On The Trails of Flame
Chapter 4
Part 4 of 5
Sitting breathlessly on the throne was the fox watching the group of ponies processing their thoughts, Alex hoping to catch his breath for a moment but that wasn’t the case, The midnight princess suddenly storming up to him shouting,
“YOU KILLED ME!?!”
The fox sighed then said as he looked up to her,
“I also regenerated you, a lot harder to do then it is to kill mind you.”
The midnight princess still fuming about the past event stamping her hoof in irritation,
“You still killed me!”
Alex shakes his head a little then says,
“Yes you died, do you think that’s your original body??”
Luna backs up a little as the fox stands, tired and irritated, a symptom of his shifting alignment,
“You know how hard it is to craft flesh from nothing? Let me tell you something Princess it’s not easy!! Handling a dieing soul and feeding it tremendous amounts of my own energy to keep it from passing on while I spent the rest of my power making you a new body for your high and mighty ass the prance around in, not to mention your body was corrupted by the dragons bile, none of your flesh could be used as a base for that new body you’re so attached too, you know what that means princess?”
The others look on as the foxes temper and alignment continues to slide down, Aj and some of the others backing away as the fox started to slip, the shadow they remember from the moments before starting to slowly grow around him, the fox then shouting at Luna,
“That means I had to dig out a portion of my own flesh to regenerate you, that’s right princess, I had to carve out a sizeable piece of my left arm to make you a new body, and what thanks do I get for it?!? A pompous self-righteous horse getting up in my face and yelling at me because she’s idiot threw herself in front of a demon!! I didn‘t have to fix you, I didn‘t have to do ANYTHING, I did it out of pity for your sister but if your so unhappy about it I‘ll happily take your new life back!”
The shadow continued to spread further as Alex’s rage climbed to Celestia managed to pull him back to his senses as she said,
“Alex! Snap out of it! Take a moment and calm yourself.”
The fox looked down as Celestia lifted his hand with her magic, the fox seeing the very tips of his left hand starting to melt away, Alex stopping for a moment before managing to get a grip, starting by slowing his breathing and closing his eyes for a few moments till the shadow around him faded, the fox then saying as he once more returned to the throne to try and catch his breath,
“Sorry . . . About that lulu, I didn’t mean it, my shadow was trying to take advantage of my condition.”
The midnight pony nodded then saying as she looked away, knowing she was at fault too,
“I’m sorry as well, it was just a shock, to see myself well you know . . . Dieing and what not.”
The fox nodded Celestia then asking as she walked over to the fox who looked to be having a hard time keeping his head clear,
“So why are you here my old friend? It couldn’t have just been to reminisce about old times and pick a fight with my sister.”
The fox nodded but couldn’t respond just yet, the foxes breathing getting heavier, Alex then motioning to AJ, the girl then getting the hint and saying,
“Well he said he had come here looking for somepony, but that had caused something else bad.”
The princesses nodded Luna then asking,
“And what was this something else?”
AJ shook her head, then saying,
“I don’t know princess, but Apple Bloom and her littler friends where attacked at their club house the other day, they looked like them little monsters you two dealt with in that reenactment thing we just watched.”
The two princesses looked at one another for a moment, then to the fox who managed to say seeming to be a little better,
“My original reason for coming here I’m afraid wasn’t a good one to begin with. I’m looking for my sister, she’s lost control of her shadow and gone berserk, unfortunately, when she got to your gate in the boundary halls. . .”
Alex stop for a moment holding out his hand to Twilight, already feeling the question burning in her mind, then going back to say,
“When she got to your gate and found that it refused to open for her, she managed to tear open a hole into your world from the halls, that inadvertently allowed an entire swarm of shadow demons back into your world.”
The princesses nodded, not happy about the news, Celestia then asking,
“What about your sister?”
Alex nodded then said,
“We are of the same stock after all, I contain the shadow of death the very embodiment of the grave, but she is the carrier of the shadow of flames, the embodiment of destruction, the force that seeks to destroy everything in exsistance.”
Luna nods Celestia then asking,
“Does that have anything to do with why you’re having such a hard time at the moment?”
The fox nods then says,
“Yes it is, it is the very nature of our shadows, they seek to combat one another, my shadow is strengthen and emboldened when it feels the wrath of the flames, and vise versa, when I succumb to death her shadow also tries to force itself to the surface, that’s why I was training her to control her shadow as I have mine, the results of that have lead us here.”
The lot of them nod Alex then saying as he finally sits upright in the seat once more,
“The shadows demons are a problem, yes, but if I don’t find Sara she will destroy everything you hold dear, and as you‘ve seen, she might just end up pulling me down with her, and trust me the last thing you want happening here is the shadows of Death and Flames battling it out in your world.”
Twilight asks finally able to get to the fox to ask a question,
“Whys that?”
The fox looks up and then says,
“The battle alone will wipe out all life on this hole plane of existence and if the worst was to happen and a winner was had between the two, the combined power of the winning shadow devouring the loser would result in a creature so powerful it’d be easily capable of annihilating all life in existence, in all worlds, across all planes. Simply put all life everywhere would cease to exist.”
The young pony nods backing away and muttering,
“uh . . . Wow.”
The fox nods then says as he looks to the princesses,
“Needless to say that I try to keep that from happening, a top priority if you would, I have to find Sara before her shadow drags me under, even if that means the demons once more hunt your people down, that doesn’t mean I’ll not help you with that, but Sara has to come first, you saw it for yourself, a simple comment from Lulu was all it took to nearly make me snap.”
The princesses nodded Celestia then saying,
“Then indeed we need to find your sister, before she or you for that matter do any serious damage, then we can deal with the demons.”
The fox nodded then asking as he motioned to Celestia,
“Mind if I borrow your elements of harmony? They might help me keep a cool head.”
Celestia nodded then said however,
“I would but now a days they’re not mind to lead, that would be up to Twilight and her friends.”
The fox cocked an eyebrow at her before saying lifting his hand to her head,
“Mind clueing me in on more recent events?”
The light princess nods, pressing her forehead into the fox’s hand the fox then looking into what had more recently transpired, what happened to Luna the events that transpired between Celestia and her fallen sister, the elements then rejecting her after she broke her own heart using them on her sister. Then to the six young ponies Twilight and her little friends who managed to use the elements to pull Luna out of her shadow possessed state, then again against Discord. The fox nodded then said looking at Luna for a moment,
“Guess my not telling you was a bad thing after all.”
They looked up to the Fox as he continued on,
“Might have prevented all of that had I taken the time to explain it more clearly to both of you.”
Luna then asks once more approaching the fox,
“What do you mean?”
Alex responded patting her head a little,
“Just what I told your sister in the past, and what I told you in my little outburst a little bit ago, I had to recreate you from just about scratch none of the flesh you are wearing is from this world, it is from mine. When I remade your body everything was remade even your name. When you started feeling inferior you slowly but surely started giving into your shadow, just like I nearly did, yours is the shadow of jealously, it will feed off of your feelings of that, and the more you fed it the more power to got till finally your sister had to send you on a one way trip to the moon.”
The midnight colored princess didn’t know what to say as the fox then said,
“The name? Your shadow didn’t just pull it out of a hat, it was furious that on top of everything else, that no one even knew your true name.”
Celestia was a bit taken aback herself things quiet for a moment till the younger princess then asked,
“You mean my actual name is?”
The fox nodded cutting her off and saying,
“Nightmare Moon to be honest though is still pretty close to your original name you’d just need to have a bit of otherworldly incite to know it, in this case someone like me. There is a language from another entirely different plane of existence called Latin your name, some how, is from it, how your name got drawn from a language not native in your plane I have no clue, but in Latin your name is Nocturnae Luna the translation of which is Nightmare Moon.”
The midnight princess nodded a little, till her sister bumped her shoulder saying as she did,
“Such a pretty name and we didn’t know it, I think we should tell it to everyone.”
The midnight princess blushed a little at the thought till the fox then said,
“I myself am found of ribbing the young princess here however we have pressing matters that must be attended to, we’ve got to find Sara, the sooner the better.”
The two princesses nod, Celestia then asking,
“Can you not sense her presence?”
The fox shakes his head, which suddenly makes him dizzy, Alex holding his head as he said in response,
“She’s hiding it from me, even I can’t see where she is at this point, and the harder I try to locate her that way, the more chance my shadow has of overtaking me right now, I’d have to take to much of my focus off of it to do so.”
Celestia nods then says coming up with an idea,
“I know, we can use the wonder bolts, they’re some of our fastest fliers, they’d be a great aid to our search.”
The fox nods then says, a slight pained sound to his voice as he spoke,
“Do it, send as many pegasus ponies as you can, tell them to look for an area that’s abnormally hot, it’ll be obvious she’s there by how hot the area will be.”
Celestia nods then hurries off saying to her sister as she leaves,
“I’ll go rally as many as I can find, lulu try to help keep Alex calm.”
Luna nods looking back to the fox who then says looking to Twilight,
“And you, the elements, bring them to me as fast as you can.”
Twilight nods watching the fox lift his right hand then snapping his fingers making the unicorn vanish in a flash of light. Alex then slumps back down groaning as his eyes suddenly start to shift, his pupils being slit shades of blue, the fox then saying,
“Sara’s getting worse its becoming harder to keep myself centered.”
Luna nods Sitting next to him and wrapping her wing around him, the fox then reaching over and messing up her mane, the fox then saying with a grin,
“You walked right into . . .that one.”
The midnight princess then says hiding a glare,
“I’ll give you a pass on that one.”
The fox laughs then says as he moves to lay himself against her,
“Gee, . . . How generous.”
Rainbow looks to her remaining friends and then says,
“We’ve got to help out to, this is now a danger to our homes, I mean hey this is a threat against our hole world, I’ll go join princess Celestia in looking for Sara, you lot should help Princess Luna in keeping Alex from blowing his top again.”
They nod in agreement Dash quickly flying off to join the other princess, the others approaching as Fluttershy then asks in a tone only a slight level above her usual whisper,
“Can . . . Can we do anything to help you out Mr. Alex?”
The fox glances over to her, his pupils still slit then says after thinking for a moment,
“Incense, any fragrances that can be used to help calm and focus the mind, and honestly some water would be nice.”
They nodded then rushed out of the room to try and find some of the things he asked for, Luna then asking as she looked over to him as he rested against her side,
“Will any of that stuff actually help you?”
The fox shakes his head no then says,
“No, not really, I just wanted to get them out of harms way, should I start to turn you and your sisters are the only ones who could restrain me right now, they’d be killed.”
The midnight princess nods, then looking back for a moment, till she thought of something, the princess then starting to hum a lullaby thinking it would help. Alex shakes his head a little with a smile trying to keep himself centered. The others returned a while later, having found some incense they thought would help, and AJ having gotten water, but what they returned to wasn’t pretty, Luna saying once she saw them,
“No stay out!”
They looked on and saw Alex, the fox was half engulfed in his shadow pacing back and forth muttering under his breath in frantic and angry sounding tones till finally the fox shouted,
“This is all SARA FAULT!!”
Slamming his fist into the wall next to him the fox then said, as said wall started to fall apart,
“I TOLD her that the shackles would help her keeping from getting away should she lose control, but NO she had to have problems with it.”
Alex then turned to Luna his eyes now blood red,
“IT WAS FOR HER OWN GOOD LUNA! I TOLD HER BUT SHE STILL REFUSED NOW LOOK AT WHERE WE ARE!!”
The fox was fuming ranting and raving pacing back and forth as Luna then said trying to calm him,
“I know, you’d always try to protect her right?”
The fox nodded then said as he stormed up to her,
“ALWAYS! But she makes so god damn fucking hard to do it!”
Luna then asked as the fox turned to look at her,
“Then why bother?”
The fox turned back for a moment, seemingly processing his thoughts as Twilight also tried to enter only to be stopped by her friends, the fox then saying,
“Because. . . . Because I love her, she doesn’t understand, if she knew what I know, but she can’t no no, she’s not ready for it, she can‘t she’s not ready, it would destroy her.”
The fox then sat back down the shadowy aura around him starting to fade a little, taking this chance Luna trots up to him and sits next to him then says trying to make her voice as calming and soothing as she could,
“Why don’t we talk about something else, tell me Alex your mother . . . What was she like?”
The fox looked up for a moment, then says as Luna motioned the others to come in,
“My mother . . . She was beautiful, so kind, so caring and loving, fuck how much Sara looks like her, the spitting image of her.”
Luna nodded then asked as the others started lighting the incense,
“Did you love your mother?”
The fox nodded then said with a grin the aura more so starting to fade,
“Yes, I loved her more then anything, she made me so . . . . happy, when I was a little kit, I loved being held by her, she made me feel so . . . . So safe, like nothing in the world could ever go wrong when she was there.”
Luna then thought about her next question for a moment before deciding to ask,
“And what happened to her?”
The fox looked down his very aura itself suddenly saddened, a feeling everyone in the room could feel, the others not even realizing Dash and Celestia approaching as Alex slumped once more against Luna’s side, fighting with his words till a tear fell from his eye then said,
“She . . . She died giving birth to Sara. . . . . I . . . . I . . . I never even got a chance to say goodbye to her.”
Luna nodded folding her wing around the fox as his roller coaster emotions suddenly plummeted, Alex instantly falling apart at the seams as he said more tears falling from his eyes,
“They made me wait in the other room. . . . I heard Sara cry and then my mother . . .”
Alex stopped for a moment remembering the chaos going on in the room the day of Sara’s birth, as the doctors tried to save her, Alex then saying,
“She was just gone.”
Everyone was silent for a moment allowing the fox a moment to collect himself before they made a sound, the fox then saying,
“I’ve seen a lot, so much during my life and its been a long one, I doubt I can die of old age that is, I’ve seen a lot, seem mortals kill each other for pointless things, entire worlds burnt before I could do a thing. Everything that lives stands on my shoulders, can you even fathom what it takes to protect well over a trillion souls, to give them a life and allow them to live?”
She shakes her head no Alex then saying,
“Why? Why can’t I have her? Why when I have to bear the burden I do, why can I not have this one thing this one piece of happiness, why can I not have that one little bit of joy and comfort, that one precious little thing? I miss her, so much.”
Luna nods looking up to her sister who looked down at the fox who was still in the process of picking his shattering mind off of the ground, trying to clear his thoughts, Celestia going to talk till Alex holds up his hand, still needing a moment Alex then nodding Allowing Celestia to say,
“We think we might have found where Sara is?”
Alex nods then tries to stand only to stumble, gripping his face for a moment then glaring up at Celestia, with a look that wasn’t very friendly, Celestia saying as she motioned Twilight over,
“Hurry, bring him the elements now.”
Twilight nodded bringing over the box she had them stashed in, Celestia unwilling to look away from the fox who was only a step away from losing it. His breathing becoming heavy, and a demonic growl starting to emanate from his throat. Twilight opened the box then set it down Celestia quickly shoving her away from it with her wing then pushing the box to Alex, the fox glaring at them for a moment before in a manic scramble of movement nearly ripped them from the box, tearing the gemstones from their ornaments then closing his eyes the elements beginning to float around him as he clutched the star shaped gem in his hands. It took a few minutes, the two princesses putting themselves in-between the Fox and the younger ponies unsure if this would work till finally the fox’s breathing evened out and the familiar aura that radiated from him returned. Alex let out a deep sigh then said as the gemstones then started floating in somewhat odd places over his back,
“That was close, quick thinking there princess.”
She nodded then said,
“Lets go find your sister and fix this before you are to far gone for the elements to fix.”
He nodded standing up then patting Luna on the head and saying to her as he gave her a smile,
“Well played.”
She nodded then got up, joining them as they left the castle behind, Dash and the princess leading them to where they think Sara was. It took a short while even with their travel aided by Alex to find the location again and indeed when they got there it felt like the place, Luna saying as she fanned herself with her wings,
“This must be the place it feels like we’re standing in the belly of an active volcano.”
Alex nodded then said looking around with a wince,
“She here alright I can feel it.”
Alex then started to walk being this close to her made it easy for him to sense her location, and the closer it got the hotter till finally Alex had to place the in a warded bubble to protect them from the heat, Twilight then asking as they continued to approach Sara’s location,
“Why are you not worrying about yourself? Its hotter then heck out there.”
The fox grinned then said glancing over to the over inquisitive pony,
“My breed is why, let alone my power, we’re abnormally resilient to both fire and heat, hell our internal temp is well over three hundred degrees Fahrenheit on a normal day, this heat as unbearable as it is for you lot is a hot summer day to my kind, plus at full power I can withstand the fires of the sun for hours without even straining.”
Twilight nodded a little blown away saying “Wow” once more under her breath, till finally they where at the center of the heat source Alex then saying as he finally saw Sara,
“Well sis, looks like this little game of cat and mouse is over, now why don’t you be a good girl and . . .”
There was a sudden explosion of movement something lobbed itself at the fox from where it had be sitting at. It barely resembled the young vixen they remembered from the past, she flesh itself looked to be made of fire and seven tails violently whipped around behind her, her every step turning the ground under her to cinders. Alex nodded then said as he shrugged off her attack muttering “hot hot hot” before he spoke,
“Thought so, you’re shadow is in the form of a nine tailed fox huh, how ironic,”
He looked at the vixen who hopped away from him hissing and growling at him as she then jumped up onto a wall. Her flames growing more violent, Alex then saying as he looked up to where she was,
“A nine tailed fox, a beast of destruction.”
Alex shaking his head a little and muttering “damn racist wolf” under his breath then saying as he looked back to the group of ponies,
“You’ll all need to stay out of this, and more importantly in that bubble, and not just because of how hot it is out here.”
Watching as another tail formed on the girl her eyes becoming solid black say for a pupil of pure white flames, Luna asked as they look on from the relative safety of the bubble,
“Why surely we princesses can ward of something as mundane as heat and help you fight?”
Alex shook his head then reached into his jacket for something saying as he did,
“No, even if you could survive this heat, you couldn’t ward off what she’s putting off right now, she’s radioactive at the moment, any of you get exposed to this and you’ll be killed.”
Biting a finger then rubbing it on an orb he then said as he lobbed it over his shoulder toward them,
“Girls I need your help get here now!”
There is a bit of an electric discharge as the orb shatters shortly after a portal opens and out rushes the twin foxes from before the red and blue vixens the red girl then saying as they looked at the situation,
“So found aunt Sara did you dad?”
He nodded then said glancing over his shoulder two the girls,
“I need you two to set up a fifth level barrier, keep then inside it at all cost, your aunt is radioactive, they get exposed and their done.”
They nod the blue vixen then saying as they hurry over to the lot of ponies,
“But why a grade five? A second grade barrier can ward off radiation.”
Alex sighed then said looking to her,
“Just do it Luna, I might need to fight your aunt as full force that’s why we a level five.”
She nods the two foxes then standing back to back, their eyes then glowing as they projected a barrier around them the ponies dropping onto the ground as the barrier they where in was all but eaten by the new one, Alex then says as he looks back to Sara who’s flames where turning crimson,
“Alright time to end this.”
Popping the first of the buttons on his jacket a pair of golden energy wings materialize on his back, the six of the elements embedded in his wings, Dash then saying from inside the barrier,
“I was wondering what the elements where hanging on, he’s got bigger wings then the princesses do.”
Alex laughs hearing her comment then saying,
“This is only the first button and your already impressed? Now Sara be a good little . . . Fire . . . Demon . . . kyuubi thing and come quietly, I’d rather not have to remove my cloak.”
The girl roared at him another tail forming as she then drew flaming swords Alex then saying as he drew his own blade,
“You never listen to your brother do you?”
She then vanishes a clash of metal ringing out before the others can even see anything happening Alex blocking a strike from the out of control vixen who roared at him again this time sounding more demonic, Alex then parrying the girl and forcing her back then saying in a somewhat mocking tone,
“Come on baby sis, is that all you got? Going to have to do better then that.”
Alex swung his sword over head the possessed Sara dodging out of the way only to get booted in the face when Alex used the weight of his sword to swing himself on, Sara violently hitting the far cliff face before them. Alex said looking on as the girl pulled herself out of the wall,
“You know your hard to hit with that body you’ve got right now it’s a damn shame you can‘t control it, would be a hell of an ace to have up your sleeve.”
The girl growled at him as she surveyed the situation, then snarling when she came up with an idea, charging Alex at blinding speed only to have Alex match it, only to see Sara’s second blade tossed past him, the blade the hitting and passing through the barrier and stabbing the blue vixen in the gut, Luna dropping like a rotten log causing her sister to shout “Shit!” then cupping her hands together then saying as she looked to the princesses,
“You two, if you have any means of healing my sister do it now, I can only hold this barrier for like five minutes by myself.”
Alex then shouts back to them as he forced Sara back,
“Damn it Aurora, why wasn’t that barrier hardened?”
The red vixen then says struggling under the strain of the barrier,
“We weren’t exactly expecting to see a sword flying at us with you here that’s why, why are you playing with her anyway take care of this already?”
Alex grit his teeth looking at the vixen in front of him as the ninth tail formed the girl roaring demonically, Alex shaking his head then saying,
“Stage three huh, guess I have no choice then.”
As the girl then moved to stand on her feet again Alex closed his eyes for a moment, Sara taking the chance and dashing at him as slashing open a bit, Alex howling in pain as the blow settled, Alex then saying as he looked back to her,
“Going to regret that sis.”
Pinky pie looked up as a bunch of buttons started falling into the barrier, pinky picking one up Aurora then saying after glancing at them,
“Wait, are those the buttons off dads . . . . Shit. . .”
Looks back as Alex’s cloak fell to the ground there was an explosion of light, the red Vixen then saying,
“Come on Luna I need you on your feet now, dad’s jacket is coming off.”
The blue fox nodded having the princesses having pulled the sword out of her gut and having given her a small amount of healing before her sister started shouting “Hurry!” the two then reinforcing the barrier as all of Alex’s power was unleashed, the fox’s fur now stark white near colorless and his wings had exploded nearly tripling in size the energy raiding off his able to be felt even in the barrier, the younger ponies collapsing as the first waves hit the barrier, Luna then saying as she then clasped her hands together with her sisters,
“Shit next tier next tier! Hurry!!”
The red fox nodded the barrier suddenly going blue to try and filter out the energy the older fox was radiating, said fox then saying as he looked over his shoulder,
“Sorry girls, try to bear it for a little bit, I’ll kill even you exposed as I am, keep that barrier up.”
The twins nodded no choice in the matter Sara trying to make a move only to be instantly blocked by her brother, Alex then saying as his right arm started turning black,
“Stepped in it this time Sara, you can’t face a god even in this form.”
She growled at him Alex then holding out his blackening arm allowing the darkness to drip off of himself, the black pool pudding on the ground till another Alex started to pull itself from the mess, Alex suddenly gripping the shadowy version of himself around its throat,
“You will obey me!”
The shadow makes a loud high pitched pained noise as bones started to clad its body the creature then standing by Alex’s side unwilling to engage the girl before it, Alex then saying as he too looked to the girl,
“This will hurt dear sister, but you did it to yourself, I can’t hold back in this form!”
Alex moves in the blink of an eye grabbing the girl around the throat, nearly crushing her windpipe then slamming her into the ground, his shadow following up as it dashed up to her, its razor claws digging though the dirt to it hit Sara’s flaming flesh, blackened blood flying through the air as the creature then dragged her along till it lifted her and then into the cliff face, the creature hacking away at her till the white Alex nearly flashed up in front of her, the flaming creatures eyes barely able to shift its gaze to see him before his blow landed the demonic Sara spewing more black blood as the cliff face behind her started to shatter, Alex then grabbing her then using his wings to quickly propel them into the air, the Shadowy bone clad Alex then looking up with a grin on its face, Celestia asking as she saw what Alex had changed into,
“What force could possibly stand up to that? He’s a god right why is he being so ruthless?”
Luna then said the blue fox trying her best to focus on the barrier as she spoke,
“Its why dad doesn’t like using his full power, why he lives in that jacket, his shadow wants only to kill, his light has no empathy, to top it off with the fact that his divine energies are well lets say near toxic to mortal life, that is unless you have a right of divine intervention he has to live in that jacket and keep himself aligned to stay in control, to far in any one direction and bad things happen. The last time I saw dad willingly take off that thing, a world was being destroyed by demons lead by a devil and he was trying to hold the line against an army alone to allow us and aunt Sara to lead what survivors there where to safety in the halls.”
The group of ponies nodded watching as finally the white Alex started to come back down the shadowy Alex ready to help deliver a final blow, both twins closing their eyes and looking away as he then slammed into the ground the Shadowy Alex jumping and flipping around to add to the impact digging its claws into her flesh the moment she was about to hit the ground the result wound forcing their victim to spew blood in a near explosion like fashion. The flaming creature left in the crater moved only once before a hissing sound could be heard the young fox then going lifelessly limp as the flames receded, her flesh slowly returning to normal that not being a good thing, for the wounds the two halves managed to inflect on her despite the fact that before hand her flesh was not solid where gruesome to put it kindly; what they had left in the crater barely had anything resembling a humanoid form to speak of. As white Alex quickly tended to the girls heinous wounds the shadow however glanced over to the ponies then once sure Alex was not paying attention to it, made a mad dash at them a wide smile of its face as its claws where about to puncture the barrier to kill those inside, till it felt Alex’s fingers around its neck, a sudden wind rushing past them like a hurricane, those inside looking on as the shadowy version of himself gagged and started squirming in trying to free itself as Alex began crushing its neck till finally there was a loud snap Alex’s fist balling up with what remained of the creatures throat as it collapsed into a goo like puddle at his feet. Alex looked up to the ponies for a moment most standing petrified as he then said looking to Celestia, the only one among them able to move,
“Buttons.”
She nodded floating the small pile of button to him, Alex then saying as he looked to the twins,
“Keep the barrier up for a few moments longer, thanks to my sister, I’ll need to fix my jacket before I can put it back on.”
They nodded Luna managing a pained “easier said then done” as her side started hurting again the twin finding herself outside of the barrier suddenly, Alex then saying as he pulled up the bloody shirt she wore,
“Hold still, I’ll fix you up before you pass out.”
She nodded the girl somehow still joined to her sister in supporting the barrier, being outside of it though you could see the pain rolling off her, it was like a weight was crushing her. Alex worked in the blink of an eye effortlessly repairing the damage the girl had sustained from the blade nearly cutting her in half, then once more in the barrier where she nearly collapsed just from being away from his presence. They looked on as all took all but five seconds to both fix the buttons on his cloak then tossing it around his shoulders and slowly redoing the buttons, each one that clasps feeling like a weight was being taken off of them all, till finally it was gone. The twins nodded about to drop the barrier till they heard their father say,
“Keep that barrier up.”
The twins let out a combined groan Alex then saying,
“What do you want me to do about it? Your aunt super heated this area to near two thousand degrees, those ponies will actually melt if you drop that barrier.”
The lot of them gulp at the thought of it Alex going over and scooping up Sara the girl managing to come to when he did, Alex saying,
“Hey brat, sorry I kind of . . . Tried to burry you and uh . . . turn you into a puddle, but you ripped off the buttons after all.”
She managed a weak giggle as she then said cuddling up against his chest,
“And I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you about the shackles, but to be fair you let me escape.”
Alex shook his head with a laugh then saying as he carried her over to the others,
“Anyway lets get out of this area, some nine tailed brat turned the heat up to two thousand here, I’ve got a load of melting ponies and two very annoyed twins to carry away form here thanks to it.”
Walking into the barrier Alex asked as he motioned to Celestia,
“Hey mind carrying her for me?”
She nods moving a wing to allow him to sent the girl on her back Sara then saying as she near lifelessly tried to hold on,
“Thanks . . . I . . . I don’t feel so good right now.”
Rainbow Dash then said as Alex once more stepped outside of the barrier,
“No shit, being driven into the ground nearly from orbit will do that to you .”
The lot of her friends then looked over to her, the cyan pegasus rubbing the back of her head with a nervous laugh, before she said seeing the knowing look on their faces,
“What!?! I managed to only brake two leg in that crash thank you very much.”
Alex laughed a little then saying as he went to pick up the barrier they where in,
“Going up.”
Lifting the barrier up onto his left shoulder the ponies Twilight muttering “Why am I not surprised by this?” her friends nodding in agreement to the question as Luna then asking as she too looked down to the fox below them,
“So how long till we can come out of the barrier?”
Alex says with a sigh as he starts to lug the barrier full of ponies on his back,
“Oh maybe . . . ten or twenty . . . . . miles this area is only a few hundred degrees from being molten rock after all.”
The twins then let out a loud frustrated groan, Alex then saying as he shock the barrier a little forcing them to try to refocus on it,
“Hey stop complaining I‘m the one carrying the damn thing after all and I’ll have you know you’re all really fucking heavy.”
They share a laugh as Alex carries them away from the sight of the battle, having left something behind intent on cooling the area down sometime this year.
~end of chapter~
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