Bright Nights

The shadows of the Everfree Forest came alive with the slow, awkward movements of the horde of the Shade’s undead. There had been no finesse, no real thought or skill put into animating the dead bodies. Their flesh, in various stages of rot and decay, fell from their bodies revealing the maggot and insect infested muscle beneath. Eyes hung and dangled from some of the undead’s sockets and the only noise they made was when they stepped on leaves and twigs. There was no moaning, just their silent, clumsy approach.

Autumn licked her lips nervously at the sight of such an overwhelmingly force, there had to be at least two hundred in the horde of the undead, their vast numbers could easily overwhelm her companions and Twilight Sparkle fighting alongside them if they weren’t careful. She glanced to her left at Nedra and Aziza, both thestrals had a look of grim determination, their razor sharp hoof claws gleamed menacingly in the weak moonlight. To her right, Feralia and Diedra were standing together with Sedia behind them, she could see the concern and worry on Diedra’s face as she thought about her brother being here to fight against the undead. Twilight was fidgeting restlessly, touching her head no doubt missing her Element of Magic. Autumn moved over to her and placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder.

“You’ll be fine.” She smiled, winking playfully. “I’ll be watching your back. Your flanks are too cute to end up as zombie chow.” Twilight’s blush at the compliment to her flanks was adorable, Autumn made another tally in her mind and wondered how many more it would take before she got Twilight to bed.

“We should start fighting now, right?” Twilight asked, observing the horde of undead getting closer and closer.

Autumn turned away from Twilight and set her mind to focus on surviving against a horde of undead. “They’re far enough into the clearing. Light’em up!”

Twilight’s horn flared to life with its aura of bright, violet magic and a massive circle of etherial flames surrounded them and the horde of undead. Nothing living would be affected by the flames, but the undead would be turned to ashes if they touched. Twilight grunted and fell to her haunches, fat beads of sweat ran down her face which was contorted in a mixture of pain and concentration.

“I’ll try to keep the spell going for as long as I can. But I’m not sure how long that’ll be.”

Autumn lit her own horn, pulling the crossbow from her back and loading a bolt into it. “Just do your best, Twi.”

Magic charged through Autumn’s muscles strengthening them, she pounced high into the air, sailing over the undead and landed gracefully in the middle of the horde. The zombies instantly turned their attention to her, reaching rotten hooves towards her and snapping at the. She levitated the crossbow up, pulled the trigger, and the high powered bolt tore through half a dozen of the zombies’s soft, rotting bodies. She loaded and reloaded like a machine, shooting bolt after bolt into the horde, their bodies exploding in showers of rotten flesh, bones, congealed blood and brains, and soon she was covered in the icky, stinking gore.

An undead pegasus pounced for her, only to be tackled midair and have his neck broken by Nedra. The thestral was instantly pouncing after the next zombie, her hoof claws a silver blur of death taking heads and limbs, making everything she cut into mincemeat. Autumn loaded and shot her last bolt taking out three more zombies. She dropped the now useless crossbow and ran forward charging her horn. She grabbed several zombies in telekineses, tore their bodies apart, sending the remains crashing into another cluster of zombies.

Twilight was suddenly in front of her, looking extremely tired from her attempts at trying to keep the fire burning, but determined to help as mush as she could. She lit her horn and bright orange streams of fire flowed around her body and roared forward like some great breath of dragon fire, incinerating dozens of zombies at once. She unleashed weave after of  magic burning, tearing, blasting and cleaving zombies left and right into pieces. Autumn was mentally cursing and screaming at Twilight to stop using so many powerful spells at once, it was an amateurish mistake and one that was going to get her killed if she didn’t reign herself in.

Autumn unleashed the weave she had been constructing ever since the battle had started, thick bolts of lighting shot in every direction from an orb of white magic resting on the of her horn. The lightning shot through the entire horde, every undead body it touched raptured and burst apart into stinking piles of twitching rotten flesh. For a moment everything was silent apart from everypony’s heavy breathing as they observed the destruction and death surrounding them. Twilight was sweating profusely, panting heavily and looked like she was about to passout at any second. Before Autumn could ask if she was okay, the zombies that they had already killed, slowly twitched and wriggled and reformed themselves back into a horde of undead, once more risen from death.

“Oh fuck me,” Autumn screamed in complete disbelief and annoyance at what she was seeing. “Group up!” she screamed out to her group. They instantly joined her, standing in a circle back to back with Twilight safely tucked away at its center. Twilight was an extremely powerful mage, but she wasn’t a battle mage, the Elements of Harmony weren’t here to back her up and she lacked the required experience for dealing with everyday monsters and dark creatures. The circle of ponies moved in unison rotating in a counter clockwise direction as they slowly retreated from the undead horde.

Feralia and Autumn used simple shield spells or levitation to keep the zombies at bay. Aziza and his wife used their speed, reflexes and predatory instincts to dart forward slash at a zombie’s limb or head to slow them down before moving back into formation. If a pony was ever becoming too tired to fight they retreated into the middle of the circle to drink some mana-water and once refreshed they moved back into place. Twilight also did her bit, using whatever magic she had left to support the ponies protecting her in whatever way she could. Aziza, enraged at a zombie that had bitten his wife, took the creature’s head with a vicious slash from his hoof claws and crushed it under his hoof.

On and on it went, the group moving slowly and carefully so as not to trip or stumble, defending themselves against any zombie that got too close until they made it to the front doors to the Castle of the Two sisters. Once inside, they broke their formation and ran up to a high balcony where the horde couldn’t easily follow.

“Everypony alright?” Autumn called out to her team. Nedra and Aziza walked towards her looking extremely tired, worn out and ready to curl up in a nest with each other and a hot chocolate. Sedia and her brother weren’t looking much better, both had bite marks on various parts of their bodies, thankfully the zombies weren’t evolved enough to pass on their curse. But their injuries would need looking at to take care of any infections.

“Looks like everypony’s still alive,” Feralia commented walking over to the siblings with her first aid kit.

Autumn wiped some brains from her mane. “We need to start burning these zombies so they can’t come back again. Twilight, once Feralia has taken care of everypony’s injuries, she’ll link her magic with yours and both of you will burn these fuckers to ashes. Until you’re ready, Nedra will be able to defend the stairs. I’ll go further into the castle and hunt down the Shade. Aziza, I need you for back up.” Aziza nodded and pulled his wife into a deep kiss, holding her tightly against his body, their mouths locked together and their tongues wrestling for dominance. Several moments they stayed like that until Aziza pulled back, gently licking a clean patch of fur on Nedra’s cheek.

“Stay safe, my sweet,” he murmured, gently pressing his forehead against Nedra’s. “I promise to come back, if you promise to be here waiting for me.”

“I promise,” she whispered back.

With a low rumbling growl of regret and an apologetic nuzzle, Aziza pulled back and pounced to Autumn’s side, his eyes steely and focused, his expression grim and determined. Autumn left the rest of the group to do their jobs and lead the way back in the castle. Their warm breath came out in clouds of frost in the frigid, icy air that oddly didn’t have the stench of death and decay. Aziza’s ear’s were constantly flicking in every direction trying to pinpoint any slight sound that might tell them where the Shade was.

Autumn kept her horn lit with several weaves of magic for defending and attacking, ready to protect them against any ambush they might stumble into. Aziza tapped her shoulder to get her attention and pointed to a corner that led them left. The corridor they came into was filled with statues of suits of armor watching them with eyeless gazes filled with shadows. Autumn paused at a suit of armor meant for a Lunar Guard and began silently pulling it apart.

“What are you doing?” Aziza asked in a soft whisper. Autumn levitated a breast plate onto his body and firmly secured it in place.

“We’re going up against a shade, your wife will never forgive me if something happened to you.” The breast plate was then accompanied with leg gauntlets, a leather neck guard, a back plate, a special fitting for protecting the bones in his wings without impending flight and finally a helmet specially designed to keep a thestrals hearing, sight, smell and fangs accessible during battles. Aziza moved around a bit pointing out what needed loosening and tightening, when they were done they set off once more.

Even with armor, Aziza moved with complete silence, he blended well into the darkness and shadows of the castle and stalked through the castle with a silent and deadly, predatory grace. Not for the firs time Autumn found herself extremely grateful for having a pair of such efficient predators on her team, thestrals were a massive game changer for any kind of conflict, often tipping the odds in the favor of whatever side they were fighting for, almost always they were on the side that protected and defended their princess, Luna.

They walked down a hallway with dismembered forelegs mounted on the walls, they took a shortcut through a trap door in another hall and soon found themselves in the castle’s inner courtyard. The courtyard was still and silent the whole world seemed frozen in time, not even a slight breeze broke the stillness. This was where the Shade was waiting. Autumn and Aziza stepped confidently, defiantly into the middle of the courtyard and waited. Several minutes passed and eventually the shadows grew darker, they stretched out further and further until they met in the very center of the courtyard and swirled upwards forming the shape of a cloaked unicorn pony.

Invisible, dark and icy cold energies poured from the shade and it wasn’t alone. A dozen undead ponies walked up and stood behind their mistress. Unlike the zombie they had fought in the horde outside, their bodies looked perfectly healthy and living aside from the blue flames burning where their eyes should have been. Aziza growled softly, lowering himself into a hunter’s crouch, baring his fangs and hissing out a warning. Autumn would let him fight the undead while she fought the shade, there was no way she could handle everything herself.

The Shade regarded them with a blank, faceless stare. She made no move, or gave no signal, but suddenly her undead were running forward baring their fanged teeth in a silent threat. Autumn was the first pony to make a move. She ran forward, lighting her horn and sending a concussive wall of energy to scatter the undead in different directions, making it easier and safer for Aziza to fight. The Shade remained standing as still as a statue, watching her approach. Some sixth sense told Autumn to raise a shield and as soon as she did, an invisible spell from the shade shattered it.

Autumn cursed, ducked to the side just as another magical attack descended from above her, shattering the space she had just been in. Autumn teleported behind the shade, forming a firestorm weave and unleashed i,t all in one smooth transition. The shade screeched as flames engulfed its entire form and swirled upwards into a hurricane. The shadows that made up the Shade disintegrated and burned under the attack, but water-like wisps of etherial dark blue magic flowed from the firestorm and once more formed a body a body of shadows that regarded her impassively and unimpressed.

Autumn gritted her teeth and ran forward, weaving another pyro spell that formed long, twin swords of flames. With a scream of defiance and anger, she slashed at the Shade. The flaming blades met an invisible force, stopping them mere centimeter from the Shade’s throat and heart. Autumn felt the forces restraining her blades twisting and reforming themselves and before she could do anything, she was blasted backwards off of her hooves and sent flying uncontrollably through the air.

She barely managed to form a shield around her body before she slammed into a pillar which shattered upon her impact into thousands of pieces of small rubble that showered over the entire courtyard. She was dazed and rattled from the impact but, thankfully, still in one piece. Her whole body was aching and felt numb as she very slowly stood back up onto her hooves. She took a step forward only to stumble and fall uselessly back down. The Shade turned its attention away from Autumn, no longer considering her a viable threat to its existence. Instead, it focused on Aziza who was moving like an unstoppable wraith cutting, slashing and slicing his way through the dozen undead attacking him. The wounds Aziza inflicted on the undead, no matter how grievous, instantly healed and the undead went on fighting.

Aziza’s armor was holding up well, it was covered in many bite marks and deep scratches from the undead, but nothing had so far touched his flesh. His fierce attacking was suddenly stopped as the Shade grabbed him in an invisble magical, vice like grip. It wrenched him up into the air held and smashed back onto ground. There was a sickening crunch as Aziza’s back plate armor absorbed most of the force from the blow and cracked down the middle, leaving him badly winded and gasping for air. The Shade’s magic grabbed him around his throat and his widened desperately as he tried to suck in breath that wouldn’t come.

Autumn could only watch helplessly as he was once lifted into the air and slammed back into the ground, this time on his head. The helmet cracked, Aziza continued desperately struggling to free himself as the Shade’s magic pressed the cracked part of his helmet to the ground and dragged him across the courtyard. Bright fiery sparks trailed behind his head and it was only a matter of moments before his helmet gave way leaving his head unprotected from the cruel attack. Autumn gritted her teeth with determination and began forcing herself to stand. She had promised t protect and defend her group of friends, she wasn’t going to let anything stop her fulfilling that promise.

The Shade growing tired of its current game, once more lifted Aziza’a now limp and unresisting body into the air and held him out spreadeagled, slowly and tortuously pulling his limbs further and further apart intent on ripping them from their sockets. Autumn forced herself to close her eyes in concentration and light her horn with its amber aura of magic. She blocked out Aziza’a grunts and whimpers of pain, focusing entirely on creating her spell. Dozens of golden ribbons of magic flowed from her horn knitting, twisting and joining themselves together slowly becoming smaller and more compact as the spell progressed until it formed into an small orb of golden light.

With an insane giggle of relief, she threw the golden orb at the Shade, teleported to Aziza hugging him tightly, and used every ounce of her concentration and magic to form a shield to protect them from what was to come. Five seconds later the orb exploded. The entire courtyard was suddenly filled with a light brighter and hotter then a summer’s sun in the middle of the day. An unearthly scream of pure tortured pain echoed around the castle and even the Everfree forest as thick streams of light erupted in every possible direction from the center of the explosion, tearing the Shade’s body into hundreds of tiny pieces and purging its energies into oblivion.

The bodies of the Shade’s undead ponies cracked and crumbled into tiny pebbles that became dust and eventually nothing more then tiny wisps of smoke. The surface of Autumn’s shield began cracking like glass and it was all she could do to keep the shield intact. As suddenly as it began, the explosion stopped, leaving the courtyard in darkness and errie silence once more.

Aziza was limp and unconscious in Autumn’s tight, protective grasp, but a flood of relief washed through her as she felt a steady pulse and heard his slow, but even breathing. She could still see the Shade throwing and dragging him around like he was nothing more then a puppet, even with the armor, a lesser pony would have died from her extreme abuse. She buried her muzzle into his mane and sobbed freely with relief, grief and guilt. They all knew their adventures were dangerous and life threateningly, but knowing that was completely different to actually seeing and personally experiencing it. She continued holding him for several minutes, sobbing into his mane and occasionally grooming his face with soft, comforting licks.

“You’re getting snot in my mane,” Aziza murmured weakly, his green eyes slowly fluttering open and giving Autumn an accusing look. “You owe me dinner, a threesome with my wife and a lifetime supply of sushi.”

Autumn laughed with genuine humor and relief her teammate was going to be okay. “Done deal,” she agreed, resting her head against his armored chest. “Goddess I was so scared for you.” She spanked his cutie mark with her hoof like a stern mother discipling her foal. “You’re not allowed to do anything like that again! Ever!” She began sobbing again, unable to do anything else to deal with all the emotions and adrenaline surging through her system. With a quiet leathery ruffle, Aziza gently unfurled his wings and wrapped them around Autumn’s body forming a warm cacoon of safety and security.

“Shhhhhhhhhh...” he whispered, softly stroking a hoof through her mane and down her back. He continued petting her over and over again. “I’m safe, you’re safe, everypony else is safe and reasonably unhurt. Everything will be fine.” He continued murmuring and cooing comforting nothings to Autumn as she sniffled and sobbed, holding him tightly against her in a protective embrace. They heard hoofsteps in the courtyard and they looked up to see Twilight and the rest of their group walking to them, obvious relief and happiness on their expressions at seeing them safe. Feralia moved forward, nudging everypony out of her way as she went through the motions of examining Autumn and Aziza for any injuries both external and internal. She fussed over them like a mother who had just seen her precious foal crash their scooter, placing elastoplast and ointment on the most tiny of scapes.

Autumn looked over at her group and grinned as she saw their bodies were also covered in comedic amounts of elastoplast courtesy of their fussy, overprotective healer.

“Nothing too serious,” she informed them, pulling off Aziza’s armor so she could wrap bandages around his chest. “You both have concussions. Autumn, your mana levels are dangerously low. Aziza, your ribs are extremely bruised and some are close to fracturing. Both of you are going to be in bed for the next seventy two hours, and I’ll tie you to your mattress if I find you wondering around.”

Once she was done with Aziza’s bandaging, she pulled several icepacks from her kit, used her magic to cool them and comfortably secured them to the various bruises and swelling forming on their bodies.

She then gently levitated them into the air, her magic forming comfortable stretchers. “Once we get to Ponyville General, Sedia’s going to bring by some food for you, and you know to ask anypony if you want anything else.” Her voice turned very stern. “I mean what I said, no getting up unless you want to be restrained!”

Autumn grinned mischievously up at the nurse, squeaking in surprise as she was bapped on the nose by Feralia’s magic. “No comments from you about whipped cream and riding crops.” Autumn pouted, but kept her mouth shut. As they all made their way back down the path through the Everfree Forest, Twilight walked up beside the magical stretcher Autumn was bein carried on, looking nervous and apprehensive. Autumn gave her a casual smile, hoping to put her at ease.

“What’s up, Princess Sparkle Butt?”

Twilight looked briefly annoyed at Autumn’s nickname, but didn’t bother reprimanding. “What was that spell you used to defeat the Shade?” she eventually asked with genuine curiosity, looking down at Autumn somewhat awestruck. Autumn wondered if this is what Rainbow Dash felt whenever she was given such attention.

“It’s a spell called ‘Celestia’s Glory’,” Autumn explained. “Ancient warriors protecting Celestia during Equestria’s founding  used as a last ditch effort against their enemies. Any magical creature or mage caught in the explosion is completely destroyed. The only things it won’t work on are the seven deadliest creatures of the world.” She lay silently for several minutes on the stretcher breathing heavily, completely and utterly exhausted. “If you want to study battle mage magic, I have a book I can give you.”

Twilight smiled gratefully. “That would be good actually, I wasn’t much use during the fighting was I?”

“You did good for the most part,” Autumn assured her. “But you really do need to practice and study more.”

Aziza on the magical stretcher beside her was busy being babied and spoiled by his wife as she fretted and worried over the state he was in.“Oh thank Luna you’re safe,” she said over and over with her nuzzling through his chest and mane, sobbing with relief.

“Shhhhhhh...” He comfortingly nuzzled and licked her. “I promised I’d come back if you were waiting, didn’t I?”

“So what happened with the rest of you while Aziza and I were doing all the heavy lifting with the Shade?” Autumn inquired.

Diedra beat everypony to telling her the story. “Well, Nedra did an amazing job defending the staircase while the rest of us were recovering and being looked over. I lost count how many zombies she took out all by herself.”

“They just kept on coming!” Sedia butted in. “And she kept on slaying like a total badass!”

“It wasn’t that impressive,” Nedra mumbled, her cheeks flaming with self consciousness at being the center of attention.

“You were amazing, and you know it!” Feralia commented. “Once I had finished tending to everypony, I helped Twilight through the process of joining our magic and together we used a dragonfire weave to burn the undead.”

“We were halfway through burning them all,” Twilight blurted out picking up the story. “When we saw that spell you used to defeat the Shade. We even felt the heat from it where we were! Once the Shade was gone, the magic it had used to summon its horde of undead went with it and they all just broke down into dust, which then became this mist like smoke and drifted away.”

“Well, nothing much happened to Aziza and I. We got our flanks handed to us to by the Shade, that’s when I thought, ‘fuck it’ and just burned the bitch to Tartarus.” Autumn knew it was a major understatement of what she had actually gone through, the fear and desperation of seeing Aziza almost killed. The guilt she had felt for asking him to be her backup and the immense relief, she was still feeling, when she knew he was going to be alright. She didn’t want to deal on all that, she was determined to focus on getting herself and her team better.