Asher hit the ground and time seemed to slow down slightly, the three of us stood shocked. Maya reacted first, her startled yell falling on deaf ears as I rushed over to Asher. My back burned where I could tell the Timberwolves had scratched and clawed at me despite Maya’s best efforts to protect me. My hooves throbbed in protest as I slumped over down by Asher, using my muzzle I rolled him over to try and see what state he was in.

“He’s still breathing” was all I could say, the bite marks in his throat were filled by something darker than his coat that was almost glinting in the light. The fur of his coat all around his neck was matted with blood and Timberwolf Sap, the stench made my stomach heave. Fighting through nausea as I continued to examine him, his forelegs seemed fine, scratches obviously but no deeper cuts, hooves covered in Timberwolf Sap. I jumped as something rested on my shoulder, snapping my head around to see that Tibbs was beside me with my sister leaning against him. I didn’t realise what Tibbs was looking at until my eyes followed his, looking at what remained of Asher’s hindlegs.

They were mangled, what I think was his ankle was ruined, the muscle and tendons torn out and away. Blood was stopped by more of the dark material that I’d seen on his coat, a closer look revealed it was like a crystal or maybe glass that had formed to close off arteries. I forced myself to swallow as bile started to try and rise up my throat, his hooves were held on by the tattered remains of his skin and muscle, bone exposed to the air. The more I looked in depth at his hind legs the more damage my mind started to pick out.

Tibbs broke the silence first “They hunt like wolves, I saw a documentary talking how wolves would rip out the hind legs of their prey to stop it running.” Maya mumbled something in agreement as I forced myself to look away from Asher’s body, the smoke on the horizon was our best hope at getting to civilization and getting help. My first attempt to get one of Asher’s forelegs around my neck was a total failure, I couldn’t grab with my hooves so I tried to use my mouth. I was vomiting what little was in my stomach almost immediately, the vile taste of blood and bitter acidic sap just wouldn’t leave my tongue.

The second attempt, however, was better, Tibbs volunteered to carry Asher and with some help, we had our friend draped over Tibbs’ back. I swore I could see a flicker of pain move across Tibbs’ face as Asher’s weight rested on his injured wings, but he remained silent. Maya leaned against me as we started walking again, slower this time as we couldn’t find the energy to run like that again. The adrenaline had drained from my body left me shaking and cold, even with my sister’s warm body leaning against me.

As we walked I was busy running through events in my head, the absence of immediate danger lifting the fog of fear from my mind. We’d been in Asher’s car, I remembered that much, Asher had picked me and Tibbs up from work before we’d crossed town to grab Maya. We were complaining about music if I remember correctly? Something about album covers and music videos. We’d collected Maya and drove out to...Where had we been going?

I was pulled from my thoughts by Maya nuzzling my neck softly, I could sense she was worried. Herd instincts I suppose, I attempted to nuzzle her back, bumping my muzzle against her neck gently before remembering the horn on my head and abandoning that idea. The Hill we’d been climbing finally gave way and revealed a gorgeous valley ahead of us, and like we’d been praying in the distance was a town or maybe a city?

A smile formed on my face, and I picked up the pace slightly. We were close enough to civilization I could already feel a hot shower. Weird that was the first thing my mind conjured up, not being safe or able to sleep without fear, but instead, it wanted a hot shower and to feel clean. With a shake of my head to clear the thoughts, I looked at Tibbs and Maya, her cheeks were damp with tears as her face mirrored my smile. I only just realised I’m bigger than her, only slightly but still, is it because she’s got wings? Are unicorns bigger than Pegasi? With a sigh, I looked at our resident mythology nerd, still unconscious with his eyes closed.

Cold ran down my spine as I looked at Asher, seemingly originating in my horn. I looked closer, unaware that the others had stopped. My hoof gently pressing against his eyelid and lifting it up as my stomach twisted in a knot as fear started to build. The white of his eyes was an almost luminous green, the blue of his eyes having darkened to an almost navy blue. My gut reaction intensified as a purple mist started to trail from the corner of his open eye, it was almost pretty if it wasn’t for the very core of my being screaming at me to run.

I was snapped from my reaction by the sound of wings and hooves running, I looked up to find two large silhouettes circling down towards us. Their forms obscured by the morning sun all I could see were their bodies framed by wings beating slowly. The source of the sound of hooves revealed itself as I noticed a group of horses galloping towards us, a Unicorn out front wearing what looked like a cloak over his back, the others around him seemingly mixed between unicorns and regular horses wore golden armour and red something underneath it. The sun gleaming off their armour forced me to look away, a mumble of pain from my side returning my attention to Asher. He mumbled something, his eyes looked out of focus as more purple mist leaked from them.

“Halt, Identify yourselves.” A barked order came from above as the two silhouettes landed with a heavy thump. They were both Pegasi, armoured in almost full-body plate armour, dark blues, and greys with a large crescent moon emblazoned on their chest. I was honestly in awe, the whole situation felt unreal as we just remained silent, until I noticed the sword on the pegasi’s sides.

“I asked you to identify yourselves, why are four foals out by the Darkwood forest? Didn’t anypony warn you it was dangerous?” The first Pegasi continued, stepping closer until he spotted the state we were in, in one fluid motion his visor snapped up to reveal purple eyes looking at us. “Silent, back to hoofington, alert the hospital these four need immediate treatment.” He spoke and the other pegasi, Silent, took off in a flash, a small dust cloud being kicked up by the force of his takeoff. The four of us were left coughing as the dust cleared, it took a second but the remaining pegasus beat his wings and cleared the dust.

Tibbs again broke the silence first, his posture stiffening as he tried to make himself look larger despite the Pegasus being almost twice our size. “I’m Benjamin Tibbs, These two are Maya and Catherine Solas, the one on my back is Asher Harris.” He said, flicking his head towards Maya and me when he mentioned us. The Pegasus seemed confused before nodding slowly.

“My name is Silver Star, one of Princess Luna’s Lunar Knights.” I listened and in some way what he said made sense, he certainly did look like a knight, and whoever Princess Luna was that explained the moon motif on his armour. Maya opened her mouth to say something when the horses we’d seen running finally arrived, the ones in armour quickly spreading out around us.

“Form a circle, do not let them out of it” one of them yelled, the tall red plume on his helmet probably meant he was their leader. The fear in my stomach rapidly turned into panic as I felt my ears droop and press against my skull, Maya pressed against me tighter clearly feeling my panic. Silver Star looked confused as the guards encircled us until I saw him spot Asher, instantly the concern he had shown was gone, his visor clanked down and he drew his sword, the effect was lessened slightly because he was holding his sword in his mouth. I still couldn’t help but eye the blade, it looked sharp enough to cut me in half.

“Why is your friend leaking Sombramatic magic?” Silver Star asked, his voice cold and strictly businesslike. Maya looked at Asher and connected the dots between the purple mist and whatever Sombramatic magic was.

“What? You’re saying that purple mist is magic?” She asked, the crowd of armoured horses around us practically bristling as she spoke. The unicorn I’d spotted wearing a cloak emerging into the circle. His horn glowing with a soft orange glow as I felt something shoving me away from Tibbs, I looked to my side and there was a small wall of orange shoving me and Maya away. I resisted, digging my hooves in and struggling against the orange glow. As soon as I started resisting the glow disappeared and I heard the unicorn sigh.

“You said he is your friend, correct?” Silver Star asked, answered swiftly by a nod from me. I saw the unicorn's horn light up again and prepared to dig my hooves in again only to see Asher’s body surrounded by orange light as he floated up off Tibbs’ back. Asher was gently deposited onto the floor before I felt a wave of energy roll through me. At this point, I nearly slapped myself, if they said what Asher did was magic that energy I just felt must be magic as well! The orange glow on the unicorn’s horn made sense now, his magic was orange? Or it might be the spell he was using.

“You all show signs of exposure to Sombramatic magic, or Dark magic if you’ve not heard of its academic name. This would explain why the knights were sent here by the Princesses, is it just your friend who has used Dark magic, or have you done so as well?” The unicorn’s voice was surprisingly refined, he reminded me of a stereotypical professor in almost every way. We stood in silence for a moment before Tibbs coughed. “I think he means you,” he said, and if I hadn’t heard him the elbow to my ribs certainly got the point across.

“N-no sir, I haven’t. I don’t even know how he managed to, we were attacked by these Timberwolf things and one minute Asher was being attacked by two of them. Next thing we know his horn is glowing black and the wolves attacking him got torn to shreds, he saved us all from them.” I blurted out, my nerves still building as I was painfully aware of how many spears were around us as well as the sword pointed at me by Silver Star. The unicorn hmm’d for a moment before nodding to himself and starting to walk towards us.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt any of you, I believe this matter would best be resolved by one of the Princesses personally. We’ll escort you back to Hoofington so you can get treatment for your wounds, however, you and the other unicorn will have to wear suppressor rings on your horns. Before you ask, you are all being detained for public safety, however, you are not being charged with anything.” He finished his speech, looking at us before smacking himself in the forehead with a hoof. “I nearly forgot, I’m Mystic Haze, Professor of the magic academy in Hoofington, I’ll try to learn your names on the way into town before I write my report to the Princesses about this situation.”

With a soft click, Silver Star sheathed his sword, flicking his head at the horses around us prompting a brief pause. “Formation Delta Seven, High priority escort!” I heard barked from behind me and the spears around us lifted, the circle collapsing in on itself as the horses formed two columns on either side. Silver Star falling in beside us and Mystic Haze with him. “Guard, by the left, quick march!” another order echoed out and the entire formation started moving, an unsubtle hint for us to get moving with them.

We set off for the town on the horizon, hoofington they’d called it? Maya leaning against me to keep herself standing, Tibbs matching pace with Silver Star, and Asher floating along in Mystic Haze’s magical grip.

Author's Note

Was determined to get this out before Monday, next chapter may take a little longer as I'm reassessing my original plans (as I deviated from what I had planned for the initial arc quite a bit)

I'm curious how many people assumed this was set in the Everfree forest? Don't worry, this one has its own history and it will be revealed a little later.

anyways, see you all when the next chapter comes out and don't worry Asher isn't down for too long, the next chapter will return to his PoV