Blackthorn led twenty guards through the forest. They were performing their nightly patrol of the forest. So far the patrol was going pretty smooth.
"Blackthorn! Look at that fog!"
Blackthorn looked to find a thick sheet of unsettling black fog. "That's ...unusual." So much for going smooth. He turned back towards his home. "Come on, we must warn King Aspen of this at once."
He and the others dashed off. When they arrived at the gates, Blackthorn turned to the others. “You're all free to rest for the night. I will talk with King Aspen about this myself.”
They nodded and went their separate ways. Blackthorn entered the throne room and bowed. "My king. On our patrol, we came to a part of the forest with fog so thick it wasn't a natural occurrence. I don't know how or what was creating it."
The Heart of the Forest was silent as he looked out the window towards the forest. "I see the fog from here."
"What?" Blackthorn ran to the window and saw the fog. He turned back to King Aspen. "What will you have me do, my king?"
"Find general Elkenbuck and tell him to rally the troops. I want one hundred troops to go and investigate the fog, and be careful."
Blackthorn bowed. "As you command, my king." He walked out of the throne room and went down to Elkenbuck's home.
He knocked on the door, which opened a few moments later. A large buck with horns almost twice the size of his own stood glaring at him. "What do you want, Blackthorn?"
"General, the Heart of the Forest has ordered you to lead one hundred troops into the forest. We are to investigate a black fog which has accumulated inside of the forest.”
Elkenbuck sighed as he put a hand to his face. "Very well. Give me a moment to get my armor." He came out five minutes later wearing scarred, battle-charred silver armor and his sword at his hip. He and Blackthorn rallied the troops and left the gates of the city to meet the fog.
All the soldiers stood in front of the fog. Elkenbuck was silent as he stared at it.
“Attack it, we need to get rid of it.”
“General perhaps –”
“Shut up.”
Blackthorn did not open his mouth again, but watched nervously as everyone but him opened their bottles and poured the water onto the ground. Giant roots burst through the ground and stabbed through the fog. The roots immediately withered from strong healthy a green to brown and brittle. They grew so weak they crumbled to dust.
Blackthorn stared in astonishment. Many of the other troops murmured, unsettled by the sight. The fog seemed to go into the ground. As it did, the ground began to rumble and shake.
The troops stepped back in alarm. The ground broke open, and undead skeletons dragged themselves from the ground. Without a moment's hesitation, the undead rushed the troops. Hold your ground! Cried the general. The soldiers did as commanded, their weapons at the ready, the undead leapt into the air, pouncing on them and biting into their flesh. Screams of pain filled the forest as they fought.
Blackthorn poured more water onto the ground. The roots came up and began smashing the undead, yet more would take their place. The fog encased the roots, destroying them.
“Darn!” An undead skeleton came towards him and he unsheathed his sword but was tackled to the ground. It gnashed its teeth at him, but he managed to keep it at bay. It drew closer to him with each snap of its teeth. He kicked with all his might, flinging it off him.
He stood, as did the skeleton. It rushed at him, and Blackthorn did the same. Another soldier shot it with an arrow, the force of it knocked it to the Blackthorn didn't hesitate to rush over and stab his sword into its head. The skeleton kept fighting, relentlessly, he finally stomped on its head, smashing the skull and it burst into flame, melting away. He and the other soldier turned around to find that they were losing. many soldiers were already dead, and the skeletons’ numbers seemed only to increase.
Blackthorn searched out Elkenbuck through the calamity. He spotted the giant antlers immediately. The general was holding his own against three of the undead. But that wouldn't last long if someone didn't help. The soldier shot a few arrows, both making taking down a skeleton, they got up though. She knocked another arrow to her bow but Blackthorn put out a hand. “Save your arrows, they don’t work on them. Go warn king Aspen of this now! She saluted and raced off. He charged into battle and knocked the skeletons down and destroyed them.
"Blackthorn! Go back to the city and warn King Aspen of the assault!"
"general, I already sent–"
"Don't question my orders, Blackthorn! Do as I command!"
Blackthorn glared at him a moment but submitted and nodded his head. "As you order, sir." He then turned and ran towards the gates of the city. "Open the gates!" he yelled as he approached.
The guards didn't argue. Blackthorn didn't even halt as he ran to the throne room. "King Aspen!"
"why are you here?”
“I trust you were told about the fog’s hostility?”
Yes, what about it?
" It also has a gift of necromancy, it brought up undead skeletal warriors. I don't think the troops will last long, sire. The enemy will push our soldiers back until they reach the what are we going to do?"
King Aspen was silent a moment. "Rally every single soldier left in the city and have them evacuate all the citizens.
Blackthorn bowed. "As you order, my king." Blackthorn raced out of the throne room. Soldiers! Evacuate everyone! Spread the word! All the soldiers who heard him raced saluted and raced off. To his horror, he found that the enemy was at the gates, their soldiers slaughtering the kingdom’s ranks.
"Blackthorn."
Blackthorn turned around in astonishment. "My king?”
"Go and get my son. Take him to the east gates, take him to Equestria and get help."
Blackthorn was about to argue but stopped. “As you wish my king.” He ran off to get Prince Bramble. He burst into Bramble's room, which startled him.
"Blackthorn? What’s going on?”
"Bramble, get dressed, we need to leave right now! The city is under attack."
"What?!"
Blackthorn raced over and dragged Bramble out of bed. Get dressed, now. He did so and Blackthorn led him out of his room and down the stairs.
They stared as King Aspen shot a bolt of green magic at the black cloud. It went right through the cloud as it slipped through the gates of the city. A head came out of the smoke.
Blackthorn's eyes widened in fear. "Shadow pony..."
"What? What are you talking about Blackthorn?"
"Nothing, Bramble. We need to get out of here. It isn't safe."
King Aspen glared at the intruder. "What business do you have in my kingdom, shadow pony?"
The shadow pony smiled. "You will soon find out, King Aspen. You may call me Lord Alvah." His deep voice echoed throughout the forest. The ground rumbled and shook and soon broke open. Undead skeletal warriors broke free and charged King Aspen and his soldiers.
King Aspen growled. "You will no longer harm my people!" He shot a strong burst of green magic at Alvah, who in turn shot a burst of red magic at King Aspen. The two magic’s met with a loud bang as King Aspen and Alvah struggled against the other.
Blackthorn and Bramble watched this as it went on.
Alvah looked over and smiled as he noticed them. "Oh, your son is trying to escape. That won't be happening. Destroy them, my pets!" The black smoke surrounding him thrashed and moved about. The two of them could hear dogs barking.
King Aspen didn’t say anything, he needed to concentrate, he was already losing the battle. Blackthorn, protect my son.
Blackthorn turned to Bramble, picked him up in his arms, and darted off to the east gates.
As the barking grew louder, three large, black dogs darted from the smoke after the two. Four eyes on each dog glowed red, black sludge dripped from their obsidian teeth.
His eyes widened in fear, and he ran faster. He soon came to the east gates. He poured water on the ground and broke the gates down, then ran off through the gates. The dogs followed suit and were soon gaining on him. The lead dog let out a snarl as it opened its mouth. Blackthorn's eyes bulged out. The dog’s mouth was wide enough to almost swallow him whole.
He lifted his butt in the air to avoid getting it bit off by the shadow hound's jaws. The he ran even faster.
He ran up a steep hill, hoping the shadow hounds would fail to keep up, but that wasn't the case. The shadow hounds had trouble at first, but one of them climbed a nearby cliff with ease. Blackthorn watched this in horror. These things are beyond the threat I suspected! With the two shadow hounds behind him herding him up the hill and the one running alongside the cliff to the top, he didn't see much of a way out. He jumped onto a tree and ricocheted from tree to tree, distancing him from the two shadow hounds. The shadow hound running along the cliff lunged at him as he reached the top, but he dodged it and raced off again. The other two shadow hounds caught up in moments. I don't think I'll get a chance as good as this. I’d better do it now!
He opened his bottle and poured some of it onto the ground. Roots erupted from the ground and lashed out at the shadow hounds. All managed to avoid it except for the rear shadow hound. The roots impaled it, and it let out a yelp and exploded into dark matter. That's one down, two more to go. I need to try and preserve the last of this, if I can. He looked down below them to a raging river with rocks leading to the other side of the gorge. The way was narrow and risky, but he wasn't worried; it actually gave him a plan. He leapt from rock to rock to the other side of the gorge. The hounds followed just as he’d planned.
Lucky for Blackthorn the large size of the hounds made it difficult for them to maneuver from rock to rock. Due to the slender nature of the rocks. One of them broke, and the shadow hound tumbled down to the river below. Blackthorn only needed to deal with this last pesky hound, then he and Bramble would be safe from there on. Blackthorn ran as fast as he could through the densest parts of the forest. The shadow hound was able to slip through the rough places, though. This will be trickier than I thought. He let out a startled yell as he tripped, fell to the ground, he held Bramble close to him as he rolled and shot back up, then set Bramble down. Blackthorn looked behind him to see the shadow hound pouncing toward him. He rolled out of the way and unsheathed his sword to slay it, but the shadow hound smacked him into a tree with its paw.
The shadow hound then went for Bramble, who screamed in fear as he tried to run. The shadow hound was about to catch him when Blackthorn tackled it, his antlers ramming it in the jaw. The hound went rolling with Blackthorn and landed on top of him. It opened its jaws and attempted to eat him, but Blackthorn stabbed his sword into its mouth, it howled in pain, he rolled out from under while it tried to get his sword unlogged from its mouth and he raced towards it and jumped kicked it in the face, it raked its claws across him, sending him tumbling across the ground. The shadow hound leapt at him, a group of roots grappled onto the shadow hound. The hound fought back like a beast, but the roots subdued it and ripped it apart into dark matter.
Bramble ran over to Blackthorn. “Blackthorn! Hang in there! I- I-”
“Go get help, Bramble...”
“No! I'm not leaving you here, you'll die!”
“I'll die if you don't get some help, Bramble. Now for my sake, go and get help!”
Bramble nodded and raced off. He could only think of one creature he trusted to help Blackthorn at this point.
***
Fluttershy was having a peaceful sleep, then, there was a loud banging, she sat up, screaming in fear, as the banging continued, Fluttershy hid herself under the covers. The banging grew more frequent and still louder. Fluttershy just sat there under the covers shaking. Then a rock went through her window. Fluttershy screamed in terror at the sound of her window breaking.
“Fluttershy! I need you now! Wake up, please, it’s an emergency!”
Fluttershy pulled the covers off at this and walked to the window, each step full of hesitation. She peeked out the window and brightened. “Bramble!” She put on a robe to cover her body and flew out of the window, landing in front of him. “What’s the matter? Why are you so far from your home?”
“No time to explain right now, Blackthorn's injured and needs your help now!”
“I'll go get my first aid kit.” She went inside and came out a minute later with a lantern and first aid kit. “Show me where he is, Bramble.”
“This way!”
***
Fluttershy followed Bramble deep into the Everfree Forest. “Um... Bramble, I'm beginning to think we're lost.”
“No! I've lived in here my entire life; I know where I'm going.” Soon they came to Blackthorn, he was laying on the ground, and his breath was shallow. Blood covered the ground where he lay.
“Oh my goodness! My first aid kit won’t cut it here! She ran over, kneeling beside him. She patched him up the best she could. “This will keep him alive long enough to get him to the hospital, but we need to hurry! How are we going to get him up?
Blackthorn grunted in pain as he pushed himself to his hooves, Fluttershy wrapped an arm around him to help him walk.
Author's Note
I did a bit of editing on this story, it is anthro now as the tag told you, and I fixed a few other things up to, I can't believe I thought this was good. I thought it was a masterpiece, when I first published this, lol. Its still no master piece but its better than it was I think, and that's what matters.
