Secrets

Chapter 11: Foreboding

The darkened room was deathly silent, save for the occasional cracking of fire and the heavy breathing of an armored figure. Wildfire sat on the golden throne, normally he would be excited to have the honor of doing so. However, the situation was far too dark to enjoy such a luxury. He had his attention on a sickle that lay on his knees, distractedly sharpening it. Normally he would have ran, but he was determined to give Sunset as much time as possible to escape with the group of civilians. Without warning, the sound of footsteps resonated in the room. Wildfire looked up to see an orc diving towards him. Flesh ripping was the next sound to disrupt the monotony of the throne room. The sound of metal hitting the floor followed closely.

Wildfire towered over the dying corpse of the orc, the sickle sunk deep into his enemy. With a disgusting sound of gore, Wildfire withdrew the sickle rather messily from the body. Turning around, he was confronted with a group of what he estimated was twenty-two orcs. He flicked his wrist as the last of the blood dripped off his blade, the orcs stood by uncertain. His eyes flew from target to target, examining the possible avenues of his attack. With his face remaining in its grim state, Wildfire disappeared from the eyes of the green enemies. His shadow betrayed his intentions as it could be seen traveling at high speeds over the cobblestone. Wildfire landed in the middle of the orcish group with a powerful magical blast. Concussing the nearby orcs as they were launched every which way. The ominous roar of thunder resonated through the castle. Standing back up, Wildfire blocked the blow of an orc, who ran past him. Without a second thought, he ducked as he spun, barely avoiding the blade destined for his spine as he tore the orc’s head clean off. It flew across the room and hit another orc, seizing the opportunity, Wildfire used his magic to warp towards the orc. His face remained emotionless as he drew the curved blade across it’s throat. Wildfire then blocked a kick from another orc, who quickly found himself disarmed and was launched. Using his magic Wildfire reconstructed the stone support beam around the monster, encasing it in stone. Wildfire’s attention was caught by an arrow buried at his feet. He cartwheeled out of the way of more arrows, and rolled backwards to escape another volley. He used his magic to teleport to the rampart of the throne room. He quickly dispatched of the archers, who were not expecting him to be behind them.

He dropped back down into the throne room. He knelt down and was grazed by the knuckleduster that was destined for his head. Quickly, the orc found itself immobilized as he was drawn into a headlock. Looking past the green blob, Wildfire spotted six more orcs heading towards him. Wildfire turned and threw his sickle, spinning it with magic. The sickle hit the first orc and quite litterally reduced it to shreds. Wildfire drew the orc's arm over his neck, looking behind him. He lashed out at the nearest Orc, kicking it in the knee. The force of the impact bent the leg at an awkward angle and sent the green mass sprawling across the floor. He slipped a wing underneath the Orc he was holding, and with the combined effort toppled the Orc onto the other. Not pausing, he slammed the Orc into the next one. He flipped the monster and was now grasping it by it's ankle. With a single spin, he threw the heavy creature onto the last conscious monsters.

Wildfire barely had the time to enjoy his victory, for a fist spawned in his face. The impact itself was not hard, but the psychokinetic force behind it was massive. This sent Wildfire sailing through the room, bouncing on the floor. With a heave of his wings, he managed to roll onto his feet. The assaulting being appeared again, driving Wildfire into the throne. With an arm into his throat, Wildfire gasped for air as he stared into the unknown creature's purple eyes. With his left arm, he felt for the sword that had been dropped by the first Orc he killed. Knowing that the creature was charging a spell, Wildfire attempted to buy some time by pushing his right hand into the maw of the creature. It responded by biting down on his hand, eliciting a wince from Wildfire. He finally grabbed onto the sword and drove it through the creature. He kicked it off him, tearing the flesh off his arm. He jumped after the creature as his sickle flew towards him. He caught it in his left hand and hooked it around the slim creature. Propulsing it further into the air, Wildfire flew until he reached it's height. He smacked into the monster, sending the sword through it and into the floor. Quickly, Wildfire teleported to the floor, pulled the sword out of the ground and waited for gravity. The creature was surprisingly heavy, as it almost caused him to buckle. Letting the body drop to the floor, the room was silent once again. Save for the blood dripping onto the cold floor.

Wildfire awoke to the grumbling of his stomach. He realized that he had neglected to eat once again. He decided that he would get Snow and get something more... substantial.

Way ahead of you. Wildfire looked down to see a slightly bloodstained Snow. Knowing what she meant, he hovered downwards to her. She took the lead, Wildfire complied to following her. After what seemed to be a few minutes of walking, a bloody corpse assaulted Wildfire's mind.

"Did you kill this?"

Maybe.

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"Rosey?"

The shrill squeak of a frightened voice called out for her sister. She knew what had happened to her, but she refused to believe it. She can't die! She's going to walk out of that crater any moment... A growing sense of dread settled in her heart as the full weight of the situation sunk in. Her only family. Dead. Even now she could feel tears rolling down her cheeks. Peeking out of the debris, she spotted her sister's holster, her long rifle charred and smoking. She tried to make sense of what had happened. Baddie came. Threatened Rose and herself. Rose and baddie fought. Rosey was winning until baddie tried hurting her. Then her sister pushed her out of the way and dissapeared in a beam of light. She teleported! She's just going to pop beside me and tell me everything's alright... If only Phantom was here. Her mind felt like it was imploding. Why was she freaking out like a scared baby? She could take on whatever was out there no probs. Just as she was about to go retrieve the weapons, a winged shadow crossed the ground. Except maybe a full-grown Banshee. She looked around for anything dead to use as energy. She saw a dead cow in the middle of the field. Reaching out, she was disappointed to find that it was just feet beyond her magical grasp. Just my lucky day. Could never get any worse. Just as those thoughts finished processing, the roof of the downed house came down. She had to roll outside to avoid being flattened by the debris. She looked back to see what could have caused the damage. She turned back to the sound of a roar and saw a draconian shadow blotting out the sun.

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"What the hell happened over here?"

Wildfire could not help but blurt this out as he arrived at the edge of Ponyville. It seemed like every single pony, unicorn, and pegasus was fighting over some sort of... Doll? Looking around he noticed Twilight, who looked rather unkempt, along with her friends. Sprinting over to them, he seemed to go unnoticed.

"-Oh what have I done?"

"What have you done, Twilight? Did I miss something or what?" Six heads shot towards his direction.

"It was my Want it, Need it spell! It was only supposed to affect three ponies, but now everything that looks at it falls under it's spell!" Looking towards the flailing group of ponies, he felt the pull of the spell. Which wouldn't force an eyebat out of him. Amateurish excuse of a manipulation spell...

"Wait here, I'll go get that doll away from every pony," Everypony. "if I get it far away enough it's effects should wear off correct?"

"Yes but-"

"Twilight Sparkle!"

The eight surprised creatures looked up to find an angry-looking Celestia flying above them. Without saying another word, Celestia's horn lit up in her signature golden glow. It gave off a flash and a yellow orb could be seen growing from the tip of the horn. Wildfire felt a small twinge of uncertainty as he wondered what effect it could have on him. As the magic reached him, audible sizzling and intense heat assaulted Wildfire. Sure that his multiple protection spells were the cause of this, he scrambled internally to find an exit. His body was quickly enveloped in blue flames as he dissapeared from the field.

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A freezing wind pierced through a red cloak. The figure underneath did not attempt to pull it closed. Instead she stood motionless, a tombstone at her feet. On said tombstone lay the engraving of a rose, delicate and graceful. The figure turned and left, head held low. She observed as the forest around her visibly wilted, seemingly mourning her sister as well. She knew that it was in reality her mood affecting the nearby wildlife. She wanted nature to mourn, for one of the few souls who could hear it had passed on. She let her mind wander as her feet carried her to someplace only Fate knew.

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The Everfree was silent, most creatures finishing up their activities for the day. A large lake shimmered in the dusk light. The relative peace was shattered as a blue ball of flame appeared over the lake. It produced a flailing reptile then dissapeared. The writhing mass plummeted towards the water, it's wings flapping uselessly. A string of curses were bellowed as the shape desperately tried to avoid the water. It hit the water with a bloodcurdling smack, forming a large disturbance in the water. Bubbles could be seen streaming towards the shore at a frightening pace. The shape exploded from the water, and ran into the forest. Only when Wildfire had run non stop for a few minutes did he stop to look back. He slumped onto the ground trembling; if there was one thing he was afraid of it was water. His eyes were wide open and shot around, not looking for an enemy, but for water. He cast a spell to evaporate any water on him. After a few minutes of laying on the ground, the trembling subsided and his tears reduced to scared whimpers. Standing back up, Wildfire started his long walk back to Ponyville, dragging his feet. Just as I thought. That spell was designed to strip everything in it's radius of spells. And I just happened to be there. He felt a bit bummed out of losing his protection spells, it had taken him years to cast the armada that protected him from things as simple as rocks falling. Wildfire stopped abruptly, his nostrils flaring. Only now had he noticed the smell of something burnt. His eyes drifted to his muzzle, his red scales revealing nothing. That's when he noticed that they weren't their usual red, they were red hot. It only took his mind a fraction of a second to make the connection, and his nerves even less time to get the pain screaming back at him.

"YEAOOW!"

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A different forest was bustling with activity, calls of various kinds resonating through the thick woods. The cloak-clad figure was still walking, entranced by the sound of her feet hitting the ground. A blur of movement caught her attention, looking up, she saw a group of wildbeasts amassing in front of her. She stood perfectly still as they snarled at her. One of the wildbeasts charged forwards, diving towards her. Inches before hitting it's target, she dissapeared in a puff of petals. The monster looked around, then looked at the bright moon. In a haze of magic, seafoam eyes blinked. Her hand reached down and grabbed the weapon in her holster. She spun as the weapon deployed, she pointed it towards the wildbeasts. A loud bang resonated through the air as one of the bull-like monsters' head split open. With gravity taking hold, she dove down towards the ground. As she hit the ground she rolled, standing back up she fired at one of the beasts near her, tearing out a large part of the chest. Smashing another creature in the head, she rolled the firearm in her hands. The weapon, which formerly belonged to her sister, deployed to its full extent. The barrel lengthened by four feet, and the blade of a scythe rolled out from underneath it.

"Let's get this party started."

**********

The door to Twilight's library slammed open, scaring the six ponies inside. Wildfire walked in, devoid of facial expressions.

"Wildfire! Don't you know how rude it is to-"

"Not in the mood. I just got the wonderful experience of burning alive." Wildfire cut off Rarity as he clenched the door behind him. He immediately started looking for a book.

"What are you looking for?"

"Feather regrowth spell. I had some spells on them that made them less fragile and when it got stripped away by Celestia's spell, it burnt off my feathers." He could feel the gaze of the other ponies on him, looking for his wings which he had concealed.

"Wait, did you just call the Princess by her name? Without Princess with it?" Wildfire turned to Rarity.

"Yeah, so?"

"So? So?!  It's the Princess! You can't talk to her like that, you must use her title! You're lucky she didn't hear that or-" Wildfire tuned out Rarity's seemingly incessant talking and continued to look for the spell.

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About a week later...

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"Welcome to Nightmare Night!"