“Hurry!” Shining Armor yelled, sweat beginning to drip down his forehead as he held the support beam aloft in his telekinetic grip. Acrid smoke filled his lungs as the family of earth ponies darted past him into the fresh air outside.
With a groan, the house shifted under its weight. Clouds of soot filled the air, raining down from the ceiling as the upper floorboards cracked and splintered. Time to leave.
The increasing roar of flames nearly drowned out the thin voice crying for help. Muffled banging came from the closet door across the room. Somepony was still trapped inside.
Shit.
Releasing his grip on the beam, he bolted across the main lounge room toward the closet. With a resounding crash, the ceiling fell behind him, sending the burning upstairs bedroom down into the entryway of the house. Clouds of ash and smoke filled the room, sending him into a coughing fit as he turned and kicked hard against the closet door.
“Help!” came the desperate voice from the other side.
Another kick and the door was smashed. A teenage colt sat in the back of the closet, trembling as he looked up at Shining Armor. The house groaned and creaked louder, its walls now buckling under the weight of the upper floor. Timbers shattered and everything shifted, beginning to fall upon them.
“I’ve got you,” Shining said between coughs. His horn glowed, causing a magical field to surround them. With a sudden flash and pop, both he and the colt teleported outside just as the house collapsed into a smoking heap.
“Get to the train station!” Shining ordered.
As the colt ran off, a pegasus soldier flew quickly toward him, swooping low between rows of houses and setting down to face him with a brief salute. It was Fleeting Wind, lieutenant and scoutmaster of his unit.
“Captain,” she said, panting hard.
“What did you find?” Shining asked.
“It doesn’t look good. There are a lot more of them than we expected. They’ve advanced through a quarter of the town already, burning everything.
Shining sighed. He looked up at the cloudless skies with a scowl. “The other unit—who’s in charge?”
“No one, sir.”
“Damn it. We need a thunderstorm to help with these fires. Where the hell are their pegasi?”
Fleeting Wind cringed. “All dead, sir. A beekeeper showed up on the other side of town. They never stood a chance.
He winced, knowing the situation was worse than they could handle.
“Sir, I spotted a large group of children around the corner, not far off. If we don’t do something, they’ll all be—”
“Show me.”
With a nod, Fleeting Wind led him to a side street where two dozen foals were huddled under a thick shade tree with a mulberry-colored earth pony mare looking after them and trying to keep them calm.
Everypony turned as the two soldiers approached.
“You need to get these kids out of here, ma’am,” Shining said.
“Thank goodness,” the mare said to the pair of military ponies. “Have you come to stop them?”
“You don’t understand, miss…”
“Cheerilee. These are my students.”
“Miss Cheerilee, the town is lost. You all need to come with us.”
“What?” she said in disbelief. “It can’t—”
“Trust me. We move now or we all die.”
With that, Cheerilee stepped back, herding the children to follow the captain. They made their way quickly along a path which cut through a park toward the train station. The sounds of screaming and death echoed from the distance as the nightmares descended upon the helpless civilians.
An intact row of houses lay just ahead. If they could get to the next street, they might have a chance.
Just before reaching the far side of the park, an otherworldly roar pierced the air, causing everypony to startle. It was something very large and not far off.
Shining glanced over his shoulder, seeing the black mass of flesh lumbering along slowly with its top rising over the trees on the far end of the park behind them. A huge, buzzing cloud waved around in the sky above it like a massive flock of starlings, shifting and darting around at incredible speeds.
“I’m outta here!” one of the fillies in the group cried out in a panic. It was a little orange pegasus. Before anyone could stop her, she spread her wings and bolted into the air.
“Scootaloo, no!” Cheerilee cried out.
The nebulous cloud in the distance reacted instantly when the filly rose above the treetops.
Shining looked to Fleeting Wind, standing beside him. She glanced back to meet his gaze, her ears flat against her skull and a look of absolute terror in her eyes. She grit her teeth and shot into the sky to intercept the child.
His heart pounded as he watched helplessly from the ground, the sound of buzzing growing louder by the second. The black cloud shifted and stretched into a thin line in the sky, streaking toward the filly.
Fleeting Wind collided hard with her, grabbing her in midair before plunging straight down to the trees.
The pair of pegasi crashed straight into the foliage as the cloud of tiny horrors caught up, barely brushing against the lieutenant’s flank before retreating back into the sky.
“Ow! Oof. Ugh.” They tumbled through the branches, landing on the ground near the other students with all the grace of a sack of potatoes. Shining rushed up to her, tugging her to her hooves.
“I’ll be alright,” she said, gingerly examining the tiny bleeding gash where a piece of her hide was missing.
She turned to face the orange filly she had just plucked out of the sky. “You can’t do that. Stay down or you’ll be killed.”
Scootaloo stared into her eyes in abject panic. “We can’t stay here. We have to get away!”
“I know. Just follow the captain. We’ll get you out.”
Onward they pushed, through the rows of houses, crossing streets with caution lest they be spotted. The distant screams of ponies being cut down were getting closer now, the smell of blood wafting in on the breeze. At least the carnage was upwind, concealing their scent from the beasts, though the choking odor of death was nearly unbearable.
The train station was close now. At one intersection, Shining took a long glance down the street, seeing ravaged bodies strewn about. Not too far off, a throng of multicolored ponies was stampeding toward them, pursued relentlessly by a mob of black horrors.
Shining wanted desperately to help, but if he dared stray off their course, he would simply be slaughtered with them, along with the children. The civilians… they would buy the kids some time to escape. Steeling his resolve, he pushed the group forward, the train station now in sight.
With a wet thud and the crack of breaking bones, a pegasus dropped out of the sky, landing dead in front of them on the cobblestone street. It was a stallion. Probably. He had been entirely stripped of feathers, fur, and skin. His bare muscles shone exposed like one of those anatomy charts at the doctor’s office as his blood seeped into the cracks of the street.
The children all screamed. Looking up, the undulating cloud overhead twisted and retreated elsewhere to seek further prey.
Scootaloo clung tightly to Fleeting Wind, eyes wide and staring at the fallen pegasus while mouthing, “thank you thank you thank you,” repeatedly.
“Fleeting, go and get the others. We’re leaving. Now,” Shining ordered.
“Yes, sir,” she replied, spreading her wings.
“No!” Scootaloo cried, clinging to her leg. “Please don’t go.”
“It’ll be alright, kid. Just stick with the captain.” She gently pried the filly’s grip away and took off down the streets, staying as low as possible until she ducked around a corner, out of sight.
Upon reaching the train, Shining quickly got the driver’s attention.
“The town is lost. Get her fired up.”
He directed the children to board the train, but not before dozens of Ponyville citizens spotted them.
Fleeting returned with four soldiers on her tail. Everypony boarded quickly, ensuring the children were secure. It was a military transport, not one of those cushy civilian models. There would be room for a lot of them in the rear cars if they would hurry.
The train lurched forward a bit, ready to roll, its driver waiting for the signal.
“Get your asses in! Go go go!” he yelled out the window.
The sound of steel twisting horribly filled the cabin as the train buckled from side to side violently.
Shining stuck his head out the door, looking back to see several Umbra had leapt onto the train car behind theirs. Three incendris were with them, belching blue flames into the metal carriage, its interior now an inferno. A dozen or so Umbra clawed and tore at the train car, derailing it.
They weren’t going anywhere.
Shining bolted to the rear of the carriage where the joint between rail cars was. Horn aglow, he telekinetically released the coupling. He then yanked the cord on the wall, causing a shrill whistle to blow.
At this, the driver pushed the throttle to full, causing the wheels to spin against the track, spraying sparks from the contact. As their speed built, Shining looked back at the view from the rear of the carriage, catching the incendri Umbra setting the crowd of survivors alight. He pounded on the glass with his hooves, cursing himself internally for what he had done.
Sometimes, there were days he hated being a soldier.
Author's Note
This story was written in a single sitting when I was working on editing The Devil You Know.
The concept, draft, editing, and cover art was all done in the span of sixteen hours. 
I 
my team!
