"Flutters. You can talk to animals, right? Could you, you know, tell them off?" Rainbow Dash asked her shy childhood friend in a very worried tone. These things looked a little too hungry for her taste.

"Them good-for-nothin'...! They ate one of ma' horses! Y'all will pay for that!" Applejack shouted furiously.

They just killed Hector, he was always so full of life and joy! It made the young Apple very angry, but she would wait if Fluttershy could reason with them. Besides, their foes were big, powerful from what she saw and seemed to be made of hard and thick layers of stone and crystal. Hitting them would only result in destroyed bones for her. And that was one of her smallest problems. Still, Applejack was sure as sugar about kicking them off her property.

"I-I can try," the animal lover replied fearfully.

She never tried to negotiate with giant, dangerous, able-to-devour-her-in-one-bite predators before in her life, and it scared Fluttershy. Was she even up to the task? She stepped a little forward and both basilisks looked at the girl with hungry eyes.

But two of her bravest friends trusted her wholeheartedly to find a peaceful solution, she started to speak with them. She wouldn't let her friends down. Not if she could help it.

"Ahem, excuse me. Could you maybe leave this farm, please? I mean... if you don't mind that is. You see, the horse you just ate was a nice, innocent farm animal of my friend here and I would appreciate it if you could hunt for food somewhere else," Fluttershy requested nervously.

The basilisks made typical noises of a crocodile and roared a few times for maybe ten seconds afterwards.

"Flutters, what are they saying?" Rainbow Dash inquired curiously. Maybe they decided to leave?

“They told me that I'm a naive and stupid female for even thinking that they would listen to potential prey and laughed at me. A lot," Fluttershy translated with sadness and tears in her eyes.

Never in her life was she bullied by animals before. It was a new experience for Fluttershy. The pink-haired teenager remembered her time as a child at Cloudsdale Junior High. Many kids bullied her there because of her shyness and because she was taller than the other pupils, but Rainbow Dash always stood up for her.

The girl wished she could voice her displeasure about the basilisks’ behaviour, to tell them off and to be as assertive as pony-Fluttershy. Princess Twilight once told her that her counterpart had an ability called: ‘The Stare’. She asked her friend about her alternative self after the Friendship Games, when the princess confirmed them their question if they had pony counterparts in Equestria, too. The teenager was told that this ability was always very helpful in the past with many difficult situations the ponies faced concerning dangerous animals. Like their group did now.

"Oh, it is ON!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed with new-found courage and anger at the basilisks.

Nobody made Fluttershy cry and got away with it unpunished! Not even magical monster crocodiles. Not under her watch.

"Simmer down, Nelly! Ya wouldn't stand a chance in a direct fight. Those horse eatin' varmints are mighty dangerous," Applejack tried to reason. She was very sour about Hector's fate, but a direct assault wouldn't end well for them.

"Come on, AJ! Give me some credit. I'm too awesome to be eaten and these slowpokes have to catch me first!" Rainbow replied confidently. The athlete used her geode given power to summon her outfit and entered the fray.

"Dang it, Dash!" Applejack shouted, annoyed. She used her power as well and followed her rival as fast as she could.

The cowgirl was forced to take action, if only to prevent Rainbow Dash from killing herself in her recklessness. She would scold her later if-no, when they survived. There was no ‘if’ for her.

Fluttershy was utterly unprepared in every sense of the word. The situation escalated far too quickly for her liking. She stood frozen in place, unsure what she could even do to help. Her attempt to negotiate with the basilisks failed completely. The shy girl feared greatly for the lives of her friends.

The dark green one of the two basilisks attacked first and tried to bite Rainbow Dash, who could dodge, but it was a good margin closer than she thought it would be. They were much faster than anticipated for beings with such heavy bodies.

Rainbow Dash knew she couldn't deal any damage. Her plan was to lure them away from the farm so that everyone was safe, including Applejack's animals. Further planing would be improvised in progress, or so she hoped.

"Come and get me!" Rainbow taunted.

The basilisk with the long thorns on its back started to follow her, like she planned. The second one with red corundum and sapphire on the body had other plans and decided to go for the advancing Applejack.

Much to the cyan colored girl's dismay.

"Are you crazy?!" Rainbow Dash shouted, fearful for her friend.

"Ah could say the same about yerself, Sugarcube! This rodeo needs two cowgirls. We have two bulls to ride," the farmer replied smugly.

Rainbow Dash wanted to reply, but had to run away, and fast. The basilisk used the moment of carelessness from its future meal and attacked. She was caught off guard, her newly attained speed was the only reason the athlete was alive still. She could run out of range before the mighty jaws closed. It would have hit both legs at once, eventually turning her into the same kind of blue statue like Hector earlier.

She wasn't sure whether this transformation only worked over the entire body when the bitten body part was still attached or not, unsure if they would rip off appendages with an attack of their mighty jaws. Rainbow surely didn't want to test out her theory on herself.

"That was much too close... I have to concentrate or I'm dead," the chromatic teenager muttered under her breath. "I'll meet you girls later again, after I showed this thing who's boss. Don't you dare die on me! And Applejack? Protect Fluttershy!" she continued loudly this time for the others to hear.

The farmer nodded her head in a silent promise.

Rainbow didn't wait for further response and ran away in the direction of the bog, her hungry new adversary close behind.

"Please, be save Dashie," Fluttershy whispered, praying with tears in her eyes.

"Ah'll be. That girl's crazier than a hungry fox in a henhouse," Applejack said, shaking her head at such reckless behaviour. She readied herself for the right moment to use her secret weapon on the incoming basilisk.

She brought a lasso from the stable with her before they left to see what was going on outside, just in case one of the horses was running away. Applejack tossed it. Her idea succeeded and the rope caught the basilisk's big mouth around the tip.

Her greater strength made it possible to hold the creature's maw as it tried to throw its prey around with one move of the head. She surprised her opponent for at least two important seconds before she would have lost the contest of raw power. It gave Applejack the necessary time she needed and jumped with one leap on the basilisk's back behind the neck. It enraged her foe.

"Yeehaw!" Applejack shouted in sheer enthusiasm, riding the basilisk like it was nothing special and using a bigger sapphire as her personal saddle.

Her endurance and strength made it possible to hold herself on top of the thrashing animal, which tried ferociously to reach Applejack somehow with its jaws.

"Applejack, you rock! Woohoo!" Fluttershy cheered in her own unique, quiet way.

The basilisk had enough and its entire back, specially the sapphires, started glowing, followed by blue sparks of electricity.

"Tarnation!" Applejack shouted in pain from the created sparks and jumped from the back of the beast between Fluttershy and the predator.

What the girls didn't know was this animal was not only a basilisk, but a Thunderback Basilisk. Besides turning their prey into a statue with a bite as all basilisks could, this subspecies could furthermore emit electricity from its back to attack its prey or to defend itself. This kind of electricity worked in a very controlled manner. It would only paralyze its victim, solely killing it when a Thunderback decided to put more energy in its attacks and searched for someone or something else to prey on. They couldn't gain nutrition from normal meat; it needed to be crystallized first.

The basilisks' prey could only be transformed into a crystalline statue and devoured by them when alive; the process wouldn't work with dead bodies. The reason was that their magic, necessary to transform living matter into edible crystal for them, connected to the inner magic of their still kicking prey and this would cause the transformation. They were modified in such a way that their entire body needed crystallized meat to live. Especially their protection, namely the crystals and different kinds of stone around the otherwise unprotected muscles. These crocodiles had no scaled skin as did the normally known reptiles.

Truly a terrible fate, because even as statues the victims were still aware of their surroundings, not able to defend themselves any longer.

It shot blue thunderbolts at Applejack, but she jumped to the side in time. Still, the girl was touched by one bolt on her right arm. The muscle cells convulsed like she had the mother of all cramps until the pain was gone and her arm stiff and paralyzed. This effect would last for a few minutes.

"Ah can't feel or move ma' darn arm!" the cowgirl exclaimed in anger, looking annoyed at the accused appendage.

A fatal mistake.

"Applejack! Behind you!" Fluttershy shouted unusually loud.

But it was too late for the mentioned girl to react.

The young farmer turned around, just to feel a much lighter bite on her right leg than expected from such a giant. The basilisk let go of Applejack and waited for the transformation of its prize.

She saw how her body turned to blue crystal, starting at the bite. It spread over her whole body at an agonizing slow rate. However, Applejack couldn't move her body. It refused to, paralyzed by the poisoning magic of the basilisk. She sighed and looked one last time with wet eyes and a warm, nostalgia filled smile in the direction of Fluttershy, who had an expression of sheer terror upon her face. Tears were streaming down her cheeks in great amounts, like waterfalls.

"Ah'm so sorry, Sugarcube. Please, tell the others an' ma family that Ah'll miss them, ya hear?” She chuckled sadly, “Tarnation..." Applejack said defeated and in stoic acceptance of her fate.

Hardly did she make her inner peace before it was already over, the transformation completed, much to the beast's joy. Now it could devour its prey. The proud farmer was nothing more than a cold statue.

The winds carried it into the high heavens, the surrounding bog, Sweet Apple Acres and beyond; The desperate denying outcry of a most gentle soul, who feared that she just lost one of her best friends forever, "APPLEJACK!!"

In the household of the Apples was nobody at this time, save for the family's matriarch, Granny Smith. She cleaned the plates from the last meal and hummed peacefully.

Suddenly, she heard something hit the ground and break. It sounded like glass and she immediately tried to find out what happened. The elder found the source of the noise in the living room. One of the framed family photographs fell out of the cabinet.

An overwhelming dread spread in her the moment she took it in her hand and turned the photo around to see which one it was. The photograph showed her second eldest grandchild, Applejack. She was standing with a smug and joyful grin in front of her favourite apple tree, which she named Bloomberg as a child. The protective glass had a big crack that proceeded solely through the middle of her body. Nowhere else.

A bad omen indeed.

Granny Smith walked out of the door and looked in the direction where Applejack and her friends decided to go. They only wanted to look for the horses, if she remembered correctly.

The worried grandmother looked up into the sky, praying, "Please, to whoever hears this worried old woman. Protect ma' granddaughter."

Fluttershy wished that so many bad things wouldn't have happened in the last while. When they found the cave of the chimera, she was paralyzed by fear and horror. But when Sunset said it would be better for her to leave, she refused. Yes, Fluttershy had a lot of different kinds of fears. But in the end the girl would always overcome them in order to help her friends and others who couldn't protect themselves, especially animals.

That was the reason she'd worked for a long time at the animal shelter. She wanted to help the poor dears, showing them kindness and to be there for them. Maybe even giving them a home. May it be herself, if her parents were OK with that, or finding a good home for them through potential customers of the shelter.

Then there was Canterlot and everything what she heard and saw until the moment she decided to seek out Applejack's horses to make sure that they were fine.

When Fluttershy saw the burning city, she couldn't understand what she witnessed. Was she dreaming? Maybe it was all just a cruel nightmare and she would wake up any second back in the bus?

Many thoughts shot through the shy teenager's head. Was her family even still alive? Her mother, her father, even her little brother, Zephyr Breeze. She hoped they could escape the inferno. Ms. Tree Hugger, the owner of the shelter Fluttershy helped out at, and all the animals. And of course the inhabitants of Canterlot City in general. Who would do something so awful? Fear and sadness consumed her at that time, but Princi... Ms. Celestia helped Fluttershy with her encouraging speech.

The former principal was right. She couldn't give up as long as hope existed. So Fluttershy wouldn't surrender. Furthermore, it reminded her of something the local veterinarian once said to her in the earlier days of her work at the shelter. Fluttershy had time and time again to deal with death, because animals died of old age or illnesses much too early for her liking.

But the soft-spoken soul couldn't accept it when she was younger.

Fluttershy cried for two hours over the deceased animal's body, looking like it slept peacefully and would awake every second, so that the girl could play with her again. One of her favourite dogs, a female crossbreed with the name Sara, had to be put to sleep because of a severe illness. No medicine could help the poor dear and only releasing her from the pain was a last option of mercy. Ms. Tree Hugger called the shelter's veterinarian, Dr. Noble Heart, for help.

The woman in her mid-thirties had a slight brown skin color, pink eyes and white hair in the style of a long ponytail. She always wore a kind and warm smile on her face that calmed Fluttershy whenever she saw the doctor.

After a last examination of Sara and conversation with Tree Hugger, Noble Heart put the pained animal to rest. They both left the room to talk about business and other things. Fluttershy, in the meantime, sneaked into the room, kissed her friend gently on the top of her nose and began to weep, up until now. The door opened and the doctor came in.

"Sweetheart, are you alright?" Dr. Noble Heart asked in a soothing voice.

She always had a small weakness for Fluttershy. She was such an innocent angel and it pained her when the girl was sad.

"W-why? S-Sara was still so young! S-she didn't d-deserve to... to..." Fluttershy stammered.

Noble Heart gave the young teenager a warm hug and spoke softly into her ear, "Yes, you are right. Sara was young and had to leave this world much too early. But you know what, Sweetie?" she asked calmly. Fluttershy shook her head with puffy eyes. "Sara won't feel pain anymore where she is. She can run around in a beautiful place, nothing can hurt her there. I am sure of that. Doesn't that sound good?" The girl nodded now. "See? She will always miss you and you will miss her, but in the end it was better for her this way. Do you understand what I'm trying to say to you?" Noble Heart asked kindly.

"I-I think so, maybe," Fluttershy responded, unsure.

"Every life is precious, and whatever may happen to you in your life, you shouldn't give up and forget who you are. Try to keep the kindness in your heart that you are always showing.”

“W-why? Why do people and animals have to die? It’s so unfair!” the smaller teenager screamed in both, anger and sorrow.

Noble Heart hummed a soft tune, calming her favorite girl, “But it is an unavoidable fact that life can't exist without death. And death can appear in many different ways and we will always grieve about every loss we suffer in one form or another. The point is, death is nothing to be feared or hated. It is just the natural order, a part of a much bigger cycle. Life and Death go hand in hand and everyone deals with it differently.”

Fluttershy closed her eyes and leaned into the hug, quietly sobbing.

“Don't let your grief consume you. You have to move on with your life and besides, you will never truly lose someone as long as you hold everyone, person and animal alike, right here," Noble Heart finished with a smile and touched the girl with one finger at the place where her heart was.

Fluttershy giggled, nearly gone were her tears.

"Thank you, Dr. Heart. I feel better already. And I've made a decision. I will help the poor animals and my friends whenever I can," she announced with a cute smile.

Noble Heart was very happy and stated with a warm smile, "I'm sure you will prevail over every obstacle that comes in your way. I believe in you, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy hoped that Noble Heart could, now that she remembered the kind doctor again, escape as well.

But the most important anchor for her that saved the girl from despair and starting a blind search for her family, which would most likely end with her death by some unknown creature outside there, was her strong bond to her friends. After everything that happened until this moment, they still supported her, all in their own unique way without a second thought and it deeply touched her heart.

As long as she had them, she wouldn't lose hope.

After everything she learned from the chimera, the stories, discoveries and informations shared by the others of their group, the many changes the magic of this world brought, the unknown dangers which still waited for them in the shadows. Everything scared Fluttershy. Her only anchor, her support, her lifeline, was her friendship with her closest friends. And now one of them was simply gone? Forever?

No! That couldn't be! Fluttershy had to witness, powerless, as one of her best friends slowly transformed fully into a, from what she knew and thought, lifeless statue, without any way to turn her back.

She still heard Applejack's last words... and didn't want to believe it.

"APPLEJACK!!" Fluttershy screamed in sheer defeat. It just couldn't be!

"No!" she thought in desperation. "Not one of my friends! Please, not them!"

Fluttershy fell to her knees, feeling useless and empty. She couldn't do anything to help, anything to stop the basilisk from turning Applejack into its next meal. What was with Rainbow Dash? Was she already gone, too?

The animal looked at Applejack's statue, satisfied with its work, but there was still the other one. It wouldn't take any chances and switched its attention to Fluttershy, looking at her with hungry eyes. It closed the distance to the girl with quick, but relaxed, steps.

"..."

Hm? Did someone say something? Fluttershy closed her eyes and sighed. Maybe it was just a hallucination.

"Don't give up, Mistress. I will always be there to serve you," an unknown male voice said... in her head?

Before she could question it any further, or the basilisk could come any closer, a giant pillar of bright pearl green magic surrounded the girl, shooting high into the sky. Her vision went white.

Fluttershy opened her eyes again and what she found was like nothing she'd ever seen before.

She stood on a light yellow, big round platform made of stone. A big symbol was in its center: A butterfly with cyan body and pink wings.

The environment was the most beautiful forest she ever saw, with some known and some unknown trees. Some of them were made of orange crystal, others of violet wood and leaves. Open fields with colorful flowers of great diversity and lush grasses completed the inviting place.

She looked down and not only saw the butterfly, but noticed something else: her own attire. It changed to the outfit she received from the geode, which confused her.

"Mistress! You are here," the mysterious voice stated with a slight echo.

The pink-haired girl couldn't find anyone, and this voice... It wasn't only male, but wise, old and very soothing. In Fluttershy's opinion, this voice would fit perfectly to a teller of ancient tales.

"Why are you calling me 'mistress'? Where are you? Can you show yourself, please? That is, if you don't mind," she asked in a nervous but curious tone.

"I don't have my own form. I am your inner magic. That is the reason why I call you my Mistress. I am a part of you and follow your will, so I have no body to appear in. Normally, we don't summon our wielder like that, just bless him or her with basic knowledge, a foundation to learn more on your own you might say and announce our name one single time in your mind. After that, we are silent forever. But you are a special case," the voice replied warmly.

"Special case, Mr. Magic?" Fluttershy inquired, confused.

The voice chuckled, amused at its Mistress' politeness, "Indeed. It wouldn't be enough to simply bless you with knowledge and a name in your case, my Mistress. I felt your distress, your despair, because one of your best friends, Lady Applejack, was turned to crystal. You wouldn't be able to fight solely because I gave you knowledge, your morale was shattered and you were convinced that you lost her permanently.”

Her eyes shot wide open. Applejack wasn’t dead?!

“I will give you something I hope you will be able to use. Moreover, you are scared to fight directly and possibly hurting your opponent, because such an act goes against everything you believe is right and what others have taught you in life," the voice explained proudly.

"W-well, I really don't like the thought of harming someone. I will help my friends and stay beside them without hesitation, but I don't think that I can do more than support them. I don't think I could actually... hurt people," Fluttershy tried to justify herself with a lowered head.

It hummed in understanding, "Mistress, to fight for what is right, for your friends, your family and the innocent, like Lady Celestia once said, is necessary in this new world. I am a part of you and you can wield me after your desire, I am yours to command. It is no shame to fight the ones who won't hesitate one moment to hurt you or your beloved, maybe even to take your life. Give them no chance to take everything away from you. I beseech you.”

The Rainboom sighed and played with a strand of her hair, “B-but I’m not as brave as the rest of my friends. How could I make a difference?”

The voice chuckle knowingly, You don’t need to be anybody else than yourself. Just do your best and you may be surprised by the results. I don't say it is necessary to take a life in return immediately, because it isn't. There will always be challenges, which can be overcome without distributing the final sentence. Have trust in yourself, have trust in your abilities, your allies and show the world that you won't surrender to beings who are living after the doctrine of cruelty. Who have no problem with achieving their dreams and wishes through committing the most despicable of crimes. Stand firm and show them your light, Mistress." Her inner magic hoped it could ease her worries.

After the much needed pep-talk, Fluttershy sighed and knew deep inside her that Mr. Magic was right. She wouldn't lose herself just because she fought threats directly. Besides, she would never forgive herself and it might haunt her forever if someone died for her hesitation.

There was one point she wondered about, still.

"Uhm, you said you want to give me something. What do you mean?" she queried, clearly interested.

"As I said, normally, a mage receives only basic knowledge from their own magic at the beginning. The reason is simple; your body is completely unaccustomed to the concept of wielding a force like this. That means that you need practice of your own. Take time for your body to adapt and with it you may learn new abilities, extend your mana pool and of course, your level of control,” it continued in a lecturing, but soothing tone.

Fluttershy’s frustration showed to some degree, “I’m not sure if I know what you mean, Mr. Voice.”

The teenager could literally hear the smile, “It is fairly simple, Mistress. Imagine your magic as a muscle. You need to train it and with time and practice, you will be able to complete your basic training with ease and can go further. The same principle applies to magic. With enough training you can use your first learned abilities with ease and can try out more powerful spells. My present for you is exactly that.”

She wasn’t sure if she could exercise like that. She was never very enduring when it came to something beyond her passion for animals, but was very interested nonetheless.

“I will give you knowledge of an ability that you would have learned later in your training, because it counts among the stronger spells you will be able to utilize with enough practice. The spell is called, 'Purification'. This ability can cleanse the body of other organisms, even from the strongest venom. It will work like an antidote. The magic of the basilisk works exactly like poison. It not only paralyzes its victim in the form of electric bolts, but when bitten the prey will be turned into a crystalline statue. The reason for that event is that the magic of the basilisk reacts with the inner magic of the target on a higher level and this reaction causes the transmutation. Generally, once bitten, it is sadly over for the victim, even when the responsible basilisk loses its life. The transmutation wouldn't disappear as would be the case with a Cockatrice, a close related species, by the way. No, the existence as a statue will remain active, a truly cruel destiny when you take into account that the victim is, in a sense, aware of its surroundings, still. Only a few methods exist on this world which could reverse this cursed state. Your ability, represents one of them," the wise voice ended its lecture.

Fluttershy understood what that meant and tears built up in her eyes. If she was strong enough, she could release Applejack from her prison and restore her friend's body. From what she understood, stronger spells would be much more exhausting and maybe even dangerous for her, because she had no training until now. Risks the shy girl was more than willing to take.

"I understand. Thank you very much, Mr. Magic. I can't thank you enough," the teenager said, very grateful.

"There is no need to thank me, Mistress, I exist solely to serve you. Now, awake and show the world your light," the voice replied joyfully.

It was truly proud of its determined wielder.

The platform under her started to glow in a verdant light and Fluttershy left her inner world. But before she returned to reality, her magic shared its name, "Druid Magic."

The basilisk was cautious. Something wasn't right. It felt threatened by the sudden display of power. After a few seconds, the green pillar of magic died down and its second ‘prey’ was in sight again, it had... changed somehow. It chose to be careful and wait for the opportunity to strike.

Fluttershy opened her cyan eyes, determination blazing within them. She looked down her body, to the side and behind her as much as possible. She was sure her whole attire had changed once again.

The wielder of Druid Magic now wore a flexible emerald green robe that reached over her entire body from her feet to the start of her neck. It fit perfectly. Tight, but with enough room to move freely, still. Around her stomach were three slim, light red belts over each other, the belt buckles designed like the cyan and pink butterfly she saw on the platform. Three of these butterflies in total for three belts.

Fluttershy wondered why three exactly. Did they represent something?

On her feet she wore masterfully crafted and designed dark green, flat, silky boots, which reached to the middle of her shins. They had white ornate adornments. On her shoulders was some kind of armor. It looked like a combination of blue colored leather and white wood.

She dearly hoped no animal had to suffer for this shoulder armor, not that she knew what it was to begin with.

The leather protected her shoulders and the white wood above it was formed like some kind of antlers. The strangest thing was over each shoulder, in the biggest fork of the antlers. There hovered a fist-sized glowing sphere of her magic. At least it felt like her magic.

She concentrated and summoned in her right hand a long wooden staff, bigger as her, maybe. 1.85 meters in total. The majority of it was formed like a thick walking cane with mocha coloration. The top of the staff was adorned with a tan old-looking owl, which had a calm expression that gave Fluttershy the impression of wisdom and age, like the voice. In the center of the owl's head rested her geode.

The basilisk made itself ready to stun the girl with bolts. Its back started to illuminate, but Fluttershy saw that and used one of her basic spells, Entangle. Her outstretched left hand was engulfed by her new power.

"How dare you attack my friend, you, you meanie! I will save Applejack and you won't stop me. Uhm, if you don't mind," Fluttershy tried to lecture the animal for its behaviour.

Rarity would call it a ‘uncouth ruffian’, she believed. Fluttershy cast her next spell and made sure the beast would not interfere for enough time to help Applejack, at least.

A green magic circle appeared under the basilisk's entire body, a feat on its own, with such a massive creature. Roots, which looked like the roots of a tree but made of her magic, shot out of the circle and interrupted the being's attack by chaining it tightly to the ground. They twined around its legs with single little ones, one for each leg. The tail was surrounded by three middle-sized roots in a equal distance from the tip to the top. The torso of the body was demobilized with a very thick root. Lastly, two roots, of the same size like the three on the tail, entwined the mouth. The basilisk was absolutely immobilized for the time being.

It was angry, confused and a little frightened. It tried to concentrate its magic in form of the bolts in order to free itself, but it couldn't keep it up long enough to summon its power. Every time it could call some energy, the roots constricted a little bit more what caused the basilisk to lose its focus in an instant. There was no escape for the animal as long as Fluttershy's mana reservoir or her sheer will kept the spell up.

She illuminated her hands in a cyan light this time instead of green. The color represented her spells which existed for the sole purpose of healing and supporting. She put her hands on Applejack's cheeks and cast the Purification spell.

The entire statue was surrounded by the girl's magic after a few seconds. Sweat formed on Fluttershy's face. She used more and more power, but nothing changed. She had to give up for now, panting heavily from the exhausting spell.

"Why doesn't it work?!" Fluttershy thought bitterly, tears wet her eyes from disappointment, "I know Purification counts to the more advanced spells, but I have to help my friend. Applejack is counting on me and I won't let her down!" she swore to herself and her imprisoned friend.

The young druid dispelled her staff, reabsorbing the mana she summoned it with and cast the ability once more, her magic got brighter this time.

*crack*

First rifts came into existence on the statue's surface.

She panted heavily, “I-I'm close," Fluttershy whispered hopefully, breathing at a faster pace with some difficulty.

The girl summoned every last drop of her magic and pushed everything into the spell. The fissures distributed over the entire statue and with one final flash of light, Applejack was free.

She couldn't even express her joy and fainted immediately into Applejack's arms, a glad smile gracing her face. The magician depleted her entire mana storage. Even her armor dissolved into nothing and was replaced with her normal clothing.

Applejack hugged her animal-loving friend carefully and said, touched, "Thank ya kindly, Fluttershy. Now rest, Ah'll protect ya."

The young Apple was aware of her surroundings the whole time. She couldn't really ‘see’ in the sense of the word, but more ‘felt’ what happened around her. The discovery of Fluttershy's new magic, her short confrontation with the basilisk and her blazing desire to save her friend. Applejack was never this proud before of the normally shy girl.

The roots disappeared the moment Fluttershy lost her consciousness. The reptile orientated itself again and attacked anew, not giving up.

"Ya should know when to quit. Ah hope y're ready to feel the bull's horns!" Applejack warned the advancing animal.

It didn't listen and focused on its charge. The most potential threat was no longer a danger, after all.

"Ah warned ya," she said aggressively.

Applejack put Fluttershy gently on the ground, turned around to face the Thunderback with fury and her body started to glow in wild, moving deep orange energy.

"Esper Magic," a female and kind country voice whispered in the teenager’s mind. It reminded her somewhat of her mother.

It was easy, in theory. The basilisk planned to bite the farmer once more and be done with it, but only in theory. Applejack concentrated shortly and said in her mind, "Aspect of the Mammoth."

The girl's clothes changed in a flash of light.

Her stetson switched its color to a pale brown, the edges yellow. Her boots were now dark brown, with little apple-shaped ornaments on them on the upper part, and were reinforced by green colored leather chaps. Orange-brown frontier jeans with beige fringe down the sides hugged her legs, held by an ochre brown belt and a red head of what looked like an ancient ancestor of the elephant as its buckle. Red vambraces with green edges, made of leather, protected the lower arms. The girl's hands were encased by dark brown finely built, but sturdy looking leather gloves, with grey-brown fringe in the form of a single apple-shaped patch on the top of them. Applejack now wore a green shirt with red collar, the sleeves ending shortly before the elbows. Finishing her outfit was a copper brown leather woman's vest with white and dark brown colored fringe underneath.

For her body, only her eyes changed in color. Applejack's former green was now a fawn brown.

The basilisk got a bad feeling about this situation in the back of its mind, but it was too late for having second thoughts. It opened its mouth and attempted to close it around Applejack's body.

But it didn't work. The girl pushed the animal's maw into the ground with some force behind her action.

With one outstretched hand, she simply stopped a 14 meter long, heavily muscled, with heavy amounts of stones and crystals to boot, basilisk at full steam, like it was the most common thing in the world.

The greater strength granted by the Equestrian magic wouldn't be enough for such a feat, but her new ability, Aspect of the Mammoth, granted her great physical power as long as Applejack kept the aspect active. Furthermore it granted her a stronger natural defense, which meant that she could take much more punishment than usually possible before her body could be severely damaged.

On a side note, only one aspect could be held active at time, but the cost of mana was very low. Holding an aspect active was indeed the most basic ability of her Esper Magic.

The Thunderback looked up and saw the girl's facial expression, it made the basilisk nervous. Really nervous. She wore an absolutely livid expression on her face, rage blazing in her eyes. Very rarely was such a feat ever achieved before in the young woman's life. The basilisk was in some serious trouble now and it knew that.

Maybe it was just a from light created illusion, or the shock from the formerly defeated girl's sudden level of strength, but the animal could swear that a giant wraithlike pale brown colored mammoth with two long white tusks towered over it. The prehistoric giant looked down upon the reptile with fawn brown eyes, standing directly behind Applejack, judging.

She spoke in a lethal tone, "Listen pal and listen REAL good. Ya tried to eat m' friend and m' horses. Ah don't take kindly to such behaviour, ya rotten varmint! But ye're lucky that Fluttershy wouldn't want yer death, because she would say that ya only followed yer instincts or somethin' like that. That gal is to good-hearted for this world and Ah won't give her the feelin' that whatcha earned in the end was somehow her fault," she explained the situation with disdain and annoyance for the creature, which tried to kill someone very dear to her.

The basilisk wanted to send electricity upon the farmer, but Applejack wouldn't let it. She summoned her aspect's magic in her right foot and kicked the animal hard under the chin. The corundum cracked a little. It flew a few meters into the sky and landed with a loud splosh in the water of the bog where the two basilisks came from in the first place. The Thunderback had enough and decided to retreat. This kind of prey wasn't worth the effort. It would search somewhere else for food.

"That was for Hector! And STAY OFFA OUR PROPERTY! GOT IT?!" Applejack shouted after her retreating foe.

She walked up to the sleeping Fluttershy, took her friend bridal-style in her hands and started to go back to the house. After a few steps the girl stopped and turned her head a little to look in the direction in which Rainbow Dash had vanished. Applejack just hoped that the athlete was alright.

With this thought in mind, she continued her march.

Rainbow Dash wasn't alright. Not at all.

At first, everything worked like she so awesomely and brilliantly planned.

Like Daring Do in Daring Do and the Legacy of the Temple Knights, where the archaeologist forced Dr. Caballeron and his goons to follow her through old forgotten ruins so that her employee, an old, strange and eccentric historian guy, had more time to translate some dusty old scripts. Only an egghead would do something like that. Which cool person cared for old textbooks or diaries with ridiculously sounding languages nobody would be able to read without falling into a coma in the first place? Daring Do only searched for treasures, mysteries and would fight the bad guys all over the world.

Rainbow could already imagine how her friends would react.

She was quite sure and feared that Sunset and Twilight would totally act exactly like the historian guy and torture her with a boring long speech about ‘the importance of knowledge’ or something like that.

Eggheads.

Rarity would faint on the spot because of ‘all the horrid dust’.

Fluttershy would most likely hide behind her in fear, which was normal and no problem at all. Nobody messed with her childhood friend as long as she was there. Duh.

Pinkie Pie wouldn't understand how important the whole situation was and would try to give a ‘We-found-an-old-place’-party, probably. Or she would do something completely random that could only be explained with: ‘It's Pinkie Pie. Don't question it.’

Applejack would maybe bring a quote of her unofficial patented countryisms out of nowhere and nobody would get it except her. Rainbow Dash wasn't sure if her friend made them up or not. Was she standing in front of a mirror every morning and tested out the new ideas she had until it sounded so stupid that nobody would get it, so no-one would question it? It made sense for her.

The prideful girl was sure. In the very end, the day could only be saved by her own awesome skills.

But back to her problem.

She ran the entire time and made sure that the thing followed her, no biggie. At some point it had enough from her taunts and started to attack from the distance. Out of the basilisk's granite-made thorns on its back suddenly came bolts of fire. The thorns were covered with flaming fissures. It looked like its back burned. the surprise was so big the first time that it nearly hit her. Her left wing of the geode created outfit melted nearly instantly down to nothing.

What Rainbow didn't know was that she faced a Flamerock Basilisk.

Of course, Rainbow Dash could dodge them all. But she was maybe a little too excited and didn't watch where she was going. The bog had ended. She ran down a hill and fell down a hidden cliff through trees and bushes. Luckily she could summon her wings at will in her new outfit and could prevent a very embarrassing death.

The girl was sure she would have been the laughingstock in the afterlife or wheresoever you ended up after your death.

The sole positive, yet very gross side of her situation was, that the basilisk didn't see the cliff either and fell down, too. Without wings... yeah, it didn't end well. Rainbow Dash may have seen the cave, but what remained of the once proud animal after it collided head first with the merciless hard ground after a long way down, from maybe 60 meters, was nothing for more faint-hearted people. She never saw so many stone, crystal, flesh, blood, fractured bone and more or less destroyed entrails in one place.

So even someone as awesome as her had to vomit after that sight. At least nobody saw it, much to her relief. She was at the bottom of the cliff, closer to a canyon, now that she looked around.

Furthermore, Fluttershy could never know about its fate. That, Rainbow Dash swore faithfully. To herself and every higher being who was bored and listened to her inner ‘holy vow’.

After emptying her stomach at the side of a big cave, nearby the mutilated corpse, she wanted to return to her friends to help them with the second basilisk. Then she saw a bright green pillar of light from the direction of Sweet Apple Acres from the bottom of the cliff.

"Awesome! You go, Applejack!" Rainbow Dash cheered loudly.

Her last word echoed through the canyon. She was sure that her longtime rival and best friend just discovered her own magic and would kick the craggy croc's tail in no time! Fluttershy was safe now and out of danger, the multicolored daredevil was sure of that.

Just when she wanted to fly back and end the day with some well deserved homemade Apple Cider, very unhealthy loud noises came from behind her. They gave her the chills and let her eyes take the form of pinpricks.

*Disturbing deep breathing*

Maybe she hit her head?

*Disturbing deep breathing*

Her ears were messing with her. Yes! That had to be the case.

*Agonized moaning*

Maybe, if she didn’t turn around, it wouldn’t see her. This was how horror movies and games worked. Right? Not only moaning, but the most horrible coughing sounds destroyed her illusion. She even felt a wet breath.

"What the freaking heck?!" Rainbow Dash screamed with a scared, high-pitched voice.

She ran in her highest possible speed away from the cave until she brought a good distance between herself and the, Rainbow was sure, haunted place. The paragon of courage and awesomeness turned around to check whatever made such terrifying noises.

It was the very reason why she wasn't alright at the moment and not already back together with the others, drinking cider.

"Bloody Tartarus, you are ugly!" Rainbow Dash stated the honest truth, cringing strongly at the sight.

It would never win a beauty contest, ever. She would gladly take on more basilisks at once instead of that thing before her.

It was some kind of... dead looking gargoyle, as far as Rainbow could tell. Or at least close to dead. It was as tall as her and had big dragon-like wings on its back. They looked completely intact, but the creature surely had seen better days at some point. The rest of the body was drenched in sweat. Every bone was clearly visible under the, with many black tumors decorated, pale grey skin. In some places skin and flesh were absolutely decayed and the blank bone was not only visible, but rotten, too. And at other places it looked like something had gnawed every bit of flesh off the bone. It seemed to be a humanoid bipedal bat, with silver greasy hair and one intact red eye on the left side. The other was... almost an empty socket. A black tumor took the former eye's place. Torn up lips couldn't hide the dark yellow, sharp teeth. It had no nose anymore either and one and a half ears, meaning the left one was intact and the other looked like it was cut in half, but the remaining half was much thicker than the intact ear and crimson in color instead of pale grey. Its arms and legs were very skinny, though the arms were much longer than its legs. Both had sharp black claws, covered with sickly white pustules.

Rainbow Dash felt like she ran straight into some second-rate horror movie, but something wasn't right here. Well, aside from the strange looking gargoyle. She was obviously no egghead, but it looked pretty ill and like it would die any second, so she already knew she couldn't allow any kind of direct contact between them. That way the athlete wouldn't infect herself with whatever the creature had.

Maybe it had rabies? Combined with weird cancer and some ‘losing-body-parts’-disease... or just something magic-related. Yes, Rainbow was sure of that. Only what? And what would Daring Do, well... do in her situation?

Then she remembered: taunting the enemy into making mistakes. Duh.

"I can totally take you on you walking cancer! You are alone and I'm fast and awesome. So what are you going to do?" the athlete mocked.

In answer to her question, the gargoyle moaned a few times. Suddenly it screamed very loudly and sharply. Rainbow had to cover her ears. After a few seconds two more infected, ugly looking gargoyles came out of the cave, focusing on her.

The girl rubbed the back of her head in an awkward manner. "Hehe, I-I totally forgot that I have to go and, you know, sorry for the cancer joke. I don't know what came over me. You should all go back into your cave and I leave you alone, deal?" Rainbow Dash asked nervously in faint hope.

The three gargoyles spread their wings and charged, fast.

"Nope!" Rainbow Dash quoted Applejack's big brother and flew as fast as she could, trying to escape.

It was tiring. Rainbow Dash loved her wings with a passion. It was funny how she was so attached to her new appendages, she thought. Before the Fall Formal she never even had them in the first place and now she couldn't imagine a life without.

But even she was getting tired after some time and the gargoyles had chased her through the sky for nearly 15 minutes by now, without a break, through the canyon. They wouldn't give up, much to the girl's dismay. No matter what acrobatic tricks she tried. It was a broad canyon. Her speed was one thing, but they weren't much slower and even if she could lose them, Rainbow needed a way to get rid of her pursuers first.

These things were surely walking timebombs, moving safety hazards and would probably distribute their illness, or whatever they had, if they found their way our of here and landed in Sweet Apple Acres or Ponyville. The problem was that she didn't really have magic to attack from a distance.

Still, the gargoyles payed tribute for their constant chase in high speed. They lost parts of their bodies. Legs, arms, talons, one even lost its lower jaw. It was disgusting. But they never got slower, completely ignoring their blood loss. it creeped the rainbow-haired girl out something fierce.

Then she suffered a form of pain no human in the history of mankind ever received before in his life; a cramp in her right wing.

"Damnit!" Rainbow Dash swore angrily, performed a forced vertical flight and landed in front of the gargoyles' home. "Come on!" she lamented to herself.

Her wings didn't count as an option any longer and she couldn't run away from them forever either. When even one of her legs gave in like her wing, she was pretty much done for. The gargoyles made gurgling noises, proclaiming their victory.

"NO!" Rainbow Dash shouted in determination.

She defied her supposedly ‘inevitable fate’ with every fiber of her being and refused to surrender. To die through getting ripped apart by half-dead abominations? How lame was that?

"I won't die like that! You hear me, you disgusting monster bats?! My friends need me and I would never leave them hanging! I'll fight for them, stay with them, laugh with them, cry with them, no matter the costs! So don't you even think that you've won! Because in the end I will return to them!" Rainbow Dash announced, absolutely sure.

She felt something awaken in her. Her entire body started to glow a sky blue color and a male, powerful, judging voice echoed through her mind, "Heavens Magic."

"Awwww yeah! Sweet!" Rainbow Dash cheered with new-found vigor. She immediately used one of her new abilities.

The gargoyles attacked her shortly later, but just crashed into something and couldn't reach their victim-to-be; an invisible wall. No, not invisible, when they looked again, at least the ones that didn't lose their sight, there was indeed a protective wall. It moved swiftly and in all directions at once, like a storm, but nearly visible to the naked eye. A light blue wind. It encased the girl in form of a sphere.

"I hope you like my neat new ability; the Wind Barrier. You're not strong enough to break through it. Don't even try," Rainbow Dash said, she tried to sound cool and confident like always.

The chromatic teenager had to concentrate to hold up the barrier and stopped herself from enjoying the situation too much at the same time. She felt like she was in a Daring Do movie, where she played the famous archaeologist herself. A little change of color and people would say that she and Daring Do could be relatives.

The three gargoyles watched the wall, interested and confused. Rainbow didn't give them time to overthink it. She summoned three head-sized spheres of air in front of her and grinned smugly.

"Sorry guys, I'll end that here and now. I have to return to my friends and make sure they're alright," Rainbow Dash explained smugly.

She lowered the barrier and shot at the same time, the spheres all impacting upon the slowly-reacting gargoyles. They all hit their intended targets, the creatures' heads, pulverizing them. It was enough this time. the corpses fell to the ground and didn't move anymore.

The teenager groaned. "Oh great, I have to make sure that the cave is empty, but I can't go in there directly. One scratch from one of them and that's it for me," Rainbow Dash whispered to herself in annoyance.

She was ready to fly up, not with her wings, but commanded wind. She could carry herself easily from now on with her new magic. Maybe others as well, she wasn't sure.

"Ah, right. I nearly forgot," Rainbow Dash remembered proudly. "OK, here goes nothing," she muttered seriously.

The athlete created a little sky blue magic circle in front of her and used her next ability, Oculus of Visibility. It looked like a flying wind-made eye with a glowing green pupil, the size of a tennis ball. Next, she went into a kneeling position. Her body was engulfed by her magic. She closed her eyes and finally sent the eye on its mission.

Rainbow Dash could now see what the eye saw, but it couldn't just penetrate solid objects, only its for her visible free environment. It could be used in a diameter of 50 meters around her. After that the spell would cancel itself automatically because of the distance. Additionally, the eye flew lowly on the actual ground level of Rainbow's own body, no matter if solid material was beneath it or not. So it couldn't just fall down a cliff or into water. It always hovered. Lastly, the eye could freely turn in the direction Rainbow wanted it to look, depending on her given orders. It wasn't restricted in its movements.

Of course, it could still be attacked, because it wasn't really invisible like normal air. But even if destroyed, what the eye saw would reach Rainbow Dash. It didn't matter if her connection was interrupted through the destruction of the eye. Such an act wouldn't cause any damage to her.

The only other drawback of this ability; she was unprotected in her momentary state, as long as the spell was active. She hoped nothing would attack her body during that time. Direct harm would immediately break the spell, but it would likely be too late.

The Oculus entered the cave, its natural shining sky blue color illuminated the walls around it, at least a little bit. She sent it deeper into the cave, but didn't find anything for a while. It seemed like she reached the end of the cave, it was a big cavern. In it the teenager found at least 10 more gargoyles on the ground, dead. No, killed by whatever illness haunted them here in this cave.

Rainbow Dash prepared to end the spell when she suddenly saw something interesting to her left. The entire wall on that side of the cavern was covered in pitch black ore. Black, long crystals protruded out of the main structures. Rainbow never saw or heard of something like that before. Must be something new, but the color... she turned the eye fast, looked back to the corpses and back again to the ores. Yes, the strange black tumors had the same sparkling shine like the mineral. She'd noticed quickly that they looked pretty strange for normal tumors, but put it aside and declared it in her mind as not being important.

So the ore caused them to get ill? Killing them in process? It was all just plain weird. But that wasn't her concern anyway. The cave was empty. No more infected gargoyles, mission completed.

Rainbow Dash ended the spell and panted heavily from exhaustion. It cost her more and more mana to keep up the spell with prolonged time. She believed it lasted for perhaps four minutes.

She would share what she discovered with the others, the eggheads, Sunset and Twilight, could try to find out more. She was a girl of action and adventure and not of boredom.

“Just to make sure,” the magician thought worriedly, summoning two more spheres of wind and sending them against the entrance to the cave, collapsing it.

Rainbow inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly before she summoned her power to bring her up again and out of this deathtrap of a canyon to get her prize. She'd earned herself some Apple Cider, without question.

In the end, it was exactly like she predicted. Her awesomeness saved the day.

Back in the cave, a black oval-shaped portal appeared where Rainbow Dash had found the dead gargoyles and the unknown ore. A person stepped out of it, ignited a hand with poison green light to see and looked around. This mysterious character wore a white cloak which was covering the entire body, but had clearly female curves and single strands of black hair were poking out of the opening.

With a deep, but beautiful, almost juvenile sounding voice, the figure thought in annoyance, "It seems his experiment failed once again. I knew that exposing these gargoyles to the corrupting energy of Devil's Desire would cause such disappointing results. It literally emits demonic energy and causes unprepared and unevolved beings to mutate, forcing the body to adapt to the corruption. So what did he expect to find?" The woman giggled cruelly, "Grand Master Ferill won't like what happened here, but he did wish that I report him about my findings.” She looked in disdain at the remains of their guinea pigs, “Pathetic creatures."

The woman stepped once more through the portal and returned home to the headquarters of the Adepts of Khom.

Author's Notes:

Greetings my avid readers!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Next in line is 'Team Longleg'. But hey, Druidshy is best Shy, 'nough said.

Thank you very much for reading and stay tuned!