Moon's Blade and the Crystals of Chaos

Chapter 6:
The Woods

It was filled with maple trees and birds that were singing their songs and flying as they pleased. It was hard to believe that such dangerous object would be here, in this forest of everlasting autumn.

We were following Twilight to where she had seen the rock with the crystal before, while Fluttershy was distracted by the animals in the surroundings.

It was an adorable sight to see her play with the animals she found on her way. Sometimes it even looked like it were the animals that found her. I could not let such a beautiful sight be disrupted by any kind of disaster the crystals would cause.

We walked around for several minutes until Twilight started to doubt herself.

"That's weird," she said, "It used to be around here..."

"Don't tell me we're lost!" Rarity said somewhat panicky.

"No, I do know the way back, honestly!" Twilight responded to her and groaned afterwards.

I looked around me, searching for anything suspicious. I told the other ponies to do so as well.

After a while Pinkie said "Is that maybe something suspicious?" while she pointed at a deer with a single, long horn on its head that came rushing straight towards us.

"That's obviously a monoceros," Twilight said, "They usually aim for the softest part of a body with its horn, but they're usually calm."

"Then, why does it look like it's attacking us?" Dash said.

"I don't know!" Twilight responded.

"Maybe something angered it." Applejack mentioned, but I were positive it was something else.

"The crystal." I said.

The others asked me what I meant.

"It might be that the crystal is trying to make it attack us with its powers."

"I have an odd feeling about this," Applejack said, "But for now do what you gotta do!"

I nodded and grabbed my sword.

The monoceros neared Rarity, and as she screamed I pushed her out of the way and quickly dodged the beast itself.

It turned around and aimed for me.

I ran toward it, jumped over it and were ready to attack it from behind.

"Stoooooooooop!" Fluttershy screamed.

She ran towards the monoceros, which had decided to go for Fluttershy herself. She angrily looked at the beast.

"She's not... Is she?" Applejack said, followed up by Pinkie whom confirmed it.

"Yes, she is."

The monoceros still ran towards her, but then it slowed down, and stopped with its horn pointing at Fluttershy's forehead.

"We're not here to harm you," Fluttershy said and the monoceros raised its head. "What angered you so badly?"

The monoceros made noises I couldn't understand, but apparently Fluttershy could.

"Is that so? Oh... Oh, I see... So she...? Ah, yes, okay. Thank you." And the beast walked away.

"What did it say?" Twilight asked.

"He mentioned that he was attacked by another pony," Fluttershy explained, "He was just eating some grass near a mystical stone when some unicorn shot flames at him. When he tried to attack her, she pulled some weird crystal out of a rock, and that crystal started to glow. He doesn't remember what happened afterwards."

It seemed that her 'stare', as the others called it, had the ability to draw animals out of their berserk.

"Wait, does that mean the crystal isn't there anymore?" Pinkie said. And she had a good point.

If it's true what the monoceros told Fluttershy, then it's most likely that someone else took it. It was clear to me who did so.

"I wonder who would do such thing..." Twilight said, and I responded quickly after she said that.

"It was Morgana. I'm positive about it."

"How do you come to that conclusion?" Applejack asked.

"She was responsible for the death of the bounty hunters back in the tomb," I explained, "It is most likely she's after the crystals, but who knows for what reason."

"Whatever that reason is, we must stop her from doing so," Twilight said, "She must be around here somewhere."

"But where do we search?" Pinkie asked.

"The beast did mention about being shot at with fireballs, right?" I said and the others nodded. "In that case, it would be most likely that some of the trees may have caught fire. Let's go search for it!"

Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and I went looking from the sky, the others waited until we found it. After a good look Rainbow Dash came rushing towards me.

"It's horrible!" She said, "If we don't act quickly, the whole forest may burn down!"

I started to see clouds of ashes in the distance. We informed the others about it and rushed towards the fire.

Fluttershy was horrified by the burning woods.

"And how exactly are we gonna put this fire out?" Applejack asked.

"Good point..." Rarity responded.

Twilight thought for a second, then came up with an idea. "Rarity and I will use our magic to use the water from the pools to extinguish the fire." She then looked at the others. "Pinkie and Applejack, you should help Fluttershy evacuate the animals. Dashy, Moon, you should try to find Morgana or whoever is responsible for this."

We concurred and Dash and I started looking for clues.

Not too long after searching we found hoofsteps in the ashes. It was pretty far from the rest of the group, so we decided to chase them down as fast as we could.

Eventually we saw a white pony running away from the fire. Rainbow Dash was ready to run into her, but I stopped her and whispered to her.

"We shouldn't attack her straight away, we need to know why she's doing this." Dash nodded and calmed down. "After all, it seemed like she could use that crystal to make us fight each other."

"So what do we do then?" Dash asked me.

"Let's chase her, and see where she goes to."

Dash nodded again, and we hid in the bushes and silently chased Morgana.

After a while we arrived at the shack she resided in. We slowly sneaked in and spied on her. Morgana was talking to herself.

"Finally, another step closer to what I want," she said as she looked at the yellow crystal, "Once I've gotten them all, I'll know everything. Everything will become clear."

She laughed insanely for a few seconds, then started talking again.

"If only those other ponies wouldn't interfere." She growled a little when said my name. "That darned Moon's Blade. Who does he think he is? He knows nothing about me, the crystals. Not even himself."

Did she truly know more about me than I do?

"The other crystals are reacting to the blood crystal. I must take that crystal for myself. Sooner or later its power will weaken, and so will the other crystals," She said, "It must be reloaded soon. It will take a sacrifice, but it'll be worth it."

She sighed, then looked up and laughed a bit again.

"Maybe I can both snatch that crystal and make its sacrifice in one hit. Not only will I have the crystal and have it reloaded, but I'll also rid myself of that pesky Moon's Blade!" She laughed insanely, hid the crystal in a chest under the floor and turned around.

Dash and I quickly hid ourselves.

"And what do we do now?" Dash asked me.

"Leave." I said, not knowing what to do either. "We should leave, I don't think there's anything we could do now."

"How about the crystal?"

"We'll have to come back for it later, but we'll have to find the others before she does," I said, "For now, let's see how the others are doing."

Dash nodded, and we went out through an open window and flew with out highest speed towards the burnt down forest.

We arrived at a burned down place, it was full of ashes and burnt corpses of animals that didn't make it out in time. There were no more flames. The others were tired and Fluttershy was crying.

"Found anything?" Twilight asked.

"It seems Morgana is indeed after the crystals," Dash explained, "We don't know what she's after, but she can strike at any moment, so that she can claim the crystal we have, as well as.."

Dash sighed.

"As well as killing Moon..."

The others gasped.

"Didn't she mention she had multiple crystals?" I asked Rainbow Dash, and she nodded in response. "I guess we're falling behind then." I concluded, "We should search for another one tomorrow."

Twilight nodded.

"We'll meet again tomorrow morning," she said, "I'll look up where the other crystals may be, but for now we should go home and rest."

The others agreed and we went back to Ponyville.

After a long walk we arrived back at Ponyville. We said each other goodbye and goodnight. Fluttershy was still sad and crying. For someone who loves animals with such passion as she did it must be extra hard to see them die.

I felt sorry for her and I apologized to her.

"It's not you fault," Fluttershy sobbed, "You couldn't do anything."

I tried to comfort her, but it almost seemed in vain.

"I'll take care of her," Applejack said, "You'll go home now, it'll be a hard day tomorrow..."

Applejack walked away with Fluttershy, and the rest of us, except Rainbow Dash and me, went home.

"You know..." Dash started, "You were pretty amazing back there."

She looked at me as if she was flirting.

I thanked her.

"Maybe we should... You know..." It seemed she had trouble getting out of her words. "Maybe we should spend some more time together."

I nodded.

"I mean, with only the two of us."

I were slightly surprised. Shyness filled me and I started to blush against my will and out of embarrassment I looked away. Dash seemed alarmed by my reaction.

"N-no! It's not like I'm... You know, in love with you or anything!" She said.

"No... Stupid me..." I said quietly.

"I mean, we're just friends," she said, "And we should spend time together."

I nodded and smiled. I felt some delight in my heart, a feeling I've never felt before in such a long time. I refused to believe it.

"I guess we'll see each other tomorrow, then." I said.

"Yeah..." Dash said slightly concerned, "See you tomorrow..."

And she walked away, and by every step she took my heart filled a bit with sorrow.