Chapter XIX

“Ya’ know, I expected more from you Bael. After seeing you in action while just running, I thought for sure I’d have to go all out to beat you in the air, but you’re kind of a pushover in a wing-race.” Rainbow comments idly from the bed above mine in the train car.

“Yeah yeah, live it up Rainbow. You still cheated at the very beginning.” I retort good-naturedly. I’m honestly not too picky about where I sleep. If it’s an actual bed, it’s practically heaven for me considering all the times I’ve had to sleep on the ground in the past. Besides, I totally let her win.

“No need to be a sore loser buddy!” Rainbow says smugly.

“You will rue the day you didn’t destroy me Rainbow Dash.” I respond with a comically deep villain voice. She laughs.

“I’m glad to see you’re feeling better Bael. You’ve been kind of… distant, since Trixie left.” Twilight says from her own bed across and to the side of ours.

“I get why he was sad though, she’s only been gone for, like two days but it feels like years. I was so disappointed she didn’t want me to throw her a going-away party.” Pinkie says.

I feel a twinge of guilt. I guess I didn’t hide my depression as well as I thought. “Sorry. I’ve had a lot on my mind recently. Kind of needed some time to think.” I tell them.

“Yeah, I figured. Kinda hard to be cheery when you’ve got as much baggage as you do. You’ve been doing one heck of a job trying though.” Rainbow comments, suddenly sounding a little more serious. She’s probably thinking about our run in with Luna.

I wonder if she’s told the other girls about that?

I smile up at her, even though she can’t see it. “Thanks for understanding. And also for giving me some space.” I thank her and the other girls in the car.

“While we’re on the topic of giving, could you all please give me some quiet so I can sleep?” Spike asks us irritably from his bed.

“Sorry Spike. We’ll be quiet.” Twilight tells him. Spike grumbles at this, but doesn’t say anything else and he curls back up under his blankets.

“And we should all probably go to sleep too. We’ve got a big day ahead of us tomorrow.” Twilight adds to the rest of us. She then turns the light off in the train car with her hoof. This act is met with several “awwwww”s from the other girls in the car. I chuckle at this, and pull my sheets up over my body and rest my head on the pillow behind me.

Not that I’m trying to fall asleep just yet. After all, there’s still one more thing that’s going to happen before everyone actually falls asleep.

“Pssst!” Speaking of which… “Pinkie Pie. Are you asleep yet?” Rainbow’s voice whispers out from on top of her bunk. I see the glow from Rainbow carrying a lit candle near Spike’s bunk.

“No. Are you asleep yet?” Pinkie whispers back.

“If I was sleeping, how could I have asked if you were asleep yet?” Rainbow asks in annoyance.

“Oh yeah!” Pinkie giggles quietly.

“When we get to Appaloosa, do you think we’re going to have to carry that heavy tree all the way to the orchard?” Rainbow continues in a whisper that everyone in the car can hear.

“What tree? Do you mean Bloomberg?” Pinkie asks in confusion.

“No, Fluttershy.” Rainbow sarcastically replies.

“Fluttershy’s not a tree, silly.” Pinkie tells Rainbow in amusement.

“What’s going on?” Twilight asks with interest, jumping into the whispered conversation.

“Rainbow Dash thinks Fluttershy’s a tree!” Pinkie informs Twilight.

“I do not think she’s a tree! I was just-.”

“Did you say she was a tree?” Twilight interrupts Rainbow’s hasty defense.

“No! Well… yes… but-.” Rainbow stumbles with her speech.

“Ya know, she’s not a tree, right?” Twilight asks in confusion.

“She’s not a tree, Dashie.” Pinkie backs Twilight up.

“I’d like to be a tree.” Fluttershy jumps in.

“Trees have a pretty impressive life span. Probably as long as the Princesses.” I add with a grin while still in my bunk. I’ve been struggling to not burst out into laughter from the entire conversation.

“*gasp* Does that mean Fluttershy could be a Princess if she was a tree?” Pinkie asks excitedly. Oh my god Pinkie you’ve made this infinitely more hilarious!

“No Pinkie. I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works.” Twilight informs us.

“Twilight Sparkle! How dare you! If Fluttershy wants to be a Tree Princess, then by golly she can be a Tree Princess. All she has to do is believe!” I say with a serious voice if not a serious face. I have no idea how my voice didn’t crack into full-blown laughter while saying that.

“All hail Princess Fluttershy!” Pinkie cheer-whispers.

“Oh for Pete’s sake!” Spike exclaims in exasperation before getting up, stomping to the door of the train car, and leaving for the next one.

The car is silent for a moment. “Well that was kind of huffy.” Twilight notes.

“Huffy the magic dragon.” Fluttershy adds, and everyone chuckles at the joke.

“Would you all be quiet! NOW!” Rarity snaps aggressively. The candle glow on her mud-covered face definitely giving her words a much more fierce quality to the command. The girls gasp and blow out the light.

It still takes me a minute or two to stop laughing though.

The next morning, I’m woken up by the rumbling of a buffalo stampede. Upon looking around, I notice that the other girls are as well, and they all crowd around the same window to look outside.

I however, don’t. Instead of joining the girls, I rush to the train car door that leads to the rear.

I enter the one passenger car between the sleeping car and the caboose and I step as quickly as I can to the next door. I know what happens next, and I can prevent it. All it’ll take is a quick icing of the joint between the cars and Little Strongheart won’t be able to unhook the caboose and kidnap Spike and Bloomberg.

The train car lurches heavily to the side and I get sent crashing into one of the passenger seats with a grunt of pain from the impact. I grip the seat with my claws to prevent myself from flying to the other end of the car from the rebound. Once I’m sure the buffalo outside aren’t going to slam into the train again, I get back up, run to the back door, and wrench it open.

I thrust my claw down towards the car link, but then pull up short before I can coat it with ice.

The ice will definitely stop them from unhooking the caboose. I’ve worked out how to form it into the equivalent hardness of blue ice, which rivals steel in its density. But what if this is a bad idea? The last time I took action to protect the girls ended up making it worse. What if this turns into the dragon on the mountain all over again? Little Stronheart in the show said they weren’t seeking to harm anyone, but how far are they really willing to go to get the tree? If they get desperate, they might try tipping the train over to get Bloomberg.

But I can’t just sit by and do nothing!

Over the roar of the moving train and the wind, I can hear Rainbow trying and failing to talk to Strongheart up top, and I have to make a decision before my window closes.

Instead of freezing the links with my outstretched claws, I reach for the side of the doors instead. I swing myself out from between the two train cars and take flight and climb up into the air with several swift wing flaps.

I’ve decided that I’m not going to do nothing and let things sort things out. But I’m also not going to stop the buffalo from taking the caboose with Spike and Applejack’s tree in it either. Instead, I’m going to wait. Wait for the right moment to step in to minimize the amount of conflict. And to do that, I need to disappear and just keep an eye on everyone for a bit.

I climb higher, and higher into the desert sky, until I can feel a very brisk chill around me from the altitude. Only when I feel this, do I look downward, When I do, I see Rainbow Dash slam into the inconveniently timed sign. And then Little Strongheart disconnects the back train car from the rest, and the buffalo roll it back down the tracks in the opposite direction of the train’s destination.

I let out a sigh. ‘No turning back now.’ I think. I follow the buffalo from the air.

A few miles down the rails, the buffalo stop pushing the caboose to retrieve their ill-gotten gains. When they open the car’s door, they discover Spike, who looks frightened at first, but quickly calms down when all of the buffalo bow their heads in respect to him once their surprise wears off. They then proceed to place Spike and Bloomberg on their backs and travel away from the tracks towards their camp.

The flight to the buffalo camp doesn’t take very long. The buffalo travel fairly quickly over the ground so all I really need to do is glide and occasionally flap my wings to gain more height.

Once they arrive, I make my descent down to the outer edge of their camp.

Some buffalo see me land a little away and drop into aggressive crouches, but pull up short when they realize I’m another dragon.

“Another one!” One of them exclaims in surprise.

A different buffalo approaches me with his head lowered in respect. “Mighty dragon. To what do we owe to your powerful presence?” He asks me.

Fear is wafting off of him. So their respect for dragons is born from fear. I’m not surprised. It seems to be a common occurrence. “You’ve taken one of my friends into your camp. I’d like him back.” I answer him neutrally.

He cringes from hearing this. “Ah, I am deeply sorry about that. We were not aware he was in the train car we had taken from the ponies. I assure you, he is unharmed, and we can take you to him now if you would like.” He offers in an effort to placate me.

“Very well. Take me to him.” I answer evenly. Normally, I don’t like others being afraid of me for no reason. But for now, I’ll deal with it. I might be able to use this uneasiness around me later if things proceed similarly as in the show.

The buffalo nods, and then turns around to lead me into his camp. I follow him into the circling of teepees, several other buffalo staring at me with various amounts of nervousness. Once again, I’m not surprised. A young dragon like Spike would obviously not inspire this, he’s a baby, and can’t do much to cause mass destruction like grown dragons. But I’m obviously not a baby, and more than likely they might be thinking I’m some kind of adolescent like the ones Spike will meet on the migration months away.

It’s not a bad guess, considering my size, but it’s also not a correct guess either. I’m so much older than those teens that if I actually grew with that age I just might be bigger than Dragon Lord Torch. Fortunately, I’m perfectly alright with my size, and I’ll be perfectly fine with it for the rest of my life if I don’t grow at all either.

Getting back on topic, the buffalo leads me to Spike, who’s standing next to the campfire talking to Little Strongheart. He turns his head to look at us at our approach. “Bael! What are you doing here?” He asks me in surprise.

I give him a half-smile. “Just making sure my favorite little buddy’s alright. You doing okay?” I ask him back.

“I’m fine. And get this! These guys totally respect dragons and stuff. So I’m like, an honored guest. And now I guess you are now too.” He informs me with a grin.

“So I figured out.” I say, looking around at the many gazes on me. The fear is lessoning, but not by much. “So, do you have any idea why they went to so much trouble for an apple tree?” I ask Spike.

“Oh, uh, no. But Little Strongheart here was actually just about to tell me.” Spike says, gesturing to said female buffalo.

She steps forward a bit and gives her own little bow to me. “Welcome, mighty dragon, to our camp. I’m very sorry we took your friend. We didn’t know he was in the train car at the time. We were only after the tree.” She explains to me timidly.

“Yes, that is what I was told by one of the other buffalo outside the camp. It’s fine. Mistakes were made, but I don’t hold it against you. Now how about you start telling us why you all felt the need to steal a train car in the first place.” I recommend. I already know why, but I need to keep up appearances around Spike. I can’t just spontaneously already know why the buffalo stole Bloomberg without arousing suspicion.

She nods. “The settler ponies of Appaloosa are fairly new to this area of the desert. And they’ve ended up planting their massive orchard of apple trees right on the path of our stampeding grounds without our permission. With the trees blocking the way, we cannot get through, and so we are stuck here, unable to proceed with the ceremony to reach another part of the desert with more food. And the ponies refuse to move their trees somewhere else.” She explains to me, thankfully becoming more confident speaking to me from the frustration of describing her people’s problem.

I give a hum of thought. “An entire town and orchard is a lot to build. Why didn’t you ask them to stop before they were finished planting the orchard?” I ask her. I have a feeling why that might be, but I’d like to know for sure.

“Our tribe is always on the move from one part of the desert, to another. It has taken us until now to reach this part of our stampeding route, and by then, the orchard was already fully planted. We did not know about the settlers until it was already too late.” She answers.

“Well, that’s definitely a problem,” I state. “And I’m assuming that the reason you stole the tree is because you don’t want any more being added to the orchard. Am I correct?” I ask her. She nods.

I look down. “If you’re all really willing to go to so much trouble for just one tree, things must be pretty tense right now.” I say, not really expecting an answer.

“Yes, that is right.” She answers.

“… One last question… how close do you think it’s getting to where the rest of your tribe will decide to take action against the townsfolk?” I ask her seriously.

She looks surprised at this, and then saddened, before she sighs and answers me. “Tempers have been rising a lot lately. I do not know if Chief Thunderhooves will manage to stay idle for more than two more days. It may even happen sooner.” She answers.

I close my eyes in thought. So things are proceeding pretty close to the show. Hmmm. “Alright, I have an idea, but I’m going to have to leave Spike here for a bit. You alright with staying here Spike?” I ask him.

“Huh? Well, I guess. But where are you going?” He asks me.

“I, am going to head to Appaloosa to let Twilight and the others know that you’re alright. And I’m also going to see what I can do about that orchard problem. What I need you to do, until then, is wait for Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie to get here, and then update them on the buffalo’s plight. I saw them briefly on the ground tracking the tribe as I followed them from above. Think you can do that Spike?” I ask him. I didn’t actually see them, but I know they’re coming. Might as well alert him about it.

“You can count on me!” Spike declares with a salute.

I nod at him. Then I turn to look at Little Strongheart. “We’ll get this whole mess sorted out. Don’t worry. Just try to keep your tribe mates from doing anything too hotheaded before giving diplomacy a try please.” I tell her before taking to the air.

“So let me see if ah’ve got this straight,” Applejack says with a raised hoof. “You left Spike with the ones that ponynapped him, and let them know that RD and Pinkie were headed their way?” She asks me incredulously.

“You have a very selective memory,” I answer dryly. “Yes, that is indeed what I did. But as I told you already, they didn’t know they took Spike, and when they learned they did, they treated him like a guest and are taking good care of him. And I told them Pinkie and Rainbow were heading their way so that the buffalo know that they’re our friends and don’t immediately try to kick them out. They’re not prisoners, and they should be along back here by morning if I’m guessing right.” I tell her and the others.

Twilight lets out a sigh of relief. “Thank Celestia Spike’s okay.” She says.

“But the buffalo still seem to expect a lot from the settler ponies.” Rarity notes with worry.

“They’re expectin’ too much if ya ask me.” AJ declares with a huff.

“But the land did belong to the buffalo first. They didn’t ever say that the ponies here could plant their orchard where they did.” Fluttershy points out.

“But Appaloosa still needs their orchard to be able to survive out here. Without it, everypony will starve!” Applejack argues.

“Applejack, no one’s going to force Appaloosa to get rid of all their food. That’d be like asking them to roll over and die. But that doesn’t mean it puts them in the right either. The orchard is still smack dab in the middle of their stampeding grounds. It’s a sacred tradition to them that they’ve practiced for literally centuries. Making them change their minds about where they need to run is going to be nearly impossible.” I point out to them.

“Ta’ be honest, I’m actually glad ta’ know the reason for why they want our trees gone. Ah’ll admit that I don’t like the idea of gettin’ rid of the orchard still, but at least I know it’s cause’ of a longstanding tradition of theirs. Ah know fer’ a fact us Apples have got some family traditions of our own that we wouldn’t ever consider losin’. Ain’t that right cous’?” Braeburn nudges Applejack with an elbow.

Applejack stubbornly holds onto her breath for a moment before letting it out as a sigh of acceptance. “Alright, fine. Ah’ suppose that’s true, and Ah’ can’t really begrudge them wantin’ to stick to tradition. But that still leaves us with a right mess to clean up that Ah have no clue how to solve.” Applejack points out.

“I have an idea that will probably work, provided the buffalo and townsponies are willing to listen.” I say.

Everypony looks to me at this. “Really! What is it?” Applejack asks me.

“Just make a path through the orchard wide enough room for the buffalo to stampede through. That way, you’ll only have to move a few of the trees instead of all of them.” I tell them the solution provided by the show.

They look to each other in astonishment. “Huh. Seems simple enough.” Rarity comments.

I shrug. “Sometimes the simplest solutions are the ones that are needed.” I answer.

“Well, Ah’m glad we have that figured out, now we just need to go tell the sheriff.” Braeburn says with relief.

“Tell me whut?”

I glance behind Braeburn and see Sheriff Silverstar approaching us.As soon as he catches sight of me, he raises a brow and starts scrutinizing me. “What’s with the big ol’ lizard? It givin’ any of you folks trouble?” He asks the others.

Heh, lizard. I wouldn’t say it’s original but it’s still better than outright fear at the sight of me. This guy doesn’t scare easily. He’s good in my book.

But from the feelings of irritation sparking from the other girls, they don’t seem to share my opinion on that. “No, he is not. And he’s not a lizard, he’s our friend.” Rarity says in my defense to Silverstar.

“Oh, beggin’ yer pardon then. So what is it ya’ need to tell me Braeburn?” He asks, turning his attention to said Apple stallion.

“Sheriff. Baelor here just came back from the buffalo camp and told us what he learned from them. And he’s got an idea to end the trouble they’ve been causin’ us.” I quirk a brow at Braeburn’s phrasing of that.

“Really now? Well then, spit it out boy! What is it?” The sheriff says with interest.

“Well, the buffalo are angry at us because we built our town and orchard here without their permission. And the orchard is in the way of their traditional stampedin’ ground. Baelor suggested we clear a path through the orchard to let them go through it without getting’ rid of all of our trees.” Braeburn explains.

The sheriff looks at Braeburn and nods. Surprisingly enough, he doesn’t seem enthused by it. “That sounds like a plan. But while it’s relieving to know there’s a way to make them stop their actions, Ah’ve got bad news. Peach Heart is missing.” Silverstar says seriously.

Wait, what?

“Wait, what?” Braeburn exclaims in surprise.

“If this idea of yours works though, the buffalo will probably give her back. She’ll be safe and that’s what matters. It still steams me that they resorted to ponynapping to try to get what they want though.” Silverstar continues on, scowling in displeasure.

I don’t know what’s going on. This isn’t right. This wasn’t in the show. Not even remotely close.

“What are you talking about? You think the buffalo took her?” I ask him incredulously.

“Yes, Ah thought it was fairly obvious. Who else would take her?” Silverstar asks me.

“What makes you think she was taken? How did you reach that conclusion?” I ask him.

He levels a deadpan look at me. “Her neighbor got worried when she didn’t come back from a walk. Said she normally only takes about five minutes on her walks, and she hasn’t been seen for a little over a half hour. He searched town and then started looking out near the edge of the town limits. He found pony tracks out where she usually walks, and there were signs of somepony being dragged far out of town in the direction of the buffalo camp. He came to me at that point.” He informs me.

I lean back a bit, perturbed from this development. I shake my head slightly. “Did you send out a search party yet?” Applejack asks.

“That’s why Ah came lookin’ for Braeburn. Need one of mah’ best stallions before we can all head out to look for her. Ah have a feelin’ Ah know exactly where the trail will end though.” He says, pointedly looking in the direction of the buffalo camp.

I shake my head, trying to find a logical reason for where Peach Heart could actually be, but all I keep coming back to is the fact that I have no idea what’s actually going on. The buffalo don’t have her, I never saw her in the camp, and there’s no way they would have been able to beat me to Appaloosa while I was flying. And she’s been gone for two hours? Who, or what, would kidnap a mare all the way out here?

“But what about the buffalo? Somepony needs to be here to talk to them when Rainbow, Pinkie, and Spike get here.” Twilight points out.

“Hmmm… you do have a point. And if the buffalo have her, we can just ask them to let her go as well. Alright, we’ll stay here to negotiate.” The sheriff decides.

But the buffalo don’t have her! If no one’s going to go out looking for her because they think they’ll get her back from the buffalo, then wherever she is, it might be too late once they realize they need to go out to look for her.

I need to find out where she’s been taken. “I’m going to go searching for Peach Heart myself. Can you show me to the place you found where she was dragged off?” I ask Silverstar.

He looks at me with a raised brow. “That really ain’t necessary. You’d just be wastin’ yer time lookin’.” He responds.

“Well, it’s my time to waste. So can you show me or not?” I ask him, deciding I need the info more urgently than I need to point out his lack of concern for the missing mare’s safety.

He sighs. “Fine. Follow me.” He says to me before trotting back towards town.

I huff out breaths through my snout as I run across the desert, eyes glancing downwards every once in a while to make sure I’m on the right track. I’ve been running at a near-sprint for about twenty minutes now, and the marks are still going.

I wouldn’t say the drag marks in the dirt are obvious, but they can be seen if you’re looking for them.

What concerns me most is the fact that they’ve been arching more towards the sun the farther I follow them. While on one hand it means I was right and it wasn’t the buffalo that took Peach Heart, it also means that whatever took her is going to a lot of trouble to get her away from town this far. Why though? What’s taken her?

I glance up at the sight of some looming rock faces, their shadows stretching out to protect the space between them from the glare of the afternoon sun. I look down again and see that the marks lead into them. I press on into the opening between the cliffs, not stopping or slowing my pace.

I don’t know a lot of things about this situation. But I do know that a mare getting dragged off by something in the middle of the day isn’t anywhere remotely close to good. The townsfolk think the buffalo took her, and so they’re not making any efforts to search for her. The girls wanted to come help me, but… I’m going to sound like Rainbow for thinking this, they’re too slow for me. And besides that, they’re probably the only thing that will keep things relatively peaceful between the buffalo and townsponies. Or at the very least, things will resolve themselves as the show went.

I pull up short and my claws grind through the dirt as I stop. The drag marks make a sharp right turn into an alcove. I narrow my eyes at this; this looks like some kind of lair. Peach Heart might be through here… along with whatever dragged her here. I feel a twinge of foreboding but I shove it aside, there’s no time for hesitation.

I step swiftly into through the archway and walk through the shade of the tunnel, the slitted pupils of my eyes don’t have any trouble seeing, especially since there’s sunlight starting to shine through from the other end of the passageway.

I squint at the bright light, my eyes having dilated a little from the brief darkness. I walk out of the tunnel and into a bright clearing between the rocks.

And lying in the center with the sun beating down on her, is an earth pony mare.

My eyes widen in concern and I take a step to check her.

I feel the killing intent, but I don’t have time to react before I feel something rip downwards across my back, swiftly tearing through my scales and flesh. I hiss in surprise and pain and dive forward to turn around to face my aggressor.

I sense the intent on my throat and shift my weight to the side to avoid the stabbing atta-

Pain erupts in my neck as a sharp claw punctures my jugular, stunning me just as easily as choking me. The claw is ripped out of my throat and I stumble backwards, and get my first look at my attacker.

It’s a skinny stallion with a brown coat and black mane. However, this is where the normality ends. His eyes have slits for pupils, he has sharp teeth with fang-like incisors, and he has bat wings, one seemingly mangled, and the other covered in blood, my blood.

And then I collapse, my legs not able to support my weight between the blood-loss and asphyxiation.

As I lie on my side, choking on my own blood, I see him looking down at me with what looks like confusion, and it’s also slowly morphing into panic.

“What? You’re not him. Why aren’t you him? Where is he? It was supposed to be him!” He says aloud, jerking his head to look around and above him in every direction. His breathing is growing increasingly rapid from fear.

The lack of air is starting to cause me to see darkness on the edges of my vision, and my hearing is starting to go. But I can also feel my core sending fear-energy up to my throat, rapidly healing the damage to my airway and major arteries.

“Damn it!” The… bat-stallion says in frustration, but he takes a deep-calming breath. “Okay… I can’t stay here. And with my wing like this, I can’t outfly him… but…” He looks down at me again. “since it’s already here. I can restore my energy to, hopefully, heal myself before he finds me.” He says aloud. And then I notice something in his eyes that I haven’t seen directed at me before: Hunger.

My eyes widen in fear at the assumption that he’s going to eat me if I don’t move to protect myself right now. He takes a step towards me and that’s as far as he gets before I belt out a blast of fear from my jaws at him.

He manages to evade it by diving to the side at the last second, and he charges at me with fangs bared but I’m on my feet again, fear lending my limbs movement despite the lack of oxygen.

My throat still has a gaping hole in it, but I can feel that my airway has been sealed now. Breathing is difficult, but not impossible with lungs halfway-filled with fluids. But I don’t have time to cough it all out right now, so I hack up some more blood out of my lungs alongside another blast of fear at him instead.

He dodges again and then lunges at me with his uninjured wing. I see it coming at me, but the feeling of his killing intent doesn’t actually hit me until it’s just an inch away from my face. I manage to dodge it this time, and when he goes to strike again, I instead block it with my own wing, relying on my eyes and reflexes instead of my ability to sense fear.

Of course, the more he attacks, the easier it becomes for me to avoid or block him as more fear is pumped through me. He’s definitely experienced, but nowhere near enough to get the upper hand the longer the fight goes on. He may be able to conceal his intent, but he’s nowhere near as fast or strong as Luna, nor does he know how to physically conceal his attacks. Now that I’m fighting him head on, I don’t have much trouble countering him.

This doesn’t make any sense though. Not even Luna transformed into Nightmare Moon was able to conceal the intent behind her attacks this thoroughly, and I’m fairly certain she figured out how to do it a little bit from fighting me, but definitely not to this extent. I’ve always been able to feel where and how she planned on attacking me, even when she managed to misdirect her intent. But this guy’s holding his back to a point just before his attacks land. Even though I’ve been on the moon for most of my long life, I’ve still never encountered an opponent capable of this before.

I catch and hold his wing’s claw between both of my wing-talons, and in response, he lunges forward for my throat again with his teeth. His jaw locks down on my raised forearm, the chains blocking his teeth from puncturing too deep. I wince, but I decide to go on the offensive now. My other forearm comes up, the whip around it unwinding from my wrist, and I flick the metal weight around my midsection. The whip flashes around me and cracks into the side of the stallion’s jaw, the crunch of breaking bone audible. I slam my forehead into his in a head-butt and he stumbles back in a daze.

My other whip comes unwound from my arm and then my assault begins. Whips whirl around me nearly invisible, and the stallion gets staggered from the rapid-fire impacts to his head, wing and body, jerking left and right as his body accumulates bruises and fractures in equal measure until I finally slam him in the chest with a finishing palm strike, sending him sprawling back.

He lies on the ground, obviously in pain, and I’m finally allowed a moment of respite to drop back down on all fours to go into a coughing fit, blood spattering the dirt below me as I empty my respiratory system of the red bodily fluid that had flooded my lungs a minute prior. However, this moment of rest doesn’t last long, as he’s struggling to stand back up. I stand up with my legs spread, ready to move. I keep my gaze on him as he manages to regain his legs under him. He wheezes, his sides and legs trembling in pain from the exertion. The wing that was uninjured before now hangs limply at this side, and his mouth hangs open crookedly. Both of them are clearly broken. Despite his struggle though, he manages to glare at me through his pain, his pupils thin as needles against the light of the sun.

The stallion takes a shaking step towards me again-

And then something strikes him in the back, several somethings actually from the sound of it. And they didn’t just strike him, they penetrated into him. He chokes in pain, eyes suddenly wide with terror, and seems to struggle a bit. But then his face becomes gaunt, and wrinkled, as if something is sucking the life out of him. He weakly gasps, and the unceremoniously slumps forward. Whatever stabbed him holds him up for a moment longer, before letting him lifelessly drop to the ground to reveal...

Another batpony, this one with a dark gray coat and a black mane and tail. His wings, devoid of the membrane between their fingers, retracting from the other batpony’s back. An inky blackness morphs over the wings and forms said missing membranes.

I jerk back in surprise from this. However, seeing as how this new stallion is scarily similar to the old one, I don’t relax my stance. I won’t be caught off guard again against one of these things. Especially now that I’ve witnessed what I can only assume was this new one drink the other one like a cannibalistic smoothie.

The new batpony, however, doesn’t move as he stares at me impassively. Then he closes his eyes.

More blackness moves over his wings, I get ready to move. But instead of attacking me, the blackness just seems to change the appearance of his wings into that of feathered pegasus wings. Then the new stallion opens his eyes.

“You can relax Baelor. As I’ve said before. I am not your enemy.” Proditor tells me, his eyes no longer looking like a cat’s and his teeth no longer sharp.

“Proditor?!” I exclaim. “What the- how did- what-?” I stutter out in complete shock and disbelief.

Hmmmm… choices choices… I could make this another cliffhanger…

"Don’t you fucking dare!"

HAHAHAHA Alright alright. I won’t leave you guys hanging in suspense this time.

Proditor chuckles dryly. “What’s wrong? Thestral got your tongue?” He jokes taking a step forward.

“STAY BACK!” I snap at him, dropping lower in my stance.

He freezes at my words. Then Proditor gives a resigned sigh. “Baelor… I know I may seem dangerous to you. But the reason I’m here now was to find and stop him.” He says with a head jerk to the motionless stallion. “I do not mean you harm.” He says with a sincere inflection to his voice.

I narrow my eyes at him. “Why? Why were you after him? What are you? Why did you kill him and why did he try to kill me? And why did he kidnap one of the Appaloosan townsponies?” I ask him one question after the other. I’m now seriously considering that he might not be a Knight at all. I’m not even sure what he is. I mean, yeah, he looks like the batponies/thestrals from the Nightmare Night episode, but the last time I checked, they also didn’t have wings that can suck the life out of other ponies.

He glances down at the dead stallion at his hooves. “The first thing you should know before I tell you why, is that he and I… are creatures called thestrals. And we aren’t exactly… ponies, as you know them. The main reason being because we’re both carnivorous.” He says carefully.

“No shit. And that isn’t exactly comforting to know so you better start giving me a reason to not take you down and drag you all the way to the Princesses.” I tell him with a growl. I am not happy. I am not happy with any of this.

“Calm down. I told you that to let you know that the reason I was hunting him is because he’d developed a taste for sapient flesh, and so I needed to put him down because of that. All thestrals are capable of surviving off of non-sapient meat, including myself.” He explains to me calmly.

I mull this over in my head for a second before moving on to my next question. “Why kill him though? Why not just imprison him?” I ask, still on edge.

“There are a lot of small complicated reasons for that. The main reason though, is because he wasn’t willing to come quietly.” Proditor says.

I quirk a brow. “That sounds pretty harsh for resisting arrest.” I state.

“We don’t have much choice. Thestrals are dangerous to other ponies, plain and simple. And this isn’t bigotry against carnivorous species either. Thestrals are, quite literally, built to hunt, kill, and consume other sapient creatures. We are dangerous to every single thing that breathes on this world.” Proditor states seriously.

“I find that hard to believe.” I say disbelievingly.

I really do. Every living creature? How would they go about taking down a fully grown dragon?

…

Not me of course, that would be manageable for them because I’m so small, as this instance clearly demonstrated. I’m talking about those massive ones that are as big as the one that completely wrecked me when I fought it.

“I notice that you’re covered in blood. Did you perhaps get caught by surprise by him, despite your ability to sense his intent?” Proditor asks me.

I blink. How did he know?

“Thestrals are partial empaths. We can sense negative emotions such as anger, hate, and fear, the same as you. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say you have similar abilities to a thestral. Suffice to say, this gives us a very sharp edge against other living creatures.” Proditor explains.

Looking back, that might just explain how the other thestral was able to do… whatever he did during the fight. If he’s able to sense fear and killing intent in the same way as me, then he might have figured out how to manipulate his intent through some method I don’t know how to do. But Proditor’s explanation does trigger another question from me. “If you’re all so dangerous, why would Celestia allow you anywhere near her ponies?” I ask him.

“… I actually don’t know. By all logic she should be doing everything in her power to keep us out of Equestria. But instead, she’s doing what she can to allow us to live among other ponies. This kindness and acceptance is… the main reason I act as one of her Knights. And I refuse to allow a few selfish and uncaring monsters among my kind to go unpunished for crimes against the country that took me in.” Proditor states, staring down at the corpse of the other thestral.

I stare at him long and hard, but I can’t sense any kind of deception from him. The inflection in his tone is sincere.

I sigh in acceptance. “Okay… okay. I believe you Proditor. I’ll believe you for now,” I tell him, relaxing my stance to stand upright. I let out another sigh. “But I hope you realize that I am going to be asking Celestia about all of this at the first chance I get.” I add seriously.

“As you should. But I believe, for the moment, there is somepony else you should give your attention to. I’m guessing she’s the reason you came out here in the first place?” Proditor queries, looking past me.

‘Somepony else? Peach Heart!’ I look around and see that she’s still lying on her side in the center of the chamber. Stepping swiftly over to her, I put the back of my hand in front of her muzzle. Thankfully, she’s breathing. And looking over her body, she doesn’t seem too much worse for wear.

But…

“She seems fine. You said that thestral was interested in eating other ponies. But why did he just drag her out here and leave her like this?” I ask Proditor.

“It is likely because he knew I was searching for him. And outright killing her himself would have revealed his position to me. He likely brought her here to die of dehydration or heat stroke.” Proditor responds, walking up to stand next to me.

I look at him. “How? He seems pretty well hidden here, but the reason it was easy for me to find him was because I followed the drag marks from Appaloosa. If he was hiding from you he should have been fine.” I reason, slightly confused.

“That was a physical path that you followed. For thestrals, there is an emotional path we can track if we’ve trained to do so. Even if he ended her life as quickly as possible, it would still trigger a special, subconscious fear response from her: one of mortal terror and self-preservation. And I was looking for just that kind of feeling in order to find him. Dying from the natural elements while unconscious, however, would cause a different response. One which I was not looking for, nor would have thought to look for under the circumstances, so when she would have died, I would have ignored it and kept searching. And the thestral would then have had a meal to restore himself with, and then moved on to a different area.” Proditor explains.

“That’s horrible.” I say, looking over to the corpse of the thestral with distain. Another thought occurs. “But he also attacked me and seemed completely ready to start chowing down on me when I arrived.” I say.

“Which is what alerted me and drew me to this location. If it weren’t for you arriving and delaying him, I would never have found him, and this young mare would most likely be dead in under an hour.” Proditor points out to me.

I look back down at Peach Heart. She came so close to dying and being eaten and none of her family or friends would have had any idea what happened to her. She was lucky. I was lucky. And the only reason I was even out here to do something was because this incident happened during one specific episode of the show. My thoughts are interrupted when Peach Heart lets out a weak cough.

“She’s waking up. I’ll bring her out of the chamber, you should get that blood off of yourself to avoid alarming her.” Proditor tells me, shifting one of his wings under her barrel and lifting her onto his back.

I blink. He’s got some seriously sturdy wings for a pegas-oh wait. He’s got bat wings, they’re probably as strong as mine. Looking at myself, I see that Proditor’s right. I’m covered in my own blood across my neck and dripping down my back. I can feel that my wounds are mostly healed, but this much blood will make it look a lot worse than it is. I form a globe of “water” with an outstretched claw and I run it over me, washing the blood off of my scales and turning the globe red with my blood. Once I’m clean, I drop the globe on the ground, and stain the dirt red. Since it’s just energy, the water dissipates away into the air once I release my hold on it. It’s actually pretty good for showers all things considered.

I step outside to hear Proditor speaking to Peach Heart. “Your friends in Appaloosa sent him out looking for you. He managed to reach you before the cougar that ambushed you could finish you off. It managed to get a couple blows on him, but he managed to take it down in the end. It’s kind of messy in there, so he’s washing u- oh here he is now. Miss Peach Heart, I present to you Baelor the dragon. Your savior for the evening.” Proditor says in an uncharacteristically bright voice for him.

I look at him strangely, contemplating the story he seems to be spinning. “Why are you hamming it up so much?” I ask him.

“Whatever do you mean? I’m simply regaling this scared and confused mare about the heroic dragon that saved her life.” Proditor responds, putting subtle emphasis on certain words.

I glance at Peach Heart, who seems to be looking at us in a daze. Her emotions though, reflect what Proditor said. She’s scared and confused at how she got here, and also seems to still be woozy from the blow that knocked her out. And then it clicks in my mind when she looks at me. She’s nervous about me like everypony else, but Proditor’s words seem to have mitigated it significantly. He’s trying to put her at ease around me.

“… O-kay… well regardless, we need to get her home. Help me get her on my back.” I tell him.

“Yes sir!” He answers, slipping a wing under her to lift her up onto me.

“Oh, no, I can walk.” She squirms a bit but Proditor just sets her on my back.

I look back at her. “That doesn’t mean you should. Whatever that… cougar,” I glance at Proditor.”did to you, it managed to knock you out for nearly a half hour. You shouldn’t try to stand until we can get a doctor to take a look at you. You’re also probably dehydrated. In fact, do you have any water on you?” I direct my question at Proditor.

He hoofs me a canteen. I’m not sure where he got it, but I hang around Pinkie Pie on a daily basis so I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I uncap it and hold it up to Peach Heart on my back. “Okay, now just take small-” She sips from the canteen in restrained doses. “sips… huh.” I say in mild surprise.

She stops drinking for a moment to give me a semi-smirk. “I do live out here you know. I know not to drink too quickly while dehydrated.” She informs me tiredly.

I chuckle. “Well, it’s not exactly common knowledge to everypony. Better safe than sorry. Am I right Proditor?” I ask him, looking over to him.

Or… where he used to be. I blink. “Proditor?” I question. I feel Peach Heart looking around the crevice from my back. There’s no sign of the disguised thestral knight anywhere.

‘Oh-hohoho, dick move Proditor. Dick. Move.’ I think with a scowl on my face. I sling the canteen’s strap over my neck. I’m keeping it, nyeh!

I take a deep breath and let it out as a sigh. “Okay, so he’s gone. I guess it’s just you and me.” I say back to her.

“I… suppose so.” She responds, growing slightly nervous of me again.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you back to Appaloosa. I’ve actually got some friends of mine waiting for me to get back. And I’m sure yours will be ecstatic to see you’re alright.” I say comfortingly.

Her fear lessons, but then changes to worry at the mention of her friends. “From what I heard, things aren’t going well with the buffalo.” She says.

I smile, walking to the exit of the rock formations and back towards town. “Don’t worry. My friends are working on settling things between you two. I bet things will be right as rain by the time we get back.” I tell her cheerfully.

‘Hello Murphy, this is Baelor. I’d like to cash in my stamps on my card for the NUMBER OF TIMES YOU’VE SLAPPED ME ACROSS THE FACE!’ I think in utter contempt as I watch from a hill as the buffalo and Appaloosan ponies exchange blows and pies. Off to the side, I spot Pinkie Pie in her western saloon style dress looking on despairingly.

I let out a sigh of resignation. Of course. How could I have possibly expected anything different?

“Wh-what’s going on?” Peach Heart asks me in horror.

“Idiocy and stubbornness.” I mutter sarcastically. It’s times like this where I miss Trixie.

“My friends. My neighbors, we have to help them!” Peach says shaking my head with her hooves from behind.

“You sure about that? It look like they’re handling themselves pretty well, considering all they’re doing is throwing pies at the two ton buffalos charging at them.” I point out to them.

She stops shaking me long enough to take a more careful look at the fight. “… Oh.” She says, realizing her fellow townsfolk aren’t really in any serious danger.

“The stupidest part of all of this is that someone came up with a compromise before I left. I’m pretty sure it would have prevented this fight altogether if both sides took the time to actually think about it.” I tell her dryly.

“Really? Oh.” She says sullenly.

I glance back at her. “Something wrong?” I ask her.

“… I dunno. I feel like I should still support my friends. But, knowing this could have been prevented just makes this all feel…” She trails off.

“Pointless. Stupid. A waste of time and perfectly delicious apple pies?” I suggest drolly.

“Yeah…” She says, sounding lost in thought. I can feel her becoming agitated slightly, but it’s not directed at anything. I’m not sure what it’s about.

“… Is it wrong to resent them for being so petty, while I almost… almost…” She shudders.

My brows crease in sympathy. “Facing death puts your thoughts into perspective,” I say. I feel her gaze on my neck. “it can get you to focus on the important things in life more easily, and could also help you to appreciate every moment you’re alive more.” I say. Peach Heart mulls over my words. She seems to be calming down.

‘But if you face it too often you might just become numb to it and really mess yourself up.’ I silently add. It’s unlikely she’ll ever need to know that, given her lifestyle.

Regardless though, my words seem to have calmed her and gotten her mind off of how things could have gone differently for her.

I silently plod towards the scuffle with Peach Heart resting on my back. I’m fairly confident that the two sides will be done “fighting” by the time I reach the town proper. But I’m starting to wonder if it’s even worth it to keep trying to change how things go in the show.

I sigh again. I’m either making things worse by interfering too much or I’m making no difference whatsoever by not interfering enough. Maybe I shouldn’t even bother.

I feel Peach Heart shift around on my back, reminding me she’s here.

She’s here…

Proditor did say he probably wouldn’t have found her if I didn’t find her first. She’s still here, alive, partly because of me.

It… feels good to know that not all of my efforts were pointless.

And it wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t get involved in the first place. Maybe I should just… refocus on where I should help out? Instead of trying to make things that I know work out in the end get there more smoothly, maybe I should instead focus on places that the show turned a blind eye to?

I guess it’s just one more thing for me to think about in my spare time.

Author's Notes:

I had fun writing this chapter! I haven't gotten to write a fight scene in a while and I enjoyed writing one in this one, even if it was super short.

"What about when Luna last appeared?"

Ehhhhhhhh... that was less of a fight and more of a... close shave. Lulu didn't really fight back at all due to surprise, and Baelor stopped before she got a chance to, so I'm not counting that as a fight.

"Mmm. I guess that's true."

"YOU DICK!"

Hello to you too! How's your day been?

"You almost gave us another stupid cliffhanger right in the middle of it!"

But I didn't. So I think your outrage is a little bit unjustified. I think you owe me an apology.

"Like hell I'll give you an apology! Stop trying to do this stuff, alright?! It's not cool!"

*shin*

"No, but that is."

Aevum... that pun was horrible. Also was it really necessary to freeze him?

"Well maybe not necessary, but it's fun. It's been a while since I did that anyway and-wait... where's Sombra?"

Hm? Oh he's right over there like he alwa-aaayyyyyssssssss-shit. He's gone.

"Ah crap, did he get out?"

Oh no. What are we gonna tell Pinkie?

"What do you mean?"

If she finds out we lost the Sombra she's going to be devastated! We need to get her a new one before she finds out. Keep her occupied until I get back!

"Falx would you stop being a-aaand he's gone. Great..."

"...God-damn it, he left the thing on too. How do I... no not that...not that either..."

^{*BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB* "DEfinITELy noT thAt!!!"}

"Ugh...maybe this one?... Nope."

"Hi Aevey!"

"Hi Pinkie. Hey! Do you know how to turn this off? Falx left without ending the AN section and I have no clue how to work this thing."

"Yep! Just push this one here!"