Shadow of Fury

Chapter 13

Encounter in the Forest

The troup of ponies moved silently through the Everfree forest. Reaper led the group, followed closely by Twilight. Both of them held on end of a map with their magic, and blazed a trail for the others to follow. Fluttershy was next in line, followed by Lightning Hawk, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. Applejack, Willus, Shamrock were after, and Derpy brought up the rear.

"Are you sure you know where we're going?" Twilight asked, tugging the map closer to her face.

Reaper hissed. "Of course I do! Do you think I would be navigating if I didn't?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

Reaper hissed again, clearly annoyed by the unicorn. "Just stick close. We don't want anypony getting lost, now do we?"

Behind them, Lightning Hawk was having issues of his own. What was Twilight saying to Reaper? He wasn't trying to compete with Lightning, was he? Lightning began to panic mentally - Reaper could change his appearance to whatever Twilight desired. Surely that made him at least a blip on her radar, right?

Lightning breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed the pair were yelling at each other. Sure, Reaper could look however he wanted, but there was no changing the fact that the insectoid was as prickly as a porcupine.

Meanwhile, Willus and Applejack were having a discussion of their own. "These trees sure are fascinating! Back home, we never had any interesting botany for me to study!" Willus said.

Applejack gave him a slightly confused look. "You study botany?"

Willus shrugged. "Not just botany. I like to dabble in a bit of everything,"

"And how is that gonna help us now, Ah wonder?"

Willus thought for a moment. "Well, if we run out of food, I can identify which plants are safe to eat. Right?"

Applejack chuckled. "For a guy who knows so much, ya'd think at least some of it would be helpful," she said.

"Well, that's what happens when you spend your whole life around books," Willus replied, taking Applejack's joke lightly. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he stopped.

"Uh, Willus? Partner? Are you okay?" Applejack asked.

"Books," he said, as if in a trance, before screaming. "My books! I just realized! I left my books! Alone! In the care of a disabled bird!"

Applejack facehoofed. Just when they where making progress. She put a hoof on his shoulder. "Calm down, Willus. You know that Terrence can take care of the store,"

"But what if-"

"No. No 'what ifs.' Just calm down, and let's get this overwith,"

Willus smiled, calming down. "Thanks, AJ. You're right,"

Applejack returned the smile, and the pair continued walking.

Behind them, Shamrock began to purposefully lag behind, in order to walk side-by-side with Derpy. "You okay?" he asked.

Derpy nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said. The pair continued on in silence for a while, before Derpy opened her mouth once more. "Shamrock, you can't kill, right?"

Shamrock nodded, not sure where she was going.

"So, how are you going to fight? Especially when your opponent is trying to kill you?"

Shamrock thought for a moment. "I don't really know, Derpy. I guess I'll just have to fight without killing," he said.

Derpy nodded again. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense,"

Before anything else could be said, however, Fluttershy shrieked. All eyes turned to the object of her shock and fear. Charging at the group from the side was a small squad of five griffon soldiers, armed with swords and lances. Immediately, Fluttershy shrank back in fear, as the next events unfolded before her eyes.

In a flash of cyan and rainbow, Rainbow Dash had sped forward, landing a hard kick to the face of the griffon leading the squad. Twilight blasted the one nearest to him with her magic. Shamrock charged forward, the ground pounding beneath his hooves. The remaining three griffons gritted their beaks, and took defensive stances.

By this time, the others had reacted. All had taken up a stance, ready to fight. Except for Fluttershy, who wimpered in the background. Reaper turned invisible, Pinkie and Rarity tried (and failed) to look intimidating, and Applejack pulled out her lasso. Lightning and Derpy flared their wings, while Willus' horn began to glow threateningly.

The three griffins almost looked intimidated for a moment. Almost. But then they grinned. A predatory grin enough to send chills down most of the ponies' spines. That's when the attack happened. Not from the front, but from beneath them.

Twilight and Rarity suddenly found their legs being grabbed, as thick paws erupted from the ground. Their matted grey fur barely stood out from the dusty ground, but it was detectable. They were able to break free, quickly backing away. Behind them, more paws erupted, these tunneling out.

Diamond dogs.

As the pack surfaced behind the group, the ponies began to reposition. They formed a circle, each of them back to back, with Fluttershy hiding in the center. More and more diamond dogs erupted from the ground, each with their claws extending hazardously from their paws. More griffins appeared, surrounding the group. Finally, behind the diamond dogs appeared a figure, similar to a pony wearing a cloak. The figure passed through the pack of diamond dogs, before stopping. "Greetings, ponies," they said in a female voice. Willus thought he recognized it.

"It can't be," he muttered.

The figure removed her cloak, revealing herself to be Morticia. Willus gasped dramatically. "As I understand it, you are going to try and stop that which is in motion. I'm afraid I cannot allow this," she said, looking at her hoof as she waved it disinterestedly. Shamrock would have none of it.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"And what have you done with Spike and Dinky?" Twilight added.

Morticia chuckled evilly. "Your friends are safe, for the time being. But diamond dogs are notorious for their appetites, so I wouldn't count on it for long," Twilight and Derpy's faces contorted with rage, but a growl from one of the dogs stopped them from doing anything. "I am Morticia, and I am afraid it is not a matter of what I want, but rather what we want,"

Applejack and Fluttershy gasped now, recoginizing the name from Willus' story. "My accomplice and I have a very specific vision for your Equestria - one without you. So, I'm afraid you'll all have to die. Now, I must go. Lord Ironfeathers hates to be kept waiting. But don't worry! I'll leave my favorite pet here to keep you entertained,"

And with an evil grin, Morticia disappeared in a titanic cloud of smoke. From the smoke pierced two glowing yellow eyes, as their owner lumbered forward.

The ponies gasped as the thing appeared. It was a diamond dog - but not one like the others. It was huge, at least three times as tall as Shamrock, the tallest pony present. Its furry arms were like tree trunks, and its scythe-like claws raked the ground. The dog had a leash with spikes jutting out of it, as though it weren't intimidating enough. Then it roared. And then everything went to Tartarus.

On que, the dogs and griffins charged the group. Rainbow and Lightning immediately flew forward, each engaging an opponent with their bare hooves. Willus and Twilight blasted two diamond dogs down with their magic. Shamrock tackled one to the ground, before being attacked by two griffins. Derpy flew after them, trying to support Shamrock. Pinkie and Rarity were being pushed back, but luckily a well timed lasso from Applejack caught a diamond dog by the neck and threw it into the oppressing griffins. "Thanks!" Rarity called out.

"Don't mention it!" Applejack called back, her attention now focused on the hulking diamond dog. Shamrock appeared next to her, as did Rainbow Dash and Pinkie. "Everypony else is busy. We're the only ones who can take it down," Rainbow said.

"Not quite," a voice said behind them. Rainbow turned, and saw nothing.

Suddenly, the hulk grabbed its nose and whimpered. A small trickle of blood was flowing from it. Evidently, a well-aimed rock had hit it in the sensitive organ. Then, as if by magic, sand levitated in a large cluster, before being launched into its face. The beast was blinded, before a buzzing noise was heard. Reaper decloaked as he sent a flying kick into the hulk's neck.

The four ponies took advantage of the situation immediately. Rainbow joined Reaper in the air, and bicycle-kicked the hulk in the face. Pinkie and Applejack each grabbed one end of her lasso, before running in circles around the thing's legs. Finally, Shamrock tackled it in the chest, knocking it over.

All five came to a stop and admired their handiwork. "Well, that was easy," Pinkie said.

In response to her statement, a massive paw lifted up. Then so did the other. Slowly, the hulk began to pull itself up. With a single motion, it cut the rope keeping its feet bound, and roared in rage at the ponies. Rainbow sighed. "You just had to say something, didn't you?"

Meanwhile, Lightning was having his own battle. He had just been able to deal with two griffins, when a diamond dog attacked. He hovered back, dodging its blows. He quickly punched out, hitting it between the eyes. The eyes. Why were the eyes yellow? He just realized that the hulk, who his friends were currently combating, wasn't the only dog with glowing yellow eyes. This one did too. As the dog was launched back, he looked around at some of the others. They all did! Why was that?

Lightning Hawk could not dwell on it for long, however, as more griffons attacked. They never seemed to give up, did they? All throughout the clearing, everpony fought. Each and every one of them put their all into the fight. All but Fluttershy.

Fluttershy was hiding in a bush. All this fighting. She hated it. Fluttershy hated violence. Why did their adventures always seem to result in it lately? Fluttershy was so busy cowering that she didn't notice Morticia watching the battle nearby.

Morticia could see that this was a losing battle. Good. That was what she had intended. She knew that before she could defeat her opponents, she must first understand them. That had been the goal of all of this - to force them into combat so she could study their tactics. She was almost impressed.

Almost.

Still, they were sloppy and inexperienced. Dealing with them would not be difficult, when the time came. And then there was Willus. Morticia thought she had dealt with him years ago. What was he doing here? No matter. He would not be a problem. Suddenly, she heard a whimper near her. Morticia looked down from the stump she stood on, and saw Fluttershy cowering in a bush. She grinned evilly. Gilda had been a fool, but now, when reapplied, her strategy held merit.

Morticia fished in her pocket, before producing a vial of fine, green powder. She opened it and emptied it in her hooves, careful to hold her breath. Carefully, she tossed the dust into the bush. There was a coughing sound, followed by a sigh as her target lost consciousness. Perfect. Morticia gestured to a dog near her, who pulled the unconscious Fluttershy out of the bush. "I believe it is time we made our leave," she said.

The fight was getting harder for all of the ponies. They would not be able to last much longer. Suddenly, a whistle sounded through the air. The dogs, hulk, and griffins all reacted immediately, retreating towards the noise. The fight was over. The ponies panted, until Rarity spoke.

"Has anypony seen Fluttershy?"