Light Feather didn't know what was going on at all. Only a few days ago the Moon had eclipsed the Sun, a massive fight had broken out at the castle from some unknown invaders, Princess Luna was nowhere to be seen, and Princess Celestia had never looked so stressed out before. Now Light Feather stood in line with the rest of every other pegasus warrior available, waiting for some unknown reason. By the sounds of it, most of the others were confused as well, considering the mass of chatter coming from the group.

"Attention!" Came a deep voice.

All the pegasi quickly stood rapt at attention as Commander Raptor announced himself to the small army. Light Feather donned his helmet and saluted the commander, as did the rest. It was only a moment later when Princess Celestia herself stepped out into view. Instead of wearing her traditional regalia, she wore a detailed suit of armor. Obviously made specially for her, it looked both lightweight and strong, not to mention the golden sheen and well polished look, it covered most of her body. Only a few ponies had ever seen her like this, today was special indeed.

That wasn't the only thing though, even if the armor was shining brightly, Princess Celestia was not. The bags under her eyes were evident, and from the looks of it she was leaning to the side a bit.

Commander Raptor started speaking.

"Soldiers! It is here today that we avenge the fallen! That's right! Princess Luna was killed in the insurgency that took place three days ago!" Commander Raptor announced, prompting several gasps from the lineup. Princess Celestia visibly flinched at the statement. He continued, "Silence! There will be time for mourning later. In the aftermath of this great tragedy we raise arms against the last remaining assailant!" More whispers, "That's right! Of the three attackers, one of them has evaded capture. That is why we are here today! We will hunt down the insurgent, we will serve justice to this miscreant, we will show this beast that Equestria is not to be trifled with, and we will avenge Princess Luna, whose death will forever be remembered, as will this day in history!"

Several rallying cries came from the crowd, a few stomped their hooves in unison. Princess Celestia stepped up to address the soldiers, and they all fell silent.

"Thank you, Commander," She rasped, she sounded tired, and she paused to swallow heavily before continuing. "My little ponies, these past few days have not been easy... but right now the threat against Equestria is too large to leave alone." Another pause, "You have all been selected for this mission because of the circumstances. From what we know this... creature is massive, armored, capable of flight, and most importantly, adept in weather magic. A dangerous foe indeed, that is why I will be joining you all." She finished.

Gasps of shock erupted from the small army, the princesses haven't fought in any battles for at least a few decades. It made sense to Light Feather though, this thing killed her sister, no wonder she would join the hunt against it.

"Pack your things soldiers, we're taking off tomorrow at dawn!" Commander Raptor ordered.

Light Feather, along with the rest of the pegasi began to disperse, almost eager to begin this mission.

Light Feather was always the first to be ready, that earned him the nickname 'Speedy' from his squad. Today was no different, he was already standing at the doorway with his armor on and weapons holstered, munching on an apple. He had long since finished packing before any of his teammates had even woke up.

There wasn't much to actually pack, any pegasus warrior worth their salt knows to pack light at all times. Of course there would be several cart towers following behind the main force with most of the supplies, but the warriors themselves only carried their weapons, armor, and a single ration.

"Y'know Speedy, being first in everything isn't always the best." Evening Sky, deadpanned, having finally thrown off her covers and gotten up, she looked out the window. "It's not even dawn yet,"

"Mmmm?" Morning Dawn, mumbled, still half asleep, and was promptly ignored.

"Well it should be, the whole day night cycle was messed up ever since... well y'know. Besides, the early bird always get's the worm." Light Feather shot back.

"Yeah Yeah, but the second mouse gets the cheese." Evening Sky retorted.

"Hmmph. Well whatever, just get ready, I think the sun is rising." Light Feather said, peering out of the window.

"I'm going I'm going, sheesh. No need to get your feathers in a bunch. We can't all be as fast as you." Evening Sky said as she climbed out of her cot. She trotted over to the two other sleeping ponies in the room. "Hey! Sleeping beauties! Wake up! Were leaving soon." She shoved Morning Dawn out of her cot.

"Hey! What gives?!" She shouted out in surprise, which quickly turned to anger.

"We're going soon, pack your stuff and let's go." Light Feather explained, then took another bite out of his apple.

"It's dawn already?" Morning Dawn asked out loud,

"Yes, it is, now give me a hoof here." Evening Sky said, trying desperately to wake up the last pony asleep. "Get up you big oaf!"

With the teamwork of both ponies they were able to push the last squadmate out of his cot. He still didn't wake up though.

"Are you serious? C'mon Cumulo! It's time to get up!" Evening Sky shouted into his ear.

No response.

"That does it! Get me my boot." She ordered.

Light Feather sighed as Evening Sky strapped on her boot, stood over Cumulo, leaned back, and kicked him right in the stomach, jolting him awake.

"I'm up! I'm up!" He said frantically, looking around.

"Good, now get your stuff on, we're leaving soon." Evening Sky commanded,

"More like right now," Light Feather pointed out, the first few beams of sunlight started to shine through the window.

Evening Sky grumbled.

Of the squad of four ponies, there was Evening Sky, the slightly irritable squad leader. There was Morning Dawn, the perceptive archer. Next there was Light Feather, or Speedy, the newest and fastest squad member . Then there was...

"I'm hungry..." Cumulo complained,

...Cumulo, the big powerhouse of a pegasus that was always just a little bit slower than the rest, and not just in terms of speed either.

"Shut it! You should've eaten earlier," Evening Sky quipped,

"But I was asleep..." Cumulo droned on,

"Then you should've woken up earlier."

Culumo just grunted as the squad trotted towards the meeting area, it looked like most of the other squadrons had already arrived.

"Please tell me we're not the last ones to arrive..." Light Feather worried, "Again!"

Morning Dawn rolled her eyes, "Whatever Speedy. Look, the commander isn't even here yet. That's something right?" she reassured,

"Yeah..." He admitted.

"Attention!"

"Speak of the devil," Evening Sky grumbled.

"Everypony! We will be taking off soon, but first our orders." Commander Raptor paused for a moment to wait for every squadron to pay attention, "Now, we will be hunting the beast for an unknown amount of time, it could be only a few hours, or upwards of a week. Fortunately for us, it happens to leave storm wisps wherever it goes, making it incredibly easy to track. Now when we actually meet the thing in combat our mission will be to attempt to incapacitate it, but if it comes down to it we will slay the beast. Understood?"

"SIR YES SIR!" The crowd responded.

"Good. Now let's fly!" Commander Raptor shouted out, spreading his wings.

Battle cries came from the army of pegasi, and a hundred wing flaps soon drowned out any other noise as the majority took flight, a select few staying behind to tow the supply carts as well as Princess Celestia's carriage.

The Commander was right, storm wisps littered the sky around the destroyed castle, there definitely needed to be a cleanup team to prevent any dangerous storms from forming afterwards. Light Feather also got a good view of the aftermath from the huge battle that had taken place four days ago. It was anything but pretty.

Laser scorch marks streaked across some parts of the castle, and what looked like lightning strikes littered the partially collapsed roof. One of the towers had collapsed and now lay in a pile off to the side. The inside was even worse. From what Light Feather could see, almost every window was shattered, and the huge cracks in the stone floor along with the rubble from the ceiling completely destroyed the large mosaic that once decorated the floor.

"Jeez, the thing we're hunting did all that?" Cumulo commented,

"There were three of them remember? Not to mention both Princesses were in the fight as well, it would be impossible not to cause collateral damage." Morning Dawn explained.

"Still though..." Cumulo trailed off.

"Well whatever it is, I'm sure we can take it." Evening Sky announced.

"I hope so," Light Feather joined in.

Silence soon fell over the group as they passed the castle, now following the sparse trail of swirling storm wisps, the flock of pegasi warriors started heading Southward in search of the beast.

It was only after an hour of travel when they found something of interest. A large metal plate sat wedged in the ground, seemingly fallen from a great height. It was strange to be sure, nopony in the entire army could tell what metal it was, but whatever it was, it was lighter than iron, stronger than it, and seemed to hold a strong electric charge.

"This is what we're up against?" Morning Dawn asked, taking out a small blade and running it along the surface, it barely even left a scratch, "How are we even going to fight this thing?"

"Every set of armor has its weak point," Light Feather explained, "We just have to find it. Besides, this plate fell off right?"

"Yeah well... I wouldn't mind having armor made out of this stuff," Morning Dawn said, then kicked the plate. She was rewarded with a small jolt as all the leftover charge in it passed through her.

"I'm getting less and less excited about this mission by the moment," Evening Sky said as she watched Morning Dawn attempted to smooth down her now spiky mane. "Let's get going, the rest are moving on without us."

During the travel time the pegasi found even more clues along their path. An armor plate here, or a lightning strike mark there, the storm wisps continued to persist, and were becoming quite dense. Everypony could feel the change in pressure around them as the storm wisps slowly drifted about.

It was almost sundown when they finally reached their destination.

All pegasi had an innate sense of weather, even storms conjured from magic were perceptible to a certain degree, but this, this was something else. Dread passed over everypony as they grew closer, Light Feather steeled his nerves, and tried not to turn away. Nopony had ever seen a storm this powerful before, not even storms conjured by the most vile of Windigos held any merit to this. A massive storm cloud loomed high in the sky, it looked dark, and angry. Every now and then a bright flash of lightning could be seen, but nothing else. It truly was the perfect storm, and they were about to dive head first into it.

They had all stopped a fair distance from it to prepare. The supply carts set down, and several tents were being set up. Princess Celestia's carriage landed nearby, and was quickly directed towards the largest tent.

"Most likely talking to the commander," Evening Sky explained out loud, "and we're just supposed to wait out here?" She asked while staring intently at the storm.

"Apparently... Look at that thing, just how are we supposed to fight something in that?" Light Feather asked.

"I mean, whatever's in there has to fight us in it too." Cumulo deducted,

"Yes, I'm sure whatever is creating that storm is having trouble seeing in it." Morning Dawn said sarcastically.

"I'm just saying." Cumulo defended himself.

An awkward silence fell over the group, then Light Feather saw a squad of ponies moving towards the storm.

"Are those... scouts? Wow, I do not envy them." He said.

"Don't get too comfortable, we'll be going in there soon enough. In the meantime we should use what little time we have left to rest and prepare." Evening Sky announced, she took off her helmet and began to lay down on the ground.

Upon hearing that, Cumulo promptly took out his day's ration, a single piece of hard tack, and ate it in one bite, then walked off presumably to find for more. Morning Dawn took the time to inspect her bow, testing the string and pulling it back to check the sight. Light Feather took off his helmet as well and sat down, he gazed as the scouts continued to near the storm.

First they flew low, just barely above the trees, then they ascended higher in order to avoid the pelting rains falling from underneath the clouds. When the finally reached the edge of the storm, they spent some time inspecting the perimeter, testing it. They then grouped back together, and dove into the dark clouds, disappearing from sight.

"Good luck to them," Light Feather said to himself.

It was over an hour of waiting in anticipation before anything notable happened. A bell started ringing in the center of the camp, prompting everypony to gather around. Commander Raptor stood outside the main tent along with Princess Celestia, completely armored,

"Fall in! It is time for debriefing!" He shouted.

All the soldiers got in line, then separated into their individual squadrons.

"Here's what we know, the storm is dense, wild, and dangerous, but it's hollow. We will need to push through the outer shell to get inside, there it should become easier to see and move, there will also be less rain and slower winds. That doesn't mean it won't be easy though, the beast is circling somewhere around the inside of the storm, patrolling. When we get in there it will be hard to keep track of each other, so stick to your squads, and when you encounter the beast stay at a fair distance and retreat if you must. You will bide your time until the majority of the army arrives, where we will then attack using hit and run tactics, we hope to confuse and overrun it before we take it down. Understood?" He explained.

"SIR YES SIR!" The squads replied.

"And one more thing, it's still very much a storm in there, so keep your guard up. Now get ready for takeoff!" Commander Raptor finished.

Some gave rallying cries, but Light Feather stayed silent, he was getting nervous about the storm, but he pushed his fears down. He had his duties to Equestria, and when this was all over he could go home and be with his family. He followed his squad as they equipped their armor and weapons. He made sure his sword was in its scabbard, and that his helmet was securely strapped on, then got ready to take off.

"You all ready for this?" Morning Dawn asked, also getting into take off position.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Evening Sky deadpanned.

"Uh-huh." Cumulo said simply.

Light Feather just nodded, not taking his eyes of the storm.

"CHARGE!" Came the call from Commander Raptor.

In an instant they all took off towards the storm, which continued to thrash wildly in every direction. Time seemed to slow as they drew nearer, in just a few short moments they would dive headfirst into the storm and partake in the fight of their life. Light Feather wanted to turn around, but he couldn't, he had to do this.

They flew closer, the massive clouds taking up nearly all of his vision. He checked on his squadmates, they were still flying in formation, that was good. Light Feather could feel the ambient charge in the air as they continued to draw closer.

They were almost upon the storm now, or maybe it was almost upon them. Rogue winds began to interrupt their flight path, and Light Feather found it harder and harder to adjust and stay in position. A flash of lightning and a crack of thunder stunned him for a second, but he quickly recovered. They were so close now, the massive storm loomed in front of them.

Light Feather put his hooves in front of him trying to be as aerodynamic as possible, and to try and force himself through the cloud as easy as possible. They were seconds away from impact with the storm, he sped up to try and push through as fast as possible.

3...

2...

1...

Impact!

Darkness immediately engulfed Light Feather's vision as he dove into the cloud. He flapped his wings harder to push through the thick cloud. He had never felt clouds this dense before, it was like flying through sludge. His squadmates were no longer visible, but they were close enough together that they should end up in the same place... right?

Normally diving through clouds left you a bit damp, but Light Feather was already soaking wet. He worked overtime to keep flight as rain pelted his wings and armored back. Thankfully the small visor he had on his helmet kept most of it out of his eyes, but not all of it.

Another flash of lightning nearby, barely lighting up the thick clouds surrounding Light Feather, and the thundercrack was deafening, even through the dampening of the clouds. He thought he saw the shadows of his squadmates nearby in the clouds, but couldn't be sure.

'Just a bit further.' He thought to himself, pushing harder through the clouds. It was painstaking work, and his wings already felt sore, but he had to keep going, he was on a mission. It was getting harder to breathe, it was as if they were gaining altitude, but Light Feather couldn't tell.

He kept going, pushing through the cloud as fast as he could. It felt like he had been flying for forever, but he knew it had only a few moments. The storm persisted, and Light Feather kept pushing through, it was getting to the point where he was unsure if he got turned around or not. It was taking too long, something must have gone wrong, they should be inside by now.

Just when Light Feather was about to stop pushing, he broke through.

Inside the storm was... awe inspiring.

It was dark, but not as dark as the border, the winds had let up a bit, and the clouds had become less dense, like a mist had engulfed the entire area. Every now and then a flash of lightning would light up the swirling clouds, and Light Feather could see just how large this storm was. He looked around for his squadmates, and spotted Cumulo's large figure a fair distance away, the storm had deviated them more than Light Feather thought.

Quickly flying past some other recovering squadrons, he eventually made it to where Cumulo was hovering.

"Cumulo!" Light Feather shouted for his attention.

"Hey!" Cumulo responded, "Where are the others?"

"I have no idea, they're not with you?" Light Feather asked, peering through the clouds.

Just at that moment Morning Dawn burst through the border of the storm. She looked a little worse for wear, having spent more time in the turmoil.

"Hey, what's up?" Light Feather said, trying to look as cool as possible.

"What?" Morning Dawn asked in confusion, before coming to her wits, "This isn't a time for jokes Speedy... Where is Evening?" She asked, having noticed Cumulo's presence.

"We hoped you would know," Cumulo simply said.

"No, I lost track of her as soon as we entered the storm." Morning Dawn admitted.

"We all did," Light Feather said reassuringly.

"Should we look for her?" Cumulo suggested.

"I would like to, but we can't wait around for her for long. We have to regroup with the army, we have a mission to complete." Morning Dawn commanded, taking temporary charge in place of Evening.

A shrill roar came from above, and a massive shadow passed over the group.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me! Break! Now!" Morning Dawn shouted,

All three of them dove in different directions as the beast surged down where they once were, thundercracks were heard, and gigantic lightning bolts rained down from above, causing more disarray as the squad members attempted to dodge them.

Morning Dawn let loose a couple arrows towards the monster, but they only bounced off its thick armor plating. Light Feather flew up and attempted to slash at it, but only managed to scratch it. He flew back towards his squad.

"Armor's too thick! We need to find a hole in it!" He shouted,

Cumulo nodded, and Morning Dawn grunted in understanding. The beast turned around for another go at the squad, and they got ready to dodge once again. It dashed forwards with surprising speed, both Light Feather and Morning dawn were able to move out of the way in time. Cumulo wasn't fast enough however, and he was clipped by its large mandibles as it passed. He was flung forward, his helmet flew off and he dropped his sword. He began tumbling midair as he fell.

"Cumulo!" Light Feather shouted,

"He's fine! Look!" Morning Dawn shouted back,

Despite getting hit hard, Cumulo managed to right himself and land haphazardly on a more solid cloud in the storm, which cushioned his fall. He had fallen far, but Light Feather could see him get up and wave at them from the bottom of the storm. It would take some time for him to return to the battle.

“We can’t fight this thing! Where is the rest of the army?” Light Feather demanded.

“We just have to hold out for now, did you see any other squads when you came in?” Morning Dawn asked,

“A few, but not enough to fight!” Light Feather answered, he looked for the worm “Look out! Here it comes again!”

Just as it was about to charge once more, a brilliant beam of yellow light impacted its side, then traveled up its body before stopping close to the head. It shrieked a high pitched wail, but when the smoke cleared it showed the barely damaged armor underneath. The beam must have slipped through a crack to actually hurt it.

“Yeah!” Light Feather shouted in joy, “They’re here!”

Emerging from the fog, Princess Celestia led the charge as the majority of the army followed through. Another beam of light was fired at the beast, while a volley of arrows came from the archers in the back. Another wail told them that they at least did some damage.

The worm reeled back, then curled up mid air as if to protect itself. In an instant the storm turned violent. What was once mild winds and obscuring fog turned into a raging typhoon. Both Light Feather and Morning Dawn were blown into each other along with most of the army. There was no way you could use a bow in these conditions, Morning Dawn realized that quickly.

“This thing is smarter than it looks!” She commented, shouting over the wind.

“I can see that!” Light Feather shouted back, but was unsure if Morning Dawn actually heard him.

Another beam dragged across the armored shell of the beast, but it still didn’t do much. Light Feather realized something.

“We have to get through its armor!” He deducted,

“How are we going to manage that?” Morning Dawn asked, looking intently at the worm,

Light Feather remembered something. "The plates that fell off! Where did they fall from?"

"Look for an opening!" Morning Dawn commanded,

"Going!" Light Feather shouted, then flew high.

Rising far above the battle, Light Feather watched as the worm charged through a squad of ponies, plowing through them like it was nothing. None of them appeared to recover as they fell, he gulped, he did not want to end up like them.

Following the worm from above, Light Feather carefully watched it as it continued to twist and turn, looking for an missing plates or uncovered areas. The blue-ish spiked armor covered the worm from head all the way down to the tail. Wait a minute, the tail! It was a more purple color than the rest of the body, it was still just as jagged and sharp, if not more so than the armor, but it was unarmored, which meant they could attack it.

Just as Light Feather was about to dive down with his findings, his hair stood on ends. Thinking quickly, he dove to the side just as a lightning bolt flashed right where he once was. The crack of thunder above was indication enough that he had just dodged his imminent doom.

"I just dodged lightning..." He said to himself in shock. "Awesome!"

With newfound vigor, Light Feather sped back to where Morning Dawn was hovering. Even despite the wind, she was still managing to aim her bow with enough accuracy to hit the worm.

"Dawn!" Light Feather shouted.

"What?" She shouted back.

"The tail! It's unarmored. Aim for the tail!" He told her.

Morning Dawn's eyes widened, "Behind you!" She shouted,

Light Feather immediately rolled to the left right as the worm came rushing past. He was jostled in the air as he was caught in the slipstream of the worm. Tumbling to and from he managed to keep himself from getting slashed by its armor. He frantically righted himself and looked around for Morning Dawn.

"Over here!" Light Feather heard her call out.

He turned just in time to see her get struck in the back by lightning.

A flash, a scream, then a smoldering form falling from the sky.

"Dawn!" He cried out, and dove once more, intent on catching her.

Downward Morning Dawn fell, but Light Feather was faster, and in a few moments had caught up to her. He held out his hooves and wrapped them around her limp body. He flared his wings to slow down, he winced and closed his eyes as the weight of two ponies pulled hard on his wings, but he managed to slow down enough to just barely hover.

"I've got you!" He shouted, then opened his eyes, only to immediately regret doing so.

Morning Dawn was dead, no doubt about it. The lightning bolt had traveled through her back and out her chest, almost vaporizing everything in the way, leaving only charred flesh and bone. Gasping in shock, Light Feather accidentally dropped Morning Dawn's body, then he watched as her wing snapped off as she tumbled through the air. He suppressed a gag.

Her body fell right past Cumulo, who had just flown up to return to the battle.

"Uhm..." Cumulo trailed off in confusion.

"She's dead." Light Feather said quickly

"Oh."

"What are we going to do?!" Light Feather blurted out, he was starting to lose composure. "Morning Dawn's dead! Evening is nowhere to be seen! And this thing is killing ponies by the second!"

Neither spoke for a moment, though it was far from silent with the sounds of battle in the storm around them.

"Listen Speedy, no, Light Feather. I'll tell you what we're going to do," Cumulo started, causing Light Feather to look up at him. "We're going to get back up there, and finish this fight!" He shouted, trying to reassure him.

"Right..." Light Feather said, "Right, ok. Let's do this."

"That's what I'm talking about. Now what do we need to do?" Cumulo asked,

"What?"

"You're smart, come up with a plan. What do we need to do?" Cumulo clarified.

"Well, there isn't much we can do form here, and the army can't do much against that thing's armor. So we need to find a way to take off its armor." Light Feather deduced.

"And how do we do that?" Cumulo asked.

"Well... its tail somehow lost its plating, meaning it could lose more. Which means..." Light Feather trailed off in realization.

"Which means what?" Cumulo didn't understand.

"We might have to land on the beast." Light Feather explained.

"Wow... Some plan kid. Let's do it." Cumulo said.

"What!? Really?! That's suicide!" Light Feather argued.

"So? If it'll work then let's do it!"

Light Feather was speechless, this was insane. They were really going to go through with it.

"Okay, first things first, we need to get behind it." He started.

Both looked up and watched as the worm bowled through another squad of ponies. Then another beam from Princess Celestia sliced across its side, it still did not do much. Light Feather saw a few more bodies fall.

"Easier said than done, we'll have to get near it when it's turning." Light Feather explained.

"Then let's go!" Cumulo shouted, then charged towards the worm.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Light Feather admitted, then followed Cumulo into the fray.

A lot had happened during their temporary excursion from the battle, more squads had arrived, and more squads had fallen. It seemed the total number of ponies in the fight had remained relatively equal the entire time, but that wouldn't last much longer. They needed to get the worm's armor off soon.

Light Feather watched it as it fought, it would charge a group of ponies, then somehow send lightning strikes nearby. Every time the worm finished an attack run, it would take some time to turn around, not much, but enough to probably get close to it... probably.

They would have to be quick and quiet, something Light Feather could do easily, but Cumulo not so much. Quickly collecting enough fog to make a small cloud cover, Light Feather hoped it would be enough to obscure them from the worm's vision. He motioned for Cumulo to come hide with him, then maneuvered the cloud towards the edge of the battle, behind another horribly unfortunate squad, then sat in wait.

The battle continued to rage on, arrows flew, swords broke against the armor, and every once in a while Princess Celestia's beam would strike. The worm continued to fly across the battlefield, attacking whoever was in front of it. Not many were able to dodge it as easily as Light Feather could.

Eventually, the worm made it to the opposite end of the battlefield, then seemed to spot the squad hovering in front of them.

"Get ready!" Light Feather shouted.

The worm began its run, Light Feather watched it charge head on straight towards them. It was terrifying, it was like it was locked onto the squad in front of them. As it began to pick up speed the squad noticed the dangerous situation they were in and immediately broke apart. A smart move, but not one Light Feather wanted them to do. Now they could only hope the worm chased after the closest pony.

Light Feather began to tense up, what if it noticed them? What if they were too far away? What if they died? He was frozen in place as the worm zipped past them, knocking them out of the cloud as it began to turn around for another go.

“We gotta go!” Cumulo shouted, flying towards the worm.

That broke Light Feather out of his hesitation, he gathered his bearings, it was now or never, and dashed off towards the worm as well, hoping it wouldn’t see them approach.

They were still a small distance away as the worm finished turning, the fact that it didn’t immediately attack meant it probably didn’t see them. It began picking up speed once more, it was going to be close. Light Feather pushed himself hard, managing to overtake Cumulo as he sped towards the worm.

“C’mon, c’mon!” Light Feather said to himself as he pushed himself even harder.

Light Feather slammed into the tail of the worm, just barely avoiding one of the many sharp spines protruding from it, and gripped on tight. The worm sensed the disturbance, and lashed its tail trying to dislodge Light Feather. He was nearly flung off and tried to hold on even tighter, but the unarmored body of the worm was slick, and he began slipping. As a last ditch effort to stay on the worm, Light Feather bit down on its soft flesh, and actually managed to break the skin.

Dark purple blood filled his mouth, which tasted awful, but Light Feather kept holding on. The worm screeched and began thrashing wildly, trying desperately to shake Light Feather off. The momentary pause in its movements allowed Cumulo to close the distance as well, who promptly latched on as well, clamping down hard on its tail next to Light Feather.

It began thrashing even harder, but both of them managed to hold on. Then the buzzing started, it started as a slight tingle, then gradually grew into a minor prickling, until it finally became a pulsing pain. Both Light Feather and Cumulo began to be electrocuted by the worm, which meant it wasn’t just the armor that held a charge, the whole worm was capable of producing electricity.

Now most pegasi have a pretty good resistance to electricity, working in clouds all the time will do that, but this was different. It was like flying in the middle of the most charged cloud possible, and staying in it. Which is extremely similar to what they just did earlier.

Pain rocked through Light Feather’s body, and he had to struggle to keep his muscles in check as the electricity forced them to twitch and spasm. His arms were being locked into the gripping position, so he could at least still hold on. Light Feather imagined Cumulo was experiencing the same thing, and he wondered how much longer this would last, or how much longer he could last.

After what seemed like forever, the pain finally subsided as the worm stopped generating an electric charge. Light Feather looked up, releasing the chunk he had very nearly bitten completely off, he spat out the sour taste in his mouth. The worm had stopped thrashing, and seemed to be moving slower, as if recovering from its outburst.

Light Feather then spent the next moment closely inspecting the armor plates in front of him. From this angle he could clearly see the plates interlocking together, along with the gigantic binding holding them together. The whole system seemed to be laced under tension, which is why it was so hard to knock any other plates loose. That meant there was a possibility that there was a point that could release the whole structure, they just had to find it.

“Now’s our chance!” He shouted, looking at Cumulo.

“Ok! How do we get the armor off?” He shouted back,

“Look for some sort of latch or hook! Find whatever is securing the plates to the body and remove it!” Light Feather explained.

“Gotcha!” Cumulo responded.

Since the worm was moving slower, Light Feather was actually able to sort of shimmy his way down the tail, searching for whatever was holding the armor in place. The skin was still slick however, and Light Feather slipped and lost his grip again. Now sliding down the tail, Light Feather quickly slammed his left hoof back down, right onto one of the ridiculously sharp spines.

The spine sliced right through his armored boot, then his hoof, completely chopping off the tip of it.

“Aagh!” He shouted in surprise, but not pain.

He pulled his hoof closer for inspection and saw that the spine didn’t actually cut too deep, and the more vulnerable flesh and bone underneath was relatively fine, if not exposed. He certainly wouldn’t be able to put any weight on it, and he would be walking lopsided for a while, but he wasn’t seriously injured.

Then Light Feather felt the buzzing start again. Reacting quickly, he braced by clamping down once again as the worm delivered another round of electrocution to the both of them. This time however, being forced to grip harder wasn’t very helpful. Light Feather could feel his damaged hoof begin to crack and split as he unwillingly put more and more force into gripping the worm. He cried out through clenched teeth not only from the electricity, but also as his hoof split in half and the sensitive bones and nerves were now being pushed upon.

Light Feather wanted to let go, he really wanted to let go, but his stimulated muscles would not let him, he just had to sit there and endure the pain as he crushed his own hoof. Every second was torture as Light Feather was continuously barraged with electric shocks all the while being forced to severely damage his hoof.

Just when he felt he was going to pass out, it stopped, the worm let up on the electrocution. Light Feather gasped, trying to suck in breaths while he shakily pulled his now destroyed hoof away from the worm's body. He gagged when he saw the bone protruding, it was bleeding heavily. Light Feather's eyes began to water. It was too much, first the death of their princess, then the death of his squadmates, and now this?

"Speedy!" He heard Cumulo shout from above, snapping him out of his trance.

He swallowed the lump in his throat, "What?"

"Did you find the latch thing?" Cumulo asked,

Light Feather then looked around at the tail of the beast, then saw it. What looked to be a ring of metal was implanted on the side of the worm's tail tip. Some sort of cord was attached that ran all the way up the body and eventually disappeared beneath the armored plates. There were other rings as well, but it looked like their cords had already snapped off, this was the last one holding all the armor in place. Light Feather's eyes widened in surprise.

"I found it!" He shouted, "Give me a hoof with this!"

"Alright!" Cumulo responded, then proceeded to shimmy down the tail to where Light Feather was. "So what do we got to... Oooh... that looks bad," He commented,

"It feels bad!" Light Feather snapped, "But nevermind that, this is it! We just need to cut the cord and the beast's armor should fall off!" He explained,

"You have your sword?" Cumulo asked,

Light Feather whipped his head around to find an empty scabbard affixed to his side, "No..." He realized,

"Neither do I, which means we have to rip it out." Cumulo said, checking his own scabbard.

"Ok." Was all Light Feather responded with.

"Give me a hoof with... nevermind, just bite down on this and pull as hard as you can okay?" Cumulo suggested,

"Ok."

Cumulo then looped one of his hooves through the metal ring, leaving the other to grip higher up on the tail.

"1, 2, 3, PULL!" He shouted, and began pulling on the ring.

Light Feather yanked as hard as he could with his mouth, the worm's skin went taught with tension as the ring was pulled, but it didn't tear.

"C'mon!" Cumulo grunted out, and continued pulling.

Light Feather planted his good hoof against the worm, and pushed against it, and with their combined strength they tore a chunk out of the worm's tail trying to rip out the ring. The cord went slack for just a moment, then whipped past them, Light Feather just barely managed to let go in time to not get pulled along with it.

They watched as the cord disappeared underneath an armor plate, and for a moment nothing happened.

PING!

The armor plate flew off, then another, and another, until a whole cascade of plates began flying off of the worm. It traveled up the worm, completely removing all of its armor until it reached what you could call a helmet. The worm then shuddered, causing the helmet to slip off, revealing a much more streamlined head underneath.

"Yes!" Cumulo shouted, raising his hooves in triumph. Light Feather managed to smile a bit through the pain.

Then, with one big motion, both Light Feather and Cumulo were launched off of the worm in different directions. It took a few moments for Light Feather to right himself, but he managed to do it just in time to see the worm's tail whip upwards, right into Cumulo.

Light Feather gasped as Cumulo's body almost snapped in half from the impact alone, a spray of blood burst out of his stomach and mouth as the spine on the tip of its tail ripped apart his insides.

Light Feather didn't get time to react however, as the worm turned around much faster than it did while armored, and stared him down. It was going to charge right at him.

Panic filled his mind, Light Feather dived, fast. The worm chased after him and was beginning to gain speed.

Light Feather was always the fastest in the army, but this thing was faster, they both continued to dive, and the worm was gaining. He had to do something, and quick.

At the very last moment, Light Feather flared his wings, and winced as he changed his course from a straight drop to nearly horizontal in an instant. His wings burned, and his hoof throbbed, but he managed to do his signature move. The Instant Landing. He flew forwards at a blazing speed before slowing down, he had just dodged the worm.

Light Feather turned around just in time to be caught in its mandibles.

It jerked him forward, and he felt something break. Its inner jaw clamped down on his lower body, severing his lower spine. Light Feather coughed up blood, and looked right in the eyes of the worm. He didn't say anything, he couldn't say anything, he could only watch as the worm began to devour him alive.

He had failed.

That was the last thought that went through his head.

Another bright yellow beam swept across the worm, this time actually searing and burning a large portion of flesh. An ear-piercing screech came from it. The worm whipped around its head and locked directly onto Princess Celestia, who in turn stared it down from across the battle field. Then, the worm flew far faster than it had only a few minutes ago, and in only a few moments, had crossed a majority of the distance between them.

Princess Celestia didn't even have time to dodge as the worm closed in at an alarming speed. She brought up a magic shield, and braced for an impact, one that never came. She looked up, the worm was just in front of her, holding itself steady simply by coiling itself. It stared at her, unmoving, while what was left of the Pegasus army surrounded it. The worm lowered its head to be right in front of Princess Celestia.

"F E A R." It spoke in a deep, guttural, clicking voice.

Then, in only the blink of an eye it had dashed through the blockade and out of the storm, which then started to dissipate.

It was gone.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note

I'm back baby! So excited to start finally working on this after all this time ( I'm not sure how it'll turn out, but I'm definitely invested in this story. Also who expected me to just drop a 7k word chapter out of nowhere, I certainly didn't. I just couldn't stop writing it and even though it was long I couldn't find a place to split it in two, hope you enjoyed it none the less, but don't expect anything this long for a long time.

Edit: Redid the ending, made it sound better.