"So let me see if I've got this straight," Quartz said as she rested her hooves against each other on her polished desk, looking at the ponies and griffon gathered before her with concealed worry in her eyes and an air of disbelief in her voice. "Your telling me that this "monster" is some sort of deformed dragon? You were attacked, and then you were saved by some sort of ninja mare? Because that's what it sounds like your trying say."
To be completely honest Quartz was not entirely sure if either Harp or Gerald were entirely in their right minds when they described the creature that had attacked them. They were both worn out and exhausted when they had arrived at Hollow Shades gates, and the griffon had even been injured with a wing that looked bent at an awkward angle. The injury was one that Quartz could sympathize with, as she had once broken her wings when she was a little older than the average filly. She remembered how painful it had been, and wondered if Gerald was just putting on a show until it cold be addressed. She had tried to convince him to go see a doctor, but he had insisted that he and Harp speak with her first.
When he had finished his tale, with Harp offering the occasional comment, Quartz felt inclined to believe that perhaps they had imagined some of their ordeal. That was not to say however that she thought that they were outright making their story up; it was obvious that something had happened to them out there. She was simply under the impression that perhaps given the danger they were in, their subconscious minds had overblown the monster they had seen to impossible proportions. To hear them talk about how fearsome the creature supposedly was Quartz would have thought that they had been attacked by Tirek himself. She honestly did not know what part of their story to believe. Especially the part where this "Miss Drops" as Gerald called came in a saved them.
To her it almost sounded more like the plot line for a campy horror movie.
"That is correct ma'am," Gerald replied, his thick accent causing Quartz's ears to lay back against her head. "It is a dangerous beast, a monster unlike any other. The only reason we are here now is because of Miss Drops."
"And where is this Miss Drops now?" Quartz questioned. "No one on the wall saw another pony with you. It was just you two."
At this, both Gerald's and Harp's faces fell slightly, and Quartz noticed that there was a look in their eyes that the mare knew meant something bad. Harp turned away, seemingly unable to look her in the eye. The griffon next to him was the only one able to speak.
"Miss Drops. . . she. . ." he said, a slight stutter in his voice. Taking a steadying breath he finally said, "The beast was too strong for mere traps to take down. Miss Drops saw that the only way to let us live was to draw it away on her own."
Quartz was not quite sure what to say to that. If she was being honest with herself she actually doubted the existence of Miss Drops. She knew of nopony that was able to do the things Gerald claimed, but the way Gerald spoke of her, like he had known this mysterious pony for most of his life, left her wondering about it. Either way, she was not about to start saying that Gerald may have been stretching the truth. Nor was she about to start doubting the fact that something had attacked them, or at least was provoked into attacking.
"Alright," Quartz said as she brought out a piece of paper and a quill, setting both items on her desk. "Can you describe this creature to me again? In detail?"
"What for? We already told you what it looks like," Harp stated.
"Yes, but only a general description," Quartz replied, shooting the young stallion a reprimanding glare. "Since it seems that hiring hunters is not going to help any of us against this thing-" Gerald huffed slightly, but Quartz decided to ignore his injured pride and continued explaining. "As I was saying, I need something to send to Canterlot to see if there's anything in their archives that might match its description. From there we can figure out what it is and how to deal with it."
"A good plan!" Gerald exclaimed before he surprised Quartz by taking the the quill and parchment from her, and began scribbling something down on it. It looked like he was drawing. Very poorly she might add. When Quartz had asked them to describe the creature to her, she had actually meant for them to give her a list of features and traits, but she supposed this would work too. Leaning over, she tried to see what Gerald had drawn so far, only for the griffin to give her an odd look and block her view with a clawed foreleg. Quartz rolled her eyes and resigned herself to waiting. It would seem that she was in the presence of an artist after all, one who did not want show his work until it was finished.
After a number of minutes had passed, Gerald was eventually done. Setting the quill down he proceeded to push the drawing towards her. Quartz thanked him, not sure why she was doing so, before looking down at the picture on the parchment. However when she saw it, he was not sure if the picture was upside down or if she had somehow missed the seizure that Gerald must have had as he was drawing. She tilted her head to see if it would help, but that only made the image look that much more convoluted. To her it almost looked like some sort of squid contortionist with a bad case of the trots.
"Um, are you sure this is what you saw?" she asked as she presented the picture to him. Gerald nodded with a satisfied grin. Harp on the other hoof surprised them all by bursting into laughter the second he saw it, earning a glare from Gerald.
"Uh, I'm sorry you old bird," he said between breaths, "but I don't remember it looking quite like that."
"What do you mean?" Gerald questioned incredulously. "It is good picture!"
Harp shook his head however as he stepped over. "May I have another piece of paper?" he asked the mayor. Quartz shrugged, not wanting to start an argument over paper as she hoofed him another parchment. Harp proceeded to take the tip of the quill in his teeth as he set to work. Almost immediately Quartz was able to tell that he was much better at it than Gerald, despite the griffin having opposable digits to aid him. Where Gerald's movements were jerky and sharp, Harp's were much smoother in comparison. After a short wait he was done, and he slid the parchment back to Quartz, which had been turned over to hide the image. She was not quite sure, but she could have sworn she saw a blush in his blue coat.
Putting it out of her mind for the moment Quartz proceeded to turn the parchment over and inspect the drawing. When she saw the creature that he had recreated, she honestly was not sure whether to praise Harp for his skill, or pale at the very sight of the thing she was looking at. Never in all her life had she ever seen, or even heard of something even remotely resembling the the creature on the parchment. It was completely alien to her, and was somehow both terrifying and, oddly enough, rather beautiful to look at. The fact that it had a rather feminine build, aside from the extra arms and sleek eyeless head, made Quartz wonder if Harp had taken some artistic license with the drawing. Whatever the case, looking at the picture almost made her want to see the creature herself.
Almost. It did not take very much imagination for Quartz to guess that it was what killed the bug bear, but still she remembered that it had also attacked ponies. And even if had been provoked into the act, the very existence of a creature willing to do so was enough for Quartz to want to find a way to deal with it.
Looking up at the pony and griffon she said, "Alright then. I'll write up a letter and it along with this to Canterlot. I've lost a lot of faith in that place in the last couple of weeks, but hopefully somepony there will know what to do."
Quartz was just about to dismiss the two and pull out another parchment when Gerald held up a talon and said, "If I may ma'am, I believe that I have solution." After his statement the griffon reached into one of the many pockets before procuring a dark green bottle with some sort of liquid inside before placing it on her desk with a loud thunk. A satisfied smile crossed his beak, while Quartz and Harp only looked at the object incredulously.
"And. . . what exactly is this?" Quartz asked as she inspected the bottle, a quizzical look in her eye. "How does this help us?"
Rolling his eyes, Gerald proceeded to explain. "This is a very rare, and very expensive way to send letters. It belonged to Miss Drops, until she gave to us so that we could send a message for assistance straight to the Princesses."
"Okay," Quartz replied, nodding her head. "What is it?"
Gerald sighed. "It is bottle of dragon fire. Very hard to come by, but very useful to have. I can only guess as to how Miss Drops got her hooves on it, but right now it does not matter. With this we can send letter to Princess, and she will send reinforcements. And then, we can finally be done with this beast, and I can back home to Griffinstone." Sighing again, Gerald adopted a tired look in his eyes that Quartz felt she could relate to on some personal level. "I'm done with this monster business," he said. "Getting too old."
"Well then," Quartz replied as she brought the bottle over to herself and retrieving another parchment. "Let's get this over with. The sooner we get this message sent, the sooner we can all get back to our lives."
Within a few minutes Quartz had the entire letter detailing the situation they were written up. She briefly went over it to spot any errors she might have made before she slid it over to Gerald, who proceeded to uncork the bottle. The minute the cork was off an acrid smell filled the office that reminded Quartz somewhat of burnt hair, causing her to gag slightly in response. Holding up the letter and Harps drawing in one claw, Gerald careful tilted the bottle over them, apparently trying to be very careful not to spill. Soon enough a small drop came out and splattered on the pages, and before long both began to burn up in a green flame. Gerald held onto the pages until the fire had almost reached his talons, at which point he quickly let go of them just as they were consumed. The papers were evaporated in a small of sparkling smoke, which twisted in the air for a moment before disappearing entirely from sight.
"So," Quartz said suddenly. "You say that will go directly to the Princesses? As in, it will appear right in front of one of them, not just sit on a pile to be addressed later?"
Gerald nodded and replied, "Messages sent by dragon fire are always top priority for the Princesses. Help will come, probably in a day or so."
Quartz sighed, unsure if it was from relief or worry. She sagged into her seat as she felt the events of the past few days begin to take their effect on her, and all she wanted to do at that moment was have a drink and go to sleep. However there were still things that needed to be done in the meantime. She looked at Gerald, and at the wing hanging at his side. She wondered how he was able to shrug off the pain that he was undoubtedly feeling.
"You should probably go and have that looked at," she stated.
Gerald glanced at his injured appendage, giving it a gentle prod before wincing from the contact. "Right you are," he said as he turned around exited the room, leaving the two ponies alone. Appearing uncertain as to what he was supposed to do, Harp also began to make his departure, until the sound of Quartz clearing her throat stopped him.
"Harp," she said, an odd tone in her voice that was hard for the young stallion to miss, although he could not discern the meaning behind it.
"Yes ma'am?" he replied, wondering what she wanted to say to him.
"I just wanted to ask you something." For a moment Quartz was silent as she mulled over her thoughts. Then, clearing her throat a second time she asked, "You've seen this creature up close, right? Saw what it was capable of?" Harp nodded. " But so far I have yet to hear what you think of it. You've told me what it looks like, and I have heard quite a bit from Gerald, but I want to know what you think of it?"
For a moment Harp was silent as he considered how best to answer Quartz's question. "To be honest ma'am," he finally replied, "I don't know what to make of it. I mean, I get that this thing is dangerous and all. In fact I think a lot of ponies would go so far as to say it's even worse than the bug bear."
Quartz felt herself stiffen when he said that. That was a lot coming from him, as he was one of the few ponies to have seen first hoof what the bug bear had done. This only made his next statement that much more surprising.
"But if I'm telling the truth ma'am, I'm not entirely sure that's the case. I mean, as far as we know it had not done anything to harm ponies until we provoked it. After all, if something that strong has been living just a few miles away, wouldn't you think it would have already done something? In fact, if it's what killed the bug bear then it's actually helped us." Harp fell silent as gaze his gaze drifted to the wood flooring beneath his hooves. "And earlier, when I was telling you about how it started chasing me, I forgot to mention that it actually pushed me out of the way of a trap our griffon friend set up for it. Now, I don't know if it was intentional or not, but if hadn't done that, then I don't think I would even be here to tell you about it."
Quartz remained silent as she took in Harp's words, going over them in the confines of her skull.
"That's my two bits anyway," Harp said in finality as he turned to exit her office, and this time Quartz did stop him. She watched as he left her sight, and the sound of her front opening and closing echoed throughout her household. And Quartz just sat there at her desk, wondering just what she was going to do when whatever help the Princesses sent finally arrived.
Her thoughts were interrupted when a small spout of emerald flame erupted from the still open bottle that Gerald had left on her desk, startling her slightly. She calmed down when she saw the flames morph into a rolled up scroll, bound a seal indicating it was indeed from the Princess herself. Using her hoof to break the seal, Quartz careful rolled the scroll open and began to read its contents.
Addressed to: Rose Quartz, Mayor of Hollow Shades
Sender: Princess Celestia of Equestria
Dear Mayor, your message has been received, and I have arranged for a division of Royal Guards to be dispatched to the town of Hollow Shades as soon as possible. They should arrive in no less than one day. Until then, I advise that you and the ponies living there stay in their homes until the situation has been resolved.
I wish you the best of the luck.
Sincerely, Princess Celestia of Equestria
P.S.: Please thank the pony responsible for the drawing. Luna finds it quite lovely.
great as usual
Figured this would happen, now how is Bonnie going to try and fix this situation?
Beside few quite simple errors it is great, I hope to read next one soon.
UPDATE! Looking forward to more.
Been a while, good to see this still moving.
img13.deviantart.net/1e16/i/2015/036/4/9/evolve___wraith_by_lollingtroll-d8grmfl.jpg
6742771 Do you suppose that was the drawing Harp showed Quartz?
I need... to put this... in...
GAH! Fuck it, i'm doing it anyways!
Click this.
I just wanted to help and point out some mistakes I found while reading.
Paragraph 6: ..."No
on(one/pony) on the wall saw another pony with you...Paragraph 14: After a number of minutes
gad(had) passed...Those are really the only mistakes I found. Just silly mistakes
But over all I found this to be an enjoyable chapter. And, sometimes you have to quit focusing on the main character for a few chapters and that's alright. Can't wait for the next chapter! But.. Um I .... Will if you .... Want me to.
6743213
6743770 Thanks for catching those. I went over this chapter briefly to spot things like that, but they are a little harder to spot when they're not highlighted as being spelt wrong.
6743051 Fits your description, except for maybe the femininity. Other than that, it is just a good drawing of the wraith.
6743817 The inspiration for that scene actually came from an attempt at drawing the wraith myself. I knew that from the moment I first saw it, I just had to recreate it on paper.
I unfortunately made the mistake of relying on my memory alone. Now, it didn't look as bad as a squid contortionist with a bad case of the trots, but it still left much to be desired.
My next attempt was much better, mainly because I had actually used resource material for it.
6743831 Good idea using real experiences in your writing. I, myself, wish that I was good at drawing, but alas I was not blessed with that skill. The picture was just something that I found and thought fit the scene.
Gotta love Luna.
Statement: I find this chapter to be good as always. Mumbling: Though I do wish we could get more Bon Bon.
6744870 Are you an HK model?
6745970
Sarcastic answer: No I'm a T3 Utility Droid, of course I'm a HK Protocol Droid!
6745977Mad retort:Well, sorry if CHANGELING masara was a bit misleading.
6745986
Query: Would you want this whole site to know that you are a droid designed to kill?
6745996 Calmed answer: Good point. Except I think we just revealed that fact to everybody on the site.
6746002
Resuscitation: If my memory serves me correct my ship is *Turns to the left to look at a Sith Fighter* Right there. *Gets in the ship* Unfortunate Statement: Unfortunately our conversation must come to a close. It was nice meeting another HK Protocol Droid though. *Flys away*
What just happened?
...wat.
6746709 It's called buildup.
Yay another chapter. Is this going to be a httyd story of a parody of evolve.tm?
Im kiddin after all. Spoilers.
6758689 Nothing against the Kraken. I will not argue on whether or not he has some of the best abilities of all the monsters, of that I have no doubt. I just never really found myself getting too attached to baby Cthulhu. He just looks weird to me.
Actually I had originally planned to displace Angela as a female variant of the Goliath, but decided to go with the Wraith instead.
If I had waited just a few more months I think I might have actually gone for the Gorgon instead.
how many guards will run in terror when there weapons break or bounce off her skin or will she finally kill somepony?
6771726 All in good time my friend. All in good time. . .
6771866 will goliath smash?
6771956 Not Goliath. Wraith smash. Puny ponies run from Wraith.
6771997 she have no leap smash
6772009 Wraith not care. Wraith not limited by what game says.
Wraith learns.
Maybe. In sequel perhaps.
6772027 It's what happens when the author is too lazy or too tired to check his/her sentences.
6772028 goliath don't care you drop missile on its head it just loses it's footing and gets back up angry, and bay-Bo the space whale! I'm reading this stuff as we type!
6772041 Wraith takes missiles to face. Then eats your face! All monsters awesome!
6772052 I'll RIP OFF YOUR DICK AND BBBEAT YOU WITH IT!.
how did he get in here?
6773553 NO. There may, and I stress may, be mentions of them, but I will not be doing anything like that. I already have long term plans regarding Angela's future, and they do not involve tokens.
I don't even know what kind of token a multi-ton super predator would have.
6774766 Glad that you understand. Please know that my reluctance has nothing to do with whether or not I dislike the formula. I do actually think a story like that has a lot of potential, if done correctly that is. It is just that in most of the displaced fics that I have read so far, the characters meeting other displaced was little more than a brief cameo and nothing else. Nothing else came out of those meetings, resulting in awkward moments of and feelings of "What?" from me. Now, maybe I have not been reading the right ones, but still.
But who knows? Maybe in the future I will change my mind, and decide to go ahead with the idea. If that happens, you will be the first to know.
6775564 About halfway through the next chapter.
Hmm. How long till Bonney claims Ms tall, dark and scary is sentient, and they think she's crazy?
Am I the only one who noticed this?
6837746 I see....... What am I looking at?
6837746 Luna is best pony?
6744050 I laughed out loud when I read that.
You know, I was expecting that somewhere along the line Angela wouldn't be a standard Wraith, I expected she'd start evolving and draw on traits of the other monsters. Lightning powers and moderate flight of the Kraken, Goliath's flame breath and raw strength, Behemoth's earth powers and tongue and Gorgon's webs and spawning abilities. But no, straight up vanilla instead of neopolitan :T
I kinda want to downvote for the general uptick in stupidity-leading-to-conflict in this chapter. It's literally my most hated writing crutch when characters do and act so stupidly as to create 99% of their problems. Seriously, this is easily one of the the dumbest thing I've ever read on this site:
What are you even talking about? I'd imagine that hydra, the lupines, and generally a good percentage of predators in the woods would attack ponies unprovoked, and I don't see extermination plans being put in place for them. Killing the Wraith because it attacked after Gerald made multiple attempts to kill it is so far within the realm of reasonabilty and expectations for an apex predator that the fact the Quartz is even suggesting it to be abnormal makes me question whether or not she's brain dead.
This is the equivalent if we heard a story about a man running up to a bear and punching it, then blaming and hunting down the bear for killing the man. No, you consider the man a moron, mourn, and move on, letting his death be a lesson to others on what not to do when in the presents of a dangerous animal.
"Oh, what? You mean you continuously attacked the creature, stabbed and harassed it, and it attacked you? Well, obviously this is a rabid, unpredictable creature we are dealing with, so we better kill it."
I will reserve my downvote until next chapter to see if you halt this lunacy before it starts.
So, obviously only Ponies have the right to defend themselves. Seems the mindless, heartless destructive mentality of poachers and racists is alive and well.
Luna's got the hots for the sexy lady. I don't blame her -- it's quite the exotic specimen!
8572595
Tis true. The Wraith does have a nice blend of deadly elegance and a sort of, beautiful mystery to her, doesn't she?
Oh god. The suspense caused by misunderstandings causes me so much grief.......GAAAAAH!!! MUST. NOT. SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEP........(snore)