Ashton kept running in the direction the bandit had shown him. Until the torches suddenly cut off, leaving him blind again.

“Damn…” Ashton said to himself before noticing some very clearly stamped down grass. “Sons of bitches were thorough…”

Needless to say, he followed the trail, and soon came across a tall classic wooden wall made of entire tree trunks. Which made him chuckle nervously until he noticed the very large amount of smoke coming from within the walls themselves. Swearing profanities in so many languages that even he didn’t understand, Ashton began casting a spell that he believed would summon a rainstorm above the entirety of the camp in an attempt to put the fire out before it killed the mare he loved.

Meanwhile, in a different part of the forest, the bandits were running away with the burning camp with all the loot and prisoners they could. They didn’t bring any of the elderly or sick, deeming them useless and pointless. But the mare the demon possessed diamond dog was after? She would fetch a pretty bit each and every time they sold her off, since the dumb dog would no doubt destroy the entire town trying to find her. Then the bandits swoop in, knock the mutt out, and steal her again until they either die, or manage to sell her to the somepony that can keep hold of her longer than a day or two. Simple, right? Right.

But the newly appointed leader had one major flaw in his plan. He was underestimating the power of the Soft Silver Wolf, if the spontaneously forming storm clouds were any indication.

“Keep moving, ya bloody Nightmare worshipping idiots! If you stop, the demon beast will catch us!” Shouted a dragon in very spiky armor with a metal shield that also had a single spike on it, and a heavy pick on his hip. The armor and shield glowed faintly with enchantments in the slowly darkening forest. “And if I see any of you shit heads talking to the money maker again, I’ll kill you and mount your skull on a pike, AM I CLEAR!?!”

“SIR, YES SIR COMMANDER FUEGO, SIR!” A chorus of voices shouted back, a cacophony of voices from several different races. Dragon, griffon, earth, unicorn, pegasus, thestral, minotaur, hippogriff, and diamond dog alike all sounded off like a well oiled machine, whether out of fear, training, or a mix of the two, the prisoners couldn’t tell, and only one really cared.

They’re afraid of the dragon… thought Aurana, gagged and bound as she was.

“Keep moving, whore. You’re gonna make us a very pretty coin, hehehe…” a bulky minotaur said, shoving her forward and making her fall before picking her back up when Fuego locked eyes with the bipedal bull.

Ashton was pacing around the various prisoners, checking them for any wounds that would keep them from getting to Canterlot, or Ponyville. He thanked every god, goddess, and other divine being he could think of that the worse he had to fix was some minor concussions from having the makeshift buildings falling on them as they eroded from the fire.

“Ok everyone, I’ll ask again. Are you sure you don’t want me to teleport you to Canterlot, or Ponyville? Pretty sure I can keep you all safe during transit,” Ashton asked the group of elders, and previously sickly adults of every race he knew in the history of the show.

“We’ll be fine, Silphen. Thank you,” said a minotaur bull, hefting a makeshift hammer across the back of his shoulders. “We shall spread the story of what you did here today. Maybe the story shall reach the two sisters and they shall forgive you for the shadow that was thrust upon you.”

Ashton smiled faintly and nodded, then asked, “Did anyone see where the bandits went? They have someone I care about with them, and I plan to get her back from them before killing each and every single one of those bandit scumbags.”

The bull he was talking to chuckled and nodded before pointing off towards the setting moon and turning around to follow his fellows as the rag-tag group began to make their way out of the forest. The wolf nodded back to the bull before turning to the west and running, a faint purple mist flowing out of his eyes as he let his rage over the loss of his friend finally take over slightly, giving him the much needed energy boost that he was looking for.

So for the rest of that night, and the majority of the next day, he ran. He prayed that he would be able to catch them if he just kept running. And when he caught a bandit too slow to keep up? They were torn apart ruthlessly, and mercilessly. He healed the prisoners that the bandits believed were useless, and teleported them to wherever it was that they had wanted to go. Most went to Canterlot, since the bandits often attacked the unfortunate travelling merchant, or lost soul that wandered into the forest and kept them. So he hunted them, just as they hunted the less fortunate…

A few weeks later, Fuego was carrying the last prisoner through the sky, trying his damndest to avoid getting hit by the crazed fool of a wolf that was following him on the ground, throwing spells of extreme density and variety.

“FUCKING FOOL! Do you want to hurt the cargo!?!” He shouted down at the mad dog.

“You dare call the mare of my heart as nothing more than cargo…?” Ashton mentally projected into Fuego, causing the dragon to shiver in fear, as this bypassed so many of the wards and enchants on his armor that were designed to keep psionic type spell caster unicorns out of his head.

“Alright, fine! Bad choice of words! I’LL FUCKING DROP HER IF YOU HIT ME!” Fuego shouted at the mage as an arc of lightning came to close for comfort.

“Then I would catch her. Unlike you,” Ashton retorted.

Fuego turned around and threw the mare toward the fireball that was coming at him, and said, “Then you know what?! Here!”

Author's Notes:

Chapter 6 in the story, and a pretty decent fan base around this story so far. Gotta say, I am loving this story and all the support I am receiving. BUT! I would like for everyone who is reading this to go and take a look at one of my oldest fanfics, Equestrian War. The reason I ask this of you, is because I want the fans to feel included in the story by using their human or pony oc's. All I need from you on that end, is a bio, a description, and a short blurb about their personality.