It was early morning in the forest and the sun had only just crept above the horizon. Beneath the trees Wild Rose yawned and opened her eyes. She loved mornings and always tried to wake early enough to watch the sun climb its way into the sky; she loved the way the light shone through the gaps between the leaves making dancing, dappled patterns on the forest floor that shimmered as the rays caught the dew clinging to the fallen leaves and moss that carpeted the ground. A few feet away, Rogus, her dragon companion and closest friend was still asleep. Wild Rose grinned to herself as he rolled over, muttering as he dreamed. She often wondered what it was he dreamed of and wished she shared the power of Princess Luna to enter the dream world and visit other ponies while they slept. She imagined it would be exciting to help them fight their nightmares and win battles against the monsters that chased them while they were asleep in their beds. Later no doubt Rogus would be complaining that they'd spent the night beneath the stars instead of under the blankets of his soft, comfortable bed but duty called and since being given her wings by the royal sisters, her role as protector of the forest had to come before her personal comfort. Remembering why she was here sent a frown across her face and with a sigh she trotted over to her friend and nudged him with her hoof.
“Wake up sleepy” she teased the dragon as he opened his eyes and stretched.
“Is it morning already?” he asked with a yawn. Wild Rose nodded and used her magic to pull some gems from the saddlebag hanging beneath her wings. Rogus reached out as she floated them towards him and quickly ate them, crunching the gems between his teeth.
“We’ll eat and walk” she told her companion as he looked hopefully at the bag with a hungry expression.
“Where are we going?” he asked as he shook the loose dirt from his scales.
“Towards the river” she answered, nodding towards the rising sun. “The birds told Fluttershy that was where the interlopers were coming from and Rainbow Dash said she saw burning trees that way but the smoke was too thick for her to fly through.”
Rogus stopped walking, a worried look on his face.
“It sounds serious, shouldn’t we go back to Baltimare and get some help?” he said, his voice trembling slightly. “What if it’s some of the soldiers who served the storm king?”
“It won’t be” Wild Rose replied, suppressing a shudder at thought. She still had nightmares about the day the storm king’s airships had appeared above Canterlot; of the strange grey and black creatures that had attacked her friends. Their weapons, glass balls filled with smoke that turned ponies to stone had gone straight through the magic shields created by Unicorns and Alicorns and even the princesses had been quickly overcome and captured. Like many of her kind, wild Rose had been enslaved by the Storm king and his army and had it not been for Princess Twilight and the guardians of harmony, she had no doubt her muzzle would still be wrapped in chains as she was forced to serve the mad king and his fearsome minions.
“After Princess Twilight Sparkle and Fizzlepop Berrytwist defeated him, his soldiers have been our friends.” she reminded Rogus. “Most of them live in Klugetown and Capper keeps an eye on them for the Princess. They wouldn’t dare cause trouble in Equestria now.”
“If its not them then who do you think is burning down the forests?”
“I don’t know Rogus but I intend to find out and stop them. We have to protect the creatures and ponies that live here.”
“I still think we should get some help” Rogus replied stubbornly. Usually Wild Rose would listen to her friend and take his advice but she was very aware that her ascension from unicorn to Alicorn was still very recent and this was the first real test she’d faced since the magical moment when she’d stood before Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and felt their magic wash over over her, changing what and who she was from a simple pink unicorn to one of the few magical creaures that embodied not one but all three pony races. Remembering the feeling of her wings appearing and her body filling with new magic giving her a new bond not just with ponykind but with Equestria itself still sent a tingle down her spine and she was determined to prove herself worthy of the gift given to her by the two ponies she admired more than any others.
“No” she told Rogus with a shake of her bright red mane. “This is our mission, we need to do it ourselves.”
“If you’re sure,” he said doubtfully.
“I am” she told him, making sure she sounded more confident than she really felt. “Come on, let's make use of these new wings of mine and see if we can’t get there a little quicker. Maybe we can have this all sorted by tea time and be back in Canterlot by the time Princess Luna raises the moon.”
Crouching down she stretched out her wings and gave them an experimental flap. She remembered the advice Princess Twilight SParkle had given her about getting used to wings and learning to fly, how it was important to take it easy and practice lots, especially landing; that part the princess had said with a grimace before explaining how she’d taken more than few bumps executing less than graceful landings herself before being an expert flyer herself. Of course, Twilight had Rainbow Dash to teach her Wild Rose reminded herself as she took off with only the slightest wobble. Besides her, Rogus watched his friend make her way unsteadily in to the sky and smiled. He’d actually been impressed how quickly she'd mastered her wings given she’d spent most of her life with only her four hooves to get about. He even remembered how she’d been airsick the first few times she’d taken a balloon to travel between Canterlot and Baltimare. Good job she got over that he thought to himself as she flew in ever greater circles, gaining height with each graceful sweep of her pink, feathered wings. Once Wild Rose was high enough to avoid crashing into the trees, the two friends pointed their muzzles towards the sun and set off.
It was gone midday by the time they saw the first wisps of smoke in the distance. Soon, the air was filled with the acrid tang of burning wood and scorched grass and as they flew above the burning forest they could see beneath them animals running in panic from the spreading blaze consuming their home. As Rainbow Dash had said, the smoke was a thick choking haze that filled the sky and Waild Rose could understand why even one of the best fliers in Equestria hadn’t been able to fly through the smoke that filled the sky.
“We should fly around it” Rogus shouted, his voice filled with concern.
“No” Wild Rose replied with a shake of head. She gestured around them, at the burning trees that stretched across the horizon from end to end. “Its too big, it could take hours to find a way round, we need to go through it.”
Rogus nodded but she could tell he wasn’t convinced. As a dragon the heat and smoke didn’t really bother him but he knew that Wild Rose wasn’t so lucky; the fire and smoke would quickly overcome her if she got too close and the thought of harm coming to his companion was more than he could bear.
“Trust me” she grinned. Banking left she dropped one wing and turned until she was flying along the edge of the burning forest.. She could feel the heat from the flames on her stomach but she pushed the discomfort from her mind as she kept an eye out for some way to get through.
“There” she shouted to the Dragon trailing behind as she pointed to a break in the fire.
Pulling her wings into her body, Wild rose let herself drop towards the ground. The trees grew rapidly in size as she plunged down towards them and only when she could reach out her hooves and touch the very tops of the trees did she extend her wings, arresting her descent. Wild rose banked between two ancient oaks miraculously not yet touched by the fire before coming to a halt several feet above the ground. Even here the forest floor was scorched and glowing embers danced on the blackened grass. Using her wings to stay above the ground so as not to burn her hooves, she looked around and was surprised to see that the clearing stretched out in to a long fire break. Someone or something had cleared the trees and grass to create a path between the flames though who and why she couldn’t begin to guess.
“I don’t like the look of this” Rogus muttered.
“Neither do I” Wild Rose agreed. “But it does look like the only way through the fire.
“That’s why I don;t like the look of it” he replied with a scowl. “Whoever is burning down the forest clearly made this path and it wasn’t for us.”
The two friends carefully made their way down the smoke filled path. The dancing flames either side sent waves of heat washing over their bodies, singeing the tips of the young Alicorn’s wings. As they flew, the path widened, pushing the fire further away until it was almost cool. Either side of them the forest had been reduced to a desolate landscape of blackened stumps and scorched earth. Many of the blackened tree stumps had been hacked at with some sort of blade, probably an axe thought wasn’t clear if this had been done before or after the fires had been started. Gratefully the pair dropped to the floor, glad to give their wings a rest.
“Are you ok?” Rogus asked, looking at her with wide, shocked eyes. He couldn’t believe how different she lookked; her usually bright pink coat was covered in ash and the feathers of her wings were smoking where ash and still glowing embers had landed on her. For some reason her appearance reminded him of the tales of the mare in the moon from when he’d been little more than a hatchling but of course, Wild Rose was nothing like the terrifying Nightmare moon from the stories.
“Yes” she replied, sneezing from the ash swirling up from the ground as they walked. “Come on, lets find who did this.”
It didn’t take the two friends long to find the answer; as they walked they saw in the distance a strange wooden building that definitely hadn’t been built by any pony or other creature from Equestria for that matter. It looked a little like a castle but the walls were made from blackened tree stumps and the tops had all been shaped into wicked points. Around the wall, strange bow legged creatures with grey, stony skin ambled about engaged in various tasks. Some, the guards Wild Rose assumed, were wearing iridescent armour that looked like it was made from the shells of some great beetle. Most were guarding cages filled with various creatures including ponies, griffons and even a yak while others seemed to be digging up the land around the fort, looking for something though what, neither of the two friends could guess.
“Lets get a closer look” Wild Rose suggested.
“How?” Rogus asked. “If they see us we’ll end up in a cage too
“They’ll have to catch us first!” she laughed launching herself in to the air. “I don’t see any of them with wings do you?”
Rogus followed his friend in to the air and the two of them circled warily towards the strange building.
It took the strange creatures several minutes to notice the two companions circling above their camp. When they finally saw the Alicorn and Dragon flying overhead it caused something of a panic. By the look of the sudden commotion that broke out and the frantic way the creatures started running about once their presence had been spotted it was obvious to Wild rose that the strange visitors were taking no chances and since they already had at least two unicorns in their cages they obviously had some way to counter equestrian magic..
“Whats that?” Rogus shouted, pointing to a platform in the centre of the camp.
“I don’t know” the Alicorn replied. “We should get-”
Before she could finish her sentence, something began to happen to the platform. As they watched, Two stone columns rose smoothly from the top and began to glow. Between them, a strange ball of light began to form, glowing a deep purple with black spots shimmering like glitter. The ball grew, stretching and flattening until what she could only guess was some kind of portal had formed between the two pillars. Sure enough, within a few minutes, more of the strange creatures began to appear from within the portal but these ones were different; each was slightly taller than the ones Wild Rose had already seen and the beetle-shell armour covered more of their bodies. Even worse, these new interlopers were carrying heavy looking wooden things with curved fronts and long bodies.
“Look out” Wild rose yelled to Rogus as the air suddenly filled with whistling bolts fired from the guards weapons. Rogus grunted and dropped in to a steep dive, flying underneath the missiles but the creatures had expected him to do that and he found himself flying straight in to another volley. Dragon fire roared from his mouth, incinerating the bolts and making the creatures shooting at him leap to one side Hid breath caught the top of the wooden wall around the camp and flames began to dance on the sharpened trunks. Seeing his chance, Rogus shot towards the now unguarded cages, intending to free the trapped creatures but he wasn’t quick enough and one of the creatures managed to catch him with a swing of its shovel.
Wild Rose watched in horror as her closest friend and companion was knocked from the sky. His body rolled and bounced along the ground for several metres, finally coming to rest in a heap against a pile of earth next to a deep pit. The grey skinned creatures cheered at the sight of Rogus being knocked down and two with nets and a chain started to run towards him, clearly intending to capture him. Wild Rose swooped towards them and using her magic fired several bright pink beams at them. To her surprise, their armour seemed to absorb her attack, the shells glowing from within as the beams hit them. Caught off guard by the failure of her attack and too intent of helping Rogus, she nearly didn’t see the next volley of bolts shooting towards her. Quickly she created a glittereing shield, half expecting the bolts to go straight through but instead they bounced harmless off and fell to the floor. This didn’t seem to surprise the creatures who continued to shoot at her, perhaps trying to exhaust her and keep her from attacking again.
That might have worked with a unicorn but You've never faced an Alicorn she growled. I may not be able to hurt you with magic but I bet this still works. Glaring at the creature running towards Rogus she narrowed her eyes and concentrated. Grunting in surprise, the creatures stopped and looked bewildered as a sparkling pinkish glow surrounded their bodies. With a flick of her horn wild rose used her magic to lift the creatures and throw them in to the pit next to theDragon. With the immediate threat dealt with she trotted quickly to her friend and pushed his body with her muzzle
“Owww” he groaned at her touch.
“Rogus, thank Celestia” sighed. “I thought-”
“I know, it’s ok” he reassured her. “I’ll be fine, I just need a minute.”
“We don’t have a minute, you need to go and get help.”
“I’m not leaving you, there's too many and besides, I can’t fly” he said sadly. “They caught my wing and I think it’s broken. You have to go and get help; get Twilight and the guardians of Harmony. They’ll deal with these creatures.”
“No” Wild rose told rogus, putting her hoof on his chest gently. “Who knows how many more of them are on the other side of that portal; we need to close it now before they bring a whole army through and besides, what if they start take the ponies they’ve captured through it, they might take you and I might never see you again. I need to close it now before it’s too late.”
“No Rose, you can’t risk it” he insisted. “You’ll never get close enough;, their armour stops your magic and they have those things that shoot. They’ll get you before you can get near the portal.”
“Rogus, I have to try” she said sadly rubbing her muzzle against his scaly cheek. “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, thank you for everything. If i don’t make it through this I want you to run back to ponyville, please, the royal sisters need to know what’s happened here. Do this for me, please?” she pleaded with him. Reluctantly the little green dragon nodded and wrapped his arms about her neck.
“Come back please, I don’t want to lose you.”
“I’ll try Rogus, I promise.”
Rogus watched Wild Rose as she turned away reluctantly and took once more to the sky. Pushing herself as hard as she could she climbed higher and higher until the fort was little more than brown circle far below. Pausing, wings outstretched, she took a deep breath before pulling in her wings tight against her flanks. Like a bolt of lightning she dropped, faster and faster, so fast she left holes in the clouds. Flickers of light began t form around her muzzle as her speed increased, flickers that formed a rainbow coloured cone around before her edged with pink. Using small flaps of her wings she pushed herself to go faster and the cone of light began to shimmer and vibrate as her speed grew and grew. Suddenly, with a loud bang that echoed across the land, a wide nimbus of rainbow colored sparks exploded from around her forming an expanding circle that sent shockwaves through the air, shaking the tress below her ad sending the grey skinned intruders running for cover.
Taking advantage of the sudden commotion her approach had caused she aimed for the platform and landed with a thunderous clap that cracked the stones below her hooves and sent a cloud of dust shooting in to the air. Quickly she threw up a magic shield to protect her from the enemies weapons before taking a deep breath and aiming carefully at the pillars. Once more a beam of brilliant pink light shot from her horn, slamming in to the stone column with enough force to make it shake but whatever magic was being used to make the portal seemed to protect it from being destroyed. Gritting her teeth she pushed herself harder, the beam growing brighter until the pink light had a pure white core that hurt her eyes to look at. Still the stone pillar resisted her magic but the glow around it seemed to flicker and she thought she saw the portal shrink ever so slightly
Behind her, one of the creatures shouted something in a guttural language that sounded more like a series of grunts though what he saying was obvious by the way the other creatures reacted. Her shield began to vibrate as hundreds of the little wooden bolts slammed in to it. Drawing on the full power of her alicorn magic Wild Rose screamed out defiantly and dug deep inside herself, finding a reserve of magic and determination she never knew she possessed. The magic beam from her horn grew yet brighter, blinding the creatures and pushing them back, the bolts fired at her fell before they even hit her shield and finally, without warning the stone column shattered with a sound like a mountain breaking apart. As the stones cracked and fell, the whole platform beneath her hooves began to shake, coming apart as the magic being used to create the portal and keep it open suddenly had nothing to keep it focused. Like a wild beast suddenly freed from its cage, the portal warped and twisted, changing shape and writhing as if alive; tendrils shot out towards the nearest creatures, grabbing them and greedily sucking them through the still open void at its core.
I need to get out of here Wild Rose told herself, rising from the remains of the platform even as the portal expanded and began to consume what was left of the structure. Beating her wings she tried to rise higher but something was holding her, pulling her back down. Looking at her hind legs she saw tendrils of pure black wrapped around her hooves, dragging her back towards the shapeless void that filled the centre of the creatures camp, growing larger with every second. Straining against it’s hold she beat her wings harder and harder but no matter how much she struggled the tendril wouldn’t let her go. In [panic she aimed at it with her horn and fired a beam of magic that severed the tendril. Freed from it’s grip, she shot upwards almost as fast as she’d come down but to her horror, she wasn’t fast enough. Beneath her, the portal had contracted, become a ball of purple-black light that hovered for a moment in place before exploding in to a swirling, lightning filled vortex that grew rapidly in height until Wild Rose was caught in the centre of a magic storm of frightening intensity. Wildly she fired bolt after bolt of magic, desperately trying to make enough of a hole in the magic storm to escape but it was in vain, instead of weakening the storm her magic just seemed to make it stronger. Soon, she was caught in the vortex, thrown around and buffeted until she was too dizzy to know where she was. Unable to fly and keep her self in the air, her tired wings failed and folded against her side and she fell until all around her was a swirling darkness filled with purple bolts of lightning that singed the fur on her flanks.
“Goodbye Rogus” she whispered, closing her eyes and preparing for the worst but instead of being swallowed by the portal and cast through to wherever the creatures had come from, Wild rose found herself lying in amongst the centre of the ruins of the platform surrounded by blocks of shattered stone and splintered tree trunks. The vortex still swirled around her but it was changing; the lightning stopped flashing against its walls and the wind whipping through her mane died down. The swirling purple light grew translucent, collapsing towards her and becoming a smoky cloud of dark purple shot through with silver specks that glittered like stars. Rapidly the cloud contracted, shrinking faster and faster towards her. Fighting down a rising sense of panic, Wild Rose threw up a shield and planted her hooves firmly on the ground but it was in vain, the purple smoke penetrated her defences and flowed towards her, almost like it was alive and knew what it was doing. Frozen in place with nowhere to run anyway, wild rose watched in horror as the smoke grew close enough to touch, then taste, then feel inside her ears, against her hooves, inside her mouth. Her vision faded as the purple haze overwhelmed her senses, drawing itself inside her body. For a moment, Wild rose managed to stay upright but as the last of the magic smoke worked its way inside her she collapsed, her hind legs giving up first, quickly followed by her front legs and she fell heavily to the ground.
Around her, the grey skinned creatures, those who hadn’t been pulled in to the portal as it collapsed, pushed themselves to their feet and looked around at the wreckage of their camp. Exchanging angry looks they picked up their weapons and lookked around until they finally saw the still form of the pink Alicorn lying amongst the ruins of the platform. Angry growls issued from their throat and as one they started to walk towards her. Soon the unconscious Alicorn was surrounded though none dared to be the first to touch her having seen the power she had unleashed to destroy the portal. Finally, the largest of them stomped over and poked Wild Rose with his club, pushing her over until he could see her face. He was about to bring the club down on her head, making sure she’d never get the chance to wake up again when her eyes snapped open and an angry hiss escaped from from her mouth, a noise no pony should have been able to make. The creature recoiled, stumbling over its own feet as Wild rose jumped to her hooves and growled at the assembled throng. Black flames flickered in to life around her, a burning circle of darkness that grew in to a wall that pushed the invaders back. The flames raged for several minutes until finally,they died, disappearing in to a wall of hissing, dark purple sparks that sent wisps of smoke rising wherever they landed. As the last of the sparks sputtered and died, wild Rose stalked forward and glared at the interlopers from glowing, catlike eyes rimmed with a halo of purple smoke. Shaking her now dark red mane she grinned at the creatures before lowering her head and letting loose a blast of magic at one that shattered its iridescent armour and knocked it from its feet. Looks of surprise crossed the faces of the others at this unexpected development and as one they started to back away from the angry alicorn before them.
“Kneel” Wild Rose commanded in a voice like stone slabs slamming together. The creatures fell to the ground, unable to resist her command and at the sight of their prone bodies she laughed.
“That’s better” she purred. “You know who your Princess is now, don’t you?”
A few feet away, Rogus climbed over the fallen tree trunks and ran towards the sound of his friends voice though when he saw her he stopped and gasped in shock. The pony before him barely resembled Wild Rose for though her colours were the same, the purple smoke had changed her; where before she had been like Princess twilight in shape and height, she now resemble the royal sisters in stature and wing span, or rather one of them as they had once been he realised.
“Ah Rogus, It’s good to see you” she said, giving the green dragon a fang filled grin that made his scales crawl clatter with fear.
“Wild Rose, What happened to you?” he whispered in horror as she fixed him with her catlike gaze.
“Wild Rose Rogus? Wild Rose is gone; she was too weak to defeat these interlopers and end their invasion. I am Dark Rose and we have much work to do before Equestria learns of its newest Princess. Are you with me Little Dragon or will you be the first enemy I crush as I start my new reign?”
Rogus swallowed and looked at the monster who had replaced his closest friend. Slowly with downcast eyes he nodded and Dark Rose laughed. Without a word she turned on her hooves and stalked away towards the terrified ponies and creatures still trapped in the cages beyond the shattered wall. Watching her walk away rogus felt a tear run down his scaly cheek and with a claw on his heart he made a vow;
I will save you and bring you back he promised though how he had no idea.
