Twilight Walkers

The calm singing of the birds couldn't penetrate the veil of sleep Twilight was under. The movies she enjoyed with Rainbow last night had interested her and she wanted to know what books they were based on. Her reading had lasted into the morning. As falling asleep while reading was nothing new for Twilight, Spike had graciously allowed her to sleep in, but he forgot that she was meeting her friends at noon and that he had a letter for her. He had set it on the desk since only Twilight could open it. He had prepared the picnic basket and brushed off his wariness of a few items that were on Twilight’s list.  Close to noon, Twilight finally woke up and blinked away her sleepiness and annoyance at having overslept. She called out, "Spike, do you have everything packed for the picnic?"

"Yeah, I even tripled checked the checklist like you would want. There is a picnic blanket, food, the preferred drink for each of you, a bag of blood, bottled liquid love, some fresh fruit and not just apples, daisies, and a large first aid kit. Anything else?"

"No, but a question, why the blood and love?" Twilight was just as confused about those two items as Spike was.

"It was on your list.” Spike said matter-of-factly. “I asked each time we checked the list yesterday, but you kept brushing it off.”

Twilight’s mind tried to understand why in all of Equestria she would put a bag of blood and bottled liquid love on her checklist, but more importantly, it wondered why she forgot about it. Her thoughts were interrupted by Spike.

“Uhh… Twilight, it’s 11:45.”

Twilight dismissed the thoughts as she realized that she was about to be late. "You said the basket was packed?"

"Yeah…."

"Then don't worry about the extra stuff. I'm leaving now, bye. See you around six tonight." Twilight picked up the basket and left for the park. Exiting the library ,she spread her wings to get some flying practice in on her way to see her friends. After the picnic she would be working with Rainbow, setting up the rest of the snowstorm that was planned for tonight.

She mused, why not fly?

*                 *                         *                         *                         *                         *

Twilight had done well during her flight, but landing was a different task in and of itself. She had slowed her pace and was nearing the ground, but lost balance and ended up landing face first in the ground.  Why can't I get landing down? Small foals get it down almost immediately!

Rainbow had finished breaking up the normal clouds she was working on and caught sight of Twilight's failed landing attempt. If she had not saved a cloud to sleep on, Rainbow would have hit the ground, laughing. The sight of Alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle’s rump sticking up in the air was too much for the cyan mare. Thankfully to Rainbow Dash, the cloud hid her laughter, and awkwardly, her blush at seeing her friend’s flank presented like that. As soon as Rainbow was done giggling, she thought, We’re definitely going to be working on wing positions when we land during tonight’s setting the storm up.

Twilight heard her friends asking something, but with her face in the dirt she couldn’t make out what they said. Righting herself and closing her wings, she calmly asked, “Sorry girls, what did you say?”

Each of them replied with their own greeting and asked if she was okay after that epic crash landing that would have been worthy of Rainbow Dash. Twilight calmed their fears over her safety and began to unpack her basket. She had noticed that Fluttershy was trying to hide behind her mane with her wings slightly above her back. Raising a questioning eyebrow, Fluttershy quickly responded to the unasked question. "Twilight, your… your position was a bit... revealing. Also, I think I saw Rainbow on the clouds above us." Fluttershy gestured up with a hoof.

Twilight's wings shifted back at that comment, they covered her flank which she hoped not too many ponies got a good look at. The others looked to the sky, the only thing they saw was a stray cloud drifting in the wind. Rainbow walked up from behind them and greeted each of her friends with a, "So, what's up? Are we going to get this picnic started soon? Me and Twi got a snowstorm to build up tonight!” Despite her cool demeanor, there was still a slight red tint in her cheeks, luckily for Rainbow none of her friends seemed to notice.

"Not you most of the time," replied the pink mare of chaos. Pinkie Pie fell over in laughter at her own joke, but quickly recovered. Fluttershy was calm but a light giggle did manage to slip out. Applejack made a mental note to add that remark to her responses to Dash and laughed a little at Pinkie’s joke. Twilight didn't visibly laugh but went over and gave Rainbow what little comfort she could with a hoof gently set on her back. Rarity tried her best, but even she eventually gave in to the well placed joke, even if it did come at the expense of her friend. She did feel bad about it though, after all it is very unlady like to laugh at another’s expense.

"Ah reckon that's a plan. We don't want Twilight and Rainbow late, now do we?"  Applejack replied to Rainbow’s comment in a vain attempt to spare some of her brash friend’s pride. Rarity began to unpack Applejack's cart, while Twilight unpacked her basket. Some of the food Applejack had made for them included apple fritters, apple pie, apple juice, while Spike made them daisy and sunflower sandwiches. She frowned as she saw the other items. She quickly hid them in her basket under some napkins.

"So Twilight, have you read any good books recently," Rarity asked already knowing the answer. Asking Twilight anything about books was the quickest way to involve her in a conversation.

“A few, but most had to deal with being a princess. One of my more recent reads were on the myths and legends from the time before Nightmare Moon." Plus Mood Wings, she added silently.

Twilight noticed something moving in the sky as she looked at Rarity, something that distracted her from her thoughts. Which in and of itself was no small achievement. "Hey Rainbow, what's with that weird looking grey cloud?" Twilight asked as she gestured a hoof at its location.

Rainbow glanced up in the direction Twilight was ponting. She had just finished clearing all of the clouds and did not remember leaving a grey one around. He mouth dropped as she saw the offending cloud. That was definitely not there earlier. "I'm not entirely sure.” It looked familiar, but she could not place a hoof on where she had seen a cloud like that before.

Rainbow was about to go take care of it when she remembered Twilight’s epic landing. She smiled as she realized this was as good a time as any for the princess to get in some more practice. “Want to help me?"

"Sure, but I’d like to study it first before you break it apart." With a few flaps of her wings, Twilight joined Rainbow in the air. When they reached the cloud, Twilight probed it with her magic. To her amazement her spells did nothing to the cloud. Ever the scientist, Twilight lightly touched the cloud with a hoof. It responded by grabbing onto her hoof and dragging her down into itself. Twilight started panicking, she tried several spells and even flying away. Nothing she did would release her from the cloud, not even teleporting worked.

“I gotcha!” Rainbow yelled as she flew over to save her friend.

“No, stay back!”

Something in that voice, something in that command caused Rainbow to pause. Normally she would have just ignored it and plowed right in, but the desperation and fear in Twilight's voice stopped her cold. Her body wanted to act anyway but her mind knew for a fact that plowing into that cloud would be a bad thing

Rainbow’s eyes went wide as she suddenly remembered where she had seen a cloud like this before. It was during her weather training, she only remembered it because during the class the teacher had slammed a book on her desk to wake her up.

The teacher went on to stress the different weather Rainbow might encounter while working so close to the Everfree Forest.  She heavily emphasized the dangers of non-natural clouds, including the most dangerous of all: Nightshade clouds. They were clouds that nullified any magic used against them. In all her time working with the weather team, Rainbow had never actually seen one before.

“Twilight.” Not even Rainbow could hide the fear in her voice as she saw the cloud fully engulf the alicorn princess.

During her weather training, she went to learn about the weather of the black forest in Germania. There, she was taught about recognizing non-natural clouds. Nightmist clouds don't happen since Nightshade doesn't grow in Germania. It happens to grow in the Everfree, though.

*                 *                         *                         *                         *                         *

Once the cloud had Twilight below its surface, Twilight was free to move within the cloud. “What in Equestria is with this cloud? This can’t be a natural cloud.”

“You’re partly right. The cloud is as rare as the plant it’s made from,” came a deep voice from everywhere and nowhere.

"Who's there?"

"Nemo," responded the ominous voice.

"Show yourself!" Twilight shouted, doing her best to hide the fear in her voice.

"I would if I could. Relax your wings, you have nothing to fear, but fear itself."

"What about my brash friend, you know she'll come after me."

"She's rational. She would skim the clouds first."

Twilight gulped at that, Rainbow was anything but rational.

*                 *                         *                         *                         *                         *

Outside the cloud, Rainbow remembered a few more of her old lessons. Using the wind currents generated by her flying, she skimmed off some of the cloud.  The memory hit her like a ton of bricks after that. She knew what she had to do: nothing.

*                 *                         *                         *                         *                         *

"By skimming the cloud, she'll recognize what's it's made of. The weather teams that work the dark forests are all trained on the dangers of Nightshade clouds."

"After she recognizes the cloud, what will she do? How did you create the cloud in the first place?"

"Nothing and I didn't, although I could."

"If you could create it, then you can mold and control it. Who else? Can Rainbow destroy it?"

"Very few can control it. Those that could were killed by the Sun tyrant’s army a long time ago. One survived, though. The pegasus should know how to destroy it, but maybe her grandmother never gave her the book I entrusted her ancestors. These clouds are called nightmist clouds-”

"Which are formed from the oils of nightshade mixed with water and cooled to form a cloud. Can't they kill you? How long do we have?" Twilight interrupted. She just remembered reading about these clouds in her book of old myths the other day. Sadly, they did not have pictures so she did not recognize it before she touched it.

"Yes, they can. In this concentration, ten minutes, give or take five."

"How long have we been talking?"

"Twelve minutes."

"So we are both dead and that means only dead can walk on these clouds," Twilight rationalized.

"You’re very much alive, Ruby Sparkle Twilight. We are very much alive, like the cloud. Only the dead, alicorns, and a species that legend forgot can coexist for any length of time."

"Which are you? How are we not dead?" Twilight chose to ignore the odd name, of the list of things she wanted answers for, that near the bottom.

"The third. The cloud is as alive as you and I. Not enough time has passed to kill alicorns. That takes twenty minutes.

"So, can you teach me how to make it?” her analytical mind was already running a mile a minute at the possibility of learning such age old magic and what it could mean for the future.

Laughing, the voice replied, "A worthy question, but I cannot teach a live student, nor who refuses to acknowledge or learn the history of the magic. I am willing, but this magic's knowledge is a blessing to some and a curse to others. The students of past have all been hunted, killed or exiled. This is your choice, but Fate will play it’s hoof."

Twilight was taken aback by that, there was no history of magic she was not willing to learn. Except… her mind suddenly understood. "So the magic you will be teaching me is black, forbidden, or dark magic, and it could cause my death?"

“Easily, if you are not extremely careful. Don’t worry about the cloud, it will let you go before it kills you. All you have to do is wait. While you wait, ponder this: What do the following spells have in common: resurrection, reanimation, and reincarnation?"

"Nothing. Reincarnation and resurrection are spells of light, while reanimation is black magic. "

"How native you are. Resurrection, reanimation, and reincarnation are all fragments of a single spell. Total resurrection."

Twilight asked, "What’s the difference between total resurrection and resurrection?"

"The difference is that resurrection brings back the mind. Reincarnation brings the soul. Reanimation brings the body. Reanimation and resurrection together have always been considered necromancy."

"But isn't necromancy black magic?"

"Ha! Do those five old ruling alicorns still teach that? Total resurrection and necromancy both fall into the magic of life and death. Necromancy is a separate branch, which means it can be used in other ways. Total resurrection is a single spell. The truth about magic is that there is no light, dark, or black magic. They are one in the same.” Nemo paused to let this sink in. He signed as she did not seem to be getting it.

“Allow me to explain. In the world, there are five trees of magic: Chaos, harmony, dissonance, life and death. Of these, dissonance is the most confused. Chaos is the middle magic, neither harmony or dissonance. Those are opposites. What defines those categories are how the magic is used and the emotions used to fuel the magic. The problem is that to cast total resurrection, you need to have intimate knowledge of both the life and death sides. With that knowledge Twilight, you could kill almost anything, including the five alicorns.”

“Wait! There are only four alicorns, including myself.”

Nemo seemed taken aback by that, almost as if it were something he was not expecting. Laughter filled the cloud as he considered this news. “Who are they, excluding yourself?"

"Celestia, princess of the sun, Luna, princess of the moon, and Mi Amore Cadenza otherwise known as Cadance, princess of love. And why in all of Equestria would I want to kill them?!” Twilight balked at the very thought.

“Celestia and Luna? Those two are young and always fighting. The older was always jealous of the younger’s paintings. They were both jealous of their half brother, who was quite the trickster. They now rule? For how long?”

“Well… Celestia has ruled for the past thousand years at least, longer most likely. Luna has been ruling alongside Celestia, after she was cleaned of her darkness. Wait… what half brother?!”

“Careful of what you call ‘darkness’. The sun is more blinding than the blackest night.” Nemo’s voice suddenly changed as he remembered the half brother, it grew almost remorseful. “He was such a trickster.” There was a hint of a smile in Nemo’s voice at that memory. “Always such a playful child. He so enjoyed cotton candy and chocolate milk of glass, but that was back when he was innocent. His power was tricky to control, but it had a reason, a purpose. I remember a time when he seriously got in trouble with his father, Chronos. Haven’t seen him since.”

Twilight’s ear flicked to the sound of a distant voice, but she couldn’t make out what the voice saying, “Twilight!?! Where are YOU?! It’s been nineteen minutes since you disappeared! You gotta come out!”

“Did you hear a voice? Also, what did this unicorn look like?”

“Unicorn? No, he was an alicorn. Dozen of years older than Celestia. He had a mahogany coat and scraggly white beard.”

“TWILIGHT!?! You gotta get out now! Twenty minutes have past!” This time the voice came clear as day.

“How close is Rainbow Dash?”

“Why?”

“Time is tricky here. To us, no time has past, but out there, hours can go by. I always lose track of time here.”

“WHAT?! How much time has past? Rainbow was within grabbing distance.”

“She was?”

“Yes, is there a problem?”

“Yes, but you don’t need to worry.”

“HOW much time?”

“Two hundred minutes, by the sun. Which is ten times the amount to kill you, but it needs something to activate the poison. It’s mostly found in the atmosphere outside.”

“Then I’m leaving now. Good-bye!” Twilight had a hundred more questions, but she was out of time. She knew that her friends would be worried sick about her and had she known, she never would have stayed in here for this long.

“Wait, before you go. The magic of life and death is what I can teach you, but like all magic it has a cost. Are you willing to learn? While you consider that question I’ll leave you with one more: what is the true name of Chaos magic?”

“I will ponder your words and ask more questions, but I would like to be back on the ground now, if I make it there alive."

"You will. One note about those five magics, they keep each other in balance, and the harmony of Equestria is tipping the scale too much. Be careful, the two sisters know what happens when somepony seeks knowledge in these magics and spells. They will filter what you learn, but what they haven't realized that imbalance is the killer, not the magic."

"Before I go, who has dealt with this magic?"

"Sombra, Luna, and Chrysalis. Celestia has tried, but she can't learn it."

"Who can?"

"Those of the Chosen Twilight."

*                 *                         *                         *                         *                         *

Rainbow waited above the clouds, looking for signs that her friend was alive. I really should have paid attention to you, grandmother.

'Yes, you should have.'

Rainbow knew that voice, it was impossible but it could be no other. "Grandmother?"

"Yes, although my time is short and infinite at the same time. Mere minutes turn to hours quickly. Twilight is fine. Once she's done talking, the cloud will disappear and you must catch her. My journal should arrive today. Don't share it, unless they open it with what most would call black magic. Currently two besides you can open it. Rainbow Dash, I need you to pinkie promise me that you will never allow Princess Celestia or Princess Luna get hold of that journal. Some of the spells locked in it have turned tides of war. They’ve only gotten it twice. There is a spell that will burn it and return the journal to the one I trust most. The incarnation is from book's life, I cast you to the fires for all. In the ashes, return to the walker of crimson. Farewell, my granddaughter."

"You too, I think. Wait, no be safe or be careful?" she didn’t know which one applied to a ghost.

"Have you ever seen those in our dictionary?" Rainbow smiled at that, it truly was her grandmother. Only she ever made that joke.

*                 *                         *                         *                         *                         *

With a shimmer of light, the dark cloud scattered. Rainbow Dash spotted her friend plummeting towards the ground and she dived. Twilight felt the upwards wind on her wings. She instinctively opened them and a rainbow streak shot straight to her. When Rainbow cleared the spots of her vision, she bear-hugged Twilight, accidentally pinning her wings against her cyran chest. “Twilight, I'm so glad you’re alright. I knew what the cloud was. You could have died you know."

Twilight hacked at the force of Rainbow’s deadly hug. She choked out,“Rain….bow Da...sh, you're crushing me, let me go. Thank you for being rash. I’m glad too.”  Rainbow quickly shifted her position so that Twilight could open her wings. Once Twilight was stable, she asked in a deathly calm voice, "May we talk privately on a normal white cloud?"

Rainbow, blushing after realizing how closely she was holding Twilight, quickly found a cloud and led Twilight towards it. Twilight landed better this time, but it wasn't completely smooth. As Dash landed, she got a muzzle full of her friend’s tail.

"Twi, I'm very sorry.” Rainbow said as she spit her friend's tail out of her mouth. Once she got the taste out of her mouth, Rainbow asked, “So… what do you want to talk about?”

“It can wait. What were you doing while I was trapped in the cloud?" In truth so much had been said that Twilight knew she could spend months considering everything she had just learned. She wanted to know what everyone else had been doing before getting into that.

"Complaining that I didn't pay attention to my grandmother. She also talked to me by the way. Are you sure? What were you doing?"

Twilight jaw hit the bottom of the cloud at that. “The your dead grandmother?!!?”

Rainbow just nodded her head at that question.

“I… I… I….” Twilight found herself at a loss for words at that. Suddenly her mind started to put a few pieces together. What had Nemo said? Resurrection, reincarnation, reanimation? She shook it off and just added it to the long, long, LONG list of strange things that she had learned today.

Rainbow just gave her friend her cocky smiled. “Trust me Twi, if somepony could pull something like that off, it would be her. Now what were you doing in that cloud anyway?”

"Talking about magic. There was someone in there, someone that had created the cloud actually. I don’t know if he was physically there or not, but I could hear his voice. He gave me some words to ponder and some warnings too.  We talked about...."

Twilight had trailed off as two scrolls floated down from the sky caught her attention. The first was sealed with a black ribbon with a crimson stripe running down the center. On its front was a star surrounded by five other smaller stars, each a different color.  The other had blue and gold ribbons sealing the scroll, bound in matching blue and gold with what looked like a tricolor lightning bolt leaving a white cloud. Rainbow could spot that coloration any day and made a grab for it.

Twilight caught both letters in her magic and placed them in her bag for safe keeping. What was said, what was learned, it should not be read in public. She knew far too little to risk showing anyone. Rainbow just huffed at having her letter denied to her.

“Relax, we’ll read them together back at the castle. I just want to make sure no one eavesdrops.” She doubted a lot of what Nemo said, but if there was the smallest chance he was telling the truth, that he was not trying to mislead her, she wanted to know.

“Why not now? The clouds are clear and we are in the middle of nowhere over the Everfree Forest.”

“That’s just it. Did you know what kind of cloud that was?”

“Yeah, an unnatural cloud, might have been a Night-something Cloud, but my weather trainer said that they are a super rare occurrence and are the works of myths and legend.”

“Rainbow, that was a Nightmist cloud,” Twilight spoke with a hint of fear in her voice.

“Wait! Nightmist as in clouds of nightshade?”

“The same, I’m afraid.”

“Well, I guess you being an alicorn helped. You were immune to the poison’s effects. Hey Twi, wasn’t it close to noon?” In the horizon, Rainbow noticed that Celestia was lowering the sun.

“Yes, it was. Our friends!” Twilight’s eyes went wide at that realization. “They must be so worried about us! They probably sent a letter to Celestia and she is organizing an Equestria wide pony hunt involving all the ponies in every city all over the nation!”

Rainbow rolled her eyes at her friends eccentricities. With someone like Twilight, they would always jump to worst case scenario. “I somehow doubt it, Twi. Pinkie’s pinkie sense would have told her if we were in any real trouble.”

Twilight’s eye twitch returned at the mention of ‘that’. She shook it off, "Alright. First, where are we?"

"Good question."Rainbow looked around and something she recognised. "Hey Twilight, isn't that the southern edge of the Everfree? Yep, there’s ghastly gorge!"

“Wow, we’re really all the way out here?” Twilight seemed shocked about that.

"I believe so, but shouldn't... Oh Celestia, I've been flying here before. We're on the outer edge. That means you're in for a treat. It's an hour-long flight to Ponyville, if you can manage twelve wingpower for that time that is!”

"Rainbow, do I have cotton in my ears?"

"I don't believe so."

"Ok, then explain to me how I’m going to manage  twelve wingpower for an hour?!"

"I have faith in you. You've gone faster." Rainbow’s confidence in her abilities sparked something in Twilight. She could not explain what, but knowing that Rainbow believed in her somehow caused Twilight to believe that she could do it.

"Thanks, Rainbow. Let's head home."

*                 *                         *                         *                         *                         *

The pair took off and made best speed for home. About forty minutes into their flight, they caught sight of a pink blur hopping through the forest. Taking a closer look, they saw a white unicorn, a butterscotch pegasus, and an orange earth pony wearing a stetson. They changed course to intercept them.

“Shouldn’t you four have gotten back by now?!” Rainbow was surprised they had not made it back home yet.

When they landed, Pinkie wasted no time in wrapping them both up in a huge a bear hug, the action caught a seriously out of breath Twilight completely by surprise, meanwhile Rainbow was just annoyed by the sudden physical contact. It cause them both to miss that their wings were brushing up against each other’s. “Where have you two been?” Rarity asked.

"Oh, oh, oh. You were investigating a cloud the trapped both of you within. Rainbow Dash talked to her dead grandmother while Twilight talked to an ominous voice about magic and what is good and evil."

"We weren’t both trapped, Pinkie." Twilight had long ago grown accustomed to Pinkie knowing about things she shouldn’t. However, she would still jump at any chance to prove her wrong.

"Then what's the time?" Pinkie asked with a smile.

Twilight looked up at the sun’s position and rubbed a hoof to her chin. "The sun could be seen in the sky, just under the tops of the trees. It’s about four forty five.”

"Yes, it is. You’ve both been missing since one. I wasn’t worried though, my pinkie sense told me you two were fine as you were together! Fluttershy here waited in the park for you two to return. At about three, a couple of the other pegasi wanted to know if 'Shy had seen either of you. Cloudsdale had a malfunction and couldn't deliver the clouds on time. They made the decision to postpone the storm. Around four, Angel bunny had asked for Fluttershy to investigate something in the Everfree Forest. She was a bit hesitant, but we all volunteered to help out. We've been at this for about half an hour. Speaking of which, Fluttershy how close are we? I got a party to plan!"

"About ten minutes out of the location Angel told me."

“What party, Pinkie?” Twilight asked.

“A Twilight made a new friend party, duh!” Pinkie responded hyperactively.

"Ahh, you said something about a malfunction?" Rainbow cut in while trying desperately to get the pinkie mare’s attention off Twilight before she had a brain aneurysm.

"They said that a large amount of condensed water escaped over the Everfree earlier in the morning," Fluttershy responded.

"That explains that Nightmist cloud," Rainbow tried to whisper so that only Twilight could hear. She didn’t know if her friend had ever heard of them, but if they had she did not want to needlessly worry them. Unfortunately, Fluttershy did hear it. Her many years talking and spending time with animals had sharpened her ears to pick up on the smallest of sounds.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking Dash, what are Nightmist clouds?"

“They're a type of clouds that mix with Nightshade. Deadly too."

No further question could be asked, as at that moment a loud roar was heard the the background. The group of six friends instantly recognized the angry roar of a manticore in the direction they were traveling in. "Oh no!" Fluttershy shouted, “Some poor creature is being attacked by a manticore, we gotta go save it!” She flew off, not allowing any of the others time to disagree. They could only chase after their friend.

It was always the same with Fluttershy, she would barely lift a hoof to defend herself. Yet, threaten some innocent creature and she’d rush off at the drop of a hat.

With Fluttershy’s resolve to protect the creatures, they all forged ahead. Through the blushes was a scene they were not prepared for. On the other side was a manticore fighting one of his own kind. Based on size alone, it was very one sided.

Manticores are large lions with bat wings and scorpion tails. Very fierce and very territorial. That two were in the same spot was a sure sign that one had invaded the other’s territory. This could only end one way if they did not do something about it.

Rainbow jumped into action and pushed the larger one away. The other, a smaller manticore, roared. She was trying to warn them to stop. Only Fluttershy heard and understood the warning. Twilight had an idea, but the others tried to get the manticore away. The manticore would not stand for the actions of the blue one or the others. It struck out with lighting speed, seeking to sting Rainbow with its deadly venomous tail.

They don’t call her Dash for nothing, Rainbow was able to avoid the stinger but that action caused her to go off course, Her wing clipped on a tree, dislodging the wing.  She slammed into the ground with a loud thud and a scream from the pain of the dislocated wing. Twilight rushed to Rainbow’s side, catching a glance of the other manticore, she saw that the smaller manticore was in fact, female. “Everyone run and don’t look back. We need to leave or we’ll be lunch!”

“Why are we leavin’ this manticore defenceless against the other? She’s injured and needs help.” Applejack questioned, with Rarity and Pinkie Pie nodding agreement.

“Rainbow is already severely injured and the manticore is not actually in any danger, they’re mating not fighting.” Fluttershy nodded her head in agreement, manticore mating habits were very fascinating.

Twilight picked up her friend with her magic, leaving a small puddle of the cyan mare’s blood behind. They all took off running at full gallop. Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity were getting ready to disagree as that couldn’t have possibly been a mating ritual, but they caught Fluttershy’s eyes.

Without breaking contact, Fluttershy spoke in a deathly calm voice, she had noticed something the others did not, “Twilight, can you teleport all of us to the Castle of the Two Pony Sisters? Like right now, no questions asked.” It was closer than Twilight's and they needed to be somewhere else right this second.

“Yes, I believe I can, but the landing may be hard. Hold onto Rainbow.” She passed the cyan mare to Rarity with her magic. Rainbow just groaned as she was moved between them. Based on that Twilight had a suspicion that she might have more than a dislocated wing.

Twilight’s horn was already charged; she moved Rainbow to the others and teleported them all to the old castle. As she was, Rainbow said “Twilight, Thank you.  I have to tell you that I…” In an instant they were gone and Twilight’s magic was mostly spent.

Twilight was shocked. the others were gone but for some reason she had not left. Must be an after effect of the clo— She never got to finish that thought. What Fluttershy had tried to save them from, the thing she had not come out and said, the male manticore had given chase.

Her thought was cut off as it’s deadly stinger pierced the alicorn’s side. She felt the venom course through her veins, causing the alicorn princess unimaginable pain and suffering at that moment.

The impact sent her careening into a nearby tree.  Her left wing took a pretty good hit on crashing. the wound from the injection was bleeding out heavily. Thinking quickly, Twilight cast a quick healing spell. it would not do anything for the venom but it would stop her from bleeding to death. She could only look up in horror as the manticore approached, seeking to finish it’s kill.

*                 *                         *                         *                         *                         *

In the distance, an old stallion was sleeping. He knew what the manticores were doing, so he slept in a non-threatening range of the manticore. It was a male and female, but very few knew what they did during mating or birth. If you attacked either one it was the equivalent of  threatening them both, and the male will usually attack to kill. The sounds of a hard impact and the smell of blood had awoken him. “Well, I guess I should see what all this noise is about and maybe steal myself some lunch.” He began to gallop in the direction of the crash.

*                         *                         *                         *                         *                         *

He walked out to where he first heard the noise. there was a pool of blood next to a tree. Sipping that down he suddenly heard another noise in the distance.

“Oh cool, there’s more! That was the best drink I’ve had in years, I’m not letting the manticore have it all to himself.” After the quick drink, the large silver coated stallion with a brown mane and tail took off in the direction Twilight had ran.  He smiled with his  large pearly white fangs showing and folded his bat wings to his side.

As soon as the manticore came into view, he doubled his average speed and changed direction to an intercept path with the creature and its victim. With long strides and a quick beat of his wings, he closed the distance before the the manticore’s tail could strike again.

He slammed the manticore into a patch of wild garlic. Unfortunately he could not stop himself from going right along with it. The manticore became slightly dazed; Twilight looked up to see what had happened; and saw what looked like blisters forming all of her rescuer's body. She quickly teleported him out of the garlic patch. ‘Why did it have to be garlic?’ the stallion kicked himself over such a stupid mistake.

The stallion looked at his meal/rescuer with surprise in his eyes. He had been expecting a lot: Some stupid colt on a dare from his friends, some travelers lost in the woods, some foolish pegasus that crashed landed. An alicorn princess as beautiful as her? That was definitely not on the list. Instantly he recognize her from pictures he had caught in passing. “Twilight Sparkle?”

“Uhh, do I know you?” Twilight tried to say more, but the poison was starting to become debilitating.

“No, I don’t suspect you do.” he paused as he realized what the problem was. “I know it hurts, but you need to get running. Manticore venom is not like normal venom. It works faster if you stay still. Running will increase the time it’ll take to kill you.”

”Don’t worry about me.” The stallion shouted to Twilight when she took off. She only looked back once, but that once was all that she needed to know that he would be alright. The manticore took wing and landed just to the side of him. The manticore swung its claw right into him, only to be avoided by a last second leap into the air. The high ground gave him a chance to get into a better counter attack position.

The stallion paused to make sure that Twilight was ok, that break was a mistake as the manticore flew into the air and slammed a paw into him. He was sent careening directly into Twilight.

“Are you alright?”

“Mostly….”

They asked and answered each other in sync.

“Will be and duck!”

She ducked in time, unfortunately his reflexes were slowed by that last hit. The manticore’s tail knocked him away from Twilight and into a patch of midnight rose. The manticore ponced onto Twilight and went for her neck. “Midnight rose. Please forgive me.” The stallion ate some of the flowers.

The effect was instantaneous. the glamour spell he had been using shattered. revealing a long horn at the top of his head. Gathering his magic, he unleashed a powerful spell at the manticore.  The bolt spell knocked the manticore away, before it could bite down.

He flew up to Twilight but the situation was dire. The manticore's venom was taking hold. Thinking quickly he cast a quick paralysis spell over her body. “The manticore's venom is very powerful. I've temporarily halted its movement, along with other nutrients besides oxygen. We gotta get you someplace safe."

Twilight’s eyes went wide as dinner plates as she saw the horn at the top of his head. She could barely speak but she did have one question her mind demanded the answer too. Her voice was as weak as a newborn’s. “I recognize your voice. You were the one I was talking to in the cloud. You said life and death magic has a cost. What was the cost?”

“The cost was that you would have to eat a more omnivorous diet."

She closed her eyes as the last effects of the spell made itself known.

"I will save you Twilight, but there will be a price. I just hope you don’t hate me afterwards.” He encased the wounded princess in his own magic and spread his wings. Taking flight, he made best speed to the only safe place he knew. “And to think, I was actually going to eat you.”

Despite himself, Gaius  started laughing at the absurdity of that thought, until the sunlight, even though fading, pierced the canopy. Due to his laughter, he missed the ray of sunlight and flew into its path. As the ray burned him, he lost control and crashed, stopping where no trees were.  As he tried to pull her away, magic exploded around her, knocking him into the shade, while leaving her in the sunlight. Even though he could walk into the sunlight, he had taken quite a bit of damage and those roses only last so long. The magic swirled into two things, a shield around Twilight and another pony, similar to himself.

As he gazed at the magic, he spat out, "What are you doing here?"

"Giving her moonlight. It takes time for the light of the moon to reach here. Also, you are too exhausted to do anything."

"You have that right. What will be her cost?"

"Just hungrier than usual. I bit more aggressive. Nothing much compared to what I'm doing." The magic sunk into Twilight, opening her eyes. They were no longer her normal shade, but a deep Crimson. Twilight’s eyes were only that for a minute before she fell into a sleep.

“Thank you. When you’re done, do you mind moving us back to my home?” the stallion asked before he too fell unconscious.

“Tis’ no problem and I will be glad, my Crimson Walker.”