Author's Note

Welcome back. Read, review, and much more will be to come.

''It is the loose ends with which men hang themselves.''

-Zelda Fitzgerald.

Loose Ends

''Oh, give me a break, will you?!'' Daring shouted as she barely managed to avoid the onslaught of Starlight Glimmer's attacks. Ducking behind another rock and loading another arrow into her crossbow, she cursed herself. This was becoming more and more of a problem. Sweat caked her brow as she huffed and puffed, trying to find air. She would have to use everything that she knew in order to survive. ''Rah!''

FWISH! Starlight dodged the arrow, smirking all the while. While she was toying with the adventurer, she did find it to be amusing that she would be so hard-pressed to defend herself so vigorously. While the introduction of Jamir and Rin threw a bigger wrench into the plans than it just being Daring and her crew here, she would have to improvise. ''Is that the best you can do? I don't know if I should be more surprised or offended that you came down to these caves all by yourself.'' Starlight said, hovering in the air as her magic surrounded and kept her afloat.

Daring zoomed forward after leaping over the small boulder, a fire in her eyes and a hoof cocked back as she tried her best to land a hit on the tyrant. Suddenly obstructing her view with a flash of magic made her veer off course, crashing into a nearby wall as spit flew out her mouth and Starlight's magic suddenly dragged her in front of her attacker.

''Bite me. I can't let you-'' Starlight smacked Daring across her dirt covered face, her hat somehow managing to stay on her head, only to crook to the side slightly.

''-Let me do what? Change these ponies, and their miserable lives? Give them something worth actually fighting for? Being a hero to all? Well, congratulations; you have succeeded in making sure that does not go smoothly,'' Starlight grimaced, every word coming out as a growl.

Starlight fumed, staring down her foe. ''You, Daring Do, are too simple-minded to even have anything remotely close to an idea of what it is like to think big, how to make the sacrifices to help those less fortunate than you, and to ask for nothing in return.'' Daring groaned and attempted to fight off her restraints, to no avail. ''I will admit; having you traipse about certainly was an oversight on my part, but luckily for me; I was able to turn your most powerful ally against you.''

Daring wanted to call this mare out on so much crap that it wouldn't even be funny. How could she sit here and defend her case of enslaving ponies and taking their Cutie Marks? What good does that do for anypony? And turning Rin and Blank against her and Jamir was the wrong move to make. She would have yet to openly admit it for fear of sounding too sappy, but Daring genuinely liked the pair who came into her crew. And even though their time may or may not have been limited, she wanted to resign herself to use that time wisely; to help get them back home, to help them understand as much about this world as they would need to until they left.

And to be a true friend. Starlight was the current issue preventing any of that, and it would be up to her to do her best to make things right. She only hoped she could be more use this time than with The Hydra. ''You're the one who's simple-minded; who hurt you enough to where you would want to do this like this on this kind of scale? It's not right, and I think you know-''

''-SILENCE! YOU KNOW NOTHING!'' Starlight roared, bring Daring nose to nose as she spied the crazed look of anger in her dilated pupils. Daring shut her eyes on instinct, but Starlight's magic forced them open and stay open. She would make her look at her during every second of this. ''I had everything I could have wanted; everything here I built from the ground up, and for you to come along and take it away from me so inconceivably wrong, I can't even start on what or who to fix first!''

Starlight's voice traveled through the spacious underground tunnel, echoing throughout small tunnels, the force of her shouts knocking a few loose rocks away as she continued to spasm in further anger, her mane frazzled and numerous surface veins bulging violently. She merely wanted everything to just wash away the pain and damage they caused.

All of it.

''You should have just stuck to wherever you were at! You came to the wrong town!'' Starlight gripped Daring in her magic tightly and slammed against the dark walls, shoving the Pegasus against the wall with every pronunciation of the word, the subtle glow in her eyes giving her the appearance of a creature in the night going after her prey. ''Leave. My. Town!'' Daring was slammed into the rock harder on the last push, splintering the rock and seating her inside of it as she was sure her back was broken.

''Mmmm. . .'' Daring whined, feeling light-headed at the attack, trying her hardest to cling onto consciousness. Was this. . .the end? So easily defeated?

''I see I may have been a bit rough on you,'' Starlight chuckled to herself, not exactly caring what she felt; it would all be erased soon enough once she would be under her spell. ''But, I will change that attitude of yours. You won't ever-'' Starlight was suddenly blindsided by something, nearly knocking her to the ground, the follow-up assault keeping her down. ''What the buck?!''

A small, blue spec began to zoom towards Starlight, making her grit her teeth and brace against the next onslaught of blue ice spikes that threatened to skewer her if not for her shield barely deflecting the projectile, cracking and chipping the surface. A pause gave her enough time to sigh before the looming shadow of a giant ice fist rocketed forward, sending her into the closest wall with a shattering rumble.

''Huh?'' Daring managed to look up amidst the black splotches in her eyes to see. . .on of Jamir's Fairies? ''Which o-one are you?''

''Snow!~'' Snow chirped, smiling and looking at her. Daring managed to crack a small smile in relief; help, even small, had come. ''Snow, Snow!''

''I know, y-you already said your name,'' Daring said, groaning and attempting to get herself out of the rock. ''Can you help me out with her?'' Daring nudged a bit into Starlight's direction, seeing Snow playfully looked in said direction before nodding, his ears flopping about. ''Snow!'' Starlight was unable to defend against the large-scale attack of Snow opening his mouth and breathing out a mist of cool breath, beginning to form ice spikes that jutted forward, keeping Starlight on the defensive long enough for Daring to shimmy her way out of the rock as she fell down onto the ground in a huff of pain.

''Ugh. . .'' Daring coughed up dust, her chest feeling like it had been caved in. Was this the power of The Fairies?

''What in the name of Equestria?!'' Starlight roared back, using her staff to attack the intruder, who zoomed in and out of its reach, hurling more of the blue spikes her way.

''Snow!~'' Snow used the air around him to condense his body onto a ball of ice, zooming forward and slamming into Starlight's shield, fracting the light blue projection further.

Daring limped forward a bit, her head swimming with the intensity of a drum. Her vision blurred and the air grew colder by the second, and in the underground space, air was limited. She had to do something; even if it was a little bit. Snow's attack was relentless, only being yielded for the moment by an intense fire spell that melted some of his ice projectiles. ''I-I can't. . .sit here. . .''

''What the hell are you?!'' Starlight roared, gritting her teeth and fleeing to her chamber where she held the town's Cutie Marks. They couldn't be allowed to get there; she worked too hard for them; everything she built, she worked hard for! This troublesome little freak came with a passion, harmlessly deflecting the attacks from her staff with shields made of ice. Starlight would have to show some of her power in order for her to get away. ''Confus Doleo!'' Starlight's horn shot off a light red wave of magic that upon contacting him, causing him to shake his head and fight off the effects.

Snow sneezed, which made his next attack go off course. What was that? ''S-Snow?'' Snow chirped, looking around to see Starlight use her magic once again to erect a wall of earth blanketed in her magic to cover the entrance to her small cave that held her prize. Snow attempted to launch another volley of ice attacks, only serving to bounce away from the wall with no damage as Starlight continued to hurl magical blasts at him from behind the wall. ''Snow!'' Snow looked a bit worried as he didn’t know what she was going to do. Starlight grinned and used her magic to sense Daring as she limped and held her head down, but pressed on, unaware of what was truly going on.

''Let's see if you can protect her, too!'' Starlight shouted out as another spell left her horn, only this time it did nothing at first; only contacting Snow in a mist through the rock that pulled at his body before he disappeared, ending up in the spot where Starlight was, darkness covering his vision.

''What's. . .happen-ning?~'' Daring asked, managing to crane her head upwards enough to see a hoof strike her in the face. Starlight laughed, seeing the look of pain on her face as she fell back to the ground. She would enjoy this to the fullest. ''S-Snow?''

''Hehehehe. . .no. I am not that little freak; I am the worst job you've ever had to do.'' Starlight said, tapping a hoof on her chin in childlike glee. Reaching down in front of her face, the small twinkle of light in her eyes seemingly beginning to die out some. ''I want you to know that I am going to kill you.''

Daring hmmphed, fighting to crawl away from her, only for Starlight to walk alongside her and click her tongue in dissatisfaction. She would have to do her best to fight; to survive. And to not be useless.

''I thought you should just how much I hate you, and what you guys have done so far is causing a major problem for me, and that I will make for sure that I get all of my revenge that is needed for me to forget the humiliation you've given me,'' Starlight narrowed her eyes and began to flare her nostrils, the look of pure rage plastered on her face as Daring fought for air in Starlight's magical choke.

''N-n-n. . .gh.~'' Daring weakly threw a hoof in protest, only for it to be smacked away. Where were Jamir and the others?

Snow chirped, trying his best to get past the rock and magic, his ice spikes doing little but breaking on impact. He had to be quick, to do something before his master's friend was hurt any more than she already was, or worse. A part of him told him that his master would be against him doing something like this, and it would end up hurting him more than possibly anybody else, but it would have to be done to save Daring in time.

Clearing his small throat and sitting on the cold, hard ground; he focused on his breathing. He only would have one chance at this, and at best, 15 seconds. Taking a low and slow breath, the ice mist slowly raised above him, blanketing his small body as parts began to solidify. His paws began to grow larger and form claws covered in ice, his ears grew longer and his body morphed into a shape he hasn't taken on for a minute.

“M-M-Master can be mad later; save Daring first.” Snow said in a distorted voice, shaking off the effects of his bones reshaping to this current form. His next breath would be his last in this form, and he would have to make it count. “Sleet Storm. . .”

FWOOOSH!

“I hope you’re ready to be-“ Starlight was cut off by the sound of the magic-enhanced wall behind her crumbling. A second passed between her attempting to enact her revenge and the oversized paw that reached out to her in the blink of an eye, causing her magic to drop Daring and to send her flying into the nearest wall with a slam.

Daring managed to look up past her blurred vision, to see what appeared to be Starlight being tossed about by something large, though it kept shifting colors. Starlight’s pained screams did little for the creature as is roared, only serving it to be more wild in its attacks, the air getting to near sub-zero temperatures.

SLASH! “Auuuugh!” Starlight cried out, her left eye being struck by the thing’s paw, causing her to see complete darkness and feel the pain of having a salt shaker dumped in her eye. She shivered and tried to get distance, using another stun spell. The creature picked her up in it maw as the teeth nearly crushed her windpipe. “Y-You beast!”

Slamming against another wall, and hearing the charging of its paws, she had to act fast, or this thing may end up killing her. She never retreated, she always made her prey leave from her, and she. . .

“Die!” the beast shouted out, the bloodlust in its eyes telling her all of what she needed to know; she would have to flee, this time. It pained her to do this, but she would thank herself later.

“I-I-I’ll be back! You won’t see it c-coming!” Starlight nearly keeled over from the bitter cold air getting to her, but she remained strong. Channeling all of her magic into the teleportation spell, her heart skipped a beat as the creature came within an inch of biting her head off, and she was sure it managed to graze her as she finished her spell and she was gone.

“Nnngh!” Snow huffed, unable to strike down the villain, but at least she left the area and Daring was safe, that’s what mattered the most. Paying a look of worry to her, she managed to crane her head to see him, and attempted to speak out before slumping on the ground. “Sorry, Daring, I don’t want you to be see this form; or anyone for that matter. . .it’s for the best.” Snow said, his features slowly returning as he hovered in the air weakly, only to fall down on the ground as he dispelled the cold air so Daring wouldn’t catch hypothermia. “Snow. . .”

“Come on, this way!” Snow heard the sound of his master echo throughout the chamber as he closed his eyes. Even from here, he could feel The Life Drive calling out to him instinctively to return and heal, which sounded like paradise to him. “Found them; come on guys!”