The Undying Flame

Big Mac stood outside the door, gazing down the road, knowing that he had to buy time for the others to have a chance. He could hear hammers pounding away inside the house and felt a stab of fear. There was no going back now.

Then he saw them: a small army of darkness marching toward him. Their figures began to take shape, and he counted. There were thirty in all. And he had been unable to defend against ten. All he could really hope for was to gain enough time for the girls to survive the attack.

Mac charged the first shadow, slamming into it with the power of a truck. The shadow disappeared. As fast as he could, he rolled out of the way as two of them tried to get a quick hit in.

Mac turned and ran. As he galloped as fast as he could, he heard his father's words echoing in his memory: 'If a herd of ponies gangs up on you, son, don't stand and try and fight 'em all. Run. Some'll catch up faster'n others, and you can fight 'em one-on-one until none are left standing.'

Mac looked back to see only five chasing him. The other twenty-four had surged toward the house. Mac stopped just inches before the fastest shade and, bracing himself, he delivered a brutal buck to the face. The shade dropped and faded away. As he turned to face his four remaining pursuers, another jumped at him. This one was a filly, not much bigger than Apple Bloom. With a swift swat of his fore-hoof, the shadow disintegrated.

He heard a heavy BOOM, and realized the shadows were slamming the front door. It couldn't last long against them; it had been damaged in the last wind storm and he'd never quite gotten around to fixing it. Without another thought, Mac sprinted towards  the large group, the last three shades following close at his hooves.

Inside the house, Apple Jack finally awoke in her own bed. "That was one doozy of a nightmare," she muttered.

"A.J.! About time you got up!" Rainbow yelled.

Apple Jack sat up quickly. All around her, ponies were running around, barricading exits, while Twilight stood in the middle of the room, eyes closed, mouth moving soundlessly.

"Holy smokes!" Apple Jack leapt off the bed, and groaned at the pain in the throat. "That was real?!"

"Real? 'Course it was real!" Rainbow said, not even looking her way. "Now hurry up and help barricade the door to the stairs!"

Spike and Pinkie Pie were at Apple Jack's bedroom window, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Rarity, and Fluttershy were all piling furniture against the door to the lower floor. And Big Mac was . . . well, where was he?

"Where's Mac?" Apple Jack asked.

She didn't get an answer, but Spike nodded to the window, a grim expression on his face. As Apple Jack got close, she could see Spike shooting fireball after fireball out the window, as Pinkie grabbed whatever she could out of her mane to throw down. "We got three of them so far, Apple Jack!" Pinkie Pie cried.

"That's good. But where's my brother?"

"Umm..." She paused, her ears drooping slightly.

"Pinkie?" Apple Jack said.

"He's out there," she said finally, tilting her head toward the window.

Apple Jack gasped, and pushed Pinkie out of the way to look. Big Mac was out there, all right. He faced off against a huge mass of shadows, pawed the ground once, and then plunged head-first into the horde of darkness. Apple Jack screamed his name and moved to jump out of the window. Pinkie Pie and Spike stopped her, grabbing her tail. Rainbow flew over and grabbed on too, as Apple Jack nearly pulled them all down to their deaths. "Mac!" Apple Jack screamed as she watched Big Mac disappear in the swarm.

Mac had reached the group going full speed, and plowed into it so hard, three more shadows vanished before he tripped. The horde backed away from the intruder for just a moment, then attacked as a unit. Fighting with all his might, Big Mac got back to his hooves and bucked another shade before falling.

"Mac!"

With the last of his strength Big Mac looked up at the window, where Apple Jack stood, trying to get to him, held back by her friends. Big Mac felt a surge of regret that he hadn't killed more shadows. Had he made any difference? He could only hope it was enough.

Inside the house, a bright light bathed the room in purple once more, making everyone except Apple Jack turn on the spot. They saw Twilight's horn blazing with magic, but the glow quickly vanished.

Rainbow flew over to her. "What was that, Twilight?"

"I..." The unicorn's head bowed. "I had to try something, so I tried to summon some help. But it must have failed." Her face was pinched and exhausted, they could all see she needed rest. Their hope began to fail.

Suddenly, Spike shouted, "Look!" and pointed outside. Everyone stared, amazed, as a sphere of light hovered ten feet above the ground, yards from the horde of shadows. It stayed like that for only an instant, and then popped like one of Pinkie's balloons. A strange-looking unicorn fell from the orb, a stallion, about a head taller than Big Mac and strangely dressed.

His back was green, his underside sky blue, and his brown mane looked as though it had never been cut before. The pony had white eyes and the strangest metal rod "armor" any of them had ever seen. This "armor" did not cover much; a strip on both sides from shoulder to rump, and a strip down the outside of his legs. Just behind the shoulders, a long curved sword jutted out, and a strip ran from either side of his nose, over his head, connecting at his horn as a blade. He also had on a backpack, not a saddle bag like they were used to.

The unicorn landed hooves-first on the ground just outside the group of shadows. He did a fast scan of his surroundings, and then smirked at the monsters. The group of shadows took a second to size up the newcomer before five charged him, and the others returned to smashing the door open. The new stallion dodged to the left at the last second, and his sword on the right contorted itself to decapitate the closest shade.

The other four enemies gave the newcomer some space as they circled him. Clearly not wanting to give them the first move again, the stallion pounced on the creature in front. His swords moved, entering the surprised shadow as they came together.

The others quickly came at him, three on one. As he leapt, he rolled forward and spun back up, slicing two of the shadows in half. As he was about to lash out at the final monster, green flames engulfed it. The stallion looked up at the house, and saw a small, smiling dragon in the second story window, three mares flanking him.

CRASH! The door fell in as the shadows flooded the house looking for the entrance to the second floor.

Bringing his two swords straight in front of him, the stallion rushed forward, skewering any shadow that was unfortunate enough to be in his way. Upstairs, the ponies were busy holding the landing door shut. Every few seconds, a large force hit the door, winding them.

"We can't keep this up much longer!" cried Spike. The door creaked. It cracked. And abruptly, the door shattered.

A shade was at Fluttershy in an instant. It leaped forward to bite her neck, and she let out a soft cry, shielding her neck with her forelegs. Before the shadow could land, however, a blade shot through its head, stopping only a millimeter from Fluttershy's face. The shadow disappeared, leaving everyone to stare at the strange stallion.

It was the last shadow. The darkness outside lifted, and weak sunlight streamed through the window. No bodies remained as tribute to the ponies' fight. The newcomer looked around the room for a moment, and said something no one could understand.

Everypony looked at each other, confused. "Did anypony catch that?" Rainbow Dash said.

The stallion looked a bit frustrated, and spoke again. Once again, no one understood.

"Sounds like gibberish to me," Apple Jack told Rainbow. "Reckon he's foreign?"

"Well, it sure sounds like a different language," Twilight said finally, "but not one I've ever heard."

The mares began to breathe a sigh of relief as the sunlight strengthened, bathing them all in warmth. But then, the newcomer narrowed his eyes, and placed the blade of his sword at Fluttershy's throat.