CSR Brush Pony

by shysage

Chapter 10, Remember

It's me, Fluttershy again. I... was there... I saw... this...

Well, it was time to go. We were going to rescue the Brush Ponies, or we would all die trying. The only hurdle in our path was the thousands of Cougars now standing and waiting at the only exit from this natural depression, which had become the Brush Ponies' prison of terror and death.

Summer stayed in her Phantom Alicorn form. She was a people; well she looked just like the people in the Equestria Girls world, and walked on two legs like they do. As the Phantom Alicorn, she had huge White wings and a pearl White Unicorn horn. Well, that loud, low rumbling sound was always a part of this, too. Summer was the "Shila" (the "i" sound is long), the deliverer. We hoped that would be the case today, too.

Walking with us, Summer led the Brush Ponies slowly back up the broad path we had come down maybe an hour ago. We were on our way up to the ramp, and away, hopefully to freedom. There were a few foals in this group. We took our time. Princess Arianna and Prince Ma-gane walked together with Summer next to Princess Arianna. Shysage asked me to walk next to my sister, and he walked next to Prince Ma-gane. I knew why; even as we rescued them, we were honoring the Brush Pony leaders. Well, I walked next to my Sis. Can I say that was nice?

Maybe half an hour later, we were most of the way to the base of the ramp, and approached the small band of Panthers that had risked, and were risking everything to help us rescue the Brush Ponies. Our amazing Panther friends were now depending on us to rescue them as well. My Sis asked us to stop. She walked maybe 30 feet beyond our group; the Phantom Alicorn, she then knelt down and bowed to our Panther friends. Lady Grace walked over, crying, and Summer hugged her right away. Lady Grace said quietly "Shila..." Even in the Panther language, that was the word... Then Lady Grace mewed something, and Princess Arianna translated. "Shila come... Dream... very good..." Summer and Lady Grace cried together for a little while.

After hugging Lady Grace as the Phantom Alicorn, Summer said to Princess Arianna "Ask Panthers to protect back?" The slowest Brush Ponies, the young, the foals were in the back. But this was a question, and Princess Arianna understood. The Panthers also understood, and stepped aside to let us pass. Summer wasn't done. "Rosa" she called out lovingly. Rosa was immediately at her side, and really didn't seem to care Summer was a bigger, noisy people with huge wings and a large Unicorn horn right now. Summer fussed over Rosa with her hands briefly, itching behind Rosa's ears. Well, my Panther friend came back to me too. I didn't mind.

We resumed our walk slightly uphill towards the sea of Cougars waiting for us on the ramp. As we walked slowly towards the ramp, Princess Arianna spoke quietly, answering a question we had not even thought. Well, it was clear the Cougars probably guarded this ramp carefully, even before we came.

"Ma-gane found... small... path... up... rocks... Led me... Arianna... Half up, Arianna very scared, cried... Then we finished... Ran very fast... away... to Pony land... Cougars followed us... Found in grass... Sum... mer rescued..."

Princess Arianna was crying loudly by then, and she and Summer; well Summer was still a people, still the Phantom Alicorn, but it didn't matter. The two of them hugged and cried together a little while. Through her tears, Princess Arianna said quietly...

"Old writing... Time... great fear... Shila come..."

My Sis... Also through tears, she said back, quietly "Shila... Brush Pony big friend..."

We had stopped while Summer and Princess Arianna cried together. Then we began walking towards the ramp again. The Cougars really completely covered the ramp for some distance from the edge of the cliff face. The closer we walked... Well, there were a lot of Cougars. And I guess, as I thought about this... I had, I felt no compassion for these beasts. I like animals, and can befriend most, but not Cougars. All they seem to know is anger and blood-lust. They bow to no leader, and all act on the same impulse. If I tried to befriend one, I would be dead before I even got close. It just seemed like killing was all they knew, all they wanted. Kill, then eat... Whatever my Sis, Summer Rain, the Phantom Alicorn, whatever she would do to them... There simply was no other option. If they didn't die we would, even trying to rescue the largely helpless Brush Pony tribe. And they had certainly killed so many Brush Ponies already...

We walked to within maybe 500 feet of the sea of Cougars covering the ramp, extending most of the way up. Summer, the Shila, she stopped, so we did too. The Shila said we should stay right where we were. Of course, we did.

Summer said softly to Rosa "Walk towards them 200 feet, then stop. Protect, but don't kill." I... Nopony translated for Rosa or anything. Rosa seemed to know, Rosa did exactly what Summer asked, and just walked almost half the distance between the Brush Ponies and the leading edge of the Cougars at the base of the ramp. Rosa just stood there near the center of that distance, all by herself.

I could tell... I could feel... The Cougars were laughing scornfully... loudly... A single Panther would confront them? A lone Cougar ran quickly out to face Rosa. That Cougar immediately began to try to fight with Rosa. Just like Summer asked, Rosa defended herself, and batted the Cougar away a number of times with her huge paws. But the Cougar didn't let up, growled loudly, and lunged at Rosa repeatedly. The rest of the Cougars all laughed louder.

Summer was quickly in the air, but flew carefully maybe 100 feet over the Cougars, 100 feet beyond the leading edge of the Cougars; she was directly over those Cougars closest to the Brush Ponies. She was about 100 feet high as well, and hovered there as she stroked her powerful wings. She was just about in the center of that ramp. The Cougars just ignored this flying thing, and kept laughing. I wondered if they were laughing at Rosa. It was loud...

A second Cougar ran out to help torment Rosa. Rosa did her best...

I watched this... Summer, the Shila, right where she was in the air like that, she slowly drew her right hand far to her left...

A third Cougar ran out and circled Rosa, growling, looking for an opportunity...

Summer motioned, slapped her right hand down and around to her right. As she did that, the shield from her right hand raked viciously, down the left side of the cliff face, across the Cougars on the ramp, then harshly up the cliff on the other side. Summer... We were maybe 500 feet away, and we all felt the ground below us rumble and quiver, as her shield forced its way brutally to the ground, crushing everything in it's path. A bunch of the rocks on the cliffs on either side flew high into the air, and then crashed loudly down, dislodged by the force of Summer's shield. Cougars flew off the cliff too, and fell to the ground.

The Cougar's scornful laughter stopped...

It was deathly quiet for maybe a minute after that, as the dust slowly settled, and a few more rocks crashed down...

Few of the Cougars in that first 200 feet could even move. Most were dead or dying as they lay on the ground...

Thirty seconds later, the Cougars were crying... They were crying out... loudly... The three Cougars that were tormenting Rosa ran quickly away from Rosa, back up the ramp, over and past fallen Cougars, and just kept running...

My sister just hovered there, wings pumping, and waited to see what would happen next.

What happened next; Princess Arianna said loudly, but carefully "Sum... mer..."

Without turning away from the sea of remaining Cougars, Summer said "Yes, Princess?"

Princess Arianna said slowly "Lady Grace say Cougars crying out 'Remember... Remember... Shila... No food...' " Maybe, somehow... A previous encounter with the Shila had somehow embedded itself in the collective consciousness of the Cougar race... That would have been over a thousand years ago now... But, they remembered... Their will to fight was gone...

Terrified, the Cougars nearby that could, began working on carefully pulling hurt, dying, or dead Cougars to the side, out of our path. They were opening a way for us... The rest of the Cougars ran quickly up the ramp and disappeared.

Summer didn't move, and stayed in the air right where she was. She said quietly to Princess Arianna "Princess, lead your tribe, the Brush Ponies, to freedom..." I doubt that Princess Arianna had learned the word "freedom" yet, but she was probably realizing... The Brush Ponies followed their Prince and Princess to the ramp, then up. As the Panthers in the back walked under her, only then did Summer fly above the Panthers in the back, up the ramp, but ready, just in case... By then, no Cougar that could move was even in sight. And Rosa was waiting on the ground, right below Summer, until she landed.

It was early afternoon. Princess Arianna led the Brush Pony tribe East... to Freedom... to Safety... to Equestria...

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