To Chase The Shadows of Redemption

In the recently flourishing city of Oblatio, there existed—

Dire walked carefully, every step on edge. Being deep in enemy territory, and the pony who had previously defended his rear being sorely missing, he knew he could not relax.

They had slowly been working their way towards the capital of the Griffin lands, to reconvene with the main forces of the princess granted that she had also made it there. He personally felt that her making it there was more likely.

Reinforcements were supposedly on the way for his group, which had been whittled down due to the near-constant harassment of the enemy. Time and time again he had fought viciously and ruthlessly in order to try and save his fellow pony. Despite his significant improvements in combat, it would never be enough. It wasn't enough.

They had started in the thousands, and now they remained a magnitude lower than that in the hundreds.

He counted his blessings that he had made it this far, really. Especially the fact that Rainbow Dash, who he made to keep an eye on, had also fared just as well. He ate meals with her, and the two had grown closer over time. Sharing precious details of their lives freely.

As the combat became less organized and a more chaotic dynamic, they had even shared a few moments. He believed that they naturally knew what the other was thinking, at times. Their ranks, which had originally been entirely different, was far more dispersed and distributed now. They still had cliques, but the strictness to adhere to separation from another had fallen tribe-to-tribe. Colonel Birch was still with them, leadership intact, but he had chilled on the strictness of it all after having seen the combat break down to smaller scale. It wasn't worth it to try and force tactics under those conditions. They had fought together at will, and forming chemistry was something that they had to hold onto. It could save their lives in the end, after all.

Most of them had been given rest over the past few days as well, but they were still tired from all of this. It showed in their movements. They walked with a resigned pace that said they were ready for what was to come, but didn't want to charge towards it.

It was as they were rounding a corner along the main path which consisted of only heavily disturbed dirt like always, that they realized they were finally approaching something tangible.

There was a griffin village roughly and hastily established it seemed, and in Dire's opinion it looked quite barbaric. As if to add onto that fact, griffins flew around in an obvious enough way that he knew they were panicking behind the scenes of the war. It made him bitter to know they had been so effective while flopping like this behind the scenes. How?

"Prepare to take this town by surprise! Our final stop on our way to meet with the princess and finish all of this is before us! For Equestria!" said Birch, who had preferred shorter and efficient calls now.

The ponies at the front were the only ones visible to the griffins so far, including Dire, and griffins had not spotted them yet. The element of surprise could vastly help them seize victory here.

After a moment of pushing the earth ponies to the front completely, they charged. Dire ran behind one such pony he knew rather well now, Iron Fey. The earth pony was a certifiable monster block of pony mass, who Dire secretly believed could charge entirely through a griffins body if allowed to at full speed. There were scant few other earth ponies who held this kind of physical intimidation, but they existed. They even had two or three others left he could say similar for.

This was it! Every single one of Dire's instinct honed in and competed in his mind as his blood rushed in the charge. They would take victory here! He could briefly sense Rainbow Dash seemingly holding herself back with the group for now. All the pegasi flew directly above their charge without getting ahead of themsleves. Good, she had remained patient so far in the war, it wouldn't do good to break that now.

A few griffins had turned and noticed them, and the yelling began. It was too late though, they wouldn't be able to—

Wait, what was that? The griffins at the front had backed away, and because they had closed the gap he could see it pretty clearly. The griffins had formed several lines and were forming a line of pikes to receive them! How was that possible? He didn't want to believe it, but every second led him to a very dangerous conclusion, that this was actually a trap! Had they seriously faked not being ready?! What kind of genius tactician came up with that and had the precognition to know when they'd arrive? Did they really have scouting that thorough even at this point in the war? How were they not exhausted by it?

He closed off his thoughts, however, because the ponies near him grew tense as the clash approached quickly. They would not catch them by surprise, and he desperately thought that they would be outnumbered and face oblivion if they didn't have any edge to this fight.

An idea caught his mind.

He lit his horn brightly as they came closer, and as time slowed he saw the desired effect on the griffins face, they prepared themselves for something dangerous. About two seconds before the clash, when every sentient beings focused heightened to the maximum for the critical moment, he released it. A bright flash of light exploded from the point of his horn, and most of the griffins were forced to close their eyes against their better judgment, while raising their pikes just enough.

In front of him, Iron dodged a polearm lunge at the last second by an eyes closed griffin and he slammed into the body it, proceeding to use the body as a battering ram and not slowing down any. He blew through their ranks like a knife cut through butter, and by the time four bodies had piled against him he had stopped and sent all of them flying forward from the impact as they collapsed onto the ground in a pile. Dire instantly threw a strike to his side onto a griffin who was fighting a pony already, as Dire had reached deeper into their formation due to the immediate success of Iron. It landed, and they started overwhelming the griffin quite quickly with a flurry of blows. Dire was able to multitask at the same time, as he created a rectangular and thin magic wall above the recumbent griffins who hadn't gotten up from the charge. He pushed down, with all of the force he could muster, and the wall hit their bodies while flattening them onto the ground. There was resistance from their bodies, but he pulsed his magic as hard as he could, and a second later their bodies gave out and splattered like bugs underhoof.

Unable to keep everything around him tracked, he felt a flash of pain on his behind. He turned and saw a griffin had slashed the right side of his flank with a now bloody scimitar. Buckling slightly, as his leg had been partially hit, he grit his teeth and thanked his lucky star that the griffin hadn't been in a position to critically injure him apparently, and turned to counter. Before he could, a cyan blur flew past him and drop kicked the foe, smashing the beak in and then proceeding to flip out of it and back into the air. A simple magical lance was all he needed to finish the staggered griffin.

The battle raged on, and while the ponies were winning due to superior numbers and the initiative from the start, they did not notice the second wave of griffins flooding in from behind them. It wasn't just from behind them either, a circle of griffins slowly formed, and after the fighting had slowed down due to the ponies minor victory they started to notice the encirclement closing in. This was bad.

Dire, who had taken the risk of saving the majority of his magical reserves, knew now was the time to use it to give them any chance at surviving this.

He put everything he could into the arcane magical slashing attacks he sent in all directions that flew horizontally at his opponents. They didn't hit many, and the energy wasn't dense enough to pierce the griffins flesh deep enough, but it landed on quite a few of them who had gotten a little too close a little too quickly. If he had been stronger, they would've been chopped right in half then and there. It wasn't huge, but it was something.

This time, it was the griffins turn to charge in, only they had the numbers to cover the airspace above them entirely. It truly was an attack from all sides.

If this is my last stand, Dire thought, let us go out in the greatest struggle in Equestrian military history.

Dire and Rainbow dash stood half standing, minor injuries en mass and exhausted, back to back and facing opposite directions. There wasn't many griffins left, nor was there pony for that matter. They were still outnumbered ten-to-one. Dire only saw more griffins at the moment.

They both panted for breath harshly. The past few hours of combat had been exhausting. Dire knew that he would have to make as much as he could out of the little magic he had left.

"Never thought... it'd end like this... eh?"

"Who... are you... kidding?" she replied panting.

"Can you... still fly... as fast as ever?"

"Of course... I can..."

"Do you trust me?"

He didn't hear a response, but his heart received it anyway in the light fluttering of her wings. They had both almost entirely caught up on breath now.

He spoke quietly now, so that only she could hear. "When they come for us, I want you to attack and intercept every single one of them as aggressively as possible. Don't think about defence at all. Trust me."

"Done."

The griffins continued to close in around them, not underestimating them until the very end, their weapons glinting with a violent premonition.

One of them rushed forward, and the string of inaction broke, the rest of them swooping in all at the same time just a fraction of a second afterwards.

Dire swung around to watch Rainbow Dash as she flew to meet them. His mind hit the peak of its processing power, and time seemed to slow down to the point he could see every single minute detail unfolding one-by-one as they came. All was clear.

Rainbow Dash, in a way that pleased him greatly, launched the entire force of her body with reckless abandon straight towards the griffin, and at the final moment before the blade could hit her Dire summoned a tiny magic shield to deflect the blow away from her just enough that it'd miss by inches. She connected and smashed the poor sod, a literal indent in the chest of the poor thing from her front hooves, internal organs most likely smashed in, but that was only the beginning as the flung herself to the next target.

The next thirty seconds or so was one of the most fantastical light shows Equus would ever see as a rainbow blur shot to and there across and all around Dire in a three-hundred and sixty degree blitz that both protected him and met the entire wave at once. Dire also managed to dodge and weave the attacks that came at him when they got close while staying focused on her, long enough for Rainbow Dash to return and get the pressure off of him. It was almost like a dance where the strings of fate guided their movements, where Dire never lost focus on her for not even a millisecond while swinging his body around to keep sight on her at all costs and prevent anything to connect through to her. They would both immediately perish if there was a single mistake. He created walls for her to land and push off of at impossible angles to keep going at the frightening pace she held. Countless blows were avoided by near invisible blockades that had existed in an almost ephemeral sense, where they did their duty and then faded before you could ever perceive them.

Rainbow Dash landed with a thud besides him after the last griffin had been battered.

Both had reached the peak of exhaustion at this point. He had no idea how deep of a deficit that burst had put her in, but her barely being able to breathe among the painful gasps for breath was enough for him to tell it was everything she had left. His head hurt harder then he ever remembered with a brain-splitting headache, and he felt on the verge of puking.

The few griffins that were left stood shocked, but to his dark expectations further reinforcements slowly landed in front of the two. They carried a line of crossbows, and Dire knew this was it.

"Do not worry. I will protect you."

She finally looked at him, and as realization took hold the light which had been gone from her eyes lit for the first time that day as the recognition hit. He threw himself in front of her as the rain of projectiles came.

"Fly and escape, live on. Please."

It was the all he could come up with in the final seconds of his life.

The pain from the impacts were immediate and all went dark, and he swore he heard a scream as his consciousness faded.

Twilight sat bored outside of a meeting room of which she wasn't allowed into. The details weren't for her to hear, even though she was shadowing the pony inside. It was unfair and dumb, but they had claimed it was all confidential details that only the minimum amount of confidential ponies could hear.

It was a shame, but it allowed her to get back into the extra reading she had been doing. Today, she had decided to go through what started all of this. 'Marshal's guide to spiritual magic'. It was almost nostalgic at this point. She took her time reading through it fully, instead of skipping to the more relevant material they had rushed to the first time they found it. It was as she neared the section about the Sanctuaries that Twilight noticed it. She flipped a page she saw something tiny, that she hadn't seen when going over it with Celestia. Now that she got a careful look at it, it did indeed look like there was a tiny amount of paper left near the base as though pages had been ripped out. Checking for the page number, she wanted to slam her hoof down that there wasn't one. What kind of careless pony wrote a book that didn't have page numbers?! Ponies in the past were backwards, and that was final in her opinion. It prevented her from checking if and how many pages were missing. Still, after staring at it for long enough she was certain some were gone. Groaning with frustration, she finally stopped obsessing over it and read over the passages past it. It was an old book after all, who knew how many had possessed it in total so far in the past. She'd have to accept that.

Doing everything she could to rip her mind away from it, she sought another topic. She thought back to Ponyville. The ponies there she knew had been placed into more strenuous positions due to the recent dealings of life, and suddenly Twilight felt guilty about her minor problems in comparison. Rainbow Dash... she really hoped that she was okay. She really missed her. Missed all of them. It was time to go back to Ponyville soon, but she wouldn't see Dash even after returning.

She might never seen Dash again.

The realization cut through her heart like a razor, but she didn't allow it to take hold. There was no way she would ever believe that her friend was gone until the moment of truth itself arrived. She was capable, and Equestria was going to take care of its own. She bit her lip. More than that, she started shuffling in her spot nervously.

She needed to find something else than worrying. Her ken was massive, come on Twilight... come on.

She had taken a liking to one of the ministers. Maverick. She latched onto the thought more out of need than want to give the stallion any extra credit. One of the younger ministers, she had noticed that he seemed the most flexible. There was a lot he potentially messed up on, but it was because he was taking on things he knew could make him look bad in the first place. The fact he was willing to put himself out there - even while a pony like Twilight watched, was impressive in her opinion. He also, without realizing it she thought, had some of the most diverse connections in the city, period. It was like he knew everypony because his semi-cheerful self could worm its way into anypony's heart.

Needing something else at this point, she pulled out another book she had found, one which she believed to be one of the rarest in that room. On the Nature of Souls, by Eifern - Grandmaster of Zeek. She had no idea what Zeek was, but it was assuredly some college of old which had been lost to time. This was her first time going through it, and her excitement knew no bounds. Being forced to not participate in that meeting was a blessing right now. Over the course of an hour she went through it with special consideration to slow the pace down and really absorb everything. She really wished this Eifern had mentioned how he figured out so much of this stuff. Most of it made logical sense, but testing it would be incredibly difficult. You sort of had to take a leap of faith when reading books like these that they were done by legitimate methods in testing, even if you hadn't been there. It was an idea that was hard to swallow sometimes. You couldn't test everything you read, sometimes you just had to believe and accept things were true. The unicorns of the modern era had looked down at their predecessors as lacking in any real knowledge or academic abilities, but it was painfully obvious looking at something like this and seeing that they were just as advanced if not more so in certain regards!

A certain passage stuck out to her in particular:

"It seems that, in the formation of an artificial soul, via magical means or other, that the influence of emotion and attitude can be imbibed into the souls structure in some way we still do not understand. To the point we cannot see it when directly observing the soul. There are very obvious examples of this, magical golems being summoned with the intent to attack by the castor were aggressive by nature the moment they able to move. This was why. To take it a step further, we tried modifying constructs with different mindsets and intents for each iteration of the same being, whose lesser soul was easily malleable.

To our surprise, there is no need to try and force any specification into your magic. If you truly feel a certain way while doing the adjustments - the will shall be carried out. Even in subtle ways we found, where we tried smiling while doing the work. To our disbelief the little golem picked a flower not thirty minutes later and gave it to some little filly. It was astonishing. We have no idea what the limits are on this, or how much they can influence a being. We know that any normal sentient being born is free from all these attachments, and thus isn't warped in any way. Thank goodness for that, we all held.

Further research is still needed in this area, and as we continue on to..."

She had tried to mentally compare it to several experiments she had ran in the past. This was definitely something she wanted to try and replicate.

Her thoughts were broken short by the doors swinging open. It was time to resume the rest of her day.