August

Rainbow Dash shoveled her breakfast down her throat as fast as she could. She had needed sleeping medications last night because she couldn’t stop pacing.

Spitfire walked up to Rainbow Dash just as she was chewing her last bite of oats.

“I spoke to the conductor of the train. The train arrived in the town at twelve thirty and made their usually two hour stop. He said that he saw the Element of Honesty get off the train and walk around the platform. Her last known sighting was looking at a map on the platform. I split the wonderbolts into eight groups. We will fly to the train station and split up from there we will cover more ground. Each group will go with a horn to blow if they find the Element of Honesty. “

Rainbow Dash felt a sab in her chest. To the world and the military her friend was just an element barrer.

Rainbow Dash nodded. The group took off. The wonderbolts trained for speed they reached the Train Station in a few hours.

Rainbow Dash lead the group in a controlled dive. Rainbow Dash leaned right and swerved gracefully around the building. Teams of wonderbolts split off in different directions.

Rainbow Dash flew north with Soren. The two of them flew low. The ponies of the town scattered before the wonderbolts. The mayor of the town had put up missing posters for them the day before but no one had stepped forward. Rainbow Dash swerved left and right flying dow allies and behind buildings.

Rainbow Dash flew north out of the town and spotted an apple farm. Rainbow Dash bolted for the front door. The farm bonies shrieked as Rainbow Dash streaked towards them. Rainbow Dash skidded to a halt on the ground kicking up a great cloud of dirt.

There were four farm ponies in front of Rainbow Dash, a mare a stallion and two small foals. The two adults shakily soluted Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash pulled out copy of the missing poster. “Have you seen this pony?” she barked. Her wings were flared and she stared intensely at them.

The family flinched. The two foals hid behind their parents' legs.

“Well?” Rainbow Dash demanded.

The smaller foal began crying.

“No.” The mare said shaking her head slowly.

“I need to search your property in case she is hiding somewhere.” Rainbow Dash informed them bluntly. She took off before either of them could respond.

Rainbow Dash zipped around the barn and sheds but she didn’t see Applejack. Rainbow Dash flew back to the family. “Thank you for your time.” she shouted and then flew away.

Rainbow Dash and Soren searched four more small farms before stopping to catch their breath by the side of a river. The hot midday sun beat down on them. Rainbow Dash waded into the river to cool off. The river was wide, deep and swift. Rainbow Dash only waded as deep as her chest. Soren only went in knee deep.

“I don’t know if is going to be worth it to search farther north. I don’t think she could have gotten this far in her condition.” Soren said.

Rainbow Dash signed. “Your probably right.” Rainbow Dash stared at her hooves.

Soren splashed water on his back and spread his wings.

“Let’s follow the river back south and check in.” Rainbow Dash suggested. She climbed out and shook off gently. Being soaking wet was nice in the hot sun.

Rainbow Dash wandered down the shore of the river. It wound around boulders and trees. Rainbow Dash waded into the river again. The water was too nice to resist. She walked down stream in the river carefully. Soren waided in after her. The two followed the twist and turns back towards the town. The two of them rounded a bend in the river and spotted a dilapidated shed under the trees not far from the bank. The shore had eroded making the bank too steep to climb.

“I don’t remember seeing that when we flew over.” Soren said.

“Let’s check it out.”

Rainbow Dash and Soren’s wings were soaking wet so they had to struggle back up the river until they found a safe place to get out.

Rainbow Dash shook of vigorously and then trotted over to the shed. She sniffed around and froze. The smell of fresh apples mixed with the smell of fresh blood. Rainbow Dash wrenched the door open.

Applejack was curled up on top of a pile of hay. There was a huge blood stain next to her and a newborn foal curled up against her stomach.

Rainbow Dash struggled to breath for several seconds. Her head was spinning. AJ had her foal. By herself. All alone. Why the hell did she have it here. Why not go to the local hospital. Didn’t the town have a hospital? Why isn’t she awake? Why is there so much blood?

“Wings.” Soren said sounding awed.

“Excuse me?” Rainbow Dash said quietly.

“The foal has wings.”

The foal was a very pale light yellow with a pure wite mane and tail. And they had wings.

A cold panic began to wash over Rainbow Dash as she stared at the all the blood next to Applejack.

No wonder there is so much blood. Earth ponies almost never survive giving birth to pegasi. They are usually delivered by surgery. Rainbow Dash felt her head spinning. No wonder AJ didn’t want to name the father. She must have known this was possible and didn’t want us to worry. Rainbow Dash sniffed. Their air didn’t smell like death. She approached carefully.

Applejack breathing was slow and weak. The foal was breathing fine. Rainbow Dash nudged Applejack’s neck. She didn’t respond. Her body burned hot.

Soren walked out of the shed and blew the horn.

“Wake up AJ.” Rainbow Dash nudged her more insistently. The foal squirmed and began to cry.

Applejack twiched.

“Wake up!” Rainbow Dash pleaded. She took a deep breath. It’s going to be okay. There is a hospital nearby I think. We’ll save her. Applejack stirred but didn’t open her eyes.

The wonderbolts arrived one by one. “There is a team of pegasus charioteers of the Savilion Guard on their way. We need to get back to the front lines.” Spitfire said.

“I can’t leave her!” Rainbow Dash snapped.

“If you want to use your authority as an Element Protector then fine. We are leaving. Our orders were to find the Element of Honesty and return as fast as possible.” Spitfire and the wonderbolts took off.

“Soren!” Rainbow Dash shouted in her commander tone as he was about to take off.

“Yes.” He saluted.

“Please stay.”

He nodded.

Rainbow Dash walked back into the shed. The foal had fallen back asleep in a different position. Rainbow Dash studied the foal. The foal was on the small end but looked healthy. The foal’s coat was clean and there was a pile of soiled towels in the corner and near a bucket with very little water in it.

Rainbow Dash walked around Applejack and lay down next to her. She spread a wing over her and her foal. “It’s going to be okay.” she whispered in Applejack’s ear. Applejack didn't respond.

Soren lay down on the other side.

Finally heard the sound of flapping wings. Soren got up to help the charioteers inside. Rainbow Dash and walked back around Applejack and scooped up the foal. The foal immediately began crying. The team lifted Applejack up and carried her to the chariot and strapped her down.

“Do you have any extra straps?” Rainbow Dash asked. “You’ll be faster with less weight.”

One of the charioteers tossed Soren some straps and then they took off heading west. Soren helped strap the foal to Rainbow Dash’s back and the pair took off.

Once in the sky Rainbow Dash could see that the shed was quite close to the Train Station which was on the edge of town due north by northwest. It was hidden from the air by the tall trees and so they had missed it. Rainbow Dash mentally kicked herself. Earth ponies can’t fly. We should have sent ponies that can’t fly to find her.

Rainbow Dash and Soren followed the chariot until caught up with it. Rainbow Dash realized where they were going and flew ahead. The foal had fallen asleep on her back.

Rainbow Dash few large circles over the military base to slow down. She landed as softly as she could.
Rarity, Sunset and Fluttershy began sprinting towards her.

“Spitfire gave us a short report but… why was she in a shed!?” Sunset said quickly.

“Is that her foal?” Rarity stared in shock.

“Is AJ going to be okay?” Fluttershy asked.

Princess Twilight and Midnight walked over. Midnight had a dark thick cape draped over her back and she smelled strongly of perfume.

“We have that tent set up for AJ’s arrival. Drop off the foal and then go meet up with the wonderbolts they need you.” Princess Twilight said.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to protest but shut it. The doctors could take care of AJ and her foal better than she could.

Rainbow Dash flew over to the tent Princess Twilight had pointed at. The flaps opened with magic and Rainbow Dash gilded inside. Two unicorn doctors pulled the foal free from the straps and floated them over to a table with a cushion on it. Another doctor floated over a bottle full of formula.

“We will take things from here. You may go.” one of the unicorns said.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and backed out of the tent. She looked around and spotted her friends heading off in different directions. Sunset and Rarity were running with two Legionary generals. Fluttershy was flying in a different direction in a heated argument with Princess Luna. Midnight was walking alone towards the medical tent that Iunae was in and Princess Twilight was walking way with two stallions in Royal Guard uniforms.

Rainbow Dash flew off in the direction she saw Soren fly in.

The sound of Ponies shouting and screaming grew lounder. Rainbow Dash pushed her thoughts and feeling about Applejack and her foal out of her head. The smells of blood and death reached her as the tarasque came in the view above the treetops. The beast was swiping at members of the Royal Sky Force as they dive bombed it and bowing fire in all directions. Ponies were sprinting in all directions on the ground and the beast kept plotting in a straight line. The trail of blood behind the beast was even worse than yesterday’s.

Rainbow Dash spotted the cloud that the Wonderbolts were gathered on. She flew over to them.

“Your back!” Spitfire stated.

The wonderbolts soluted her.

“Anything new?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Yes. A team of Legionary earth ponies tunneled underneath the beast last night. There is fur and skin on the belly not shell. They were able to pierce the hide with a lance. They were all were trampled by the beast’s six feet but their sacrifice shows the thing has vulnerabilities.” Spitfire stated. “Currently we are executing a complex strategy to try and get it to fall over and expose it’s belly in a reachable manner. The Royal Sky Force is dive bombing it to distract it and keep it angry since none of our projectiles can harm it. Meanwhile the Legionary and the Savilion Guard are charging with war lances and catapulting boulders. We are hoping we can at least injor its feet.

“That doesn't seem that complicated.” Rainbow Dash said before she could stop herself.

The wonderbolts glared at her. Spitfire opened her mouth to respond when a general popped up over the cloud. “Your up wonderbolts.” she shouted.

“This is it! For Equestria!” Spitfire screamed.

“FOR EQUESTRIA!.”

Rainbow Dash rose up fast from her last dive. Her eyes were watering under her goggles and her lungs burned under her mask. Rainbow Dash landed on the cloud she was supposed to and crouched down waiting for her signal to dive again. The beast predictable speed and direction made her job easy. The spoming created a comfortable rhythm to focus on instead of the seeming. She was staring intently at Spitfire when she was struck from the side and knocked off her cloud. Rainbow Dash struggled to free herself. She had been grabbed by a very large and strong pony. She tried every trick she could think of to get free but it was no use. The pony was far better at mid air grappling then she was.

Rainbow Dash twisted herself to see the ground out of the corner of her eye. Princess Twilight’s tent was getting larger. She tried to examine the uniform of the pony. It was the black of the Legionary.

The pony landed and Rainbow Dash ripped herself free. The Legionary puffed out their chest.

“Rainbow you made it!” Princess Twilight called. “Get your flank in here!”

Rainbow Dash saluted the Legionary and they saluted back. She trotted over to the tent and saluted Princess Twilight.

“You don’t need to be formal Rainbow we are friends!” Princess Twilight said.

Princess Twilight ushed Rainbow Dash inside and directed her to a designated seat. (around the table clockwise, Princess Twilight, Spike, Rarity, Midnight, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie Pie.)

Rainbow Dash was surprised to see Applejack. Applejack was pale and looked out of it. She breathing was shallow and her eyes were unfocused. Her head followed Rainbow Dash to her seat but her eyes didn’t seem to see her.

“Now that we are all here we can attack with the Elements of Harmony and put an end to this catastrophe.” Princess Twilight said happily.

“With all do respect what is Midnight doing here?” Rainbow Dash asked formally.

Princess Twilight blushed. “I-I thought it would be useful to have two elements of magic.” she stammered.

There was a moment of silence.

“So I was thinking. I’ll lift you all into the air and we will activate our elements and tame the beast. Everypony with me!?” Princess Twilight said.

“It don’t know if that is a good idea.” Pinkie Pie interjected. Every pony turned to her in surprise.

“What do you mean?” Princess Twilight looked baffled.

“Something doesn't feel right. The animal isn’t acting like and animal. It is acting like a pony with a plan. I was thinking-”

“Are you an animal expert?” Princess Twilight asked pointedly.

“Well no but-”

“Then maybe you aren’t the best pony to make that judgement call.” Princess Twilight said.

The group turned to Fluttershy.

“What do you think?” Princess Twilight asked Fluttershy.

“The beast has to go.” Fluttershy said quietly.

“Well that settles it!” Princess Twilight declared. “Let’s go.”

“Wait.”

Princess Twilight stud up and walked over to the door.

“Wait.”

Rainbow Dash realized that Applejack was trying to speak was was too weak to project as no one else could hear her.

“Princess!” Rainbow Dash barked.

Every pony jumped.

“Applejack has something to say.”

Every pony returned to their seats.

“What's going on?” Princess Twilight said in a slightly patronizing tone.

“What do you think is going to happen when the element strike the beast?” Applejack said softly.

“What do you mean what’s going to happen?”

“When we struck Princess Luna she had an epiphany. When we struckDiscord he turned to stone. When we struck Tirek he shrank and the power he stole was ripped out of him, when you and the others struck Sunset the Element of Magic stopped corrupting her, when you and the others struck the Dazzlings a literal organ of their body broke. I don’t think the elements are ever consistent.” Applejack said plainly.

“But… That doesn't matter because everytime they fixed the problem. The Elements of Harmony are powerful enough to know the proper solution to every problem. Princess Celestia agrees with me that the Elements of Harmony will work.” Princess Twilight said confidently.

“But what if we are wrong. What if there are consequences to using them that we don’t know about. For some of the other threats we face we had books to turn to. Have you found anything about Tarasques in your books?” Applejack asked.

“Well no, but that doesn't mean this won't work. This creature is scary but we’ve faced worse.” Princess Twilight. “Let’s go. We are wasting time.”

Rainbow Dash few ahead of the group as they traveled to the Tarasques current location. The reached a clearing that was in the monsters path. Rainbow Dash spotted Moon Dancer standing at the edge of the clearing with a clipboard and flew over to her.

“What are you doing here?”

“Research.” Moon Dancer said flatly. She went back to writing on her clipboard.

Rainbow Dash flew back over to the group. The sounds of the battle grew louder and louder as ponies began bursting through the trees. The smell of smoke and burning trees was in the air.

Rainbow Dash helped Applejack out of the cart she was sitting in. Applejack could move her hind legs at all and the rest of her body was sore and weak. Rainbow Dash heardApplejack gasp and turned to see the Tarasque burst through the trees. The wonderbolts rained from the sky all around as ponies ran in all directions.

“Time for action!” Princess Twilight shouted.

Rainbow Dash felt herself get lifted off the ground. Twilight magic held the seven of them. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes. She thought about her friends and all the good times they had together. She thought about her home on top of a wandering cloud and her pet Tank. She thought about all the friends she had made in the wonderbolts and the ponies she had meat all over equestria. She let the love of her friends surround her. Her friends. Her best friends. She would do anything to keep them safe…

Moon Dancer watched as the element of harmony glowed. A huge beam of white light shot out of them and struck the Tarasque in the chest. The beast collapsed wailing and shrieking in pain. The beast struggled to rise but it couldn’t. It wailed in pain and started thrashing around helplessly as the beam did not yield.

Moon Dancer felt bad for the Tarasque. It was and animal being attacked by something it couldn’t fight and it was trapped by the trees. It couldn’t escape and it was clearly in pain. The military ponies scattered the moment the Elements of Harmony struck the creature. They fled in all directions back to their military camps. Moon Dancer watched them run.

Suddenly the beam broke. Princess Twilight and the seven descended fast. They hit the ground hard.

The beast roared with full fury and swung it’s tail strait at the group that had hurt it. The ball at the end of the tail was heading straight for Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash felt the element trance break suddenly. It was like falling out of a hot pub into a glacer river. Rainbow Dash’s brain started running at full speed. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a large tan blur whipping through the air. Her muscles reacted immediately. She flew straight into Fluttershy and the two of them few straight up.

Fluttershy was flying faster than Rainbow Dash had ever seen her fly. She flew well above all of the clouds. The beast trying to blow fire at them but they were too high in the air to reach.

Alright the safest place right now is Twilight’s base.

Rainbow Dash looked up from the group and saw Fluttershy was flying away from her.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash took off after her. “Fluttershy.” She screamed as loud as she could. But her friend couldn’t hear her and Rainbow Dash couldn’t catch up. Rainbow Dash cursed loudly and dove through the clouds. She swung back around to find her other friends.

Rainbow Dash broke through the tree just in time to see Applejack get enveloped in a blast of fire. Applejack lay exactly where she had fallen seemingly unable to move.

Rainbow Dash screamed in panic and fear. The beast blast ended and the flames vanished. A pale pink aura sounded Applejack and it picked her up and moved her to the edge of the trees.

Rainbow Dash looked around and spotted Rarity Pinkie Pie and Midnight. Pinkie Pie was floating in Rarity’s magical aura. She was completely unmoving and it looked like she has several broken ribs. Rarity and Midnight were running as fast as they could but it wasn’t nearly fast enough to escape the beast’s radius of damage. The beast’s tail came whipping through the air again and this time the stinger was out.

A blind rage washed over Rainbow Dash. She flew straight at the tail will all of her speed. She felt the pressure building in the air around her her fur began to burn.

Crack!

The impact with the tail stunned Rainbow Dash. She fell from the air and hit the ground hard. Her heart began racing. The nerves in her belly tingled. She was alive. She looked around. Rarity and Midnight were still running for the trees. Rainbow Dash scrambled to her feet and few over to the edge of the clearing.

A fresh wave of ponies from all branches of the military charges lances and spears leveled. There were also teams with carts ready to rush injured ponies to safely. Applejack was already being whisked away. Pinkie Pie was loaded into another cart and Midnight and Rarity climbed into another one.

Relief washed over Rainbow Dash as she watched her friends escape.

The Tarasque let out another roar and began stopping towards Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash started in disbelief. This entire time, no matter what they did it kept going in a straight line. But now it was charging in a different direction.

“Rainbow Dash!” Spitfire’s voice cut through the mayhem.

Rainbow Dash flew over to the wonderbolts.

“New plan. Let’s go.”

Sunset rolled out of the way as her sparring partner shot green lightning at her head. Her heart was racing with excitement. Sunset aimed a powerful curse at his side and then shot a cave in spell at the ground next to him. He managed to rebound the spell and avoid falling into the hole. While he was off balance Sunset shot a spell at one of his hooves and he fell over Sunset sprinted to attack him from a different angle. His put up a defensive shield dome and Sunset struck it with all her magical might. She broke through and sent him flying.

In mid air he fired back at Sunset and deflected quickly. He magically righted himself in mid air and landed perfectly. He sent four rapid fire attacks before charging with a shield wall. Sunset vanished and let him charge into thin air. She appeared next to him. She did a leg sweep and knocked him over.he twisted and hooked her with his back legs. Sunset went down hard on her shoulder He tried to pin her down but Sunset used a human maneuver to twist out from underneath him. He seemed surprised and he fired a curse but missed by a wide angle and she ensaired him in an aggressive vine.

He sent up a spark of white light to signal his surrender, Sunset quickly freed her sparring partner from the vines they both bowed to each other.

Sunset was flying high. It’s been so long but still remember everything. I missed this so much. It feels so good to spar again. The Legionary drills and marches. Celestia ha me do them twice a week. Sure it was hard but it was worth it!

“Sunset Shimmer.”

Sunset was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of her name.

“Your presence is requested in a meeting. Follow me.” a female legionary officer gestured. Starlight Glimmer was with her.

They met up with the head of the magical weaponry and some of the top officials in the department in a tent. Sunset was surprised to see Moon Dancer of all ponies included in the meeting. She had soot and ash on her cloak but otherwise looked fine.

“Report!?” the head of the Magical Weapons Department demanded at Moon Dancer.

“The Element of Harmony failed to tame the beast. It seemed to cause the amilap pain and made it’s behavior more aggressive and erratic. The beast is no longer marching in a strait line but is lashing out like a wounded animal at anything it wants to. When I left the beast was knocking trees on top of ponies. The beast was also heading north instead of west.” Moon Dancer said without any emotion.

“Are all the elements still alive?”

“Yes.”

The head of magical weapons turned to address the group. “We are going to use the cellular suffocation spell. There are enough trees so it should work. Will team up with a member of the legionary chariot division. They will fly you into position. I will release and purple beam of light from above you and you will all fire simultaneously. I am making myself clear?”

There was no response.

“MARCH!”

Sunset legs automatically began moving. Her muscled remember the drills she had done with Royal Guard and Legionary when she was a foal.

She hoped that this would work. The officer that had trained her and Starlight Glimmer in the spell had pointed out that all of the spells they had tried seemed to defuse in the air just before touching the monster. The top generals believed that with enough unicorns working together they could break through.

Sunset wished the pony world had more sophisticated air ships then chariots pulled by pegusi and war balloons made of cloth.

Sunset walked up to a chariot and soluted the pilot. The pilot soluted back. “What is your name?” Sunset asked.

“My name is Iron Rim.” Iron Rim was a young stallion. He had the black coat and blue mane of the Legionary. His eyes were cobalt blue.

“Well it is a honor to work with you.” Sunset said.

“It is an honor to work with you.”

Sunset got into the chariot and sat down. She put on her mask and goggles and took deep breaths but she didn’t feel prepared for take off. Sunset glanced around and realised that all the charioteers were young. Are they really sending a fleet of new recruits to face this monster?

The fleet of chariots rose into the air. Sunset held her breath as her chariot zoomed forward. Iron Rim was flying hard. The wind in her ears was loud enough to block all sounds from the battle below. The chariot zigzagged through the air unpredictably. But Iron Rim was steady. Sunset had flown in enough chariets to know that Iron Rim was talented. His twists and turns were sharpe and Sunset never lost her balance.

Sunset relaxed a little when she realized she was in capable hooves. She looked around quickly.

All around them the wonderbolts flew in all directions, circling the monster and diving towards its feet.

Sunset looked for Rainbow Dash but the wonderbolts were moving too fast to be identified.

The Tarasque’s eyes were darting around in all directions. Sunset remember a passage in her text book describing the Tarasque’s eyes being similar to a chameleon's. The beast could see above it below it and almost all sides without moving its head.

Sunset looked around and saw the other chariots flying in the other direction and realized that the pegasus were waiting for their own signal. So sooner had she come to that conclusion then huge lightning bolt flashed in the sky. Ior Rim flew around and brought them face to face with the beast. Sunset was transfixed by the face of the beast. One of its eyes swiveled to and seemed to stare right at her. Sunset’s bladder reliced itself and she almost missed the flash of purple light above her.

Sunset managed to fire the curse but it traveled to the beast’s eye instead of its throat when she was supposed to send it. The Beast shut its eyes. The trees below them turned brown instantly.

A team of legionary officers swooped in and fired a spell at the disoriented beast. The beast took a step back and roared fire. The legionary officers were firing again and the spell and fireball collided and created a massive explosion.

Iron Rim swooped height to avoid the worst of it but the shock wave hit him and Sunset. The chariot broke and a piece of it stuck Iron Rim in the back. Sunset and Iron Rim began to fall. Sunset lost sight or Iron Rim as the then entered the smoke cloud from the explosion. Sunset squinted as the smoak burned her lungs. She began to panic. Sunset summoned a protective bubble big enough to cover where she though Iron Rim was. The smoak was suffocating but Sunset refused to let go, she didn’t want Iron Rim to fall to his death because of her.

Sunset’s head was spinning as she gasped for air. She was falling as darkness enveloped her.

Fluttershy flew as fast as she could her eyes weeping the ground searching the ground for any animals. The beast was taking a new path and there were lots of animals in the way. She had told all the animals to leave the general area yesterday afterneed. It seemed lith they had all listened to her. She felt bad for the trees. They couldn’t move. She hoped the tarasque didn’t kock over or rip up too many of them.

Fluttershy did a loop around a tree and spotted movement. She zipped over to investigate hoping it was just the wind.

A grizzly bear cup was sitting in a patch of huckleberries eating happily.

Fluttershy’s heart nearly stopped. She came crashing out of the air. The bear cub looked at her and tilted his head.

“Hello little one! Where is your mother?” Fluttershy called. She kept her distance.

He turned and looked over his shoulder and then looked back at her.

Fluttershy flew off in the direction he had indicated. She spotted a large female grizzly bear eating with a smaller cub in her lap. Fluttershy mentally sized up the cubs. There were both too large for her to carry.

“Greeting you two.” Fluttershy waved.

The mother grizzly bear glanced up at her and when back to eating berries.

“Excuse me, I hate to disturb you but there is a tarasque on the way and you are not safe here.” Fluttershy informed them politely.

The mother bear stared at her.

“A tarasque is a big scary monster who will hurt you and your cub if you don’t get out of the way.” Fluttershy said with wide eyes.

The mother grizzly bear let out a noise that was have a roar and half a grunt. Her cub climbed out of her lap and she stood up. She shook herself off and stopped off towards her other cub.

Fluttershy watched anxiously as the three bears began slowly walking away. The sounds of ponies shouting and screaming was starting to assert itself. The sounds of trees breaking were getting louder.

The bears stopped and looked around.

“No!” Fluttershy cried. She flew at them. “Keep going! Don’t stop! The monster is coming!”

The mother bear reared up and Fluttershy swerved just in time to avoid her claws.

There was an earth shaking roar from the tarasque and forest was in flames. The bears ran, the two cubs struggling to keep up with their mother.

Ponies burst through the trees in all directions galloping with war lances. The sky was suddenly full of wonderbolts diving in complex spirels at precise intervals. All the plants around fluttershy suddenly turned deathly brown. There was a mighty roar and flaming chariots fell from the sky. The trees came crashing down all around Fluttershy.

The mother bear swerved and disappeared into a cave in a cliff face. Her two cubs were struggling to join her.

The earth was shaking with the steps of the monster. It was almost upon them and the cubs could not keep their balance.

A tan blur whipped through the air to strike one of the cubs. Fluttershy felt a moment of relief. A wonderbolt has swooped in to rescue a cub. But that was impossible. The horror of what happened hit Fluttershy like a bucket of ice as the the the Tarasque swung it’s tail again and struck the other cub with its venomous barbe.

Fluttershy felt lightheaded. The world began to disappear around her. The screams and shouts began to blur around her and she felt herself leaning over.

A huge paw came out of nowhere to land right next to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy screamed and flew straight into a tree.

Princess Twilight surveyed the damage from the tracks the Tarasque left behind. There was an eerie silence as the ash in the air fell like snow. Underneath the white carpet there were blood stains and dead plants. Scattered in the ash there were two dead bear cubs and one very distressed mother bear. There were also scraps of chard chariots and smoldering trees sprinkled about. But the ash made everything distressingly peaceful.

Fluttershy had been transported to a medical tent as soon as she went down. Sunset had been recovered alive and was also rushed to a medical tent.

The dead were being carried away in large groups.

Rainbow Dash landed beside Princess Twilight. “We managed to stab it a few more times in the feet but it is not slowing down. Where is Princess Celestia? Why did she call a retreat? The beast is crashing through the countryside unimpeded!”

“She is discussing our options with Queen Novo, Princess Luna and some top intelligence officials.” Princess Twilight said blankly.

Rainbow Dash flew away.

“Twilight!”

Princess Twilight looked around as the sound of Spike’s voice and spotted him being flown over to her.

“We need you back at the base! Cadence is back!”

Princess Twilight flew over to Spike and the two of them headed back to Celestia’s military base with their esquartrs.

Princess Twilight easily spotted her sister in law from the air. The sight of her made Princess Twilight eyes water. She crash landed next to her.

“Twilight!”

“Sunshine Sunshine Ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and dp a little shake!”

Princess Cadence and Princess Twilight embraced each other.

Midnight stared at the ground unhappily.

“From the briefing I’ve gotten it sounds like things have gotten dire.” Princess Cadence said.

“It’s been crazy! You definitely picked the wrong month for a vacation.” Princess Twilight informed her.

“You two can catch up later we need to figure out a new plan of attack.” one of the generals stated plainly.

“Where is my brother? We could really use his shield magic right now.” Princess Twilight said.

Princess Cadence sighed.

“Your brother doesn't have wings. His ship should arrive tomorrow but for now we are on our own.” Princess Cadence said.

Princess Celestia, Queen Novo and Princess Luna emerged from a tent followed by a host of important looking ponies.

“Princess Cadence. Glad to see you made it back safely. I apologize your vacation had to be cut short but as you can see you are needed here. We will talk later. I need to take care of the Tarasque now.” Princess Celestia spread her wings and took off.

Rainbow Dash and the wonderbolts were resting on a cloud. The fighting was put on hold and a melancholy silence had fallen over the troops. The wonderbolts had all survived but just barely. Three of them were incapacitated and were being tended to in one of the medical tents. There was so many medical tents. The rest with licking their wounds and preparing to fight again.

Rainbow Dash was silently preening her feathers many of hers were broken and half were twisted out of place. Some of them were signed short. Her wings were a mess and that made it hard to fly. She also had a gash on her chest making it harder to use her front legs.

Rainbow Dash was ripping out another broken feather when Spitfire call out. “Princesses below. Let’s move!”

Rainbow Dash’s muscle memory took over and she flew in formation to flank the princesses. Her flying was not steady. With so many feathers missing or out of place and her chest hurting it was heard for Rainbow Dash to stay in the air and on course.

All four princesses were present. There was also a smattering of Legionary, intelligence officers and sitting in chariots. Starlight Glimmer and Rarity were in chariots.

Princess Celestia swooped in front of the group and turned to face them. “I order you all to stay here.”

Rainbow Dash’s body ached to hover in the air. She felt like she was going to fall out of the air at any minute.

Princess Celestia flew away before any of them could protest. She landed on a low hanging cloud not far from the breast. She removed her crown and pulled a jewel out of it. Holding the jewel out in front of her she approached the Tarasque. The tarasque roared and swatted at her. Princess Celestia easily evaded she flew right into the beast’s face and place the jewel on its forehead. She shouted a spell no one had ever heard before and the beast collapsed.

Princess Celestia put the jewel back in her crown and flew off in the direction of Canterlot. The beast got up and walked calmly after her.

Rainbow Dash looked around. Everyone was stunned. Even Princess Luna and Queen Novo were staring open mouthed with shock.

Starlight Glimmer was the first to recover. “I did not know she could do that.”

The group erupted into outburst of shock and horror. Princess Luna and Queen Novo regained their composure and stayed quiet.

Finally Princess Cadence cut through the noise. “Ponies please! We all have questions but we are very high up in the sky and not everyone has wings. Let’s get everyone safely back down to the ground and we can discuss things back at Celestia’s base.

The group flew back slowly. Rainbow Dash’s body ached worse than before. She had cuts all over her body and her tail was singed. Now that the fighting is over… the clean up was going to be rough. And the healing…

The group split and Princess Twilight and Princess Cadence sprit off from the main group. A hand full of ponies few over to Princess Twilight’s base.

Midnight, Fluttershy and Salto were waiting for them. “The doctors figured out what is wrong with Iunae.” Midnight informed them.

“That’s great!” Princess Cadence said. “I would like to meet Iunae.”

“How are you doing Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I’ve been batter.” Fluttershy said quietly.

“When you are ready to talk we are all here for you.” Rarity said kindly.

Fluttershy nodded sadly.

Midnight turned around and walked toward Iunae’s tent.

The tent was cramped with everyone circled around Iunae’s bed.

“To our surprise she seems to be suffering from magic fatigue.” the doctor explained.

“Really!?” Rarity said in disbelief. Princess Twilight and Salto looked shocked.

“Magic fatigue?” Midnight asked.

“When a pony repeatedly overexerts themselves magically they can suffer from magical fatigue. It is most common in young foals and school ponies attempting to cram for their practicals. It is rare in adults.” the doctor explained.

“But Iunae isn’t a normal unicorn adult.” Salto said.

“Yeah, Iunae can’t do much magic. She can barely lift her fork!” Midnight said. “I think if she was attempting something complicated I would know!”

“Yeah. It doesn't make sense. She doesn't know enough magic to over exert herself.” Princess Twilight said.

“What are her symptoms?” Princess Cadence asked.

“Fever, nausea and vomiting, delirium, general disorientation, hallucinations- auditory, visual, tactile and loss of appetite.” the doctor read her list.

“And from that list you got magical fatigue?’ Princess Cadence asked.

“Yes. We ran lots of tests. If you want proof just look at her horn. We aren’t doing anything to make it glow. She is. We don’t know what kind of magic she is doing but clearly it isn’t good for her.”

Author's Notes:

One of the reasons It took me so long to post this chapter is because I wanted to have the next one written. I will post the chapter some time tomorrow.

If you are wondering about the Tarasque I suggest you look up the myth. it ends in much the same fashion.

As always I would love comments and feed back. Have a good day.