Chapter Five

The terrified princess and her escorts flew north for a good mile before making a change in direction. They flew back south, making sure to avoid Yashimoto Village just in case the fight was still going on.

Luna looked in the direction of the village as they flew around it. Even though they were extremely far away she could still see the orange glow from the raging fires that lit up the night. The princess could also feel that same energy – though it was weaker – emanating from the location.

"I hope that captain'll be alright," said Windshield. He looked behind him at Shadow, who was lagging behind a little. The Lunar pegasus' eyes were locked onto the village, and he had a grim look on his face. Windshield then remembered that Night Shade, Shadow's brother, was killed during the encounter with the beast. "I'm sorry about Night Shade," he said.

He nodded, but kept his eyes locked onto Yashimoto Village for a while before looking ahead. "We'll mourn him and the others later," he said. "Right now, we've got to get back to Equestria before those thi...Aah!"

Luna looked at Shadow. "What's wrong?" she inquired.

"I-It's my wing," the Lunar Guard replied through clenched teeth. "Damn! Must have sprained it when that thing attacked us!"

Luna thought for a moment. Based on my previous travels, she thought, the nearest village from this point would be...Graystone!

She looked back at the two pegasi. "We're heading to Graystone Village," she said. "It's the nearest village from here."

"No," Shadow replied. "We've gotta get you back to Equestria where you'll be safe...Ow! Damned wing!"

"We are not going to do that, Shadow," she replied sternly. "If we bypass a safe place where you can rest your wing, then you might not make it back to Equestria, and I'm not going to lose any more escorts."

"You won't, princess. I'll be fi...Agh!"

Windshield looked at Shadow. "She's right," he told him. "We can't risk you falling out of the sky on the way back. We'll have to get that wing looked at as soon as we get to Graystone."

Shadow was about to argue back; he was a tough pegasus, he could take anything. But the nagging pain in his right wing said otherwise. He nodded and said, "Fine."

The sun had begun its journey into the heavens when Twilight Sparkle had finally woke up. She checked the analog clock that was on the small bedside table; it read 6:42 A.M. Sitting up in the bed, the purple unicorn stretched a bit before climbing out of bed and heading over to wake Rainbow Dash up, only to find that the cyan pegasus had already woken up earlier and left the room.

Twilight decided to walk over to the vanity and brush her mane before heading out. She gave herself a good look in the mirror. Her mane was a bit unkempt, indicating that she must have slept pretty rough last night, probably because of that odd energy that she felt before dozing off.

I wonder who...or what could have been creating that energy, the young unicorn thought as she selected her brush from her travel sack and begun to brush her mane. Whatever or whoever it was, it must have been pretty strong.

After making sure that her mane was neatly groomed, Twilight exited the room and made her way down the hall towards the massive living room where the suit of armor was displayed. She stopped to admire the superior craftsmanship before walking off to the breakfast room.

"Morning, Twi!"

Twilight Sparkle instantly recognized her friend's voice. "Good morning, Rainbow Dash." She looked around. "Where's Big Macintosh?"

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Dunno. Must have wondered off somewhere, I think. He already ate breakfast, though."

"Well, we should go find him after we have breakfast," the purple unicorn replied. "We're going to head back to Equestria."

The two sat down at the table and ate breakfast, and ,later, prepared themselves for the long trek back to Equestria. It was about 7:00 A.M when they exited Mayor Graystone's home.

Rainbow Dash stretched a bit and took a deep breath of morning air. "Aaah," she sighed. "It's a good day to take to the skies!"

Twilight nodded. "It is a pretty nice day," she replied. Just then, her ears perked up. "Hey, listen. Do you hear that?"

Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her ear. "Sounds like somepony struggling or something." She flew up a bit and pointed to the left. "Over there! It's Big Mac...but what the hay is he pulling?"

Twilight looked in the direction that her friend had indicated. Sure enough, coming up the hill was Big Macintosh and another stallion about his size. Both were hitched to – and pulling – a cart which had a large, dark stone block in it. They both grunted as they used all their strength to move the heavy load up the hill to the front of the house.

Once they had reached their destination, they unhitched themselves, and the silver stallion said to Big Macintosh, "I can take it from here. Thanks a lot for the assistance."

The rustic earth pony nodded. "You're mighty welcome, sir. Oh! Mornin', you two."

"Good morning, Big Mac," Twilight replied. "That's a huge stone that you two just hauled up here."

"Yeah," the silver stallion replied. "Your friend here helped me move it from my shop near the outskirts. Thanks to him, my job has just got easier."

At that moment, Mayor Graystone walked out of the house. He had on a red long-sleeve shirt and a red and gray striped tie. He smiled when he saw the silver stallion. "Wow. You're here earlier than I expected. I was just about to send some soldiers to help you move this stone."

"No need for that, Mr. Mayor. This stallion right here..." He motioned to Big Macintosh. "...He helped me move this behemoth in record time. I can get to carving that statue you ordered and be finished before midday!"

Suddenly, a Shang-Xiao soldier ran up to the group. "Mayor Graystone! We've got a situation!"

"What is it, corporal!"

"Three ponies! Two pegasi and one alicorn! They said that Yashimoto was attacked!"

Twilight looked over at the soldier. "What was the alicorn's name?" she asked.

The soldier replied, "Princess Luna of Equestria."

The majestic Princess Celestia gazed out the window of her quarters in Canterlot Castle. She looked north in the direction of the Shang-Xiao-Equestria boarder and wondered what was taking her sister to return.

I hope that Luna and her escorts are faring well, the solar princess thought. Even though Captain Silverblade's Marauders squad were some of the best soldiers in the Royal Guard, she still was worried about Luna's safety.

"Your Royal Highness? The Council of Leaders awaits your arrival."

Princess Celestia turned and looked at the young recruit who had spoken. She nodded in acknowledgment. "Thank you, young Guard," she replied. "I shall be there momentarily."

The guard pony saluted. "Understood, Your Majesty. I shall let the council know right away." With that, he turned and marched downstairs.

Celestia looked back out the window. "Please be safe," she whispered before placing her crown on her head and exiting the room.

"OW! Be careful, dammit!"

"I'm sorry, sir, but I have to wrap your wing firmly."

"Well, try to be a bit more...OUCH! Damn!"

Shadow was sitting down on a bench while a doctor was attending to his injured wing. Princess Luna and Windshield were in the same room, seated at a table with a Shang-Xiao general and telling him the events that occurred at Yashimoto Village.

"And you said that this thing wasn't a unicorn?" the general asked.

"Yes," the lunar princess replied, "but it was using some sort of magic as if it was a unicorn. I could clearly see that it had leather wings, and..." She shuddered. "...those eyes..."

The general raised an eyebrow. "Eyes?"

Luna nodded. "It was as if they were lit by the fires of Hell...I sensed nothing but evil when I looked into those eyes...and I saw..."

"Princess Luna!"

The alicorn looked to her right to see Mayor Graystone, Rainbow Dash, Big Macintosh, and Twilight Sparkle enter the room and dash over to her.

Rainbow Dash noticed Luna's lackluster coat, which was stained by ash and dirt and gave off a hard odor. "Whew! What the hay happened to you, Princess?" she asked.

"When we were resting at the village north of here," Windshield replied, "we were attacked by some rebels and...something."

"AGH! DAMMIT, LADY! WILL YOU BE CAREFUL FOR EPONA'S SAKE?"

They looked over at Shadow and the doctor. "What's his problem?" Big Macintosh asked.

"His wing got injured in the fight," Luna replied.

Twilight Sparkle walked over to Luna. "What exactly was this...something?" she asked.

Luna shook her head. "I do not know," she replied, "but it was evil...very evil." She turned back to the general. "As I was saying, sir, when I looked into the beast's eyes I saw the whole world, Equestria, The Empire, Gryphnor...every nation, consumed by a great fire."

The whole room went silent as they listened to the princess.

"Everything was ablaze," she continued, "and everypony was running for their lives. Some were consumed by the inferno...others were cut down by shadowy figures armed with razor sharp swords. All the while, I heard a voice saying something..."

"W-what was it saying," Twilight asked.

"Subete wa hi ni yotte shōhi sa remasu."

"All will be consumed by fire," Mayor Graystone translated. "Whatever it was, it was saying that it was going to destroy everything in a great fire of some sort."

"Which is highly impossible," the general replied. "There's no way that somepony can start a fire that will engulf every nation of the world."

"That's the point," Luna said. "It wasn't a pony. I have no clue what the hell it was, but it was definitely not from this world..."

Twilight Sparkle thought for a moment. Maybe that thing was giving off that energy that I felt last night...

"We should head back t' Equestria an' let Princess Celestia know of this," said Big Macintosh.

"I second that motion," Shadow replied before grunting in pain again.

"Yes," the mayor added. "You should head out right away. I'll have a few of my soldiers go with you to keep you safe. General!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Put the troops on high alert and assign a squad to escort these ponies to Equestria."

"Right away, sir!"

It was about noon when the party was all set to head home. Along with them were ten Shang-Xiao soldiers that were assigned to escort them. They walked out through the southern gate and were on their way.

A few minutes after Graystone Village was out of sight, the group halted as Windshield pointed out something approaching them.

The figure was a cyan earth pony. It was a bit taller than Twilight and had it's mane tied back. Its tail was black like its mane and was medium-length. A sword was strapped to its side by a white cloth. When it got closer, one could see that it had green eyes.

The earth pony approached the party, looked at Princess Luna, and said, "You have met him, haven't you?"

Princess Luna was about to reply when the escorts approached the colt. "Move along, son," the leader snapped. "We have no time for your babbling."

The colt looked at the soldier. "You all are in grave danger," he said. "He has returned, and he will stop at nothing to destroy everything in the mortal realm."

Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight. "Think a rock might've hit his head too hard?" she asked "The guy sounds really cuckoo."

"I don't think so," the unicorn responded, "Whatever he's talking about, it sounds like he has met that thing as well..."

"Move your ass!" Shadow ordered. "You're holding up the show! We've got places to be, kid!"

"Listen to me!" said the colt, his voice rising. "You all are in grave danger! I need to speak with your leader about this monster!"

Luna shuddered. Something's coming, she thought. That feeling again...

The hair on Twilight's neck started to stand on edge; she felt it too: that dark power from last night! She looked over at Princess Luna and noticed a terrified look on her face.

"Get the hell outta the way before I get physical!" Shadow yelled.

A low rumbling suddenly could be heard by the ponies. The cyan earth pony looked up.

"Dammit! They're here..."

To be continued...