> To be an Alicorn
>  by Jonuts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


CHAPTER 1


It all seemed as a dream to Twilight. The events that led her here were half-forgotten already, and the half she remembered were utterly impossible. There was no way somepony would attack the Princesses, was there? It was almost the entire Unicorn Council, and the magics used were one's she was completely unfamiliar with. Several even had strange, yet powerful, creatures aiding them. Living stones created of fire, shadow given shape, small creatures that stood on two hind legs and threw fire. Something that only had the most base resemblance to a red minotaur with wings. In those few panicked moments, that last one turned on the Council as the chains binding it broke, which lead to the last desperate attempts, the collision of powerful magics from Celestia and Luna, against the vast array of magic from the Council. It was the last thing Twilight remembered before her vision went white, but she knew there was much more she wasn't remembering. It had to be a dream, even if she couldn't recall ever feeling such pain in a dream. 

She could feel herself being dragged by her tail across a stone floor. A rough stone floor, slate if she had to guess, a far cry from the single granite slab the floor was supposed to be made from. The trail of blood she was leaving behind didn't seem right to her either. It had to be a dream. There was so little of it, and after a few more feet, it seemed to end as a coherent trail, and instead became punctuated by occasional spots. 

It had to be a dream. That was why she couldn't make out what her guards were saying. That was odd...she only had two guards with her earlier. On the few occasions where tradition required she bring a guard, she only ever brought two. Now there were three, neither of which were 'her' guards, standing with spears at the ready, ready to hold the passageway to the end, and saw a few more in the chamber beyond fighting large creatures. Maybe it was because it was a dream, but Twilight somehow knew that all three holding the line expected to die. It didn't take long before the first creature was upon the three, and it was yet another new one. It too stood on hind legs like a minotaur, but was huge. It stood at nearly twice the height of the guards, seemed to be wearing a loincloth (Rarity's voice sounded in the back of her head, tutting at how atrocious they were), and it swung a huge club at the guards. The middle guard snapped his spear deflecting it into the ground, as the two others rammed their spearheads home in the oversized belly, mortally wounding the creature.

But..where were 'her' guards? It was just a dream, Twilight knew it was just a dream. So she shouldn't be worried, but she was. Steel Wool had been her go-to guard since the first time she had to use an honor guard, but today her second guard wasn't just a random guard. A deep sense of shame filled her even as she thought that. It shouldn't matter who the pony is, it really shouldn't. But it did. This time, it really did. This time, it was a Wonderbolt. A very new, and very special, Wonderbolt.

"Rainbow?" It had to be a dream. She knew what she said, but she couldn't understand the word that came from her mouth. Trying to think about it just made her head hurt even more. Turning her head, Twilight let out a small breath of relief as she saw a blue pegasus struggling to pull her. Definitely a dream. There was no way that Rainbow Dash would struggle to pull her. Comforted that this was certainly a dream, Twilight dropped her head and closed her eyes again and wanted it to end, wishing Luna were here to help with this nightmare, before her world faded to black.


XXXXX


"A simple milk run you said." The Paladin absorbed the hit from the ogre, and with a tilt of the shield, redirected the brunt of the swing down to the floor. A quick flash of his sword, and the second ogre's club was parried. There was a time, years ago, when the thought of parrying an ogre's club would have been ridiculous, but with training, experience, and the added enchantments of his equipment, it was child's play. His guild depended on him to withstand the brunt of attacks from full grown dragons. Mere ogres meant little to him. Truth be told, he could cleared the north wing of Dire Maul on his own, if he was exceedingly careful. It was sparsely populated. Maybe forty ogres, at most. As long as he stuck to the side areas at least. Adventurers never tried assaulting the true strongholds, sheer numbers would overwhelm all but the mightiest adventuring guilds, but the North Wing was isolated. It was also quickly repopulated, because the ogres seemed too stupid to realize the only reason they 'held' the North Wing of Dire Maul was because no one else wanted it. It provided a great opportunity for training adventurers with some experience under their belts. The thick walls, combined with the ogre's propensity for isolation allowed a small group to use stealth to bypass most problems, and take down small groups without raising any sort of alarm. 

This however, reminded him of last week when he invaded Scarlet Monastery with his Guild Master's little brother...who immediately ran through the center of the Cathedral, every member of the Scarlet Crusade looking on in sheer surprise that someone would have the balls to do this, and launched a fireball right at Mograine. One moment, he was fighting a manageable number of enemies, and the next, it was as though the twister nether itself opened up and enemies were pouring in from every direction. Except this time, he couldn't blame the GM's little brother! Whatever that huge explosion was, it seemed to have pissed everything off. Retreat was cut off as more ogres began filling in the areas they already cleared.

"It wasn't my fault Mikey!" Swiftfizzle, the GM's little brother and perhaps the most annoying Gnome he ever dealt with, yelled out in a panicked shout while trying (and failing) to stem the tide of ogres with magical fire. 

"Light, give me the Strength to not strangle this little shit!" With a turn of his body, a third club impacted the Paladin's shoulder, sliding off the pauldron and smashing into the ground. It hurt, but it was a pain he was long used to. 

"Kanyssea! Where the fuck is your furry ass!?" The third member of their party, a Night Elf druid, responded by rolling a few HoTs, heals that slowly affect the target over time, on him. A year of fighting shoulder to, uh, flank, made her a lot more social with him than the rest, and she was easily his best friend. She was a very capable feral druid...who happened to be wearing nothing but intellect and spirit equipment because this was supposed to be an opportunity for her to train in her healing magics. For nearly a year, she had held the front line alongside him, earning the joking nickname Fuzzbutt from her fellows, as adventurers are wont to do. Swords and arrows would roll off her coat, and even the most well aimed thrust would fail to penetrate her thick hide, strengthened a great deal further by the gear she normally wore. Not to mention her expert movements that meant even the most well aimed blows never amounted to more than glancing hits.

While the healing spell slowly taking effect on him felt nice, it wasn't what he wanted. He was far more concerned that she was going to be brutally murdered by the ever increasing number of ogres. There were twenty in the courtyard already, and more were on their way. Thankfully, they seemed to be splitting between heading for the courtyard, and heading for somewhere else. Whoever started this mess, really fucked up, and they were almost certain to die as a result. 

A fourth ogre was taking his try at Mikey's head, but the Paladin stepped forward, smashing his shield into the ogres throat. The shield was quickly replaced with his sword, and the ogre never had a chance, going down as it's blood added to the quickly growing pool he was fighting in.

"Mikey! It's the Legion!" Looking up from the courtyard, Mikey stopped long enough that the next ogre to swing at him nearly landed flush. A last moment turn let his armor take most of the blow, and deflect some of the force. It still knocked him straight off his feet, but not badly enough to keep him down. Rolling his head to the side, he curled into a ball and turned his fall into a back roll. Coming to rest on one foot and one knee, he thrust his sword forward as the ogre tried to follow up on his initial success. He hit straight, but the blow wasn't lethal, nor was it crippling enough in the short term to stop the next blow. 

The next blow never came as a demon bowled the ogre right over. There weren't many, but between the infernal and the doom guard, he was damn sure the ogres were going to take heavy losses before finishing them off. Thank the Light the demons were indiscriminate, giving him a chance to withdraw. 

"Mikey, the way out is cut off. We'll be sandwiched between a whole lot of ogres before we can fight our way out." Kanyssea looked disdainfully at the gnome. Orders were orders, and helping Swiftfizzle cut his teeth were the current orders, but this was the most infuriatingly incompetent gnome she ever met. How he possibly found enchanted cloth armor to increase his strength and agility, she didn't know, but it left his mana pool light and his attacks anemic. If they had any of their front line fighters, they could cut through the enemy lines in seconds. "I suggest we circle around and head into the hole the demons came out of. If I remember the layout right, that should drop us near another exit on the east wing." 

Mikey nodded to the elf. It was a stupid idea, but marginally less stupid than standing in the open. Worst come to worst, Kanyssea could get a minute to change her equipment, and they could likely hold both ends of a passage indefinitely. Unless those stupid elves that still called Dire Maul home finally lost their minds and came for them, but he hoped that wasn't the case. 


XXXXX


The sounds of fighting died down, and Rainbow Dash sincerely hoped it was because the three guards that made it to this strange place her and Twilight held fast, but in her heart she knew the truth, and that time was running out, fast. Knowing she couldn't drag Twilight fast enough to escape, or even hide, Rainbow let go of her tail, and limped between her and the corridor they just left. There were several of the creatures that had attacked them upon arrival here, but they were all dead, and fairly freshly dead if she had to guess, considering the blood was still wet. Intellectually, she knew she should be horrified, but such thoughts were pushed out of her mind by the adrenaline. This was supposed to just be an excuse to hang out with Twilight, something she didn't get to do much of since becoming a Wonderbolt. Instead, what looked to be most the high ranking members of the Unicorn Council just tried to launch a coup, along with a large group of strange, and powerful, creatures. 

Looking down, Rainbow could still see the mess on her leg, where she crushed a unicorns head. It wasn't just her duty to protect the Princess as one of her guards for the meeting, but he was lining up a shot on Twilight, and Rainbow did the only thing she could think of. She took a unicorns life, before that Unicorn could take Twilight's life. She should have felt horrified at such an act, but it was still too unreal. Judging by the new decor, and the strange creatures that pursued them, Rainbow didn't think she was going to live long enough to dwell on her actions, and a part of her was thankful for that. 

Looking back, she could see the mangled remnants of her wings. If she lived long enough to get to a hospital, she wouldn't fly again for weeks. There was a time, maybe ten minutes ago, when such a thought would crush her. Now though, it was merely noted by the part of her mind that was unflinchingly loyal to her friends. A minor note, that she wouldn't be able to fly to aid Twilight. Letting her gaze wander down a little ways, and her back-right leg came into view. Blackened, and with the distinct smell of sulfur combined with burnt fur. One of those green fireballs clipped her earlier, and it did worse than she feared. The burn rode to her hip, stopping just short of her cutie mark. Again, the part of mind of that staunchly loyal to her friends made a note of it. Her mobility in the air wasn't existent, and her mobility on the ground was hampered. 

Slowly, she made her way away from Twilight. She was going to fight, and almost certainly die. But she wasn't going to let Twilight die before she did all she could. Looking for any advantage, she found one. A sword and a dagger. They didn't do their last owner any good, judging by the pile of bones they were next to, but maybe they would serve her. Bending down, she picked the sword up in her mouth and grabbed the dagger with her hooves, her magic allowing her to hold it in a firm grip like all ponies. Then she waited. 

It didn't take long. The first creature rounded the corner in the passage way, and bellowed a roar in challenge. Rainbow Dash responded in kind, with the best she could with a sword held in her teeth. "Come at me!"


XXXXX


Mikey spent a moment catching his breath while watching the entrance. Thankfully for all his mental deficiencies, Swiftfizzle could at least follow simple instructions and was watching the back entrance. At the least, he should make enough noise while dying to alert him and Kanyssea, who was changing her gear as quickly as possible. She could still roll HoTs, but she would have to conserve what mana she had for emergencies. 

"Mikey! Fuzzbutt! Check this out! There's freaking horses fighting ogres! This is so fucking coo-oof!" A half naked Kanyssea transformed into her cat form and tackled him to the ground. A low volume growl got her point across to him, for him to shut up. Too late apparently as several ogres turned to look at the noise. Returning to her elf form, she swore enough to make Elune blush. 

"Mikey, they know we're here." Picking up the gnome, she bodily hurled him to the other end of the passage. "Watch the back, Mikey, hold the front while I finish changing!" In other circumstances Mikey would have taken the moment to enjoy the view, as it was a great view, but this wasn't the time.

Running past the Night Elf, Mikey held the front of the passage as several ogres were advancing towards him. In shock, he noted that the gnome was right, there were several dead ponies strewn about, along with dead ogres. Ridiculously, the dead ponies looked like they held weapons. Even more ridiculously, one pony, the only living one near as he could tell, was trying, and failing, to hold the entrance to another passage. Several dead ogres and two dead ponies, lay around him, but his movements were sluggish. He had to be protecting something, or someone. No one was stupid enough hold a losing defense when they could cut and run. Maybe a hundred yards, and he'd be out of Dire Maul. As much as he could sympathize with the poor pony, it wasn't his problem. The ogres coming for him were.

There were only five. It would be moderately difficult to take that many on his own, but there would be  no doubt in the outcome, and it favored him. Unfortunately, he had to hold the passage, so trying to do this the quick way wasn't an option, the risk of one slipping into the passage was too great. He only had to hold a minute or so before Kanyssea was ready. Standing fast at the entrance, the first two were upon him, and the last three had no room to join the attack. Assuming a solid stance, he stopped the charge cold as the two ogres found to their great surprise that they couldn't just bowl him over. His sword licked out once, then twice. Shallow wounds, but he was a Paladin, specialized in his training to protect his friends and comrades. He didn't so much kill his enemies as he watched them die to exhaustion. 

One club bounced off his shield, barely even notable. He parried a second one with his sword, leaving an opening for his sword to take another bite. Calling on the Light, he infused the very power of the Light into the ground he stood upon, making the very stone itself as though it were fire to his enemies. It didn't do much, but it added more and more damage. A few more exchanges and the ogres started slowing. Exhaustion was quickly setting in for them as their wounds began to add up, the blood loss was taking it's toll, and the very ground itself burned them in passing. One grabbed his shield, to quickly lose his fingers. The defense cost him as the second landed a solid hit, but his armor was too good. His body too used to taking hits. His sharp mind too practiced. He didn't even so much as stumble, before his sword found the offending ogres throat, bringing it down to the ground as it quickly bled out.

He didn't have room to do this the 'fast' way, relatively speaking, but the slow way was the easy way. Another ogre stepped onto his dying kin, and added his club to the assault, finding no more luck than the one he replaced. The dance continued back and forth for a bit before a second, then a third ogre fell. The last two were looking a lot more hesitant, especially since all the ogres behind them had already filed past the last, now dead, defender of the other passage. Having watched three of their number slowly die by this human's sword and shield, they backed off. It would have been a mistake, if it weren't for the fact that nothing they did was going to keep them from dying. At the beckoning of a growl behind him, Mikey pursued, and a bear came charging out the passage way behind him in support. The two of them made very quick work of the last two.

With a nod to Kanyssea, she shifted back to her elf form. Taking a look around the chamber,  "Mikey, what's going on here? First Legion, now these ponies?" Mikey shrugged. He was as lost as she was, but between the two of them, they could easily hold out indefinitely at the worst case scenario, or fight their way out, which seemed the more sensible option. They'd have to hold at least a day before anyone in the guild got worried and checked on them, and that was just far too long for his taste.

"Think they're legion?"

Kanyssea reached down to one of the dead ponies, before withdrawing her hand in surprised. That couldn't be right. She reached down and touched it again. 

"Druids?"

Mikey nodded. Okay. He could deal with this. Strange form for druids, and odd that none of them seemed to be healers..or bears, but not as strange as non-druid ponies with weapons and armor. 

"No, not Druids. Their connection to nature is too powerful, and this is no shape shift." Mikey grimaced. There went the nice and easy explanation. He watched as her ear twitched. "Hurry! There are more of them, and they're still fighting!"

Mikey wasn't sure he agreed. He had no idea who they were, or if they were friendly. Any objection he wished to raise died in his throat as Kanyssea shifted into a cat and made her way forward, running too fast for him to keep up. "Dammit!" Turning, he yelled for the worlds most annoying gnome, only half hoping he was too dead to respond. "Swiftfizzle! GET HERE NOW! We're moving out!" Mikey waited a moment before seeing the gnome come running down the passage. With a nod, he turned around and took off running after Kanyssea, as the sounds of fighting seemed to increase in ferocity yet again.

Rounding the last corner in the passage way, he slid to a stop. There was barely any room for fighting here. Kanyssea had already killed three ogres, and standing atop their bodies, she was currently fighting two more. There was more fighitng at the far end of the passage, and plenty of ogres in between. 

"Scoot over fuzzbutt!" As a paladin, he didn't have the ability to charge the way a warrior could, but he could still charge the old fashion way. Raising his shield, he ran forth, side stepping to Kanyssea's left side as she gracefully shifted over, fully trusting him to do his job. His trusty sword and shield went to work, and the two of them began making short work of the ogres. Even creatures as stupid as ogres began to panic as they found themselves sandwiched in the narrow passage.

"Mikey! Hey Mikey! The demons weren't doing so hot! Hehehe! That infernal set plenty of ogres on fire, but they smashed it up real good like! Did you see all the ponies? Wow! Pity they died, I bet we could sell them to the Dark Moon Faire if we caught them!" 

"Shut up Swiftfizzle! We're fighting!" Kanyssea threw in a growl at him as well for good measure.

The gnome waved his objections off. "Psh. Ogres are no match for you. I'll just help you loot all the dead ones. Might want to hurry though, we're probably going to have more ogres pushing through in a few minutes."

The panic of the ogres began rising more and more, as the ones in front of Mikey and Kanyssea tried falling back, but the other side of the passage was still blocked them in. Their panic made them easy targets. It still took several solid hits to take one down, but Mikey's fighting style switched from a counter-based defensive style to an all out assault. Kanyssea wanted to save the damned colored horses, and if he were honest, until he knew they were hostile, he couldn't do any less than try to help, now that he wasn't anchored down protecting a single passageway. The two of them managed to drop several more before whoever was holding the other end fell, relieving the pressure. The ogres before them quickly withdrew into the chamber beyond, with a Paladin and Bear in pursuit. 

Finally stepping from the passage and into the wide open chamber, he smiled. This, this he could do. With him and Kanyssea, there weren't enough ogres left to even prove challenging. He saw what was holding the passage way as well, and it had to be the most horrifically savaged animal he'd ever seen. How it was still alive, let alone still fighting was beyond him, but he could recognize a kindred spirit when he saw one. Behind the beleaguered defender was another pony, laying unconscious on the floor, and any hint of movement towards it was met with a vicious attack. The need to defend. Unlike the rest of the ponies he saw, the defender had wings, and the purple one beyond it had wings as well as a horn, and wore a dress. The last detail he could make out before the intervening ogres cut off his view was that her face was a bloody mess, and it looked to be from a head wound. No matter. He wasn't going to let such a worthy defender leave this world, not to mere ogres. It just had to hold out for a little longer.


XXXXX


Rainbow Dash didn't know how long she held out for, or even how she was still alive after that hit that knocked her away from the mouth of the passage, but it was all over now. Coughing up the blood she was choking on, a few of her smashed teeth flew out. Likely ripped out when the sword she held between them was knocked away. Dash made her way back to her hooves as the creatures filed into the chamber and began spreading out. 

"I'm sorry Twi...I don't think we're getting out of this one." She offered a sad smile to the still unconscious alicorn. She didn't know who did it, but something in the original fight with the Council slipped through her defenses, and got her good. It was all Dash's fault too. If she wasn't so careless. If Twilight didn't have to save her from that huge creature that was firing bolts of shadow, she would have never left herself open.

Rainbow didn't have time for any more regrets. The creatures were upon her, albeit a bit more hesitant after how many of their number didn't survive to make it this far. Not that it mattered in the end. There were too many, and Rainbow was rooted here. She would remain between Twilight and these things, until she did every last bit she could. The swing was too powerful to parry, but slow enough that Dash stepped in to avoid it. She couldn't fly, so the throat was well out of reach, yet there was much else that was in range. With a quick thrust, the knife she still had slid upwards, between the legs. Dash knew exactly what she was hitting, and took a measure of satisfaction at the creatures howl. 

The second tried circling around. Whether it was to take her from another angle, or to go for Twilight, Dash didn't know. With a turn, she lashed out with an empty hoof, smashing it with all her might into the side of it's knee. A few minutes ago, it would have been enough to bring it to the ground, where she could easily reach it's vitals. After that last hit she took, it did just enough to get it's attention. The follow up strike with the dagger however, worked a great deal better. She turned and lashed out again at another ogre trying to get to Twilight. It wasn't enough to seriously hurt it, but she hurt enough of them, and it backed off for a moment. 

A fourth moved for Twilight, and Dash bucked it with all her strength. What would have been a crippling blow was only enough to knock the ogre off balance. “MINE!” The dagger followed up, taking a few bites out of the ogre scrambling out of her reach. “MINE!” Barely dancing out of the way of another club, her dagger found an ogres hand. “MINE!” A few more exchanges, and the ogres backed up just out of her range, intimidated by the small creature that kept shouting at them.

Dash stood in confusion as the rest failed to make a move, something behind them was getting their attention. That was when she caught sight of the bear savaging these creatures, and another one of the creatures was beside it, but it was different. It was covered head to toe in armor, and held a slab of metal to shield itself from their blows. Before she could make any more sense of it, she saw the club as it impacted her face, and knew she died failing to save Twilight. 


XXXXX


"LIGHT DAMN IT SWIFTFIZZLE! STOP GAWKING AND START KILLING!" Mikey was sure that if he was a Warrior, he'd have all the rage he would need for years after watching that. That winged horse was definitely dead. It saw him and Kanyssea, and stopped in shock long enough to not even see the attack that killed it until it was too late. He began tracking a mental countdown, but frowned. There weren't that many ogres left, but it was going to cut it close, and that was only if the stupid gnome began doing something!

With a grimace, he dropped his sword and shield, and pulled out the larger sword from his back. He wasn't as proficient in this type of fighting, not by a long shot, but their numbers were low enough, he was sure he'd survive it. With a whisper, holy power began to surge through his sword. It wasn't much compared to, well, being hit by a sword, but any extra helped when you weren't killing things in a single swing. Stepping forward, he shrugged off a hit as he rammed his two hand sword home. With a twist, he pulled it from his target, the flesh searing as the holy power began burning it from the inside. Again he struck, then again, and with a fourth, the ogre dropped. He took a beating doing that, as unlike the short sword, this one wasn't made for defense, but he'd be fine. 

Pushing forth, he took on more ogres. With a mild flash of green, he could feel a rejuvenate spell take hold. It wasn't much, but for this, it was enough. From the corner of his eye, he watched Kanyssea resume her bear form. Between tooth and claw and sword, the last of the ogres fell. The time was close. Too close. The wrong side of too close, because that Light be damned gnome was too busy looting dead ogres to help make more dead ogres. 

With a toss of the sword, Mikey ran up to the dead winged horse, dropping to his knees and sliding the last couple of feet. A quick visual inspection confirm what he knew, the skull was definitely caved in. That pony was as dead as dead gets. He knew it was too late already, but he went through the motions. Without special preparations, or just plain being powerful enough, there was a very short, and very hard, window of time upon which you could resurrect the dead. With a prayer to the Light, he channeled the very powers of creation through his finger tips. The crushed skull began to reform, a pillar of Light encircled the dead creature as the Light attempted to rip the creatures very soul from the nether itself and return it to the body. 

He knew it wouldn't work. He knew it too late. "Hey, we saved one. I bet the Dark Moon Faire will pay top gold for it!" Mikey didn't hesitate. He didn't watch the body to see the signs of failure he knew to expect. He turned and smashed his armored fist right into the gnomes face, knocking him unconscious. The GM was going to be pissed, but at the moment, he wasn't entirely sure he cared. 

Kanyssea placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. She too, knew what it was like. To put your very life on the line. To not just hold the physical shield, but to be the very shield that protects others. As alien as this creature was to both of them, it was a kindred soul to them both. Looking at the passage they came from, and the number of ogres it killed before falling, despite it's light armor barely better than what a rogue would wear, Mikey made one last prayer to the Light for this creature to find the peace and the rest it's efforts deserve. The elf made her own similar prayer to Elune. 

The only thing left to do was collect the living, the last one of the creatures. Whatever it was, whoever it was, he hoped it was worthy of the sacrifice made for it. They had time though. He was tired. His failure just took too much out of him. It would keep for a few moments. 

"By Elune!" Mikey turned to look at what startled his companion. "It's alive!" All Mikey could do was nod dumbly. He knew that spell should have failed. He knew he was too late. He knew that for all the fighting spirit the creature showed, it couldn't be intrinsically powerful enough to be resurrected after the hard time limit. None of that changed the fact, that the creature was crawling to it's companion.

The creature crawled until it could rest it's head on the other one's neck, before it stopped moving.

Both Mikey and Kanyssea shared a look. The resurrection spell healed the body just enough to keep it from dying, and was draining in ways that mere magic couldn't fix. Even if the spell was successful, which it shouldn't have been, the creature should have been out for days. He dearly hoped that purple one was worth this loyalty. 

Kanyssea moved first to inspect the two creatures. A closer inspection of the newly resurrected one revealed a few more injuries. It's back right leg looked as though it had been on fire very recently. An injury nothing here could have inflicted. Perhaps they skirmished with the demons first? Reaching down, she began to roll the strange creature over to inspect for other injuries that may take more than a simple healing touch or rejuvenate to heal. Unlike the other creatures, when she laid her hand upon it, she felt more than just it's connection to nature, but also the faint echo of power, as though Elune herself had graced the creature. Ignoring it for the moment, she quickly inspected the creatures wounds, and wasn't pleased with the result.

“She is beyond my abilities to heal properly. Too much damage.” She wasn't too concerned, as the creature would keep for a while, even without any further healing. Simple breaks were easy enough, even for Kanyssea, but this sort of traumatic damage would tax even a priestess specializing in healing. The mangled wings would certainly need expert care as well if the creature were to ever use them again. “Sharon said she would be at Feathermoon, did she not?”

Mikey raised an eyebrow. Sharon was a good sort, and a holy priest to boot, but she was pretty junior for something like this. Well, it wasn't like they had any other options without leaving the continent, or going to someone they don't know. She'd probably be quite happy that anyone in the guild was actually paying attention to her. Most the less experienced members seemed to share the same problem of usually being ignored by the better adventurers as the guilds successes have begun breeding an elitist culture amongst the veterans. “Alright. I'll tie the gnome to a griffon and send him home while we're there.” Letting Kanyssea finish inspecting the two, Mikey began gathering his discarded equipment. They probably only had a few more minutes of peace, and if his estimation was off, he'd rather have weapons on him instead of having to try fighting hand to hand. 

He'd barely sheathed his two-hander before Kanyssea spoke again. “This creature. The power from it is...different. It is almost like the light of Elune.” Mikey nodded while grabbing his short sword and shield. He'd have time for questions and mysteries later. It wasn't like such creatures were unheard of after all. Cenarius probably got freaky with a horse at some point and spawned the damn things. Certainly wouldn't be the strangest thing he saw since leaving Stormwind. Tucking the unconscious gnome under his arm, and giving one last look around to make sure he wasn't leaving anything, Mikey gave another satisfied nod. 

“Kanyssea, time to go. There's a lot more pissed ogres, and they'll be coming back.” Approaching the two creatures, he bent to pick up the purple one, before he too felt it. He couldn't aptly describe it, the creature was powerful enough to infuse the very air around with power. It was a feeling he often got near the more powerful guild casters, though a bit stronger. Certainly not powerful enough to warrant a comparison to Elune. Yet, the power was far different. It wasn't quite the Light, but it still felt perfectly right. The only description that could come to mind was that it felt like the exact opposite of fel, even more so than the Light. 

Shaking his moment of hesitation of, he tucked the creature under his arm. “Time to go Kanyssea. Grab the blue one, and lets get to Feathermoon.” Even through his armor, the creature just radiated warmth and comfort, and he couldn't shake the feeling that the creature he carried was the Light given a physical form. That was just all the more reason for him to get it out of here. Taking off a light jog, Kanyssea quickly shot past him in the form of a huge cat with the blue creature splayed across her back. 

It was only a couple minutes until they left the underground portions of Dire Maul, coming to the central courtyard. A few dead ogres were still around, their own handy work from maybe half an hour ago when they first entered. With a sharp whistle, two nightsabers came bounding up from their own little hiding place. They were well trained, so he wasn't worried they might harm to the two creatures. Within a handful of moments, he had the gnome laying across the nightsaber's lower back, while the purple creature had room in front of his riding saddle where he could make sure she didn't fall off. Mounting up, he looked to make sure Kanyssea was ready to go. At Kanyssea's nod, they took off. It would take nearly an hour for them to make their way to the dock that would take them to Feathermoon Stronghold, on Sardor Isle.
	
	
> 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!”
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


CHAPTER 3



“Twilight Sparkle?” The purple Alicorn nodded in agreement as Mikey passed her a coffee, which she began to greedily drink. “Strange name,” he pointed a thumb over his should as Kanyssea “But then again, not any stranger than Moonbreeze.” 

Kanyssea smacked him across the back of his head. “Not nearly as strange as 'Mikey' if you ask me. Twilight Sparkle sounds like a perfectly normal name to me.”

“Ah! That hit the spot.” Twilight was fairly sure she was safe, for now. She still made sure to stay between Rainbow Dash and everypony else though. “So now that you know my name, what are your names?”

With a shrug, Mikey answered first. “Mike Rivers, paladin from Stormwind, originally hailing from Lorderan. Everyone calls me Mikey.”

“Kanyssea Moonbreeze, druid from Darnassus.”

“Sharon. Priestess from the Church of the Holy Light in Stormwind, born in Darrowshire before...” Sharon ended with a shrug of her own.

“Shandris Feathermoon, General of the Sentinel Army. You're currently a guest in my garrison.”

Twilight winced at that last one. “A guest? Or a prisoner?”

Shandris nodded to the blue one. “I suspect it makes little difference unless you wish to leave your companion behind, but guest. You are free to come or go as you desire, so long as you obey the laws of the land.” Staring out the hole that used to be the backwall of Twilight's room, Shandris smirked. “I won't even charge you for the damage you caused, as I'm afraid I had a hand to play in letting them find you. I admit, I hadn't believed there were enough agents of the Burning Legion here to actually cause any damage, and you acted in defense. I'd prefer you don't cause such damage again however, but you are free to take what actions you deem necessary to defend yourself from the Legion and their agents.”

Twilight mutely nodded.

“What are you?” Sharon quickly clamped a hand over her mouth, unsure if she asked an offensive question or not.

“I'm an Alicorn from Equestria. You and Mikey..?” At Mikey's nod, she continued “are humans, though different from the humans I met before. I don't know what Kanyssea and Shandris are though.” Twilight was glad Sharon was willing to ask the awkward questions, as it let Twilight ask them in return. She needed all the information she could get.

“Kaldorei, or Night Elf if you prefer.”

“Um..if you don't mind, what is an Alicorn? I notice you have wings and a horn, while your friend only has wings.”

“An Alicorn is a mix of all three pony races, earth ponies whose magic allows them to grow food far more efficiently than unicorns or pegasi, are stronger, and share a strong connection with the earth. Pegasi have wings, and can manipulate the weather, though it usually takes several working together to do more than make or dissipate a few clouds. Then there are Unicorns, which until a few years ago, I was one. They can channel magic through their horn to cast spells or pick up and manipulate objects. An Alicorn has the powers of all three.”

“Are Alicorns common?” 

Twilight shook her head “There are only three others.”

“Ooh. Does that like make you royalty or something?” 

Twilight nervously laughed. “Well, technically...I'maprincess.”

Sharon elbowed Mikey. “Guess that makes you her knight in shining armor, carrying her out of Dire Maul, eh?” Mikey rolled his eyes at the teasing. He had a feeling that if he wasn't kicked from the guild, he was going to wish he was by the time that little gem got around. That would explain why the other stood and fought their hopeless battle to protect her.

Mikey pointed a thumb towards the blue one. “Alright, so is that one your faithful knight, or something? She fought to the bitter end to protect you.” 

Twilight took another sip of her coffee before sighing and moving right next to Rainbow Dash and watching her sleep. “She wasn't really supposed to be there. Tradition demands that I take a personal guard to all official functions, and the least they'd let me get away with is two.” Twilight unfurled a wing and gently stroked Dash with it. “She's Rainbow Dash, one of my best friends. She just became a Wonderbolt a few weeks ago. It's a stunt flying team, but legally speaking, they're also considered reservists for the guard. I sort of abused a few loopholes to make her qualify as my second guard.” She looked back at the group. “Where are we?”

“Feathermoon Stronghold, on Sardor Isle, Western coast of Feralas, the continent of Kalimdor.” Shandris answered. “Judging from the looks, none of that is familiar. The world is known as Azeroth. I believe this is not the world you are from.”

Twilight nodded in agreement. “No, it's not. We only have one moon.”

“So what happened? What brought you to this world?” 

“I don't actually know. Me, Celestia, and Luna were on our way to meet with the Unicorn Council about their latest petition when they ambushed us. They had creatures helping them, Celestia called them demons. Like the two that came for me here.” 

“The one you obliterated is called an Infernal. It's a nasty one, as even getting close enough to fight it results in severe fel fire burns. The one you beat senseless with the rest of your room is a Doomguard. One of the more powerful kinds of demon. Very few could hope to stand against one on their own.” Mikey informed her.

“Right, they also had many other smaller breeds.”

Shandris raised a hand to cut off Mikey. “You can fill her in on the Legion later” then nodded for Twilight to continue.

“I'm not entirely sure what happened during the fight.” Twilight reached up to the bandage on her head. “I took a bad hit to the head.”

“I'll say, whatever hit you in the head melted whatever you were wearing. When I saw the metal melted to your skin, I was surprised you survived.” Twilight shuddered thinking about what Sharon just said.

“Right. One of the few things I remember was more of the palace guards coming, and the desperate struggle the Council put up against Celestia and Luna before everything went white. The next, and last thing I saw was a few guards forming up in a passageway. They didn't survive, did they?”

Mikey shook his head. “Afraid not. I'm not sure how you came to Azeroth, but it was with a bang. Me and Kanyssea were sneaking around Dire Maul with a gnome. His brother is our guild master, and decided me and Kanyssea had to help him get some more experience fighting. Fat lot of good he did us when we actually needed a hand, but if we weren't there, you'd have died in Dire Maul. You appeared with an explosion, along with several demons, and it pissed off every ogre in the broken city. In our retreat, we managed to overtake the group that overran your guards. The only reason your still alive is because your friend there held the mouth of a narrow passageway on her own long enough for us to hit the ogres from behind. She eventually got pushed back and swarmed by the ogres.”

Twilight looked back at Rainbow Dash. “So can you heal whatever is wrong with her? I saw you could use magic to heal.”

“Nothing's wrong with her!” Sharon answered a bit defensively. “Maybe. I don't know. There was a bit of guesswork involved in the wings, but I can rebreak them and try again if I didn't get it right.”

“But she won't wake up!”

Mikey nodded “Twilight, the body gets used to healing magic over time. It's one of the reasons Paladin training is so brutal. To make sure that even the worst of wounds can be healed quickly without the body going into shock from it. The worst however, is dying. I was bed ridden for weeks the first time I died.”

“What do you mean the first time you died? If you die, you're dead. Is..is my translation spell screwing up? Darnit Twilight, I thought you had that right! Hmm...maybe if I...” Twilight’s horn lit up as she began etching another diagram into the floor.

“No Twilight, it's working fine. Our magics allow us to resurrect the dead, within a narrow margin of time. Your friend died defending you before we could save her, but we barely made it in time to resurrect her.”

“She died!?”

“Calm down Twilight! By the Light, I should have known better than to say that! If you have friends with you and they're quick enough, death is merely a setback on Azeroth. Don't worry, she'll be alright!”

“What about the rest of the guards?”

“I'm sorry Twilight. We were too busy running while we could. We didn't have time to inspect each one, though ogres tend to be very thorough at killing things, and we had to act fast to save the living.”

Twilight's ears drooped as she nodded. “I understand. Thank you for saving me and Rainbow Dash.”

“Sorry that was all we could do. Your friend will wake in a few days, though I don't believe she'll be leaving her bed for a while. You may want to invest in better armor for her if she's going to fight more ogres for you though.” Mikey scoffed as he looked at the armor at the foot of the bed. Nary an enchant on it.

“I don't think anyone is going to accept IOU's from a kingdom that isn't even on this world.”

“I'm sure some of the locals have jobs you can do for money.”

Shandris cleared her throat. “I don't have the authority to forbid you from such a life style, but I can provide a small stipend for your stay.”

“Wait, why does the pony get paid to stay?” Mikey blithely ignored Sharon's attempt to elbow him in the stomach, as his armor more than a match for her elbow.

“Because Tyrande asks that I treat her as a guest. She would also like you to visit her in Darnassus. You will be well protected here...” she trailed off as everyone raised any eyebrow at the damage to the building. “But Darnassus is our capital. You will be much better protected there. 

“Who is Tyrande? And I don't mind working for a living. I still work as a librarian when I'm not doing anything as a Princess, or running around Equestria fixing various problems.”

“Oh? What kind of problems? Political disagreements?” Mikey asked.

“Um, things like removing a dragon that took up residence near a town, freeing an empire from the tyranny of an evil immortal sorcerer…” Twilight trailed off at the look in Mikey’s eyes.

“Ha! She's already an adventurer! Twilight, Warrior Princess! I think we're gonna get along great! We’re totally going to have to show you the ropes of adventuring in Azeroth!”

Shandris glared at Mikey. “Tyrande is the High Priestess of Elune, and the leader of the Kaldorei. She has asked me to convince you to see her. I can arrange for a portal, or other means of transport, if you would like to take her up on that offer.”

Twilight laid down beside the bed Rainbow Dash was in, and yawned. “I'll think about it. I'd really like to be alone for a while now though.”

“We'll get you set up in a new room.” Shandris stepped through the hole and into the hallway to confer with her Sentinels. 

“Want me to carry your friend?” Sharon flinched at Twilight’s harsh response to her question.

“No!” Twilight looked a little ashamed at how sharp that came out, as they obviously meant no harm to her or Rainbow Dash. That didn't change her emotional response to keep Dash safe, and only made her feel worse as Sharon made a face like a kicked puppy. “I mean, sorry. I can carry her.” Her horn lit up, grabbing both Rainbow Dash and her armor.

“Alright, two rooms down to the left, Twilight. Sharon and Kanyssea are in the room next to you. I'll station two Sentinel's outside your door.” Not to mention keeping others around just in case. “If you need anything, let the Sentinel's outside your door know, and they can help you. Goodnight Twilight.” 

Shandris stepped out one last time, and began to rub her head. She had a long night ahead of her. At least she had captains under her to see to the details for keeping a guard posted. 

“We're right next door as well Twilight. Don't hesitate to come to us if you need anything.” Sharon nervously bit her lip, unsure if she was overstepping any boundaries.

“Thank you Sharon.” Twilight offered a half smile. The emotional roller coaster was taking too much of a toll for a full smile. “I...if you'd like, you can join me for coffee in the morning?” Sharon nodded in a way that reminded Twilight of a puppy. “And thank you for taking care of us.”


XXXXX


Twilight awoke, not to the sun on her face as she hoped, nor to Spike yelling that she was sleeping as she so desperately wished but dared not hope. She awoke to a figure walking towards her, crying. The sun hadn't risen yet, but it was close enough that gray light filtered through the windows giving her a clear view of her friend stumbling towards her, her face soaked from her tears.

“Dash?”

“I'm so sorry Twilight! I died!” the words came out barely audible through her sobs, the closest she could do to a yell. Rainbow Dash stumbled on her next step and fell. Slowly, she pushed herself back to her hooves. “I kept fighting...I kept killing those things. There were just too many.” She fell again on the next step, and didn't get back up. Rainbow Dash just laid quietly sobbing on the floor.

Twilight rolled out of her bed, and grabbed her friend, hugging her close. “Why Twilight? Why couldn't I save us?”

“It's alright, we're alright. We're both here, we're both alive.” Twilight nuzzled her friend, trying to calm her down.

“It's not alright! I'm dead! If you're here, it's because you're dead too! I couldn't even protect myself, let alone my best friend.”

“Shh. It's alright Dash. I'm here. We're safe now.” Twilight pulled a blanket around the two of them, letting Rainbow Dash cry, safely wrapped in her hooves. “We're safe now, and I won't lose you again.”

Twilight held her friend close and softly stroked her mane as the morning light slowly changed from the gray of pre-dawn, to the orange of sunrise. 


XXXXX


Celestia walked through the medical tents that sprung up in the castle courtyard shortly after raising the sun, and smoke could still be seen rising from parts of the castle town itself. The incursion was finally contained and destroyed by late afternoon, but at too high of a cost from the guard and other ponies caught in the fighting. Canterlot had more wounded than many of the smaller villages had residents, and the collection of medical tents were quickly growing to a small town in their own right, as more wounded were brought here, the hospital nothing more than a smoldering wreck.

Various craftsponies constructing temporary lodgings, or setting up more shelters for the wounded, were quick to get out of her way. Any other time, it would break her heart to see such a fearful reaction. Today was not such a time. Too many of her ponies were dead, far too many, and if she couldn't find a way to treat the corrupted and cursed wounds, many more would die. 

The Unicorn Council, long resenting the restrictions Celestia put on them to prevent their arrogance from endangering the world, brought the Burning Legion to this world. Until yesterday morning, she had thought the Legion itself was no more than a foal's tale, long forgotten to time. Their references were sparse, even before Discord's reign. The demons the Unicorn Council worked with matched the descriptions too well for it to be anything other than the Legion.

The survivors were very quick to speak after their capture. They were promised power, at the cost of allowing the Burning Legion a foothold. They were promised aid in overthrowing the Alicorns. Their petty need to gather more and more power for the sake of having more and more power brought their very world to the brink of an other-worldly invasion. They succeeded in taking Twilight from her, and they even lost Rainbow Dash. Two of the six elements of harmony, the most powerful weapon they could have used to safeguard the world, were gone. Most importantly, her Twilight was gone. The giant hole where the front of Canterlot Castle used to be stood as a testament to Celestia's feelings on that matter, and even now no pony was sure if the castle would remain standing after Celestia ended the ambush, or have to be rebuilt from the ground up. 

Celestia ducked into one of the tents, and stopped as she came nose to nose with a red eyed Luna who was on her way out. Tear streaks were matting the fur by her eyes.

"Tia...you don't have to do this. I've already..."

Celestia nodded. "I failed them. It's the least I can do."

"Steel Wool is in the back. Start with him, he won't live much longer. I...Tia. Tia, let me handle the captured traitors. Stay with our ponies, for as long as you can. We will see justice done for Twilight."

Twilight was her faithful student. Twilight was her closest friend. And that was why she couldn't. She would avenge Twilight, and there would be no justice in any sentencing she passed down. Only the cold satisfaction of murder. Even knowing that, a small part of her wanted to hate Luna for asking to take that from her, but she couldn't. All she could do was nod, not trusting her voice. She couldn’t even meet Luna’s eyes.

“Tia, look at me.” Luna reached out and gently lifted Celestia’s chin. The attack, and the suffering of their ponies, hurt them both greatly, but it cut Celestia far deeper. It had been too long since she had known such loss, but only a scant few decades to Luna, and she found herself in the odd position of being the one who had to stay strong, for her sister’s sake. “We will not let this go unanswered. We will find these creatures Tia. We will find them, and we will teach them fear. The very light of this world will burn them, will consume them. Even the deepest and darkest shadows will give them no solace. Darkness will not hide them. Like every creature that came before, the Legion will learn it’s place.”

“Luna! Look around us!” It came out in a harsh whisper. Celestia cast her gaze about, the majority of the royal guard that was still alive were in this tent. Many more were filled with members of the city guard. “We couldn’t put a battalion in the field right now if Equestria depended on it!”

“Tell me Tia, do you know the difference between a farmer, and a soldier? Six weeks. I have seen the advances we have made. Have you ever considered how many of our ponies we could mobilize? The Legion, if that’s what these are, are here to consume this very world. I will throw a million ponies at them, if I must. Ten million. A hundred million, even if I have to birth them myself! I will throw dragons at them, gryphons, minotaurs. I will even debase myself before the yaks if I must, to secure the troops to destroy this ‘Legion’.”

“We don’t even know where they come from Luna. We don’t know if, or when they’ll be back. We can’t maintain a large standing army if they aren’t even here!”

“Watch me, Tia. This isn’t over. I can feel it, I know it to be true. I have sent for a relief column from our outlying holdings. I’ve stripped nearly every hospital bare to bring more doctors and more supplies here. Pegasi from Cloudsdale should be showing up later this morning, or early afternoon, with the first column. They will also bring Twilight's friends.” Luna took a step forward and leaned into Tia, nuzzling her lightly. She no more looked forward to informing the remaining bearers about Twilight and Rainbow Dash than her sister did, but they had a right to know, even if the information was being withheld from the public. A simple matter, as every other witness is either dead, dying, or will soon be hung from the neck until dead.

“Just spend the morning with our ponies Tia. They still believe in you. In us. I betrayed their trust once, I won’t do it again.” Luna gave her sister one last nuzzle before leaving her alone.

After a few moments Celestia got her legs moving again, and made her way to the back. Twenty-three of her ponies were in this tent, down from forty-seven last night. Not a single one was expected to survive to sunset today. Every step, her heart broke a little further. As she walked past some, she could even hear a few muttered prayers. To her. To Luna. To Cadence. To Twilight. The practice of Alicorn worship was older than Equestria itself, and never truly died no matter how much Celestia tried to discourage it. The guard always turned a blind eye to the practice, so long as it was kept private, and she long realized that Alicorn worshipers were greatly over-represented in the guard. That practice of worship only made her powerlessness to save her ponies that much more painful. 

Reaching the end, she found Steel Wool. Twilight's ever faithful guard. She could count the number of times Twilight needed a guard with her and didn't bring the old warhorse on one hoof, and she'd still have a hoof left over. Celestia and Luna once joked that Twilight chose him because he was old enough to be her father, and cantankerous enough to make clear her opinion on needing a guard. Celestia's ever tolerant nature was the only thing that kept him from being kicked out of the guard since even before Shining Armor was the captain.

“Steel Wool?” The poor pony was covered in bandages. Severe burns covered most of his body, to include his head, and the poor pony was blinded by the enemy's fire. It was all the nurses could do to help manage his pain as he died. 

“Princess Celestia?” The voice came out barely a whisper. Weakly, Steel Wool reached out a hoof. “I'm flattered. Two goddesses have visited me on my death bed now. How is Princess Twilight?” 

Celestia pulled Twilight's melted crown from her saddlebag and brought it to Steel Wool's outstretched hoof. Lightly, the pony ran his hoof over the crown before dropping his hoof. 

“I'm...sorry Princess. I failed you.” The cruel monster of hatred that was growing in her heart wanted nothing more than to yell and scream at him, to hate him. To ask why he didn't protect her, like he was sworn to do, but even the growing monster of hate couldn't deny that this pony offered his very life in defense of Twilight, and was painfully losing it. Not even her hatred could impugn Steel Wool's honor. Instead of curses, instead of her hate, she reached out with her own hoof, and guided his hoof to her face, to let him see his Princess one last time in the only way he still could. 

“You didn't fail me Steel Wool. I failed you, and the rest. I'm sorry.” Celestia felt him wipe a tear from her eye. 

“Then don't fail the rest of us. You have nothing to apologize for, my goddess. Even now, I regret neither serving, nor my faith.” Steel Wool dropped his foreleg, no longer able to support it, and took his last few breaths before slipping into death, and a part of Celestia's heart died with him. Slowly she lowered Twilight's crown onto his chest. It was a symbol of Twilight's office, not something her friends back in Ponyville would care for, but to the guard that was closest, most loyal to her, it was a fitting final gift from Twilight. 

Celestia closed her eyes, ashamed that she couldn't live up to the divinity so many of her ponies thought she possessed. Ashamed at her powerlessness, her inability to save her ponies. Ashamed that the light of her sun could only burn her enemies, but no matter how hard she tried, it could never heal her ponies. Ashamed that Steel Wool, like every other pony in here, would be denied a burial, and instead burned in a pit, as the cursed wounds that were killing them would only infect their burial grounds. Even more than the shame, she felt the cold tendrils of hate. There was nothing left Celestia could do for the dead, but she could move on to the next one, provide some measure of peace and comfort to the dying.

Hours later, it was a far more determined Celestia that left the medical tent. 


XXXXX


Mikey was running a lot later for breakfast than he'd have preferred. It was a fairly exciting night, even by the usual adventurer standards, and that definitely didn't help his punctuality. The time spent getting in and out of his armor was just adding insult to injury, and he was fairly sure everyone else would have finished breakfast before he even got downstairs. Making his way down the stairs, hhe was unsurprised to see that he was right. 

Twilight sat at one of the seats, and seemed to be focusing mostly on her cup, while Sharon sat next to her, gently petting her, which Twilight didn't even seem to notice. What was surprising was an exhausted Rainbow Dash sitting at the table as well on Twilight's other side, with a purple wing wrapped protectively around her. On the bright side, there was a plate left for him.

“I'm worried Twi. This legion sounds like bad news.” Rainbow Dash said with more than a hint of exhaustion.

“Me too Dash, but we gotta trust in Celestia and Luna. They'll keep everypony safe. I bet they're already fixing everything up. We just gotta get home. There's nothing we can do for everypony else until we get back.”

“Good morning folks! Sleep well?”

Mikey wasn't really sure he understood the intricacies of pony body language, but the look the two ponies gave him damn near matched the look Sharon gave him. All three even had bags under their eyes. He brushed aside the feeling of impending doom that their stares were giving him as he took his seat across from the three. 

“I'm guessing that's a no? Where's Kanyssea at anyways?”

“She went back to bed. We didn't sleep much last night. Me and Kanyssea had to help Dashie here accept that she died, but she's not dead. I've been helping fill these two in on our world, and the Legion since then.”

Rainbow Dash looked away and mumbled thanks, doing a poor job of hiding her resentment at being saved. Mikey could definitely understand that. Had to hurt her pride something fierce to be the Princesses personal guard and have to get saved. He'd certainly failed enough in his time as an adventurer to sympathize, and rubbing her nose in it wouldn't get him anywhere.

“Don't sweat it. I'll have to tell you about the first time I got my fool self killed some day, but business first.” Mikey poked at his plate of food with a Grimace. He was a lot later to breakfast than he thought. “So, we've pretty much been ordered to body guard you two since it seems the Burning Legion really doesn't like you.”

“You think something like last night might happen again?”

Mikey shook his head. “I'd be real surprised if it did Twilight, at least any time soon, but I haven't made it this far in my adventuring career by lacking in paranoia.” Mikey reached across and ruffled Rainbow Dash's mane, easily ignoring her feeble attempts to get him to stop. He doubted she'd be a serious threat to a puppy at the moment. “At a minimum, we'll be here for you two until 'Dashie' here isn't worse than useless in a fight. Last night, I'd have said two weeks at least, but she seems to be getting over resurrection sickness at a pretty astounding rate. Might only be a few days.” Mikey smiled as he could see the blue pony glaring daggers at him. Calling her Dashie might have been a step too far, but the poor thing was too exhausted to do anything about it.

“Anyways, Twilight, have you given any thought on what you're going to do here? Shandris seems willing to put you up here indefinitely, but this is just a garrison.”

“We're going to head to Darnassus once Rainbow Dash can travel, to meet Tyrande. Do you know anything about her?”

Mikey shook his head. “Not much, really. She's the de facto leader of the Night Elves, though I hear her authority isn't really complete. High Priestess of Elune, but I can't tell you much of Elune. Pretty sure any random Night Elf could give you a much better run down than me. I've met her a few times before, she's a good sort.”

“Wow! You actually met Tyrande!?” Sharon excitedly asked. “How'd you get to meet her?”

“Come on Sharon, I know you've seen my night saber. I've done a lot of work for the Night Elves before they were willing to sell me one. Hang around the Night Elves enough, and eventually you'll get voluntold to report to Tyrande for some job.”

“Do you think she can help us get home?”

“Herself? I doubt it Twilight.” Twilight turned to look at Kanyssea who was coming down the stairs. “She's a Priestess, and she's a ruler. She does however, speak for Elune, and Elune may be able to help you. You may have been invited to meet with Tyrande, but she is only interested in you because Elune is interested in you.”

“After meeting Tyrande, if Elune can't, or won't, help you get home, your next best stop is Stormwind's Mage Quarter. If they can't help you, you may end up on your own.”

“Karazhan maybe?” Sharon suggested.

“By the Light! You're mad woman! Only the desperate or deranged would willingly enter Medivh's tower! There's no telling what traps or protections that mad fool left. I wouldn't dare step in Karazhan without Khadgar, and he died with the rest of the expedition through the Dark Portal!”

“Okay! It was just a suggestion!”

Light snoring interrupted any further argument, as everyone noticed Rainbow Dash was asleep. 

“Thank you for everything, you three. I'm going to take Rainbow Dash back to bed. I'll be back in a few minutes.” Using her magic, Twilight placed Rainbow Dash on her back, and took her up to their room while the three silently watched. 

“So. Mikey.” Sharon elbowed him in the ribs, before rubbing her elbow. Somehow, she had still managed to not learn that elbowing an armored paladin wasn't a great idea.

“Yea?”

“Armor. You're gonna make them armor, right?”

“Wait. What?” Mikey looked at Sharon's face and groaned. Mikey wasn't even sure if one of Arthas's Death Knight's could resist those puppy dog eyes. “But...I...what would they even use?” Logic and reason slid off the girl to no avail.

“You said Rainbow Dash was standing her ground and fighting off a bunch of ogres, right? She needs heavy armor!”

“But she has wings! What's wrong with the armor she was wearing?”

“The fact that it's a remarkable find in Azeroth by virtue of actually have no magical enhancements on it? Come on Mikey! I know you're one of the best blacksmiths on the market! Those two need all the help they can get!”

Mikey groaned and gave up. “Fine! I'll make her some sort of plate armor!”

“And Twilight?”

“...You owe me for this Sharon.”

Sharon just gave him a smug smile. “On that note, I still have a few jobs to do, I'll be back in a few hours.”

As she practically pranced out, Kanyssea smiled. “I like her, though I'm not sure if she wants to adopt Twilight like a lost puppy, or if she wants to be adopted by Twilight, like a lost puppy.” 

“Hahaha. She's still young enough to want to be adopted. She's only fifteen you know.”

“You have to be eighteen to join the guild. She might get in trouble.”

Mikey just waved the concern away. “There's no official law against it, just guild rules. Be honest, when's the last time either of us cared about those? I don't plan on tattling, and you like her too much to get her booted.” 

Kanyssea frowned. “How is she out on her own that young? I can't imagine the church letting her roam freely.”

Mikey chuckled. “I'm pretty sure she's been in Kalimdor for so long because she ran away during training. They wanted to keep her in Stormwind, and she wants to get strong enough to help retake Darrowshire.”

Kanyssea rolled her eyes. She didn't really have a leg to stand on here, as before she began building up a reputation, she was always dismissed as 'too young', being only in her nineties. Still a child by Night Elf standards. It didn't help that she was one of the youngest of the first generation of female Night Elf druids. Before joining the Alliance, such a calling was the sole domain of the men, just as being a priest was the sole domain of women. The losses to the Scourge and the Horde brought an end to the old system. Had her master not died two years ago, there was little chance she would have been allowed to leave Teldrassil. “Her secret is safe with me. Lets talk about something more important than guild rules. Twilight and Rainbow Dash.”

“What about them?” Mikey asked.

“Barring further orders, we have nearly a month before we need to be in Blackrock. I think we should stay and help, even if we aren't being paid.”

“You're just as bad as Sharon, you know that, right?” Mikey sighed in defeat. “It's not like there's anything else for us to do anyways.”


XXXXX


“What is it Discord? I am not in the mood for your antics right now.” Celestia stood in front of Discord, who was sitting upon a throne of his own making, and blocking Celestia's access to the barracks where the four remaining Elements of Harmony were being guarded. She had no more excuses to put off informing Twilight's friends of her fate, and dealing with Discord was the last thing she wanted to do.

“You are not in the mood?” Discord stood up from his throne, and leaned over Celestia, looking down on her. “You are not the only one in a foul mood.” With a snap of his fingers, a bound and gagged Dread Lord fell from the sky, to land at Discords feet. It tried to move, but Discord pinned it to the ground with his right foot, the claws on it effortlessly punching through the Dread Lords armor.

“So you were attacked to?”

Discord just shook his head. “No. This little guy had a great many friends, and they wanted to hurt my darling Fluttershy,” Discord put more pressure on the Dread Lord's back, eliciting muffled screaming from the bound and gagged created as it's armored plate crumpled and the claws dug into it's flesh. “along with her friends. Oh, the stories he has told me to make the suffering end.”

Celestia just impatiently tapped her hoof, waiting for Discord to get on with it. Yesterday morning, she would have been taken aback by his display of casual cruelty, but she couldn't bring herself to feel any compassion for the creature. “The good news, first. Twilight isn't dead. She was Banished to the Twisting Nether.” Discord raised a claw to cut off Celestia before she could interrupt. “No, we can't unbanish her. Something else already did. I know not who or what, but she isn't in the Twisting Nether anymore.”

“How do we find her Discord?”

“That leads me to the bad news. I have no idea. Knowing your studious little student however, I have no doubt she is working on a way home rig...oh who am I kidding, she's probably having a nervous breakdown, curling up in the fetal position and chewing on her own tail. Once she's done have a nervous breakdown, she will find a way home.”

“Is Rainbow Dash with her?”

“I would assume every pony that was banished with her was unbanished, but I can't be certain. If I knew enough to check, I'd know enough to bring her home. I'm not as close to her as I am to Fluttershy, but she is a...friend.” The word rolled off his tongue with an awkward sincerity. “This leads into the worse news. The Tree of Harmony was destroyed.”

”WHAT!?!?”

Discord pressed down on the Dread Lord's back even harder, until he heard the snapping of it's ribs. “The Legion put in three separate attacks to remove the Element's of Harmony from play. Unfortunately, it seems they succeeded.”

Celestia grimaced. “This is unfortunate indeed, but the Element's aren't the only power we possess.”

“I so hoped you would say that. I have lost one world to the Legion. I will not lose a second.” Discord pushed his foot the rest of the way through the Dread Lord, killing the creature, before returning to his throne. 
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


CHAPTER 4

 
Sharon yawned as the movement woke her up, but didn't quite bother to get up, or even open her eyes yet. The past week had been downright weird, but completely worth it, in her opinion at least. To an extent, this is what she joined the guild for. To help people. To have friends. To have work together with others. Kanyssea and Mikey had taken turns helping her out the past week while on stayed and kept on eye on the two ponies, though she did lose out on the opportunity to run down a Titan artifact in Dire Maul, what she originally wanted to get someone from the guild out here for. 
 
The gossip around the Feathermoon was that the Shen'dralar, the less friendly Night Elves that still called parts of Dire Maul home, had acquired it before an imp ran off with it and accidentally activated it with fairly explosive results. From what the other adventurer's pieced together, it was supposed to bring a powerful entity from the Twisting Nether, and the Shen'dralar were planning on using it as a battery to fuel their immortality. It was a piece of gossip that none of them dared to share with Twilight, because it didn't take a huge leap of logic to realize that the pony in question was nearly turned into someone's mana battery.
 
Sharon smiled as a large furry leg wrapped around her, because the sleeping arrangements weren't half bad either. It was almost like being back home, sharing a single bed with her two other sisters. Opening her eyes to the moonlit room, Sharon's smile only got larger. It wasn't quite like sharing a bed with her sisters as a kid. After all, none of her sister's were druids that had a habit to sleep as an oversized cat. A small part of her mind wasn't quite sure if she was the cuddly one, or if Kanyssea was the cuddly one. Or maybe Twilight was the cuddly one. Looking down she barely contained her gleeful grin at the Alicorn she was cuddling, who in turn was cuddling the pegasus. Sharon was quite glad that Twilight was a cuddle-buddy, instead of some elf's mana battery.
 
Of the four girls on the bed, Twilight had the largest reservation about their current sleeping arrangements. She was simply unused to sharing a bed. To Kanyssea or Sharon, the bed was large enough to fit six, easy. Maybe eight if they really needed to house extra. It was simply a matter of practicality, as often times there were far more would-be heroes responding to the call for aid, than there were spare beds. In a fit of honesty, Sharon could admit that crowding into a bed with a large cat and two ponies wasn't just practical, it was the sort of stuff a little farm girl's dreams were made of.
 
Kanyssea thought the idea was great, because she could clamp a paw around Rainbow Dash's mouth if she woke up screaming, and that in theory, they might be able to help the poor pegasus get a decent night's sleep which, in turn, meant they could all get a decent nights sleep. The second night hadn't been particularly restful, as the pegasus often woke up screaming, which was quickly followed by a pair of Sentinel's kicking in the door, and because it might be another attack by agents of the Burning Legion, it meant Kanyssea and Sharon came running from their room, and Mikey came running wearing nothing but underwear and a mail shirt he could throw on quickly, which had to be uncomfortable without anything under it.
 
Sharon's solution was simple. Instead of going back to the room she shared with Kanyssea, she stayed with the ponies after the third time it happened that night. One puppy dog eyes moment later, and Kanyssea stayed too. Twilight didn't think much of that idea, but sandwiching the pegasus between a large cat and Twilight really helped calm her down, and Twilight wasn't willing to argue with a Rainbow Dash who was trying to get what comfort she could. Since that night, Sharon and Kanyssea had moved in with the ponies. 
 
Closing her eyes, Sharon snuggled in a little closer to the pony and drifted back to sleep, preferring not to dwell on this being the last night she would be doing this. Later today, they would be getting a portal to Darnassus, and that was where their job ended. She knew she'd make an excuse or two to spend more time with the two ponies, but she couldn't put her own life, her own goals, on hold for them.
 

XXXXX

 
Once Rainbow Dash heard the light snoring from Sharon, she again began wiggling out of the pile. Finally getting herself free, she quietly walked out the room.
 
Stepping out her room, Dash gave a nod to the Sentry on duty before making her way downstairs and out the building. She found the sleeping arrangements much better than sleeping on her own, the amount of relief the physical contact gave outweighed the shame at needing it in the first place, but as she physically recovered and the bone deep exhaustion of resurrection sickness faded, sleep came less easily. Being awake, Dash wanted a chance to explore the town without Twilight fussing over her. She couldn't blame Twilight, but it was irritating. 
 
A few minutes of wandering, and Dash was beginning to think she hadn't missed much. Not everything was actually closed, as the garrison seemed to never sleep, though it slowed down a great deal. A few of the adventurers she came across gave strange looks, but didn't seem particularly concerned or impressed by her presence. She wasn't sure she blamed them, since after seeing a walking tree, not much seemed very surprising anymore. It made Equestria look downright mundane. It wasn't long before Dash's wandering brought her to the still active forge, and the human currently working it.
 
“Hey, what you up to Mikey?” The Paladin in question looked up from the shield he was working on. He was, as usual, in his full set of gear other than his gauntlets. Barring a few times he came in wearing just a mail shirt, she'd never seen him out of full armor. Even seeing him without gauntlets was strange in it's own way. He even had both his swords, the shorter one on his waist, and the much larger one on his back.
 
“I'm just doing a bit of routine maintenance on some equipment. What got you out of bed this early? It can't be much past three.”
 
“Couldn't sleep.”
 
“I don't think you have a frame of reference for this Dash, but that's utterly insane. No one should get over resurrection sickness this fast. Well, since you're here, I got something for you.”
 
Dash began hovering and curiously looked over his shoulder at what he was working on. 
 
“No, it's not this. I don't even know how you would wield a shield, it's something else. I think you're gonna love this.” Mikey motioned her towards the equipment laid out on the ground. Reaching down, he grabbed a piece and tossed it towards her. 
 
Catching the piece from the air, Dash looked at it. One side was shaded blue, a pretty good match for her own coat. The other side had some soft padding. It didn't take long to understand what she was looking at. “Armor?”
 
“You're going to need something heavier than that stuff you were wearing. We're not going to be around forever. The only one you can really rely on is Twilight, and the only one she can rely on is you. Kanyssea and Sharon are both rather enamored with you two, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't sympathize with your plight.”
 
“I don't think heavier armor would be of much help for me. Those ogres hit far too hard, even the heaviest pegasi armor Equestria's got wouldn't have helped a single bit against that.”
 
“This isn't the heaviest armor your world has. This isn't even close to the best armor I can make, but it's leagues better than what you had. Trust me. We've been using magical armor for a long while in Azeroth. Just try it on.”
 
“Alright, I'll give it a try.” Dash grimaced at the thought of wearing heavy armor, but she couldn't argue against it. There was nopony else to stand between one of her best friends, and this violent world. 
 
“Great. It's going to take a bit of time to put on the first time, as everything is going to have to be fitted and adjusted. Just stand still and I'll get to work.” It was nearly ten minutes before Mikey had the breast plate and back plate on her. The general body shape and her wings made fitting the armor a bit more difficult than he expected.
 
“Be glad Sharon and Kanyssea brow beat me into this. It's way too early for this shit.” It took a few tries to come up with a workable design, since any standard horse armor design wouldn't work for a pegasus, but Mikey was pretty sure his design was workable, even if trying to put it on Rainbow Dash was turning into an unmitigated pain in the ass. 
 
“Sharon's the dangerous one. I'm half afraid Twi is going to try and adopt her like a pet.” Rainbow Dash winced and turned to look at Mikey as he roughly handled her wings. “Easy with the wings back there!” 
 
“Hey, doing the best I can here. No one's ever done this before! I think. Don't quote me on that one. Some folks have seen and done some weird shit.” Mikey readjusted his grip to make sure he wasn't touching her wings, then began pulling on a few straps to finally secure the armor. “I figured you'd be happy if Twilight took Sharon home. Between the three of you, I can't figure out which is supposed to be the puppy. If Twilight doesn't adopt Sharon as a pet, then she's almost certainly going to try and adopt one of you two as a pet, if not both.”
 
Rainbow Dash smiled. She couldn't deny it. Getting her ears scratched just plain felt good, though she'd probably buck somepony who wasn't Sharon for trying it. Maybe she'd even let Kanyssea and Mikey get away with it since they dragged her and Twilight out of that place, but that was as far as she was willing to show that side of her. They've already seen her at her worst after all.
 
“There you go Dash, got you tucked in nice and tight. How's the fit?” 
 
Dash gave herself a shake, before smiling up at Mikey. “Pretty good. Little loose around the flank though. It feels like it barely weighs anything too!”
 
Mikey chuckled. “Give me a minute, I'll see if I can fix it.” Rainbow Dash yawned as she felt Mikey go to work. “Ideally, it should feel weightless for you.”
 
“How would it be weightless? Some sort of magic material?”
 
“Well, it's mainly mithril, so it's fairly light weight for it's strength, but no. The magic imbued in it during creation is what causes it. I'm pretty sure we went over this several days ago.”
 
“You mean when I had a habit of passing out standing up?” Neither mentioned that it was often accompanied by waking up screaming. Mikey figured it would be unnecessarily rude, and Dash didn't want to even think about it.
 
“Yeah. You probably were asleep. Twilight interrogated us for damn near three hours about this stuff. Broadly speaking, there's several magical effects that can be imbued in your equipment. Most folks don't know the actual technical names for them, as I'm not entirely sure they're even pronounceable. Their common names are pretty well known. Strength, Intellect, Agility, and Stamina.” 
 
Mikey finished his adjustment and gave Dash a swat on her armored flank. Taking her cue, she shook herself again, before nodding in satisfaction. “So it seems weightless because it made me stronger?”
 
“Pretty much. Don't let the names fool you though. Strength, Agility, and Intellect all make you stronger. Stamina does, well, freaky stuff. You end up surviving blows that should have killed you. It minimizes blood loss, cushion’s impacts, makes your very flesh harder than iron. Well, in theory at least. If I'm in full gear, you're more likely to break your hoof than my face.”
 
“So what's this armor got? Why the different names if they all do the same thing?”
 
“Strength and Stamina. Agility doesn't take too well to heavier armors. They also don't do the 'same' thing. Agility and Strength have the main difference in how well they can be applied to different pieces of equipment, though there are other minor differences. Enough agility, and you can bend in ways that, well, you really shouldn't be able to, and precision hits become a bit easier to pull off. Intellect however, is a wholly different beast. It makes the wearer physically stronger, but not very much so. Not enough to make a difference in a fight against someone with agility or strength gear at least. Mostly, it improves spell casting. The simple version is that it empowers your spell casting, while increasing the amount of mana you can use before exhaustion. Really, these enhancements do a bunch of small things, it isn't really as simple as I made it sound. I'm sure there's a bunch of elven mages rolling in their graves at my explanation of this.”
 
“So...how much stronger and tougher am I?” Mikey smiled at the question, with the kind of smile that made Rainbow Dash uneasy.
 
One sucker punch later, and Mikey was laughing at the poor pegasus. “Honestly, that would have easily knocked you unconscious.” Dash was too busy glaring at him while holding her head with her hooves. She could already feel the swelling beginning. “Here, let me heal that for you.” 
 
After the quick flash of light ended and the swelling began going down, Rainbow Dash lashed out with a hoof in her own suck punch, only to have her hoof easily caught in Mikey's grip. “Not too bad. Pretty sure you were hitting the ogres harder than this though. You had to have been if you survived them that long.”
 
Dash just looked away. “I was trying to, you know...but I only wanted to bruise you.”
 
Mikey smiled. “Don’t worry Dashie, I can take it. The question is, do you think you can take me?”
 
“Hey! Name the time and place buster, I’ll take you any day!” Dash punctuated the statement by floating into his face and tapping an armored hoof to his chest.
 
“Excellent! Let’s head a little ways out of town so we don't cause a scene, and give you a test run.” Grabbing the shield he was working on, he slung it on his back over the larger of his two swords, and put his gauntlets back on. Feathermoon Stronghold wasn't particularly large, so after a moment of clean up, and a few minutes of walking, they were on a relatively secluded part of the isle. 
 
“We'll start nice and easy Dash, so we can get a feeling of how far we can push each other without doing something that might take more healing than I can do. Go ahead and start attacking me.” While Mikey was sure the experience gap meant he could easily take Dash in a fight, he'd rather play it safe. She was killing ogres in Dire Maul without the benefits of the magical armor he always took for granted. She was probably a great deal more dangerous than she seemed. 
 
The first few hoof strikes, he easily deflected with his forearms. They weren’t particularly fast or dangerous. He could have blocked them with his sternum had he wanted. The next few came somewhat faster, but had no better luck. The next strike would have probably knocked him clean out when he first started training. To his current ability, Dash may as well have not even been attacking him.
 
“Need to do a lot better than that!” The next hoof strike came in straight, and he even had to move his head a little to avoid it. 
 
“Just getting warmed up!” Dash threw out a few more strings of predictable straight hoof strikes, continually getting faster. The angle kept her from really putting her strength into it, and it was undeniably awkward, but even with those disadvantages, Dash was known for speed. She wanted a good idea of what speed he could keep up with.
 
It only took a couple more strings of attacks before she was attacking fast enough that Mikey could no longer simply parry every strike, and began having to move his body as well to prevent clean hits. That was when Rainbow Dash switched it up from straight jabs with a leading leg to leaving the ground. Without the momentum of flying in, it robbed her of some power, but it opened up far more attack options. 
 
The next string came in as a real combo. A jab from floating with her lead right leg, followed by a swinging kick from her back left leg, and as her body twisted in the air, she added in a hard straight shot from her back right leg.
 
Instead of hitting him right in his smug face, Dash found herself caught in his grip, his left hand curled right around her back right hoof. Before she could launch another kick, he swing her leg, and by extension, her, around and let go, throwing her into a tree. Dash simply landed on all four of her legs, and stuck to the side of the tree somehow being held aloft by the movement of her wings. 
 
“Good try, but I already know you can do more than jab with your front hooves. You need a much better feint than that if you want to hit me.” Despite his comments, Mikey found himself mildly impressed. He really didn’t expect her to leave the ground, let alone to be able to strike that quickly or powerfully from floating. She was definitely far more dangerous off the ground than on it, in his measured opinion. 
 
“Then try this!” Her next charge was met with just as little luck, even as she ramped up the speed. What Mikey didn’t keep from hitting him, hit at poor angles. What little force didn’t bounce off with the armored hooves did next to nothing. 
 
“You’re way too direct. You telegraph your attacks, and even if you’re fast, I know where you’re trying to hit me probably before you do. You need more than just speed” Mikey grinned as the pegasus redoubled her efforts. Her attacks didn’t get much faster, but they started coming from several directions as Dash began twisting and spinning on all three axis, often stopping and reversing directions. He would block a descending axe kick only to have to avoid a rising uppercut and a round kick towards his head. 
 
Mikey just returned the biggest grin he could as not a single strike managed to land flush. “Not too bad. Now it’s your turn!” Pulling his arm back, Mikey stepped forward and threw a jab. Flinching instead of dodging, Dash took the hit right in her muzzle. Exploiting success, he grabbed her front leg and threw her against another tree. 

Twisting in the air, Dash kicked off the tree and renewed her assault, only to stop as she flinched again, taking another punch straight to the muzzle, hard enough to knock her to the ground that time. Walking up, Mikey patted her back a few times on the side as she was spitting blood. 

“Trust me, it ain't easy coming back from your first death. Quite a few retire after the first time they take that step. It wasn't easy for me to keep going after the first time. It was in the back of my mind for months, the fear that next time, I won't be brought back. The fear that a necromancer would raise me as a mindless undead, to serve the Lich King.”

Dash looked to the side, refusing to meet his eyes and quietly asked “How did you deal with it?”

“Hate.” Taking a seat on the ground, he wrapped an arm around her. “Hate is the simplest answer. If I give up, if I give in to my fear, I can never kill those that took everything from me. I've seen my friends and family butchered, my home destroyed. I want to restore my home more than I want to live. You however, are all Twilight has. You're both will have to rely on each other. You'll get over this in time, because you have no choice. Enough of that, get up Dash. We got plenty of time to practice.”


XXXXX

 
“Really you two?” Twilight arched an eyebrow at Mikey and Rainbow Dash, while an amused Sharon and Kanyssea watched.
 
“He started it!” Dash pointed an armored hoof at Mikey.
 
“Just throw me right under that wagon. Thanks.” All Mikey's comment got in response was Dash sticking her tongue out at him.
 
“We're supposed to leave in a couple hours! First you made me look everywhere for you, and now here you are, a complete mess!”
 
“Come on Twilight, the blood's gonna scrub out!”
 
“YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE BLOOD TO SCRUB OUT!” Twilight stopped for a moment, and took a deep breath. 
 
“Come on Twilight, I'm fine. It was just a sparring match. A little rougher than back home, but Mikey here keeps healing me back up, so it's alright.”
 
Twilight sighed in defeat. “Just be careful. Where did you get that armor though? General Shandris gave me some money, but we can't afford something like that!”
 
“I made it for her. Consider it a gift.” Mikey shot a dirty look at his two companions, though he wasn't as bothered by his 'generosity' as he liked to claim. “Those two talked me into giving you both some real armor. Now that you're up, your turn for a fitting while Rainbow Dash gets cleaned up. We can skip the part where I hit you over and over though, if you'd like.”
 
Twilight opened her mouth to argue, before shutting it with an audible click. It would not only be rude to refuse such a gift, but as little as Twilight liked it, you needed armor if she was going to travel in this world. Banditry, all but unheard of in Equestria, was common here. There were many that would attack anything they saw, from crazed cultists, to wandering undead, to political rivals, not to mention the Burning Legion showing up on occasion. Twilight primary concern was to get herself and Rainbow Dash home, safe and sound. If she could bring back this armor, she may even be able to replicate the enchantments on it. Something Equestria may need if the Burning Legion really has a foothold there. 
 
“I don't know if I'll be able to repay you. Thank you. For everything.” 
 
“Oh, just come on Twilight! He's giving you armor! I want to see it! Rainbow Dash's armor just looks so awesome!”
 
Twilight cringed, and really wished that Dash wasn't rubbing off on Sharon so much. She feared it was only a matter of time until she too started using 'twenty percent cooler' as a common phrase. 
 
Sharon threw an arm around Twilight's neck and began dragging her towards the forge. “I bet your armor is going to be super amazing!” Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled. She would almost swear Pinkie Pie was possessing Sharon to make that statement. 
 
“So! Come on Mikey! What'd you make her?”
 
“Armor. I made her armor.”
 
“That's not what I asked, and you know it!”
 
Rainbow Dash came into the conversation. “It can't be as awesome as mine!”
 
Mikey smirked. “Go get cleaned up Dash. I should be about done fitting her by the time you finish up. I'll let you judge which is more awesome later.”
 
“Yea, yea. I'll be back in a few Twilight.” Lifting off the ground, Rainbow dash started flying off before stopping, and turning around. “Uh, how do I take this off?”
 
“You should be able to reach all the latches. Just feel around under the seams with your fingers…oh. Uh. Kanynssea? Can you help her out? I'll have to come up with something she can do with her...hooves...oh, I have no idea how I'm going to do that.”
 
Twilight rolled her eyes. Again. “Dash, land.” As soon as the pegasus touched the ground, Twilight felt all around her with magic, and in a few moments, had her armor off, earning an appreciative whistle from Mikey. 
 
“Can you put her armor on that fast? Worst part of wearing the stuff is getting in and out of it.”
 
In not even ten seconds, Twilight had it back on Rainbow Dash. “Sure, that's easy enough.” With one more sweep of her magic, Twilight removed Rainbow Dash's armor and carried it with her, letting the pegasus fly off to go get cleaned up after yelling out a quick thanks.
 
“Hmm. The armor is going to need a redesign eventually, she may have to armor up without help sometime, but that can hold off for a while. Lets get you fitted in your armor.” 
 
It only took a little more prodding for Mikey and Sharon to pull Twilight to the forge, while Kanyssea remained 'on guard'. By sunbathing in her cat form. 
 
“Your magic is going to make putting this on and taking it off real quick and easy, but let me handle the first time, so I can make sure it's properly fit.” Mikey began laying out pieces of armor around Twilight, all of it colored purple to match her coat.
 
Despite asking asking Twilight to let him handle it the first time, she still helped by holding pieces of armor in place with her telekinesis, and sped the process along. It wasn't even twenty minutes, with occasional bits of small talk thrown in, before Twilight had her armor attached, and properly fitted.
 
“So? How's it feel?”
 
Twilight trotted a quick lap around the forge, finding the armor surprisingly light, and more comfortable than she would have expected. “Not too bad. No chaffing, fits well. It's a bit thicker than Dash's though.”
 
Mikey nodded. “Yup. I made hers first, and taking what I learned there, I found a few places to improve the basic design. I'm also taking advantage of your slightly larger frame. In terms of magical enhancements, the armor is on par with hers, but the armor itself will stop a bit more abuse. This stuff is just mid-grade, but between that and your natural strength, physical and magical, you should be able to survive anything you run into. In alliance territory at least.” Grabbing the last piece, Mikey held up the helmet for Twilight to stick her head into. He didn't like putting a hole in it for her horn, but he didn't have much choice. That meant it would take a bit of care to put it on and take it off. Or perhaps not, he wasn't really certain how tough the horn was.
 
“Looking good Twilight! Not quite as awesome as mine, but I'll let you be seen in public with me.”
 
“Dashie! You're back!” One hug from Sharon later, and Rainbow Dash wasted no time in getting Twilight to put her back in her new armor.
 
“Come on, how cool is this Twilight? This armor is so much better than anything the guard had! Hey, what's yours got?”
 
“She's got a mix of Strength/Stam and Int/Stam gear. I wasn't sure which she wanted to specialize in, so I figured I'd give her a taste of both. Who knows, maybe once you two got some money, you'll buy a new set off me.”
 
Twilight laughed at that. “I'll think about. Hopefully it won't be a problem.”
 
“Catch!” Sharon tossed a pair of soft packages at the two ponies. “It's presents!” 
 
“You didn't have to.” Twilight gave a token half-hearted protest. 
 
“Of course I didn't have to. If I had to, it wouldn't be a present!” Twilight had no response to this, suspecting that any attempt to argue would be as futile as arguing with Pinkie Pie. Opening her package, Twilight pulled out a beautiful cloak, matching the shade of her mane, while the border matched her mane's highlights with her cutie mark proudly embroidered into the center of it.
 
“Awesome! Uh...how do I put it on?” Dash had her own cloak, light blue with a darker blue border, the same shade as the blue portion of her mane, and her own cutie mark was also prominently in the center. With a few moments of work, Sharon helped them both secure their cloaks at both the back of their necks and their midsection so they didn't drag off to one side.
 
“Dashies gives Strength and Stamina. Twilight's gives Intellect and Stamina. I'm so glad you two like them!” One vigorous group hug later, and she yelled out. “Stop being shy Kanyssea!”
 
Sheepishly, a large cat stepped out of the shadows, surprising both Twilight and Rainbow Dash, since there was no possible way for the shadow to actually hide it. Smugly, Kanyssea dropped a package at both their feet before standing back and giving a toothy grin. Inside the packages were leather harnesses for them to use, with several bags attached to each, as well as plenty of places to attach anything else. 
 
Sharon cheered as they opened their last set of gifts as Kanyssea shifted out of her cat form to explain. “The harnesses should give you plenty of options on carrying equipment. Also, the bags are mageweave, so they aren't particularly deep, but they should be plenty. If you need bigger bags, you'll probably be in position to afford them.” One of the other advances this world had compared to Equestria, was the ease with which they could create bags that were larger on the inside than the outside. It would take some fairly powerful magics to do this in Equestria, but here, even people that couldn't nominally use magic could create such a thing, albeit not even close to the scale that could be accomplished with Equestrian magic.
 
Another minute of fiddling with their equipment, and both Rainbow Dash and Twilight had their harnesses on, and properly adjusted. It was unlike anything the three adventurers wore, but their body shape allowed them to carry a great deal more on their bodies before things started getting in the way. 
 
“Not that I'm complaining, but you three really didn't have to do all this for us.” Twilight noted.
 
“Oh come on Twilight” Sharon said, “what are friends for, if not mooching off of? Who knows, maybe one day, we'll be the ones who need a helping hand, and we can mooch off you!”
 

XXXXX

 
"RAAAAAAA!" The dragon let loose the full might and fury of his rage, and charged his opponent. His implacable advance would crush anything foolish enough to be in his way. "Oof!" Or the dragon would bounce off the orange Earth Pony. Again.
 
"Give it up Spike. I ain't budging, and that's final!" 
 
"She was my sister Applejack! My mother! My best friend! I'm not going to just sit here after losing her!" Spike picked himself back up from the ground. He wasn't going to be stopped that easily. He was a dragon! Maybe a baby dragon, but a bucking dragon! The Burning Legion took his family from him, and he couldn't just hide away from them. He was never too sure what Twilight was to him, but he knew he loved her. He knew she was family.
 
"If you can't even push your way past me Spike, then what use would you be? When Twilight comes home, I ain't telling her I let you run off and get yourself killed!" The deal was, if Spike could push past Applejack, then she wouldn't stop him from enlisting. 
 
“And I'm not going to just sit here! I'm a dragon, I can fight!” Before spike could charge again, Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around him. 

“Spike, please don't. Please don't go.”

Applejack shook her head with a sigh. “I know you ain't stupid Spike. Even you can see that every time the guards send ponies out, fewer return. It's too dangerous. If you want to help, you can help Rarity prepare winter clothing and blankets for everypony that lost their homes, or help Pinkie cook for the camp. You don't have to join the guard!”

“We just don't want to lose you Spike. You're just a baby dragon.”

“STOP TREATING ME LIKE A CHILD!” With a roar, Spike shook off Fluttershy, and bowled over an unprepared AppleJack, before making a run for it. 

“Consarnit.”  
 

XXXXX

 
Doomguard Kazziz, the Legion commander now in charge of razing this pitiful world as everything above him on this world had been killed or captured, grimaced at the maps. This foolish 'Unicorn Council' started too soon. Had they waited even two weeks, the Legion would have had the foothold necessary, instead of their troops being widely spread amongst several areas. As it was, the Legion's tenuous foothold on this planet was slipping from his grasp. This Crystal Empire destroyed any demons that dared march on it without even deigning to notice they were under siege, protected by powerful magics well beyond his ability to handle. 
 
To the south, dragons. Innumerable dragons, unlike any the Legion had ever faced before. Their resistance to corruption was too great to overcome. At least, with his resources. Yet, they were utterly unlike any dragon flights the Legion encountered before. They didn't seem to actually have flights. Dread Lord Narzethium thought he could enslave a few, and only died for his troubles, while leading a group of angry dragons to one of the few Forge Camps the Legion had set up on this miserable world.
 
Sharing terrain with the dragons were a race of shape shifters. Dread Lord Velo'thas sought to 'entice' them, having heard of their conflict with Equestria. Dread Lord Velo'thas was no longer here to lead, have suffered the indignity of being captured by the Shape Shifters. What forces he had in the south were heavily engaged with the creatures as a result. The Legion was steadily pushing them back, grinding them away, but it was too heavy of a diversion of what little he had. It would be weeks before he had the portals needed to pull through more than cannon fodder!
 
To the center was the Forest of Nightmares! The very forest itself fought the Legion, every step of the way. Dread Lord Sulthanis himself led a force through it, to strike down these 'Elements of Harmony', yet never made it to the little pissant town they called home! He did however, burn out the heart of the forest. A course of action that only made the forest angry as monstrous black vines began sprouting. It would take more than Kazziz could mobilize to get anything through that forest now.

Attempts to circumvent the forest of Nightmares have led to conflicts with Diamond Dogs, a subterranean species noted for their digging abilities. Despite the constant hit and run ambushes, it was only a matter of time until the beasts fell before the Legion, if he didn't run out of troops first.

To the west side of the map where archipelago's belonging to the Griffon Empire. He wasn't particularly impressed with their martial ability, but they had enough scouts to prevent him from doing anything about them with what little he had. 

He didn't have enough of the local unicorns to summon meaningful numbers, leaving his only options as hide, or to take prisoners that could be used as sacrifices. It was a cruel smile he gave as he took note of potential villages. Hiding was overrated, there was a planet to be consumed.


XXXXX


It wasn't often that Twilight got to look down at someone. Not in this world at least. This mage currently opening the portal that would take them to Darnassus however, was a gnome. It was a close thing, but Twilight did stand slightly taller. 

“Boring. How long is this gonna take?”

Twilight shot a dirty look at Rainbow Dash, but Mikey answered. “It takes a few minutes to get a temporary portal set up. It's also fairly expensive to get the reagents, so do try and not bother the mage while he's casting.” 

It was only a couple of minutes later that the portal came into existence. It was like an open window to another city. Looking through, Twilight could see hundreds of people walking around. Most were Night elves, though the other races of the Alliance were present as well.

“Alright, everyone through. I'm paid by the portal, not by the hour.”

Taking a breath, Twilight stepped through after Mikey and Sharon entered the portal. Unlike teleportation, there was no sensation of movement. There was no instant of not existing. For all the magical effects she felt, she may as well have walked through an open doorway. Dash and Kanyssea brought up the rear, while the mage stepped through as well. 

“Fizz Cogsworth at your service. Keep me in mind for all your portal needs! For now, duty calls!” The gnome mage began casting another spell, a personal teleport instead of a portal, and in a few seconds disappeared. 

“Is that normal for getting a portal?” Rainbow Dash asked. 

Mikey nodded. “Yup. Skilled mages can make decent coin porting parties around. One of the safer ways to make money too. Anyways, lets get you two to the Temple of the Moon. I don't think Tyrande is going to let us sit in on her meeting with you, but we can at least get you there.” Raising an arm, Mikey pointed to the Temple. “That's the temple, just across the bridge.”

Hesitantly, Twilight followed behind Mikey. Her hesitation didn't go unnoticed by everyone else. 

“Feeling nervous?” Twilight nodded at Sharon's question. The crowd didn't help much, but it paled in comparison to the prospect of meeting a head of state, as well as the leader of the local religion. For being a Princess, Twilight had rarely engaged in actual diplomacy, and wasn't too eager to have to do so. Even now, she still thought of herself as a student of magic first and foremost. Equestria nearly ran itself, so her contributions to the political process were non-existent. Foreign diplomacy wasn't her job as princess, that falling on Celestia's shoulders on the rare occasion a matter came up. As a Princess, Twilight had two main jobs. Show her face on sufficiently important occasions so as to not offer insult by her absence, and to live as a paragon of one of Equestria's virtues, a shining example for all Equestria, which she found the much more important and satisfying royal duty. That unfortunately left her feeling unprepared for this upcoming meeting. 

“Relax Twilight.” Mikey looked over his shoulder at the nervous pony. “Can't say I have any worthwhile advice here, but the Night Elves seem to like you. You'll be alright.”

“That's one of the things that worries me. Why do they like us?” Her question was only met with silence.


XXXXX


Twilight wasn't the only one nervous. She may not have shown it, and she certainly didn't dwell on it the way Twilight did. The nervousness here paled in comparison to what she felt when she had to hold the line against Archimonde's implacable advance just a few years past. It was nothing compared to what it took to gather and lead her people after the sundering, or to stand the long vigil.

Unlike all that however, it was something new. Something Tyrande had never had to do before. She had dealt with Elune, she had lived and learned amongst Elune's children. What she had never done before however, was greet one of her peers, an Eternal. What some would call a god, or others would call a demi-god. Not that such a title truly meant much. There were many entities that one would call a 'god', and many more that had been killed. Few were truly worthy of the title, such as Elune, or as much as as she hated to admit it, the Old Gods whom even the Titan's couldn't destroy. 

This 'Alicorn' however, unlike every other Eternal, was neither in hiding from the mortal world, nor aligned. Her mission from Elune herself, was to ensure that if the newest Eternal in Azeroth wasn't allied with the Kaldorei, then she was at a minimum, not hostile nor aligned with her enemies. Neither Elune, nor Shandris, were of the opinion that she would be hostile, yet she had enough sentinels present to end her threat the moment it begins. 

“My lady, they have arrived.”

“Treat them with the utmost courtesy. The pegasus” She found the word strange, “is her guardian. If she is armed, permit her to keep her arms.” The instructions weren't really necessary. Her personal guards knew exactly what this was about, and everyone present had already been instructed on what to expect. That Twilight was an Eternal wasn't general knowledge, and hopefully, it would centuries before it was. The sentinels present here, her own personal guard, were the only Kaldorei other than her that were aware. Other Eternals were likely aware, and their closest followers may be aware as well for the same reason she was. It was unlikely any of them would see such valuable information spread carelessly. 

Unfortunately, the secrecy in which she must operate prevented her from asking important questions. Such as what exactly is Rainbow Dash to Twilight Sparkle? A simple guard? Her priestess? Her Paladin? Her High Priestess? What information she had merely said “guard”, but an Eternal walking the mortal world wouldn't advertise herself lightly. Especially one fleeing the Burning Legion, which seemed the most likely explanation for their appearance. She was fairly certain no Eternal would find herself in Azeroth by accident! It was a curious situation, to strike a balance between not offering insult to a high priestess or perhaps her equivalent of a High Paladin, while still treating her as a guard on the off chance that's what she actually was.

Walking to the balcony that provided her with an excellent view of the entrance, she watched her guests walk in. Twilight Sparkle, the purple Alicorn, walked in first looking every inch a warrior. Her purple armor and cape looked new, so she took excellent care of her equipment. Her helmet was hanging from side from a harness. There was ample room for weapons, yet she had none to be found. Immediately behind her and to her left was Rainbow Dash, the blue pegasus. Again, the equipment looked brand new, meaning it was excellently cared for. It remained to be seen if it was ceremonial in nature, or meant for actual use. She was completely unarmed as well. Perhaps their weapons weren't on the harnesses? Surely no Eternal would bring guards with them and leave them unarmed! 

Two humans and another Kaldorei also walked in behind. She knew that the adventurer's that 'found' them were hired to supplement her guard, but she had expected that relationship to end by now. Perhaps they had become friends? The five of them shared a few words before one of the humans, the young woman, hugged the two. Tyrande made a mental note to keep on eye on those three. They were certainly closer than mere hired adventurers. If Twilight proved a problem that needed to be removed, those three may need to be dealt with as well. Optimistically, if Twilight wasn't a problem, she could see to it that the three adventurers were allowed to accompany Twilight, if she so wished it. For now however, the sentinels turned the three away.

The captain of her guard introduced herself, and began leading them up the ramp that circled the temple and lead to her balcony. The two followed, both apparently enjoying the beautiful temple's décor. Neither seemed particularly bothered by the present sentinels, and seemed to be engaging her Captain in small talk. A good sign. Her Captain was ever courteous, and seemed to be responding. Both the ponies seemed please with that. 

She continued following their progress, before returning to the center of her balcony before her guests arrived. A more private meeting was likely to follow, but for now, it seemed best to meet them here, overlooking the temple proper. It was barely a minute before they were close enough for her to hear their quiet conversation.

“Don't you dare introduce her as that! Be serious Rainbow Dash!” 

“Come on Twi! You ruin all my fun.”

“We're visiting a head of state, take this seriously Dash!”

“Ugh. Fine, Element of Loyalty. Next time Twi, I'm totally being introduced as the Amazing Ultra Mare!”

The group entered her field of view just in time to see Twilight bring a hoof to her face. To talk to an Eternal in such a way, Rainbow Dash was no mere guard, that was for certain. Element of Loyalty? Tyrande was unsure as to what that was, but it was certainly important. 

Her guard captain stepped forward while the two ponies held back a few paces. Dropping to a knee, the captain saluted by bring her right fist to her chest. “My Lady, presenting Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Equestria, Element of Magic, and her guardian, Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty.” Both the ponies did an approximation of a bow when introduced, lowering the front of their bodies and raising their left front hooves. Twilight's bow was shallower, a courtesy to a peer. Rainbow Dash's was much deeper, as though bowing to royalty.

Tyrande returned the salute. “Thank you Captain.” Looking to her two guests, Tyrande returned the bow to 'Princess' Twilight, and nodded her head to Rainbow Dash. Both seemed quite satisfied with the display of formalities. “I am Tyrande, High Priestess of Elune, leader of the Kaldorei. I welcome you to Darnassus, and to the Temple of the Moon on behalf of Elune.”

“Thank you for the welcome High Priestess. To what do we owe the pleasure of this invitation?”

“Princess Twilight, I would like to know your intentions on Azeroth.”

The two ponies shared a quick look. “We are uncertain as to how we arrived here. My only intention is to get us home. I'm afraid that our home is under attack by the Burning Legion, and I mean to help defend it.”

While Tyrande wouldn't believe an Eternal accidentally banished herself to Azeroth, enemy action was more believable. Yet why to Azeroth, of all places? A world that had resisted the Legion time and again. It would be foolish for the Legion to banish an obstacle here. Tyrande could just send the ponies on their way. Opening a bridge between worlds wasn't particularly 'easy', but it was simple. To merely send two to another world, a competent mage would have the technical knowledge. Certainly, without an anchor stone such as what the major cities in Azeroth had to allow portals, it would take far too much power for a simple mage. Even Medivh had to build a massive structure to house the Dark Portal that allowed the Horde to invade. For an Eternal however, it should be simple to move just two beings. Maybe a few weeks worth of setup.

“My apologies Princess Twilight, but Elune is understandably uneasy about a new Eternal coming to Azeroth. If all you wish is to return home, we can of course provide some assistance.”

This time it was the guard, Rainbow Dash, that spoke up. “Um, what's an Eternal?”

“You may use a different a word in your language. Eternal's are Immortal beings who are conduits for divine power, and most have existed since creation. Many empower their worshipers. The goddess Elune is an Eternal, and it through her power that Elune's priestess's cast their holy magic.”

“Huh.” Rainbow looked to a stunned Twilight. “Did she just say you're a goddess?”

“WHAT!?!?” Twilight's eyes rolled to the back of her head as she fainted.
> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


CHAPTER 5


"Knock knock" Sharon's call was accompanied by a knock on the door frame at the same time, to get Dash's attention.

Dash looked up from the armor she was polishing and managed to smile at Sharon. She was hardly a guard, but the Wonder Bolts did have to train with them at least once a year, and that meant learning how to take care of her equipment. She had a list of a hundred things she'd rather do, but all those required leaving their new temporary home. Something she wasn't willing to do just yet. Not with Twilight's current state at least. That meant cleaning and polishing their armor, or staring at a wall while waiting for the others to show up with only the birds outside the window for company. 

"That didn't take you long to track us down." 

"You won't believe how much the druids here gossip. They're worse than the little priestess circle back in Stormwind."

"Druids? Like Kanyssea?"

"Yup. Mikey wanted to do all the guild paper work, while Kanyssea wanted to check in with the druids. I thought seeing the Cenarion Enclave would be a much better experience than watching Mikey do paperwork, so I followed her. She'll come by later. More importantly, how'd the meeting go?"

Dash cringed. "Not good."

Sharon nervously glanced back to the Sentinel's outside the door before Dash shook her head. "Not that bad! But not good."

Sharon let out a breath she didn't quite realize she was holding, but Dash's own nervousness still kept her on edge. "What happened?"

"Do you know what an Eternal is?"

Sharon nodded. They weren't exactly common knowledge, but knowledge of them wasn't really hidden either. Most people just had better things to do than read a bunch of musty old tomes. As a priestess however, she was expected to have a passing familiarity of various pantheons. The Night Elves weren't very talkative, but amongst those in the 'know', it was generally assumed that Elune was one. 

"Tyrande thinks Twilight is one." No build up, no warning. Sometime later, she would realize how obvious it was, but at the moment it was a gut punch. Sharon took a few unsteady steps to a chair as the realization sunk in. 

"Tyrande. High Priestess of Elune, one of the only mortals to regularly interact with an Eternal, thinks Twilight is an Eternal?" At Rainbow Dash's nervous nod, she asked the big question. "How is that a bad thing?"

"Do you know what Twilight is most afraid of?"

Sharon shook her head. "No?"

"She fears failing to live up to the expectations put upon her and failing Princess Celestia, any pony that's known her for five minutes could tell you that, but I've seen the fear she keeps buried in her heart instead of displaying to the world like a cutie mark. She's afraid of herself." Dash glanced towards the closed bedroom door before turning back to Sharon with a sad smile. "She's made a few mistakes, and I don't know if she ever truly forgave herself for some of them." The want-it need-it spell came to mind. It was weeks before Twilight had any confidence in herself after that incident. "Deep down, I think Twilight is afraid she's one more magical accident away from pulling a Nightmare Moon."

Sharon nodded. She wasn't entirely sure she believed the Nightmare Moon story, but Twilight did speak of it before.

"The thought that those calling her a goddess, that those few ponies that actually worship her, and maintain shrines to her, might be right, that thought terrifies her. It was hard enough the first time somepony walked up to Twilight, and asked for her foals to receive a divine blessing. That's why Twilight reacted the way she did, I think."

Sharon took another look at the Sentinels who were listening in with interest, but didn't seem hostile.

Dash rolled her eyes in response. "She didn't attack her or anything, but when Tyrande told Twilight that she's an Eternal, she, uh, fainted."

"Is she alright?"

Dash shook her head. "She got back up quick enough, but no. She didn't take it well."


XXXXX


"Twilight? Twilight!" Dash nearly had a heart attack when she noticed Twilight actually fainted. That wasn't a patented Rarity 'dramatic faint', nor was she joking around with her friends.

Twilight's eyes opened almost as soon as she hit the ground, and Dash took a step back. "I'mnotagod!" Twilight frantically scrambled back, not even getting her hooves under her enough to stand. "Justanormalpony!"


XXXXX


"She actually left Tyrande at a complete loss. She hid it well, but I think she was startled and confused by Twilight's reaction. Twilight denied it over and over until finally Tyrande decide to 'prove' it. At least she didn't faint that time, but she did not take it well."


XXXXX


"Elune doesn't make mistakes. If she say's you are an Eternal, you're an Eternal." This was not going how Tyrande expected. At all. Twilight was obviously an Eternal. Elune said so, and her very power infused the air. She was certain she could use it, if she tried. With a little concentration, she managed to gather some of the power, and began casting a minor healing spell with it. 

"See Twilight? Just the power in the air around you empowers divine magic." Tyrande meant to give a gentle smile, but couldn't quite manage it as Twilight gave her a look of pure horror. Tyrande wasn't quite panicking, but she was starting to get worried. 

"Wha...what did you do!?"


XXXXX


"Alicorns are worshiped back home, you know. Twilight never really knew or understood that, until it happened to her. The practice isn't really considered socially acceptable anymore, and it isn't very common, but there's still a few dedicated cults and the occasional shrine. In one act, Tyrande just proved them all right. Alicorns really are…" Dash vaguely waved a hoof in search of an appropriate word. “More. More than just the sum of the three tribes.”

"So where does this leave Twilight?"


XXXXX


Tyrande thought she'd seen it all. Well, until a horde of undead began pushing through Kalimdor and Archimonde attempted to take Mount Hyjal, and use one of the world trees, Nordrassil. After that, she was fairly sure nothing would surprise her. Until she had to sit down and try to explain to a pony, that she may as well be a goddess in her own right. "Twilight, you have to accept that you are what you are. If your world is truly in danger from the burning legion, your power can help your people. You can raise your priesthood, and empower them to heal wounds. You can follow the human's example, and create your own paladin order. Holy warriors, powered by you, able to effectively fight the demons.”

So far, it seemed the best argument she could use.  At the least, it was an improvement as Twilight was no longer frantically denying the obvious. Instead, she merely looked to the ground as her guardian and friend wrapped a wing around her. “No pony should have that kind of power, no pony should be that important.”

“But you are.”


XXXXX


Dash took another long look at the bedroom door. "Confused and conflicted. If she can learn how to use her power the way other Eternals do, and bring it home, she can do so much good. This goes back into what she's afraid of. Herself. With that kind of power, what could stop her? If she can raise a Priestess, or a Paladin, then their power comes from her. There is no more rule of law, only rule of Twilight. She's wondering how long she could do this before good intentions pave the path to Tartarus. She's wondering, if she has priests and paladins that follow her, and she pulls a Nightmare Moon, could the other princesses stop her? She is the Element of Magic. Without her, we couldn't use the Elements of Harmony, and she knows that."

"What do you think?"

"What can I think?” Dash chuckled like it wasn't even a question worth asking. “She's my friend. I have to believe in her, especially when she doesn't believe in herself. She never gave up on me, and believed in me even when I lost hope in myself. She never stopped believing in any of us. I can't do any less myself.”

Sharon gently ran a hand through Dash's mane. “We probably shouldn't leave her alone.”

“Somepony had to wait up for everypony else.” Rainbow Dash looked up at Sharon with a smile. “Let's let her sleep a bit longer though.”


XXXXX


“And that was when he pulled out his pair of goblin jumper cables. I'd never seen an orc turn white so fast before!” The assorted druids broke out in a chorus of laughter. The Cenarion Enclave, informally known as the 'Druid Quarter' by most, was a place for druids. They trained there, they lived there, and various druids that struck out on their own as adventurers were welcome to stop by. The younger druids in training, the less brave, and the all around more sensible druids, were always eager to hear stories of their adventuring counterparts. 

Kanyssea showed up, not just because it was expected, but also because druids weren't exactly common. The Cenarion Enclave was one of the few places she could find others like her. She was quieter than the latest crop of druids in training, even if she was often far less serious than the older druids. She did however, still believe it was part of her duty to impart wisdom to the young, to instill bravery in the older, and to knock a bit of sense out of those too sensible to actually do something. 

Not that she was any good at doing any of those. She was younger than most the trainees, and while she considered herself far wiser than most druids (evidenced by her continual survival in her chosen profession), she wasn't very social. She couldn't really bring herself to boisterously share stories like many of her peers. The best she could really do was sit in the corner and speak when spoken to. An event that happened far too often for her taste, as she was too well known to hide in the corner for long. The other druids would point to her and whisper at each other. 

Staring into her cup, she could only wish no one knew who she was, that she wasn't trapped by her sense of duty into showing her face in these gatherings. “So come on Kanyssea. You're the most experienced druid here.” A fact that made Kanyssea distinctly uncomfortable. In human terms, it would be like a fourteen year old child being the most experienced soldier in a hall full of experienced soldiers. “What's the worst part of adventuring?”

It was a question she was often asked, though always privately. A question she had yet to ever truthfully answer. There were plenty of terrible things involved in her chosen lifestyle, but they didn't really compare to the 'worst'. No, if she could turn back time, she would have never left Teldrassil, and spare herself. Lowering her eyes so she wouldn't have to meet anyone else's, she looked to her own hands. How did you tell a bunch of trainees that most of them will be dead within the first year they head out if they follow her footsteps?

Before anyone could pester her into answer, a bird flew in through the window and transformed back into a Night Elf, and Kanyssea was grateful for the distraction. “You won't believe this! That talking horse that met with Tyrande? She's apparently an Eternal! I overheard one of the things talking to some human priestess.” As the color drained from her face, Kanyssea was suddenly far less grateful for the distraction. 

“An Eternal, you say?” All eyes turned to the door as Arch Druid Fandral Staghelm walked in. Kanyssea was far more experienced than most the druids here put together, but Fandral didn't become an Arch Druid by sitting on his hands. He had fought more wars than Kanyssea had heard of. As a druid, he was only second to Malfurion Stormrage, and since Malfurion was in the Emerald Dream, that left him in charge of the druids, and constantly fighting Tyrande's every step as leader of the Night Elves. 

“That Tyrande would hide that an Eternal again walks the lands of Azeroth. Truly, the woman has lost her mind. This should be cause for celebration, not something to be hidden in the shadows!”

“What of those that would attack her? Would it not be better to hide Twilight until she's ready to face Azeroth?” Kanyssea barely recognized her own voice. She was experienced, true, and if she lived, what she did now would certainly help her attain the title of Arch Druid...a few hundred years down the road, if not a thousand. She was barely even a child to the living legend she was talking back to.

“This 'Twilight' has already come to us. We will protect her from those that would see her harmed. If anything, this is just another reason for us to push the orcs out of Ashenvale, before they try to harm her they way they did Cenarius!”

“Being unknown is the best we can do to defend her!” Her argument fell on deaf ears, as the Arch Druid knew exactly what buttons to push. A mention of Cenarius, son of Elune, was enough to anger the gathered druids. None forgot that the orcs killed him just a scant few years ago, during the war. 

“Foolish nonsense. If we learned of it this quickly, it is only a matter of time until the Burning Legion sets their sights on her, as well as the orcs. How much more must those beasts destroy before the Tauren see reason and stop defending them?”

Kanyssea shook her head. There was nothing she could do. She wasn't a public speaker and didn't know how to sway a crowd, she relied mostly on the force of her own reputation, which absolutely paled in comparison Staghelm's. Twilight would be common knowledge, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Fandral Staghelm just painted a huge target on her back, just to make things difficult for Tyrande.


XXXXX


“Bad news?” This wasn't the first time Mikey returned to Teldrassil with Kanyssea, and he knew it pretty much took an act of Elune to pry her away from the druids this quickly. Let alone to get her to track him down to one of the rowdier bars. This one was even rowdier than the ones he usually frequented, with a party of dwarves making a huge mess and a lot of noise. Not that the barkeeper seemed to mind, the more ale they spilled, the more ale they had to order to keep drinking. Few would consider a good atmosphere for doing paperwork, but Mikey was more than happy to turn in paperwork that smelled of drunk dwarf and had mysterious stains on it. He didn't even have to look up from the paperwork to know there was something very wrong if Kanyssea was here.

“Twilight might be in danger.”

Mikey sighed and dropped the pen. “Here? We're on top of a giant tree, miles from shore. What can possibly threaten her here? By the Light, if the Legion attacks her here, I can't be held responsible when I choke a demon to death with it's own entrails.”

Kanyssea raised a finger to her mouth. “Shh. Not here. We need to talk, privately.”

Mikey groaned and looked to the barmaid. He had plans for the night. The bar maid got off in two hours, and he was sure he could have the elf out of her dress not even an hour after that. “It better be worth it.”

Kanyssea followed his line of vision and smirked at the bar maid. “She's cute. Can't be a day over three hundred. Will you remember her name in the morning?”

Mikey scoffed. “I'm a Paladin. Of course I'll actually remember her name in the morning.” After all, he was in town for more than just tonight. Standing up, he waved the barmaid over, flipped her a coin to pay for his drink, and gave her a wink. 

“You can get back to hitting on her in a few minutes. Lets talk.”

Mikey nodded. “Lead the way.”

Kanyssea led him towards the door, until a loud crash brought her to a halt. “Do you always have to pick such rowdy bars?” 

The party of dwarves had began mixing in with a party of humans, with the inevitable consequences of a bunch of drunken adventurers starting a bar fight. “Oh come on, this is one of the few things I'm both good at and enjoy.” 

Kanyssea rolled her eyes before shape shifting into a bear. One loud roar later, and the fight ended as quickly as it began, as the bear began walking out the bar, Mikey in tow. No one was really foolish enough to openly fight a druid in Darnassus. They had a tendency to cheat by shapeshifting into things like bears, giant cats, moonkin, and even the occasional stag with a killer head butt. Not to mention that fighting one usually meant fighting all of them, and you never knew how many druids you were dealing with until you counted the bears.

The only walked for a few minutes before finding a deserted spot they could talk in. “Alright, what's going on? It really isn't like you to drag me out of a bar.”

“Twilight is an Eternal.”

Mikey raised an eyebrow. “I'm pretty sure we had that figured out by the time she woke up.”

Kanyssea crossed her arms and huffed at him, looking every bit as young as she was. “I had guessed, but Tyrande confirmed it.”

“And that means Elune confirmed it. Not exactly earth shattering you know. Why isn't Tyrande sitting on that information though? She's not stupid.”

Kanyssea winced. “A druid overheard a conversation, I'm guessing between Rainbow Dash and Sharon.”

Mikey brought his palm to his face. “That pony has no sense of self preservation. Okay, the druids are usually nice and sensible, right? Your guys are going to sit on this information? Please tell me yes.”

Kanyssea shook her head. “Fandral Staghelm” the name was half snarled “thinks it's better that everyone is aware of her. Supposedly so we can better protect her, before she ends up like Cenarius.” Kanyssea was far less than pleased that the Arch Druid was going to use her friend as a piece in his political bickering with Tyrande.

Mikey scoffed at that. “Thrall isn't stupid enough to kill Twilight. She's done nothing to him or the horde.”

“And if Thrall was more than just a mouth piece, the alliance and horde would be holding hands, frolicking in the fields, and singing songs of harmony and brotherhood together. Thrall is far too practical and intelligent to do such a thing, but I doubt there's more than five other orcs with half as much sense as Thrall has. Lets not forget the Forsaken. Sylvanas would kill her out of hand, because she's a bitch.”

Mikey was taken back by that statement. He was pretty sure he could count the number of times Kanyssea has sworn on one hand...and have four fingers left. “Okay, I'm not exactly a fan of Sylvanas Windrunner myself, but she's underhanded, not stupid. Striking at Twilight would take far too many resources, and it has no pay off other than pissing everyone off.”

“I'm just worried about her. She's...she doesn't understand. She'd kind, and gentle. She feels like peace and harmony. Just being in a room with her is enough to lift the shadows from my heart. She doesn't belong in this world, Mikey. Her world is so kind, and gentle. She doesn't understand this sort of unending warfare that we live.”

Mikey wrapped her in a hug. “She's going to learn. She has to. Unless her other Princesses are ridiculously powerful, the Legion has a foothold on her planet. If she went home today, it would be to a fight.” The 'If she's lucky' went unsaid. “Besides, I don't think she's as much a stranger to violence as you make her sound. What she did to that Doomguard wasn't pretty at all, and that Infernal? I doubt there was a piece of it left larger than my fist. She talks like her home is some sort of utopia, but anyone can see that pony is no stranger to violence.”

Kanyssea sighed before gently pushing him off. Reaching into her pocket, she fished out a key. “Room key, at the usual place. I'm staying with Twilight, so feel free to bring the bar maid to your room.”

Grabbing the key, Mikey nodded. “Alright, where and when am I meeting you and the girls?”

“Job board, by the bank. Call it ten in the morning. At the least, one of us will be there.”

“The job board?”

“We can't protect them forever. I want to give at least one of them a taste of this world without getting them killed. According to the druids, there's been a lot of pest control problems out beyond the gates of Darnassus. Harpies seem to have made a nest here as well.”

“Alright, I'll see you there in the morning.”


XXXXX


Sharon grimaced at the smell. For something that looks a lot like a small horse, Twilight and Rainbow Dash didn't smell like horses, at all. Likely a result of regularly bathing and cleaning themselves. That's how they smell on the outside though. They smell just as bad as anyone else on the inside. Sharon pushed the barf bucket Twilight was using towards Rainbow Dash, hoping she'd do something with it.

“I really wasn't expecting her to be this bad.”

“Are you sure she isn't poisoned?” Dash avoid the bucket and nervously hovered to the other side of the groaning alicorn. 

“That was the first thing I checked. She's...well, obviously not fine. It's just stress.” 

Twilight looked cute when Sharon first walked into her room, with the pillow wrapped over head. A thought she felt guilty for as it quickly became apparent she was having a pretty bad nightmare. It was lucky there was a bucket at the ready when Sharon woke her up. 

“Do you want to talk about it Twilight?”

“No.” The pony in question just crawled further under her sheets.

“Alright, maybe later. For now however, you stink. The sheets are stained with your sweat, the room stinks, and you're a complete mess. Come on, lets get you cleaned up.”

Twilight lifted her head from the bed, the sheet she just wrapped over her head sliding off. She opened her mouth to argue, before closing it. She just didn't have it in her to argue. “Fine.” She quietly mumbled something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like 'worse than Spike'.

“I'll just go back to sitting in front room I guess? Kanyssea and Mikey might show up, right?”

“Go for it Rainbow. I'm not entirely sure about Mikey. Kanyssea will definitely show up when she's done talking to the other druids.”

“You don't think Mikey will show up? Isn't he our friend?”

Sharon laughed at the stricken look on Rainbow's face. “He likes you two, but from what Kanyssea says, he does his own thing on his down time. If he doesn't show up in an hour or two, you probably won't see him until tomorrow.”

“What does he do?” Twilight asked as she unsteadily got out of bed. 

Sharon didn't really want to explain to a Princess/demigoddess/frightened homesick pony that one of her friends has a fondness for women of negotiable virtue, as well as a fondness for barmaids that are easily wooed with stories of his adventures. “You should ask Mikey next time you see him.”

Twilight was less than impressed with that dodge, but let it go as she trudged to the attached bath chamber.

Following Twilight to the bath chamber, Sharon stopped at the sight of the tub. As a child, she had to squeeze into one a lot smaller than that, with her whole family. “Wow. You really are getting the royal treatment here.”

Twilight began to fill the tub with water while Sharon was busy gawking. To Twilight, it was just a somewhat large bath tub, but on Azeroth, running water was the exception, not the rule. “Did Rainbow Dash tell you?”

Sharon stopped admiring the tub to look at Twilight. “She did.”

The two watched each other in uncomfortable silence as the tub filled. Finally Twilight broke the silence. “How did you first meet Mikey and Kanyssea?” It was a safe topic. 

“We were both war orphans from the same area, what is now called the Eastern Plaguelands. There's a lot of us, really. When the Kingdom of Lordaeron fell, Stormwind took in a lot of us. Jaina Proudmoore took quite a few across the sea to Theramore as well.” Sharon tapped a finger on her chin for a moment. “Well, across the sea from Lordaeron at least. Theramore's on this continent. Anyways, I first met him at the Cathedral of Light. He was old enough when the Scourge came to be given a sword, but young enough to be sent away to protect the people fleeing, instead of fighting a doomed last stand.”

Sharon took a moment to check the water, before turning off the tap. “Alright stinky, in you go.” Twilight didn't even put up a struggle as Sharon lifted her into the tub. “The Cathedral of Light. It's own district in Stormwind, really. The Cathedral itself is large, but it also administers the orphanage and cemetery, as well as the training of Paladin's and Priests. Often, the trainees are recruited from the orphanage.”

“They conscripted you as a child?” Twilight sounded more than a little horrified by it.

Sharon rolled her eyes at the reminder of her age, which caused her no end of problems every time she wanted to do more than heal scraped knees. “My childhood was ripped from me in blood and screams. No amount of staying home and 'enjoying my childhood' would bring my family or friends back. They didn't have to conscript us. We competed for the opportunity. If I didn't want to do this, I could have stayed in Stormwind, like the church wanted me to. I was trained to be a healer, not a soldier. I chose this life.”

Selecting one of the several bottles of shampoo provided for Twilight, Sharon began pouring some on her and rubbing it in. “Back to the question at hand. Mostly, we just crossed paths while training. I'm not going to say all us trainees were one big happy family, but we lived together and worked together, even if we didn't all always get along. Me and Mikey weren't really 'friends', just well acquainted. It was maybe a year after Mikey left, that I followed in his foot steps. It was apparent the church wasn't going to let me walk my own path, so I left. A few months ago, I ran across Mikey and Kanyssea while they were passing through Dark Shore. Mikey was kind enough to sponsor me into his guild and, uh, help my falsify a bit of paperwork. I've run across the two of them a few times since. Really not much to the story.”

“I thought you three were closer than that. You seem so close.” Twilight let out a contented sigh Sharon started scratching behind her ears. 

“Well, we are close. They trust me to keep them alive, and I trust them to protect me. You don't share this kind of trust without growing close.”

Twilight smiled. It wasn't very different from how she got so close to her friends. One wild night of saving the world, and even if they still had a lot to learn about each other when the dawn came, they were the best of friends. “I guess I know what you mean.”


XXXXX


Twilight walked out the bath chamber with a towel wrapped around her mane, and found Rainbow Dash sprawled out on the bed. “Feeling better Twi?”

“A little.”

Dash rolled out the bed and onto her hooves and wrapped her hooves around the still slightly damp Twilight. “Want to talk about it?

“I don't know what to do.”

“That's easy egghead. Get us home, then we kick the Burning Legion off our world. After that, we can go back to how things were. I can continue napping my mornings and afternoons away. You can continue studying all sorts of magic. We can go back to having all our crazy adventures. Maybe even turn Fluttershy in Flutterbat again.”

Twilight let out a chuckle. “Once is enough. She's still got a pair of fangs you know.”

“And how cool is that? Maybe we can turn me into Rainbow Dash, the Batmare!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I'm trying to be serious here Dash. I really don't know what to do. You've seen the disaster's I create. The last thing Equestria needs is-”

“You worry too much about that Twi.” Dash cut her off. “So you've made mistakes. Big deal. Remember the time I tried to stop winter and how huge of a mess that turned into? What about when Rarity found that cursed book? When Applejack thought she could do everything without any rest? Buck, what about nearly everything the Crusaders ever did? We've all bucked up more times than I can count Twilight. You've always fixed your mistakes before, with or without our help. As far as I'm concerned, what Tyrande said about you changes nothing. I'm not going to sit here and listen to you trash talk yourself.”

“It's not that simple Dash.”

It was Dash's turn to roll her eyes. “It's not that complicated either.” Dash glanced back to bathroom door. “Where's Sharon?”

“Taking her own bath. Apparently, having your own bath tub and running water is considered a serious luxury here.”

Dash just tilted her head. “Huh. That's...weird.”

“Tell me about it. It didn't take Mikey even a week to create two sets of armor that, well, by our standards in Equestria, they'd be legendary artifacts at least on par with the Sacred Armament of Minos. There would be Daring Do novels about keeping such an enchanted armor from falling into the wrong hooves. Yet basic amenities like running water are scarce, and electricity? A few here have heard of it, but nopony here uses it for anything as simple as lighting and heating except the Gnomes.”

Any further conversation ended with a knocking on the door. “Finish drying yourself off Twi, I'll get it. I bet that's Kanyssea.”

Dash barely opened the door before the druid stepped in and closed it. “Dash! What were you and Sharon thinking!?”

“What? What did we do?”

“Opened your big mouth!”

Twilight stepped into the front room. “What's wrong?”

Kanyssea grimaced and turned to Twilight. “A druid overheard a conversation between Rainbow Dash and Sharon, identifying you as an Eternal. Now nearly every druid in Darnassus knows, and the Arch Druid is going to make it public knowledge, just to score political points and spite Tyrande. He's throwing you under the wagon just to make himself look good.”

“What do you mean throwing me under the wagon?”

“Twilight, there's going to be a lot of people very interested in you. They'll want to use you. Whether it's for some sort political advantage, or to take your power as their own. This world isn't very kind. I don't think anyone told you, but the reason you appeared in Dire Maul? There were a bunch of elves there who wanted to turn you into a mana battery. If an imp didn't run off with the artifact they were going to use to summon you from where you were banished, someone would have spent the next thousand or so years ripping the magic and life from you to sustain their own immortality.” Twilight shuddered at that thought. 

“Not like all us ponies are all that great either Twilight. Don't suppose you remember Sombra? Enslaved like the entire Crystal Empire? I doubt he'd have hesitated even a moment. I recall that Chrysalis wanted to use every pony in Equestria much in the same way as well. That's why she invaded Canterlot after all. Tirek was trying to steal all the magic in Equestria as well.” Dash tapped a hoof to her muzzle. “Huh, we've had a lot of enemies. Was that normal?”

Twilight shook her head. “Celestia's students had often gone into her direct service and fixed problems, kind of like how we always did, but nothing of the scale we did. They didn't have the Elements of Harmony though.” Nor were they being groomed to become an Alicorn went unsaid.

“Fine. You're used to dealing with this issue. I still don't like it.” Kanyssea stomped over to a chair and took a seat. 

“Are we in danger here?” Dash protectively draped a wing over Twilight as she asked the question.

Kanyssea just shrugged. “I wouldn't have thought you were in danger in Feathermoon, but someone still threw an infernal through your window.” She let out a sigh. “But no, I don't think you're in danger here. The Arch Druid wants to wield you as a political weapon, but doing so requires protecting you. If something happens to you here after word gets out that he wants to openly protect you, it would politically ruin him. You'll still be safe here, but when you leave, everyone will know who you are, and it's going to draw the exactly wrong kind of attention. The worst you have to fear from the Arch Druid directly, is that he'll try to ingratiate himself with you and involve you in politics.” 

Twilight leaned a little further into Dash. “I just want to go home.”


XXXXX


Mikey yawned and checked the clock again. He was early enough for sticking around to be an annoyance, but not so early that he could go somewhere else to kill a bit of time. With nothing else to do, he settled in to watch the crowd. It didn't take him long to catch it. A few hushed whispers here and there. There was no official announcement, but word had already spread. There was an Eternal walking Azeroth, and it was offered sanctuary by Elune. It was subtle, but there was a feeling of hope in the air. 

Mikey didn't quite share the unbridled optimism of the Night Elves, but he didn't begrudge them for feeling as though things were looking up. They've worked hard to recover from the Third War. As a people, they've lost much. Piece by piece, they rebuilt their civilization, and now an Eternal walks the realm and decides to swing by their new capital. 

The feeling he got from the Night Elves, was akin to that of a town the day before a celebration. They weren't partying in the streets yet, but they had that extra spring in their step and a building excitement. Mikey shook his head. He was sure the last thing Twilight would want is for the Elves to hold Twilight up as a symbol, but it seemed she had little choice in the matter. 

After waiting several minutes, Mikey first saw Rainbow Dash flying. Once she saw him, she waved back towards the group he couldn't see and pointed in his direction before coming down to meet him. Dash landed and took a few looks at the elves staring at her before looking back to Mikey. It didn't take too long for the rest of the group to start coming. “This is gonna get annoying quick. Everyone's staring at me, and not because I just did something cool.” 

“Your own fault you know.”

“Yea, yea. Kanyssea already yelled at us about it.”

Mikey shook his head and chuckled. “Well, in time, you're going to have a lot of enemies. The sooner you prepare for that, the better.” 

“And that's why she's training today while Twilight meets again with Tyrande. I'll guard Twilight for the day.” Kanyssea stood there with her hands on her hips, just waiting for someone to disagree. 

Twilight nibbled her bottom lip, and looked at the group. “Just...keep her safe. Please?”

“Don't worry Twi. I'll be fine.” 

Mikey placed a hand on top of her rainbow mane and scratched Dash behind the ears. “She'll be fine Twilight. Nothing too dangerous.” 

“Yes! Let's go have an adventure!” Sharon pumped her fist in the air in excitement. 

Twilight shook her head. “I'll be meeting with Tyrande all day pretty much. Go on, have your adventure.”

“Aww. Don't worry Twilight, you can come with us for the next one!” Sharon smiled before dragging Dash towards the job board. 

Twilight let out a long suffering sigh. “Now I'm more worried for the tree...Alright Kanyssea, lets go. Maybe I'll even manage to not embarrass myself today.”