Her scream was carried over the whole of the forest around her, echoing with unbridled power. She felt some strength returning to her limbs as her magic healed her, felt flesh fill in around her hooves as blackened meat sloughed off her wings. Exakktus tilted his head.

Fluttershy poured everything she had into her next scream as she met Exakktus’s eyes and gave him the stare. Into her roar, into Exakktus’s mind, she poured her fury, raw and hot. Her rage against the heavens and the destruction wrought by their monstrous game. She screamed Applejack shouldn’t have to feel the pain, Rarity needs a home, and Pinkie Pie doesn’t laugh anymore.

She felt the ground wiggle beneath her feet as she stared down the dragon, and a tiny bit of green sprouted up through the dead ash. Fluttershy took a step forward.

The nineteenth illustration for the book release of The Immortal Game, a Season Two epic about ponies and war. See it here: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/893660/