A cry, high pitched and somewhat feminine, not too far away from where he was, reached his ears despite the louder noise the stomping of the golem caused.

It took him by surprise. It was safe to say that the voices belonged to someone young, or the creatures, maybe people, were women or young lads. Without a doubt, it had to be connected to the worst-case scenario he had in mind.

He was sure of two things at the moment; one, there was someone in need of help. Two, that probably they will die without his intervention. Meaning, that he will waste more time here in the forest, which he cannot allow himself to allow and whoever’s lives were at risk, he had a moral obligation to save them because he had the means with which he could do it.

But he kept in mind his position and what was to transpire or transpired. Until he finds out where he is, he ought to be discreet with his actions and decisions.

Without any further redundant waiting, he jumped off the golem, and landed on the ground before the stony construct. His horn sparked with white, and his whole body was covered by a transcendent mist, like a layer of a very thin spider web.

He sprinted forward, moving faster than wind, leaving behind himself a shiny trail correlating in color with what he wore. The spell he cast increased his speed immensely. He was racing through the forest ignoring the path he originally followed while riding the golem, heading the direction which led directly to the source and the enemy he expected to face.

A far-reaching gap in the ground, through which the water flowed, making it impossible to continue stood in his way. He jumped without slowing down, with an impressive speed almost in a straight line, he flew across it and landed on the other side.

The landing left the ground with a small dent in it and dirt and greenery scattered around as his steps carried a powerful dose of kinetic energy.

He dashed forward.

From his perspective, the surroundings lost some of their colors, but nonetheless, he saw that everything seemed...blue.

He stopped sustaining the spell, he ran as fast he could, keeping the momentum. The environment was dark and covered by a layer of weird tint. The sky was alright, but the leaves and the plants...They all seemed dreamy, and fake, like a cheap illusion cast by someone who was good and had a thing for it. Dark shades that under the light gave a shine like polished glass were the weirdest of all the cosmetic changes.

Hearing a deep wheeze, or more like snort and growl before him, matching the sounds he knew well, with a subtle shine of light blue and yellow coming from behind a layer of bushes, he prepared himself mentally for the quick match. He ran a few scenarios through his head, engineering the end and start, with every step he made.

A mighty glow of white followed by him being enveloped in a fair blue bubble, more visible near its bottom and upper part.

He charged forward.

With the violent rustling and cracking of sticks and leaves, he quickly snatched a large branch from the bushes and grabbed it tightly.

Right after that, he emerged, his eyes already up and looking at his target.

“That’s a new breed,” He said quietly, confirming his theory.

“Ahh! Sweet Celestia!!! What is that?!” Sweetie Belle yelled out her question in terror.

Applebloom and Scataloo were right beside her, they all raced for their lives, with Morning Dew ahead of them who didn’t bother to look behind or wait.

The girls heard as something heavy and compelling was moving behind them, the sound of wood grinding against each other and leaves rustling didn’t stop even for a split second. The blue nightmarish aura was advancing as energetically as they've run.

“Just go! Go! Go!” Scootaloo added in desperation, her voice cracking as she murmured the last word.

The fillies used their hands to push away any bush or obstacle that was in their way. Apple Bloom helped Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo as they struggled to run, farm life made her somewhat prepared to live up to the demands of such dire situations.

A large boulder, black and sharp however, had other plans for them. Apple Bloom, too worried for her friends, turning her attention mostly to them to aid them, tripped and cut her leg on it. A paralyzing jolt of pain she never felt before rushed up to the very top of her head through her body.

She immediately left out a subtle grunt, but quiet, it hid her pain away in the desperate begging gasp for air.

“Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo called and immediately rushed to her side, she managed to grab her friend before she descended down and potentially also hurt herself in the head.

She looked at the reason for her friend falling and right away her eyes locked onto the sight of a serious wound, not too deep but covering a large amount of distance on Apple Bloom's bottom part of her leg.

“Sweetie Belle hel-”

She stopped and saw the monster that was chasing them. It was bipedal, extremely large, and was all blue, emitting a sapphire gleam from its body, with the eyes and the inside of its mouth glowing bright golden yellow.

The creature had two legs and arms, like almost all other races she could think of. It however possessed androgynous gender parts, holding what she could describe as feminine and masculine features. Lanky arms, that became thicker on the forearms and large hands, with the fingers being also very long, reminding her of the talons griffons possessed. The chest was thick and seemed to be expanding as it came closer to the neck.

The thing was a walking tree to summarize. With branches growing upwards from its head and back, creating the crown with green leaves that fell down with its every step endlessly. Its head was tear-shaped, and the top part, where its mane was supposed to start, had quirkily tangled together wooden growths that made it look like it had hair.

Its V-shaped body wasn’t all bulky as they expected, and the speed with which it approached them wasn’t slow but fast and steady.

Fireflies surrounded it, forming a cloud. Flowers, blue but glowing and brighter than the surroundings, grew close to where it stood and released pollen into the air, barely visible.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle in their fear, without commenting or giving any reaction swiftly managed to pick Apple Bloom up, with the filly holding her leg up, as a stream of red liquid poured down on the ground in three streams.

The monster, however, stomped. A moment later, under the ground wooden tentacles started to move towards the three fillies. Passing them by the side, they emerged before them composing a wall of wood and vines, stones and dirt. It blocked the way and made them fall backward on their backs, while they screamed in horror.

Spike had an argument with Zecora, but both knew they couldn’t just argue when lives were at risk, especially one’s so close to them. She allowed him to go, and ordered him to guard himself, and not attack if absolutely necessary. She took her spear and a bag full of potions she used as weapons by throwing them at her enemies.

He wanted to, but couldn’t agree to her terms. If he sees an opportunity, then he’ll do it.

From experience, Spike knew that they had different effects. Some bottles were special, split into two parts, where when two liquids mixed upon the glass breaking, they together created an explosion. Others just changed things, as they were purely magical. Many of her potions however mostly did something the foes when in contact.

Speaking of making contact.

The two of them were quick to arrive at the site.

Spike’s fear became true in the end. Before them was nothing else than a Treeman. A being that belonged to the artificially made puppets which answered to Nightmare Moon, which she created while she fought with Celestia.

Some of them were believed to still have existed in the Everfree forest, and this one was direct proof that indeed, there probably are more or that this one might be the last one, which was unlikely considering Nightmare Moon’s return did summon back many of them at her arrival. It rekindled the spark of life she bestowed upon them. That was the official theory.

Spike felt relieved after his analysis. Since the Treeman made everything around turn blue, and didn’t radiate a thick shadow that harmed the environment It indicated it was a regular one, not an alpha, which made it way better. Alpha’s possessed the ability to cast magic in large proportions.

Spike saw it take the hand from the ground, and tracked the vines that grew from the ground exactly to a wall made from something like a root.

There, through gaps in the thick grass, he saw the butter-yellow coat of Apple Bloom, and her red hair like that of a ripe apple. Beside her, laid Scootaloo, with her small wings, and on the opposite side, there was Sweetie Belle wearing a cute dress.

Zecora’s and Spike’s attention got hooked on a colt who approached them from the front without a warning, he held a terrified expression painted on his face. Zecora didn’t at first know what to expect, so the colt met with the tip of her spear.

“Don’t turn me into some brew...Please” He said, quivering.

Zecora let out a sigh as she was relieved to see just a colt before her and not something worse. Spike then took the initiative as he pointed Zecora to the main problem. The colt’s expression became positive and happy, he looked at the dragon with hope.

“Are the elements coming?! Is Applejack or Miss Rarity with you?” He said full of hope.

“What’s your name?” Spike answered with a question, his sword in his hand.

“Morning Dew.”

“Just wait here and hide behind something, ok? Do that for me.”

Morning Dew did it, and he didn’t see anyone else come in the same direction Spike or the Zebra had come. The fear returned once again. He suspected that the zebra was Zecora, the potion maker and alchemist the cutie mark crusaders talked about him and told him off.

As he watched carefully, he noticed somepony appear to the west, something like a magical shield protecting the unicorn...Yes, it was a unicorn, with a big horn to be specific, although a strange one.

“Who is that?”

The monster had its hand in the air, and from the middle of its palm, a tentacle-like branch, which swung from the right to left emerged, like a disgusting worm. The monster then started to reach for the young ponies.

“I won’t just stand idly!” Spike gave his final answer to Zecora, who hated it.

She took one of her potions out of her bag, it was glowing bright orange. She ran up and took a swing. With all her might, she threw the bottle at the monster.

A bright and powerful bolt of what it appeared to be, raw magic flew above her and Spike, making them back down in surprise and the sheer shock of the event. The tentacle was cut off, with it falling to the ground and the monster letting out a screech that hurt the ears of everyone around.

Zecora and Spike looked to the right and both saw somepony approaching them from the west side. It was a unicorn, without a doubt. Spike’s vision was better than Zecora’s, thanks to being a dragon. Spike was able to see from the distance that the fellow was different from the ponies and non-ponies he ever met.

Right then, the bottle Zecora threw broke on the left shoulder, it was aimed at the head, but due to movement, it missed its original target. The impact made it so that it immediately lit the Treeman on fire in a bright manner through a semi-explosion. The consuming and potent element of nature lit the surroundings up and got the attention of everyone, including the stranger.

To Spike’s own surprise, the unicorn seemed to be bamboozled by their presence, but negatively.

Zecora and Spike rushed to aid the cutie mark crusaders, while the stranger once again fired a bolt of magic, this time orange and hot. It was a fireball, a powerful one, the projectile was unstable and carried a lot of power, a symptom being it cooking the ground above which it flew. At the same time as the projectile was fired and flew, the Treeman was facing him, and committed a step forward. It neglected the fire that burned its arm. The monster ripped a heavy piece of the earth from the ground and threw it, the dirt that fell down from it extinguishing the fire that lived on the bark.

Zecora and Spike, as they carefully but with necessary speed approached the spot where the girls were lying, met with the expressions of terrified young mares who neither spoke nor seemed to have life left in their eyes even when help came to rescue them.

Spike was the first to notice Apple Bloom's wound. Zecora right after him, and she took care of her immediately after seeing it. Somewhat like a tingling feeling nagged her as she saw Apple Bloom...Perhaps it was an instinct?

“Come on, we’ve got you!”

Sweetie Belle took Spike’s hand. Her eyes were watery and tired, while her knees and fur and outfit were all dirty. Spike saw that on her fur there was blood, it made his heart skip a beat. As they moved and he inspected her as they ran away, an explosion accompanied by a deafening bang brought all the attention back to the monster.

The stranger managed to land a decent hit on the Treeman whose own defense failed. The boulder it threw was shattered by the fireball, burning pieces getting scattered around. The weakened spell hit the monster directly, making it take a few steps back to recoil, creating a fiery mantle that it unwillingly now wore.

The Treeman was burning, but the fire didn’t do a thing to it. It just stood and didn’t bother to try and shake it off. As if it was immune, and the fire was but a feeling similar to the need to scratch oneself. Which was impossible! Unless…

“How can it have such high elemental magic resistance?”

Curse elemental magic, and curse the fact he had to back down and limit himself not to raise too much suspicion. If he only could, he’d incinerate it on spot, with one powerful spell, even a regular fireball might be enough if he reinforces it to the fullest extent and potential. Just throwing his golem at it and reinforcing its strength with his magic would work too after a powered up fireball, like the one he just cast.

He can’t, that’s the problem. What he already did might give him some stares from the weird Koatle, who looked like a dragon and...He can’t believe it, but a walking Zebra, with a somewhat humanoid body.

But, he’ll think about them more in a moment. He had the Treeman to take care of. If he could, he wouldn’t, such a fine piece, it would be a waste to kill it.

He took the branch in his hand and brought it close to his horn. He focused his will and envisioned a spear, and cited the necessary words in his mind to start the transmutation spell.

The branch became longer, and the wood was sparkling and glowing dull yellow, while particles black at their inside but yellow outside, encircled the branch. The wood turned to metal, it let out a humming clicking noise and let out a subtle screech as it bent and became rounder with each second.

It was hard to both hold something close to his horn for a better effect and focus his eyesight on the target. He already knew from the first moment that this would be a hindrance of astronomical proportion. As there is evil in good and vice versa, using his horn as the only part of his body to cast magic, he found it easier to aim.

The branch changed a few seconds after the spell was done. Now he held in his hand a proper polearm, one that he could now use to hit the necessary weak points. Then again, this was a unique kind of Treeman he fought, it could have its weak points elsewhere.

Before he could even try, a nasty move came from the Treemans side. The creature let out a battle cry. Its whole body began to glow and the ground trembled. While in the air above it, and from its crown; glowing, made out of light constructs of animated energy in the form of crows, large crows either flew out from the crown or were created in small bursts of fair blue light.

The Great Mage got intrigued, he let out a sight, he then took a defensive stance, and moved lightly on the tips of his "fingers", which was but a feeling. His horn was already glowing white, ready to do the job.

As the crows moved quicker and closer, they gathered nearer each other forming a primitive formation. That is when the Zebra he noticed earlier, got his attention, as she approached them from the left and threw something at the crows.

Soon, an explosion, a powerful one, that made him even somewhat scared of the hell she threw at the crows, echoed through the forest.

Some of the Crows were killed and fell apart, flashing while ending their short life. The crowd then panicked but quickly reorganized itself in the air and a squadron took interest in the Zebra and her companion.

The Great Mage took the most dangerous foe on himself. He charged forward, the incoming magical crows were in the way, their beaks and claws already prepared to pierce his skin and rip him apart like a hungry pack of hyenas.

As the moment where the impact was inevitable came forth, he released a powerful wave of energy that not only stopped but pushed back the magical crows. The wave then went on, hardly at all affecting the Treeman who stood unfazed but did minor damage towards the forest behind.

The monster, like before, released two tentacles from the middle points of its palms, creating long whips that it held in its hands. It slammed the both of them and leaned forward, growling and this way also, taunting him.

The Great Mage released a barrage of quickly flying magical projectiles at the crows who either fell down or were in the air after the previous move. Two hits for each target were enough to kill the enemy, and the spell itself was cheap in regards to taking his attention and mana; every novice that started his adventure with magic knew it.

The ones at the ground or leaping forward to bite or slash him with their claws were quickly killed with a mighty thrust that went straight through their magical bodies with the spear. One crow managed to get behind the Great Mage and together with one of its colleagues, mutually attacked the mage.

Thanks to the vast amounts of field experience, he knew exactly how to hold his spear, so that the crow in front would get impaled, which it did, and the crow behind would be stopped by the hind of the spear. After it, he took a quick turn on the heel and pierced the crow that laid on its back.

One crow was close to claiming the first hit, but the Mage reacted swiftly and a direct punch with his left hand knocked the crow out. Although it hurt, as the crows were made out of solid light, the Great Mage ignored the pain that came as a result. With slightly more effort put to it, the mage finished the crow by shooting it.

The real problem still remained. He glimpsed to where the Koatle and Zebra were, and his own eyes paired together with the eyes of the…

What the fuck.

A dragon. Standing and looking at him, a small and young, sentient dragon, wearing matching clothes, holding a sword - they never used weapons - with a particularly interesting color scheme, was looking at him.

The two looked at each some more, but the Treeman brought his hands up, with the tentacle whip flying up in the air only to be brought down with the force of ten thousand men slamming it into the ground, shaking it.

The Great Mage rolled over to the left side. Getting up, he ended up on his knees, with a few more crows before him, he dealt with them quickly the same way as before.

The Treeman slammed its foot into the ground, roots started to encircle the foot and leg, soon the battlefield was filled with spots, where spikes came bursting from the ground, with the intention of impaling them.

“Zecora, watch out!” The young voice called, belonging to the dragon.

“Zecora” The Great Mage repeated in his thoughts. He looked at where the Zebra was and nodded.

The Mage focused back on what was important, without hesitation he sprinted towards the Treeman. Feeling the shaky ground, he quickly dashed the other way, to avoid a spike made from something like the root from impaling him. He moved like a feather, letting himself be carried by the wind and his own feelings and intuition.

He focused, and almost on command, he fired a weak fireball from the tip of his horn, showing his prowess in the art.

Seeing the incoming danger, the Treeman used both whips to try and smack the Great Mage, who jumped over them performing an acrobatic spin. The incoming large tentacles slammed into the ground which in turn created short-lived earthquakes, that did not stop him in his advance.

The eruptions stopped all of a sudden, with the roots remaining above the ground. Spike and Zecora then decided to help the stranger, and right away ran towards him. Spike’s and Zecora's hearts raced rapidly, while the adrenaline was still being released into their bloodstream.

The cutie mark crusaders were safe, hidden behind a mound. This didn’t stop them from observing.

Their struggle with the crows wasn’t too hard, but Spike came out with his right arm injured. His jerkin was ripped, three claw marks indicating where he was struck. His scales were soft and covered by a thin layer of fat, but they were harder than pony skin. The scratch he had would heal in a day or two.

Zecora observed as the stranger fired a weak fireball, the spell was easily blocked by the Treeman and did no harm to it, other than making the forearm of the monster catch on fire.

Zecora and Spike were impressed by the abilities the stranger possessed. Spike’s interests rose since the moment the both of them stared at each other. He never has seen in his life anypony similar to him. If this even was a pony, Spike was only sure that the unicorn was an equine.

The horn, big, thick and dark ruby red. He’d have to ask Twilight how it even was possible for anypony to have their horn in a different color than their coat.

His height was astonishingly impressive, like that of a basketball player or buckball player. He lacked a good posture, visibly leaning towards being more slim than bulky. Weird, but the stranger had a good frame regardless of it.

Spike was forced to halt in track, the Treeman slammed its whips into the ground and he and Zecora both fell from the impact. Spike and then her got up, only to again fall because of the same reason as before.

Spike let out an annoyed grunt as he wouldn't allow himself to lose so lightly. Zecora called his name and followed after him, with a potion in her hand, this one emitting a purple light.

The monster kneeled down and let out a painful outcry. Spike and Zecora noticed that the spear the unicorn used was impaled...deeply, very deep inside of the knee of the Treeman.

Zecora stopped and threw her potion. The shrieking Treeman didn’t notice it and accidentally swallowed the potion. A moment later, the monster began to choke, purple foam erupting like water from a fountain but out of its mouth.

Spike mustered the bravery he had stored in him and approached the Treeman. Spike was trembling, the blue glow the body of the monster emitted blinded him the closer he got. Taking a deep breath in, feeling his insides burning while he closed his eyes, he released a river of green fire, that although shouldn’t do anything, did in fact pose a threat.

The Treeman started to burn like a torch the more the fire spread, keeping its original color due to magic sustaining its properties because the wooden body was, well, “stuffed” with magic. Yelling a cry after cry, the Treeman slowly began to succumb to their efforts, this being the first step.

For SPike it was obvious. The purely magical fire was different from the regular fire that was created by magic. The Treeman must have been created lucky, and possessed immunity to normal fire. Such cases were known to be documented together with, for example, immunity to physical damage, but in turn, were susceptible to normal magic.

The stranger’s horn began to glow white and the spear stuck in the knee, shook while it got enveloped by a semi-transcendent glow. Moments after, she flew to the side of the unicorn who kept her at the level of his shoulder, in the air.

The Treeman, letting out its ire, crossed its arms. All three of them ducked, avoiding the whips. Again, like before, crows started to appear around them, this time with their eyes glowing red.

The animals didn’t wait, and attacked right after their creation. The stranger and Zecora with Spike together had it easy to deal with them, as the crows attacked separately increasing their chances of winning.

Two crows began to shine brightly, and soon both morphed into spheres. Zecora already knew what would happen and called Spike’s name, the stranger too knew what to expect.

The two spheres changed into bolts of magic, aiming directly at Spike, but both were unfortunate. Spike didn’t move, nor did the spheres miss.

The stranger’s shield was cast onto Spike, who only tripped backward after taking the impact. The magical protection broke into many pieces, each looking like a piece of glass that slowly radiated away.

The Stranger’s horn shined brightly and the pieces of the shield turned white as well, then emitted a lavender afterglow.

A dozen pieces with lighting speed shot into the remaining or still incoming crows, destroying them and then impacting with the burning Treeman. Every shot left a spot marked with a depression after the hit.

The unicorn’s spear started to spin like a drill, he appeared to take a pose as if he was about to throw it. Zecora knew that ponies, especially unicorns, used to help themselves use magic by performing such moves. Seeing that the unicorn had a good connection to magic, she was stunned he still used such low-level means of support.

The polearm flew faster than the eye could register, hitting the Treeman in its right eye, stopping halfway buried in the head. The monster bent its head the opposite way it faced and rose up, as if completely unfazed by the fact it suffered severe trauma to its left knee. Throwing its hands in the air, one of the whips came dangerously close to the unicorn.

Too proud or maybe just unaware of it incoming, he didn’t move to the side. Zecora then yelled with all the force she had in her lungs.

“Move!”

It was too late, the tip of the tentacle landed a blunt hit, tossing the unicorn towards them, while on the way, he fell on the ground and bounced off to again land hardly and roll.

Zecora and Spike gasped terrified, assuming the worst. They both saw what occurred, they moved to where he landed with optimism as chances for survival weren't the lowest, as the movement wasn't fast or seemed to carry much might.

Zecora located him lying on his stomach, already bringing himself up with the help of his hands. She analyzed his body, and like Spike, she took note praising his height and commenting on the weird mane that grew around his neck. The most distinguishing feature of his was the tail, long and looking canine. The tail he possessed curled similarly to that of a hurt dog. Spike followed soon after, arriving at the spot. Zecora was already on her knees prepared to take care of the injury. She searched for one of her potions in her bags, only to find herself unable to find it.

Spike looked back, only to observe as the Treeman struggled, puking the purple liquid while trying to desperately get the spear out its eye, yellow slime-like substance dripping from the two wounds the unicorn had caused.

There was no point in being here anymore, they could run away with the cutie mark crusaders. They won by surviving the encounter and saving the girls, it would remain here in the forest defeated looking for them.

Spike heard the painful howling of the unicorn, he eyed the stallion with much interest, and so did Zecora, and she watched him turn onto his side, allowing them to see his face from up close. Spike and Zecora were eager to see it, as the changed surroundings made it difficult to see anything clearly from a bigger distance.

His face told them everything, his cheeks were tense and his mouth tightly shut, his lips were jittering like crazy.

He hissed loudly through his teeth and let out a painful sigh of relief. What came unexpected, was him slamming his right hand into the ground and trying to get up right away.

“Don’t force yourself,” She told him.

The unicorn then at the moment looked up, directly at her, his expression softened, and he opened his eyes. Possessing a neutral, but dumbfounded look, Spike and Zecora could get a good look at him at this moment.

His face was really pleasant to look at, evidently good-looking. This was a surprise for both of them. Good proportions and symmetry were what they noticed first.

A long and possessing basic masculine looks jaw with a developed mandible, somewhat protruding cheekbones, an alright positive tilt to the hooded, moderately deep-seated pair of eyes that really played a major role in his facial aesthetics together decorated his face creating a solid composite.

Speaking of the devil, his eyes were dark cyan, with brown narrow spots arbitrarily scattered around the iris pointing towards the pupil, as if painted with a soft, thick brush. The iris turned hazel green, close to the brown parts and right before the limbal ring.

There was a pinch of a mare in those facial features of his. Every detail was smooth and the edges were soft and round. He gave the impression of somepony: resolute and experienced. The way he was gazing at her and Spike, it was analytical, creating a feeling of intimidation but also warm and welcoming as strange as it may have sound.

Wrinkles formed on his forehead, but they weren’t too visible in the dark, under the light, they surely will be more eye-catching.

What got their attention was this weird bone that grew on the bridge of his nose. It looked like natural armor, but didn’t cover the top solely, only a portion with large gaps in between the three spots where it grew. It was something worth raising an eyebrow at.

The mane around his neck area and on the chest wasn’t long, and didn’t look similar to that of a lion’s mane, as it didn’t occupy as much space, but it sure was thick with a lot of hair growing, forming ringlets. Spike and Zecora, especially she, found it peculiarly interesting. His normal mane was similarly thick and orange, wavy in a mild way, with darker shades here and there with a few strips of black thrown in there too.

The most distinctive part was the tail. It was rather long, thin, and also had bone growing on it, the end of it was covered in puffy orange hair, also forming ringlets like his mane on the chest.

Spike and Zecora were taken away from their further analysis as his young and melodious mature male voice called out to them “Can you help me?”

Zecora got a little red from embarrassment and she right away rushed to help him stand up. Spike wanted to help too, but his attention got turned away by their common enemy.

The Treeman, although still burning, started to extinguish its fire and managed to get rid of the stranger’s weapon from its eye. Loud thumping indicated that it healed its wound on the knee and was trying to stand up.

“You got struck quite badly, are you sure you’re alright? You’re in pain...” Zecora asked worriedly with a caring tone.

Spike’s senses even found it odd, it’s the first time he ever heard Zecora speak this way...Motherly, almost as if she was trying to play Celestia.

“I’m alright” He responded, standing on both legs, with his hand on his chest “I’ve had worse, believe me.”

“Let’s get out here and call the professionals to deal with it.” Spike proposed and was ready to run, but he was stopped by the hand of the stranger.

The stranger looked at the location where he came from, Spike too looked in that direction, but he saw nothing, and waved his hand once, as if he dismissed the thought Spike shared.

“No, we'll do better by ending it, we have the means and opportunity to do it.”

“What?!” Spike yelled “ Are you insane? Why are we supposed to fight when we don’t have to?”

“We can easily destroy it,” The stranger added after him, sounding cold.

Spike and Zecora felt uneasy hearing it, we can easily destroy it sounded horrifying in their ears. Their conscience bothered them, their mind as well pointing at the consequences. He was right. They had the means, and they already injured it so much. Leaving it, will only give it time to rest and to regenerate.

“What do you plan on doing?” Zecora asked resentfully awaiting an answer.

Spike only gave her a stare in disbelief.

“ I now know now what its weakness is, and I’ll shoot it three times in the most feeble spots. “ He said and turned to Spike “You will walk up to it and breathe fire, as much as you can, and I will expand the area it is going to cover, so it’ll consume as much as it can, while you...” He turned to Zecora “...Try and throw as much of your most explosive and dangerous chemicals at it.”

“I don’t have much left” she looked into her bag “But what I have will do the trick”

Spike could protest, but it would leave them to do it alone. For some reason, he suspected that whatever will happen, the unicorn will convince Zecora.

“Fine, let’s do it quickly.” The Dragon wore a bitter mask and agreed, although he really didn’t want to.

Right after hearing that the dragon agreed to his plan, the Young Great Mage set out to execute it right away. This wasn’t easy, the hit that the Treeman managed to land on him, because of his own carelessness (the feeling of humiliation was really cracking down on him ) still had its effect on him.

He held the pain inside, not letting any of it look like it bothered, but in reality, he felt as if he was burning alive. He took a few steps aside from them while groaning. Mentally speaking he felt like a complete idiot, physically he was at the level of a frog at a laboratory during an anatomy examination lesson...Well, maybe that was an overstatement.

Thankfully, amidst the bad, the Dragon didn’t notice that the golem was standing in the distance. A simple hand gesture was all that the Great Mage needed to get rid of it, eliminating the probability that it would bother him. The golem was useless at this point and their own power alone was enough to swiftly handle the problem, which was the Treeman. Summoning the golem, naturally leads to the raise of too many questions being asked and complicates things for the future.

Taking a deep breath in, to ease the pain, he felt it respite all over his body. A moment later he began to cast, focusing his attention on that task. His horn started to glow white, as usual, and the light slowly turned more fair lavender with stripes of navy blue randomly appearing the longer he did it.

Particles around his horn formed like grains of sand and instantly, without any knockback, a powerful projectile of magic shot directly from his horn, flying very fast towards the Treeman.

The creature was about to shield itself forming a layer of protection out of the encircling fireflies, but it was too late.

The projectile hit the Treeman, upon the impact a low, dull, very loud, and ear-piercing sound, ringing metallic, overlaid any other noise there was. The bottom left side of the Treeman’s chest got almost obliterated, as pieces of burning wood flew in every direction, spreading the fire around. The monster took a step back and arched itself forward, letting out a strong roar that sent a shiver down their spines.

“Spirit magic is your weakness…” He thought with a sly smirk.

Spike, and Zecora didn’t even stop to admire the deed. They already surrendered to the fact that who they met was skilled and definitely must have had some sort of education in magic.

And, that they were inconceivably lucky.

Spike hastily made his way towards the monster. It saw him, and tried to strike him, offering a new obstacle to deal with. The same fireflies that were flying around the battlefield, formed a small tornado that headed towards him with the intention to sweep him away as if he was trash.

Zecora quickly took a bottle into her hand and threw it in the direction of the bugs. Spike covered his eyes as the explosion destroyed the Tornado, setting the fireflies apart, not killing the most, but mainly causing them to fly away in complete chaos.

Spike saw another bolt of magic hit the Treeman, the same way as before, this time in its leg exactly in the right knee.

It collapsed pathetically, but as it fell down one of its hands rose into the air. The creature brought it back, throwing the whip that extended from its palm at Spike.

Spike’s eyes widened, his whole body tensed and he rolled on to the left, escaping the potential unfortunate ending. As the whip slammed into the ground, Zecora threw one of her potions at the Treeman in vengeance, gaining its attention as the potion exploded with an unimpressive effect visually and in practical terms.

The Great Mage shot the last time a magical projectile. In line with his original intention and approach that he chose, with the hope that it was both enough to achieve a satisfying outcome and not to appear too vigorous in the art of magic after the third shot.

Spike stood up and watched the Treeman shed its whips which then fell on the ground as it brought its hands over its burned and damaged head, a piece of it missing. A big branch that grew on its back and co-created the crown was now resting on the ground, burning and losing color.

Talking about color, Spike noticed how the surroundings became more like they were before they encountered the monster. The darkness seemed to stop being omnipresent, and the blue tint weakened significantly, with green again being the dominant color.

Gripping his sword as hard as he could, he sprinted forward, reminding himself of the past experience he had during combat. He knew how to do this stuff!

When he appeared right before it, he took a deep breath in, while opening his mouth, a faint green light already shined out of his mouth. His chest started to burn, while his saliva vanished seconds after, his throat already dry as a desert.

Spike released a cloud of green fire. The conflagration caught the whole torso and the crown of the Treeman on fire. A deep squeal of pain was let out by it, with weak gaps and roars which translated the misery it was going through into simple sounds.

Spike, when he was done, fell down on his back, with his eyes tightly shut, a tear formed in each eye and ran down both of his cheeks. Not from sadness, although hearing the yelping and shrieking did make his chest feel heavy. It was due to the warmth the fire beamed and fried his eyes.

Zecora threw her last explosive potion at the Treeman. The bottle hit the target where it should, in the chest. The explosion sent a powerful wave, Spike was forced to cover himself and still, he felt the impact. Pieces of wood, burning lively with vivid green flames, landed on the young dragon, but they didn’t do any damage, due to the jerkin he wore and natural resistance to fire.

Spike opened his eyes, as he noticed that the light from the fire was stopped by something...Or rather somepony.

The Great Mage stood before the young dragon, with his horn glowing brightly and with his hands in the air. Doing circular motions with his hands, the fire on the Treeman began to rise, and rise, the heat from it started to set the ground and grass around on fire without direct contact.

The taint that came with the presence of the Treeman faded away, starting from where it laid. As if it was Discord's magic that suddenly stopped working, leaves, trees, grass, and the surroundings that consisted of anything you could name and know the name of, became almost instantly normal again.

The Treeman was twitching, moving, and wiggling in place, spasm covered all of its body. It tried to perform its last attempts to save itself, but the unicorn finished his work with one heavy swing of his harm as his horn shone brightly. The performance was like in an opera, and the unicorn was the conductor. The fire erupted into the heavens in a pillar of fire and quickly collapsed, leaving Zecora and Spike with half-opened mouths looking at the scene played before them.

The blue monstrosity now was a dead lump of burning wood, with the green character of the flames still remaining.

Spike stood up with a small dose of difficulty, using his sword as a helping tool to support himself he managed to stand up. Zecora rushed to his side and made sure he was alright. She had a potion that regenerated strength and healed minor wounds, but she wasn’t sure if it would work on a dragon like Spike. She never tried nor did she ever think about giving a dragon a potion like this anytime in her life.

“Everything’s alright” He kindly rejected her help.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, thank you once again.”

The Great Mage turned towards them, and looked at them with a calm and kind stare.

He felt the heat coming off from the burning enemy, his back was now nicely warmed up by the fire that was the symbol of their victory. Looking around, the whole area reclaimed its old look, that of a normal everyday forest.

While still here, he’d have to take care of the fire after some time passes. Leaving it to itself was idiotic, and even when the fire was solely magical, and had no other fuel than the now turning to ash corpse, there still was a chance of a major fire being created, endangering the animals and the innocent creatures this habitat had.

...He will now be forced to place his steps carefully. The last thing he’d want to do is reach for the ultimate and worst solution he could choose, which is invading their minds to manufacture new memories and censor the ones they already have.

Whatever happens, until he wasn’t sure he was safe, he had to assume the worst to be true.

He had a hard time believing it, but there really was a dragon just standing on all two legs and holding a weapon in his hand. Radiculous. The scales, the color, the way he looked. It probably was considered a sick egg that got cast out. Fortunately for them and him, he ended up with a special kind of fire burning inside of him.

He was amazed that the Zebra named Zecora, whose humanoid female characteristics did tingle his own human senses - that made him feel uncomfortable right after the fact - was able to civilize such a greedy and hating everything creature.

But maybe, it was just a special case. No other way to find out than to talk, same way he’ll finally get to know the way towards civilization. The sword the dragon held didn’t make itself.

“It’s time for a play.” He commented dryly in his mind.

Author's Note

And welcome back!
I hope you guys like what I do and will point out every error I make, for my own sake to improve and your's to get better quality chapters. In the end, all of it is for fun.

I know that the simple way of phrasing might be boring, or that I am too dull to read, nonetheless, thanks to all the people who appreciate my work. It's for fun, and it makes me proud to know that somehow I made some dude who knows English perfectly read this shit and that person thinks about coming back after finishing the chapter. You people are just crazy.

Please have in mind that things in the official book written by John Helfers was read by me, I'll use it as a reference to many things. Green text means that the following part is true about Ardania and can be found in the book.