Heavenly Crusaders

A year passes while Raven Inkwell has to put forth quite a bit of effort to get Celestia into a somewhat normal state as she finds her in the piano room listening to someone playing sad songs, letting out a sigh as she heads towards her, asking in a low tone, "Your Majesty, will you please tell me what the problem is?"

Letting out a sigh, Celestia hesitantly puts up a privacy barrier that shuts out all sound and keeps ponies from looking in, turning to her assistant with a look of longing on her face, saying, "A very long time ago, there was a group of valiant ponies who showed no fear when faced with evil forces. This group was called the Heavenly Crusaders, and they've been a part of Equestria's history as far as I can remember, though they all but vanished without a trace when an evil king tried to mount a siege to take Equestria. My sister and I got to the battlefield too late and saw bodies bearing white shields and white cloaks marked with that exact same cross displayed around every window. We both thought that they all had perished that day, well, until I saw that symbol and heard what True Heart said. His words shook me to my very core, Raven. They shook me so deeply that I went back into my memories and relived my days with my sister and I's father, who happened to be one of their members but lost his life after protecting us both as young fillies from a manticore attack."

Realizing how much she is suffering inside, her assistant sighs, saying, "I didn't know how much pain you were in, Your Majesty. If you ever need to talk to somepony, I'm here to help you."

Smiling at her, she pulls her close with her wings and gives her a rare hug, saying, "I really appreciate that, Raven." A sniffle escapes her as she sheds a single tear, whispering, "I miss my sister so much, I wish she was here with me."

Glad at having been able to find some one to be the preacher for mass every Sunday morning and holidays, True Heart explores the depths of the Everfree one Nightmare Night for a dank cave where he recalls hearing some monster that abducts ponies from their beds in the dead of night. With his wife beside him, he stumbles upon a decrepit castle having collapsed long ago revealing a hole into the mountain, saying, "This must be the place that the book mentioned."

Standing outside of the crumbled ruin, a shiver runs down her spine as Lillith says, "Something sinister is going on here, and I don't like the stench of death that permeates the air here. Do you want me to come with you as added protection?"

Shaking his head, he says, "That won't be necessary as I can hold my own against whatever creature the darkness wants to throw at me. Thank you for your concern dear." Kissing her lips, he then turns away and heads into the darkness of the cave."

As he looks around the tunnel, he hears an echoing whimper coming from deep within and calls out, "Who goes there!?"

A strange gust of wind passes through the cave as a voice whispers into his ear, "Just a starving mouth desperate for some sustenance."

True Heart then makes his way further, looking around and saying, "There's no need to be shy, I won't harm you. Can we talk?"

When the pony's head is turned away, the creature slinks towards him in the shadows, saying, "I know you wont, but I don't like the light, it burns. What's the point of talking when you don't have anything worth listening to?" Once he darts around silently to the other side of the pony, he rushes in and sinks his fangs into into the top of the neck just below the head and drinks deeply

Sending out a blast of holy light, he briefly cries out in pain, saying, "You will regret that."

Lillith prances nervously outside of the cave as she hears shrieks of both anger and pain along with her husband's brief cries of pain and fervor, watching flashes of light briefly appear within the tunnel. The sounds of battle last for only a half hour when she hears her husband call out, "I'm fine dear!" causing her to let out a breath she didn't know she held.

True Heart makes his way further into the cave as the bloodthirsty vampire pony turns to ashes behind him, eventually finding a laboratory with notes about how to create a perfect, undying race of ponies. Shaking his head at the audacity of such a pony, he continues deeper into the cave, saying, "So the madpony behind all this was called Dr. Gladimir Flankenstein, I sure hope that he wasn't successful in his endeavor."

It takes him a little while longer to reach a room containing three cages with three starved mares inside them, noticing right away that they have been twisted into this form by the mad stallion. He takes in their appearance, one mare being a greyish red with lavender eyes, as the one to her left is a deep blue with green eyes, and the last left of the second one being grey with yellowish green eyes. One common factor between the three of them is that they all have bat-like wings and long, tufted ears along with their eyes having vertical slits in them and a pair of small fangs jutting down over their lower lip.

The greyish red mare in the cage on the far right smells a new scent, unable to see due to her eyes forcing themselves shut at the incoming light, crying out, "Whoever you are, please let us out! We swear on our nocturnal lives that we won't hurt you!"

Reassured after hearing that, he dims his light and says, "Before I let you out, I have questions for you to answer in regards to Equestria's safety."

Nodding her head and finally able to withstand the brightness, the reddish mare says, "Ask whatever you want, but please hurry. The sun is on its way and we must fill our bellies on whatever insects we can find."

With one question answered, True Heart then asks, "Okay, these next few may be a bit insensitive, but do you drink blood as well? Are you creatures bloodthirsty vamponies like your master?"

The grey one hisses angrily at the insinuation, but the reddish one silences her, saying, "Quiet! Nopony has ever seen us before so that can be expected for a question." then turns back to the black unicorn stallion, saying, "We can drink blood, but some of us prefer to live off bugs. When we do drink blood, we will always ask before biting somepony. However, we are nothing like that monster and we refuse to call him our master, we have no clue as to who created him in the first place."

Nodding his head, he says, "I do, the one who created him was some tyrant called Sombra, and he was defeated long ago along with his army. If I were to let you out, can you be trusted to not cause trouble or attack other ponies out of fury or thirst?"

The reddish mare nods her head, saying, "That is great news to hear, and I can swear on my beating heart that I will heed your advice and be the kindest pony I can be and only eat bugs or ask ponies to let me drink some of their blood."

As he turns to the others, he hears them nod their heads and voice their agreement to his request, heading to the first cage, asking, "What are your names?"

The reddish mare with the reddish blonde mane and tail introduces herself, saying, "My name's Marougeka."

The deep blue mare with a reddish orange mane and tail beside her speaks up next, saying, "Mine is Aleveera, handsome."

The grey mare in the last cell with a black mane and tail says, "I'm called Veldona, now can you please let us out, I'm starving to death here."

Knowing they can likely smell the blood seeping from his wound, he nods his head and makes his way to the first cage and blasts the lock off the door, asking, "Are there others like you in this place?"

Gasping at being reminded of that, Marougeka exits her cell saying, "Yes! There are dozens more deeper in, I'll guide you there. Quickly, let the others out already for dawn is coming and we burn from its rays!"

Hurrying to the other cells, he sets the prisoners free and watches them dart away, shouting, "DARLING, DON'T HARM THE PONIES COMING OUT!"

Following Marougeka down to where the others are being held, True Heart asks her to lead him to the ones that can be trusted to live peacefully amongst ponies without causing harm.

Hearing that the stallion won't let the dangerous ones free, she sniffles and nods her head, saying, "It breaks my heart to hear that several of these ponies won't know freedom, but I understand why you are doing this."

It takes a few minutes to free the ones who can be trusted as True Heart pulls out a long blade and lets out a heavy sigh, saying, "You may not want to watch this next part as it is the kindest thing I can do for them with what I must do to cleanse this place of the evil stench that lingers heavily in the air."

Marougeka cries mournfully as she watches the stallion run his silver blade through each and every one of the unfortunate ponies incapable of being set free due to their hostile nature, sobbing out quietly that echoes across the room and through the vast tunnels.

When the last pony falls to the ground and stills, he makes his way to the prone mare and uses his magic to pick her up, saying, "Is there enough time for you to go out and feed?"

Sensing where the sun is, she shakes her head, saying, "Not enough to fill my belly to last to nightfall..."

Putting one hoof behind her head with a resolute nod, he says, "There's no other choice then... Go ahead and take what you need from me Marougeka."

Marougeka's breath hitches in her throat as she looks at him, asking, "W-What?"

Caressing her cheek lightly, True Heart says, "Drink what you need from me."

Tears flow from her eyes at hearing his kind offer, saying, "But you are wounded, I cannot."

Not wanting to hear her excuse, he uses his magic to open her mouth, saying, "Even so, I cannot abide letting another suffer while I can still do something to help. Now drink or I will cut myself and hold you still while spilling my blood down your throat."

Sighing, she gives in to his stubbornness and moves her mouth to his and kisses him affectionately, pulling away, saying, "Thank you...I will never forget this."

Feeling her sink her teeth into the top of his neck, he ignores the stinging pain as he hears her swallow mouthful after mouthful of his blood. Once she pulls away and licks the wounds closed, he turns to look at her asking, "Do you need a place to stay once I purify this wretched place?"

Nodding her head, she says, "We can take shelter in the forest, but it would be nice to sleep peacefully, knowing that we are safe."

Releasing his hold on her, he watches her sit down before saying, "Alright, can you tell me if you have any aversion to the object I am about to pull out?"

Marougeka nods, saying, "Of course." She watches him pull out another silver object and start swinging it at the wall as if trying to provoke it into attacking, causing her to shake her head, saying, "I feel nothing amiss from whatever you are doing." When he then starts doing the same thing towards her, she feels droplets of water strike her and causing her to cry out in surprise, saying, "AHH! That's cold, stop that!"

Chuckling, he returns the cap to his aspergillum and puts it away, saying, "Sorry, but I had to know if you had any problems with blessed items." Sighing with relief, he then says, "I have a safe place where you all can take shelter. To the northwest of here you will find a town, and outside of town there is a towering structure newly built. The front doors are never locked, so walk in through the double doors and try not to be spotted by anypony that may be inside, though it is normally empty after midnight. When you are inside the long corridor, head to the very back and follow the staircase leading into the vaults of the cathedral. I apologize, but there aren't any beds down there for you to sleep on."

Smiling, she chuckles and says, "Fear not, for we don't sleep on the ground, we hang from above."

Nodding his head, he says, "You best go and find the others and tell them what I told you before the sun rises. I will be back there when I can."

Marougeka kisses his cheek, saying, "Thank you for offering us safe haven, we haven't heard your name though."

True heart lets out a chuckle, saying, "Apologies, my name is True Heart. Now get going, for time is against you." When he watches her dart out towards the exit, he closes his eyes and then begins to shower the tunnels with holy water.

Pacing impatiently outside the tunnel, Lillith groans with relief when her husband finally walks out with three, heavy claw marks down his side and hurries over to look it over when she watches blue flames erupt from the mouth of the tunnels entrance.

When he sprinkles water around the whole perimeter of the crumbled ruins, he quickly trots away, saying, "Let's get to safety so I can reduce the last vile remnants of the evil taint on this area."

Following him quickly, she watches him summon forth more holy fire to eradicate the evil there and finally gets a chance to look his wound over, saying, "We need to get you to a doctor, this wound is infected and bleeding badly."

True Heart starts following her and says, "I can handle the infection easily, but I will do what I can to slow the bleeding."

After heading through the forest at a fast pace, Lillith hears a heavy sigh followed by a thump from behind her and spins around to see that her husband has collapsed. Worried for him, she puts her ear to his chest and hears his heart beating much, much slower than it should and then says, "I'll be back with help, hang on dear!" She then turns into her smoke form and darts down the path towards Ponyville, her mind thinking of only one pony that could help him.

Fluttershy is in her bed surrounded by her animal friends when a large gust of wind blows her door open violently, causing her to bolt upright fearfully when she spots a dark, red smoke floating up the stairs. Shrieking fearfully, she zips under the bed and hides there as she hears her animal friends respond to the intruder with protective snarls, and growls.

Not bothering to look as a pony, Lillith takes her demon form and looks around for the pony she needs and sees the bear take a step toward her and narrows her eyes warningly, "Don't try me Harry, or I will turn you into a fur rug before you can blink an eye." Gazing around the room, she doesn't see her and hears a noise under the bed, saying, "COME OUT HERE FLUTTERSHY OR TRUE HEART IS GOING TO DIE!"

Hearing that her friend is in danger, Fluttershy darts out from under the bed and looks up at the strange creature, saying, "Take me to him right now!"

Rushing down the stairs, Lillith hears her tell Harry to follow her. Exiting Fluttershy's cottage, she races towards the forest as fast as she can with the pegasus and Harry keeping pace with her speed.

After reaching the place where her husband collapsed, they rush him to the hospital in Ponyville for treatment. However, it takes a couple of weeks for him to show any signs of waking up.

Once True Heart is capable of opening his eyes, he looks around to see his wife by his side as she says something he can't quite understand. It takes a few minutes for the confusion in his mind to clear up as he asks groggily, "Where am I?"

On the left side of the bed, standing opposite of the dark red mare, Celestia leans forward a little, saying, "Ponyville General. You gave us all a serious scare when news of your visit to the hospital."

Thunder snorts and says, "Yeah lad, we don't appreciate being scared half to death at how serious your wounds were."

Lillith taps her hoof irritably, saying with a pout, "When Fluttershy saw how bad your scratches were, you made her terrified of ever going out on Nightmare Night."

Rarity huffs in mixed happiness and annoyance, saying, "It took us a while to calm both her and your wife down, not to mention the fit that Princess Celestia went into at hearing that you nearly died."

Finally getting a moment to speak as everything makes sense again, he sighs and says, "Apologies for scaring you all so badly. I got hurt after going into the forest, following old rumors of ponies going missing in the Everfree."

Cocking her head curiously, Celestia asks, "What were you doing in the forest?"

Applejack then stomps her hoof and says, "Everypony knows to stay out of that scary forest, start talking pardner."

The fashionista blinks in disbelief, saying, "And you were so brazen or crazy to go in there at night?! Explain yourself now before I have Pinkie Pie tickle it out of you..."

Sighing in defeat, he groans saying, "I was hunting down rumors of some monster that abducted ponies from their beds in the dead of night, never to be seen or heard from again."

Raising her eyebrow curiously, the farm pony taps the bed with her hoof interrogatively, saying, "AND?"

Continuing on, he says, "I came across this crumbled ruin deep in the Everfree on Nightmare Night however long ago that was, and encountered a vile creature that could blend in with the shadows and shied away from the light. After a fierce battle, and being bitten numerous times by that blood-sucking menace, I prevailed and skewered him with a silver sword that killed him. Leaving him there as he started to turn into ashes, I then wandered deeper into the cave and found a laboratory. Learning that he was created by somepony from long ago named Sombra, I also learned that his name was Vladimir Flankenstein. I then explored deeper into the tunnels..."

Celestia listens with wide eyes, as does everypony around her, to the story he tells, waiting until the end to say, "Wait, you actually saved the Thestrals?"

True Heart turns to her and asks, "They're called Thestrals? I had no idea what they were, so I let them stay in the vaults under the Cathedral."

Applejack then gasps and says, "YA LET A BUNCH OF BLOOD SUCKERS LIVE IN YOUR BASEMENT!"

He looks at her with narrowed eyes, saying, "Just to clarify, they also eat bugs. Furthermore, while most prefer eating bugs, some do drink blood...BUT, they always ask for a pony to let them feed off them. I pretty much had to force Marougeka to drink from me since there was not enough time to catch bugs by sunrise."

Lillith smacks her forehead with a hoof, saying, "So that's why you were so short on blood."

Smiling through his stern expression, Thunder Magic says, "Ever helpful to the point where it nearly kills you, try not to let your desire to help others get you killed before your time."

Nodding his head, he says, "I never planned to do so in the first place, but I will keep your words in mind. Will someone please tell me how long I have been out?"

Gears turn in the princess's mind as she says, "You have been unconscious for a month, since you are awake now, I can finally return to my pressing duties." Using her horn to teleport back to her room, she sighs in relief and throws herself onto her bed, letting herself cry out her frustration at nearly losing a connection to the past into the sheets. Once she has herself under control, pieces fall into place as she gasps upon seeing the signs of a prophecy coming to pass and rushes to her bookshelf. Pulling a book to her, she opens it and flips to a certain page, reading through her version of it, 'Upon the time when ponies of the night soar through the sky to feast on bugs or offered blood no more, a mare loses sight of herself from her sister's lack of care. When she is sentenced to watch from above, it shall be a thousand years until she returns to settle the score.' Knowing she has seen another prophecy somewhere, she rummages through her books before she finds it and reads through it, eventually saying, "Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape and she will bring about nighttime eternal."

As her mind does the math, she gasps as she realizes what that means, she returns the books to the shelves and makes her way to the restricted section of the royal library to help prepare her student, thinking, 'I can't believe that I didn't see the signs earlier. I need to do what I can to help Twilight along for when that time comes...'

Months pass by as True Heart hears the news that Ponyville has been selected to host this year's Summer Sun Celebration and lies in his bed irritably as he watches the clock hit 4am, calling out, "Nurse Redheart, can I get released yet? I don't want to miss this celebration!"

Sighing as she heads to his bedside, she looks his chart over before examining his injuries closely, eventually saying with a hesitant tone, "Since your wounds have healed rather nicely, I suppose you are well enough to get a clean bill of health. I strongly advise you against any strenuous activity for the next six months. If you do not heed my suggestion, I shall send Fluttershy or Applejack after you. Do you understand?"

Nodding his head nervously, he watches her take his clipboard with her and bids him to follow. When he gets to the checkout, he watches ponies starting to head to Town Hall and then signs the release form, then takes off the hospital gown and sets it on the counter before walking hurriedly out the doors. Walking through the doors of Town Hall, he spots guards all around the outer edge of the building, with a large crowd of ponies in the center. Searching for his friends, he spots Applejack near the stage and heads towards her.

When Applejack feels somepony bump her shoulder, she turns to see her friend True beside her and hugs his neck lightly, saying, "Well look who's escaped from his bed, does Nurse Redheart know yer here?"

Snorting in an amused tone, True Heart nods and says, "Of course she does, I wouldn't miss this once-in-a-lifetime's chance to see Princess Celestia raise the sun with my own eyes. She examined my wounds and removed the bandages before grabbing the clipboard and leading me to the checkout, once I signed the release form, I left the gown on the counter and headed for the door and straight here."

Nodding his head, he then goes silent as he watches Fluttershy fly up and guide the birds through a chorus to get their attention, followed by Mayor Mare giving a speech when he looks up at the moon high in the sky with the shadowy image of a pony covering half of its face. As he watches four orbs move towards the moon's center, he sees a flash that clears the shadow on the moon. Seeing that his research paid off yet again, he smiles and looks towards the stage as Mayor Mare brings the speech to its finale.

When he hears the curtains be drawn back on the balcony, True Heart's eyes shoot up to it eagerly as the spotlight illuminates it to reveal that nopony is there besides Rarity. As he hears her cry out in confusion, she then wanders the balcony when he hears a familiar voice comment, "This can't be good."

Turning his head to look, he sees Twilight standing there with Spike on her back beside Pinkie Pie as Mayor Mare speaks, saying, "Remain calm, everypony. There must be a logical explanation for this."

Chuckling when he hears Pinkie Pie comment about loving guessing games, he sees Rarity head to the front of the balcony, saying, "She's GONE!"

However, when Rarity races off the balcony as a cloud of purple smoke emerges on it, he watches it while fighting to keep his smile hidden as it transforms into an alicorn with a nearly black coat, a transparent, sapphire blue mane and tail, along with a pair of moderate cyan eyes with a vertical slit. When the alicorn looks at the crowd below her, she smiles and says, "Ah, my beloved subjects... It has been so long since I have seen your precious little sun-loving faces."

While a rainbow-maned pegasus rises up and demands to know what she did to their princess while trying to get into her face, Applejack holds her back by the tail, saying, "Slow down there, Nelly."

The alicorn mare chuckles darkly and asks, "Why, am I not royal enough for you?"

True Heart then watches her stand straighter and fold her wings annoyedly and asks if they know who she is, causing him to smirk when Pinkie Pie starts guessing. A snort leaves his nostrils after seeing Applejack stuff an apple into her mouth to silence her, leaving the alicorn to ask the ponies if her crown no longer counts after being imprisoned for a thousand years.

As the alicorn looks at a light grey mare with a purple mane and tail and blue eyes, she asks, "Did you all not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?!"

His eyes turn to Twilight as Spike lays on the floor unconscious when she says that she did and knows who she is, then tells them all that she is the mare in the moon...Nightmare Moon. Turning his eyes back to Nightmare Moon, he listens to her talk for a bit and suggest that she should also know why she's here.

When Nightmare Moon chuckles darkly, she looks around at the ponies, saying, "Remember this day, little ponies...for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night will last forever!" then cackles wildly with glee.

Seeing an opportunity to rain on her parade, True Heart lets himself laugh.

Laughter interrupts her own, causing her to look for who is responsible for it. Spotting a black stallion with green eyes and a silver mane and tail with an azure streak through them, her eyes narrow in a squint as she irritably says, "And just what are you laughing about, little pony?"

Coming to a slow, chuckling stop, he says, "Oh nothing really, I will enjoy watching you fall."

Just then the Mayor Mare cries out, "SEIZE HER! SHE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS WHERE THE PRINCESS IS!"

True Heart watches as Nightmare Moon rears back and strikes them all down with her lightning before turning into a cloud of smoke and racing away, thinking, 'Don't worry, your time is coming soon, Nightmare Moon.' When he spots Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie heading out the door, he follows after them.

As he follows the group to the Golden Oak Library, he walks in after Fluttershy and hears Applejack say, "But she sure knows what's going on. Don't you Twilight." When the lavender unicorn steps forth into the center of the room, he lets the others gather around her while hanging back to listen.

While Twilight calms herself and says, "I did read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon's return. Some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her, but I don't even know what they are or where to find them, I don't know what they even do!"

True Heart listens to her read aloud from the reference guide Pinkie Pie found and smiles at how they were last seen in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters, chuckling at how they all exclaim in fright at the mention of the Everfree Forest. Making his way to the door, he says, "I have been through the Everfree Forest a few times, I'll guide you down the best path to the ruin."

Applejack stops in front of the door, saying, "Not so fast, pardner. Ya just got out of the hospital an hour ago, ah don't want ya getting hurt any worse than ya already are. Remember how ya barely escaped that last fight ya got into last Nightmare Night?!"

With a smile and a nod, he says, "That was against a real monster without a conscience, Applejack. This time, it is just a powerful Alicorn called Nightmare Moon. Besides, I made a promise to someone that I intend to keep, so I'm still going. Though if it makes ya feel better, we can watch out for each other on the way."

Sighing in defeat, she bumps her hoof against his shoulder, saying, "Oh alright, pardner, ya done gone and convinced me, let's get going."

Twilight follows the stallion outside, thinking she has seen him before but can't quite place where. She continues to follow him through town to the edge of the Everfree Forest, reaching the edge a half hour later. Standing close to the edge, she hears Pinkie Pie call out 'let's go' excitedly and says, "Not so fast, everypony." Letting out a sigh as the black stallion stands just inside the forest's border, she says, "Look, I appreciate the offer, but I'd really like to do this on my own."

Hearing Applejack's reply, he chuckles and keeps walking deeper into the forest. As he leads them down a path to a ledge, he stops on it and considers going back due to the cracks he sees ahead when he hears the cyan pegasus called Rainbow telling an eerie tale, putting the all on edge and rolls his eyes, saying, "I don't like how this path looks up ahead, let's turn back and take a different one."

Rainbow continues to stalk forward, saying in an eerie tone, "Cause everypony who's ever come in...has never...come..." She then jumps up into the air and flaps her wings while shouting, "OUT!"

The ground around them breaks away, causing them all to begin sliding down the cliff while Fluttershy and Rainbow remain in the air as Rainbow looks at Fluttershy, saying, "Fluttershy, quick!"

Using his magic as best he can to stay on his hooves, he spots a purple cloud racing away and shouts, "Nightmare Moon, your a menace to society!" and hears a chuckle from the distant cloud when a rock knocks him off balance, causing him to chant, "Not on my left side, please not on my left side!"

As Rainbow picks up Pinkie Pie, she spots the stallion struggling to stay on his hooves and notices three, somewhat fresh gashes running down his left side and calls out, "Fluttershy, help Rarity! The stallion's in trouble!" Hurrying over to set Pinkie down, she then races up to see the stallion about to fall on his right side until he shifts his weight over to his right.

When he lands on his right side as intended, he looks ahead of him with his left eye, he sees a root jutting out of the stone and shouts, "Crap!" then clamps his jaw shut and closes his eye to brace for the collision to send him spinning.

When she watches the stallion hit the root and spin clockwise, she calls out, "Fluttershy, he's spinning!"

Looking over to her friend approaching the edge quickly, she gasps and races over, grabbing onto his tail with her teeth and attempts to slow him down.

Having a chance to grab his neck, she flies upward, saying, "We got you pal, we got you."

Applejack sees Twilight about to slip off the edge and lets herself slide down to grab her hooves, saying, "Hold on! I'm a-coming!"

True Heart wobbles from dizziness, having to sit on his flanks as Rarity is on his right side to offer comfort. When he recovers from the dizziness, he opens his eyes and shakes the confusion out of his head as he looks up to see Twilight cry out in fright before being caught and lowered to the ground by the cyan pegasus and Fluttershy. Spotting movement from the corner of his eye, he snorts in irritation at seeing the purple cloud, thinking, 'Oh, you are so going to get double the pain if you keep trying to hinder us...'

As Twilight takes over leading from the dazed stallion, she hears Rainbow recap the tail of her recent heroics, sighing and saying, "Yes, Rainbow, I was there, and I'm very grateful for you saving us. But we have got to reach..."

They all gasp as True Heart tries to shake himself out of the daze, but can't and looks on as a large manticore appears in front of them and roars menacingly. Knowing he needs to protect them, he prepares a spell to send it flying backwards.

Gasping as she watches him charge a spell, Fluttershy hurries over and touches his horn with her hoof, saying, "Wait."

He watches as a few of the ponies try to deal with the manticore, he watches Fluttershy jump in front of their charge and shouts at them to wait. He is then surprised as she walks up to the manticore and nuzzles it like it were a baby, shaking his head in mild amusement when her approach works as she discovers a thorn in the creature's paw.

Fluttershy looks up at the manticore and says, "Now, this might hurt for just a second when I pull it out." She then grabs the edge with her teeth and quickly yanks it out, then spits it away when the creature snatches her up and begins purring and licking her mane affectionately.

With the manticore no longer a threat, True Heart follows the others on ahead as his daze starts to clear up. Sighing in relief at having clear thoughts again, he says, "It feels good to be able to think clearly again."

Turning to her friend, Applejack asks, "How are ya holding up, pardner?"

Smiling softly, he says, "All in all, I am doing pretty good despite my right side being scuffed up a bit, it was lucky that I was able to push myself over onto my right side instead of my left."

Having been walking for a little while in silence, Rarity looks around and whines, saying, "Ugh, my eyes need a break from all this icky muck." When she keeps following the path ahead and finds herself surrounded by darkness, she lowers her voice and says, "Well I didn't mean that literally."

When True Heart's eyes adjust to the darkness amidst the commotion of voices, he hears Applejack comment about stepping in something and chuckles, saying, "Alright, who did it?"

Blushing lightly, Applejack hears Pinkie cry out and says, "It's just mud..." when she bumps into something and looks up to see a scary face on a tree, making her jump away, shouting, "AAH!"

Looking around at all the faces on the trees around him as the others huddle together screaming in fright, he rolls his eyes as he hears Pinkie start to giggle and make weird sounds. Turning his head, he sees her making faces at a tree with a face as Twilight tells her to run, hearing a music in the air as she begins to sway to a song, saying in a pleading tone, "Oh no...don't start..."

When she continues singing, he does his best to ignore the strangeness of it. Hearing her mention laughing to make them disappear, he heads over to a tree with a face and rolls his eyes, saying, "I've seen much scarier things than a tree with a face, you will have to try much harder to get me to be afraid...ha ha ha." and watches the face disappear with a pop.

After laughing at the trees and making the faces disappear, they make their way to a roaring river with a sobbing serpent as Twilight asks, "Excuse me, sir. Why are you crying?"

Seeing a wave of water crashing down toward them, True jumps back and out of the way, saying, "Hey, don't splash unclean water on my wounds, serpent!"

Sobbing, he then sniffles, saying, "I'm terribly sorry for my carelessness, but I can't stand how revolting I look without my mustache!"

When Applejack and Rainbow comment about his troubles being no big deal, Rarity approaches the serpent and admonishes Applejack and Rainbow for not caring, saying, "Of course it is! How can you be so insensitive?"

He watches as Rarity goes on about the serpent's appearance and how it is all ruined without his mustache, he smiles as she then tears a loose scale off with her teeth and hacks off her tail.

Spitting the scale away, the fashionista then picks up her tail and attaches it to the severed end of his mustache, earning her his gratitude, saying, "You look smashing."

Noticing how he can see everything with her tail being so short, he looks a little bit too long when he feels someone jab him in the shoulder and turns to see Fluttershy looking at him with narrowed eyes, saying sheepishly, "Apologies, I didn't mean to stare."

Lowering her voice, Fluttershy says, "You don't like it when we stare, so neither do we. Please don't let me catch you doing it again or I will be upset with you."