The speed at which Twilight and Rainbow Dash galloped out of the library was probably record-breaking. I tried to keep up with them, but my injury and the exhaustion of the day held me back, and so I fell further back after only a few seconds. This was the first time I noticed how fast ponies could gallop and that even with all the willpower in the world, I was just half as fast. Running and trotting went relatively easy for me by now, but in a full gallop, I would surely still fall over my own legs. I stopped to give my lungs a short rest and sat down. The main road was slowly becoming deserted while the sun had almost completely disappeared. What did Twilight plan to do against the parasprites? Could she reverse the spell?

I only had one answer to the question: Pinkie Pie. She had managed to free Ponyville from this plague with her one-pony-band before it could be devoured. If they could be hypnotized like that again, Twilight could carefully consider her next steps, at least as long as Pinkie could play. I collected my last bit of strength and made my way towards Sugarcube Corner, which wasn’t far away. I ignored the sign at the door that said ‘Closed’ and entered the bakery. Much to my surprise, the shelves that were usually filled with goodies were empty, and the usual smell of sugar was less distinct than I remembered.

“Pinkie?” I coughed. The door behind the counter opened, and a shivering Pinkie Pie appeared. It didn’t look like she was scared, more like she had a little sugar shock, and now I was really worried with what had happened with all the cakes.

“Hello Tio… Blue Light… What’s up?” Her voice sounded like she spoke through a fan while she rushed over to me as quickly as she could.

“What’s wrong with you, Pinkie?”

“My Pinkie Sense has been tingling for a while now. But I haven’t seen any parasprites all day long. But the cakes are safe now, so don’t worry.” With those last words, she threw a hoof around my shoulder and rubbed through my mane with her other hoof. I somehow freed myself out of her surprisingly strong grip and straightened myself again.

“Pinkie, we found parasprites in the forest. That’s why I’m here. Twilight and Rainbow probably need your help. Fluttershy is in danger as well. That’s where they are now.” The rest of the story wasn’t important right now.

“Oh, okie dokie.” She rushed up the stairs, still slightly shivering, and reappeared not two seconds later with her musical equipment downstairs. “Let’s go then.” She grabbed me again and dragged me behind her. I did not even want to know how she did that with her heavy equipment. The way from the bakery to Fluttershy’s cottage would have usually taken ten minutes if one was in a hurry. Pinkie instead somehow took less than two. It was like she was somehow able to skip certain parts of the way. As the cottage came into sight, I could already see Twilight, Rainbow, and Fluttershy. They stood on the small bridge in front of the building and tried to drag Fluttershy away.

“Fluttershy! It’s too dangerous here. We have to go,” I heard Twilight trying to persuade her friend. Pinkie came to a halt directly in front of the bridge, leading to me being thrown over her shoulder and looking up into Rainbow’s face with my stomach pointing upwards.

“There you are. Help us get Fluttershy away from here,” she said while keeping a straight face.

“Light, why did you bring Pinkie?” Twilight threw in. I was still lying on the ground, and three faces were now looking down at me.

“Distraction?” While Rainbow still looked at me in confusion, Twilight seemed to have grasped my idea quickly while Pinkie just laughed briefly.

“Great idea! Rainbow, get Fluttershy and help her with the animals. With Pinkie’s…” Twilight pointed at the apparatus on the other mare’s back “…whatever, we should have enough time to evacuate the animals.” Rainbow saluted quickly and grabbed Fluttershy, who had watched the entire scene from the bridge, and both of them disappeared in the cottage.

“Pinkie, come, we’re going to look for parasprites. Ponyville is not safe while they are around.” Pinkie put on her serious face and then bounced together with Twilight towards the forest.

“And what about me?” I shouted after them.

“You’ve done enough for today. Just take a rest.” I sighed because I knew she was right, but I still didn’t feel right about letting the two go on their own. I realized that I was still on the ground and quickly stood up.

The parasprites had overwhelmed the manticore after I had injured it. But the sound of the hunt wasn’t what had attracted them because if it did, they would have been after me as well. This led to only one conclusion: it was the blood. So, I could either let those two search and they might get to the same conclusion, or I could go after them and show them the place where the parasprites ate the manticore. Fluttershy and Rainbow could handle the animals, so I made my way slowly but steadily into the forest.

I was careful to take the same path as the others, but in the ever fading light, this wasn’t so easy. And now that I knew what was dwelling in these woods, my fear was starting to become a problem as well. The trees that seemed inviting this morning were replaced by dark shadows and almost seemed to look down at me with grimaces. I stepped it up a notch and walked as quickly through the trees as my sight allowed it. However, that led me to going off the path, and I soon found myself in the middle of nowhere.

“Well done…” I said quietly to myself. The next time I got such a brilliant idea, I should slap myself. “Can’t get much worse from here though.” I knew the feeling of regretting what I just said, and it immediately came over me. Yellow glowing eyes stared at me from a few meters away, and quiet growling could be heard. In my head, I went through all the creatures of Equestria I knew, but the solution presented itself to me in the faint moonlight: a timberwolf. “Oh, Waldo wants a bone?” I was scared of large animals, but dogs didn’t count, having two of them myself. A punch on the nose was usually enough to show them who’s in charge. The wolf seemed to be unimpressed and slowly approached me while baring his teeth, which surprisingly weren’t made out of wood like the rest of him. What wouldn’t I give for a lighter right now, but since I had never smoked in my entire life, of course I didn’t have one.

I was tired, but I should be strong enough to handle this wolf, and so I began to write the first rune in my mind, causing the paws of the animal to be grabbed by the earth and rooting it in place. I hated it to hurt others; even the manticore was just an accident. I have never started or picked a fight, only reacted. I slowly went towards the wolf and tried to pet him with my hoof, but he just snapped after me. “Then you’ll stay here for a while,” I said calmly to him before going on my way. I didn’t know exactly how long the spell would last, especially since I was tired, but it should be enough to get away. A very distinct music filled the air just as I was out of vision of the wolf. I didn’t know the exact term, but Pinkie Polka seemed fitting. Following the music through the dark, I wondered if they already found the parasprites or used the music to lure them to them, but the answer came with a purple lighting that illuminated the night. Twilight was casting a spell on a single parasprite while Pinkie stood next to her and held them in place with her music.

“Alright, Pinkie, that should work.” Pinkie stopped playing, and Twilight eyed the parasprite warily. The little creature flew through the air and looked carefully at its surrounding before taking a large bite out of Twilight’s mane. She caught it immediately in a small purple bubble and held it on the ground before it duplicated. “It’s of no use. It’s like they never have been herbivores,” she groaned. Much to her surprise, the new parasprite ate grass on the ground before duplicating, but then the first one ate one of the two. Twilight turned away in disgust, and in a small flash of light a book appeared out of the thin air. “I don’t know why it isn’t working. I reversed the spell just like it said in the book.” She skimmed through the book, and Pinkie was busy with her little machine, so they didn’t notice that instead of just one carnivorous parasprites, there were three now that had started to nibble at the magical shield. Before the first one could get free, I wrapped her shield in dirt so that it was covered with grass. Twilight shrunk back before she saw me between the trees.

“Light, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you stay back?” she snapped at me.

“I’m old enough to know what I’m doing, don’t you think? Also, these things would have been free any second now. Did you not notice how they ate through your shield?” Twilight, as much as she liked to lecture others, didn’t seem to like to be lectured by anyone but Celestia.

“And how is your little dirt wall better?” Stubborn as a mule, I thought to myself. No offense to mules.

“Because it’s covered with grass which they don’t seem to be eating anymore.” Pinkie held an ear against the shield like she was eavesdropping on them.

“Boooring, they aren’t doing anything in there,” she said after a few seconds and started to blow up some balloons. Twilight was overwhelmed by her curiosity as well and followed Pinkie’s example, which led to another conclusion for me.

“The grass, it’s herbal, so they don’t touch it! That’s the solution; we just have to lock all the parasprites in such a bubble.” Her eyes were almost glowing as she told me the solution.

“You know that my bubble only lasts for a few minutes, right?”

“That’s the least of our problems.” She pointed her horn at my bubble of dirt so that I was no longer glowing in my white but purple instead. After a few seconds it glowed no longer. “Done. This should be permanent now.” Credit where credit is due, magic, no matter which kind, was her element. “Let’s get to it then. Pinkie, play like you have never played before!” Pinkie took a deep breath, but just as she was about to start, I held my hoof in front of her mouth, causing the air to escape out of her ears while being accompanied by some streamers.

“I have a better idea on how to gather parasprites quickly without having to run through the entire forest.” Both looked at me confusedly, and Pinkie was mumbling something under my hoof that still blocked her mouth. I let go off her, picked up a leaf from the ground, and turned it into metal before cutting my right hoof slightly.

“What are you doing!?” Twilight shouted as the blood began dropping to the ground.

“Pinkie, prepare to play.” I ignored her for the moment. Pinkie didn’t need to be told twice and took a deep breath again. A humming sounded in the distance and quickly came closer. While Twilight tried to catch a glimpse through the trees of what was approaching us, I hoped that the music would be enough to hypnotize an entire horde of hungry parasprites. The humming slowly got louder until it sounded more like the engine of a car mixed with the sound of branches cracking and falling on the ground. Twilight let her horn glow and gave us a better view on our surroundings so that we could see now what was heading at us: parasprites. Not just a few or a swarm, it was more like a black cloud spiked with countless little red eyes.

“T-Twilight…” I stammered.

“Yes?” In her voice, I could hear that she was just as nervous as I was.

“How do I make a bubble this size?”

“…”

“Thought so.” The crème de la crème of panic started to overtake my body. The cloud was still dashing towards us and seemed more threatening every second. I gave Pinkie a sign, and she began to play her melody, causing the parasprites at the top to halt their movements, but the rest just continued their way. The buzzing of their wings drowned out the music, and it was clear that our plan wasn’t working the way we had intended. Twilight was the first to react on our failure and created a magical wall in front of us. The parasprites crashed against it, causing many loud crackles, like a bumblebee hitting a windshield. The cloud began to gather at other side of the wall, and some even began to just fly past it while others started to nibble at it. Pinkie was still playing like there was no tomorrow, but only a few parasprites stopped. It was not enough by any stretch of the imagination. Twilight gave up her first wall and locked ourselves into a sphere which the parasprites immediately crashed against.

“Twilight, can you teleport us?” She was busy with maintaining the sphere and filling the holes that the parasprites created.

“Not far. I can barely keep this shield up. It’s like they are directly eating the magic,” she groaned. We couldn’t see anything but parasprites. As it were, it was like we were in complete darkness. Pinkie stopped playing and gasped for air, a few drops of sweat running down her forehead. The sphere was getting smaller around us as Twilight struggled with holding it. We had to come up an idea quickly or we would end up being these things’ next meal. A loud bang cracked through the air, then some kind of hissing that got closer to us followed, and before we knew what happened, the parasprites flew back to where they had come from. It was all thanks to a blue force wave that came just in time since Twilight had already collapsed under the pressure. She gasped and groaned and seemed to be close to passing out. Pinkie had already recovered but said nothing, instead looking at whoever had come to help us.

Much to my surprise, I saw the two guards that I left behind this morning, followed by a dozen more soldiers, one of them in significantly noticeable armor. He must have been their Captain or something. He nodded at his guards that consisted of multiple unicorns and pegasi, and they immediately made their way into the forest after the parasprites. The leader was a white unicorn, and as he took off his helmet, his dark blue mane which was highlighted by some brighter streaks here and there came into sight. With his helmet in a hoof, he came towards us and eyed the scene before beginning to talk.

“Everypony alright?” Twilight, who was still lying on the ground, turned around and seemed to be shocked but caught herself quickly before she flung her arms around the Captain’s neck.

“Shining Armor! Thank Celestia you’re here.” He began to stroke her mane.

“Everything’s alright, little sis. I’m here now.” He turned his eyes away from her but didn’t stop hugging her.

“I take everything is alright with you too, sir?” he addressed me.

“Everything’s fine. Thanks for the help.” He nodded at me.

“We should go now. My guards will handle this.” I didn’t want to disagree.

Twilight basically clung to her brother the entire way out of the forest as Pinkie danced around both. I walked a bit behind the small group, and only occasionally did Shining Armor throw a look at me to see if I still was there. We got back to Fluttershy’s cottage where she already awaited us. She led our group into the living room where she served some tea.

“Since we have time to talk now, maybe you can explain to me, sir, why exactly you ran away from my guards? They were assigned to your personal protection.” He didn’t seem to be angry, just annoyed.

“I have nothing against protection, but when those two try to follow me into the bathroom, I’ll take the risk of not having them around me.” He took a sip of his tea and said nothing more about it. “But I have a question as well. How did they know where we were and that we needed help?” I hope the bracer didn’t have GPS or something.

“Her Majesty received a letter from Miss Dash about the events in the Everfree Forest and that you, my sister, and Miss Pie had left to end them.” Now that he mentioned it, I noticed that Rainbow was missing.

“You don’t have to be so formal. I’m Ti— Blue Light. It’s a pleasure.” Easing the tension after all the exertion seemed like the right thing for me to do. He seemed to appreciate it as well since he started to smile a bit.

“The pleasure is mine, Light. I am Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard and, as you might have noticed, also Twilight’s brother.” She had fallen asleep on the couch next to her brother, reminding me that a bed was waiting for me as well. The guards would surely have everything under control now.

“I’m sorry, Armor, but I think I will leave now as well. AJ is surely getting worried already about where I’m at, and she knows nothing about the whole thing with the parasprites.” He nodded briefly before he spoke up again.

“Then we will see you tomorrow. Her Majesties, Princess Celestia and Luna, wish to speak with you, so I shall escort you to Canterlot.” Since Applejack wouldn’t allow me to work with my injured hoof anyway, I would at least have something to do.

“Okay, but where will you and your ponies staying until tomorrow?” I knew AJ would tell me something if I didn’t at least offer them hospitality.

“I will stay in the guest room of the library, and my men will take a room in a hotel. I’m looking forward to see Spike again and how much he has grown since last time.” He seemed like a really good big brother, and since I was one myself, I could make a decision.

“Then give Spike and Dawn my regards if you see them,” I said before placing my cup on the table, which Fluttershy immediately took into the kitchen, and went to the door. It was almost silent for a moment, besides Pinkie Pie’s snoring, in which Fluttershy and I stared at Shining Armor’s dumbfounded face.

“Dawn? Does Twilight have a coltfriend?” He eyed his sister who was sleeping next to him.

“I think she will explain that to you herself. But believe me, it surprised me as well.” His face looked even more puzzled than before as I closed the door behind me and made my way back to the farm. To my dismay, my two favorite guards were already standing in front of the door. This time, they seemed determined to not leave my side for a second.

Author's Notes:

Wow, looking back at the first fight scene I ever wrote I know I should feel bad. I mean the pacing is way off and so on xD
But if I think back to the whole story I still feel very pleased with it. How did the saying go? A mother will always love their children?
Then an author will always love his stories.

Thanks to Gron for translating this chapter.
Special thanks to JBL for proofreading and editing.

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