My Little Warriors

by DisgruntledBrony

Chapter 5

Hovering in the air next to Rainbow Dash was a figure she had heard of, but not yet seen. Gigantic wings, glowing red like the embers of a great fire, stretched from their point of origin: Zeke. The size was hard to make out from such a distance, but each wing was easily larger than the man himself. They flapped rather slowly, considering what they were holding up, but each flap was powerful enough that Twilight could feel a light pressure after each one, even from so far below.

Her gaze was interrupted as Zeke and Rainbow Dash both folded their wings behind themselves and began plummeting towards the ground at an alarming speed. Rainbow Dash fell faster, and flared her wings before landing in front of Twilight. Zeke was not far behind. The sudden flare of his wings created a downward pressure that almost caused a nasty incident involving the unicorn's teeth and her tongue as it slammed into her. Shortly after, the offending wings folded again, and Zeke fell the last few feet to the ground. He landed daintily on his back legs.

"Are you two okay?" Zeke knelt as he spoke, looking between Twilight and Spike, whom Twilight had forgotten was there.

"We're fine...What are these things?" Twilight asked as she looked around, spying the charred body of one of the creatures and gesturing at it with a hoof.

"There's no time for a full explanation. They are called goblins." Zeke stood up.

"How come we've never seen them before? There's so many here, someone must have seen them before. But there's no mention of them in any of the books I've read. Are they the cause of those large things in the air?"

"Twilight..."

"They're moving towards Canterlot! Are they attacking there too? Surely the Princesses can handle them. I mean, they aren't that strong, right? Oh, but what if they catch the Princesses by surprise? Oh, this is not good, not good, not good..."

"Twilight..."

"What if these creatures reawaken Discord? I don't know if the Elements will be able to handle both threats...Oh, what to do, what to do, what to do?!"

"Twilight!" Zeke grabbed the now pacing pony by the chin, lifting her face til she made eye contact with him. She simply stared at him. "We can worry about that later. Right now, you need to help guide everyone to a safe place."

"But where? Where could possibly be safe from these...goblins? They're everywhere! Where in Equestria could you possibly call safe if even Canterlot is under attack?!"

"Celestia mentioned a castle in the woods." Zeke gestured to the Everfree as he spoke. "She said there was a signal there long ago. Take them there."

"You speak as if you aren't coming..."

"That's because I'm not. Rainbow Dash and I will distract the enemy to buy the citizens time to make their escape."

"And how do you plan to distract an entire army, might I ask?"

"Easy, Twilight! I can't think of anything more distracting than a sonic rainboom!" Rainbow Dash suddenly jumped into the conversation.

"So your grand plan is to draw an entire army's attention to just the two of you? That sounds wonderful! I can't imagine what could go wrong with-"

The conversation found an abrupt end when the two spellcasters in the group spun around to face Canterlot. The lone pegasus was at a loss at first, but when a very large light suddenly blossomed from the city on the mountain, she joined in.

The trio watched in awe as the light grew. As it passed over each vessel in the air, said vessel flared up for a few seconds, before disintegrating in midair. within seconds, the remaining aircraft were in full retreat. a few more seconds later were all that was needed to prove they weren't fast enough. In the span of about a minute, Canterlot airspace was goblin free.

The light continued to spread, a great orb in the sky. A few minutes later, in which our trio remained rooted to their positions, the light engulfed Ponyville. Any goblin that had remained suffered the same fate as their ships.

It wasn't until another few minutes had passed that the group of three picked up their jaws actually looked around. The only reaction Zeke could muster was a drawn out whistle.

"Was that...Princess Celestia?" Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight, a look of awe and confusion on her face.

"I don't see how it could have been anything else...We all knew she was powerful, but that was..."Twilight trailed off before slowly turning to the winged biped. "But if she was able to win so easily, why weren't you? From what I'd heard, you had her and Luna completely pinned..."

Zeke could only shrug. "She was probably worried about you getting in the crossfire. Instead of fighting back, she simply chose not to fight." He ran a hand over his bald head. "But still, this level of power...She can't be well after channeling that much energy..."

"You think something might have happened to her? Spike, take a letter. We need a situation report. Should we moblize the elements?" Twilight began pacing as she contemplated. "Spike? What are you waiting for? Spi...Where's Spike?!"

Rainbow flew up for a birds eye view. "I think I see him!He's running this way from...Fluttershy's cottage? How'd he get there?"

"Can you tell him to meet us at Town Square? We need to assess the damage."

"Sure thing, Twi!" A cyan blur took off towards the house by the forest.

"Shall we, Zeke?"

"Huh? Oh...yeah..." Zeke fell in behind Twilight, looking extremely confused.

"Are you alright?

"Yeah...yeah...just thinking..."

"About?"

"About how He amassed so much power this quickly. Pulling entire armies through dimensions is not something you do cheaply."

"Who is He exactly?"

"Well, he calls himself Gabriel, and he is cruel as much as he is powerful...Other than that, we never learned much about him."

An odd twinge flittered across their connection as Zeke spoke. Twilight wasn't sure what to make of it, but with such strange magic, odd things were bound to happen.

"How about the 'we' part? Tell me about the others trapped here."

"That'll have to wait. Spike's here."

The dragon ran up to meet Twilight as the duo entered the Square. He then made a desperate attempt to permanently attach himself to her leg.

"Spike! Where'd you go?"

"I was with you!" Spike spoke into her leg. "Then one of those goblin things grabbed me from behind while you and Zeke were arguing! A group of them tried to carry me away...If it weren't for that light..." Nothing more could be heard as his language descended into sobs.

Another twinge on their connection. This one was sharper though. Twilight quickly glanced at Zeke's face to see the remnants of furrowed brow fade into nothing.

"Any idea why they'd take Spike, Zeke?" Twilight asked, already suspicious of his answer.

"Not of the top of my head." Came the expected reply, followed by the same twinge she had felt during his explanation of Gabriel.

Is he...Is that him lying? If it is...then what does he know? And why wont he tell me?

---

After the town had gathered and cleanup had begun, Spike received a letter for Twilight. It was from Luna, explaining that Celestia had drained her magic to repel the invasion. She was fine, but would be quite weak for a while. In the meantime, the two Princesses wanted Twilight to visit the old castle and free the warrior imprisoned there. After discussing it with her friends, it was decided that they would leave in two days time.

That night, as Twilight drifted off to sleep, her thoughts turned to her strange companion.

How many other secrets does he have? With everything going on, I haven't had a chance to really figure him out. I don;t even how what he is...

---

Twilight stood in a cloud of fog. It was a warm fog, the kind that feels good against the skin. A box could bee seen in the distance. With nothing else to do, she decided to walk towards it. She fell flat on her...face?

"Where's my muzzle?!" She reached up to feel her face only to stop in shock. Attache to her forelegs were Zeke's hands, complete with rings an all. She looked at the rest of her body...Correction his body...She quickly looked away from that part of her...him...her...

So, I'm in Zeke's body?

After a few failed attempts, she managed to get back on her feet. With nothing else but the box in sight, she continue moving towards it. It was a hard journey, and she gained many battle scars -ahem- bruises along the way. But at last, she made it.

As it turns out, it was a small vanity. Opening the door revealed a small hand mirror. Wrapping her new fingers around the handle, she brought it to her face. She was greeted by a large amount of hair. Great bushes of dark brown hair, on the top of his head cascading down, as well as growing thick up the side and front of her face. All of that hair was unable to hide the small points that had formed on his ears though. the only other feature visible through his hair were her eyes.

I wonder what his original eye color was? Twilight thought to no one, staring at her eyes in the mirror.

Suddenly, his eyes flashed fire red. Twilight dropped the mirror in shock. As it hit the floor, it shattered, waking her from her dream, Or was it the sobbing that woke her?

...Was Zeke crying?

She ventured downstairs, stopping just before the last few steps into the basement.

"Are you okay, Zeke?"

"Gods be praised," He replied between sobs. "I have hair again..."

---

The next morning came with as much excitement as one would expect from a town that had been recently attacked. Even the return of Zeke's shoulder length mop of hair could not overshadow the damage done to the town. Most of the litter in the streets had already been cleared, but burnt houses were aplenty. Applejack had offered her orchards as a temporary home for the now homeless. As they approached her house, Twilight could see tents nestled between the trees, marking the poor ponies. Her own house was inside a living tree, making the few repairs needed rather easy. A simple burst of magic and the tree regrew. Normal houses, however, were not the same. It could be weeks, months even, before all the houses were completed. And winter was soon coming.

The reason for the visit to Sweet Apple Acres was to help Applejack's family salvage any food and other supplies that the town desperately needed. Zeke had come along, but was not in the best shape at the moment. Apparently, when the attack had started, he had generated a fire wall large enough to separate the entire forest from the town for a few moments, to give the fleeing ponies a head start. When questioned, Zeke had explained that his strength in magic came from fire, and normally a wall of that size was nothing. However, goblins have a natural resistance to fire, so he had to spend extra energy to make it hot enough to prevent their passage.

"How long does it take for magic exhaustion to pass for your..." Twilight pettered to a stop, before dropping a large beam from the destroyed barn and facing Zeke, who happened to be sitting on a fallen tree, enjoying an apple. "Actually, you never did tell me what your people call yourselves."

"No, I don't think I did." Was the reply, followed by a satisfying crunch into the apple.

Twilight nabbed the apple with her magic, levitating it out of his reach. "No sir, no more apples til I get a straight answer from you. I know next to nothing about you, and I'm tired of it."

Zeke's eyes narrowed, and he glared at Twilight, before leaning sideways and falling into a relaxed prone position on the tree. He sighed, folding his hands behind his head, then replied. "Fine, I guess that's fair. We're called humans, and magic exhaustion is usually fixed with a good nights rest."

Twilight returned the apple to him, which he immediately took another bite of. "Then why aren't you better yet?"

"Can't be certain, but I think it has to do with this world's magic. It's...different from mine...Can't seem to absorb it very well, at least not without a filter.

"A filter? Care to explain?" Twilight asked, sitting down next to Zeke's impromptu bed

"Its an item or being enchanted to absorb magic from its surroundings. The caster of the enchantment can then siphon the energy from the filter."

"So make one."

"That takes magic, something I'm in short supply of right now." Zeke deadpanned

"Well, there must be some other way...Maybe I could try it?"

"Nah, its not an easy enchantment, and besides, only the caster can siphon the energy." Zeke sat up and sighed again. "Look, there is one way."

"Well, then? Lets hear it."

"Last night I did a little experimenting with our connection. As it turns out, the nature of it allows me to use you as a filter. You'll absorb the energy around you, and as I siphon it, the connection converts it into my kind of energy."

"You...Did you...siphon off of me while I was sleeping?"

"Well..." Zeke scratched the back of his neck nervously. "...kinda..."

"Zeke! That's dangerous! What if something had gone wrong? I could have died!"

"Hold on...You ponies can die from magic exhaustion!?"

"It's rare, but yes! If we go too far over our limit, our spells can start drawing power from our life force!"

"Crap! I didn't know!"

Twilight took a moment to calm herself down. "Its...well, its not fine, but now you know. Exactly how much did you take?"

"Only enough to test it out. And right afterwards I passed out, into a dream. When I woke up, I was empty again, but my hair and ears had returned to their natural form."

"Okay. How about we try now?"

"Er...Are you sure? They might need you for the cleanup..."

"Its fine, just take as much as you did last night."

"Alright..."

Zeke leaned forward, closing his eyes. His dark brown hair fell forward with him, hiding his face from view. After a few seconds, Twilight could feel, as if it were an itch, a steady stream of energy leaving her. It continued for a few seconds, then stopped. As it died away, Zeke raised his head.

"Oh, Gods but does that feel good." He remarked, stretching his arms over his head. The sleeves of his makeshift robe slid down his arms, and the sun glinted off the metal bands on his fingers. Twilight raised a hoof to block the bright light.

"We need to get you some real clothes."

Zeke lowered his arms, rotating them at the point where they connected to his body. "I think we have bigger problems at the moment. It's nice to have something but that's still not enough to fully revitalize me."

"I know, the town first, then clothes."

By this time, other volunteers were starting to glance at the pair of slackers, so Twilight excused herself to return to work, and Zeke wisely decided to go fetch some water for the workers. Upon his return, he stood next to Twilight, occasionally picking up something salvageable and taking it to the pile the group had designated as usable. They were silent at first, but before long, Twilight felt something echo across that little nub in her mind where part of him resided.

Can you hear me?

Twilight gasped, dropping the piece of roofing she was lifting. The roofing landed on Zeke's arm, who had been reaching for something under the roofing at the time.

"Damn, Twilight, what the hell?!" Zeke held his arm against him.

"Sorry! Sorry! It's just...I was just...Was that you?"

"Oh, so it did work."

"We can talk through our minds?"

"Not quite...Still working on it..."

"Oh...Is your arm alright?"

"Yeah, just a scratch. Must've been a nail or something. A long red streak now adorned Zeke's arm. Without a second look at it, he continued working.

"Um...aren't you going to clean it?"

"Why?"

"So it doesn't get infected."

"Eh, I'll live."

"You sure?"

"Mmhmm."

"Alright then...So...How much do you think it'll take to fully revitalize you?"

"Eh, its kinda hard to say. I've never run out before, so it's not something I've ever had to consider."

"Why not take some more?"

"You sure?"

"Why not? Levitation isn;t very hard, and I've got plenty to spare."

"Alright then..."

Zeke lowered his head in concentration again. The itch came faster this time, and more intense. Too intense.

"St-stop...Zeke..." Twilight dropped to the ground, slowly fading from consciousness. The last thing she saw before passing out completely was a large amount of pink.

Author's Note:

Booyahkasha

Read mah blog post

For those that don't, I pose a question. Long chapters, or short chapters more often

Also, point out all my flaws and tease me about them til I fix them. :D