Interviews With Equestrians

by Jmaster49

Subject 165: Night Mission

That night, I actually slept pretty soundly. Nothing too out of the ordinary from what I could tell. I suppose this is what they referred to as the calm before the storm. Honestly, I didn’t expect an attack to be all at once. That was the exact reason that Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy lost their original battle. The same could be said for Sombra, the evil changelings, and Nightmare Moon. To strike with your most powerful force first was foolish at best and dangerous at worst.

And soon, my theory would be proven correct.

I heard a gentle tap outside of my bedroom window. It woke me up out of my sleep because it was three in the morning, and I had a rather pleasant dream going. But that was neither here nor there. Whatever it was, I hoped it was important.

So I got out of bed, wiped the drool from my mouth, and went to the window. There, I saw a familiar face with his fangs out and ready to roll. “Neon?” I asked as I pushed my window up, “What’s going on.”

“Alright mate. Glad you’ve been having a good nod-off. But it’s time to get moving,” he leaned towards my window and reached a hoof inside to beckon me. “Got a patrol. It might end up being nothing, but still…”

A patrol? That implied there would be at least a small group of demonic beasts. Everypony else was asleep right now, so it’d be the perfect time to launch an attack, I reckon. So what do we do? We go out and keep the world safe. But at the same time…

“I got you. But Neon, if we hit trouble...survival is what matters most.” I gave him a bit of a stern glare. “We are under no obligation to throw our lives away. So if things get rough, we need to high-tail it back here, and gather as much support as possible to fend off whatever threat this is. Understand?”

He nodded, and let out a few chitters. “Yes, yes, mate. Now come on. We have to get to it before they gain the advantage.”

I took off my solid black pajamas, and put my other trenchcoat on. Yes, I had lots of them. But this one had empty pockets so I could move around more easily. “Now just who is this ‘they’?” I questioned since I had realized that Neon didn’t exactly specify what sort of threat this would be.

“Admittedly...I have no idea, bruv,” he admitted as he flew ahead of me--I followed behind on hoof. “I just had a...very bad feelin’ in my bones. I didn’t wish to fight it off alone, given that I’d run the risk of getting lost without any support. That’s where you come in, eh?”

Naturally. I wouldn’t waste this chance. If it was an unknown threat, then we could at least figure out what it was, and come back when we were ready. “Fair enough. Show me what you found. Just how far is it?”

“Not very far. This way, Pale.”

It wasn’t very long before we had reached the exact location that Neon had mentioned. We ended up near the Everfree Forest. The Southern side near Ghastly Gorge. The cliffs were rather rugged and it would be difficult to keep balance if we had to go near the edge. So I prayed that we didn’t have to fight something that liked to be near ledges.

We were near the exit of the forest, and found ourselves at a ravine that had quite the gap to say the least. It would be impossible to cross unless you could fly--or had a lot of dexterity.

Anyhow, I looked to Neon for the scoop. “What’s the sitrep, Neon?”

The bat-stallion sniffed the air. Nothing came to him immediately. But from the way his wings flapped, I could already tell he sniffed out some danger. After all, weren’t bats able to taste a hostile presence via the air or something? Or no, I meant echolocation--that was it.

“So far...nothin’,” he replied from above in a low tone, “But if my instincts are correct, then we could be facin’ something we have never come across before. Something that’ll knock us right up if we aren’t careful.”

Now just what could that mean? There were loads upon loads of creatures that have existed throughout history. With Grogar being the Father of All Monsters, just what could he have ready to throw at us for an appetizer of sorts?

“If it’s anything large, we can just toss over the cliff and hope it can’t climb back up, I suppose,” I threw out a rather sketchy idea for the sake of levity. “The bigger they are and whatnot, right?”

Neon scoffed at my idea, as I expected. “Pfft. Mate, that only ever works in the movies. Lordzilla was only defeated because--” his ears suddenly twitched which interrupted his train of thought. “Now hang on there. I hear something. Something...strange.”

I took a step closer to him. His hearing was far greater than my own, so I pretty much had to rely on his guidance. Plus, it was the dead of night and he had better vision too. “What is it, Neon?”

With one more flick of his ear, he pointed towards a direction--even further South at the edge of the woods near Ghastly Gorge. “Over there. I hear...begging for help.”

Okay. One: That was odd. Two: Automatically suspicious. Yet we couldn’t just ignore it. On the off chance that it truly was a cry for help…

I made up my mind, and gave him the order. “We have to go. But let’s not rush into this, alright?”

“Absolutely, boss. On me.”

And so we went. He flew, and I ran towards the edge of the woods that overlooked the other end of the Gorge. So far, there was nothing we could see. According to Neon, however…

“We’re getting close. I can hear it much greater from here,” he said as we made our way into the bunches of trees.

After a minute or two of searching, we finally came across the source of the noise: Two mares that cowered in fear. Likely due to being lost…

“Hrm…” The blue-green batpony weighed his options. “I’m going in. You wait here, and back me up, boss.”

Something still felt off about this. But for the moment, all I could do was watch. Their auras didn’t come off as threatening, so maybe this was just a case of lost individuals? “Affirmative,” I said, and took cover behind one of the trees.

Neon flew forward, and called out to them. “Ahem. Hello, madams. We heard you both call out for help. Are you both lost, perhaps?”

There was silence for a moment, until one of the mares turned around to face him. She immediately called out in fear. “W-wait...a batpony?! Ew! Get away from us!”

The other mare joined in. “Y-yeah...we don’t wanna be rescued by you! You might suck our blood or take us home and force us to be your wives!”

“What?!” he took a step back, “I would never in my entire life do something so damning. You’ve got it all wrong, mates!”

Wait a second. Their aura. I felt it shift in an unnatural way. This was bad. Beyond bad. We needed to get away from them as quickly as possible. “...Neon!” I jumped out to him, “Get back!”

The mares continued to crouch in fear as their bodies overtook them. Their skin began to almost tear apart, yet they weren’t being mangled. No...it was as if they were morphing into something else!

“We said...leave...us...alone! Bats...are...UGLY!” they shouted in unison as a layer of brown fur grew out of their bodies. They were forced to stand upright, and their hooves became claws. Their eyes had become a solid red color and they grew into completely different creatures that towered over us by five times at least. And just what were these creatures?

Creatures that were lost to time, thought to be extinct over many eons ago. Ones that were only mentioned in fiction and folklore for the sake of scaring each other around a warm campfire. But this was no fairytale. These beasts were real.

Berserkers. Or werebears to be exact.

Comments

[Jmaster49]

10646409
Very possible. Then again, hiding it will just lead to it being found again. What to do...

[Neo4K]

😟 Huh. That's some night mission. Hope they can fend off whatever that creature is.

[GamePlayer64]

Creatures that were lost to time, thought to be extinct over many eons ago. Ones that were only mentioned in fiction and folklore for the sake of scaring each other around a warm campfire. But this was no fairytale. These beasts were real.

Berserkers. Or werebears to be exact.

FICTION AND FOLKLORE?! They live in a magic world with somewhat immortal Alicorns, a chimera of chaos magic, multiplying bugs, shapeshifters and a magic consuming Centaur. Peace made them too soft and stupid to make fun of creatures and species they've never seen.