Golden Dawn: Dusk of an Empire

Tired.

So tired.

Fluttershy's lungs burned. Her chest burned. Her belly burned. Her hooves burned. Her legs burned. Her eyes were burning from the salt in her tears. Her mouth was so dry her tongue could strike a match and start a fire.

But she kept on running. She was too scared to even think about using her wings. The whizzing noises screaming past her body and the sudden puffs of dirt and rocks at her hooves forced her to continue.

Tired.

So very tired.

Must rest.

No!

Must flee!

Wait, wasn't this one Magicite gem in her helmet supposed to prevent this feeling? Her vision focused for a moment on her helmet's HUD, a notification streaming across the bottom of her line of sight that read that the Neuroarcanic Emotion Control Gem was functioning at full capacity.

Curse her anxieties, perhaps she should've asked that doctor for help when she had the chance.

Too late now.

So tired.

Her heart felt like it would explode at any second.

It almost did when she suddenly tripped over a severed limb.

She let out a scream so loud it hurt her own ears. She struggled to get back up, to keep running. But her legs simply wouldn't move anymore. Her chest heaved, gasping for air. She didn't even care that it tasted like copper.

A distant explosion boomed. She found the strength to huddle beside a large piece of rubble, but nothing else. A dead Human lay close by, his eyes open, glassy and vacant. Blood lazily oozed from his mouth and formed a pool around his chest, the sources of which came from a gash in his neck and a hole in his belly. Fluttershy turned away from the sight and curled herself into the tiniest ball she could.

The gentle shimmering of her own body allowed her to remember the breathing exercises Twilight had taught her to calm herself down. Nobody could see her tremble, nobody could hear her cry. The mere thought brought some peace at first, but then she worried that nobody would ever find her body. She would never see her home again. She would never see her friends again...

No! She half-coughed, half-cried out. She had to survive. Her friends were counting on her! And they were so close to their goal, she couldn't run away now! Just like she had a few minutes ago... exactly like she did a few minutes ago. Her breathing nearly ceased as she was bewitched by the empty, dull pain deep within her soul.

A stray rat squeaked mere inches from her, breaking the spell. Fluttershy poked her head out to see the tiny creature; it was shivering, muddy, terrified. The shimmer effect of her body distorted for a single moment. Its beady black eyes stared upwards into her own, and she felt a connection, a kindred spirit.

"Oh, you poor thing." She did her best to keep her voice steady and calm as she held out a hoof. The rat hesitated for a few seconds, then quickly climbed up her offered foreleg and curled up against her chest. A feeling of gratitude washed over her mind, drowning out the fears more effectively than any other way she knew of.

Her breathing slowed.

Her eyelids grew heavy.

She could finally rest.

~

"Guys? Guys, where are you?" Pinkie Pie wailed, bouncing across the battlefield. She had lost sight of them when the Tunnel Tanks had torn apart the ground she was standing on, and by the time she had managed to hop on top of the machines like stones in a stream they were already gone. Now she skipped through the battlefield, bouncing as high as she could in an effort to find them again.

But all she found was chaos, and not even the good kind like Discord was known for. She saw Elves, Orcs and Humans clashing against each other with all manner of weaponry - spears and war picks piercing armor, axes and swords lopping off limbs, maces and hammers caving in chests and skulls, the occasional magic blast sending fire, lightning, Arcane energy and rocks flying into enemies, and the distant firearms and artillery blasts rendering all armor useless. The various beasts of the Orcs pounced and charged, thrashing and tearing until they too were bludgeoned and cut down. Griffons and Humans and Harpies fell screaming from the sky, landing with the most sickening noises she had never imagined were possible. Screams of agony and cries of anguish intertwined with shouts of bravery and roars of vengeance, with animalistic screeches and howls, with metal striking metal, with thudding of flesh. The green grass of the field was quickly becoming a sticky, sopping, squelching quagmire of blood-drenched mud.

Pinkie Pie's bouncing slowly came to a stop. So much was happening all around her, her eyes strained to take it all in despite her wishes for them not to. She opened her mouth but only inane babbles left her throat. The world around her was awash with violence and gore. A complete absence of harmony. A sprawling, absolute eternity of death.

A noise caught her attention. She looked to her left and saw an Elf kneeling before a dead Human. Though still alive for the moment, she had been disemboweled before striking the final blow. Her intestines were falling out of her belly like glittery red party streamers, an arm trying to hold them in place. Her mouth spat blood like confetti as she cackled madly.

Pinkie watched, unable to look away. The Elf's laughter grew more strained and tattered until ceasing entirely, and the arm dropped and unfurled the innards as the body crashed to the ground. Like a meat-filled piñata, she thought. Yet the laughter continued, it echoed within her ears and haunted her mind.

She wasn't sure how long she stood there. She hardly noticed her curly mane flattening until it was pin-straight.

Other Humans had finally noticed her, and now drew their weapons as they approached with caution. She could see them coming closer in her peripheral vision, but felt powerless, even unwilling to act. Her eyes remained glued to the bloody sight before her, freezing her in place.

Suddenly, the black gem on her forehead pulsed. The approaching Humans halted, taking a step back as a formless energy rushed past them. Tentacles darker than any black in existence emerged from the gem, thin and small at first but rapidly growing in length and girth as they first covered Pinkie's eyes, then slithered into her ears, her nose, her mouth. More tentacles appeared and flailed wildly as even more wrapped around her head, legs and body; multiplying, thickening and writhing like a jet-black gelatin dessert. The wriggling mass grew larger and larger until it quickly dwarfed the Humans, only seeming to stop when it was over a hundred feet tall and almost as wide.

"I am going to be a storm - a flame," it gurgled out with a thousand thunderous voices, with Pinkie's being the dominant voice. "I need to fight whole armies alone. I have ten hearts, I have a hundred arms. I feel too strong to war with mortals. Bring... me... GIANTS!"

The Void entity rippled with impossible power, its darkness draining the very light from its surroundings. Broken from their stupor, the nearby Humans rallied and charged, their weapons poised to strike. But as they grew close, more black tentacles shot forth from the faceless, formless mass, suddenly hardening and sharpening. The tentacles pierced through each Human effortlessly, killing those lucky enough to have been impaled through the chest, while those stuck through the belly screamed and gurgled in unfathomable pain. The Void entity then moved its appendages; the dead bodies were flicked off and away into the distance, and the mortally wounded ones trembled violently until blackness spilled from their orifices, the last of their death wails leaving their body as they finally exploded into clouds of blood and flesh.

Other Humans who had witnessed this gruesome spectacle understandably began running for their lives. Even the Elves and Orcs who had seen the birth of this blackness took steps backwards. The Void entity roared an unholy noise as it slithered after them on its infinite tentacles. Though it quickly overtook those who fled, it didn't bother to dispatch them as before, but rather kept on traveling in a straight, unimpeded line. One by one, tens by tens, hundreds by hundreds, Elves, Orcs and Humans were engulfed within the unknowable darkness. And as the Void entity continued onward - while the Elves and Orcs emerged with thousand-yard stares but otherwise unscathed - what remained of those Humans was left behind in its wake. Many were now just piles of bloody flesh, bones and organs. Some reappeared with various bodily horrors inflicted upon them: impaled with a dozen black spears at varying angles; cut into a thousand slices and haphazardly reassembled before sliding and splatting onto the ground; ears growing rapidly all over every inch of their bodies, inside and outside until asphyxiating from their ear-filled mouths and throats; skin being replaced by hundreds of unblinking eyes that shattered into thousands more upon collapsing; bodies literally turned inside out; or bisected lengthwise, one half of their body flipped 180⁰ and fused back together - all obviously incompatible with life. Others emerged physically intact, but their eyes were replaced with the darkness of the Void, and it spewed out of their mouths in torrents as they clawed at their own bodies and screamed, sobbed and laughed uncontrollably, irrevocably lost to insanity.

As the Void entity slithered its way towards the Humans' fortress, Elves and Orcs crowded behind it and marched in its path. Suddenly, they cried out in fear as a winged, muddy-green Angel appeared in the sky. Without hesitation it swooped down from above and stabbed deeply with its glaive in what might've been called the entity's head. An ear-piercing scream and a number of black tentacles erupted from the wound in response, tearing it wider for all of them to escape. They reached out for the winged Angel, entangling it within seconds and pulling it back towards the wriggling mass. The Angel fought back, slicing the tentacles with its glaive, but for every tentacle it severed three more took its place. Soon the deadly machine was completely immobilized, and it wiggled helplessly as it was pulled inside the Void entity's wound. Only then did the scream cease, and the wound melted and wrapped itself shut. The Elves and Orcs stared in stunned silence as the entity then began its journey anew, slithering onward towards the fortress. As it traveled, bits and pieces of Nullium wreckage were left behind, yet there was no sign of whatever corpse had powered it.

The Void entity drew close. Humans manning the cannons within the fortress' pillboxes shouted with conviction as they fired upon the darkness. Ten exploding artillery rounds hit, opening new screaming wounds within the mass of tentacles. A thousand voices cursed the Humans for their insolence as the entity continued to move, and the Humans fired another volley. One massive, black tentacle reached out from the entity and swung around in a perfect circle, seemingly disconnected from the rest of the mass. It caught the artillery rounds within its solid, fleeting darkness, and the tentacle swung around and flung them back at the fortress' wall. The Humans barely had time to scream as their pillboxes exploded into flames and rubble, and the Void entity finally crashed through the wall, unimpeded in the slightest.

"INSECTS! You will all die screaming! The Void claims your blackened souls this day!"

As Elves and Orcs poured into the fortress behind it, the Void entity continued its march, and the horrors spawned in its wake were only expanded upon. The tidy sidewalks it slithered over came out the other end transformed into trenches of blood and mucus, and patches of concrete became raw, pulsing flesh and exposed muscle with oozing cracks. Humans that had been spared a grisly death in favor of insanity dove into the trenches when they could, shoveling the filth into their mouths and splashing around like a child in a pool, or they rolled and writhed and buried themselves in the defiled ground. Even the Nullium-fortified buildings were not spared; they were reforged into quivering masses of organs and offal with hundreds of watchful eyes, belching acid and bile, decorated with Humans screaming a symphony of fear and agony, impaled by multiple black, barbed spears extruding from the piles. Indeed, any Human creation touched by the Void entity became an abhorrent, fleshy abomination, both living but not quite alive, left to die, to rot and decay. While artillery rounds from the opposite wall of the fortress punched screaming wounds into the entity, smaller bullets simply passed all the way through, emerging as slow, bloated flies out the other side. Any cut inflicted by an especially brave or foolish enemy seemed to reach out hungrily, grabbing and swallowing the weapon and its wielder whole. None of these ultimately did any damage, the wounds spewing tentacles and knitting closed soon after. Soon it made its way towards the opposite wall, effortlessly smashing through it as well. An Elf and an Orc paused briefly to watch as it continued forward, straight up the mountainside, its course unwavering.

"Is... is it not going to stick around and help us?" the Elf asked with hesitation. "I mean... as utterly foul as it is, it has been quite helpful..."

"No force controls the Void," the Orc answered with fearful reverence. "It does what it will. And it seems to have business at the mountain's summit."

"I see... I hope it has no quarrel with the Princess or her allies," the Elf shuddered, deeply disturbed by the mere thought.

~

The smell hit her first.

Fluttershy awoke with a gasp, her rat companion gone. She fully expected a hellish landscape of violence, death and destruction to appear before her eyes, but was nonetheless unprepared for what greeted her instead.

The battlefield was still. A light breeze covered the ruined land in a haze of smoke and ash, sunlight peering down from above in beams illuminating the horrors of war. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of bodies lay on the muddy ground; many intact, many in pieces. There were Humans and their mounts, Elves, Orcs, their animal companions and Harpies - riddled with bullet holes, missing arms and legs, stabbed and crushed and slashed and run through, throats slit and bones broken and trampled upon. Blood dripped and oozed from every wound, staining the ground a crimson-brown, forming lakes, pools and puddles that reflected the mournful Pegasus. The scent of death and decay filled her reluctant lungs.

The sound came into focus next. Soon her sensitive ears were overwhelmed by screams and wails of pure pain, sorrow and terror. For every five dead, it sounded as though ten were gravely wounded. A Harpy screamed in half-agony, half-anger at the loss of her left arm and wing. An Orc wept over the lifeless body of his wolf companion, a sword lodged in its side. A Human whimpered and inhaled sharply through her teeth, gazing wistfully at a tattered, bloody picture of her husband and infant son as she slowly bled out. An Elf cried out for his mother to please put his intestines back in his body. But the grunts, whines and groans from the wounded animals tore at Fluttershy's soul the most.

She heard someone approaching from behind and froze in place. Moments later a Siren passed by, dressed in a thick, bright red trench coat covered in pockets with a large, white plus sign stamped across the back. He also wore matching pants, thick brown boots caked in bloody mud and carried a large, brown leather bag at his side. Fluttershy quickly glanced down at herself to ensure her Chameleon armor was working properly, then cautiously glanced around the field. She saw maybe twenty others dressed like him scattered about, Sirens, Orcs, Humans and Elves alike, with more in the distance. They all tended to the wounded when they found one, but all spent most of their time examining the bodies for life signs, then uttering a few words before the dead suddenly disappeared in a shimmer of teleportation magic, or were encased within an earthen fist from below and gently dragged underground, or in the Humans' case, hefted onto a strange contraption that resembled a self-propelled, red-painted wagon.

Her heart ached and she wanted to help, but she didn't dare move. How could she? She had gotten separated from her friends and hidden herself away from the battle like a coward. Some of these beings - animals, Humans and Magikin alike, might still be alive and uninjured if she had only acted. But even if she had, what could she have possibly done?

Shame forced the last of her tears to her eyes, and they shut tight to drive them away. Her breathing quickened as she fought the urge to cry in vain. It was a few minutes until the agonized screams of an Orc receiving a healing poultice to his side forced them open again.

It offered her a moment of clarity. She knew how she could fix this. She knew how she could help to ensure something like this never happened again. And it involved getting to the top of this mountain.

She checked again to make sure no one could see her. Satisfied, she began a trembling trot towards the now-ruined fortress. She still didn't dare use her wings.

Minutes turned to hours as she walked. First she crawled over the crumbled, muddy-green buildings within the now-silent walls. She saw how the ribbon blades of the Sirens had torn and shredded their victims, how their Water magic had encapsulated the now-bloated bodies and drowned them on dry land. She also saw how Human weapons had pierced and punched through their enchanted shell armor; she discovered that Sirens bled a dark liquid resembling squid ink. Ruined machines lay smoldering among the bodies, their deadly functions now obscured and unknown to her. A few times she thought she had heard muffled cries for help underneath the rubble, but couldn't bring herself to touch the wreckage to check. Her breathing grew quick and shallow and her heart throbbed at the thought of what might lay beneath. Ashamed of her cowardice, she hurried on.

Past the inner wall of the fortress lay a thick patch of forest. Although she was still accompanied by lifeless bodies all around her, some even impaled and hanging in twisted positions atop tree branches, Fluttershy felt more at ease now that she was in cover. The eerie silence from the absence of animals or life in general, however, allowed her to reflect on her recent terrible decisions. Decisions that got her separated from her friends, decisions that caused her to see so many horrible things she would never un-see.

Decisions that threatened the lives of countless beings.

Decisions that threatened the lives of her friends.

Decisions that caused her to screw up her friends' carefully-laid plans.

Decisions that they might never forgive her for, and were well-deserved.

Decisions that didn't get her the help she was ashamed, reluctant, somehow still too proud to admit she needed, that she might not have made so many poor decisions today.

Oh Celestia, why am I so afraid?

A pained groan whispered through the trees. Fluttershy found herself at the forest's edge, a meadow dotted with large rocks leading her upwards. At first she froze in place, her ears perked up, trying their hardest to pinpoint the sound.

She found it a few moments later. A Human lay between some boulders to her right, face up in a pool of his own blood. She glanced around quickly; none of the Battle Menders had made it to this area yet.

Her heart beat loudly. This was her chance. She swallowed nervously.

Okay... I can do this... I think.

Her Chameleon armor shimmered intensely for a moment before barely glimmering at all, a clear sign that she was now visible. Timidly, she approached the wounded Human, who barely glanced in her direction. Coming closer, she saw that he was in very bad shape. Blood oozed out of a large gash in his side, and it trickled out of his mouth and nose.

"Um, sir?" Fluttershy spoke apprehensively. "Are you... okay?" She cringed immediately afterward.

What a stupid question.

His lips moved. Fluttershy leaned her ear closer to his mouth.

"Water," he strained, almost too quiet to discern. "Please... so... thir... sty..."

"Oh! Um..." Her eyes frantically darted around her surroundings, thankfully landing on a canteen by a dead Orc about fifty feet away. Being enchanted, water poured endlessly out of its opening as it laid on its side. "Ah! Hang on, I'll be right back!" She dashed towards the canteen, sweeping it into the crook of her hoof and turning back around in one panic-stricken motion. It sloshed invitingly as she ran as fast as she could back to the Human.

"Here, I've got you some water! Just-"

His eyes were blank as they stared off into the sky. His body moved no longer. Fluttershy sat down and stared at first, struck by the sudden realization of his death.

Of course. Thirst after losing a lot of blood... usually means they aren't going to make it.

She was no stranger to death. She tended the animals of Ponyville, after all. Whether it was old age, injury or illness, accidental or predator besting prey, she had been there for many a creature's final moments. Death was just as natural a part of life as birth. Yet this knowledge still didn't stop her from forcefully cradling the Human's head and pouring water into his mouth, becoming more distraught as it refused to go down his throat.

"You'll be okay... you're going to be okay..." Her sobs became more unhinged as the water mixed with the blood and deepened the puddle beneath him. Soon she was shouting at the corpse while trying her best to shove the entire canteen into his mouth.

"You're going to be okay!"

He's gone.

"You're going to be okay!"

It's all my fault.

"You're going to be okay!"

All of this is my fault.

"Fluttershy? Is that you?"

A sudden familiar voice broke the yellow Pegasus out of her trance. Before she could react a familiar presence scooped her up in moss-colored, heavily armored arms. In an instant she blinked away her tears.

"What are you doing here, little one?" Warmaster Dovah asked, cradling her like an infant. His face softened gazing upon hers, and he looked down to the deceased Human.

"He... he..." was all Fluttershy could force out. Dovah sighed.

"Ah... such a kind soul you are. Princess Rael'ia was right about you being the bearer of Kindness." He gently hugged the little pony and turned away from the sight. "Come, let us go. There is nothing more you can do for him."

He began walking towards his mount Breyva, who approached and met him halfway. Fluttershy was motionless as Dovah carefully set her atop Breyva's antlers, then mounted and rode slowly up the mountain. The Orc reached into a pouch on his belt and offered her a few dried brown leaves and white flowers.

"Here, eat this. You'll feel better," he spoke compassionately. Fluttershy wordlessly took the dried plants in her hoof and gingerly put them in her mouth. They tasted faintly sweet as she chewed, and soon after swallowing she felt her depression lifting.

"Thank you," she spoke quietly. Dovah nodded in response.

Time passed slowly, like fog rising into the sky. Fluttershy laid down within Breyva's left antler as they traveled. Dovah had taken to explaining the various funerary customs of the combatants: unless activated by a Battle Mender first, a piece of Magicite in an Elf's armor would teleport the body back to the nearest Temple of the Void after an hour of no life signs, where it would then be claimed, cremated and taken to the family copse for burial. The Silent Forest surrounding Crown Princess Rael'ia's home had centuries, even millennia worth of burials within it. Harpies were given sky burials back near their home villages, where scavengers would pick their bones clean before being collected, returned to their families and recycled into tools, weapons and armor. These bones would become heirlooms, radiating great power if they had belonged to a particularly fearsome warrior. Sirens had mostly the same customs underwater, although the bones were then left to collect in massive boneyards where coral was free to grow and fish were free to make their homes. Humans had shied away from natural burials long ago, and now often elected to be buried whole underground; flushed full of toxic chemicals, surrounded by material possessions and encased within coffins of artificial material that would never decay, although some of the more ecologically-conscious (or flat-out poor) ones would accept cremation and a simple urn in a catacomb. Finally, Orcs would simply summon an earthen hand to take hold of the deceased and sink it deep into the ground, where it would become one with the goddess Terras once more. A bioluminescent purple flower with black leaves and stems would grow to mark that place shortly after. Fluttershy saw this practice firsthand a number of times; whenever they came upon an Orc corpse, Dovah would dismount and check for life signs. Upon finding none, he would first collect a set of amber dog tags from their body. Then he would kneel, bow his head, place a hand on the body and recite a short prayer.

"Flesh and bone to earth and stone. May Terras guide you into rebirth."

A large hand made of dirt and stones would then rise from beneath the body, gently wrapping its fingers around it before sinking back below ground. The flowers would appear roughly ten seconds later, rapidly growing from a seedling to a bloom. Seeing this display of giving back to the nature that had borne them, Fluttershy felt a small smile creep across her muzzle. It wasn't unlike the quiet burials she would give animals back home.

Home.

It had been so long, she wasn't sure she could remember what it looked like. She closed her eyes in silent reflection. She hoped her animal friends, especially her dear little Angel bunny, were holding up fine without her.

Artificial thunder suddenly broke her from her thoughts, and almost instinctively her Chameleon armor shimmered into action. Her eyes widened in fear as she realized they were approaching the second of the massive Human fortresses that surrounded the upper reaches of the Crystal Mountain. She now saw and heard the sounds of battle high in the sky above it, full of warring Harpies and Humans on their flying mounts. But now there were airships of various sizes along with them, as well as two enormous Dragons that drew the bulk of their fire.

Her heart dropped into her stomach. They had to go forward.

"Ho!" Dovah whooped as Breyva let out a loud grumble and reared back on her hind legs, nearly throwing Fluttershy off. "Another battle rages on! Oh, this will be fun!"

"Do... do we really have to go this way?" She knew the answer already but hoped for a deus ex machina. Dovah's excitement quickly melted away at her timid voice.

"I am afraid so, little one. Not only is the earth swarming with Human Tunnel Tanks, but there are underground mines that prevent further incursion. Although," he paused, "you could simply fly above it all and get to the summit that way."

Hundreds of reasons why flying was a terrible idea flooded Fluttershy's mind. "I... I can't do that!" she cried. "So much gunfire, I can barely c-control my own wings with this armor, I... I'd be b-blasted out of the sky f-for s-s-sure!" Tears began to well in her eyes as the precognitive visions in her mind grew stronger.

Dovah said nothing, but only frowned. Fluttershy forced herself to take a few deep breaths.

"I... I'm sorry... you must think I'm such a scaredy-pony..." Her bowed head felt a gentle touch on her chin that lifted it up.

"Everyone handles these kinds of situations differently," Dovah spoke warmly. "You may cower, but I also believe you are far more capable than you think. You are a Bearer of Harmony for a reason, after all. Either way, it would be my honor to accompany you to the summit."

For the first time that day, Fluttershy felt as though reaching the summit would be possible. But a sudden reverberant echo in the clouds above was followed by a deafening roar of agony. The two looked upwards at the noise and were horrified to see a massive red Dragon hurtling towards them.

"Breyva! Go!" Dovah yelled. The moose quickly broke into a gallop to the right, nearly knocked off her hooves as the Dragon smashed into the ground behind them. She circled around and brought them near the creature, and Fluttershy gasped in horror. The Dragon, as large as the entirety of Ponyville's town square, groaned weakly as it lay on its side in a lake of its own blood. The poor beast's honey-tinted horns and claws were cracked and splintered; countless gashes and holes had been torn into its cinnabar scales and sunrise-colored wings, among which a perfect line of massive anti-air artillery had punched their way into its belly. So cavernous were the wounds that Fluttershy could hear the final, wet beatings of the creature's heart. As quickly as it had all happened, the Dragon breathed its last and perished.

"Pyrellia... sister of Pyrocitus," Dovah sighed solemnly. "By the goddesses, what a tragedy. A travesty!" he roared with renewed vigor. "We must end this slaughter! We must reach the summit!"

Breyva reared up with a grumble and began running towards the nearby battle. Fluttershy clung to her antler as she watched the Dragon's corpse slip further into the distance. Her mind was swimming, drowning with emotions. The weight of them all kept her silent until Dovah scooped her from Breyva's antlers and deposited her in the crook of his saddle right behind him. Grimacing, she held on as best she could.

In no time at all, the three had entered the fray. Dovah boldly bellowed as he swung his stone mace with all his might, sending crushed Humans flying with his blows. Breyva snorted and grumbled as she lowered her head, tearing and impaling their enemies with her armored antlers and trampling over what remained. Rocks and dirt kicked up in her wake were enveloped in the green glow of Dovah's Nature magic and hurled at more distant targets. Though he was the target of many an attack, the Orc laughed mockingly as bullets failed to pierce his thick armor, and shrugged off melee blows as if they'd never happened.

All the while Fluttershy clung to the Warmaster's belt, face buried in his armor and fearing she'd be thrown off with every movement. On occasion blood would splash onto her, to be barely rinsed away with anxious tears. Shouts, screams, booms, blasts, clangs and crunches from all directions rang deafeningly in her ears. Her nose filled unwillingly with the scents of blood, ash and gunpowder. She smashed her eyes shut as tightly as she could, desperately begging her mind to find somewhere, anywhere even just a little more peaceful, but found no such solace. It was everything she feared this conflict would be, and so much more.

She had almost expected to be hit at some point. But it still was a complete, shocking surprise when the ground suddenly shot up into the air and crumbled beneath them. Dovah shouted, Breyva yelped and Fluttershy shrieked as they were sent flying, then they all grunted in pain as they tumbled along the ground. The yellow Pegasus laid in a heap, at first accepting whole-heartedly that she was killed, only opening her eyes when she realized the horrors she still sensed wouldn't cease. The HUD in her helmet informed her that she had avoided injury, which she couldn't believe.

With a groan she struggled to her feet. She glanced back at Dovah and Breyva to see if they were okay, and she felt her stomach implode. While Dovah was kneeling, using his mace for support as he stood up, Breyva was frantically stumbling in circles, bleeding profusely from the shattered stumps that used to be her right foreleg and left front hoof, howling in agony. Half of her right antler was gone as well, spattering blood all over her face. As soon as Dovah laid eyes upon her, his own face paled until it was nearly white.

"No... NO!" he shouted as he nearly tripped over himself running to her side. His hands glowed as vines suddenly sprouted from the ground, wrapping around Breyva and forcing her still. She laid on her left side, kicking against the vines as Dovah then crammed his hands into a pouch on his belt, pulling out a cloth and a bottle of green liquid. Horrified as she was, Fluttershy scrambled to the moose's side and cradled her head, stroking her bloodied fur.

"It's okay... everything is going to be okay," she whimpered to Breyva, trying to calm and convince the animal as much as herself. The Magicite embedded in her armor glowed faintly; the moose soon quieted as if tranquilized. Dovah quickly poured the green liquid onto her wounds, which smoked and sizzled a little as the veins were cauterized.

Relieved, he allowed himself to look upwards; the relief was replaced with worry. Fluttershy looked behind her, pupils constricting in fear. A group of no less than fifty Humans were cautiously approaching them. She wouldn't have been as worried about them, but the fact that they were led by an Angel terrified her to her core. Its sword was slung over its shoulder like an executioner haughtily approaching the condemned.

"Fluttershy, you must go!" Dovah cried over the din of battle. "You are no match for that metal beast!"

She tried to move but her legs were paralyzed with terror. "But Breyva-"

"Don't worry about us! Just run! Run!" he snapped. "You need to get to the mountain's summit!"

She looked back to her advancing demise, then back to Dovah and Breyva, then back again. If she left, they would both surely be killed. But if she stayed, tried to protect them, all three of them would die there. Though her brain commanded her to run, her heart flooded her mind with loyalty and compassion, the need to help her friends. The sounds of war faded into soft murmurs.

Her fear turned to rage.

No.

NO.

Nopony else was going to die.

Nopony else was going to die because of her.

The shimmer of her Chameleon armor faded entirely, allowing all to see her. Her eyes narrowed until they were nearly shut. Her glare focused on the Angel that now closed the distance between them, its sword raised high, ready to cut her in half.

"No... you will NOT hurt them!" she screamed. "YOU WILL NOT HURT MY FRIENDS ANY MORE!"

The Angel's blade fell and stopped within an inch of Fluttershy's forehead. The Humans froze in place, seemingly at the sudden reluctance of their Nullium creation to kill this Magikin, this lone, mere pony. Fluttershy's anger was unwavering, and she continued to stare as if directly into the center of the metallic beast. Her body glowed an intense, blinding light green, and her eyes shone a pure white.

Suddenly, the tip of the Angel's sword discolored from muddy-green to gray, and spread rapidly. The Angel recoiled as the gray traveled down the blade's length, to the hilt, to the handle, to its hands, now unable to drop the weapon. Then its arms and its shoulders transformed and ceased to move. Its torso transformed and froze. Its head, legs and feet transformed and froze. Dovah waited for it to move, to show that whatever magic Fluttershy had summoned was ineffective, but it never did.

The Angel had turned to stone.

The Humans were next. Any that had looked upon her soon had a gray patch appear on their bodies, which quickly grew in size until their entire body had been discolored and petrified. They cried in horror as they realized what was happening to them, unable to flee, unable to move until their throats transformed, and they screamed no more. Fluttershy's body continued to glow for a few moments more until her eyes softened their gaze. Dovah stared in fear and awe as she finally let out a cocksure snort.

The next few minutes were spent stabilizing Breyva. More Orcs had come to their aid in that time, allowing Fluttershy to feel comfortable with leaving their company. Almost immediately they stared in amazement at the petrified Angel and Humans, disbelieving Dovah's account at first but soon accepting it, congratulating and offering words of encouragement to the little pony. One of the Orcs assisted Dovah in picking the moose up in his arms, intent on carrying her back down the mountain.

"Are you sure you'll be alright? She looks rather heavy," she asked timidly.

"I will be fine," Dovah reassured, his voice stern yet warm. "Though I have lost many comrades this day, none are as precious to me as my companion. I must bring her to the Battle Menders before the potion wears off."

He then turned to face the little yellow Pegasus. "Your courage not only saved me, but Breyva, too. And also our hope in winning this war," he slightly smiled. "I knew you were capable of great things, little one."

Fluttershy blushed. "Oh, it was n-nothing..."

"Now, I believe there is a mountain summit you must reach, where your friends are waiting for you. Though I can no longer go with you, I am certain you will make it on your own," he nodded, then stood at attention beating his right fist against his left pectoral muscle. "Goddess be with you, Kind Fluttershy of Equestria."

Fluttershy sheepishly nodded, waving as Dovah, Breyva and his accompanying Orcs began their retreat. After a few moments, she turned and gazed at the Crystal Mountain's summit. Before her, the second Human fortress guarding the top was well on its way to being razed, allowing her to see the rather drastic change from flat grassland and tundra to twinkling snow beyond it. Clouds still hung over the very top of the peak, obscuring it from view; it would have worried her before, but it didn't seem quite so worrisome now.

Was this... courage?

She sighed, then carefully extended her wings. Glancing at each of them, she flapped a few times and quickly rose into the sky. Making a few calculations in her head to ensure she had control over her own power, she then set off for the summit.