Chapter 8

My computer is finally fixed, and working conditions on it are much better. I know it's been a while, so please, enjoy this chapter and review!

The dirt road crunched beneath the hooves of the army as they walked into Appaloosa. Each pony warmly greeted the sight of the town, for the battle weary group had been walking for a few days. Amidst the large crowd of ponies, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie walked side by side, while Derek and Rainbow Dash flew overhead.

Princess Celestia had ordered Ponyville cleared until deemed safe, so until then, the residence of the town would make home in Appaloosa. As the ponies walked into the streets of the town, the crowd began to disperse as many ponies started to locate their loved ones that had evacuated.

"Apple Bloom!" Applejack and Big Macintosh both shouted as they ran towards the small, yellow filly.

Tears streamed down all three of their faces as they embraced in the street.

"They made me leave, sis, but Ah didn't wanna leave, cause Ah knew you would be there an' make everythin better!" Apple Bloom said, her face buried in Applejacks shoulder. The older mare simply smiled with joy.

Rarity roamed the crowd, looking for Sweetie Bell. As she walked, she felt something slam up against her leg, and hold on tight. Rarity looked down, and saw her younger sister clinging to Rarity's legs with a grip not even Big Macintosh could break.

Rarity let out a sigh of relief, and wrapped her other leg around Sweetie Bell, before sitting down and having a proper embrace.

"Are you okay, Sweetie Bell?" Rarity asked.

"Yes" Sweetie Bell sniffed, her eyes beginning to water up. Rarity closed her eyes, and held her sister tightly to her body, unwilling to ever let go again.

Rainbow Dash soared above the town with Derek, her eyes scanning the crowd for no one in particular. As she glanced at the faces of the ponies, her eyes halted on one in particular. It was a brown pegasus filly with a purple-ish mane attempting to fly up to her, however, the filly kept falling back to earth.

Rainbow Dash smiled, and descended to Scootaloo, who was waving madly at the incoming pegasus. The two met and embraced, and while the two weren't related, they certainly felt like it. After a long pause, the two separated, and Scootaloo immediately began to talk.

"So, did you fight off the gargama-thingies? I bet you did, you probably scared them off!"

Rainbow Dash just laughed as the enthusiastic filly carried on. Derek watched the scene unfold from the sky, grinning the entire time. He eventually pulled his attention away from the two pegesai, before settling on Twilight, who was pulling Spike into a huge hug.

"Jeez, Twilight, what's the big deal?" The purple dragon responded as he suddenly found himself wrapped in tangle of purple fur, though he returned the embrace with a tight one of his own.

Twilight ignored the protests, and continued hugging him, until he finally clambered up on top of her back.

"I missed you, number one assistant." Twilight said softly, as she began to trot through the town.

Spike answered with another quick hug, forcing an even larger grin on Twilight's face.

Derek felt a slight twang in his heart. He cared for the ponies, and while he truly did value them as friends, he felt lonely. He flew down to the ground, and sat down on the porch of The Salt Lick, Appaloosa's version of a bar.

Every time he saw a pony find a loved one, he was instantly reminded. No one left but me. All these ponies, they've got family they can run to, and hug, and be around. Hell, I don't even remember the last thing I said to my mom! Oh god, I miss them..

His thought's ceased when he noticed Fluttershy sitting next to him, looking at him with concern.

"Are you okay, Derek?" she said softly.

Derek nodded silently, but he could tell that Fluttershy wasn't buying it. Her eyes stared into his, probing him for a real answer, but he turned away, his eyes settling on Applejack as she and the rest of her family walked through town, smiles on all their faces.

Fluttershy followed his gaze, and let out a small sigh when she saw what was holding his attention.

"I'm sorry." She muttered, her eyes returning to him.

"About what?" He turned to Fluttershy, and the butter-colored pegasus could see the tears in his eyes.

"You know what."

Derek bowed his head as tears started to flow. His watery eyes stared at the ground as the two sat in a silence broken only by the sounds of the ponies around.

"I'm the last of my kind, Fluttershy. Sure, there maybe some other humans, or at least things similar to humans out in the stars, but I'm the last true Earth-human. When I die….we're all gone. I mean it's great that I ended up in Equestria, and everypony has been amazing…but you don't know how much I would give to see them all again. Not just my family…any body."

Fluttershy nuzzled Derek gently, her eyes full of tears as well.

"I'm not going to try and say I understand your pain. I may not have family, but I've always had friends."

Derek looked at her. "You don't have family?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "Most pegasus parents give their children flying lessons before they ever enter flight school. I never had the opportunity to get a lesson. The only reason I got into flight school was because Rainbow Dash wouldn't go to flight school without me."

"You knew Rainbow before flight school?"

Fluttershy nodded. "We grew up in the same orphanage. Rainbow got accepted after she showed how much of a natural flyer she was, but she wouldn't leave without me."

Derek stared at Fluttershy, before his gaze sought out Rainbow Dash.

"So that's why your families were never on the show…" he muttered to himself, before returning his eyes to Fluttershy.

"Do either of you know what happened to your families?"

She nodded. "Rainbow's mom and dad died in a hospital fire. They flew in to try and help get some ponies out. They went in nine times, and each time they brought out a pony or two. The tenth time in though, the building collapsed."

Derek took in a shuttering breath. After a brief moments pause, he asked again.

"What about you?"

Fluttershy shook her head no.

"I was dumped on the orphanage porch as a baby. I never found out who my parents were."

Derek bit his lip, trying to think of what to say.

"I'm….I'm sorry." He finally said.

Fluttershy smiled. "Oh, it's fine. I've never had any reason to miss them. Besides, if they hadn't dumped me on the orphanage, I wouldn't have met Rainbow Dash, or any of the others, and I wouldn't have discovered my love of animals!"

Derek seemed a bit taken back by the response, but then he smiled.

"Typical Fluttershy, making the best out of the worst. Speaking of which, where are your animals?"

Fluttershy smiled again.

"I let them out of their cages when we got to Ponyville. Angel Bunny is in charge of them, so I assume their all hiding in the woods somewhere. I'll find them soon, I can just feel it."

Derek laughed, his tears long dried.

"Fluttershy, you never cease to amaze me."

"Oh, that's nice."

Derek pulled her into a big hug, and smiled at her again when they broke the embrace.

"Thank you." He said softly, before getting up and walking away into town. Fluttershy followed him with her eyes, smiling softly, before looking again at Rainbow Dash, who was having a race with Scootaloo.

She's going to kill me when she finds out I told him. Fluttershy thought happily, before turning and heading off into town.

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The sound of trumpets blasting from above startled the town of Appaloosa, and every set of eyes turned towards the sky. There, they beheld a carriage making its descent towards the country town. Even from afar, everypony could see who the two passengers were.

The carriage landed softly on the main street, and rolled to a stop. Immediately, everypony bowed as the two royal sisters stepped off the carriage, and thanked the pegasai that had pulled them.

The sisters then turned, and began to walk through the crowd. Both sisters smiled comfortingly at everypony they saw, before turning the corner.

As the sisters rounded the corner, a voice rang through the town, stopping both of them in their tracks.

"Princess!"

Princess Celestia turned, recognizing the voice, and saw Twilight Sparkle running up to her. A smile crept upon Celestia's face at the sight of her student.

The moment Twilight was within reach, Celestia bent over, and nuzzled her.

"My faithful student, I am glad to see you unhurt! How are your friends?"

"They're all fine, for the most part, though I think Applejack's holding some of it in."

Celestia nodded. "I heard about Granny Smith. Let Applejack know she has our condolences."

Twilight nodded, then took a step back as Princess Luna approached them.

"Twilight Sparkle, I'm sorry to interrupt, but we have some important matters to discuss. Could you go gather your friends and bring them to the town hall?"

Twilight nodded. "Right away, Princess!"

Twilight gave Celestia another affectionate nuzzle, before turning and running back into town to search for her friends.

Celestia chuckled, before continuing on their walk to town hall.

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Meanwhile, only a few miles outside of Appaloosa, on a long and winding dirt path that was bathed by the desert sun in light and heat, a unicorn ran for her life.

She could hear them behind her, screaming and groaning and flapping their wings as they charged after her. Tears streamed down her face as she ran, part from fear, part from pain.

Her legs burned, for she had been running for hours. Her magic was exhausted, and at this moment, useless, and she had a long and terrible gash on her forehead that dripped blood into her eyes, blinding her until the tears washed it away.

She perked up a bit when she saw the outline of Appaloosa ahead. With a grunt, the blue unicorn continued her sprint, her eyes deadlocked on the town ahead.

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"Now that you're all here, we can start." Princess Celestia said as she sat down at the table. The two princesses' sat at the head, while the rest of the group filled out the sides.

Around the table were military masterminds from across Equestria, each one specializing in different forms of strategy and combat. Naturally, they were slightly surprised to see six mares and a human sitting at their table, but not one of them spoke up about it.

"As you all know, we are facing a serious threat." Celestia continued. "The creature, which we have named The Darkness due to lack of actual knowledge on it, is a dimension eater. It feeds on everything that makes up a universe, and apparently, it doesn't like it when part of its meal gets away."

At this, she turned and looked at Derek.

"I assume you all have read my report on Derek here, so no explanation should be needed. The creature followed him to our universe, and specifically, our world. However, it didn't expect there to be powerful magic, allowing me to wound the creature."

"Excuse me, your majesty." Celestia turned, and faced the interrupter.

"Yes, General Stardust?"

"How exactly did you wound the creature? Could you not have killed it?"

The princess shook her head.

"I used my magic separate its body into three parts, and then blasted those parts into separate dimensions. Killing it completely, however, was impossible. As of right now, we are still trying to figure out how to destroy it."

"Is there any way for The Darkness to restore itself?"

Celestia bit her lip. "We don't know. The magic that I used is something I came up with myself, and that was the first time I've used it."

General Stardust nodded, accepting the information. Princess Celestia paused for a moment, before going on.

"The Darkness fled, and eventually came to rest along the southern border of Equestria. There, it opened multiple portals to hell dimensions, and as of right now is raising an army of gargoyles. My sister believes that it plans to use this army to wipeout the entire planet. Not just all life, everything. That amount of total destruction would possibly allow it to regenerate, especially if it can get a hold of our magic."

Derek spoke up. "Is there any way to close the portals?"

Celestia sighed again. "We're working on that. These portals are not magical, so we are unsure what's creating them, or what's allowing the Darkness to control the gargoyles."

She paused for a moment. "That's why we're sending a team down to the portals. It will be a no contact recon mission. Based on the information we get from the team, we will draw up battle strategies, on both offensive and defensive."

The princess turned and faced an old pegasus with a red coat.

"Phoenix Star, you shall lead the team. The rest of your teammates have already been selected, and you shall leave immediately."

Phoenix Star nodded, and began to walk to the door. Before he got there however, the door burst open, and Big Macintosh ran in.

"Sorry to bother y'all, but there are sum gargoyles comin' in, and from the looks of it, they're chasin' sum poor unicorn."

Princess Celestia stood up. "Meeting over, Big Macintosh, please lead the way."

The earth pony nodded, and ran quickly through the door as the others followed. The group ran through Appaloosa, before coming to a halt at the north entrance to the town. The group scanned the desert for any sign of the pony in peril.

"There." Derek said, pointing to a shadow on the horizon. The rest of the group looked to where he was pointing, quickly realizing that he was right.

The pony was kicking up a lot of dust as she ran, for the gargoyles were gaining on her. The gargoyles flew overhead, screeching and screaming as they zeroed in on their prey.

"They're going to get her!" Derek said quickly. He ripped off his shirt, and his wings unfurled. With a battle yell, he leapt into the air and flew straight at the gargoyles. The other pegasus joined him in the sky, while the rest of the group ran below.

Derek locked his eyes on the group of approaching gargoyles, estimating that there were about 15 of them. As they got closer, he could begin to make out the pony that the gargoyles were chasing, and saw that she had a blue coat.

That looks familiar… he thought, but dismissed it from his mind as he charged.

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The unicorn saw the outlines of the ponies as they came towards her. They're going to help me! She thought joyfully. That joy quickly turned to terror, because the brief distraction proved enough. The only reason that she had been able to run for so long at such a fast pace was because she focused all her concentration on running. The moment she lost that concentration, her legs collapsed.

She hit the ground hard, and rolled for several paces before coming to a stop on her back. She screamed as she saw a gargoyle dive straight for her, its teeth glistening with saliva, its eyes burning with hate.

Right as the gargoyle was about to be upon her, a dark blur slammed into it. The blur and the gargoyle rolled for a few yards, before separating and rolling apart. The two immediately stood and faced each other.

The unicorn stared at her savior, for she had never seen anything like him, though she had defiantly heard of him. He must be that human everpony was talking about.. she thought weakly, as her eyes rolled back up to the sky.

Above her, she could see a battle taking place. Gargoyles and pegasus clashed in midair, as screams filled her ears. She noticed a rainbow colored blur above her, one that seemed strangely familiar.

No..it cant be… her thoughts were cut off by one of the gargoyles above suddenly getting hit by a spell. The spell sent the gargoyle flying, smoke coming off it as its body burned. The injured unicorn felt the aura left by the spell, and realized that it too felt familiar.

All of a sudden, a gargoyle landed right by her head. The creature was injured, but still alive, and its eyes turned and looked directly at her. It released a scream of fury, and raised a clawed hand to strike her.

It never got the chance. A pair of orange legs slammed into the gargoyles chest, blasting the thing to the ground. The unicorn looked over, and saw an orange earth pony wearing a straw hat run after the downed gargoyle, her eyes full of determination.

The unicorn felt a pair of mouths grab hold of her and begin to pull her back. Her head lolled to the right, allowing her to see a white unicorn with an elegant purple mane casting spells alongside a purple unicorn.

The dragging stopped, and the unicorns view was filled up with two more familiar ponies. One was a butter colored pegasus, and the other was a bright pink earth pony. Both were talking to her, but she couldn't hear them. In fact, she couldn't hear anything.

Oh god, it is them! Oh god oh god oh god…. Her panic stricken thoughts faded as unconsciousness took hold of her.

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Derek pulled his tendrils back into his wrists and looked up as he stood over the carcass of the gargoyle. He smiled as Twilight and Rarity finished off the last one with a rather complicated looking fire spell, which vaporized the gargoyle.

He walked over and joined the others, who were all huddled around the unicorn that had almost been the gargoyles lunch.

The unicorn was blue, with a magic wand for a cutie mark. She was covered in dirt, and appeared to be wearing the remains of a purple cloak.

"Ah say, Twi, there's somethin about this girl that seems mighty familiar." Applejack said as she stared at the mare.

Twilight's gaze was locked on the unicorn as well, and she simply nodded.

"Of course there's something familiar, because we know her. This is Trixie!"

Derek gasped. "You mean the Great and Powerful Trixie?"

Applejack snorted. "Don't tell me that your gonna do it too."

Derek's sheepish grin served as an apology. The group went back to staring at the unconscious Trixie, each one of them thinking the same thing.

"Sooo….what are we gonna do with her?" Rainbow Dash asked as she hovered above their heads.

"Simple." Twilight said. "We're going to help her."

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