Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2
Mikey waited by the dock. The mist hung heavily enough in the air that Sardor Isle, where Feathermoon Stronghold was, couldn't be seen, nor the ferry that ran between the Isle and the dock at the western end of Feralas. Swiftfizzle had already woken up, swore revenge and that Mikey would never work with the guild again, before using his hearthstone to return to Stormwind. Kanyssea was having a conversation with the Sergeant in charge of the dock detachment. Judging by the looks from the Sentinels around the dock, the fact that they were on duty and the stoicism most Night Elves were inclined to practice seemed to be the only thing keeping them breaking rank to crowd around and coo over the strange creatures.
It started with one, inquiring both where he found such a colorful pony, and why they would give it a ridiculous dress, or give the other one light armor. That quickly snowballed into surreptitious looks from every sentinel at the dock and Sentinels managing to close in around them without quite actually leaving their post. Despite reservations about bringing the unknown creatures to Feathermoon Stronghold, the strong connection the creatures held with nature earned enough trust from the Night Elves to bring them to the isle.
“Mikey.” The gathered group of Sentinels, tried a little harder to not look quite so gathered as their Sergeant returned with the druid in tow. Mikey was actually impressed with how crowded in they made him feel while not actually physically crowding him. “Sergeant Whisperblade here says that Sharon returned to Feathermoon not even an hour ago, and the ferry should return soon.”
“I would like you to take two of my Sentinels with you.” the sergeant interrupted. “Until we are certain of the motives of these creatures, I would prefer to keep them under guard. Should they press the issue, they are under house arrest until otherwise notified. Shyurea, Mylethil, you two are to accompany them until relieved. Check in with the Captain when you get there for further instructions.” With a salute, both Sentinels fell in next to Mikey.
Turning back to Mikey, the sergeant gave him a smile, now that the work was done. “So what brings you back here, Paladin? I seem to remember some snot nosed Paladin a bit over a year ago, struggling to keep the Naga on the coast in check with his Warlock friend.”
Mikey chuckled in reply. He didn't recognize her at first, but now he was fairly sure. This was the same sergeant that gave him that task oh so long ago. “Struggling you say! I died fighting those damn things! I'm just glad Wilkes gave me a soulstone! I was bed ridden for weeks after that! The first death is always the worst.” It was a somewhat bitter memory. It was the first time Mikey died, an experience he could only recommend to his enemies.
“You seem to have gotten better. Kanyssea tells me you two are working up with your guild to invade Blackrock Mountain. You're a far cry from novice I remember. I'd offer you more work, but from the looks of it, I don't think I can afford your current going rates.” She gave an admiring look to his armor. The quality was more than just a step up from what most adventurers coming to Feathermoon Stronghold wear.
Mikey chuckled at that. “You're right Sergeant, you probably couldn't, I know how small your budget is. Besides, if it's not an emergency, best to save it for up and coming adventurers. They need all the experience they can get. Word has it that the powers that be are looking to using us adventurers in a more active role.” Mikey was a bit more cynical about that idea than most. Throwing adventurers at a problem was cheaper than using their own armies. Neither the Horde nor Alliance had the troops to deal with actual problems these days, their incessant skirmishing and need to heavily garrison everything had drawn them too thin to actually do anything. It’s even gotten to the point where most the fighting in the few hotspots were done by adventurers. It allowed them to wage war without risking an actual war, though rumors were circling that Alterac Valley was looking to go ‘hot’ any day now, and for as little love as Mikey had with the Horde, he sincerely hoped it didn’t start the fourth war.
Whisperblade shrugged. “No emergencies, just the usual. Naga are scouting again, sea giants crowding around the coast, a few low priority fetch quests for materials off the mainland.”
Mikey smiled. “Then I’m definitely out of your price range, though I might have to start working for scraps if I get kicked from the guild for knocking Swiftfizzle out.”
Whisperblade waved his worry away. “No matter, the ferry should be arriving shortly. I'll order an immediate turn around for it, in light of your passengers. The sooner they're the captain's problem, the better.”
“You believe them to be dangerous?” Kanyssea broke in.
“Not conventionally, no. It would take many such creatures to threaten Feathermoon Stronghold. I'm more worried that some passing adventurer will wonder what they taste like.” Or, as she left unsaid, that the Legion was in Dire Maul looking for them. The power of the Burning Legion in Azeroth was broken, the remaining demons relegated to a few minor strongholds, and they had no chance of assaulting Feathermoon Stronghold without having to mass first, an even that would certainly be noticed. Yet the docks only had a detachment of Sentinels small enough for a Sergeant to be in charge. They didn't seem powerful enough to warrant the Legion trying to hunt them down, but they were unknown wild cards, and even from here, the purple one with the wings and horn just felt antithetical to the fel powers used by the Legion. Powerful or not, the Legion would hunt the creature for that alone.
A bell sounded in the distance drawing the attention of the gathered group. “That would be your ferry.”
The small group looked out into the mist. The first sign of the ship he saw was the glow from the wisp on the bow. A few moments later, the ship itself moved close enough to be seen through the mist, along with the small collection of adventurers waiting to disembark. Once in sight of land, one, a warlock, summoned his felsteed mount to the great annoyance of those around him. Chugging a quick potion and mounting his demonic steed, the warlock hopped off the side of the ship and ran across the surface of the water, bypassing what little settlement there was, before heading straight into the heart of Feralas, with naught but a few shouted curses following him.
“There's Sharon. That will save us a bit of time tracking her down.” Mikey followed Kanyssea's finger, and sure enough, there was a human Priestess on the ferry, at the outer edge of the small group. She stood out like a sore thumb standing uncomfortably off to the side wearing the guild tabard. Technically, the fact that he and Kanyssea weren’t wearing the tabard was against guild rules, but it was a rule that many other veterans long ignored. It seemed mostly used for hazing newer members anyways. Mikey suppressed a wince just thinking of that purple tabard. He was fairly sure the Guild Master paid top coin to get an artistic genius to design something that ugly.
With a small nudge, and a little steering, Mikey guided his nightsaber off the path as the ferry finally came to a rest, and the passengers disembarked. Kanyssea parked her own night saber opposite of him, though the two Sentinels assigned to watch the ponies took up positions on either side of him. As most the group passed by, he lost sight of the priestess.
“Sharon! Over here!” The priestess stopped for a moment as the small crowd continued forward, before noticing who was on the nightsaber.
“Kanyssea? Is that you?” Mikey didn't much like the ‘squee!’ that followed that statement, and judging from the way his mounts ears twitched, he didn’t think his nightsaber did either. “Oh thank the Light! I didn’t think I’d get any support out here! I just sent the message last night, you got here so fast!”
“We didn’t get any message, we were already in the area.” Sharon’s shoulders slumped a bit at Kanyssea’s response. Mikey could sympathize with her, he had plenty of experience trying to get help back when he was an up and coming adventurer. “You're the only healer in the guild that was checked in on this continent. But we can see about giving you a hand later.”
Trying to maintain an organization spanning two continents wasn't exactly easy, even if the vast majority were in the Eastern Kingdoms prepping for the assault on Blackrock. The mail system however, proved very quick and effective. While 'checking in' wasn't strictly required, it was strongly encouraged, as it allowed guild mates to more effectively find assistance, or receive orders. A bi-weekly newsletter was sent to each member, detailing member locations and expected movements. The system wasn't quite perfect, as not everyone filed detailed itineraries, nor did they always meet their expected movement schedules. The life of an adventurer often came with uncertainty, and didn't always leave the time to notify the guild office of opportunities too good to miss, or emergencies. It was far from a perfect system, but it worked a bit more often than not. Mikey wasn't quite sure which guild started the system, but his guild was one of the first ones to adopt it before it really hit mainstream use.
“Oh. Who’s hurt?” As a Priestess, that her to-do list got pushed behind someone else's was a simple reality she had long since grown used to, because healing couldn't always wait. No one lasted long as a healer if they couldn't accept that.
The druid pointed towards the blue winged pony with a rainbow mane and tail that laid across the back of her nightsaber, just in front of her saddle.
“Oh. What is that? I wanted to ask, but...” She let the statement trail off before moving in for a closer look. “It's...that's definitely not a pony. The resemblance is there, but even discounting the wings, the biology is all wrong.” Looking over it a little more, she paused at the mark on it's flank. A cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt. It's significance was beyond her, but she found a matching mark on the opposite flank. “This is going to be a stupid question, but why is it wearing armor?”
“We found it in Dire Maul, fighting ogres.”
“Really? Ogres don't use fel fire, do they? That's a fel fire burn if I've ever seen one.” Sharon paused for a moment, as she called upon the Light to fuel a small spell. “...or not.” Sharon gave a confused look. “There's no fel corruption.”
“Yes, there is.” Kanyssea placed a hand upon the creature and frowned. Sharon was right. The fel corruption was gone. Without a powerful healer, of which of Kanyssea and Mikey most certainly was not, it often took weeks for the corruption to dissipate, assuming it didn't kill the host. “There was an hour ago. This wound was fairly fresh.” That same strange echo of power she felt in it earlier returned, just a little stronger this time.
Sharon closed her eyes and muttered a prayer to the Light under her breath to cast a more powerful diagnostic spell. As the Light seeped into the small horse-like creature, her frown returned. “I see you've healed her a bit, but whatever removed the corruption from her came from within. Hmm. If it's any good in a fight, it'd be a pretty hard counter to a warlock.” Considering the list of barely healed injuries, Sharon was guessing she wasn't very good at fighting. “Huh, freshly resurrected? Cranial trauma that's not quite fully healed either. It's going to be in a coma for a while.”
With the pathway cleared of further traffic, Mikey crossed over to join the other two. “Care to take a look at this one? This one is really...strange.”
Muttering another prayer to the Light, Sharon began her diagnostic of the purple one, noting the wings and a horn. “By the Light! What is this creature!?” A few of the other adventurers making their way from the docks looked back, but quickly lost interest as Mikey glared at them and Sentinels Shyurea and Mylethil moved between the two groups, just in case.
Mikey turned back to Sharon. “You feel it too, don't you?”
“Like the Light, given physical form? The very power in the air around it?” Pausing for a moment, she reached out and laid a hand on it's head. The fur wasn't very soft, being stuck together with dried blood and other parts of the creatures fur were burned off by small rivulets of metal. The head wound was superficially healed, the trauma underneath it wasn't. As much as Kanyssea and Mikey were living legends in the guild, both were absolutely terrible at healing. Without even meaning to, a content smile began spreading across her face as the strange creature radiated comfort and warmth. "This is what the Light must feel like before being used..."
“Ahem.” Whisperblade 'cleared' her throat. “You may want to board the ferry, I'm sending it back well ahead of schedule. If you're even remotely serious in what you say, the sooner it's off the mainland and in the stronghold, the better.”
A moment ago, Sharon would have a lot more annoyed at the thought of having to back out of what jobs she managed to pick up, but this mystery was a great deal more exciting that picking up flowers for the apothecary, or getting a few animal hides for the leather worker, or tracking down a lost titan artifact that some idiot sold to the Shen'dralar, the Night Elves that still dwelled in Dire Maul doing their arcane research, who promptly lost it to an imp of all things.
“Alright, lets get on the ferry and you can get to work.”
XXXXX
Shyurea and Mylethil weren't enjoying the crowd around them nearly as much as they pretended. The sun set hours ago, and they were 'enjoying' their time off with rounds of drinks and telling stories. Their captain ordered a somewhat larger guard to be placed on the creatures, both suspicious of the claims surrounding the creatures, and cautious that agents of the Legion might actually believe the claims. Or, perhaps not overly cautious of such an event since she had them spreading stories to draw those agents out, if any were here. “So, I'm telling you, it's the cutest creature I've ever seen!”
“That's not all though! I don't quite understand it, but according to that priestess, the purple one is like the Light made manifest! The druid is utterly convinced that it's a creature sent by Elune herself even!” Using the poor creatures as bait left a bad taste in Mylethil's mouth. Regardless of the accuracy of the claims surrounding the creatures, even General Shandris herself took an interest in using them to flush out any agents loyal to the Burning Legion. Obviously she considered whatever reports she received to be inaccurate, because if there was any degree of truth, using such a creature as bait would be an affront to Elune herself.
“The blue one was badly burned by Fel Fire.” Most the gathered crowd winced. Some had been on the wrong end of fel fire before, but they all at least knew someone who was. “According to the human priestess though, the creature itself could fight off the fel corruption!” The alcohol definitely helped. They trusted in General Shandris, but this entire ordeal just felt wrong to them. They were already on their fourth stop, regaling gathered craftsmen, adventurers, and their fellow Sentinels, with tales of these amazing creatures. Thankfully, they only had a few more stops to make. Feathermoon Stronghold wasn't that large after all.
XXXXX
Twilight opened her eyes, and already regretted it as the pain on her head came into focus. The sun wasn't up yet was the first thing she noticed. The second was that she couldn't hear Spike snoring. “Spike?” She quietly called out. When no answer came, she raised a hoof to her head, finally noticing the bandage wrapped around her aching head. “Spike? Where are you? What's going on?”
Rolling out of the bed, she opened her drawer and pulled out a match. She went through the motions of lighting the match and moving it to the candles before realizing her magic never grabbed anything. Looking around, she quickly realized this wasn't her room. Nor was it any room she could recall at Canterlot. Stopping for a moment, she tried to remember what she was doing before going to sleep, but couldn't recall. The only thing she recalled was that nightmare, which was proving persistently hard to shake off.
“Spike!” With a growing sense of panic, she tried the door. Locked. She was locked in here. Moving to the window, she found that locked too. So she was a prisoner. Someone must have knocked her out while she was asleep. That was why she had the bandage. “Okay, think Twilight. Just think.” She paced back and forth for a moment before standing in the moonlight. “That's it!” Rushing back to the window, she briefly searched the sky. All she had to do was nudge the moon a little, and it would lead Luna right to her!
Only...the moon was too large. WAY too large. Letting the moonlight soak into her fur for a moment, she quickly hit another problem. There was none of Luna's comforting presence in the moonlight! “No! No! No! This can't be happening! It has to be an illusion!” Closing her eyes, she reached out with her magic and felt for the moon. Seven degrees left, thirty-two degrees up. Right where she saw it. But that was wrong! Forty-six degrees right, seventy-four up, another moon! Wrong! It was all wrong! Seventy-two degrees down, the sun! Not a single trace of Celestia. Even worse...all the heavenly bodies were moving on their own!
“DISCORD! WHERE ARE YOU!? THIS ISN'T FUNNY!” Twilight begin whirling in circles, well into the beginning of a panic attack. She made several circles before realizing she wasn't alone. A second bed! She wasn't trapped alone! Quickly closing the distance, she stopped short of the bed. She could recognize the colors in that mane anywhere, but the pegasus's wings were wrapped in bandages, along with one of her back legs.
“Rainbow Dash! What happened!?” No answer. Twilight placed a hoof on her. Still, no answer. Just steady breathing. She wanted to shake her awake, but Twilight didn't want to risk hurting her anymore than she already was.
“Okay, think Twilight. You've been abducted, your best friend is here, and too hurt to wake up.” Her ears began to droop as she began walking in a circle, working herself into even more of a panic. “You don't know where you are. You're cut off from Celestia and Luna.” Twilight stopped and even her head began drooping. “Even if you break out, you don't know where to go.”
“No! Stop that right now Twilight!” Raising a hoof, she slapped herself with it. “Okay! Break out of here. That should be easy. Isolating me from Celestia and Luna has to be a delicate work of magic, and delicate magics can be easily disrupted. I should be able to punch a hole through whatever illusion this is. Even if I can't get us out of here, the Princesses will come for us!” Twilight turned one last time to grab Rainbow Dash, when she saw it. Sitting next to the bed was the same ceremonial light armor that Rainbow Dash wore in her nightmare.
Twilight's legs lost all strength as the truth she had tried to hide from finally hit home, it was real. There was no nightmare. It didn't take much from there to connect a few extra dots after she stopped lying to herself. There was no Celestia, no Luna here. The moons moved on their own, the sun moved on it's own. Something happened during that fight. She wasn't in Equestria anymore.
Looking once more to Rainbow Dash, a surge of guilt passed through her. She was hurt, because Twilight was caught off guard. Because Twilight was too afraid to do anymore than defend herself against those...things. Because Twilight was too afraid to move, and couldn't get behind Celestia and Luna like they kept telling her too. Demons, Celestia had called them.
Small bits and pieces came back to her as she laid there. Choosing to protect Rainbow Dash, at the cost of failing to protect herself. She remember several guards had accompanied to that strange place, and held a last line of defense against those other creatures. There didn't seem to be any others here, and Twilight didn't hold out much hope that they were still alive.
She didn't get much chance to dwell on it before shouting started coming from outside the door, quickly followed by the sound of metal hitting metal, punctuated with a few screams. Sounds she knew to be of fighting. Scrambling back to her hooves, Twilight hopped on top of Rainbow Dash's bed, to shield Rainbow with her own body, already going over a mental checklist of spells she would use. She may have failed Rainbow Dash once, but she wasn't going to fail her again.
Satisfied with her opening selection, Twilight began to draw in energy from the world around her, holding onto it. Preparing her selection of spells, she began casting them. First, a detection spell. Anything larger than a squirrel began to let off a glow. It was enough to identify anything hiding, and shatter most simple illusions. Next, she began layering protections spells. They wouldn't stop much if she didn't actively hold them, but they'd last several minutes before dissipating on their own, and would provide protection long enough for her to respond. The first was a shield to stop physical attacks, the second was a shield to stop magical attacks, the third was a spell to dump excess heat, the fourth was a spell to prevent rapid temperature drops, and the last was a field to enforce reality within the room. Of course, they wouldn't interfere with her own spells, giving her an advantage of a prepared field.
Casting only took her about ten seconds, and she began charging her next spell. A few more seconds went by while the fighting and shouting outside seemed to reach a higher pitch, and she began setting up a spell sequencer, a short lived 'trigger' spell that interacted with other spells by acting as an anchor for a cast spell. Or in Twilight's case, for five cast spells. It freed Twilight from the need to hold multiple cast spells, a feat only the oldest unicorns could reliably do, and allowed her to keep casting more spells without actually releasing them. A simple spell, or a few minutes if left unattended, would release the sequencer and fire off every anchored spell at once.
Preparations finalized, she nuzzled the unconscious Rainbow Dash as a sick green glow began to fill the room, coming from outside the window. “I'll keep you safe Dash.”
The pile of boulders covered in green fire smashed through the window the same time the bear tackled a demon through the wall.
XXXXX
Mikey took the opportunity to spread out, enjoying have an entire bed to his own self. His little party was informed that since they brought the creatures, they were expected to both safeguard the creatures, and if needed, safeguard the Stronghold from the creatures, until the Elves could figure out what to do about them. Since they weren't asked to bring them here, they couldn't expect pay either. Working a job without pay wasn't his idea of a good time, but he had no real choice either. The only good news was, he got free lodging at the inn, which had rooms to spare. They put both creatures in one room. He was put in the room beside them, while Kanyssea and Sharon were put in the room on their other side.
Personally, he thought the arrangements for the creatures was overkill. The original two Sentinels were pulled from their duty, and two more replaced them. That's what was seen. He was quite certain there were at least four more in the inn, and he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched from the trees. Definitely more than he expected. He was pretty sure that was a major contributor to why he still couldn't fall asleep, despite the comfortable arrangements. It had to be past midnight by now, at least.
It was almost a relief when he started hearing a voice through the wall. A reason to get up, and confirmation that the creatures could at least talk. Rolling out of his bed, he decided to take a minute to get his armor back on first. He was pretty sure the creature would be fine for a few minutes. With the ease of practice, he began putting on his armor. As the panicked cries from the next grew up, followed by more swearing, Mikey was starting to regret his decision to armor up first. That thing was going to be completely hysterical before he confronted it, and he was no longer sure actually trying to talk to it was a good idea. He couldn't understand the words, unsure if it was a different language, or just distorted through the wall, but he could hear the panic. It was a perfect recipe for the sort of misunderstanding that could all too easily turn violent.
“Maybe Kanyssea has an idea.” The words barely left his mouth before a shout came through his door, followed by the sound of steel of on steel. The possibility of something coming for the creatures was brought up, but he didn't actually believe anyone would be stupid enough to try and doing something here. It was a small isle with a fairly sizable garrison. They couldn't escape, even if they succeeded! Mikey grabbed his sword and shield before kicking open his door and stepped into the darkened hallway, all the lamps extinguished. Already, the first fighter went down screaming before the Sentinel finished the job with another thrust of her sword before moving to engage the next challenger. The other Sentinel was struggling back to her feet with Sharon's help.
“Paladin, watch for rogues!” Needing no more warning, Mikey channeled the power of the light and consecrated the ground around him to burn his enemies. The pained hiss was the only warning he had. Turning, Mikey caught a dagger thrust on his side instead of back. It wasn't particularly deep, but he could already feel the crippling poison taking effect, muddling his senses and his movements. It wouldn't be enough to stop him. Mikey lashed out with his sword, but with the poison in his system, he wasn't fast enough to get the rogue before it fell back out of his reach. With a smoke bomb, the rogue disappeared from view, sliding back in the shadows that always hid their kind.
“You alright Mikey?” The question was punctuated with a minor healing spell. It staunched the bleeding quite well, and he could already feel the skin knitting back together. Taking a moment, Mikey used the Light to cleanse the poison from his system. Poisoning a Paladin was a fools errand if you let up on the pressure for even a moment.
“I'm alright Sharon. Where's Kanyssea?” Turning his head, Mikey's eyes widened as the rogue reappeared behind Sharon, about to garrote her. He never got a chance as a huge cat pounced on him from the shadows. Mikey smiled as the rogue went down, claws and teeth going to work to finish what the pounce began. Rogue's weren't the only thing shadows hid. A druid well practiced in their feral side called them home as well. “There she is.”
Any further rogue troubles were ended as everyone began to glow an eerie purple, and pulled the other remaining rogue from the shadows. Immediately, the rogue dropped another smoke bomb and bolted for the stairs. Judging from his scream, he ran into more Sentinels on their way up. “Sharon, make sure everyone's fine, Kanyssea, we're forming up on the door!”
The Doomguard smashing through the ceiling cut off any further conversation. In a hasty panic, Mikey stepped between Sharon and the Doomguard, taking the full brunt of it's strike on his shield, for all the good it did him. The impact nearly broke his shield arm as his feet lifted from the ground. He was bodily hurled through the air, knocking Sharon down as well before smashing into the back wall.
It was far more than he was used to, but it wouldn't be enough to stop him. He still had a solid grip on his sword and shield, and even if Sharon looked a good deal worse for wear, she was already casting as she stood up. The light flooded Mikey, reinforcing him, dulling the pain. Another spell, and this time, a magic barrier sprung up around him. That was all the help he was getting, as now Sharon was concentrating on trying to keep the Sentinel's alive as they tried to deal with their own opponents. More demons began pouring through the hole in the ceiling, their sole purpose seemed to be to slow down the Sentinel's, so the Doomguard could kill them at it's leisure.
Drawing it's sword, the Doomguard gave a triumphant smile at Sharon. “You have failed! The godling is weak, it shall not protect your world!”
“You don't have time for taunts, big fella. You caught me off guard, and that won't happen again!” The Doomguard turned to look at Mikey, the same creepy smile plastered on it's face. The cat pouncing him from the shadows would have wiped the smile off it's face. The fact that the cat turned into a bear mid pounce and smashed it through the wall, made the moment so much more painful.
XXXXX
For a heartbeat, Twilight did nothing. Her stance hunched over a bit more to protect Rainbow Dash, and she could feel her chest make contact with Rainbow Dash's body, further strengthening her resolve to get her out of here. The fiery boulders began to assemble themselves into a monstrosity of rock and fire that stood on on two legs. It had to hunch over to fit in the room. It's mere existence would have been enough to begin starting fires, but they snuffed out almost as quickly as they began, being countered by Twilight's defensive spells.
The bear and the other demon however, were the cause for her hesitation, being right in her line of fire. The sheer oddity of a bear and demon wrestling in the middle of room gave her pause. Her confusion only increased as the bear began turning into what looked like a human female, though the proportions seemed a bit off. Deprived of the strength and protection of her bear form, the demon lifted her by the throat and smashed her into the floor, before kicking her into the wall hard enough to physically bounce off it with a sickening crunch. She didn't get back up. The ease with which this creature dealt in violence horrified every fiber of her being, and made her decision to protect Rainbow by any means all the easier.
It was a simple matter to cast the spell sequencer, taking but a thought and a small touch of magic. Lances of ice, spears of fire, a bolt of lightning powerful enough to even kill a Pegasus, a stream of pure arcane destruction, much like she loosed upon Tirek years ago, albeit with much less power, and finally, the dark magic that Celestia had her learn before heading to the Crystal empire, each lanced out at her targets.
The creature of fire and stone was destroyed. Huge boulders were shattered, and blew out the back of the room’s wall, the magical torrent destroying what little of the wall remained. The other Demon fared better, having dodged to the side in time to only lose an arm, it's green blood flowing freely. With a roar, it charged at Twilight before impacting the physical shield hard enough to nearly crack it. The second hit shattered her shield completely.
Twilight's eyes narrowed as it reached for her, and she grabbed it by the wrist in her telekinetic grip. The creature was wrenched into her grip with such speed and violence that it didn't have time for surprise to register before it hit the floor the first time. In the span of five second, she put a new hole in the ceiling, floor, two of the three remaining walls, shattered the other bed, shattered a dresser, and much to Twilight's surprised, didn't quite break the demon. It was still alive and struggling, albeit faintly. Her threat estimation of this brand of demon went up a few notches. Only thing left to do was ask questions, and prepare for whatever else was coming for her as the fighting outside the room seemed to reach a fevered pitch.
"What are you?" The only response was another anemic attempt to break out of her grip. In response, Twilight tightened it a bit more before slamming him into the wall one more time. "Where are we?"
"The Legion...will consume you."
Twilight frowned. She knew it could understand her, but she couldn't understand it. Her eye began twitching in annoyance.
"Answer me in Equish!" The demons response was to spit it's blood at her and laugh. Twilight forced it's mouth shut and slammed it's head back into the ceiling one more time.
"Kanyssea!"
A creature covered in metal armor from head to toe charged into the room, only to stop at the sight of the Demon in her grasp. It held a shield in one arm, and a sword in the other, and had splashes of green and red blood on it's armor. It recovered from it's stop quickly enough and took a step forward, towards the wounded woman, only to hop back as Twilight growled at it and swung the demon around to interpose it between him and the woman. She wasn't quite ready to attack him yet, but wasn't quite willing to stand down. Someone bandaged her and Dash, and she didn't know why. Being locked in made her think she was a prisoner at first, but she couldn't rule out that it was for her protection now that she'd been attacked. She knew at least two factions were fighting here, and didn't know the objective of either.
"Are you a savior, or a captor?" No answer. Instead, it tried to step around the Doomguard in her grip. "I asked you a question!" Twilight blocked his attempt to advance with her living shield.
Let Kanyssea go! Let me heal her!
"Do you speak Equish?" Unlike the demon, nothing in the armored creature showed that he understood her. By now, more armored creatures were filing in behind him, all of them showing a faint resemblance to a human female, except paler, and if she remember right they seemed taller than a typical human female. They each looked wary, and ready for action, but their hostility seemed directed more towards her shield than her. By their bearing and equipment, Twilight had little doubt they were soldiers. The last one in however, was the only one not armored. She didn't just resemble a human, she was a human. The only weapon she seemed to hold was a wooden stick, nearly her own height, and dressed in clothing that looked to offer little protection in a fight.
"Human!" The excited word came out almost without thought. The first face she'd seen that was friendly. It may have been years since she last stepped through the portal to visit with Sunset Shimmer in the human world, but she couldn't forget the humans, she had no doubt this was one. Was she too, taken from her world?
The human looked to the armored creature, and she said something too quiet for Twilight to hear. "Do you understand me? Human?" She didn't respond, instead she seemed to be arguing with the armored figure. "Hello?"
The armored figure looked back towards Twilight, and seemed to hesitate for a moment. With a small nod, it set it's sword and shield on the floor. Reaching up, it removed it's armored helmet, and dropped it on the floor. Twilight couldn't mistake it, that was a second human in this strange world. Reaching behind his back, he pulled a dagger, dropping it on the floor as well. Raising his hands, it slowly turned around, letting Twilight see he was unarmed. Completing the circle, he pointed towards the woman.
"Please! Let us heal her! She's dying!"
Twilight didn't understand the language, but she understood the plea. Perhaps the title 'Princess of Friendship' was a bit ostentatious, and she didn't have a control over friendship the way Celestia and Luna had control over the sun and moon, but her friends meant too much to her to not recognize the love for a friend when she saw it. Biting her lip, Twilight looked between the gathered soldiers, and knew time wasn't on her side. The longer she held the stalemate, the more likely it was all going to spiral out of control. This was her best chance to make friendly contact. She moved the no longer struggling demon out of the way before dropping it. Gathering more power for a spell, she prepared to put up another shield and nodded towards the armored human.
His first step was hesitant, his eyes locked onto her own, searching for any sign that she was going to attack. The next few came with less hesitation, then no hesitation as he approached the fallen woman. Twilight didn't take her eyes off him, watching for potential deceit. As he drew closer, she lowered her body even more, and shifting a little to cover even more of Rainbow Dash. Catching movement in the corner of her eye, she turned to look at the other human who stopped cold in her tracks. They searched each other's eyes for a moment before Twilight gave a slight nod. The woman nodded back before jogging up to join her companion. Looking at the rest gathered, Twilight let out a soft sigh as she could feel the tension leaving the room.
Confident that she wasn't about to be ambushed, Twilight released the power she was holding, letting the stored energy harmlessly diffuse into the air, and gave a nervous forced smile to the gathered soldiers. As the adrenaline began wearing off, fears and worries began creeping in. Where was she? How was she getting her and Rainbow Dash home? Could they go home?
A flash of light from her left side caught her attention. The armored man and the woman were kneeling over the fallen woman, and Twilight could see all the signs of spell casting, but the magic itself was completely unfamiliar. It felt like the warmth of Celestia's magic, but the effects were well beyond anything Twilight had seen before. The bruises around the woman's throat began fading, and she began stirring for a few moments before drunkenly staggered to her feet ready for a fight. Her momentary confusion gave way as she noticed the fighting was over.
“You can heal with magic!?”
Her outburst garnered her a few more looks. “Oh, right, you can't understand me, can you?” Her mane, already messy and disordered from everything up to now, started getting even messier. Without an imminent threat, the reality of her situation came crashing back down. Then her eye began twitching.
XXXXX
General Shandris looked at the note from Tyrande Whisperwind, High Priestess of Elune and the de facto ruler of the Night Elves, one last time before looking back at the demolished inn. The messenger bringing it passed it to her at nearly the same moment part of the inn the creature was housed in for security exploded. While a few of her Sentinels were injured, the human priestess had already seen to them. The agents of the Burning Legion that attacked couldn't claim the same, even if there were more of them than she would have thought possible. Nine of them were laid out in a row, their bodies to be disposed of later.
The claims surrounding the creature were easily dismissed, in her opinion. A very wrong opinion judging from the note, as Tyrande made clear that finding and protecting the creature is a priority and that Elune herself had taken an interest. Once found, she was to encourage it to visit the Tyrande in Darnassus.
Shandris bitterly noted that it was a little too late for that, as she not only already had the creature, but used it as bait, something no doubt Tyrande would have words with her about later. That the creature had the power to destroy an infernal and subdue a doomguard was the only saving grace, though it did raise the question of why such a powerful creature was found in such a condition in Dire Maul. The ogres that called Dire Maul home were a powerful force, but surely such a creature could have stopped any attack from them. Was it fleeing the Legion from it's own world? Was it's arrival an unfortunate accident? Feeling she put off the inevitable long enough, she pocketed the note and entered the building, confident that the damage wasn't severe enough to cause a collapse.
“General Shandris!” The two Sentinels at the bottom of the stairs saluted her and she returned the salute.
“Is the creature still in it's room?”
“Yes general. However...it seems to be having some issues.”
“What kind of issues? They're still picking up pieces of that infernal over a hundred yards down the road, and I heard of what it did to the doomguard. The last thing we need is for it to have 'issues' here!” She ended with an angry whisper.
“A panic attack if I had to guess. Sharon calmed her down with some hot cocoa, and now she's waffling between drawing some sort of diagram on the floor, yelling excitedly, and now it wants coffee.” Shandris looked up to the top of the stairs, where a human Paladin stood. One of the three that brought the creature.
“Coffee?”
“I think. After calming down with some cocoa, it began the most ridiculous game of charades I'd ever seen. Sharon said it wanted coffee, and I'm too tired to argue.”
“Charades?” Shandris had a feeling where this one was going.
“Oh, yea, it doesn't speak any language I ever heard.”
General Shandris could already feel the headache beginning. There were magics that would allow communication, but she'd had to send a message to Tyrande to get someone out here to work them. “Very well, get it some coffee.”
He nodded and came down the stairs, where was stopped by the generals hand as he tried walking past her. “One more thing, consider yourself officially contracted to protect the creature, your going rate plus twenty percent. Potentially, you may end up escorting her to Darnassus.”
“Heh. You want her off your island after this mess I take it?”
“You misunderstand. The Sentinels will not turn it away because the Burning Legion seeks it. As long as it doesn't start attacking others, it's more than welcome to stay and we will protect it. We will not shirk our duties because they're inconvenient. Tyrande Whisperwind however, would like for the creature to go to Darnassus. If I manage to convince it to go, it will go with an escort, of which you will be a part of since Tyrande would be interested in your experiences with it as well. If not, it's welcome to stay here or leave as it wishes and you are free to go as you will, though I may send you to Darnassus to speak with Tyrande anyways.”
Letting him go, Shandris climbed the stairs. Returning the salutes from two more Sentinels at the top, then two more guarding the hole into the creatures room before stepping into the same room as the creature to be greeted with the sight of the horse like creature excitedly clapping it's hooves together, while the human priestess and the druid were talking. Several empty mugs of cocoa littered the room, while a casual inspection showed some sort of array burned into the floor.
“What has it so excited?” The two adventurers in the room glanced over at her. Kanyssea was the first to answer.
“I think she finished drawing that diagram on the ground. Don't ask what it does though, none of us understand it's magic.”
“And you aren't worried of what it may do?”
Kanyssea shrugged. “She's had every opportunity to kill me if she so desired. She's really quite friendly. If you don't approach the blue one. She's very protective of the blue one.” Kanyssea finished in a very approving tone.
The three covered their eyes as the creatures horn began to glow and a bright purple light filled the room.
“Did it work? Hello? Can you understand me?”
Sharon was the first to respond to the excited creature. “Uh. Hi?”
The creature reared up and clopped her front hooves together excitedly while her wings worked to help her keep balance. “It worked!”
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Holy crap, the Legion was just like "KNOCK KNOCK!" onto them. Good thing Twilight blasted them to kingdom come. Though the problem is with doomguards and other such demons is that, well, she didn't actually kill it. And it knows that. It knows that it's not actually going to die, just be banished for a bit, so what reason does it have to ever be afraid?
Though it's good to see Twilight got the communication spell up and running ASAP. Hope to see her getting some time talking with Tyrande. Also eagerly awaiting Rainbow's imminent freakout.
Though I feel bad for when they'll realize that everything they've ever loved has been destroyed...
6481961
I don't think we know Equestria's status right now. They might have been conquered, or the demon invasion could have been relatively small, with the ponies rallying (perhaps with the help of reinforcements, from say, Cloudsdale) and driving them off.
6482278 I don't know, the Burning Legion doesn't exactly strike me as the type to do 'half measures'. After all, surely they weren't just sitting around twiddling their thumbs for the 10,000 years between the War of the Ancients and Archimonde's invasion.
6482334
Well, if the portal that the unicorn council opened isn't big enough and/or couldn't stay open for a long period of time, they wouldn't really have much of a choice. It takes some pretty incredible power sources to open a portal big enough to let more than just the rank and file through, after all. It all just depends on what the council could manage to pull off without Celestia noticing what they were up to.
This is fantastic! I just hope you're not going to force a romantic ship between Twilight or Rainbow with any of the others. Every time I read a good crossover, it seems the author feels it necessary to have a romantic relationship pop outta nowhere. Keep up the good work!
6482381 Well the way I was thinking that you can open a portal to let lesser demons through... then those lesser demons can let greater demons through, and it all spirals out of control from there. After all, in the Sunwell it was 3 eredar standing around the Sunwell summoning Kil'jaeden, and Equestria seems to have no shortage of magical artifacts.
Oh well. We'll see when the author deigns to explain.
6481961
You're just a wee more pessimistic than I am. I know I slapped that dark tag on it, but, uh, it's not THAT dark.
Yet >.>
6482422
*quietly adds chapter seven to the burn pile*
Just kidding :D Probably a minor spoiler alert (or just a genre clarification), but my outline goes to the end of Vanilla, and there is no hot humanoid-on-pony sex, explicit or implicit. I make no promises to not have characters joke about it though. Of course, the usual caveat of "Anything not published is subject to change" applies.
Hmm I don't think that Eqestria is coonquered. Yet. Without really really powerful power source Legion would not attack them. And I don't recall any that high power level things in Questria to fuel Portal for long time. maybe Celetsia and Luna as bateries coul pull that stunt and Discord thrown for good measure eventually Crystal Heart being pluged to all world of love.
So Twillight is technically a demigood in status even if ther are light years in terms of power? I think it might feat to this. Even if still Archimond Kilejdann or Arthas/Illidan/Deathwing/Ragnars and other Elemntal Lords in essence any end game boss could kill her with little effort.