//------------------------------// // That Most Dangerous Beast // Story: Painted Mirror // by Lord of Turtles //------------------------------// Rajrishi bounced once and rolled to a stop next to the stack of wood he'd just finished building, sputtering curses like a sailor. Laboriously, he stood up, his joints cracking and spine aching where he hit the door. He shook his head “What the hell?” Loud shouting echoed out of the house again, followed by quieter, less commanding words for a few seconds. After that, the whole side of the library exploded. Spars of wood and splinters rained his way and he shielded himself as best he was able, a few shards biting into his skin. When he looked up again, he wasn't quite sure what he was seeing. Floating in the air, wings flapping lazily, was the larger pony from inside, the very air around her dark like a penumbra and lit with sparks of light and the burning silver of her eyes. Galaxies and stars danced in that terrible shadow, her chiseled face somehow appearing even colder than the void it stared out of. She opened her mouth to speak and shouted “SURRENDER BEAST, YOU STAND BEFORE A TRUE-BORN DAUGHTER OF THE FAUSTMARE. SUBMIT TO YOUR IMPRISONMENT OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES!” Raj stared at her in mute terror for a few seconds before her words sunk in. He shook his head and sputtered back “W-what? What did I do?” She glared at him “YIELD TO US, OR BE DESTROYED BEAST!” offering no explanation for her attack. The direct threat shook Raj out of his daze “Well, I guess this is happening today.” He drew the Apple Axes and set himself “Not happening Bad Horse, I'm not going anywhere.” She sneered “THEN YOU CHOOSE DEATH.” her horn sparked and launched a lance of crackling blue light that ate through the ground as Raj dove away, going into a roll. “STAND AND FIGHT FOOL.” Raj ignored the barb and ran forward, arms cocked back. He sprang up as she fired another ray, the beam glancing across his calf. He ignored the flare of pain in his leg and swiped at the shadowy pony. She gave a hard flap of his wings and lifted out of his reach, making him hit nothing but air. He hit the ground hard, his injured leg going out from under him. He heard her charging up again and held his axes over his head, blocking blindly. He didn't get lucky and the beam of energy found his shoulder, burning a black mark on him the size of a silver dollar. He screamed and sprang back on his good leg toward the stack of wood and looked up. Luna was much higher, well out of his reach and charging up to fire again. Raj sprang away, taking advantage of the fact that she needed an instant to charge up between shots. He thunked one of his axes into a log he'd just chopped and looped it around, flinging it upwards as fast as a missile. It bounced off a suddenly appearing dark shield. “Okay, so she can shoot lasers, fly, and is invincible. Fine.” He rolled his shoulder a few times, measuring the injury. The joint hurt and his fingers were numb, but nothing seemed permanent. He idly wondered how much worse it would have been without the magic resistance Twilight had told him about. A glance at the exploded holes in the ground her errant blasts created made him skip that line of though rather quickly. Luna's shield disappeared and her eyes flashed, another wave of magic running down her horn before she launched yet another beam of shimmering light. Running on instinct, he gripped an ax in both hands and presented the flat of it. The beam of energy smacked into the golden metal hard enough for his hand to jump, but the metal held steady against the magic, turning the energy into a spray of golden sparks that hissed against his skin and the ground. To his surprise, the beam did not dissipate, it simply kept coming in a never ending torrent of terrible blue light. He was quickly thankful for the numbness in his hand as the ax started to heat from the spell, enough that he could see curls of smoke rising from where he held it. “FOOLISH BEAST! DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT A SIMPLE ORICHALCUM AX COULD STOP THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT? YIELD, OR WE SHALL DESTROY THEE!” She focused harder, widening the beam by a fraction and increasing it's power. Raj felt himself slide back, his arms starting to tremor. In a bit of a panic, he looped his good arm down as he rolled past the energy, flipping his grip on the spare ax and flinging it towards her in a singing arc. He got lucky and it bit deep into the joint of her wing, fouling her flight. She let out a hard yelp and flapped with her one good wing, trying to keep her balance. She went into a tumble and hit the ground with a hard smack, groaning at the impact. Knowing this was his one real chance, Raj ignored the intense pain of his injuries and charged forward with his super-heated ax, screaming incoherently. Luna shook her head and looked up just as he was rearing back to strike. Gritting her teeth, she channeled energy into her horn for another spell. That spell never went off, as Raj's glowing-hot ax descended and struck the very tip of her horn, cleaving through the spiraled length. The infant spell hit the split and fragmented, turning into raw energy that exploded outward in a blinding flash of light. Raj felt himself lifted up and sailed into the stack of wood, scattering it. His ears still ringing, Raj picked himself up. Smoke streamed from black pits on his torso where horn-shrapnel had dug into him, giving him electric jolt from residual magical energies. He glanced around, looking for his ax but found it nowhere. He did see a dozen or more ponies staring at him from windows and behind cover with more coming to look out of curiosity. “Dammit, not exactly how I wanted to meet the town.” Luna extricated herself from yet another hole in the side of the library, groaning. She shook her head and gingerly touched the smoking remnants of her horn, wincing at the contact. What was left of it had curled away, blackened, leaving a tiny stub no more than a couple of inches out of her forehead. It reminded Raj of when a gun would backfire in a cartoon. Luna focused again and winced as a burst of sparks shot out of her ruined horn. Grunting, she wiped her hoof over it and broke off the shattered remnants of it. She ground them into the dirt and snorted “I shall make thee pay for that knave.” “By what, whipping your tail at me?” sneered back Raj as he pulled his broken knife. “Do not think that we are nothing but our magics. we need little more than the strength of our hooves to deal with one of Briarus' leavings. However,” Luna curled her head back to the ax still embedded in her wing and yanked it free in a gush of purple. She winced at the pain, but swallowed it down and lowered herself. “this weapon shall suffice all the same.” she added around the grip in her mouth. “I have no idea what you're talking about Princess. Take a seat, and then I won't have to embarrass you.” She shouted “BEAST SPAWN!” and broke into a charge, metal shod hooves eating into the dirt. Raj screamed back wordlessly and fell into his own run, knife held in a reverse-grip. They were scant feet away from each other when a flash of purple formed between them and they skidded to a halt against a translucent purple dome. Inside, Twilight stood focusing power into her horn. The dome flashed and thrummed outward, forcing the two of them back. She cried out “Stooop!” She looked back and forth between them “What in the Tartarus are you two doing?” “Remove thyself Twilight Sparkle, that creature is dangerous. He must be placed back in his proper containment!” “I have no idea what she's talking about Twilight. She threw me through your house and shot lasers at me.” Raj yelled back, never taking his eye off the dark pony. “Cease your lies BEAST!” Her eyes flashed white again and another spray of sparks fired off her ruined horn. “Luna, stop!” Twilight turned against the Princess of the Night. “Rajrishi isn't a spawn of whatever, he's a human, not a monster.” “He deceives you Twilight Sparkle. He bears all of Briarus' marks: the hands, the face, the smell, all of it reeks of that most vile of Titans.” “I don't care what you think he is, he's my friend.” She yelled back, tears brimming in her eyes “I asked you here to help me find his home, not destroy mine!” She gestured to the damaged library. “He hasn't tricked me, or lied to me, he's been perfect since he got here. There's no reason for you to apprehend him or whatever.” “He belongs in Tartarus with the rest of his kind!” She insisted. “No he does NOT!” she shouted, her voice dwarfing the larger pony's for a moment. She stared at the princess, breathing heavy. “And if you won't stop trying to hurt him I'll... I'll fight you too.” She lowered her head, horn lighting with violet energy. Luna's hardened mask cracked a bit, looking unsure for the first time since Raj had met her. She took a step back “Mayhap... mayhap we were at tad... hasty in our judgment.” She tried to smile, but it was thoroughly lost on her audience. * * * Rajrishi sat inside the library with a large pair of tweezers clutched in the hand that wasn't swathed in bandages. He gingerly dug into one of the blackened wounds on his torso and managed to grab hold of a horn-shard. He swiftly pulled it out and winced “Ow” before setting it on a small plate. He then grabbed the tail of another piece and yanked on it, repeating “Ow.” Across from him, Princess Luna sat with a small ceramic cup in her hooves, sipping it daintily. Raj thought she was being awfully cavalier about the grievous ax-wound in her side, but decided not to call her bluff. Nevertheless, he never released his grip on the remaining Apple Ax. “Now then,” said Twilight as she looked nervously between to two of them “Luna, why don't you tell us why you decided to attack Rajrishi the moment you saw him?” The Princess glanced at the little pony and cleared her throat “Very well, we shall explain ourselves.” “This better be good.” muttered Raj. Twilight's eyes flicked over to him “Please don't goad her Rajrishi. Luna, go ahead.” Luna glared “As we were saying. We believed that he is an escapee from Tartarus, a fugitive from righteous justice. We still believe it in fact.” She grabbed a notebook and started scratching on it with a pen held in her teeth. “Nng, we despise mouth-writing. A moment.” She took a breath and closed her eyes, everything above her neck tensing. Her wings flared and she grunted with strain, more sparks shooting from her broken horn. The air around took on a tangible tingle and both Rajrishi and Twilight were astounded to see her shattered horn start to crackle and knit, re-growing before their eyes. After a long, stupefied minute of staring her horn stood proud atop her head again. She smiled to herself and fluttered her wings, showing off the lack of injury to her joint. Raj leaned forward “Huh, that was neat.” “I'd... I had heard about Alicorn Regeneration techniques before but I've never seen it myself.” said Twilight, leaning forward to inspect the newly formed horn. “That is not surprising Twilight Sparkle.” Her new horn sparked and she quickly wrote a note on the page, folded it, and floated it upstairs to where Twilight had sent Spike. “Hopefully mine sister is unoccupied and will send along the tome that will explain our actions. In the meantime, we shall determine if he is an escapee from Tartarus.” “How?” asked Twilight. “A simple detection spell. All inmates of Tartarus' layers are embedded with an aethyric marker, a tag if you will. There is a charm that the wardens use to identify them. The presence of such a marker will determine if he is a denizen of Tartarus. Rise Rajrishi, so we may perform it.” Raj stared at her, hand still on his ax, not moving. “Did thou not hear us creature? Rise and be judged.” “Yeah, I don't take orders from you Bad Horse. Especially you.” She scowled “It fears our judgment, knowing that upon the casting it will be banished back to those darkened caverns. Thy hesitance betrays thy nature beast.” Raj flipped his ax on the table “No, it's because the last spell you cast was a laser that you tried to kill me with.” “The magic we utilized was meant to disable, not slay. If our goal was to end thy life creature, then thou would be dead in the yard.” She took a sip of her tea. Raj gripped his ax tighter in his good hand “Wow, that's surprisingly little comfort.” Twilight cut in “Rajrishi, calm down. It's okay, I know the spell she's talking about. I'll do it. Is that okay?” Raj eyed Luna for a moment and nodded “Good. Now hold still.” Twilight's horn lit and projected a flat plane of light that ran up and down Raj's body for a few seconds before she turned to Luna. “No spell tags of any kind or active enchantments. See? He's not from Tartarus.” “Impossible. Check again.” She ordered. Twilight cast the spell once more and repeated “Nope, same result. He's clean Princess. Metaphorically of course.” Luna narrowed her eyes and huffed, “We do not believe that. There is no way our sister would allow a spawn of Briarus to wander Equestria free and unattended.” “That's what I was trying to tell you, he was brought here against his will, from another planet. He's an alien!” “We do not know what lies this creature has been instilling upon you, but that is certainly one of them. There is no such thing as aliens Twilight Sparkle. If you will not see reason then we will scan him ourselves and set right what has been wronged.” Her horn lit up. Raj sneered at her, bur didn't move, relenting to her scan out of frustration. Her light danced across him once and she gave him a perplexed look. Her horn burned brighter and a stronger plane ran down his body, causing a tingle to his flesh wherever it ran. He growled “If you made me sterile, I'm going to turn your hooves into ashtrays, I swear to god.” If she even noticed his threat, she gave no sign, instead just staring at him in surprise “That... that cannot be. There is no marker upon thy aura. Thou art not a prisoner of Tartarus.” “Well, I'm glad we had to have a ten minute argument and a laser-fight in the yard before you realized that.” Luna sat back gracelessly, staring forward “We, we were so certain. It had to be...” she closed her eyes “And we attacked him, in anger.” Twilight came up to her side “It's okay Luna. You didn't hurt Rajrishi that badly.” “Speak for yourself Twilight. I still can't close this hand.” Raj flexed the hand that had been burned by the searing hot ax. “Right, thy injuries. Allow me.” Her horn erupted into light that zipped towards Rajrishi's chest. He fumbled blindly for the ax but was too slow to act before the cloud of energy hit him. He was struck by a wave of cold numbness that made him gasp and he dropped to his knees. When the wave passed and he opened his eyes he felt... good. He flexed his hand, the aches from his burns gone. “Did you... did you heal me?” “Correct. Mine magic has mended thy injuries. Thou may experience faint tingles and sensitivity to light for the next day.” she muttered, panting slightly, her mane somewhat wilted. “Oh wow!” Twilight bounded forward, looking him all over “I knew Alicorns could heal themselves, but I had no idea they could induce it in others as well.” “That is not surprising either Twilight Sparkle, it is very likely that it is the first time such magic has been performed in many centuries. It is powerful magic, with a commensurately powerful price. The energy we expended to mend Rajrishi is forever spent. For all time, I shall be weaker in mine power, however slightly.” Her face was stony, betraying nothing. Twilight's pupils turned to pinpricks “W-what? You're weaker now? Forever?!” “Do not concern thyself Twilight Sparkle. The power I sacrificed is comparable to that of a single drop from a lake of water. We very much doubt such a loss of power will every be relevant in any encounter, but the act itself was still very tiring.” Twilight breathed a sigh of relief “Okay, that's good. I was worried for a second.” “Indeed. Rajrishi,” she turned her attention to the sitting human “for you I offer my deepest apologies for mine rash action. It is our hope that someday you may find the kindness to forgive us.” She lowered her head in a graceful bow, horn almost touching the floor.” Raj nodded at her and flatly said “Blow it out your ass.” “Rajrishi!” “Nay, Twilight Sparkle. Leave him be.” Luna held up a hoof and looked at him coolly. “He dost have every right to beckon us to project whatever he desires from our posterior. We wronged him, and a simple apology shant be enough. It would besmirch our honor if it was.” “But... you healed him, he has no reason to be mad.” “We are not audacious enough to suggest that his pain and stress are meaningless or non-existent. Simply alleviating the unjustly caused harm is not enough to restore my honor or earn forgiveness. Besides, there are consequences to our conflict that we cannot simply remedy with magic.” Raj looked at her strangely “What, did your spells give me cancer or something?” “Nay, cancer is not within our arcane purview. We speak of the witnesses to our conflict, and the harm that battling us in front of them may have caused to your reputation amongst the villagers.” Raj crossed his arms “Well, seeing as how I don't HAVE a reputation among the villagers other than what they just saw, I'm going to say it damaged it plenty.” “Ah, we perceive.” Her eyes darkened “It seems we have more to make amends for. We shall add it to the list. Again, you have our apologies.” There was a pause and they all heard from upstairs Spike cough and a crackle of flames. “Ah, thy assistant has recovered mine tome. Excellent, now we may explain our motivations at least.” Her horn sparked and a book the size of a car-door and thicker than his thigh floated down the stairs and set gently on the table which creaked under the sheer weight of it. Raj inspected the massive tome. The thing's binding and cover were shod in iron and a heavy padlock held it shut. A rune he didn't recognize had been burned onto the cover, something that looked like a quartet of slash marks, like a hot claw had been run along the cover. “Behold Rajrishi Singh Oberoi and Twilight Sparkle, knowledge that has been banished form this world for more than five-thousand years: The Book of Titans.” Her horn flashed and the lock clanked off and the cover swung open, showing pages made from wafer-thin pieces of polished copper marked with black ink. Raj ran his hand along a page, feeling the smoothness. This thing just felt ancient, older than the stones beneath his feet. “What's in this thing?” he asked quietly. “Terrors Rajrishi, terrors.” Luna focused, rattling the pages until she made it about halfway through. “Ah, there it is. We knew it was there, the chapter on Briarus.” Raj furrowed his brow “Everybody keeps mentioning that. What is a 'Briarus' anyway?” “He is a creature of terrible power and rage, a Hekatonkheire, the most dangerous beast to every stride Equestrian soil, and unless we miss our guess,” she flipped a few more pages “thy progenitor.” She tapped an illustration. Raj leaned in and inspected the illustration. Taking up a whole page and wrought in black against copper, was a true monster. It stood a thousand feet high in scale on a tangled mess of long, grasping, multi-jointed arms that bulged with muscle. Each arm ended in a five-fingered hand, each one always shaded black against the page. There were a hundred large arms, each one reaching to destroy something or punching at unseen obstacles, in between those hulking limbs bristled smaller ones, mostly lost in the scale. The whole creature spoke of violence and fury, of mindless destruction. The detail that stood out most however, was a single head perched at the top, hairless, supported by more arms and wracked in a mad scream. On that head, was a distinctly human face. Raj stared at the page for a long minute before simply uttering “Oh.”