A Nightmare's Legends Returns

As the group made their way down the path that lead deeper into the Everfree, there was a slight rustle in the bushes to the left of them. There was a horrid smell coming from the left as the sound of claws walking got closer. On the group's left there was another rustle in the bushes. Behind them, they can hear the shouts of thestrals and the sound of hoofsteps getting close real fast. They were about to be surrounded if they don't move now.

Ruby had to cover her nose with a hoof at the awful smell. "Timberwolves...Thestrals...What else can happen..." She muttered, running down the path as fast as she could. She didn't want to get caught by the timberwolves, thestrals, and whatever was on their left. She wanted to live, or delay the inevitable. They had to at least reach Nightmare's castle.

Scythe kept running and heard the noises. He heard what Ruby said. "Nothing much, where do you wanna go? I can make a portal to the other side of the forest, it will put us a good distance away from them. But I'm afraid that's as far as my group portals, while lone portals can be spawned within around 250 kilometers...I used to travel alone so I didn't bother learning group portals that much." Scythe offered.

"Well that's be great really. Do you think you can do that. like, right now?!" Ruby yelled glancing behind them to see if the thestrals and timberwolves and whatever else was to there left was following them. She turned he head back forward to run into a gray mass. She fell to the ground with a somewhat loud thud, but the gray mass didn't even move an inch.

"Oi! Watch where ya running, sweetheart." The gray mass said. To the rest of the group it was a gray thestral who only had his helmet on, which is weird. He lifted up the pig snout of the helmet to reveal green eyes. "Oh? And who might all you be?" His ears stood up straight at the sound of yelling. "Oooh.~ Run aways, are we?" He grabbed one of Ruby's hoof and pulled her up into his arms. "See you lot later." He spread his wings and flew as fast as he could into a deeper part of the forest, Ruby screaming.

Growling could be head from the right of them as three timberwolves jumped at Scythe and the others. The yelling behind them seemed to get lower as the hoofsteps seemed to almost stop in their tracks. The screams of fear replaced the yelling as the hoofsteps turned at ran back towards Ponyville.

Just as Scythe nodded and prepared to make a portal big enough to engulf the whole group, Ruby was captured. "Damnit!" he cursed and turned around, letting the others pass him. He took the scythe off his back and sliced at the wolves, his scythe seemingly increasing it's size greatly as he swung it. The big scythe was large enough to cut through all the timberwolves, cutting them all in half. He looked behind them, seeing as the yelling was headed back to Ponyville. "Shit." he said. "What now?"

"No!" Shard said resolutely while stomping her hoof to the ground. Following soon after was a rumble as several crystal spikes erupted from the ground, pursuing after the thestral that had take Ruby. More crystal spikes also began to erupt from the ground off to the sides as well, seemingly almost at random, including under the timberwolves and from under the other members of the group. Though the ones not going after the thestral were rather poorly aimed and easy to dodge.

Peeking out from the sides of Shard's sunglasses would be the flame like tendrils of dark magic as her eyes glowed like Sombra's through the reflective shades she wore.

"TIMBERWOLVES?!" Rain exclaimed loudly, "Oh I love Timberwolves!" He bounced a little, "And they oddly love me back!" He smiles not caring if they thought he was childish, they fascinated him to a point where hey should be worried if he approached THEM. He stood in front of them as he heard Ruby scream and be carried off as he turned around, "By the Light what the hell happened?!" His frustration was enhanced by dozens of spikes of crystal erupting from the ground as well as his own fury boiling the grass around him. He was saddened that the timberwolves would have to wait, but what caught his attention was one of the timberwolves being injured. It's side had been hit by a stray crystal shard, not wanting to get hit himself he willed his water to form a ice ball around himself, rolling towards the injured wolf.

He was struck with a jarring blow as one of the shards clipped his bubble of ice, "WhoooOoOooa!" He mumbles as his ball rolled around, locking back on target he noticed many retreating figures of wolves, save the one he had seen. He approached it coming out of the bubble, curiously looking at its wound, "Stay back! I got this." He said as he began to put a few of the stick ribs back into place on the wolf, who was growling softly, but whined when it tried to move away.

Two of the three timberwolves were cut in half and fell into a pile of sticks. They quickly used a few other sticks laying around and became whole again. The one that wasn't cut in half by the scythe was jabbed in the rib by one of Shard's shards. When Rain had went over to the injured timberwolf, the other two started at him somewhat surprised. One turned towards Scythe and jumped at him while the other kept staring at Rain.

Ruby was still screaming as she tried to hit the thestral in the head. "Let go of me you nightmare soldier!" She just kept on hitting him, much to the pony's annoyance. They stopped on a cloud and the thestral looked her in the eye.

"Would you bloody stop hitting me! By the sun, moon and stars, you hit hard!" The thestral moved the front part of the helmet over his face as he looked back at the way the flew from. His eyes widened when he saw shards coming towards them. "Oh blimey!! Time to go sweetheart." He quickly flew away again. He quickly flew to the side when one appeared in front or near him.

Ruby stared at him. "Wait, what did you say?! Did you say sun?!" She looked at the lack of armor on him and the fact that he said sun instead of a creative night related curse. Something clicked into her mind and she quickly created a shield around him and her, much to the thestral's surprise. The sudden shield made him smack into it, causing them to fall from however high they were. "Wake up and hover! I don't want to die because I fell!!" She shouted at the thestral.

"God damnit, forgot about their regenerative abilities.." Scythe growled and waited for the right moment. When the timberwolf jumped at him, Scythe jumped over it and sliced him in half from head to tail. "Please don't tell me you're gonna rebuild yourself again.." He groans as he lands. His scythe glowed slightly more than usually and he sliced at wolf's remains, creating a portal under one of the halves and it's end a good two hundred meters away. Half of the remains fell into the portal and ended up a good distance away, and Scythe closed the portal. He prepared himself for the other timberwolf to attack him, but was surprised as he saw Rain helping the injured timberwolf, and the other timberwolf looking at the same sight. "Are. You. Crazy?!" Scythe partially growled at Rain.

For a while, Shard was still gritting her teeth in a scowl and trying to all but impale the thestral on the myraid of crystal shards erupting from the ground. When he stopped up on a cloud, she began drawing the crystals from her other spikes to make the ones under the cloud reach higher and higher until they were nearing the cloud. Then Ruby fell, and still Shard was wanting to impale the thestral with her growing crystal spire, the tendrils of dark magic growing larger as she tried harder.

Then with snap, like a cord just suddenly breaking, Shard realized that Ruby was falling rather quickly towards the very crystal spikes that were somehow supposed to be saving her. Trying to think back, Shard was shocked and terrified that her plan hadn't actually counted on how Ruby would have been saved, only that the thestral would have been impaled regardless of whether or not Ruby was in the way of said spike. This moment of clarity couldn't last long though as a very pressing matter was at hoof.

With another stomp of her hoof, Shard was being carried over to and up the spire and the top points of the crystal spikes shifted into a flat surface that would catch the two falling ponies. Softer minerals replacing the quartz or harder crystals that had been present moments before as it shifted slightly to something reminiscent of a cage to catch them after the relatively short fall. The glow of her eyes slowly but surely dissipating.

Vision dashed forward towards the spire, his horn glowing madly. "Manifest..."

An illusory puddle of green goo, meant to cushion their fall, appeared in the cage where the two falling ponies would soon fall. "Sit tight!" Vision shouted. "It'll envelop both of you once you hit it!"

The thestral shook himself off and caught Ruby, flapping his wings to slow their decent. "Bloody hell girl! You're heavy!" He shouted until his back legs touched something hard. He looked down and saw a cage. "Huh..." He dropped Ruby and got down on his own hooves. "Hmm...I do believe an apology is in order."

Ruby looked at the thestral. "Well duh! Now...I'm guessing that you aren't apart of Nightmare's soldiers considering you don't have all the armor and you said sun in your creative curse. What confuses me though is how you can move so fast." She looked at the thestral who looked to be taking something out from a little patch that was under his wing. She looked out of the cage at Vision and Shard with a smile. "And, thanks. Though I have got to say, I do not like being taken." She growled a little at the thestral and looked over at Scythe. "What's he doing? Doesn't he know the only way to kill a timberwolf is to set them on fire?"

The timberwolf that that Scythe had slashed at collapsed into a pile of sticks again. A few broken sticks from around them moved towards the pile that once again became a timberwolf. It growled at Scythe, jumping at him once more. The one that was looking at Rain turned and ponced at Scythe from his other side.

"Ah ha!" Vision snapped forward, summoning his illusory touch-sensitive goo upwards, aiming to ensnare the thestral in the goo that would prevent him from escaping.

Shard was panting hard, but shakily remained standing as the pillar of gems lowered down back below the treeline, and then disappeared entirely, back into the earth. With Vision's 'goo' around him, Shard even dispersed the crystal cage that had surrounded them. "Vi-vision, I- I need a mirror. C-can thee make me one?" she asked in an unsteady voice as she tried to sort out her mind bit by bit.

"The image in the mirror isn't always pretty..." Vision muttered distractedly as the goo leapt after the thestral. "Sure, sure..."

A weak, translucent mirror manifested itself in front of Shard.

"Ah ha! Found it!" The thestral pulled his head out of his little pouch, holding a match in his mouth. That was until he was trapped in the goo. "Oh you have got to be kidding me!" He shouted dropping the match on the ground. "Yanno, not all thestrals are bad!!" He let out a low growl, glaring silently at Vision.

Ruby quickly rushed over to Shard. "Shard? Are you okay?" She asked her, concern clear on her face. Being the one who was almost stabbed with the thestral and talk she had with Shard on the chariot ride here, she knew that Shard was probably having a difficult time.

"Yeah, well, I'm not taking any chances." Vision snapped back, solidifying the goo into a cage. "Every single one we've met so far has tried to kill us. So maybe you can start by explaining who you are and what you're doing here."

Scythe created a portal where he was standing, the other one leading directly into a working furnace. Hot, melted steel from the furnace appeared directly between the two timberwolves, both hitting it and catching on fire. "How do you like that?" Scythe growled and rushed back towards Ruby. "Are you okay?"

Shard didn't respond as she grasped the mirror in her fore-hooves. Turning away from the group she pulled away the reflective glasses and looked at her reflection which brought forth a started and agonized cry from her. To her horror the black almost flame like scaring of dark magic on the fur around her eyes had spread, now almost reaching her ears.

"It's spreading," she said with a whisper only loud enough for Ruby to hear before slamming her glasses back on. Now though, not even they fully covered the scaring now. With a gulp though, Shard steadied herself, "tis of little concern. We need to keep moving though, walk and talk?" she said already beginning to take the first few steps. "Please? I don't want to fight anymore for a while," she continued while looking over her shoulder to make sure the others were following.

Ruby looked at Shard very concerned. "Right...Right, we should get going..."She turned and walked down the path, keeping here eyes on Shard. She was really worried for her. Aye...Be concerned for the little wimp. It is you who is a wimp. Actually, no. That would be you. She shook her head, growling at herself a little bit. She was always annoyed when her mischievous, eviler side of herself had a good point.

The thestral looked at Distortion. "Right...Cause I know for a fact that there was one thestral back in the direction of Ponyville that was giving some other nightmare soldiers a good beating." He said, rolling his eyes at Vision. He lifted the front of his helmet to reveal his eyes and muzzle. "Who I am, and what I'm doing here? I'm here paroling the Everfree....Oh dear Celestia that sounds bad..." He put a hoof to his mouth. "Why don't you ask that smart pretty mare over there?" He pointed a hoof over to Ruby." She seemed to piece it together. I mean, why else would she create a shield around both of us...The same shield that I slammed into."

Vision turned towards Ruby, a questioning gaze in his eyes. He cocked his head to one side. "So, got any answers, Ruby? Or is he just talking nonsense?"

Ruby let out a sigh. "Sure...Pass the question to someone else eh? Well...Have you yet to notice that me says Celestia, and or sun in his creative curses? Also his lack of armor? For me it appears that he is not one of Nightmare's soldiers, but at the same time I think he is. He moves far to fast for a normal thestral." She said, pointing towards the stallion in the cage.

"Aye. That I do. How about we get moving and I'll tell you all who I be? I don't want anything to happen to sure a fine group as yourselves. Hehe. Especially if a pretty mare is in it." He gave Ruby a little wink and looked towards Vision. "And who be saying I spout nonsense from me mouth, hmm?" His accent had completely changed from the one he was speaking with earlier.

"From one actor to another... you're not half bad." Vision visibly strained, moving the cage of goo over and pulling it along with him. "You can tell us on the way."

Shard had barely even noticed the addition of another to the group. She had other concerns on her mind, though an errant thought occurred to her. "I- I thank thee Vi-Vision, thine mirror was... helpful," she stammered out while still trying to keep her head low and ahead of most of the group. She didn't want others in front or beside her, lest they see the spreading mark.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, you're welcome, I guess." Vision didn't let his gaze flicker away from the thestral as he pulled the cage along, panting.

Scythe finally arrived to the group. "Are you all okay?" He worryingly asked and looked at the captured pegasus. "And .. what do we have here...?" He wondered and lifted his large glowing scythe.