The titanic trees of the Everfree Forest shook and swayed under the powerful gusts of wind that were being generated from up above. The branches of the trees rippled violently, the leaves threatening to be torn off the branches. Deafening roars of thunder shook the sky as white blinked and flashed through the night sky, lighting the monstrous forest below. Even with the usual sounds that came with the wilderness, it was nothing compared to what and who was conjuring up the sounds. Far above even the tallest of the trees, two literal forces of nature could be seen flying and dancing through the sky in a duel of flight. One was a predatory bird larger than any other raptor, looking like it could carry an entire ship with its talons. The other was much smaller, an omnivorous equine sent to protect the ones sent by his leader from anything that harmed them. Even the very creature that it was currently battling, both having two different goals, one wanting a meal, and the other wanting to protect its prey. It was battle of talons, hooves and flurrying feathers, neither looked to be backing down, and they seemed to be just getting started.

The Shinomōkin screeched into the sky as it flew towards Zephyr, its beak opened in an attempt to get a hold of the stallion. Zephyr responded in kind by ducking and giving a powerful uppercut to the massive bird’s chin. He then let one of his hindhooves plunge into the bird’s massive chest, going in as hard as he could. The bird flinched from the blow, but was hardly affected by it, and flapped its giant wings to reel away from the stallion. It raised its talons and took a swipe at the stallion, hoping to slice him in half, but missed.

Zephyr growled and flew above the beast, diving headfirst down towards its head and body slamming into it. This left the raptor pretty dazed, and it did a front flip through the air, its talons sailing through the air. Zephyr realized his mistake, and backed away from the claws just in time, watching as they glinted in moon’s light. He let the raptor take a moment to shake the dizziness form its head, before it glared at him in anger and hunger.

‘Whoa, that was a close one. I most have body slammed him harder than it thought.’ The stallion thought, biting his lip. ‘Those talons are really something fierce…I’ll have to watch out for them when he tries to eat me.’

Screeching suddenly came from the Shinomōkin and it charged at Zephyr again, its wings causing wind to shoot everywhere around it. It dove its beak down in an attempt to impale Zephyr, the tip of its razor-sharp beak shining. Zephyr evaded in time to see the bird’s beak slam into the mountain that they were fighting next to. The force was harder than Zephyr was expecting, and it watched as most of its head went into conjured hole.

Before Zephyr could do anything, the Shinomōkin pulled its head out shook the rocks and pebbles out of it. With a hiss, it looked up at Zephyr and screeched again, flying towards him as its wings lashed out. He was taken off guard when he saw the bird suddenly lash its wings out, large slices of wind emerging from his feathers. Zephyr whinnied in surprise, the years of guard training allowing him to keep from getting sliced into pieces. He looked back behind him and watched as the attacks sliced into the larger trees. Not really slicing them apart but leaving particularly large slices and dents within the bark itself.

‘Son of a…of course! I cannot believe I forgot about this part!’ Zephyr thought, resisting the urge to facehoof. ‘The animals in this forest are able to use different type of magical abilities and not just the weapons their bodies provide them like normal animals! Fluttershy literally just stated this before we were nearly zapped into oblivion!’

A powerful blow slammed into Zephyr without warning, pain shooting all over his back despite his armor being protected by it. He yelled out as he went spiraling through the air and slamming into one of the giant dented trees. Zephyr’s eyes rolled about in his head, and through his blurred vision, he saw the Shinomōkin diving towards him. He went wide eyed when he saw its clawed feet extended outward ready to stab him into the tree. Realizing that he needed to take things up a notch, Zephyr summoned lighting from within his body.

“Lightning Pegasus: Lightning Spear!” The royal blue stallion shouted as he shot a spear of lightning at the incoming Shinomōkin. It slammed into the unsuspecting larger flyer striking it in the chest, making it shook shooting back as lighting struck it all across its body. It rolled across the air as it slammed into some trees in its own. The bark of the giant plants shook under the force in which was emitted by the raptor’s crash landing, but they were barely even harmed.

“I’m not done yet big guy!” Zephyr shouted as he tore himself out of the tree. “Now take this one! Lightning Pegasus: Whinny!”

Opening his own mouth, Zephyr shot a large stream of lightning where the Shinomōkin was still stuck against the trees. Just as it began to regain its bearings, the attack struck, causing an explosion to appear as lighting tore through the trees. The raptor screeched as lighting zapped it all about its body, the pain making it unable to focus on Zephyr. The Solar Royal Guard remained in his position in the air, watching as the beast was driving into the trees. Just as Zephyr thought that the bird was down for the count, it suddenly regained its bearings and attacked.

“Oh fuck!” Zephyr shouted, scrambling out of the way as the Shinomōkin tried to eat him up in its beak like before. Through some unknown means, it was able to remain agile and swift within the trees as it continued to pursue Zephyr despite its size. The stallion flew through the forest, ducking and swerving through branches as headed back to the mountain. The Shinomōkin just let out another screech as it went after its prey, meeting Zephyr in the exact spot as where it had first appeared. The raptor and pegasus stayed in that position for a time, staring into each other’s eyes as they waited for one another to make a move.

At some point, Zephyr broke the stare down and looked off into the direction of where Goku and the rest of her friends had galloped off. Despite their absence, their scent could still be smelt lingering around the area, thanks to the royal blue stallion’s hypersensitive nose. ‘Goku, Twilight and the others must be already down the hill by now. Two of them are Pegasi, and two of them are half Pegasus by the looks of it. So, they should be able to use their Pegasus magic to get down the mountain faster, while carrying the others. Odds are they’re already reaching the end and are waiting for me to catch up.’

The screeching of the Shinomōkin brought Zephyr out of his thoughts and he whipped his head in front of him to see the raptor flying towards him. He ducked just as the raptor swung its large talons at him, taking the stallion somewhat by surprise. Zephyr hadn’t expected it to use its talons in a manner other than trying to pluck him out of the air or stab him, not that either wasn’t unpleasant. Nonetheless, Zephyr still reacted the way he was supposed to, and once again kept himself out of the clutches of the thunderous feathered beast.

‘Looks like these big guys are as smart as they are tough.’ Zephyr thought, moving to the side to avoid a stab to his chest by the Shinomōkin’s talons. Reaching out with his hooves, he grabbed the Shinomōkin by its right leg and began swinging it around in the air. He soon let it go and let the giant bird fly away as he flew after it. At the last moment, when he was within range, he spun around and kicked the giant bird square into its back. This caused the Shinomōkin to arch backward, so much so that Zephyr was able to grab its beak and flipping it around in the air, sending it diving down to the ground.

“I’m not finished just yet!” Zephyr shouted, giving a hard flap of his powerful wings as he dove down under the giant raptor. “Lightning Pegasus: Thundering Hoof!”

Faster than the Shinomōkin could even blink, it felt the wind get knocked out of it as Zephyr slammed his hoof into its stomach. He hit it so hard that a large glob of blood left its mouth as it went rocketing high up into the night air. As it hovered high above the giant trees, Zephyr delivered the final deciding blow.

“Lightning Pegasus: Neigh!” The stallion shouted, shooting out a gigantic breath of garnet orange lightning at the giant raptor. He watched as it enveloped the giant raptor, who only had enough time to widen its eyes before its whole word was swept into orange. The Shinomōkin screeched in agony as the electricity ripped through it, burning its feathers all over its body. The giant raptor flew high into the sky away from Zephyr, the latter being unaware that he had just given his opponent an opening.

With a snap of its wings, the Shinomōkin flared them out, its yellow eyes glowing as it screeched down at Zephyr. Or at least, it looked like it was screeching, before a large bolt of lightning erupted from its mouth, sailing towards Zephyr. Out of pure instinct, Zephyr flew away and allowed the attack to strike the ground, forming an enormous crater. A few more bolts burst form the beak of the Shinomōkin and they struck either the mountain, the ground, or the trees. One of them finally managed to strike Zephyr point blank and he was sent plummeting as lighting zapped all over him.

“D-dammit…that was idiotic of me.” Zephyr winced, his limbs twitching. “Should’ve seen that coming.”

He gasped when he felt the gigantic claws of the Shinomōkin pierce into the ground, all looking to be just inches away from piercing him. Zephyr watched as the titanic bird towered over him, its wings halfway folded as it held its head eye. It hissed menacingly as it clenched its claws ever so slowly around Zephyr, letting him get a feel of its talons. As the bird prepared to crush him, Zephyr managed to find himself an opening to escape.

“Lighting Pegasus: Divulsion Hoof!” Zephyr shouted, shooting one of his hooves out and sending a blast of lighting up at the bird. It screeched as it was flown back, allowing Zephyr to flap his own wings and take flight, the wing armor gleaming. With a neigh he flew around the beast, slicing it where he could as his armor flashed and shined through the air. The attack lasted barely more than several seconds, but it had the effect he wanted, if the shower of blood was any indication of it. The Shinomōkin had no time to absorb the hits however, before Zephyr unleased the finishing blow.

“Alright big guy, it was fun playing with you, but it’s time I cut it short!” Zephyr said as he flared his wings out again. “Lightning Pegasus: Electrical Slicing Wing Attack!”

With another neigh Zephyr swung his wings forward, large slices of electricity emerging from the armored appendages in the blink of an eye. They slammed into the already injured Shinomōkin and it was sent crashing through the trees. With one final burst of lightning from his mouth, the creature vanished through the trees, its screeching echoing through the clearing.

“Well, that went a little better than I expected it to be. I hope I didn’t hurt him too bad.” Zephyr sighed in relief, the garnet aura around his body vanishing. “I have to admit, that was kind of a fun fight. Nice good way to get some good experience in with these guys.”

With a sigh, he turned around and flew back up through the trees, back up to the spot where he had least seen the girls run off. Looking over at the spot where his seven escorts were last seen, and he hovered down to where it was before the Shinomōkin found them. Lowering his head, he inhaled the scent left behind by the mares, hoping it was still strong. To his relief, the scent was still very fresh, making it really easy for him to be able to detect where they were going.

‘Alright, I got their scent.’ Zephyr thought, standing back upright. ‘They’ve probably gotten much farther away from me by now, but their scent is still strong. So I’ll still be able to easily track them from here. Hopefully nothing’s happened to them by the time I get to where they are. Twilight and Goku especially, or else Queen Celestia, Bardock and Gene are going to fucking fry my ass.’

“How are you holding up girls?” Goku asked, looking back at the mares running behind her as they galloped through the trees. “Any of you still able to keep up?”

“We’re doing just fine Goku.” Fluttershy replied reassuringly. “We haven’t really been going for that long, and it’s only been a few minutes since we’ve separated form Zephyr.”

“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash added. “We have plenty of gas left in the tank for anything! Even if it means facing off against any of the things in this forest!”

“I really wish that we didn’t have to run so much!” Rarity whined pitifully. “This is already messing up my hooficure! Can’t we just go with Goku’s original plan and fly down the mountain instead?”

“We’re going to have to hold off on it for right now Rarity.” Twilight said to her fellow unicorn. “We don’t know whether or not Zephyr was able to defeat the Shinomōkin, or if it blindsided him and came after us. We can’t risk turning back right now, so we’re just going to have to trust him to take care of that raptor himself.”

“Well said Twilight. I’m glad that you’re seeing just how big the risks are if we go back. Especially if we try to go against something like that.” Goku smiled approvingly. “Even if we did try to stay and fight with him, I’m pretty sure he would’ve forced us to leave. Besides, we do have a mission that we need to do anyway. One that is a lot more important than fighting a giant tower-sized raptor.”

“True, but I would’ve loved to see that fight if we were able to!” Pinkie Pie added, her straw hat flinging about on her head. “It would’ve been awesome seeing Zephie smack that giant bird around!”

Applejack snorted, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, sure it would. Fer y’all and Dash maybe.”

A scream from Goku made the others jump as she came to a dead stop, her large feathered bat wings spreading out wide. As she slid, each of her friends that were running behind her ran into her wings, stopping them dead in their tracks as if they slammed right into a wall. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, who were flying behind the group, came to a stop and looked back at the five other mares in front of them.

“Goku, what’s the matter?” The former asked, her tone laced with concern. “Why did you stop?”

“Girls don’t look now…” Goku began slowly, not moving an inch. “…but we’ve reached a dead end.”

Taken aback by this statement, the four mares looked down form over Goku’s powerful wings and looked down at where Goku had stopped. They all gasped when they saw they had indeed at the end of the path that they were running on. Not only that, from where they were standing and hovering, it was a very, very, very long drop down below that would’ve been fatal. Which was made all the more apparent by the large jagged looking rocks down below and the large sharp trees.

“Whoa nelly.” Applejack breathed, feeling a bit nauseous. “Now that is one have of a long drop-down t’ them rocks.”

“Indeed.” Rarity gulped, looking over at Goku. “I’m so glad that you stopped us when you did, that would’ve been quite the nasty fall.”

“I think ‘nasty’ is too nice of a way of putting it Rarity.” Rainbow Dash said, staring down at the rocks. “You guys would’ve been gutted like fish if G hadn’t stopped you, and if we hadn’t been here to catch you.”

“Plus, judging from how tall these trees are we can’t really see the bottom either. So, we don’t know how long it’ll take for us getting down there without getting bruised by those trees down below.” Twilight said, putting a hoof on Goku’s shoulder. “It looks like we’ll have to wait either wait for Zephyr or take another way.”

“Seriously? Come on Twilight, I don’t wanna wait here!” Rainbow groaned loudly. “I wanna get to Nightmare Moon as quick as I can so I can kick her moon-flanked ass into next week! Why can’t we just barrel through these trees and be on our merry way?”

“Because if we do that, it would mean leaving Zephyr behind with the Shinomōkin!” Fluttershy replied, a look of disproval coating her angelic face. “He may be a guard, but his protection will not mean anything if he can’t even find his way back to us. Not only that, if we go this way, we’ll be going off course of the path we’re supposed to be taking. And it doesn’t show any paths in this part of the Everfree when we looked at Twilight’s map.”

“Add insult to injury, we can’t even see the sky from up here!” Rarity added grimly, pointing to the trees in front of them. “These trees are so big that they’re even covering up the sky! For goodness sake we can barely even see any light coming from here, and that’s only a little bit of light.”

“Yeah, we don’t really have much options here Dashie.” Pinkie frowned as she tugged at her battle vest. “It’s either wait here for Zephie to finish his party with that giant birdie or go back and join in that part and help him finish it.”

Rainbow shot Pinkie a deadpan look. “Wasn’t that what I suggested like, fifteen minutes ago?”

“Yes, but Zephyr gave us a direct order to leave him be with the Shinomōkin.” Goku stated firmly, giving Rainbow a warning glare. “Unless it’s absolutely necessary, we’re just going to have to let him handle this on his own. He didn’t become third on command of the Solar Royal Guard just by dillydallying each and every day; Zephyr knows how to fight and fight hard.”

“Exaclty, no way is Zephyr going to go down without a good well-done fight.” Twilight nodded, looking back in the direction they were running from. ‘No way in Tartarus.’

“Well, guess we’ll just have t’ wait it out until Zephyr makes it back.” Applejack murmured, leaning down against one of the trees. “Ah do hope he finishes quick though, Ah don’t wanna have Apple Bloom an’ th’ girls wait fer us any longer than we have to.”

“I’m sure you don’t need to worry Applejack.” Fluttershy said gently. “Zephyr knows what’s at stake, just like the rest of us. He wouldn’t let the deadliest raptor in all of the face of Equis hold him back from helping us on a mission like this.”

“He’d better not.” Rainbow growled as she crossed her forelegs tightly. “Or I’ll I will seriously be leaving his shielded ass behind.”

Goku’s tail lashed out and struck the cyan mare on her flank. “I heard that.”

“Well, guess we’ll just have to stay here until Zephyr’s party is over and done with!” Pinkie chirped, hopping over and sitting next to where Rainbow was. She crossed her hindlegs together, tucking both forelegs in as her tail wagged about like a puppy. “Oh boy, I was not expecting for something like that to happen! One minute we were just hopping along the forest and then bam, that giant bird came out of nowhere quicker than one of my cannon blasts! It thought that I was gonna turn my brightest shade of purple yet!”

“Me neither…that bird gave me quite the fright I must admit.” Rarity nodded, rubbing tentatively at her chest. “For a moment, it felt like I was going to jump out of my own coat and become even whiter than I am now!” She rubbed at her mane and tail skirt in an effort to keep them in shape, however futile it was. “Not that I don’t like my white fur, but I’d rather not look like a ghost on Nightmare Night.”

“Ah can tell ya right now, I nearly had my titan tattoo scared off of me.” Applejack huffed, crossing one leg over the other. “Never in mah life have Ah ever seen a bird that big in mah life…Ah don’t think anypony ever has either. Given that they don’t venture into a story like this…not unless they have a death wish.”

“I’m really surprised, with animals as powerful as that, nopony would want to go anywhere near them.” Twilight murmured; her saddlebags set beside her as she looked at her map. “Then again, they have been known to venture out of the forest into Ponyville. There haven’t really been any reports of them going anywhere else besides there.”

Fluttershy frowned, her eyes setting on Twilight after that sentence was said. “That’s…not entirely true Twilight. Ponyville isn’t the only the only places that the animals here are said to have gone to…from what I’ve heard at least.”

All eyes, minus Goku’s, turned to her, each of them laced with confusion.

“What do you mean Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked, blinking in confusion. “Are you saying that more of those giant birds were seen in other parts of Equestria?”

“Not just the Shinomōkin Rainbow, but other animals just like the ones here; the one we just encountered is a prime example.” Fluttershy replied, her hooves running along her mane. “Over the centuries, there have been alleged sightings of gigantic predatory birds in various parts of Equestria that rule their skies where they inhabit. From the Forbidden Jungle, to the Diamond Dog Territory, to Redwood Range, Zebrabwe, Kirin, Halflinger and Sugar Maple Grove, and the Undiscovered West. There were even reports of said birds attacking the civilians in places where raptors can adapt and thrive, seein the ponies as a natural food source.”

“Hold on now, that don’t make no sense.” Applejack said, sitting up from the tree she was sitting on. “How can there be critters o’ this here forest in other parts of Equestria? Ah thought that ones like th’ one that nearly electrocuted us could only be found in th’ Everfree Forest?”

“Animals that can adapt don’t just live or even stay in one place Applejack. They can thrive in other places other than the ones they originated from.” Goku explained, licking at her dirtied fur. “It would definitely explain why ponies would report and even spread rumors about unusual creatures prowling in living in areas similar to that of the Everfree.”

“It honestly would, and it does. At least from all that I’ve heard in the places where ponies said they saw unnatural and supernatural creatures.” Twilight nodded, lowering her map. “There were also reports of said animals roaming out of the safety of their homes and prowling on civilian grounds searching for good. The most recent one was just over seven years ago in Dodge City on July 25^th. A ten-year-old earth pony colt had reported that he had been grabbed by his tail and carried more than forty feet in the air in the enormous claws of an eagle-like bird.”

Rarity gasped in horror. “A ten-year-old earth pony colt?! My word, how in the world did that happen?! Better yet, how did the poor dear even get in a situation like that?!”

“I’m not too sure on the details…all I can say is that the poor baby was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Fluttershy sighed sadly, shaking her head. “He wasn’t even anywhere near the Everfree Forest at the time, so my theory is that the raptor that got him was starving and couldn’t catch food on his own but was stopped at the last second. Thankfully, by some unknown means, he was rescued, and returned safely back to his family shortly after he was attacked.” She looked up into the treetops as another thought came to her. ‘Either that, or one of the thestrals from one of the villages’ guilds here ended up saving that colt just in time before he was taken. Dodge City is south of the Everfree, and the closet village in this forest is Crystal Caverns, so a few bat ponies there may have went to the city when this incident happened.’

“Well thank Faust for that.” Rainbow said, shivering a little bit. “I can’t imagine how scared that little guy was when that happened. He had to have been pissing himself before that overgrown chicken tried to take him.” She chuckled as she smirked. “Of course, I would’ve given it a new one if it even thought of trying to mess with me!”

Pinkie giggled, beating at her straw hat with a hood. “We know you would Dashie! You probably even would’ve shot it into the sky with one of your Sonic Rainbooms!”

“Yep, that too!” Rainbow laughed. “Nopony messes with the Rainbow Dash and lives to tell the tale!”

“Only you would want to go against a giant pony-eating bird, Dash.” Goku sighed, throwing one hindleg over the other. “Only you.”

“Dash’s egotistical bragging aside, is that really true Fluttershy?” Rarity asked, her brows creased together in concern. “Have there really be incidents of horrid beasts like that bird appearing in places where it is mainly filled with…erm, nature?”

“Well, like I said, I’ve only heard rumors of it happening, but it has become more and more frequent over the passing centuries.” Fluttershy said, frowning slightly at Rarity for her comment. “They haven’t just been happening in Ponyville either, and not just by creatures of the Everfree. And, let’s be honest, we have had creatures of this forest attack the town over the years, even before Goku came back here. Don’t you remember what happened with Spike four and a half years ago?”

Nearly everypony in the small circle of friends flinched violently as if they were all struck by venomous snakes. All of them, that is, with the understandable exception of Goku, who just looked on in confusion at Fluttershy. The rest of the girls of the incident she was talking about; one that took place six months after Twilight and Spike came to Ponyville. A giant bat winged bear had come into the town looking for food, said food being two young colts, who were out and about one night for reasons unknown. Spike, who was returning from Fluttershy’s cottage, immediately engaged the Battookuma in a violet and brutal battle to save the two younger colts from being eaten.

Though he was victorious in saving the foals, he did end up getting quite a few battle scars in the fight with the lumbering beast. Ones that he actually thought were rather cool, and made him look tough, as well has helping him be taken more seriously. The whereabouts of the foals, however, were not known, but worries ceased when Spike mentioned that they were thestral foals. Ones that looked to be anything but helpless, something Spike realized only too late before he fought the beast that was prowling after them.

“Oooooh, please do not remind me of that Fluttershy!” Twilight moaned dejectedly, cringing hard as unpleasant memories came to her. Her forehooves came to both sides of her head as she planted her forehead against her map, which was laying on the ground. “Please Fluttershy, don’t remind any of us of that night! I don’t want to remember seeing Spike bleeding and battered all over while being looked down upon by a giant bat-winged bear!”

“Yeah, me neither!” Pinkie gagged, her fur, mane and tail turning slightly green for a few seconds as she stuck her tongue out. “I’m glad that Spike saved us from being eaten, but don’t want to remember seeing any of that red frosting all over Spike! And not the good kind of red frosting!”

“It was not a pleasant sight for me to see either.” Rarity said, putting a hoof to her mouth as if she was trying not to gag. “Seeing my poor Spikey Wikey all torn up as if he was a ruined dress…oh, I had horrible nightmares about that for weeks!”

“Ah can’t say that Ah was there t’ see it unfortunately.” Applejack said softly, waving a hoof. “But Ah heard jus’ enough from Fluttershy t’ know that it was pretty bad. That became even more apparent when Ah saw Spike again when Ah saw him in the hospital. That pretty much tells me all that Ah need t’ know about that night.”

“Neither was I.” Rainbow sighed, adjusting her sword. “But I did see Spike’s scars, so I have an idea that whatever happened in town was…pretty bad.”

Twilight nodded. “It was…i-it…really was.”

“Wait a second, what are you guys talking about?” Goku asked as she held her hooves out. “What happened in Ponyville while I was away? And how does Spike have anything to do with it?”

Right at that moment, a loud explosion burst out from behind them, causing the seven mares to jump and spin around to see who it was. Their eyes widened when they saw a large pillar of smoke in front of them and large piles of rubble scattered about the ground. Before they could figure out what it meant, Zephyr suddenly burst form the smoke, stopping just a few feet away from the mares.

“Zephyr!” Twilight shouted, relief flowing over her at the sight of the royal blue stallion. “You made it back!”

“Yeah, I did, and not a moment too soon either.” Zephyr nodded, keeping his armored wings spread as he looked at each of the girls. “Did anything happen to you guys while I was gone?”

“Aside from nearly falling down a rocky slope and gettin’ gutted like pigs, nothin’ outta th’ ordinary.” Applejack replied bluntly, getting up as she adjusted her hat. “Ah take it ya took care o’ that oversized bird?”

“Yes, but I fear that it may only be for the time being.” Zephyr replied quickly, glancing back at him. “I managed to by myself sometime and escape before it could see me, but I’m pretty sure that it’s looking for me right now.”

“Wait what?!” Rainbow Dash reeled back. “What the hell are you talking about?! I thought you took care of it!”

“He did say that Dash. What he means is that the Shinomōkin may not be kept down for very long, so we need to make our escape as quickly as we can.” Fluttershy said quickly before Rainbow could let loose on Zephyr. “Remember, the animals here aren’t like the ones found anywhere else. So even if you manage to get them down for th count, they’ll eventually get back up again.”

“Exaclty, and besides, we can’t afford to any time to waste fighting them unless we really need to.” Goku added as she and the girls huddled around Zephyr. “With that being said, we should get out of here as soon as we can before we get showered by lighting…again.”

“Right so, we’re still sticking to the original plan?” Zephyr asked. “Going down the mountain by flight?”

“Yes, but we can’t do it here. Applejack and Rarity mentioned this part of the mountain having jagged rocks and bunched up trees, so we can’t go from here.” Twilight said, pointing behind her at the edge where she nearly fell. “We’ll have to go back the route we came instead.”

“Hopefully the Shinomōkin won’t be there waiting for us before that happens.” Goku snorted, shaking her head. “Alright, let’s get out of these clearing and back towards where we were before-”

An ear-splitting thunderclap cut off whatever the tan thestral was going to say, and a loud screeched prompted the girls to look around them. The denseness of the trees around them kept them from seeing the giant predatory bird, but its screeching let them know it was close. This, unfortunately, did not tell them just how close the Shinomōkin was, until Pinkie stated to shake, mainly her tail.

“Um, Pinkie…” Zephyr said slowly. “What’s wrong with your tail?”

“M-m-my Pinkie Sense…it’s my Pinkie Sense!” Pinkie replied with a slight stammer as her tail continued to shake. “My Pinkie Sense is going off in my tail!”

Everypony, minus Zephyr froze when they heard this, mainly the first three words. Somepony would think that a giant dragon was about to burn the girls alive, how scared they looked right now. They watched in silent terror as Pinkie’s tail began to shake more and more violently. Even as it began to raise as if she was presenting her readiness to mate.

“Y-your…t-t-tail is twitchin?” Applejack said quietly, biting her lower lip. “D-does that mean…?”

Pinkie’s head snapped up as she looked into the bunched-up trees above them, her body shaking slightly by the twitching of her tail. Looking back down at them with eyes wider than birthday cakes, she screamed, “EVERYPONY RUN!”

Everything became a bright flash of light as the sound of chirping thunder stabbed into the pony’s ears, the light blinding them temporarily. One moment they were standing in a tight nit circle, and the next, they were flying in a swirl of rocks, trees, and broken branches. The small clearing of giant trees they were in exploded in a shower of trees and debree as the girls sailed across the air, before tumbling across the ground. Some of them ended up landing on the destroyed trees, while others had the bark fall on them and cut them up. After a brief stretch of pain filled silence, they slowly regained their bearings and looked to the explosion’s culprit. True to their fears, they saw that it was the Shinomōkin, who was now hovering above them, glaring down at them in the pile of barn and destroyed earth. To add to their terror, the raptor was covered in a cloak of grey clouds and lightning, showing that it had gone into another form.

“Nevermind…” Pinkie whimpered, holding her straw hat close to her head. “He’s here…and he is mad.”

“What the hell Zephyr?!” Applejack shouted, snapping her head towards the stallion. “Ah thought you had got this damn varmint down long enough to escape!”

“That’s what I believed too! I had shot it all the way into the trees with one of my most powerful attacks! I literally saw him vanish and not come back” Zephyr explained, quickly. “I even saw him get blown away from me by my last attack in the process!”

“Well, it looks like it wasn’t enough.” Fluttershy said grimly. “If the Shinomōkin was able to withstand your strongest attacks, then it looks like it was stronger than you thought.”

“Understatement of the century.” Goku snorted, shaking her head. “We can talk about that later okay?! For now, let’s get the hell out of here!”

Zephyr and the girls the girls didn’t need to be told twice, having already started running and flying just before the Shinomōkin unleashed another attack. It shot a huge bolt of lightning form its mouth, striking the very same spot the ponies were just at. It was completely obliterated, sending large chunks of earth and scattered trees about the air. This time, none of the ponies got it, and by the time the attack ceased, they were already out of the clearing. A hiss from the Shinomōkin voice its frustration, and with a zap of lighting, it took off after its prey. Opening its beak, it shot off a multitude of lightning bolts at the eight ponies, determined to shoot at least one of them down from the sky. Zephyr, however, wasn’t about to give it any leverage, and countered the incoming attacks with ones of his own.

“Not so fast! Lightning Pegasus: Neigh!” Zephyr shouted, opening his mouth to shoot a massive stream of lighting of lightning. They all countered and stopped the Shinomōkin’s own breath attacks in midair, causing multiple explosions to ring out in the air.

“Holy shit!” Rainbow Dash shouted, her eyes widening at the attack form the raptor. “Did you guys see that?! Zephyr just completely destroyed that thing in the air!”

“Yeah Dash we sure did!” Applejack replied. “An’ Ah’m so glad that we got away from that varmint! If we stayed there fer even a second longer, our gooses would’ve been cooked!”

“Applejack!” Pinkie Pie shouted, her eyes widening. “I said not to call him names like that! Do you want him to slice you apart like a birthday cake?!”

“That was a really close call back there.” Twilight said. “Now all we have to do is try to figure out how to get away from that bird before it tries to electrocute us again!”

Zephyr’s eyes suddenly widened, before they narrowed in a look of determination. “It looks like we’re going to get that chance Twilight…look!”

Following the line of Zephyr’s hoof, they saw that they were heading right towards edge that they had walked out of. Even form the distance they were, they could see the vastness of the forest, letting them know just how much of a drop it’d be. Realizing what they needed to do, they immediately put Goku’s plan into motion. The thestral didn’t even need to say anything as the ones who couldn’t fly chose their partners. Twilight went Zephyr, Rarity took Fluttershy, Pinkie practically leapt onto Dash, and Applejack rode on Goku. As soon as they were secure, they were only a few bodies length away from the edge, the Shinomōkin hot on their hooves.

“JUMP!” Zephyr screamed, having already taken to the air just before finishing that order. The girls soon followed suit, just as the Shinomōkin struck at them for the third time. As the debree and smoke cleared, it looked down and saw the group diving towards the woods, and it wasted no time going after them.

The rush of wind and the screeching of the giant raptor behind them was the only thing that the ponies could hear as the feel through the air. Fluttershy, Goku, Rainbow Dash and Zephyr flapped their majestic wings hard to put distance between themselves and their attacker. This proved to be a futile effort as the Shinomōkin slowly began to put distance between them as it closed the gap, ready to unleash the killing blow. Lighting stabbed at the air and thunder tore through it as the bird of prey drew ever closer to the ponies. When it was finally within range, it slowly inched its claws forward towards Fluttershy, who was carrying Rarity on her back, ready to pluck them out of the air.

“FLUTTERSHY, WATCH OUT!” Rarity screeched, but Fluttershy was already moving out of the way before the warning got out. They winced as they heard the clashing of the talons that were inches away from plucking them, and they went back to the safety of the group.

“This isn’t good you guys!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “We need to find some way to shake this guy before he gets us all! Anypony got any ideas?!”

“My smoothie cup is just about empty Dashie!” Pinkie cried, knocking at her head. “I am having way too much fun diving to think of anything that’ll help us!”

Rarity shot Pinkie a scathing look, a tick mark forming in his head. “How is this in anyway FUN?!”

“I…I-I can’t think of anything either!” Twilight cried desperately as she clung desperately to Zephyr. “I don’t know what we can do to escape! I feel like we’ll get zapped no matter what we try to do!”

“I think I can!” Zephyr said, holding Twilight’s hooves in his own. “We’re nearing the forest, so I’m thinking we can go to the safety of the trees and split up! If we go fast enough, we can try to lose him, and maybe even find some way around him and meet back up again!”

“Are you sure that’s gonna work?!” Applejack shouted nervously. “It managed to find us even while ya had it at bay! How can ya be so sure that this time it’ll work?!”

“I don’t know, but at this point, it’s the only thing I can think of right now!” Zephyr replied. “If that doesn’t work, then I guess we’ll have no choice but to engage it until it gives up, and I don’t think that’ll happen quickly!”

“Well, in that case…” Rainbow Dash said as she grabbed at her sword. “Let me give us a bit of a head start!”

Before anypony could stop her, the cyan mare whirled around, Pinkie still on her back, and unleashed a wave of azure blue energy at the Shinomōkin. It sliced it in its stomach as it spread its wings to try to dodge the attack, and screeched in pain as it hit. It caused the raptor to slow down in hits flight, allowing the ponies to gain some speed and increase the distance. After a few more minutes of silent and frantic flying, the group felt relaxed enough to continue conversing.

“Dash, was that the best idea?!” Twilight asked. “Not to sound unappreciative about the assistance but will that really manage to slow the Shinomōkin down?!”

“Don’t really know, and I don’t really care!” Dash replied uncaringly. “Anything that can get us away from that overgrown chicken is good enough for me!”

Pinkie frowned, lightly bonking Dash on the head. “First Applejack and now you Dashie?! Are you really wanting to get electrocuted that badly?!”

“No, I’m trying to save our asses here!” Rainbow shouted. “As much as I wanna show these guys how much of a badass I am, want to find Nightmare Moon even more! I have something very special for her in store, and the sooner I get to her, the sooner I’ll be able to show it to her!”

“Um, you’re talking about your sword…aren’t you Dash?” Fluttershy asked, already knowing the answer.

“Well duh! What did you think I was talking about?!” Rainbow Dash, gesturing to the appendage that she now strapped back onto her. “This baby of mine is something that can only be used by ones that really deserve it! There’s no way in hell I’m gonna let some stupid bird rob me of that!”

Just as this was said, Rarity suddenly spoke up. “Um…I think you may have spoken to soon Dash…”

“Uh, whaddya mean Rarity?” Applejack asked, one of her eyebrows raised.

“She means THAT!” Zephyr replied, his leveled voice ending in a shout that made the mares turned to look at him. They saw him pointing upward, and when they all looked up, they felt their jaws drop upon seeing the Shinomōkin above them. Its entire grey clouded body was twice it original size, flashes of white lighting appearing out of them. It covered every part of its body, from its beak, to its head, its wings, legs, all the way to its tail feathers, leaving no trace untouched. As a final touch, two orbs of pure yellow replaced its eyes, and grew almost twice as big as it was before. Despite its deathly frightening looking appearance, the group could see large droplets of blood falling from it and down on them like rain.

“Holy shit, it’s fucking huge!” Rainbow shouted; her eyes wide. “It’s even bigger than it was just a few minutes ago!”

“W-what is it doing now?!” Goku cried, her bat ears pinning back. “Is it gonna try and zap us out of the sky?!”

“I have no idea Goku!” Pinkie replied. “It looks like it’s turning itself into a giant bird shaped storm cloud! I could be wrong, but it looks like that’s what it’s doing!”

“No Pinkie! That’s exactly what it’s doing!” Fluttershy clarified, her expression one of panic. “And it’s about to send a rain of lightning down on us!”

“It’s going to WHAT?!” Twilight yelled, her eyes widening in horror.

The roaring of thunder brought the eight ponies’ attention back up to Shinomōkin hovering above them, lighting dancing all about its body. With a loud screech, it unleashed its shower of lightning upon its quarry, all of them giving loud ear-splitting cracks as they appeared. The girls screamed as they frantically began to dodge and evade the bird’s attack, watching as the smaller trees were destroyed in the process.

“What the fuck is going on with this bird?!” Rainbow Dash shouted angrily. “I mean, I know that this is the Everfree forest and all but come on! I wasn’t expecting any of this!”

“I have no idea Dashie, but this is just amazing!” Pinkie Pie squealed. “I mean, did you see the way how that bird struck the slope like that and how strong its attack was?! It’s even trying to strike us down without even trying to touch us itself! How cool is that?!”

“Pinkie Pie, I can hardly see anything ‘cool’ about any of this right now?!” Rarity snapped harshly. “Can you not see the situation that we are currently in right now?! We are being chased by a bird of prey trying to strike us down as if it was the weather itself! Tell me, just what is ‘cool’, about something like that?!” The alabaster Unicorn used her magic to grab at her mane and tail and pull them closely to her. “Not only that, but there’s also the potential risk that my beautiful mane and tail skirt will get absolutely ruined! There is simply not a greater tragedy than that!”

“That’s what you’re more worried about?!” Rainbow Dash shouted incredulously. “You’re a hair’s breadth away from being turned into turkey, and you’re more worried about your damn hair getting dirty?! Are you fucking kidding me right now?!”

“Well of course I am!” Rarity replied sharply with a snort, giving the cyan mare a frown. “A lady must always make herself look presentable, even in the face of danger! Something that you wouldn’t know anything about, Rainbow Dash, humph!”

“That is a load of bull-”

“Girls, that’s enough!” Fluttershy shouted, her voice surprisingly loud of the rumbling. “We don’t have time to argue about this right now! We need to find a way to get away from this Shinomōkin before it-!”

The sound of lightning cracking cut Fluttershy off, and she looked behind her to see a large pure yellow bolt of lightning zooming down towards her. Her friends all screamed her name, but they were just too far away from her to move her out of the way and could only watched as the bolt soared right at her. Just before it struck, Zephyr who had bucked Twilight off of him and threw her to Goku, appeared out of nowhere. The stallion knocked Fluttershy and Rarity out of the way just in the nick of time, taking the full brunt of the attack himself.

“ZEPHYR!” Twilight screamed, her expression one of utter horror as she watched the stallion get electrocuted. His agonized screams echoing about the sky as the Shinomōkin’s lightning ripped at his body from the inside out. The sound of an explosion rang through the air mere seconds later, and Zephyr fell out of the sky, a large mouthful of blood flowing from his mouth.

“Hold on sweetie, we’re coming!” Goku shouted, flapping her bat wings hard as she ascended towards the falling stallion. She held Twilight close to her, her tail wrapping around her saddlebags as the unicorn grabbed her tightly around her neck along with Applejack. The others followed closely behind her, with the giant raptor diving down after them, still in its stormy cloak of lightning.

“Hold on Goku, I got him!” Fluttershy shouted, diving down ahead of the group. She tucked her angelic wings on either side of her after giving them a powerful flap, allowing her to dive down at a faster speed. When she got within range, she shot her hooves out and grabbed Zephyr around his barrel, wrapping her forelegs around him. She then spread her wings, allowing the air to carry her back up and join the others in flight once more, even the extra weight.

“Alright, way to go Fluttershy!” Pinkie praised jovially. “Good on you for saving Zephyr from getting skewered!”

“Yes, but we’re not out of danger yet dear!” Rarity said, pointing behind her. “We still have our adversary chasing after us! And it doesn’t look like he’s going to be letting up anytime soon!”

“Well, it looks like we’re going to have to make him go away!” Rainbow Dash shouted, her eyes glowing as a magenta body began to appear around her body. “Don’t worry you guys, I’m going to take care of this!”

“No Dash!” Twilight shouted, using her magic to stop the mare in midair. “Didn’t you just see what happened to Zephyr?! He just nearly got murdered by that Shinomōkin just a few seconds ago thanks to your stunt! I’m not going to let you do the same thing and get yourself killed! This is not the time to go playing the hero!”

“Well then, whaddya suppose we do Twilight?!” Applejack asked. “All we’ve been doin’ is flyin’ away from this varmint, an’ it’s not really workin’ fer us! All we’re doin’ is makin’ ourselves targets fer him an’ that fancy lightnin’ o’ his, an’ it doesn’t look like he’s goin’ t’ give up so easily!”

“Then we’re going to have to make him give up!” Goku declared, her eyes narrowing as they approached a large grove of trees. “Come on guys, follow me!”

With a strong flap, the tan thestral shot right into the trees, the others flying close behind her with Fluttershy carrying their motionless guard. Their ears, Zephyr’s included, picked up the sounds of screeching and lightning striking trees and branches cracking and falling, and the strong flapping of wings. None of them needed to look to know that the Shinomōkin was still behind them, and they knew they needed to lose it, or else they’d be fried.

“Goku, I hate to sound rude, just what are you thinking?!” Rarity asked. “What’re you trying to accomplish by entering the forest?!”

“What do you think I’m doing?!” Goku asked, looking over at the fashionista. “I’m trying to gain enough distance from this bird so we can hide somewhere in the trees and shrub without him seeing us do it!”

“Are you sure that’s going to work?” Rainbow Dash asked, obviously in doubt. “That bird’s flying through this forest pretty fast, and he’s literally destroying the trees just by flying into them. I don’t think hiding in the trees is going to help anything.”

“Not unless we hide in a tree grove that he’s not trying to destroy.” Fluttershy said, looking over at the cyan mare. “The Shinomōkin has the most excellent vision of any raptor, but it’s only able to detect things that are in a clear view. If things like rocks and trees are blocking its view, then it’ll be very hard for them to keep track of their quarry. So Goku made the right choice choosing the trees as a means of trying to escape, even if the Shinomōkin is, um, destroying them.”

“Exactly, which is why I had chosen to do this in the first place.” Goku nodded, smiling thankfully at Fluttershy. “Plus, at this point, I really don’t have any other options other than to fight this bird, which would more than likely be suicide for us. Especially with the incredibly big task that we have right now.”

“Goku’s right everypony.” Twilight nodded. “It’s best for us not to even try to contemplate fighting the Shinomōkin, no matter the chances that we have for winning. We should just continue to try to fly it until we find a chance to lose it.”

“Good idea Twilight!” Pinkie Pie nodded. “Let’s just keep our eyes on the pri-WATCH OUT!”

Everypony whipped their heads back just in time to see a huge bolt of lightning shoot down towards them, the size being big enough to electrocute all of them at once. They were just barely able to evade the attack as it slammed into the trees and the ground below them, sending branches and chunks of dirt everywhere.

“Okay,” Applejack said, a slight tinge of annoyance in her voice. “Ah am really startin’ t’ get annoyed by that now! How long do we have to keep goin’ ahead o’ this thing?!”

“Not for much longer!” Rainbow Dash shouted; her eyes squinted. “I think I can see a clearing from up ahead of here!”

“Yeah, me too!” Goku nodded, her cat-like eyes seeing farther ahead. “And we’re almost there! Just hold on for a little a bit longer, girls! We’ll be home free soon!”

No other words were said after that; the only thing that the seven mares were focused on were getting away from the giant lightning and cloud coated raptor chasing them. Goku, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash’s riders held on tightly to them as the three flyers flew as fast as they could, with the tan thestral pulling ahead. The Shinomōkin’s chirping lighting and loud screeching still bounced about their ears as it kept up the chase, even as the ponies got father away. After what seemed like miles of flying, they broke out of the trees, finding themselves in a large clearing with a huge streaming river.

“We finally made it!” Rarity exclaimed, breathing out a huge sigh. “We escaped that retched creature!”

“Not yet Rarity, we’re not out of the woods yet.” Twilight cautioned. “We may be out of the sight of the Shinomōkin, but, we still need to find someplace to hide before it comes out.”

“Alright then, so where you do suggest that we go?” Rainbow Dash asked. “There aren’t any places here in this clearing, and like Fluttershy said, because of that we’ll be spotted pretty easily. I think we should try to go for those trees on the other side of this river.”

“That was pretty much my idea from the start, but thanks for the reminder Dash.” Goku said, looking at the cyan mare with slight annoyance. “Plus, we’ll also need to find someplace to let Zephyr get some rest too. He took a real hit when he saved Fluttershy from being zapped. We’ll need to make sure nothing happens to him while he’s recovering, otherwise he won’t be able to continue on with us.”

Fluttershy looked like she was about to say something, but an explosion of lightning and trees prevented her from doing so. They only had time to see the Shinomōkin diving towards them at break-neck speed, and scream at the sight, before the giant bird attacked. White hot pain tore through their bodies as the giant raptor swept them all in a world of grey as it electrocuted all of them on the spot, Zephyr included. Their pain filled screams rang through the air as they were carried through the air over the river. The Shinomōkin soared over it as it continued to mercilessly strike the mares trapped within its transformation.

All of a sudden, a pain filled screech escaped its mouth as a huge bolt of Golden lightning tore from out of its back and under its stomach. It halted its flight back into the forest as more bolts of lightning shot out of its body, emitting even more agonized cries. It flapped around wildly, trying to shake whatever had gotten in or onto it and get rid of the source of lightning that wasn’t its own, but to no avail. With one final burst of lightning, a massive whole opened up inside the transformed bird, and the eight ponies suddenly fell out.

The one stallion and six mares only had time to open their eyes and see the retreating giant bird that they were slowly getting father away from. One of the last images they saw was of the figure of a tan bat winged pony diving towards them as they fell. Then, in an instant, there was a mighty splash as they all hit the ice cold flowing river below them, before everything went dark.

Okay, I have to admit, I felt that I had kind of rushed this chapter a bit the last time that I had written it, and I that I should add a least bit more detail and conversing between Zephyr and the mares before I made things really get bad. All and all, I had decided that to somewhat keep the chapter as it was last time in some parts, while adding some different parts in this newly versioned chapter that I managed to get by pretty quickly against all of my expectations. That, and I also decided to at least some bit of history about at least one of the animals in either in the Everfree, or in various wildernesses like the Everfree Forest, and get the girls point of view on it. Aside form those parts, and the little rest break they had, The ending of the chapter is kind of how it was made last time, with some slight chances. The chapter I have coming after the next one will also be kept mostly the same, since I don't really see anything that needs changing, but the one I will have after this one will certainly be changed in some parts. It may be bit longer than this one, but I'll try not to take too long with it, since not all of the chapters will have to go through whole rewrites.

Next time: Sheton and the fillies attempt to think of an escape, only to witness the rise of an army that is the very definition of darkness...and Nightmare Moon prepares to send a little gift to Ponyville.