Chapter 27

– Bloodlust –

“Woooooo! This baby is so cool!” Stormy shouted as she stood at the front of the ship.

We were speeding along the sands, the wind had picked up so we could give the engines a break. We only had a few spark batteries left so we needed to be smart. Thankfully Saskia said that Orphanage wasn’t too far away and they should have plenty of supplies.

I stepped down into the lower decks of the ship, finding Moonlight with a stethoscope against Rose’s large belly. She smiled as she pulled it away.

“Sounds like a perfectly healthy baby to me.” Moonlight said, putting her tool away in her bag.

“Wonderful. Thank you so much Moonlight.” Rose said, rubbing at her belly.

“Always happy to help. You’ve been through so much lately. Just relax and we’ll get you home.” Moonlight said, smiling at the mare.

“You two seem to be getting along well.” I said, walking beside Moonlight.

“She is an absolute delight. You all are so lucky to have a skilled medic on your team.” Rose said, gesturing at Moonlight.

Moonlight blushed, “I wouldn’t say skilled. I just know a thing or two.”

“Give yourself a bit more credit, Moonlight. You saved me in Bloodwing Caverns, not to mention fixing Stormy’s broken wing.” I said, patting her on the shoulder.

She blushed harder, “That was mostly Dr. Gingko. I just helped a little.”

“So modest. I know you’ll be a fine doctor someday dear.” Rose said encouragingly.

I heard movement at the hatch and saw Tumbleweed coming down the stairs. He moved up to Rose and put a hoof on her shoulder.

“How are you doing Mom?” He asked.

“I’m fine sweetheart. Moonlight is taking good care of me.” Rose responded.

The mother and son pair shared a loving nuzzle and I decided that I was not needed anymore. I made my way up the hatch and was soon followed by Moonlight.

“What’s up Shadow?” She asked.

“Just wanted to give them some family privacy.” I said.

“I know what you mean. I look at them and can’t help but think about my mother.” Moonlight said, looking off to the horizon.

“What was she like?” I asked.

“The most wonderful mare in existence. She always smiled around us, always made sure we felt loved. My big sister Nebula always tried to prank her when we were little. Mother never got mad though, even when she had a bucket of flour dropped on her.” Moonlight explained.

“You have a sister?” I asked.

“Nebula. She’s five years older than me. She was my protector. Kept all the bullies away from me. Let me sleep in her bed when the storms came. She was the best big sister.” She said.

“Where is Nebula now?” I asked.

“Back home.” Moonlight said, looking down.

“You miss her?” I asked.

“Of course I do. Her and Mother.” Moonlight said, her voice getting shaky.

I leaned in and gave her a nudge, “I bet she misses you too.”

Moonlight smiled and nudged me back, “So what about you Shadow? Any siblings?”

“Not by blood. I had cousins who were practically siblings. Silver Scroll and Grindstone. Silver is the biggest bookworm you will ever meet. And Grindstone, all brawn and absolutely no brains, but we love him.” I said, grinning at that last bit.

Moonlight giggled, “They sound like quite the pair. And your mother?”

“She is the best mother in the world. She taught me all about alchemy, understanding most zebra dialects, and tried to teach me good manners, but you can probably tell that didn’t pan out well.” I said.

She giggled more, “I wouldn’t say that. You can be quite the gentle stallion when you want to be.”

I blushed at that and we both just smiled at each other. It was so nice to have her back to good health. They group felt so much colder without her.
Before I could voice these thoughts, Saskia appeared beside us.

“What are you two giggling about?” She asked.

“Oh, just talking about family. What are you up to, Saskia?” I asked.

“Enjoying the view. It’s been so long since I’ve been to this region. Seeing the mountain range this close is refreshing.” Saskia said, looking off to the east.

“Yes, they are quite stunning. We didn’t have mountains back home.” Moonlight said.

“I’ve never seen mountains before either. I wonder how cold the peaks can get.” I said.

“Quite cold. But still beautiful.” Saskia said.

I turned to her, “You’ve been to several places haven’t you?”

“More than you could ever know.” Saskia said quietly.

“So how much farther to Orphanage?” Moonlight asked.

Saskia turned to the southwest, “Just over those last dunes.”

We all were excited to finally see the town, Moonlight was giggling about playing with the children. I loved seeing her so excited. She needed something nice after the hell she went through. Maybe we could stay for a few days and get some relaxation in.

As we moved over the dune, Saskia moved in front of us so everyone could see her as she gestured out into the wastes.

“Mares and Gentlecolts, I give you the town of Orphana-” Saskia started to say before she looked over her shoulder towards the town.

“No…” She said more softly.

Me and Moonlight were confused until we took a good long look in the direction she was gesturing. And both our eyes grew wide with shock and horror.

The town was nestled in a low spot on the sand, almost like they had dug it out of the desert. But the buildings that had once stood tall were now on fire, everything was burning. Smoke rose into the sky, the cloud layer blending into it. No wonder we hadn’t noticed it from afar.

“Ratchet! Full speed ahead!” I shouted towards the wheelhouse.
The ship suddenly jerked and made us all stumble as Ratchet fired up the engines and flew across the sands and breakneck speeds. As the town grew closer, I moved into the wheelhouse.

“Ratchet, bring us just outside the town. We don’t know what’s happening and I don’t want to risk the ship getting damaged in the flames.” I said.

“Roger that partner.” Ratchet said.

Stormy emerged from the bottom level along with Meadow, the pegasus was rubbing the back of her head.

“Hey, what’s with the sudden turbulence? You made me bump my…” Stormy started to say before she saw the flames.

Ratchet stopped the ship several meters from the town, avoiding any embers that could threaten the ship.

We all stood on the deck of the ship, looking at the burning town.

“What in Luna’s name happened here?” I asked no one in particular.

“THE CHILDREN!” Saskia shouted, jumping off the ship before Ratchet even had a chance to put the ramp down.

“Saskia! Wait! Don’t go in there alone!” I shouted at her, but she was already out of sight.

“Dammit! Moonlight, Stormy, to the sky! Search for survivors!” I shouted back at our two fliers.

Stormy nodded and flew straight into the air.

Before Moonlight took off, I grabbed her hoof, “Please be careful.”

Moonlight nodded, “I will. Please be safe, Shadow.”

“I will. Hurry.” I said.

She nodded and took off to join Stormy in the air. Stormy waited for her and when they reached each other, they flew towards the town.

“Ratchet, Tumbleweed, stay on the ship with Rose! Don’t let anything on this ship!” I said.
Both stallions gave me a nod of confirmation.

“Alright, Meadow let’s…” I started to say before looking at the kirin.

She was sitting on the deck, her eyes were filled with fear and horror. She wasn’t blinking and her body trembled. I remember her doing this in the stable. What is wrong with her?

“Meadow!” I shouted at her.

She didn’t respond.

“Meadow, snap out of it!” I shouted again, moving closer to pull at her shoulder.

She screamed and shoved me off so hard I fell off the ship. I quickly recovered and got back onto the ship in time to see her running down the hatch to the bottom level of the ship. What in Tartarus was that about?

I groaned, “Ratchet, keep an eye on her. Kill anything that comes near this ship that isn’t us.”

“Roger that, partner.” Ratchet said, looking back towards the hatch with a raised eyebrow.

I ran down the gangplank and moved into the burning town. The roads were large enough that I could move through them while keeping my distance from the buildings. What could have caused this fire? Sabotage? Were they attacked by raiders?

I heard a feminine scream from ahead of me. Doubling my speed, I turned the corner towards the center of town and saw Saskia huddled over something. As I skidded to a halt next to her, I almost slipped. When I looked down at what was the cause, my stomach churned.

Blood. The ground was saturated with blood. The sands turned red and black.

Saskia was cradling something, I moved to her side and saw that it was a foal. A little earth pony filly by the looks of it. It was horrifying. The body looked like it had been drained and dried out. Similar to the foal back in Hydra Junction that was attacked by bloodwings. No bloodwing could cause this much damage and they would have been swarming the sky if they were here.

As I looked more closely around the area, I saw more corpses. Colts, fillies, even some adult ponies. All in the same condition.

“Saskia…” I said softly as I turned back to her.

“Dead. They’re all dead. Who could do this to these sweet innocent angels?” Saskia cried.

I heard the flapping of wings and saw that Stormy and Moonlight had found us. They landed next to us and looked at the blood soaked area.

Moonlight looked horrified at all the dead bodies. It was too much for her as moved a bit away and emptied the contents of her stomach. Stormy looked horrified as well, getting dizzy as her legs wobbled.

“The hell happened here?” Stormy asked.

“I have no idea. Raiders can’t do this. So many children…” I said, my voice getting low.

Images from the past soon flooded my vision as I looked at the corpses of the foals. Children screaming as they were strapped to a medical table. The pleading looks of desperation as the tubes were placed in their legs. The screaming as I…

NO!

I shook my head to make those memories go away. I can’t think about that right now. I have to keep my friends safe.

“Stormy, did you two see any survivors?” I asked the pegasus.

She shook her head, “No, we did a full grid search around the town. We could barely see anything with all the smoke, so we didn’t see anypony.”

Moonlight came back on shaky legs, “What do we do Shadow?”

As I opened my mouth to speak, a scream filled the air. A filly’s scream.

Before any of us had a chance to react, Saskia was on her hooves again and off like a bullet, running towards the source of the scream.

“Saskia, wait dammit! Ugh, come on you two!” I groaned in frustration as I gestured for the two fliers to give chase with me.

We followed Saskia as she rounded a corner, and almost bumped into her as she took there, unmoving.

I walked next to her, “Saskia, you can’t keep running off…”

As I was scolding her, I turned to look at what had made her stop and even my stomach felt like I was going to lose my lunch.

Sitting on the street of the town was a figure, hunched over something. A sickly slurping sound came from it, but it was hard to tell what it was as the wings hid most of its body. These wings looked wrong, they were different colors. One had a grey bone structure while the other had a red one. They looked unnatural.
As we all stared at this thing, its ears perked up and it slowly turned its head in our direction. As we got a better look at this thing, my heart grew cold. It wasn’t right. This thing wasn’t natural.

It looked like a thestral, with the body structure of a pony. Its coat was black as night, but the ears looked more like a bats, however. It had spikes coming out of its cheeks as well. But what truly caught my attention was its eyes. They were red with some kind of pink pupils that seemed to have veins stretching out from the iris. What kind of creature had eyes like that?

Then I finally noticed what was in its mouth. Its fangs were currently sunk into the neck of a unicorn filly. The body was drained like all the others but more fresh. She must have been the one who screamed earlier.

The creature dropped the filly and smiled at us. The moment it took a step towards us, Saskia roared with rage and in a flash, Bane and Blight appeared in front of her, firing a barrage of bullets at the creature. The beast didn’t have time to move before the bullets hit home again and again.

The storm of lead tore the beast apart as it fell to the ground with its face and torso shredded. Blood poured from it as it laid there.

Saskia was still pulling the trigger, even after I could hear the clicking of empty guns. She just kept trying to put more bullets into the monster.

I put my hoof on her shoulder, “Saskia, it’s alright. You got it.”

Saskia jerked her head towards me, and when her eyes met mine, I could swear for a second they seemed to turn green.

Before I could contemplate what was up with her eyes, Moonlight tapped me on the shoulder.

“Shadow…” She said with a shaky voice.

“What?” I asked.

She pointed to the street where the creature had been, and when I looked, my blood ran cold in my veins.

The creature was getting back on its hooves, getting us a full view of its body. It seemed to have some sort of scales around its neck, looking almost like a necklace. One large spike sticking out of its chest. And on its legs were not hooves, not really. They were claws, sticking out where the hoof should be. Spikes were also visible from behind its knee. Its mane and tail were white as snow, stained at the ends with blood as the red faded moving up. And it had a cutiemark, depicting a leech draining blood from a heart.

As it stood up, it spoke, “Not nice.”

Its voice was feminine but with a bit of a bestial growl. She stared at us for several seconds before smiling with her blood stained teeth. She took another step forwards us with her reformed leg.

Saskia ran forward and unleashed more bullets against the creature. This time, the beast flew into the air and tried to dodge the attack, only to get her wings filled with holes and forcing her to crash into a large building nearby. Saskia ran in after it, the fire spreading and blocking the entrance where they disappeared.

“Saskia!” I shouted, moving to look for another way inside.

“What was that thing?” Stormy asked.

“You don’t think it’s another fury do you?” Moonlight asked, her voice still shaky.

“I think it is. It healed so fast, there’s no other explanation.” I said.

“Fury? Like those freaky mares that Tumbleweed talked about in the stable?” Stormy asked.

“That’s them. And if this is a fury, we can’t kill her. Moonlight, go tell Ratchet what we’re dealing with. Stormy, keep an eye out here. I’m going in after Saskia.” I said, taking out my sword.

Moonlight nodded and flew off into the air. I found another opening in the building, cutting through a flaming ceiling beam and unblocking my path. I pulled out a cloth from my saddlebags and placed it over my mouth to block out the smoke. My eyes burned as I moved through the building, the flames getting less intense the further I went in. Perhaps this building hadn’t been burning as long, the fires hadn’t reached the center of the structure.

I needed to get Saskia to see reason, we can’t beat this thing. If it’s anything like Algea and Achlys, then it won’t stay down. And judging by the state of the town, it was powerful enough to wipe out every pony here.

The structure shook and almost dropped another flaming beam on top of me. I dodged it just in time, landing in the open area that looked like it used to be a library. The large door that led to the next room was barely open, only a small opening giving me a glance to what was happening on the other side.

I saw Saskia, reloading Bane and Blight before being struck by a black and white streak. Her guns dropped from her green magical glow as she stumbled, barely keeping herself on her hooves. But before she could retrieve her guns, the bat creature jumped onto her back. Saskia tried to buck her off, but it was too late. The beast sank its fangs into her neck, causing my friend to scream out in pain.

This made me furious and I started to push against the large door that barred my way. The wood had been ruined and some parts of the wall had collapsed by the door. Pushing with all my might only got me so far. I slipped and hit the ground, catching some embers on the side of my neck. I quickly padded myself before looking back to Saskia.

The creature had jumped off of Saskia, but something wasn’t right. Her fangs were not covered in blood as I thought they would be. The substance on her teeth was sickly green, and judging by the look on her face, it didn’t taste all that great.

“What are you? I know pony blood, and that is not it.” The bat thing said.

Saskia grunted and held her neck where she was bitten. Her horn glowed bright as the green leaking from her turned red.

The bat chuckled, “What’s the point in illusions?”

Then her eyes widened with realization, “Oh ho. Your little friends out there don’t know, do they?”

“SHUT UP!” Saskia shouted, blasting a bolt of magic at her foe.

The bat creature just jumped out of the way, “Temper temper. Now, since you taste like rancid asparagus, I don’t see a need for you to be alive. So you can take your secret to your grave, if you get one that is.”

The bat lunged forward, but Saskia teleported out of the way. This gave me just enough time to push the door over, causing it to slam against the floor. This got both mares' attention as I rushed forward, Venta drawn as I stood between them.

As the bat creature got a good look at me, she smiled with glee, “You must be Shadow! My sisters told me about you.”

“So you are a fury. Who are you?” I asked.

“Oh, where are my manners? I am Limos, Goddess of Hunger and Starvation.” She bowed respectfully at me.

“Limos. Was it you that destroyed this town?” I demanded.

“Well, I can’t take all the credit. They attacked me too. All I wanted was a drink.” Limos said.

“You killed children!!” Saskia yelled at the fury.

She gave Saskia a sly grin, “Oh yes. The little ones are so sweet. Fresh, unspoiled by the hardships of the wastes.”

Saskia pushed forward, but I stuck out my foreleg to stop her.

“Why this town? Why all this destruction?” I asked.

“Hmm, what answer would you like? Fun? Boredom? Thirst? Cause they kept all these little treats to themselves?” Limos said, waving her hoof aside.

Saskia pushed my leg, but I held my ground. I saw Bane and Blight on the ground to the side of us. My magic still focused on my sword, no one noticed that a few things were floating out of my saddlebags.

“You are just as twisted as your sisters.” I said, trying to keep her attention.

Limos giggled, “Guilty as charged. Now, wanna have some fun Shadow?”

She leaned down to ready herself for a pounce.

“Not really.” I said.

It was right at that moment that I set my plan into motion. I quickly grabbed Saskia’s guns in my magical grip, while also throwing the grenades I had gotten out of my saddlebags towards the wall behind us. As the explosion tore a hole in the wall, the roof started to collapse. I pushed Saskia towards the hole, struggling as she was blind with rage. But with enough pushing, I got her through the hole before it collapsed on itself.

We stood outside in the streets again, Stormy seeing us, making her fly towards us.

“You two alright?” She asked.

“Saskia is hurt. We need to get back to the ship and get out of here.” I said.

The roof of the building burst open and Limos flew towards us with bloodlust in her eyes. I pushed the girls out of the way and blocked her charge with my sword. She pushed me back several feet before I was able to dig my hooves into the ground and gain my footing. She had her mouth on my sword, trying to bite through it. Thankfully, the metal was too strong for her jaw. I pushed her back and slashed at her.

The slash cut her ear off, but as she landed a few feet away, it grew back quickly.

She scratched at her new ear, “Nice blade. Wanna see mine?”

She screeched into the air, making me look at her with confusion. After a few seconds, a pair of round objects flew towards her from behind. She flexed out her wings and caught the two projectiles, spinning them on the spikes of her wings. After they stopped spinning, I got a good look at them. They were twin chakrams, the metal gleaming in the light of the fire. The insides of the blade had a bat wing shape, stretching out between the gap of the blades.

“Aren’t they lovely? This is Hemorrhage. Made just for me.” She said, spinning them on her wing claws.

“Fascinating weapons. How did they come back to you like that?” I asked.

“Special enchantment. They respond only to a specific frequency, which only I can produce.” She boasted.

I stood ready, she was going to throw those things at me. I had to be ready, or I’d be cut to ribbons.

She grinned at me and did exactly as I said she would, throwing both chakrams at me. The deadly discs soared through the air, spinning as they closed in on me. I took my sword to the side and waited, focusing on just the blades. At just the right moment, I took my sword and batted the spinning blades aside, making them dig into the building to my sides.

But as I reveled in my accomplishment of blocking the attack, Limos suddenly appeared above me. I had focused so much on the blades, I hadn’t kept an eye on her movements. She dove and struck at my side, forcing me to topple over. Before I could recover, Limos was on top of me, biting into my neck. I grunted but did not scream, gritting my teeth to avoid biting my tongue. I focused all my mental capacity on my horn, pulling Umbra from its sheath. I stabbed my dagger into her neck, digging it in as far as I could. This caused her to recoil away from me, making me pull my dagger back as I held my neck.

Her neck healed as she licked her lips, “Now that is delicious! What do you do to make your blood taste so divine?”

“Piss off.” I spat back, still holding my wound.

She gave me a deadpanned look, “Really Shadow? That’s the best you can come up with. What are you, a colt?”

She flew at me again, causing me to dodge to the left, avoiding her wing claw. She twisted herself as slashed at me with her claws. My barding took the brunt of the attack, but it left claw marks that barely missed my hide. I fell again, my vision starting to waver from the bloodloss.

“You know, I was told you were a fun opponent. This is way too easy. Algea and Achlys must have been pulling my leg.” Limos said, looking disappointed.

I took out my shotgun and pointed at her, my magic faltering and making me drop the gun. Limos stood over me and gave me a disappointed look.

“I know I’m not supposed to kill you. But you look so pitiful right now. Kinda spoiling my appetite.” Limos said.

“Then how about a taste of the next course!” A mare’s voice said as a purple leg swung around and kicked Limos right in the face.

Limos flew and crashed into a building, Stormy landing gracefully in front of me. Holy Luna, she was strong.

Limos dug her way out of the rubble and glared at the pegasus. She took to the air, Stormy flapping her wings to lift herself up, looking back at me.

“Get back to the ship! I got this!” Stormy said, flew straight for Limos.

The two fliers collided in mid-air, Stormy delivering another swift kick, which was blocked by Limos. Limos attempted to grab Stormy, most likely to get a bite in, but Stormy did a flip in the air and kicked her down into the dirt. Limos roared in rage and flew up at the pegasus again, this time connecting with her in a mid-air grapple. Stormy flipped and maneuvered, trying to avoid the fury’s fangs. With one last spin, Limos lost her grip on her prey, making her turn back around, only to receive another kick to the face.

Limos landed on the streets, Stormy landing not far from her. The bat fury rubbed at her cheek.

“You are so annoying. You might be a better flier than Achlys.” Limos spat.

“Normally I’d be grateful for that comment, but considering you’re a child killing psychopath that looks like something out of a horror book, you can shove it up your ass.” Stormy spat back.

“Careful, watch that tongue or I might bite it off.” Limos grinned wickedly.

She lunged and Stormy dodged yet again. She was incredible. I had heard pegasi were agile but she’s almost as skilled in the air as I am on the ground.

“What are you still doing here, Shadow?” Stormy shouted at me.

I shook my head, picking up my weapons as I started moving down the street in the direction of the ship. I had to dodge Limos a few times when Stormy would knock her into a building. Limos eventually noticed me trying to escape.

“Oh no you don’t! I’m still thirsty!” Limos said, diving at me from up high.

I looked behind me and saw her coming straight at me, fangs bared and eyes glowing with evil intent. Stormy once again intervened and kicked her across the street, leaving a cloud of dust amidst the smoke.

I moved quickly, hearing Stormy covering me from above. The ship was in sight, Moonlight waiting for us by the gangplank.

“Are you two ok? Saskia had a nasty bite. She’s with Ratchet.” Moonlight said, worry in her voice.

“I got bit too. But we can worry about that when we’re safe.” I said.

“You are not safe..” A low feminine growl came from behind us.

Limos was back again, eyes glowing a reddish-pink, “NONE OF YOU ARE SAFE!”

Stormy flew into action again, only this time Limos was prepared. She threw Hemorrhage at my pegasus friend, managing to graze Stormy’s side as she tried to dodge. A screech came from Limos as the blade came back around. I moved forward and blocked the return strike with Venta. The chakrams returned to their master and she slowly licked the blood off the blade. Limos shook a little, like a chill went down her spine, her eyes went wide.

“More! I want more!” Limos shouted, baring her fangs.

I stood in front of Stormy, catching Limos’ teeth with my sword. She struggled against me, her eyes seeming more animalistic than they were before.

“How can we stop her!?” Stormy shouted at me.

“I don’t know! Nothing we’ve tried has kept them down for more than a few seconds. Decapitation, guns, impalement, nothing works!” I shouted back, holding the fury back with all my strength.

A crack of lightning struck the sky, making us all look up. It wasn’t raining yet, but I could feel it coming. A storm was brewing in the clouds above.

I managed to push Limos back. She glared at us with those unnatural eyes, sizing us up like a cat ready to pounce at the slightest movement.

I looked back and saw that Stormy was looking up at the sky, an unreadable expression on her face as the lightning flashed again.

She looked at me, “Lead her away from the ship and keep her from moving for a minute.”

“What?” I asked.

Stormy didn’t answer my question and took off into the air.

Was she insane!? She’ll get hit by lightning and fried to a crisp!

Limos interrupted my inner panic for my friend as she leaped at me again. All I could do at this time was trust Stormy. I maneuvered around the fury and ran off towards the side of the ship. I knew one thing that could possibly hold her in place long enough.

“Ratchet! Throw me your rifle!” I shouted towards the top deck.

A few seconds later, Ratchet’s Railway Rifle flew over the side and I quickly caught it in my magical grip. Running back towards the burning town, with the sound of wings following close behind me, I found an old dead tree still standing.

As I reached the tree, I turned and skidded to face my pursuer. Limos landed in front of me, smiling wickedly.

“You are very good at running away, Shadow. But that’s ok, I love hunting little ponies. I can hear your little hearts beating. Delicious blood flowing through your veins.” Limos said, licking her fangs as her eyes shined with bloodlust.

I pointed Ratchet’s rifle at her, “Yeah, come and get it.”

She charged and I threw the rifle above me, skidding onto my back as she came above me. I quickly moved my hindlegs against her belly, pushing her back over me and into the tree. When I returned to my hooves, I caught the rifle in my magic and fired it. My cool stunt was ruined by the fact that the rifle had more recoil than I was expecting. I guess that’s why Ratchet had it on a battle saddle. I nearly lost my grip on the weapon but held firm as the spike pinned Limos to the tree.

She screeched in pain, the spike having hit her in the shoulder. I fired more spikes at her, impaling her into the tree. Blood leaked from her wounds, more than I really thought was possible. The ground was already soaked.

“I AM GOING TO GUT YOU!” Limos screamed at me.

She tried to pull herself off the tree, but another spike from Ratchet’s rifle stopped her for just a bit longer. What was Stormy up to?

As that thought left my mind, thunder rumbled above me. I looked up and saw something heading towards us. A purplish-blue streak flying across the sky and barrelling right in our direction. Seeing it get closer and closer, I ran for cover behind a large boulder, sliding onto my side with my hooves over my head.

“The fuck is wrong with you?” Limos said with confusion.

She had a few seconds to look up, the thunder booming as the streak struck home. An explosion of heat and sand flew across the area, some hitting me and making me pat myself down to avoid a burn. When the dust cleared, the tree that Limos had been pinned to was gone. Barely a stump remained, and from where I stood, no clear sign of Limos.

As I surveyed the area, I wondered what had caused that. Lightning striking at that precise moment, in that particular spot was near impossible. Stormy’s words rang through my head, but no pegasus could control a bolt of lightning that precisely.

But as I spotted something on the ground, my heart sank. There, lying in the burnt sand, was Stormy, on her side, unmoving.

“Stormy!” I shouted, running to her side.

I moved her onto her back and shook her, “Stormy!”

She didn’t respond.

I moved my head to her mouth, and felt no breath. I checked her heart…nothing.

I immediately remembered my CPR training that Master Zala drilled into our heads. I started compressions and counted to three.

“Shadow!” Moonlight shouted, landing next to me.

“Moonlight! She’s not breathing!” I shouted, panic in my voice.

Her face grew pale and she too went to a CPR trained position.

She held her muzzle against Stormy’s, breathing into her mouth before pulling back, “Compressions!”

One, two, three, I pushed on her chest. Another breath, one two three.

“Stormy! Come on!” I screamed, tears forming in my eyes.

One, two, three. One, two, three.

Suddenly, a gasp came from our friend, finally. She was conscious, but still could not seem to pick herself up. She struggled to even look at us.

As the relief of seeing Stormy alive washed over me, a sense of dread went down my spine. I sensed something nearby. Something bad.

I looked away from my friends and saw a black burnt husk, with what looked like tattered wings, or what was left of wings. The body was almost unrecognizable, but I knew what it was. I got up from my spot at Stormy’s side and slowly walked over to it. Was she dead? Surely she couldn’t recover from this much damage.

The remnants of her head were more intact than I thought they would be. I could make out her eye sockets, with one of her eyes still intact, while the other was burnt to a crisp. As I stood over her charred corpse, something caught my attention almost immediately.

The remaining eye had suddenly moved and stared straight at me.

I jumped back, my heart beating so fast in my ears it was deafening. She was alive!

And while I stood there frightened, her other eye very slowly began to reform.

And with that, I was running. I picked up Stormy in my magical grip and looked to Moonlight, “WE NEED TO LEAVE, NOW!”

Moonlight looked terrified, seeing me actually scared must have been worse than I thought it would be. We both ran at full speed back to the ship. I jumped on deck, quickly pulling the gangplank back up with me.

“Shadow, what in tarnation happened?” Ratchet asked.

“NO TIME! GET US OUT OF HERE!” I shouted at him.

He could tell that there was no arguing with me. He ran to the wheelhouse and started up the engines. I helped Moonlight take Stormy below deck, where we saw Rose and Tumbleweed tending to Meadow, who was still wide eyed and unmoving.

The ship rocked violently as we took off. Saskia was sitting in a corner far away from the rest of us. A bandage covering her bite wound, probably from Moonlight.

My heart slowly started to go back to normal. My friends were safe. I could relax… for now.

Footnote:

No status change

Author's Note

Hey guys, Hades here.

Another chapter down! And another Fury appears, Limos.

If you are curious what she looks like, here she is.

Art is by Glumarko
The creation of her design is thanks to my wonderful girlfriend, MysticalOwl417 ^^