Zephyr was the one to make the first move.

With a powerful stomp, the royal blue stallion conjured his magical energy, the aura around his body glowing and swirling like a garnet tornado. He flew straight at the giant Doragontora and struck it right in its face, before delivering a reign of punches on the feline. With another kick, Zephyr sent the cat spiraling into the air, watching as it slammed into a tree, bark flying like confetti. Before it could even try to recover, Zephyr coated himself in blazing golden flames before attacking once more.

“Fire Pegasus: Flaming Vortex!” He shouted, blasting a large flickering stream of flames up at the Doragontora. It enveloped the cat in a sea of yellow, emitting a painfilled roar from it as it flew out of the flames and fired off its own attack. It fired off large, yet fast bolts of fire down at Zephyr, who flew about the campsite and managed dodge them even in his injured state. The last one hit just inches away from his face, before he once again leapt into the air and ascended towards the Doragontora.

The Doragontora wasn’t having any of this and flew down towards the Shenron, its draconic claws extended in preparation. When it was within range, it swung them at Zephyr, trying to go for the vital areas, like the neck and his barrel. Luckily for Zephyr, his armor managed to protect his barrel and most areas of his neck, keeping him from bleeding. Despite knowing this, Zephyr kept evading the swipes, knowing that just one hit would’ve torn his armor apart in places where his body needed most protection. The stallion’s own hooves turned into claws, to which he used to return the attacks towards the Doragontora. He managed to get a swipe to the cat’s face, before one of its wings slammed right into his chest, the wing claw piercing into the armor. Zephyr grunted but didn’t feel much damage given to him from the blow and felt safe. A hind hoof collided with the Doragontora’s side, allowing Zephyr to grab its wing and toss it even higher for an opening.

“Fire Pegasus: Fire Bullet!” Zephyr yelled, shooting both of his forehooves out and shooting multiple bolts of fire. The draconic feline soared around the campsite, evading the attack, before descending towards Zephyr, claws once at the ready. It delivered agile swipes at Zephyr, and he was able to avoid most of them, but one of them manage go get him in his barrel, causing him to falter. The Doragontora, seeing its chance, spun around and slammed its tail club into Zephyr, sending him flying away and crashing into another tree. Wasting no time, the cat moved in for the kill, but Zephyr recovered quicker than it thought.

“Fire Pegasus: Scorching Neigh!” He shouted, drawing in a breath and sending a large wave of flames at the Doragontora. It didn’t have enough time to evade the attack and found itself in a stream of orange. It didn’t need to though, for it used its draconic wings as a shield against the flames, before dispersing them, despite having scales. A look of horrified realization came to Zephyr’s face, and he had to keep himself from facehoofing.

‘Of course! If I had thought about it, I would’ve realized it sooner!’ He though, flying into the air to avoid the Doragontora nailing him to the tree. ‘I’m not just dealing with any big cat; I’m dealing with one that’s half dragon here! They are practically immune to fire unless its added to cause even more devastation! I need to start using my head and not just attacking with what I think it’s the most dangerous tactic to use!’

With that thought in mind, Zephyr roared and dived down towards the draconic cat, sinking is claws deep into its back. The cat roared out in agony as the claws dug into its furry scaled back and downward, leaving deep slashes. As the cat turned around to claw at Zephyr, he gave an axe kick to its face, causing it to spin. The giant, yet agile Doragontora quickly recovered and once again resorted to its spiked tail club. Learning from last time, Zephyr reeled back and grabbed it a second after it passed him. He then began to spin the cat around in the air, harder and harder, creating swirling wind in the process. With a final whinny, he let the cat fly into the bushes, before letting a blast of fire follow it, burning the leaves and branches.

“Alright, no we’re starting to get somewhere.” Zephyr said to himself as he ruffled his wings. “I guess the only way I can really match that cat’s strength is if I match it the same way.”

A wet cough drew Zephyr’s attention, causing him to look back to see the girls grouped among one another. Racing over, he saw Rainbow Dash being held from behind by a concerned looking Fluttershy, who’s face was contorted with fear. The rest of her friends’ expressions mirrored the other mares, and when Zephyr looked down, he found himself feeling his guts twisting inside of his stomach.

“R-Rainbow…” He forced the word out, like he was trying to speak with a mouthful of somepony’s hoof jammed into his mouth. “W-what did the Doragontora do to you?”

Rainbow coughed again, her blood adding to the smudge on the vicious slash running down from her chest to her stomach. “T-that damn furball nearly gutted me! His claws dug into me like I was nothing but cheese and left me with this!”

“Not to sound like an ass or anything, but what did you expect?!” Goku asked, resisting the urge to bonk the injured mare on her head. “We’re not just dealing with some ordinary tiger here Rainbow! We are dealing with one who is half dragon! Did you really think you charging head on was going to help! I seriously wish you would use your head in times like this!”

“Y-yeah, well I didn’t see any of you guys stopping me!” Rainbow snapped, immediately regretting it as a stab of pain washed over her. “Ow…sweet fuck this hurts!”

“Oh Dashie, you poor thing~…” Pinkie cooed worriedly, a shaky frown on her pink muzzle. “That slash looks really nasty! You have a lot of your frosting leaking out of you too, and not the good kind of frosting either! How are we gonna close a slice that big?!”

“Not to worry Pinkie Pie dear.” Rarity said, trying to keep herself from freaking out. “Fluttershy has her healing magic to help Dash, so she still has a chance.”

“You’re right, Fluttershy should be able to heal him with her magic.” Twilight looked up at the buttermilk mare expectantly. “Y-you can do that, right Fluttershy?”

“Of course I can, Twilight. It’s alright I have this under control.” Fluttershy nodded, gently setting Rainbow Dash down on the ground. “I’ll need to do it quickly and I’ll need the rest of you to give me some space. My magic won’t be able to work if I have you all crowded around me, so I’ll need you all to back away.”

“Don’t need t’ tell us twice sugarcube.” Applejack replied, grabbing Rarity by her tail and pulling her away. “Y’all her the girl, let’s give her a birth wide enough for her t’ work in.”

“Oh, Applejack, watch my tail!” Rarity snapped, pulling her tail away from the farmer. “You didn’t need to pull it you know! I was about to back away!”

“How long is it going to take for you to close the wound Fluttershy?” Zephyr asked, not noticing the ominous figure slowly creeping up on them from behind. “Not to sound like I’m rushing you or anything, we’re kind of pressed for time.”

“Well, judging by the size of this injury…” Fluttershy said as she examined Rainbow. “…it’d say it’ll take at least twenty minutes. Though, judging by how quick it’ll take for you to beat the Doragontora it may take less than that.”

“Wait, what?” Zephyr asked, Fluttershy’s words giving him a pause. “What does that mean?”

At that very second Twilight’s scream blasted through the clearing like magic hitting a target cutout. “Behind you!”

Zephyr was already turning around as the Doragontora’s roar burst into his ears, and he watched as the cat sailed through the air. As he prepared to land on Zephyr, Twilight’s horn fired off a blast of pink plasma, right into the cat’s face. Instinctively, the cat’s wings flared out, and they were used to pull the cat away from the unicorn as its face scrunched up. It snarled hideously at Twilight, fangs and eyes gleaming with murderous intent as it violently flapped its wings. It roared and flew at the mare, only for Zephyr to slam into it from the side as they tumbled across the ground.

“Like hell I’m gonna let you eat my friend!” He shouted as he pinned the cat down beneath him, grabbing at the claw shooting for his throat. “You’ll have to get passed this drake if you wanna do that!”

Another paw to the face was the response the Doragontora gave to Zephyr as its claws dug into his face. Red filled Zephyr’s vision as he was sent flying off of the cat and rolling across the ground of the clearing. Despite the agonizing pain his face was in, he managed to pull himself to his hooves and leap away, narrowly missing the Doragontora’s pounce. Flapping his wings, he flew into a tree, to which the Doragontora followed as the beast viciously swiped at the branches protecting the stallion.

Zephyr smirked at the feline. “You just made yourself a target here!”

With glowing orange eyes, the stallion blasted the Doragontora right into its face, making the cat lose its grip on the tree he was on. As it fell, Zephyr flew down and delivered a powerful buck to its unprotected stomach, which not covered in scales. With a graceful spin, he slammed one of his hindlegs into the side of the Doragontora’s face, knocking some of its teeth out and sending it off like a spiraling missile. It crashed into one of the smaller trees with so much force that it gave way, and it feel onto the feline with a sickening crunch.

“Oh crap…” Zephyr winced taking a step back. “I may have overdone it a bit.”

“A bit?!” Goku cried from behind him. “You made a giant tree fall on top of the poor thing. I’d say that’s a lot more than, a bit, wouldn’t you say?!”

“Don’t make me come over there and burn your ass Goku!” Zephyr shouted, jabbing a claw at the tan thestral. “’Cause you’re seriously making me consider it!”

“I think you’re the one who needs to worry ‘bout gettin’ burnt hon’.” Applejack said, patting at her fire boots. “’Cause it looks like our lil’ critter friend here is ‘bout t’ make a comeback in a sec.”

Zephyr flinched and had to hold back a filly-like cry when he heard the tree explode behind him, and he slowly turned around to see the Doragontora on its feet. Its garnet and yellow eyes poked through the smoke like nails through wood, stabbing into Zephyr’s orange orbs as its tail whipped back and forth behind it.

“Well…that was unexpected…although I probably should’ve expected it.” Zephyr sighed, giving a little headshake. “So. what’re you gonna do next? Try to burn me to a crisp like Applejack said?”

As if to answer no, the Doragontora slowly flared its giant wings as a chirping sound suddenly filled the air, putting Zephyr on edge. To his shock and horror, golden lighting burst out from the Doragontora as if it was struck by a bolt of thunder. He watched as bolts of lightning flew and struck around the clearing, creating damage not matching their size.

‘What the hell?! He’s able to use lightning too?!’ Zephyr thought as he backed away a few more steps. ‘I thought it was only able to use fire!’

Zephyr’s moment of shock allowed the Doragontora to attack, and it shot a blast of lightning at the stallion, connecting square in his chest. For a few moments, all Zephyr felt was agony, the lighting stabbing into his skin and muscle as if he was stabbed by a thousand needles. Then, a bright blue glow appeared from around his chest armor, before the lighting vanished, letting him crash to the ground.

“W-what the…what was that light…?” Zephyr’s self-questioning died out when he looked down at his armor. His eyes widened upon seeing the teal orb within the center glowing, before it went back down to its normal gleam. “Oh right…my armor. It was…”

“Watch out Zephyr!” Came Fluttershy’s urgent shout from behind the stallion. “Fire isn’t the only thing that the Doragontora can use at its disposal! It can also use other elements of nature like wind and lightning, especially since the last two are connected to the sky! If one of the elements its using doesn’t work on its adversary, then it can just resort to the other two, or maybe even us all three at once!”

“You tell me this now?! I didn’t hear you mentioning this before this big guy tried to eat us!” Zephyr shouted back, not looking at the mare as he stood back up. “Still, it’s not like I knew exactly what kind of abilities he had. I mean, it’s not like I really had much of a chance to see what every single animal here was capable of anyway.”

In truth, he didn’t get to see or feel much of most of what the Everfree animals had as a power, or what their strengths and weaknesses were. The only opportunities that he had for something like that was when Queen Celestia sent him on missions that involved him going in the forest. Other than the occasional missing pony case, he hardly had any missions like the one he was on now. It left the stallion with more and more questions about the forest each time he ventured out of it in one piece. Questions that had yet to be answered, both about the forest, its creatures, and the equines that seemed to manage making a living in it, let alone a village. He doubted that he’d have them all answered, if any would be answered at all. It was still an appealing thought, one that he knew would only grow every time he set foot in the land that he considered a haven for ponies like him.

Another bolt of lightning from the Doragontora struck the thoughts right out of Zephyr’s mind and he used one of his wings to deflect the attack. As he deflected more, he quickly realized how wise he was to do that, for the girls were just feet away from him when he crashed. Had he moved out of the way instead, he would’ve made them an open target for the Doragon to get electrocuted, or maybe even ambushed. While he knew the cat wouldn’t have been able to get them all, Zephyr also knew that the most vulnerable ones of the group would have been targeted first.

“Dammit, this isn’t getting me anywhere!” Zephyr shouted after delivering a buck to the cat’s chest, driving his claws across it. “He just keeps coming and coming! Like he’s an actual dragon instead of half of one! I’m getting really tired of this shit!” He sent another blast of fire at the Doragontora as it was sent spiraling into the trees. “Alright, time to take this up a notch! If it’s going to switch tactics, then I guess I’ll just half to do the same!”

Closing his eyes, swirls of fire surrounded Zephyr, only this time it was accompanied by even brighter orange lightning. They swirled and mixed into one another like fruit in a blender as their roars and chirps filled Zephyr’s sensitive ears. He opened his eyes again to see the Doragontora leaping at him, and one of his hooves shot out, unleashing a stream of lighting and fire. The stallion had to keep himself from smirking when the cat was sent shooting back, making bark explode from the tree it crashed into. It fell to the ground in a convulsing mess of a few moments, before it pulled itself to its feet, glaring at a now smirking Zephyr.

“I’m sorry, were you expecting me to keep to the same tactic when you changed yours?” Zephyr asked, setting his hoof down as he planted both forehooves wide. “Sorry, but I’m going to change it up here! I hope you’ve had your fun playing with my fire, because you’re about to feel the thunder!”

The chilly wind echoed about in Violet Fire’s ears as she and the rest of her team flew through the Everfree Forest, her wings giving no sound as she flapped them. Her inky black mane and tail flowed gracefully behind her. The violet tinge nestled in the middle giving off a beautiful glow in the light of the full moon. Her yellow goggles and roseray glinted in the light while her flight suit melted in the darkness of the giant trees that she and her team were flying through. Her sensitive ears took in the sounds of the animals roaming within the forest like a vacuum sucking up dust and dirt. The mare’s nose and magic taking in and taking in the different scents and wild untamed magic that the forest had within it. Behind her five teammates flew silently behind her, staying close to their captain as they ducked and swerved their way through the giant tree branches.

“How are you all holding up back there everypony?” Violet asked, swiveling her ears back to listen to her team. “Are all of you doing alright?”

“We’re doing just fine captain.” Storm Shadow said calmly, flying beside her sister. “We haven’t detected any strange activity around the forest yet, nor have we sensed the magic of the ponies that we’re supposed to be protecting.”

“Awww, that sucks! I was so wanting to fight some of these bad boys here in this forest!” Fast Tracks said dejectedly, sounding like a child upset over not getting something he wanted. “I wanted to be able to get some nice ass kicking in for when we pull that Nightmare out of Queen Luna!”

“Fast Tracks, we know how anxious you are to see our Lunar Queen again, but do you really think that’s a good idea?” Lighting Shadow asked somewhat dryly, rising a brow at the light brown stallion. “All of the animals here aren’t like the ones anywhere else here in Equestria. They’re on an entirely new level of capacity, and if we run into any of them, it may but us on a major delay.”

“Lightning Shadow is right, Fast Tracks.” Blue Skies said softly and somewhat bashfully. “W-we’ve already wasted enough time with me going to Wonderbolt HQ and sending a message to Spitfire about what was going on in P-Ponyville. I-if we end having to help you from getting eaten by any of the animals here, the ponies we’re searching for might have something terrible happen to them, a-and that’d be really bad.”

“It’d be a major hindrance on us and our travelers if we wasted time trying to satisfy your unquenchable thirst for battle.” Crimson Skies added, giving her second-in-command a knowing look. “It’d be an even bigger waste of time if you even think of trying to get under out tails at a time like this.”

“Hey! I do not try to get under your tails all the time and you know it Stormy!” Fast Tracks protested, frowning at the stormy grey mare. “Why the fuck do you all keep going on about that anyway?!”

“Because each and every time you do win a fight, you get very sexually stimulated and driven. It was just like how you were with me back at the guild.” Violet replied teasingly, winking at the stallion through her goggles. “Not that any of us mind but, it’d be a really bad time for all of us if that were to happen now, Fast.”

“Oh, come oooon girls!” Fast whined, pouting hard. “You all know what I can’t help myself when I become like that! That’s just how I am; why do you all hate me for that?! I’m a bucking thestral, and we’re all sexually active and driven practically all the time when we hit puberty! Especially after we’ve had a nice good fight that needs us releasing all of that pent-up shit, okay?!”

“Oh, you misunderstand us Fast Tracks. It’s not that we hate you for being so sexually driven like any other typical thestral. As a matter a fact, we think it’s kind of cute that you’re giving so much attention to the other mares and us.” Crimson said, smiling at the chocolate brown thestral. “It’s just, where we are now, and with what’s going on, I’m sure the last thing that we, or our new saviors need is to see you trying to fuck all of us into the ground, hmhmhm!”

“I-I…I…no, I’m not!” Fast said, stuttering a bit as his face heated up. “I’m not gonna try to screw you guys into the ground! We’re literally flying through a giant ass forest right now!”

“What Crimson means, is it’d be bad if you gave into your inner sexual urges and try to take one of us right here and now.” Violet explained patiently. “Not that I’m saying that you’d let that happen but…you can get what I’m saying, right?”

Fast rubbing the back of his head. “Yeah, I get what you’re telling me Captain V. Still, it feels like you guys are patronizing me for being so sexually attracted to you guys.”

“We’re sorry Fast Tracks, we didn’t mean anything cruel by what we were saying.” Blue said gently, flying over and rubbing Fast Track’s back. “All we’re saying that it may not be the best idea for you to break from the team and find any animals to fight.”

“True.” Storm nodded. “And, depending on the animal you’ll fight against, it will leave you so pent up and frustrated that just a single look towards us will lead to us being plowed until none of us can even fly.”

“Oh, for the love of fucking Faust, you guys are just…” Fast Tracks said, looking like he was going to snap at them. A second later, he deflated and just let out a sigh. “You are all real assholes, you know that?”

“Maybe we are, maybe we’re not, but that’s why you love us.” Lightning said sweetly. “Just like how we love you for being so fearless and energetic, you love us for being asses. As well as having cute puckered asses that you can drill until their nice and red~.”

Fast stared at Lightning for a moment or two, before he chucked, a fanged grin forming onto his face. “Alright, you got me there Lightning.”

Violet giggled at the antics of her teammates, unable to help but find it amusing how they were bickering with one another like siblings. It was always like this whenever she hung out with them and spent any time with them outside of training and missions. At least one of them would start something up that would go onto them playfully and mercilessly teasing one another, even if it didn’t sound like it. Of course, it would eventually switch with the others, and dissolve from an onslaught of raking and bullshitting. Which would then dissolve into them laughing about in the end and having a little meal. Either that, or it would escalate into full blown steamy beneficial rutting, with Fast Track being the main one to take the lead.

While it may not have been that way with other Ariel Flight Teams, it was now the Shadowbolts were. Especially since they were more laid back, and not like other military teams. Something that had only grown over the years since they were together and would undoubtedly grow even larger. As unusual as it was, Violet Fire had no regrets about joining the team or becoming a Shadowbolt, having enjoyed every second of it since the first day. And she knew she’d only enjoy it even more in the upcoming years, if they managed to survive could be their toughest mission yet.

The Shadowbolt Captain was so caught up in her thoughts, that she almost didn’t notice she was heading towards a tree branch. With a rather graceful amount of swiftness, she flew over the branch, before adjusting herself in the air.

“Oh my…a-are you alright there, Captain Violet Fire?” Blue asked, a bit taken aback by her Captain’s lack of focus. “You looked a bit zoned out there.”

“On, its nothing sweetie…just enjoying how much you’re all bickering.” The ebony black mare replied, smiling at the blush that appeared on Bright’s face. “It always makes me feel as if I’m at home back at HQ under Evergreen Galley. It’s helping me feel more at ease about this little mission that we’re on right now.”

“O-oh, it does? Well, I’m glad that we were able to lighten the stress of the situation off your shoulder’s Captain.” Blue said with a slight stutter. “It really makes me happy that you’re able to relax a bit in situations like this.”

“Hmhm, I’m glad to hear that honey. I never like it whenever any of you are under the weather for any reason.” Violet said gently. “It really does make me happy that you guys are able to keep yourselves from getting overly worried or stressed about any scenario like this.” Her smile then fell, replaced with an expression of motherly concern. “Be that as it may…I wanna know…are you okay?”

Blue Skies jumped as if somepony had unexpectedly poked her in her side. “Um…what do you mean Captain Violet?”

“I think you know just as well as I do Blue.” Violet replied matter of factly. “You’re worried about Sheton, aren’t you?”

The flinch the palomino mare gave was all that the ebony black mare needed for her suspicions to be confirmed. The rest of the latter’s teammates, all having her what their Captain had said, turned to look at Blue Skies, the chatter cutting short as they focused on her. The young Shadowbolt mare looked from her Captain, to Fast Tracks, Storm and Lightning Shadow, and back to Violet, who was looking silently back up at her. For a second, she considered just playing off her concerns as nothing, but the look in her Captain’s eyes told her that wouldn’t work, especially on her of all ponies. Blue struggled internally with herself for some time, before finally letting out a dejected and defeated sigh.

“No Captain Violet Fire…I’m not okay.” She finally said, her solemn tone pulling the rest of the team’s attention firmly to her like magnet on a fridge. “I am far from okay right now. I feel like I just wanna break down and cry my damn heart out!”

The rest of the team flinched at the intensity behind her saddened and grief-stricken tone but said nothing at first. They all had a sneaking suspicion as to what was bothering Blue, which would be the same thing that was bothering all of them.

“Do we even wanna know?” Storm asked knowingly.

“No…because I all know what we’re all thinking about.” Blue replied, hugging herself and shivering despite the warmth provided by her suit. She took in a shaky breath as she struggled to keep her emotions under control, before she uttered a single word. “Sheton.”

That word; that one single word was spoken in such a quiet tone that it almost sounded mute, like the wings of a hummingbird. Yet the silence in the forest allowed the rest of the them to hear it as if Blue had spoken in it in a normal volume. It went on for nearly a hole minute, the whole team’s expressions matching Blue’s own, even though none of them could see each other. It was Crimson who eventually broke the silence, speaking in a tone that held every bit of sadness as her face.

“Heh…nothing really gets past your eyes huh Bluey? Just like how nothing gets past your ears, just like with Fast Tracks.” She asked, trying to smile and not succeeding much. “I’m probably going to sound stupid for asking this, but…what gave it away?”

“Just the way that you were all acting. Trying to hide your worry behind our usual antics so it wouldn’t cloud your judgements.” Blue replied, looking at each of her team, Violet Fire last. “Of course, I was participating in that too. So, I guess I really don’t have room to talk.”

“No, it’s fine Blue Skies.” Lightning said gently, wanting to ease any guilt one of the youngest of the team had. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for. If anything, we should be sorry for looking like we didn’t care about the safety of one of our favorite little colts.” Her eyes peered at the forest floor below her as she muttered, “Or one of our best friends…”

“None of you have anything to be sorry for either Lightning Shadow.” Blue countered leaping off a massive branch. “We’re all wracked with anxiety and stress about this whole thing, so we needed to do something to help us ease it. Otherwise it would’ve kept biting at our minds like a jaguar biting into a turtle’s shell and drive us insane.”

Fast snorted dryly. “I’d rather have a jaguar clamping down onto my head instead of having to constantly wonder if my little buddy is okay. I mean really. Who would’ve expected that the not-so-legendary Dark Queen would return? On today of all days? When the Summer Sun Celebration and Lunar Moon Celebration are supposed to happen a few hours apart from each other. I certainly wasn’t expecting it to happen. Were any of you?”

“No, we weren’t. None of us were.” Violet Fire admitted without out any trace hesitance. “Most of all, I wasn’t expecting to see the moon to turn from white to a gleaming blood red. Pretty much like the Blood Moon Night, when all the “mythological” creatures of the night come alive ready to cover the land in blood and horror.

The ebony black mare didn’t look behind her to see the flinches each of her team and friends gave, yet she didn’t need to. She could feel the flinches come from each of them one by one when she said those three dread-filling words. Each were fully aware of what the Blood Moon Night was, at least one of them having read up about sometime before or after they joined the team. It was the night where all the creatures and ponies of the darkness were said to come out to terrorize on any villages, towns and cities of where they were. Where the ponies resigning in them fell victim to these creatures if they strayed too far into the darkness. Said to be the darkest time in Equestria’s history, one that would match any that happened far in the past…and maybe even more in the future.

It was also the night that occurred before and after Nightmare Moon Nocturnis came to life, having finally managed to get Luna to let it in. Where she assembled all of these dark creatures and equines to fight against her sister and the followers of the sun. That night marked the downright bloodiest war that Equestria had ever seen since the royal sister’s coronation. One that left a scar on the earth so deep and black that no amount of erosion, soil, sunlight or even the force of Mother Natura herself could erase. Violet could still remember the stories Queen Celestia told her about her fellow Shadowbolts being slaughters by the creatures of darkness. A few of them were said to have been used as sacrifices and cursed to turn against Celestia, with the only possible method of saving them being death. Violet hoped that their suffering wasn’t as agonizing as she believed it to be, thought deep down she knew that was a very low possibility, especially if it was done by Nightmare Moon of all ponies. She never thought that night would come again, most of all on the night when the moon and its raiser was supposed to be praised and worshipped. Looking back on that, Violet felt that was wishful thinking, especially since she knew that Nightmare Moon would not be gone forever.

‘I guess a part of me wanted Nightmare Moon to come back. If only to come back and see if there was some way to get her free.’ Violet admitted mentally. ‘It looks like my hopes have finally been answered…though probably not in the way that I wanted to. And certainly not in a way that would have one of my best friends venturing into the most dangerous wilderness imaginable.’

“Yes, we still remember you telling us that.” Storm sighed, rubbing the back of her head. “I’ll be honest, I didn’t really believe you at first. I mean…the Thousand-Year-Old Blood Moon Night happening again tonight of all nights. It was just unfathomable.” She shivered as her mane billowed around her face. “But when you showed me the color of red that had blanketed the moon…I…I just…”

“I know how you feel, trust me Stormy.” Fast shivered as much as Blue did as he fought not to hug himself. “I don’t know what came over me when I saw the moon being red for the first time in my life. It was…it was like something inside of me was burning and churning, fighting to get out like I had locked it away for a long ass time.” He inhaled deeply, like he was wanting to get a lungful of air after being underwater for too long. “I guess it must have something to do with me being half bat.”

“I hear you there fast.” Crimson nodded. “It was like I was staring into the eyes of horror itself when I first saw the blood moon. I can still remember the terror and fear that I felt when I looked up at it.” She looked over at her captain. “I also remember the look Captain Violet had on her face and she came back and told us what she had seen.”

The ebony black mare smiled bashfully. “I’m…sorry you had to see me like that. I didn’t realize that I had that look on my face when I arrived back to the guild. I apologize if I made you guys think that I had seen a ghost.”

“It’s alright Captain, really.” Crimson said gently. “The one that I’m really worried about is Sheton, and what he’s probably seeing right now. Oh, that poor little baby…who knows what Nightmare Moon could be doing to him right now. I bet she’s holding him in some little cell somewhere in the abandoned castle, alone and colt. I just wanna take him in my embrace right now!”

“We all do Crimson sweetie; your thoughts are our thoughts exactly.” Violet said, her gentle tone gaining a firm edge to it. “Don’t worry, I promise you and the rest of the team, that we will help Goku get her little brother back! If they don’t get to him first, then we certainly will! Nopony hurts my little Tony and gets away with it, nopony! Not even our beloved fallen Lunar Queen!”

“Took the words right out of my mouth Captain.” Fast said, a snarl forming on his face like he was in a stare down with a Timberwolf. “I swear, if Nightmare Moon runs either one of her fangs through any part of Sheton’s little frame, I’m going to take those fucking fangs myself, and shove them up her-!”

Fast suddenly found the back of his suit being grabbed, before he felt himself being pulled back, like some invisible force grabbed him from the air. He soon found out that the perpetrator was his captain, who’s hoof came to cover his muzzle before he could speak. All around him, he saw that Blue, Crimson, Lighting and Storm had frozen as well like time had suddenly made them go still.

“Don’t. Move. A. Muscle.” Violet whispered in a stern, almost robotic like tone, straight into Fast’s right ear. “Just stay right where you are and don’t move a single inch.”

“Why?” Fast said as lowly as he could. “What’s going on? Did we get spotted by something?”

“More like we we’re the ones who spotted something.” Blue replied, her voice falling on the edge of nervousness. Like she was about to perform in front of a crowd with stage fright threatening to overtake her. “And that something is big.”

Looking in front of where Blue was pointing, Fast nearly yelled out a swear that would’ve surely woken up every single beast within their radius. Right in front of them, was a cave, a cave that was big enough to house a dragon the same size. Around it and within its deep dark and damp interior, were the bones of animals looking like they were more than perfectly adapted for life in the Everfree. The claw and teeth marks sliced and crunched into them matched the ones on the sides, top and even the outsides of the cave. Said claw marks themselves looked to be more than several feet into the caves geological wall, letting them know they belonged to a massive predator. The very same bear-like predator that was currently sleeping just outside the cave’s mouth, large gusts of breath flying from its nose.

“Holy shit…” Fast hissed, clamping his hoof over his muzzle a second later. “It’s an ursa…a fucking ursa!”

“Not just any ursa Fast.” Crimson added gravely. “It’s an ursa minor…not totally an ursa major, but an ursa minor nonetheless.”

“Who cares what kind of ursa it is!” Fast cried under his breath, shooting a comical glare at the palomino mare. “It doesn’t matter of its minor or major! It’s still a damn Ursa either way! And what do you mean that it’s not totally an ursa major?!”

“Look closely at it Fast.” Storm instructed patiently, lifting her goggles up so her blue eyes could stare at the ursa before them. She took in the sight of its glittering star covered blue fur, taking notice of the darker patches around its paws, back and forelegs. “Take a good look at its fur…its blue, its darkening to purple. While this ursa may not be a major one, it slowly going into the process of becoming one.”

“You’re right Storm.” Lighting said, coming up next to her sister. “This little one is definitely on the verge of becoming an adult ursa. If he already has this much patches of purple on him then that tells me that he left his mother not too long ago.”

Violet took a step closer, being sure not to wake the ursa minor up from its nap as she took a sniff of the air. “I think you’ve got it backwards lightning. I think it was the mother that left this youngster by himself. Remember, ursa behavior doesn’t quite work the same as regular bears or even the Battookumas. It’s the parents that leave their babies in the dens they were born in once they become independent enough to leave. I can still smell the mother’s scent here, so I know it wasn’t too long before she had said her final goodbyes.”

“Oh…right…” Lighting blushed and looked away like she had said something embarrassing. “I see it now, my mistake.”

“That’s all well and good and all guys, but…” Fast said urgently. “How are we supposed to get past him? if I recall correctly, ursas like to make their homes in extremely dense wooden areas where they can hear anything approaching them before they actually see it! That way, they can prepare for any attack from any kind of creature that comes so they won’t be taken by surprise!”

“I hate to say it, but Fast Tracks is right.” Crimson said, biting her lip as she looked around the bunched-up trees around them. “These trees are too closed together for us to be able to silently fly through without snapping them. Plus, this cave is big and high enough to blog any opening we can try to search for at the top.”

“So that means…” Blue said as she stared at her sister. “…we have to go back the way we came.”

“Is that the really option that we have?” Fast Tracks asked doubtfully. “We can just go through the trees and be as quiet as possibly, so we don’t wake this big guy up. And once we find an opening in the trees as can fly out of there. It’s not like any of the animals in the Everfree can here when we can fly, no matter how close we are.”

As hard as it was for others to believe, it was as true as somepony saying they had seen the Queen raise the sun and the moon. The Shadowbolts shared many similar traits with other ariel flight teams, going from teamwork, intense training in the clouds and being their own military base. It didn’t quite include the other quirks that the other Shadowbolts had, being beneficial friends being the on the list however common it was. The main quirk also didn’t include was the special abilities that they had, one of them being able to fly as silently as barn owl going after a mouse. This was one of the many special effects that the Shadowbolts had that made them stand out from most other military bases involving flight. Ones that made them very desirable to those tha wanted to be like them, other than their laid-back easy-going personalities.

“You make a good point Fast, but that doesn’t make this situation any easier.” Violet replied, frowning at her vice-captain. “These trees are just too botched together and if any one of them to snap, the ursa will wake up. I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to go with what Blue suggested and take another path down from the western side of the Aqua King Sea Beach.”

Fast sighed as he yanked his goggles from his eyes, scratching at his face. “Dammit…”

“However…” Violet continued. “…we could scout for Goku down below from the trees, as long as they’re not too crowded. We may even make it into Evergreen Valley before Goku and her team gets there themselves, so we can give them some extra assistance.”

“Hopefully they’ll be there before us.” Lightning moaned, putting a hoof to her forehead. “I’d hate to have to be there after they get to Everfree Valley and see Master Gaia. That means their still out there in the forest in danger somewhere.”

“I really don’t think it matters whether they get to Master Gaia before or after us.” Storm concluded, shaking her head. “The bottom line is, they’re going to be in constant danger all the way, and the sooner we get to Goku’s team, the sooner they can protected. And we won’t be able to do that here, so we should stop wasting time and get going.”

“Y-you’re right Storm.” Blue nodded, swallowing as she breathed deeply. “Let’s hurry and leave the ursa to sleep before it notices us. If it wakes up, it’ll be a major delay on our schedule and our mission.”

“That would totally be bad, no matter how much of a good fight this big guy may give us.” Fast nodded, putting his goggles back on. “Still, I doubt that any snapping of branches is going wake him up. It would have to take something like a giant wave rushing through this forest to do it. Or at the very least a clap of thunder.”

As if on cue, the four pegasi and one thestral felt the wind suddenly picking up speed, prompting them to look behind them. A massive wave of purplish blackness was what greeted their goggle covered eyes for a split second before it washed over them. Immediately all of them found themselves unable to move as the dark wave chilled them to their very bones. Pure terror overtook them as the wave continued on, as if they were seeing the one thing they did not want to see after seeing it the first time. Their instincts screamed at them to run, to hide, to confine themselves somewhere and away from whatever could be pursuing them like a wolf chasing a reindeer calf. Years of training and resilience as Shadowbolts was the only thing that kept them from running and hiding like coward. Though they’d be lying to themselves if they didn’t think about curling up into balls and crying like babies that were just born.

It was a relief beyond belief when the pressure of the darkness vanished, allowing the team to breathe again, sweet air soaring into their lungs. Some of them had to remove their goggles to wipe away the tears that poked through their eyes. Violet was the only one able to keep herself together, though even she looked like she was going to pass out.

“What…the hell…was that?!” Fast asked, managing to regain his bearings. “Did you guys feel that?!”

“We all did.” Lightning replied somewhat conspiratorially. “We felt it like a wave crashing onto us in the Aqua King Sea…and it was absolutely unfathomable.”

“I think that’s too soft of a word.” Storm said, patting her sister’s back. “But the fact that I can’t even find the words to describe it should tell just how…horrible it was.”

“I-it was…” Crimson panted. “I feel like I’m gonna puke right now. Somepony get me a paper bag!”

Blue suddenly heard a noise behind her, a noise that was every bit as a lumbering growl as it was made to be. She didn’t even need to turn around to know what was happening, but that knowledge didn’t stop her from doing that. Blue felt her bladder nearly lose control when she saw the fiery yellow eyes glaring down at her. It’s mouth of stallion-sized curved serrated teeth dripped with saliva like water from a faucet while its manchette shaped claws dug into the ground like shovels through soil. The white stars on its darkening pale purple coat shined as brightly as its lemon-yellow eyes. The very same eyes with the vertically slitted pupils that sliced into Blue’s eyes like it was trying to gouge them out of her sockets.

“Uh…g-guys…” Blue said, not even bothering to fight the term in her voice. “…I think we’d better start running.”

The rest of the team immediately turned around to see Blue’s fear-filled face, before they looked up to see the now awake ursa minor. The poor young adult mare’s expression matched their own as the ursa slowly stalked out of its cave. Its massive paws slammed into the earth like boulders from a mountain, leaving massive prints within the ground as it drew closer to the ponies. For some time, they just stood there, not taking their eyes off of one another as they waited for one side to make a move before the other. The Shadowbolts know what this was though. It more than a simple stare down. It was a test; a test that to prove which one was stronger and who was weaker. A test to who was the predator and who was the prey and who was the stronger one and who was the weaker individual. This was what the Shadowbolts knew very well, something that Violet made sure to voice out despite herself.

“Don’t look away everypony.” She said, her ears picking up Blue squeaking when she spoke. “The ursa is testing us! He wants to try to make us look away so he can see which one of us is stronger and who’s weaker! We’ve already got ourselves looked into a stare down! So if we look away first, he will see us as prey, and he will come after us! So, whatever you do, stand your ground!”

The ursa minor let out another growl as it took another step closer to the Shadowbolts baring its teeth even more as it towered over them. It could feel the fear coming from them despite their best attempts to keep it hidden, most of it coming from Blue. Even so, it could see they were staying strong, refusing it give it an inch in this intense stare between carnivore and herbivore, regardless of size. It let out a breath of ethereal mist as it lowered its head towards them, making sure they could see all of its teeth. None of them so much as even flinched, with Fast even baring his own fangs at the ursa, letting it know he was not afraid.

After what seemed like a whole hour of looking into each other’s eyes and testing one another’s strength, the ursa’s expression calmed. It gave the Shadowbolts a final look of irritation before it began to turn away, grunting as it did so. Violet and her team watched it go, surprised by the change in its behavior, but not really letting their guards down, waring of what may happen. Blue, who was shaking like a leaf when she first saw the ursa a wake up, paused when she saw it walking away from them. This put in her mind that the ursa minor changed its mind about trying to eat them, being too tired to do so. Against her better judgment, she breathed out an audible sigh of relief, her rump falling to the ground as if her fear had sapped her hindlegs of any strength.

It was the worst thing that she could’ve done.

The ursa, who’s backside was fully turned to them as it walked towards its cave, stopped when it saw Blue fall out of the corner of its eye. Faster than even Violet could’ve seen, the giant star-coated bear whirled around with a tree-shaking roar. Its massive right paw sailed through the air and came to crash down on where the Shadowbolts were standing. Lightning Shadow and Storm Shadow flew just out of range while Fast Tracks, Violet and Crimson darted to either side. Blue, however, wasn’t quick enough, and by the time she managed to get herself together again, she was squashed like a grape.

“BLUE SKIES!” Crimson screamed upon seeing her twin sister get flattened.

“NO!” Violet yelled with her as she scrambled to her hooves, watching as the ursa took its feet up off of Blue’s spot. Throwing caution to the wind, she flew over to her fallen teammate and took her in her hooves, Crimson meeting her just a second later. “Blue Skies?! Blue Skies can you hear me! Dammit, please Blue Skies, say something…anything!”

“Sis, open your eyes…!” Crimson pleaded, near the verge of tears as she held her unconscious sister’s face in her hooves. “Please open your eyes…” She pressed her forehead against her’s as she cried, “Please wake up…please Blue Skies, wake up!”

The ursa minor’s roaring snapped the mares out of their panic-filled states, and they looked up to see the beast’s other paw in the air. It flew down to flattened them both, but a stream of violet lightning got in its way. It struck the paw of the beast, causing it to pull back its paw in pain, allowing a wave of blackness to hit it in its chest. As it fell to the ground, Lighting, Storm and Fast flew down beside them, with the last one flinching at the sight of Blue.

“Holy fuck!” He cried as he took in her bloodied form. “Look at her! He squashed her like she was a fucking grape! Is she even alive?!”

Lighting rushed over to the motionless Blue, putting an ear to her chest as she searched for her heartbeat. She nearly cried when she felt the faint traces of a heat resonating in her ear like the music of an orchestra. “Oh, thank Faust…she’s still alive. I can feel her heartbeat…it’s faint, but it’s still there.”

“R-really?” Hope filled Crimson’s face, heart and tone. “She’s alive?”

“Yes, but not for long if we stay here?” Storm replied, her calm voice doing nothing to hide the fear in her tone. “This ursa is clearly not like the other youngsters we faced. Its clearly smarter than the others we faced.” She looked over at her Captain, who was hoisting a motionless Blue on her back. “We need to get out of here Captain, now.”

Violet stared at the dark grey mare for a moment, before looking at the ursa minor, who was now standing upright on its hindlegs. Throwing its head back, it let out a roar that would’ve made waves rise if they were near the Aqua King Sea. Violet watched with terror as ethereal flames erupted from its mouth, shooting up into the trees and setting the highest branches on fire. As the over-sized branches fell all around them and the ursa minor, and slowly at ate the ground, Violet steeled herself, knowing what she had to do.

“You’re right Storm, this is too much for us to handle right now, especially since Blue is out of commission.” She said urgently as she looked behind her at the path they had taken. “We need to get to Evergreen Valley now and get Master Gaia, before Blue loses anymore blood. For the time being, let’s just do what we can to keep her away from the ursa and find a way to lose track of it, does everypony understand?”

“Yes Captain!” Came the firm replied the other Shadowbolts, even Crimson, despite the agonizing pain laced in her voice.

“Alright then…” Violet nodded, turning around and spreading her wings. “Let’s move!”

First off, let me just say that I was planning to get this chapter out a bit sooner than anticipated, but this little ending here, along with searching for new jobs and posting other chapters in different stories sort of hindered that. Also, I was going through my most recently added version of this new version of my first story and seeing what chapters to add and which ones to put back in. I basically wanted to have a full folder of how many chapters there would be before we leave this story to rest at last, because I did not want to just keep it going on without seemingly no end in sight. As stated in the first authors note, I will not say how many chapters there will be, even though I have already calculated it, but, like I said, it will have an end. It may not be very soon, but it will have an end, and, if I'm lucky, it will end quicker than I originally planned it to be now, but we'll just have to see how this goes. Because things will certainly be much more different here, and more exciting!!!

Next time: One of the girls show their worthiness of their future element, while the Shadowbolts try to escape from the "minor" problem they've stumbled upon.