his differences with Gerard and his group, he allowed Castenar, a Night Elven Priest to work on healing me and my mind." She held a hand in front of her and closed her eyes, falling silent, she lowered her hand to her side and quietly cried.

"...Shanda?" Twilight asked as the Elf cried silently, she watched as her friend cried, and as she did, Shanda's skin slowly became a burning orange, she was shocked but pushed past it, she reached out and touched her friend's shoulder, it was warm but not hot despite its burning appearance.

Shanda tensed up and looked at Twilight, who's comforting gaze calmed her down enough to continue, her skin began to return to normal and she took a breath before she spoke. "After a week of slow and minimal progress, I finally came to my senses and could see the world clearly again, I was...unstable for a while there, I was certain I was going to die because of what I became and I was mortified by the thought of my dad being alone." She shook her head and rested her forehead in her right hand's palm. "It took a month before I was even remotely back to normal, and when I was able to move around and was capable of doing things, we decided to test for any peculiarities with the best method we had...combat training." She chuckled. "It's one thing to try and call roots from the ground to ensnare your target, it's another thing entirely to call up a pillar of flames and incinerate them." She leaned back. "Not my best moment." She added.

"Shanda...we should really get back to your dad, he's probably worried." Twilight said softly. "I do appreciate the fact that you trust me enough to tell me all of this, It means a lot as a friend." She added with a smile.

Shanda looked at the mare for a few moments as though she were thinking about something, soon though she just let out a small chuckle and looked at her hand as she held it in front of herself again. "Friends huh? kind of hard to go through something like this and not be." She stood up fully and looked at Twilight. "Come on, let's go." She said, pointing at the door with her thumb.

With a nod, Twilight followed Shanda to the chamber exit, the Elf threw a wave of fire forward and it incinerated all the webs in seconds as well as light the torches on the wall, they walked down the short hallway and found no side rooms, they soon found another large chamber that Shanda illuminated by lighting a lone torch, the chamber had no exit as it was collapsed by a huge pile of rubble.

Twilight looked around and frowned. "How are we supposed to get out of here with the exits collapsed." She asked out of worry, after getting no response for a minute she looked over at Shanda who was busy staring up at the ceiling. "What are you staring at?" She asked with confusion in her voice.

Shanda pointed up at the ceiling and Twilight looked up, the ceiling was missing and a quick fire wave from Shanda revealed few webs and no spiders, but it did reveal a hole up at the top. "How are we supposed to get up there?" She asked, looking at Shanda who had a grin. "What's with that grin?" She asked with concern.

"I'm going to fly us out of here." Shanda replied, her body rapidly shifted and soon she took the form of a large flaming hawk, large enough to carry Twilight, if it wasn't for the flames it seemed like it wouldn't be an uncomfortable ride.

"Uh...no offense, but I don't want to be burned...anymore than I already am." Twilight said nervously, referring to her burnt fur on her side, but even though she was nervous, this went unnoticed by Shanda who approached her and in one swift motion, picked her up and threw her onto her back, she squeaked in surprise and when she was holding on tightly to Shanda's back she expected to be screaming in pain or get ignited, but to her surprise Shanda was warm yet not burning hot. "Uh...why am I not burning?" She asked before screaming as Shanda took off and flew up at a surprising speed, Twilight screamed the entire ride up even as they flew out of the hole and broke out of what was apparently the roof, stone broke apart and Twilight had her eyes clenched shut, she waited a few moments before opening her eyes and she gasped at the sight of the ancient castle and the surrounding forest, she looked around and found herself feeling awe and fear at the view.

Shanda flew around for a few moments before flying down towards a familiar patch of land on the other side of a familiar bridge, she flew at a leisurely pace and soon enough she landed on the ground, with a very irritated looking Jod'ka who had Shard, Shade, Rock and Talon near him.

Twilight climbed down and Shanda shifted back from her hawk form, the Elf stood at full height and her body once more went through its previous change but it was slowly fading away. "We uh...didn't find anything." Shanda told her dad while rubbing the back of her head.

Jod'ka narrowed his eyes and after a few short moments he sighed and shook his head, he turned around and started walking. "Let's go home, you two need to get cleaned up anyway." He muttered, his voice was level and betrayed no emotion, making Shanda tense up and follow the troll in silence.

"I need to get back to Ponyville anyway, Spike's probably worried." Twilight said as she followed the two hunters and the menagerie of creatures.

The trip back to Jod'ka and Shanda's hut was a quiet one, the troll was even more silent than usual and Shanda refused to speak, even Talon kept quiet, the whole situation was tense and Twilight felt a little anxious to leave while feeling concern for her new friend.

Along the way to the hut, they found a stream where Jod'ka told Twilight and Shanda to clean up a little, that took a few minutes and when Twilight felt her burnt fur she winced a little at the soreness of that area, she guessed that her whirlwind of emotions and the spiders venom kept her from feeling it until now.

After they reached the hut, Jod'ka went inside without a word, Shard went around the hut to his little nest he made, Shade and Rock followed the troll inside, Shanda then started walking Twilight out of the forest, Talon followed for a time before leaving them alone.

As they walked in silence and to the borders of the forest, Twilight kept glancing at the Night Elf who was back to normal without a trace of her burning appearance, when they finally reached the edge of the forest and walked a short distance away, Twilight looked at her friend. "Listen Shanda...I don't think your dad is going to be too angry with you, just explain what happened and I think he'll understand." She said, trying to reassure the Elf.

Shanda sighed and sheathed her spear that she had been using as a walking stick up until now. "My dad isn't the forgiving kind, he might rationalize things or even understand, but he has a habit of punishing before forgiveness." She explained before taking a breath. "Now, I should get home and so should you, and don't take this the wrong way...but I would prefer we don't have another adventure like this one." She smiled a little.

Twilight took a moment to get what the Elf was saying but she soon giggled a little. "Yea, I've had enough danger for one day." She agreed.

With a smile, Shanda walked back to the forest to head to her temporary home, and Twilight back to her home in Ponyville, the Night Elf felt dissappointment that they didn't fine the core, and the Unicorn was relieved that they were both alright all things considered.

Though she dreaded what her father would say to her, Shanda came to a realization...that they hadn't searched the entire castle, she made a mental note to go back and search it when she had a chance, feeling more determined than ever to return to Azeroth.

Author's Note:

It's been a while since I updated this, so here's a long chapter as an apology, where we get some answers to some questions and reveals a lie.

I hope you enjoyed this one, see you next time.