Part 3: Blessed and Possessed
As if on que, long yawns escaped from the mouths of Trixie and Fluttershy the moment their camp was finished. The perpetual night of the Everfree was enough to throw anypony’s body clock into disarray, so Trixie suggested they both sleep in shifts. She agreed to take first watch, just in case the Everfree decided to circumvent her perimeter spell.
“You can never be too careful,” Trixie said,” Even for a brilliant spellcaster such as Trixie.”
Fluttershy simply nodded after another long yawn, far too tired to object to Trixie’s boasting. Her bat-like features faded a little as she slumped down inside the tent, falling asleep before she hit the ground, leaving Trixie with only herself to reaffirm her greatness.
Over the course of the next eight hours, neither pony noticed anything noteworthy during their shifts. That, ironically, was eventful in of itself, given both the Everfree's reputation and the werewolf Applejack was on the loose.
“Good morning, Trixie.” Fluttershy said after Trixie’s final shift, smiling cheerfully as she stretched.
“Yeah, yeah, same to you, Bat-butt,” Trixie grumbled back, black bags still sagging under her eyes. “Let’s just dismantle this thing and get a move on.”
“Do you always put this much effort into new nicknames?” Fluttershy groaned, rolling her eyes. “Or do you just say whatever pops to mind first?”
“Touchy, touchy,” Trixie remarked as she took apart the sticks, dead vines and leaves which made up the tent. “Don't you want to find Applejack as soon as possible? The Marvellous and Magnificent Tracker; Trixie, could spend quite a bit of time coming up with new nicknames for your werewolf friend. Timber Jack, Applewolf and... and… eh…”
“And?” Fluttershy pressed.
“…Okay! That's all Trixie has presently come up with,” Trixie admitted after a brief pause. “But the point is we shouldn't waste any more time. I've got a bad feeling that something's waiting for us.”
“How do you figure? The whole place is creepy by existing.”
“That's just it,” Trixie gestured to the still environment. “There isn't anything. No scurrying in the bushes, no whistles in the wind, not even an owl’s hooting. If you ask me, everything is a little too peaceful to be right.”
“Point taken.” Fluttershy closed, ears twitching to the forest’s background ambience.
For several long moments, the only thing to break the silence between Trixie and Fluttershy were their own breaths.
Trixie opened her mouth, but no words came out; silenced as Fluttershy spun around, eyes bolting open and shoving her hoof past Trixie’s head.
“There!”
Their cover blown, the interloper shot away, still too close to the undergrowth to make out anything – save for a brief shadow streaking across Trixie’s vision.
Unfortunately for the spy, Trixie was prepared
Trixie retaliated, firing off a stream of magic missiles above the spy, forcing them down and into the waiting forcefield of her perimeter spell.
Crashing head-first into the barrier, the interloper dropped like a stone, revealing themselves to be a lunar Pegasus.
“Officer down, officer down!” the bat pony cried.
“You have exactly five seconds to tell me what in Luna's name you're doing here.” Trixie snapped, grabbing them in her magical grasp.
“Trixie! What are you doing?!” Fluttershy protested. “This is-”
“I know who this is!” Trixie snapped. “This wouldn't be the first time Moonlight Hunter has interfered with my investigations, so they'd better have a good excuse.”
“I had a feeling you were up to no good, Trixie Lullamoon.” Moonlight grinned, wincing in pain as Trixie pulled back on their wings. “And now I know for sure! You should be ashamed of yourself, Trixie Lullamoon. Harbouring an escaped monster, causing who-knows-what with your antics.”
“My… antics…” Trixie’s eye twitched, snorting with rage as her last ounces of patience boiled away. “My antics?! And what about your conversations with Princess Luna? You know, about jumping to conclusions? You’re a disgrace to the Night Guards!”
“Please, both of you-”
“That will be quite enough.”
A smooth, baritone voice behind Moonlight spoke, in stark contrast the abrasive yelps of the captive bat pony. Stepping out of the shadows was a kind of pony Fluttershy hadn't seen in a long time; a Lunar Unicorn.
He shared the same grey coat and midnight blue armour as his Pegasus cohort; however, instead of bat-like wings, he had a long, jagged horn, looking to Fluttershy like black lightning bolt. With a flash of his dark aura, the Night Guard relieved his companion from Trixie's spell.
“Ugh, great,” Trixie moaned. “More impulsive guard ponies to get in Trixie's way.”
“Impulsive?!” Moonlight gritted their teeth, their front hooves curled so tight that they looked ready to deck the Trixie in the face. “I'll have you know we've been investigating Ebony Star far longer than the likes of-”
“Stop.” A glare from the Lunar Unicorn immediately calmed his cohort down.
“Sorry, Spectre Charge,” Moonlight said, bowing their head in apology. “I’m sorry about this aggression – I’ve been feeling a little bit jumpier after drawing strength from my masculine side recently.”
“It's fine, my love,” Spectre's face softened into a warm smile, his tone relaxed as he nuzzled the Pegasus’ face. “I'm not mad at you. We just can't afford to alienate any more allies, you understand?”
“Um, excuse me,” Fluttershy piped up, looking more confused than ever. “But could somepony please tell me what's going on?”
“Oh, of course,” Spectre cleared his throat, gesturing to the bat pony next to him. “This is my special somepony, Moonlight Hunter. We've been together ever since Princess Luna's return, and are tasked with keeping special watch over the Everfree Forest. I’m sure you gather Trixie got off on the wrong hoof with us, however, I do hope we can put our past differences aside for the sake of bigger issues.”
“Oh, of course!” Fluttershy replied with a welcoming smile. “I'm certain we'll all get along. Right, Trixie?”
Trixie huffed, though a swift nudge in the ribs persuaded her to make peace.
“Glad we have that cleared up. But now, I must present some unfortunate news. You might want to cover your eyes for this.”
Spectre’s horn flared with a crackle of dark blue magic, shattered the serenity Fluttershy and Trixie had woken up to.
Throwing their hooves over their eyes, they still had to squint to prevent blinding from Spectre’s flash. At last, the truth of their surroundings was revealed in all its twisted glory.
The hostile flora Fluttershy flew through was merely the tip of the iceberg compared to what she saw before her.
The Everfree’s colours had always been dark and muted, yet there were characteristics recognisable part of a healthy ecosystem.
Now, though?
Now, all shades of green had darkened into blood red, decaying into a shrivelled mass of thorny, tangled bark in far greater quantities than before. Glowing cracks split the ground into a patchwork fissures erupting with a dark energy; as if the sundering had reached the very bowels of Equestria itself.
Worse still were the creatures that spewed forth from the fissures.
Swarms of massive invertebrates of every kind: puss spewing maggots, blood sucking leaches and scurrying cockroaches were but a sample of what the nightmare’s corruption unleashed.
Both Trixie and Fluttershy stared in shock at the chaos before them. No matter where they looked, they could find no answers as to how the illusion of normalcy had ever been maintained.
What was evident, however, was that whoever this “Ebony” was, the implication that were the epicentre of corruption meant that their magic was far more powerful than anypony could have anticipated.
This nightmare was a ticking time bomb, ready to explode and unleash its full horror.
“I mentioned a pony named 'Ebony Star` before. Now you see why we’re so desperate to catch her,” remarked Moonlight, digging out a blackened flower from the earth holding it out over a fissure. Before their very eyes, the plant shed its petals in favour of a new, lip-like head, filled with rows of jagged teeth.
“Ebony is an Earth Pony who has been hiding in the Everfree for countless years, always eluding our capture. Her earth magic is changing everything in to this; a perversion of everything natural. A nightmare glade.”
“Trixie gets the idea already,” Trixie said, trying to maintain a calm demeanour as she dodged a spike of earth bursting from the ground behind her. “If Ebony is the pony who started all this, then she could also be the one who infected Applejack. Fluttershy, we'd best be careful handling this-”
Unfortunately for Trixie, her words of caution came too late, as Fluttershy was already reeling from the effects of the nightmare.
An ear-splitting scream burst free from her lips as she felt the sickening sensation of slimy creatures slither up her legs, biting at her flesh with their circular, jawless mouths – filled to the brim with razor-sharp teeth.
“Get these things off me!” Fluttershy cried, violently shaking herself as she took flight.
“Fluttershy!” Trixie called, shooting an enraged glare at the Night Guards; both of whom just stood there, silently watching. “I had a gut feeling that you were untrustworthy. Thank you for proving this assumption correct! Tell me, is this ‘Ebony Star’ you speak of part of this farce as well?”
“Don't play dumb with us, Lullamoon,” Spectre replied with a stern, yet oddly calm tone. “We've been following you both from the start. You know as well as I do that we need to cleanse as much of this filth as possible – which you cannot do if the nightmare’s seeds remain dormant. You are both capable of fighting corrupt earth pony magic, if only you focus.”
“What's that supposed to mean?!” With a frustrated growl, Trixie cast the first spell she could think of.
Sending wave of magic to wash over Fluttershy, the air boiled with a cloud of hot steam, searing at anything it touched.
Fluttershy yelped in pain, the parasites burning on her skin. “Trixie, stop!”
“Concentrate, you fool!” Moonlight yelled, taking to the air to fend off a fresh set of predatory vines. “Unless you want the Nightmare to capture Fluttershy’s mind as well as her body!”
“Mind if you stop speaking in riddles and help me?!” Trixie snapped, cutting off her spell before it could seriously burn Fluttershy’s skin.
Flicking through the rolodex of spells in her mind, Trixie ruled out one after the other, helped little by the persistent swarms of bugs she had to swat away.
She saw the Night Guards in her peripheral vision, effortlessly entering combatting with the corrupted invertebrates through their unique fighting rhythms.
Their stances were wide, their heads held high and their expressions firm; declaring without a word spoken that they would give no quarter to the pathetic grubs that threatened to drain their lifeblood.
Though the bugs were teeming around their hooves, not even one broke through; beaten back by the combined force of broad sweeps of curved, wing-tip daggers and concentrated blasts of silver magic.
This gave Trixie an idea. A brilliant one, if she did say so herself.
A wide grin grew across her face. Perhaps, she thought, the chosen of Luna have a point.
“Listen up, and listen well, foul creatures of the nightmare!” Trixie bellowed. “What do you creatures think you, trying to feast on Trixie's friends? It is time to witness who the real force of power is in this fight!”
A bright aura of blue magic exploded around Trixie’s body. “Hang on, Fluttershy! The Heroic and Unbeatable Trixie is here to help!”
Her enthusiasm was short-lived – she fell flat on her face, the familiar sting of the corrupted vines lashing around her ankles as her magical aura winked out like a snuffed candle.
“Oh, for Luna's sake, not again!” she groaned through gritted teeth.
Wasting no time, Trixie blasted the restraining vines and leapt into a desperate sprint the second they loosened. She spared a glance over her shoulders and saw, briefly, the vines sprout hideous flowers with rows of jagged teeth. Then she cried out in pain as sharp, spearing pain lit her back on fire, and she was sent sprawling.
Seconds after she had freed herself from one trap, Trixie had run right into another.
Trixie didn’t see Moonlight’s unimpressed glare at the disaster.
“Uh-oh,” Moonlight remarked under their breath, giving Spectre a look of grave concern. “Do you think we overdid it a bit with the whole 'power is confidence' mantra?”
“Perhaps,” Spectre replied, the worried expression he returned betraying the calmness of his voice. “Next time, perhaps it’s best not to overstate our co-workers’ egos when they aren’t as skilled as they think they are.”
Observing Spectre closing his eyes, Moonlight grinned in anticipation of the next step.
Summoning a beam of purple magic to envelop his jagged horn, Spectre moulded the lunar energy with all the care and finesse of a sculptor; flattening it into the shape of a long, straight edged blade.
With a flick of his horn, Spectre swung the ethereal sword in a broad, sweeping arch, cutting all creatures that stood in his path to shreds.
Moonlights heart fluttered, starring with a wide-eyed amazement at their skill. Inspired by their partner's martial prowess, Moonlight withdrew their secondary weapons—short swords not unlike his wing-daggers, held in their front hooves—slashing away at the roots that bound Trixie with spinning dance of blades.
And to think, this all came from one pony, Moonlight mused between attacks.
The way Trixie scrambled to her hooves reminded Moonlight of Spectre’s early days in the Night Guards. The panic in her eyes as she fired her magic at random targets: it was like looking through a window in time.
The scale of this environmental cleansing paled in comparison to this resilient corruption. Back then, there had only been, at most, twenty lashers to destroy. Now, however? Moonlight had lost count of how many they had cut down.
Yet it was the following realization that brought Moonlight’s attacks to a screeching halt.
Slicing a lasher in two, Moonlight broke away, silently praying to Luna that Fluttershy was still alive.
Their face dropped at the sight before them.
Fluttershy’s screaming stopped. Out of sheer desperation, she had bitten her lip and flung herself against a nearby tree trunk, pain lancing through her side as she fell.
But through this pain, something had changed. Her hurt side didn’t visibly wriggle as much from the maggots as before. With a single glance, Moonlight saw how she turned dozens of parasites into a sticky, wet pulp.
Fluttershy’s eyes widened, a frown of grim satisfaction on her face.
What worried Moonlight most, however, wasn't the aggressive plants or putrid invertebrates. No, the biggest threat was something new, a beast with a vicious reputation. Flying out from the undergrowth, a flock of seven befouled harpies screeched.
A small light spell from Spectre revealed the level of the Harpies’ malady. Their half-moulted feathers revealed a crusty, blackened skin, with eyes bloated to the point of almost bursting out of their sockets.
What made Moonlight gag the most, however, was the thick, sludgy discharge which spewed forth from every opening – made all the viler by the squirming fungi growing out from their open wounds.
“Just brilliant,” Moonlight groaned. “Trixie, Fluttershy, heads up! We’ve got company.”
“Trixie has noticed!” Trixie replied, still fighting against the corrupted vines that simply wouldn’t die.
That does it! Trixie thought to herself.
With her initial attempts to destroy the corrupted flora proving fruitless, Trixie had just the plan to solve the conundrum.
The first step was to take a page out of Spectre’s book, focusing her magic into a narrow beam and making her incision at the base of the plants. Just as she hoped, the vines began to regrow.
Now for the hard part.
With a quick glance over her shoulder, Trixie shifted her focus to her allies. Splitting her magical beam into a series of fine, arcane threads, Trixie took a deep breath and wove a new spell around each of her allies.
Pulling a manna-bomb from her cloak, Trixie broke the seal with her teeth. Sweat rolling down her face, she chucked the bomb into a fissure and surged magic through her horn. In a flash, Trixie and her friends were gone, phased out of existence in a teleportation spell just as she felt the heat of her manna-bomb singe the fur on her hooves.
Seconds she materialised onto scorched earth with Fluttershy, Moonlight and Spectre in tow. Looking around her, every piece of plant matter within a twenty-foot radius has been incinerated
“Success!” she cheered, wiping the sweat from her brow. “That was a close one.”
Unfortunately, her victory was short lived; the pungent stench of rotting flesh.
The harpies were somehow still alive.
Sparking magic at the tip of her horn, Trixie narrowed her eyes, waiting for the harpies to make the first move.
Moonlight crouched low, ready to a pounce like a tiger stalking its prey.
The harpies dived, each one spiralling around Trixie and Moonlight in their own descent pattern. However, half way down, the first three harpies swerved, crashing into one another and blocking the four above them.
Trixie briefly met eyes with Moonlight, both sharing a nod of acknowledgement as the harpies squawked loudly, their focus now on clawing at each other instead of ponies.
“Now!” Trixie cried, firing off a stream of arcane bolts into the bickering harpy flock.
In response, the harpies frantically flapped their wings, separating from one another just in time to dodge Trixie’s attack; their talons and feathered extremities singed by the heat. This didn't stop Trixie from pressing her attacks, since scattering the creatures was exactly what she wanted.
Now it was Moonlight’s turn to jump into the fray.
Leaping into the air, they flew straight through the middle of the flock, cutting limbs with short, sharp slashes, before banking around to repeat the assault over again.
Trixie had to give Moonlight credit for their speed and efficiency, since the harpies could not so much as touch them with how fast they twisted and turned around each retaliation. In addition, Moonlight’s attacks caused further disarray among the flock, their attempts to avoid Moonlight’s physical assault lead them stumbling into the path of the arcane barrage.
It didn’t take long to kill the harpies. Through the combined efforts of Trixie and Moonlight, the creatures’ burned bodies bleeding from countless cuts, one after the other crashed to the ground; limbs twitching as the rattles of their death throes escaped their mouth.
“Huh, that was easy…” Moonlight commented, prodding a harpy corpse upon landing. “Well, no signs of life in this one.”
“All in a day's work for the Magnificent Master Tactician: Trixie!” A wide bow accompanied Trixie's verbose bragging, of which Moonlight's ignored.
Neither pony had time to dwell on matters of ego, as the corrupted flora was already reclaiming the bodies. Only now that they got a close look did Moonlight and Trixie see the scattered seeds sprouting on the corpses, sowing their limbs back together.
“That was predictable,” Moonlight remarked, narrowing their eyes at Trixie. “How long have you been in the Night Shift again, Miss Lullamoon?”
“Oh, shut up,” Trixie sneered back. “How about you just continue keeping the harpies busy, while I go and help Fluttershy?”
“Me? You're the one with the bombs! Surely you can keep them contained.”
“While true, I can’t waste resources on something that will resurrect regardless. Now get on with it!”
“Ugh, fine!” Moonlight dived back into the harpy group, hacking and slicing away at the reforming tissues as fast as they could.
Unbeknownst to Moonlight, Trixie breathed a sigh of relief, confirming Moonlight’s trust. Now that she could set aside her differences, she turned her attention to a more important subject.
By the looks of things, Fluttershy was still fighting against the invertebrate onslaught. It was clear to Trixie that, despite her friend’s incredible persistence, the maggots just kept coming; raining from the tree branches to latch onto her flesh.
Just minutes before, Trixie had seen half a dozen little injuries, at most. Now, that number had skyrocketed, covering Fluttershy’s flesh in bulbous scabs and bleeding wounds from every point the maggot swarm had bitten.
Tensing her legs and forcing the rising back down, Trixie restrained her instincts to directly intervene. Instead, she a magnification spell to fill the full scope of her vision with Fluttershy’s repetitive dance. With every dive, turn and slam against the trees, Trixie made a mental note, counting the seconds it took Fluttershy to complete a rotation.
After the fifth repetition, the result was as clear as day.
Fluttershy was slowing.
With Moonlight’s hooves full, there was one other pony Trixie had to turn to and get everypony out of this mess.
Spectre had bubbled himself in a magic shield, blocking the approaching plants and grubs while lancing arcane blasts in retaliation.
Trixie couldn’t help but smile in admiration at the difficult balance Spectre had to maintain. His eyes locked on the foes ahead of him, Trixie watched Spectre for the same length of time she had watched Fluttershy, looking closely for the tell-tale flicker of the shield as portions of defensive magic were recycled for offensive means – in addition to the minute reduction in size with every blast.
If Trixie didn’t do something now, it wouldn’t be long until both were overrun.
“Make way for Trixie!”
The star-clad unicorn charged head first into Spectre's bubble, merging it with her own protection spell.
“What in Luna's name are you doing?!” Spectre protested as he stumbled forward, nearly losing control over the bubble.
“Saving your flank, what else?” Trixie grinned, her horn glowing brightly as she took over the bulk of the defensive spell’s power. “. Trixie can handle any incoming attacks. You focus on Fluttershy. She needs magic to heal and keep off the parasites”
“That's what I've been doing,” Spectre retorted, his face still taut with nerves. “I’m sparing every ounce of magic I can give her. But I've got to be careful.”
“Then be careful,” Trixie replied, waving her hoof at Spectre, her gaze wandering elsewhere. “Fluttershy can take a few scrapes here and there.”
“That's not what I meant!” Spectre turned his attention back to the bat pony above him. “You wouldn't know since you're not a Night Guard. The magic that turned Fluttershy into a bat pony? That wasn’t Decadence’s doing. Fluttershy’s magic is identical to my own. I don't want to risk turning her feral from my enhancing spells.”
“Well, up until now she hasn't had any control issues. After all, Trixie was the one who gave her the potions which keeps her sane. If anything was due to go wrong, it would have happened by now!”
Spectre grunted, gritting his teeth as he shot off another bolt. It was bad enough that the nightmare was developing at a faster rate than he had calculated, but now he had to gamble with an important subject of the Night Shift?
Spectre knew by the churning in his gut that he was going to regret this.
“Alright, fine,” Spectre reluctantly agreed, firing a small pulse of magic to get Fluttershy's attention. He hoped to Luna that Trixie understood what he was about to do. “Brace yourself, Fluttershy! I'm going to cast an enhancement spell on you. Think you can take it?”
“Do it!” Fluttershy cried without hesitation. Closing her eyes tight, she relaxed her body and awaited Spectre’s magic to do its work.
At Fluttershy’s conformation, Spectre unleashed a power surge through his horn; washing over Fluttershy with a wave of searing hot magic, frying the parasites to a crisp.
Her body going stiff, Fluttershy’s eyes went wide as the Night Guard’s power flowed through her body. Her senses kicked into overdrive, her own heartbeat echoing in her ears as the world burst into life with a greater array of colours than she had ever conceived of before. Feeling every tiny shift in the breeze, Fluttershy opened her mouth wide—fangs doubling in length—and released all her emotions into a long, feral scream.
Fluttershy: The Element of Kindness, protector of all creatures great and small, had gone to sleep. Awaking in her place, there was Flutterbat; her hungry eyes straying over to her prey of choice: harpies.
She could see every little detail of their bleeding bodies, dancing like marionettes on strings, manipulated by the enchanted flora which distorted the forest into mockery of life. Flutterbat felt a powerful emotion deep inside of her; one that she hadn’t felt in a long time.
Flutterbat felt the deep, seething hatred welling up from the pits of her stomach, and the only way to deal with it was to stop it at its source.
Permanently.
Her peripheral vision blurred with a red mist, watching Moonlight duel with the harpies, waiting for the right opportunity to dive in. In a similarly to Trixie, Flutterbat observed how Moonlight was slowing with each attack, the regeneration of the harpies wearing him down.
By their nature as undead, the harpies didn’t tire. If there was magic to fuel them, they would continue to slash, scratch and kick at Moonlight with the same level of malicious determination they had from the beginning.
Worse still, they were starting to gain the upper claw. If their attack missed or was blocked, Moonlight would disengage, only to find themselves flying directly into a set of piercing claws cutting into exposed flesh. With each successive string of attacks, Moonlight's breathing became heavier and the attacks they landed lessened.
“Hey! Over here, you repulsive freaks!” Flutterbat yelled, to the shock expressions of everypony listening.
With a loud hiss, Flutterbat bared the full length of her fangs and swooped directly into the harpy flock – shoving Moonlight out of the way.
Clamping her jaws down on a harpy's neck, she ripped off its head with her bare hooves in one pull, tossing it to the ground before ravaging its now limp body.
The other members of the flock descended upon Flutterbat, but she retaliated, throwing the remains of her first victim back in their faces, well before they could get close enough to attack.
In a bid to dodge around grotesque projectiles, the harpies inadvertently made themselves sitting ducks for Flutterbat to take down.
With a vicious look in her eyes, Flutterbat tore into the harpies one by one, ripping out any plant matter that tried to sprout from severed limbs. The fact that it was impossible to stop every part from self-repair didn't bother Flutterbat – the only thing she had on her mind was exterminating them all.
With unrelenting ferocity, Flutterbat poured all her hatred into each attack.
She hated how the harpies were forced to fight by this disgusting magic.
She hated how this power denied them a peaceful death. But most of all, she hated that they were an insult to all things harmonious in nature.
Every animal she had ever put her heart and soul into protecting? They were at risk because of the evil magic which defiled their existence.
And it was her duty to destroy the nightmare with that same passion.
Trixie and Spectre looked at each other. They could hardly believe their eyes. Neither said a word, silently admitting that their gamble had failed dramatically.
“Will you two quit gawking and help out here?!” Moonlight's reprimand snapped the pair out of their shock, flaring up their horns to cast a cleansing fire spell over the harpy remains.
The heat didn’t stop Flutterbat, however. She continued to press her manic assault, attacking whatever still showed signs of the nightmare's infection. “Let that be a lesson to anypony who dares mess with my home!”
“Fluttershy, that's enough!” Moonlight yelled, waving their hooves in front of the raging bat pony. “It's okay, the harpies are dead.You can chill out now!”
“No!” Fluttershy snapped through gritted teeth. “We are not done! The nightmare is everywhere! The entire forest is tainted! This won't be over until Ebony is dead!”
If Trixie's expression turned from one of shock, to one of pure terror. Not even under Decadence’s influence had she seen Fluttershy this enraged before.
Sure, she always had her moments of assertiveness. But this? This had gone far enough.
She began to cast a new spell, but the nightmare conspired against her.
A great cacophonous roar tore through the forest, heralding the charge of the one creature Trixie had hoped beyond hope she would never encounter again.
Bursting through the trees was a gigantic creature with the ferocity of a dragon and destructiveness of a hurricane. Its fur glowed with a deep red magic, its back bristles standing on end to form rows of sharp points down the length of its spine. The stars that had once given majesty to its ethereal form had vanished; leaving only swirling patches of void in their wake.
There could be no doubt about it. This was an Ursa Major.
Trixie's brain screamed at her to run, but her limbs would not move. She was frozen to the spot, paralysed with fear. Her previous encounter with an Ursa Minor has been bad enough, but this was a threat on a whole new level.
Trixie had no need to question why the creature was rampaging. By the sound of its roar alone—a rasping, guttural echo—she knew it was infected.
So, this is how the Great and Powerful Trixie comes to an end, she thought to herself, eyes fixed open at the monster charging towards her. Trampled by the creature which mothered the greatest shame I’ve ever been subjected to. How ironic.
A second later, the pain Trixie expected arrived – but not in the way she thought it would
Rather than being crushed, she instead felt a powerful buck to her side, sending her flying far from the path of the rampaging bear.
Flutterbat had come to her rescue.
“Fluttershy?” Trixie looked up at her companion, expecting to see fangs bared with intent to drain her blood.
Instead, Trixie saw a small flicker in Flutterbat’s eyes. It was faint, but if there was any sign she hadn’t completely gone feral, this was it. No matter how unlikely it may have been, Trixie held tight the few threads of hope left that Flutterbat would overcome her feral rage, with or without the aid of her potions.
Flutterbat gave no verbal answers as to why she had saved Trixie. Instead, she immediately launched herself back at the monster.
“Trixie!” Spectre called, racing towards her with Moonlight in tow.
“Are you okay?” Moonlight asked, offering a quivering hoof to help Trixie rise.
“Trixie is just fine, thank you very much!” Trixie snapped, batting Spectre's hoof away. “Trixie can deal with a few bumps and scrapes. But more importantly, Fluttershy needs our help!”
“She's too close to the Ursa Major,” Moonlight protested. “We'll be flattened like saplings if we get too close to that thing.”
“And you don't think I know this?!” Trixie glared at Moonlight. “Since you never bothered asking, I brought Fluttershy on this mission for a very good reason. If you’ll recall, I mentioned that Applejack has gone missing.
“But it’s far worse than that. I have compelling evidence to suggest that Applejack is now a werewolf, and we could lose her entirely unless we find her soon!”
“By Starswirls' beard...” The colour drained from Spectre's face. Dropping to his knees, tears began streaming down his face – the weight of his decisions finally catching up with him. “I've made a huge mistake. I didn't consider how far the nightmare's corruption spread. I've doomed us all...”
“Don't say that!” Moonlight blurted, throwing their hooves around Spectre, pulling him into a tight hug. “There have been Night Guards before us who broke away from Nightmare Moon's insanity, and don't forget how we fought against Decadence! We can do this. We... we just need a plan.”
“What plan?” Spectre shouted back. “We don't have a magic suppressor big enough to fit an Ursa Major! It's only a matter of time before it catches our scent again. What can we possibly do? Oh, dear Princess Luna, we're done for!”
“My, my, what is this blasphemy that befalls Trixie's ears?” Trixie sneered with a smug grin on her face, a perfect mask from the fact her knees were still shaking. “As much as Trixie hates to admit it, your special somepony is correct. No matter the odds, the Night Shift will always succeed. If you will cast your gaze to Fluttershy, you may see how well she is keeping the Ursa Major occupied.”
Looking back at the beast, Spectre’s jaw dropped.
The Ursa Major’s attention was exclusively focused on Flutterbat, dodging and weaving through its sluggish yet powerful assault - flattening several trees in a single swipe.
“Fluttershy’s attacks won’t do much to it,” Trixie said. “With a creature that size, it will take quite a bit more for the Ursa Major feel anything beyond an insect bite.”
“As long as we stay out from underfoot,” Moonlight speculated, “We may be able to wear it down. It'll be a war of attrition, but it's still possible.”
Raising to his hooves, Spectre smiled as he looked deep into Moonlight's eyes.
In them he saw everything that made him love Moonlight in the first place. The optimistic determination, dedication to justice, and unwavering resolve; even in the face of impossible odds. No words needed to be shared, as Moonlight returning a loving smile was enough to restore Spectre’s lost morale.
“Please don't forget to fight as well,” Trixie scoffed, rolling her eyes at what she considered to be an ill-timed display of affection.
“On it!” Moonlight saluted, lifting their wings in preparation for a speedy ascent. “Coming with us, I presume?”
“What? I… I… of course!” Trixie stuttered, turning away in a poor attempt to hide her fear. “Trixie just needs to... set up a spell, first! Yeah, that's it. A long spell. Don't worry, I'll be right behind you.”
A brief smirk back from Spectre made it obvious that he wasn't buying her excuse for a second. Luckily for Trixie, another roar from the Ursa Major spurred him and Moonlight into action, forgoing any further banter.
Blades drawn, Moonlight accelerated to their maximum flight speed, slicing their weapons across the Ursa Major's skin while flexing their wings to match the enraged beast's reactions. Likewise, Spectre fired off frequent, yet short and intense blasts of magic, aiming for the freshly carved wounds made by both Flutterbat and Moonlight.
The beast snapped its jaws at Flutterbat, swiping its massive front paws around its snout, each time missing the agile Pegasus.
As expected, the Ursa Major reacted to every little scrape that was inflicted upon it, only to find the cause of such irritation had already flown away.
“The nightmare consumes me... compels me... to serve... to kill!”
The beast spoke in the same guttural, echoing voice which gave such menace to its roar. For the briefest of moments, Moonlight found themselves slowing their attacks, half expecting the voice to be a deception on Trixie's behalf.
Too late did they realise it was not so.
Staring at Moonlight with its deep, red glowing eyes, the beast swatted them out of the sky with the force of a freight train.
“Moonlight, no!” Spectre cried, ceasing his attacks and redirecting his magic to catching his lover. But before he could complete the spell, a yellow streak darted across his vision once again.
Flutterbat caught the downed Lunar Pegasus in mid-air, barrel rolling under the Ursa Major's paw as it slammed to the ground.
Spectre could hear Moonlight groaning in pain, a sound which split his attention between his partner and tracking the Ursa Major’s next move.
“Stamp and trample! Crush and crumple!”
Lips curled back into a snarl, the Ursa Major charged, the power of its bellowing roar alone enough to knock Spectre off his hooves. Casting the first spell that came to mind, Spectre warped himself out of the corrupted beast's path, not knowing where his destination would be.
Indeed, the spell successfully removed him from the immediate risk of trampling, but instead sent him onto the monster's back, forcing him to cling on for dear life by the scruffs of its fur.
Moonlight, meanwhile, found themselves looking into the eyes of Flutterbat upon regaining their senses. Startled, they tried to crawl away, receiving a painful reminder about the attack from every bone.
“S-stay back!” they stuttered, though Flutterbat didn't appear to be taking any further interest in him.
“Enemy?” Flutterbat said, scanning her eyes over her fellow bat pony. “No. No enemy.”
Moonlight stared in confusion as Flutterbat flew back to the Ursa Major, leaving them in Trixie's hooves.
Said unicorn was standing over Moonlight, her focus held firmly on the spell she was channelling. Whatever this spell was, they knew nothing well could come of its interruption.
With his momentary respite, Moonlight tested the flexibility of their wings, swivelling one back and forth before doing the same with the other. Their right wing flared with greater pain than their left, along with the familiar aches of bruising on their flank.
This could’ve been a whole lot worse, Moonlight thought, breathing a sigh of relief.
Another savage roar cut short any further health checks, their attention drawn to the flashes of purple amongst the mountain of reddened fur.
“Pathetic little ponies!” the Ursa Major bellowed. “The wilds tremble before my fury! All shall be remade, by the will of the Nightmare Lord! Nothing can stand in the way of her power!”
Flailing harder than a bucking bronco, the nightmare bear threw itself into the undergrowth, splintering masses of trees across its bulk. Huge splinters showered over Spectre, his eyes shut tight as he pumped all his magic into a barrier spell.
But his magic was not enough to save him from injury.
Many sharp pieces shot through the protective shield from the sheer force alone; piercing through the exposed gaps in his armour.
Biting down hard on his lips, Spectre closed his eyes and stifled his screams of pain, refusing to give the monster the satisfaction of seeing him suffer. As much as he didn’t want to believe it, the truth the situation was that he and his allies were becoming overwhelmed.
In this moment, a distinct pain returned, reaching levels of physical agony; stabbing at his soul the sharp edges of regret.
This only added to the puncture wounds around his legs and shoulders, all brought upon by his decisions.
“Hold on, my love! I'll get you down!”
Spectre's eyes shot open. He wanted so badly to shout back, to tell his partner not to put their life in danger for his sake.
But he knew it would be pointless. Moonlight's personal code of duty meant they were impossible to talk down from a rescue opportunity – especially since Spectre was the victim.
A deep, throaty laugh reverberated from behind the Ursa Major's lips. “Should have fled. Should have listened!”
Its gaze fixated on Moonlight, the giant bear opened its jaws wide and charged with a shocking turn of speed.
Moonlight barely had time to blink before finding themselves between two rows of sharp, pointed teeth – twice the size of an average pony. Pulling up into a sharp climb, Moonlight flapped hard to gain altitude, but was not quick enough to avoid oblivion.
The next few seconds were a total blur. There was screaming, darkness, intense pain and paralysis; all flooding Moonlight's senses in a dizzying bombardment.
It took what felt like hours of struggling to realise what had happened to them. A tiny slither of flickering light illuminated their surroundings, bringing Moonlight to both a horrific realisation and an incredible stroke of luck.
Not only was Moonlight still alive, they were stuck between the teeth of the Ursa Major. The only serious wound was their punctured left wing, trapping them between two crooked canines out of reach of the creature's massive tongue.
A one in a million opportunity which Moonlight refused to waste.
Yet the more they tried to free themselves, the more intense pain their damaged wing felt. Moonlight dared not look back to at their grotesque wounds, as the disgusting squelch of pulverized tissue made them cringe enough.
Instead, Moonlight tried to use what tiny wiggle room they had to free themselves. Yet, every time they did, an even greater pain of snapping bones forced them to stop.
Breathing heavily, Moonlight’s vision began to fade, blood loss taking its toll.
But through the Ursa Major's constant thrashing and frustrated roars, there was another voice cutting through the din which persisted in ringing through Moonlight’s mind.
“Spit out my partner right this instant, you Luna-be-damned monster!”
It was Spectre.
While Moonlight couldn't see exactly how—beyond a few brief flickers of magic through its jaws—they were certain Spectre was fighting back.
“Spectre, my love!” Moonlight cried, hoping to Luna that they were audible over the Ursa Major's tantrum. “I'm alive! Help me!”
“Worry not, Moonlight!” Spectre replied. “I'll get you out in no time!”
Despite the confident sincerity in Spectre's voice, Moonlight could not allow themselves to wait for.
They were a Night Guard, one of Luna's chosen to serve the Night Shift on the front line. To surrender themselves to death at the hands of the very monsters they hunted would be a disgrace to everything they stood for.
Wiggling their front hooves as much as they could, Moonlight slowly forced themselves forward, biting down hard on their lip to stifle their agonised screams.
I can’t die here. I won’t leave him behind.
These were words Moonlight repeated to themselves repeatedly, the image of their coltfriend driving them to pull themselves out with every ounce of strength they could muster.
Finally, with a loud snap of their broken wing, the front half of Moonlight’s body was free.
Wrapping their hooves tight around the hilts of their swords and flicking out their remaining wing-blade, Moonlight took aim.
“In the name of Princess Luna, I will purge the nightmare from you!”
In one swift motion, Moonlight sliced through their broken wing at the base and stabbed their weapons deep into the Ursa Major's gums.
The beast bellowed in agony – a sound that shook the ground with its force.
As Moonlight was spit out of the creature's mouth, covered in a sticky combination of blood and mucus, a familiar bat pony darted past; giving them a fresh idea about how to turn the battle in their favour.
“Fluttershy, catch!” Moonlight called, throwing their weapons to Flutterbat seconds before they hit the ground.
Flutterbat grabbed the two blades with ease, giving only the briefest glance to where they came from. Turning to face the Ursa Major, a sadistic grin growing across their face, Flutterbat had only one word left to say.
“Die!”
With a burst of speed that would impress even Rainbow Dash, Flutterbat darted under a swipe of the Ursa Major's paw, plunging the blades into its flesh and dragging them across its arm.
The beast roared with enormous pain, throwing itself around to squash the assaulting bat pony.
Yet Flutterbat was not done.
In a move which drew from the deepest parts of her magic reserves, she matched the trajectory of the Ursa Major's body slam, flying over it and unleashing a flurry of slashes; pushing on until the beast’s upper back was covered in bloody scars.
“RRAAAUUUGHHHH!” the beast screamed. By now, Fluttershy knew it would be growing desperate to kill its tormentors. “I cannot fall to the likes of you! THE NIGHTMARE GROWS! THE NIGHTMARE DEVOURS! THE NIGHTMARE IS IMMORTAL!”
That was when Trixie's eyes snapped open.
This entire time, she had kept herself away from the battle, concentrating as she wove together layer after layer of a complex spell. Released from her trance, the sight that greeted her was a grisly one to say the least.
Even she, a hardened veteran of the Night Shift, found herself wincing at the sight of Moonlight laying on the ground, unconscious and bleeding profusely from their missing wing. Spectre and Flutterbat were doing their best to avoid the Ursa’s wild strikes, the number of near misses they had made it obvious they couldn’t last much longer.
The pressure was on to finish the spell, but Trixie kept pace, remaining focused on recanting the spell's final components. One slip of the tongue and it would all be over.
Much like how the moment Spectre lost his footing, he tipped forward directly into a swipe from the Ursa’s paw – screaming with pain from the force of the blow.
The second this sound met with Trixie’s ears, her spell was complete; its magic seeping into the soil beneath her foe.
“Spectre!” Trixie she, grabbing his attention. “Carve a ring into the ground around the Ursa Major, quick!”
Despite his whole body aching from the Usra’s attack, Spectre obeyed; putting all his trust in Trixie's spell. Teleporting himself onto the beast’s back once more, Spectre pushed himself to fire off one, long, continuous beam of magic, digging out the circle as instructed.
“Stupid little pony!” The Ursa laughed madly. “Should not be talking out loud about your plans! I shall bleed the Nightmare from your very soul!”
For all its bellowing bluster, the beast had forgotten that the same sentiment applied to it; this brief monologue giving Spectre time to finish the circle.
When he saw Flutterbat dragging Moonlight of the way, Spectre teleported back to Trixie, tapping deep into his magic reserved to empower her spell.
In a flash, the circle lit up, creating an arcane forcefield which towered around the full circumference.
The Ursa Major threw itself against the barrier, pounding away in an attempt at escape.
Just as Trixie had expected.
In response, the magic barrier reacted with a second surge. The beast’s limbs were paralysed; trapped by the same earth from which its infection stemmed. The more it struggled, the more the spell resisted, liquidating the ground into a combination of quicksand and entangling tree roots - their growth dramatically exacerbated by the spell mixing with the volatile curse.
As the arcane energy washed over the Ursa, Spectre added his cleansing spell to the weave; burned away at the nightmare and freeing the beast's mind from its curse.
“The nightmare's veil... is lifted...” the Ursa Major said weakly, its bloodied and burnt fur regaining some of its normal blue colouration. “I am free... to the wilds... at last...”
Minutes after the spell was cast, the trap had enveloped the beast all the way to its neck; its death a combination of blood loss and suffocation.
Looking at its pitiful state, Trixie could not help but shed a tear for the fallen creature.
“Trixie, are you...?” Spectre asked, placing a hoof on Trixie's shoulder, only to be rebuffed before he could finish the question.
“I'm fine!” Trixie lied, refusing to admit the pain for what the Ursa had become. She could deny till the end of time, but animal deaths would always be heart breaking to watch.
“F-Fluttershy...” Moonlight coughed, regaining consciousness to find Fluttebat flying to the fallen beast. “What... what are you doing?”
“Wait, what…?” Trixie’s heart nearly leaped out of her chest, gaping aghast at what they saw.
There Flutterbat was, standing on the Ursa Major's back, holding her long, silver stake between her front hooves.
With one swift motion, she stabbed the weapon it into the back of the Ursa Major's neck – carving open its flesh to drink deep from its blood spurting out.
The look on Flutterbat’s face was one of pure ecstasy, revelling in every gulp she took.
“Fluttershy, stop!” Spectre called, his attempt to reach her receiving a feral hiss in return.
“This is bad...” Trixie gulped hard. She had to do something before Flutterbat became consumed by the nightmare. “Spectre, can you put a restraining spell on Fluttershy?”
“I can certainly try.” Straining every muscle, Spectre forced as much of his remaining magic as he could into this one spell. First there was only a tiny flicker, but Spectre persisted, his face contorting with pain.
Then, in a brief flash of light, Spectre cast a magical ring around the Flutterbat, solidifying to clasp her wings and legs together.
Teleporting onto the fallen beast, Trixie stood over Flutterbat, pinning her down and teleporting them both back.
Still in a feral state, she snapped repeatedly at Trixie, wriggling back and forth in a vain attempt at escape.
“Spectre.” Trixie said, gesturing over Flutterbat’s head.
Reaching over from behind, Spectre pulled open Flutterbat's jaws.
With her friend secured, Trixie pulled out a potion from her cloak, popping off the cork and draining its contents into Flutterbat's mouth.
The effect was instant, Flutterbat convulsing and coughing violently as the colour of her coat returned to its normal shade of yellow – pupils widening out from the feral slit.
“Ugh,” Fluttershy groaned, rubbing her head as her bindings were removed. “T-Trixie? What happened? Where are the harpies?”
Trixie let out a long sigh of relief. “I'm so glad you're okay, Fluttershy,” she said, her face softening to mark the rare occasion of sharing her true feelings. “You have no need to worry. We had a bit more trouble than expected, but we won in the end.”
“Won?” Fluttershy cocked her head. “What do you mean-”
Fluttershy cut her sentence short when she spotted Moonlight, limping towards her with Spectre helping – their missing wing wrapped in a bloodied bandage.
“Oh my gosh!” Fluttershy exclaimed, running to Moonlight's side. “What happened to you, Moonlight?! Where did your other wing go? Trixie, do you know any healing spells?”
Moonlight chuckled weakly. “Good to have you back, Fluttershy. I was afraid we'd lost you for after attacking that Ursa Major.”
“Ursa Major?” Fluttershy blinked, then her eyes went wide, a flood of memories rushing back to her. “Oh no...”
Turning around, Fluttershy gasped at the sight of the fallen Ursa Major, its body lying motionless.
“Oh no, no, no, no! Please, don't be dead! Oh, sweet Celestia, what have I done?!” Fluttershy grabbed the Ursa Major's cheek between her hooves, violently shaking it with a naïve hope it was somehow still alive.
“I'm sorry, Fluttershy,” Spectre said with a dark, sombre tone. “It was infected by the nightmare. It would have killed us all if we didn't fight back. You dealt the killing blow, ending its suffering.”
“No! It wasn't me who did this!” Fluttershy screamed back, tears streaming down her face. “It-it... it was the stupid bat pony magic that made me into a monster! What if... what if I turn again when fighting Applejack? What if I end up killing her, too?! Oh, Celestia, that poor Ursa Major! I'm so sorry!”
Trixie removed her cloak and draped it over Fluttershy, embracing her as her heavy emotions poured out into her sobs.
“There, there, Fluttershy. For what it's worth, Trixie understands that you made a difficult decision. I know how cliché it sounds, but the Ursa’s infection? It wasn't your fault. It's none of our faults.”
Spectre looked back at his crippled partner, gripping their hoof tightly around his. Looking back to Fluttershy, Spectre let out a long sigh.
“No, you're wrong, Trixie,” he said flatly. “It's my fault. I thought that we could cleanse the nightmare piece by piece, teaching you the protocol. But I was wrong. I was foolish to think that this level of corruption could be so easily contained. This has gone far beyond anything I could ever comprehend, and I must take responsibility for my actions.”
“Sweetie, it's okay,” Moonlight Interjected, forcing a gentle smile. “We've been on successful cleansing missions before. How could you have known it would all come to this? I don't for a minute resent you for what happened.”
“I don't care if you resent me or not!” Spectre snapped, pulling away his hoof. One look at his partner's eyes told him what a mistake that was.
Taking a deep breath, he knelt before his lover, pulling them back into a hug and kissing them on the cheek. “I'm sorry, but I can't run from my responsibilities forever. However much or little of the outcome was intended, it was because of me that you lost your wing, and Fluttershy went feral. If I don't accept this, then I will never understand the necessary restraint which comes from being a Lunar Unicorn.”
Unclasping his breastplate, Spectre placed it face up on the ground and pulled out the gem in the centre, offering it to Trixie.
“This gem is the power limiter for all Night Guards in service. While it didn't work as effectively as other magic suppressors, it still helps to control the magic of Nightmare Moon which created us.
“I would like you two to take it; both to help Fluttershy control more of her bat pony powers, and to give you a fighting chance against Ebony. I am no longer fit to wear this insignia, but you two?
“You have both shown skill far beyond what we gave you credit for. It can't undo the damage that I've done, but it can help you to find Applejack.”
“No, wait!” Moonlight stepped forward, pulling the gem back towards Spectre while clutching their own. “Please, take mine instead. If Spectre feels he must atone for his mistakes, then please don't let him suffer for it. I can’t fly without my left wing, so I'm useless in battle. Spectre still has his magic. He can help us return to the Night Shift headquarters and face whatever judgement Luna sees fit to bestow upon us.”
Standing up, Trixie smiled at the two Night Guards. Not a grin of smug superiority, but a genuine, soft smile of gratitude.
“You know, Trixie has to admit, she was wrong about you. Maybe your plans didn't quite work out, but your ingenuity and fast thinking has benefited our quest. For that much, Trixie extends her thanks to you, a credit to the Night Shift. Should Luna judge it so, rest assured that the Humble and Eternally Forgiving: Trixie, is always here to provide a mentoring service!”
After all the horror which the Night Guards had experienced tonight, that last statement managed to give them a good chuckle.
“Thank you kindly for the gift,” Fluttershy said, smiling through a few lingering sniffles. “I'm glad I met you both. I just can’t stop worrying about what I might do to Applejack if I lose myself again, not to mention all the animals I could hurt in the process.”
“As long as you wear that gem around your neck,” replied Spectre with a reassuring smile, “then the lunar magic within you will always be under control. Beyond that, I'm certain that if anyone can pull off this rescue mission, it's you two.”
Throwing her hooves around their shoulders, Fluttershy poured the remainder of her heavy emotions into a tight. “Be careful on your way back, okay? Use my cottage if you need a rest. Pinkie Pie is looking after the place, so she will let you in.”
“We will, don't worry,” Moonlight reassured, hugging Fluttershy back. “I'm sure if we can survive an evening with that Party Pony, we can survive anything else the Everfree will throw at us!”
“Will you three cut out the lovey-dovey stuff and get going already?” Trixie groaned bitterly. “Trixie has an important job to do, you know!”
“No need to rush us,” Spectre replied, taking little stock in Trixie's impatient tone. “There is only thing left to say; until we meet again, oh Great and Powerful Trixie, it's been a pleasure working with you!”
The quartet collectively shared a chuckle between them before finally parting ways, preparing themselves mentally for their final confrontation ahead.
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is it just me or are those chapter titles makeing want too go on a powerwolf jam binge?
8540306
I literally quote Powerwolf song lyrics in the story description :P.
8540420
ahah so i was right! now ima need too go back and read the series out of respect for that been in my read later for ages... xD
8540682
Any critiques you can give are appreciated! I am determined to finish this fic, though that'll be a month or two off yet ;).
8540755
il need too catch up lol like i said never got around too reading the first ones but il happily give some help if needed.
Great chapter keep up the good work like the premise so far. Although I think referring to them/theu instead of he/she is getting confusing with moonlight and specter when talking about one of them doing a singular action.
8558352
I did this because Moonlight is gender fluid. I know that a singular "they" isn't used as often in casual conversation, but it's a gender neutral pronoun that's more recognisable than something like "Xi/Xim".
Gender non-binary people get almost zero recognition in fiction, so I aim to change that.
8558847
When you kept using it I figured it might be this so thanks for just clarifying it. When I put that option in my mind it was easy to follow with it. And I agree that they don't get used enough and this was a prime example of it.
Wait a minute, are all the titles just Powerwolf songs?
8566721
Yes :P. I'm a massive Powerwolf fan. They were the primary inspiration for this fic to begin with.
8568185
Nice. I only recently discovered them listening to bands like Sabaton on Pandora. I still need to download their music to my phone so I can listen to it in my car. There's another band called Gloryhammer I think you might like. Their albums tell a story across the whole album, and both of them interconnect. You should look them up.
8571205
I am a big fan of Gloryhammer! I've seen them live Twice already, and they are absolutely epic =D.
8571318
Oh shit, I've only seen the Eagles once. I don't think they're coming to my area anytime soon, though.