Living Mark of Courage

by Moowell

Battle for Kindness

Epona finally made it to the top of the trunk after avoiding and fending off several patrols that managed to spot her. It was made of several large branches meeting and converging to form a sort of bowl. In the center of that bowl sat a small metal safe, exactly where Fluttershy said it would be. However, something was strange.

Where were the changelings?

Not a single one could be seen within the bowl. There were enough of them to guard the branches all the way up, and they must've known where the Element was hidden. They may have been the ones that hid it all those years ago, so why weren't there any around?

"Miss Fluttershy, where are the changelings? Ah don't see any here." No response. "Miss Fluttershy?"

'I can't take my focus off of the ones on the ground. I'm sorry, but I can't help you right now, Epona. Be careful, but please hurry!'

Epona sighed and slowly made her way into the bowl. Suddenly, she heard a roar high above. She turned her gaze skyward to see a swarm of changelings attacking and combating a Manticore. The Manticore appeared to be fending them off valiantly, but it was sorely outnumbered. One of the changelings managed to break through its defenses and bite it on the back of the neck.

The beast stopped fighting mid-swipe. It's eyes glazed over and began to glow an eerie green as the poison seeped through its body. The changeling on its back went in front of it, then pointed down at the chest. Then it noticed Epona and pointed directly at her. The Manticore dive-bombed in front of Epona and roared a bestial, guttural roar.

"Easy, kitty..." Epona said softly, lifting her hooves. "Ah don't want any trouble, just what's in that chest there."

The Manticore leapt forward and swiped at Epona, who rolled out of the way. It then shot its stinger at her, but she blocked with her shield. She pulled out her metal sword and faced it.

'Don't hurt it, Epona!' Fluttershy cried. 'It's under the effects of the changeling's poison. It isn't in control of itself right now!'

"What, ya want me to wait until the poison's gone? Ah'll be chow!" Epona dodged backward just as the Manticore leapt again. "How am Ah supposed to get to the Element without beating this guy?"

'I don't know, but please try!'

"If ya say so, Miss Fluttershy..."

Epona put her sword away and darted out of range of the beast's stinger, then ran to the edge of the bowl. The Manticore followed her, swiping and throwing its stinger at her at every opportunity. She traveled along one of the larger branches in an attempt to lead it away from the safe, then disappeared into some leaves. The beast followed continued to follow her, but when it passed through the leaves, a bright flash disoriented it. Epona ate a pegasus seed and sprinted back to the safe in hopes that the beast would lose track of her, but no such luck. It still followed her by her smell until its eyes cleared.

Epona realized she had to get rid of her smell, so she pulled out a scent seed and cracked it open, releasing its smell over her body. The beast sniffed, it's eyes going wide. Then it sprang at her with increased vigor. Epona ran, but it caught up to her and pinned her down.

Strangely, that's all it did. It just stood there, sniffing her.

Epona drew her slingshot shot another scent seed a little further up the branch. The Manticore immediately turned and followed the smell. So she shot another, and another, sending it further and further away from the chest. Finally, she shot one to the farthest reach that she could hit and watched the Manticore disappear.

She made her way back to the safe which held the Element of Kindness. Epona turned the handle which locked it round and round until she heard a gear click inside. Slowly she opened the door. Inside sat a necklace with a butterfly emblem on the front.

Just then she heard a roar. She whirled and barely formed her shield before the Manticore spun on its forepaw and struck her with its tail, sending her flying backward over the safe until she crashed into the side of one of the larger branches. She slid down the branch and landed on her haunches with her head slumped forward between her legs.

The Manticore slammed the safe shut and twisted the handle back into the locked position with the flick of its claw.

Epona punched the ground. Then she picked herself up, dusted herself off and stared directly into the Manticore's eyes with dark, angry slits. "A'right, kitty," she growled. "Ah tried to be nice and listen to Fluttershy, but now Ah'm ready to play mah way."

She popped a Pegasus seed into her mouth walked forward without chewing. The power bracelets formed around her right hoof as she walked, and Snowshoe formed around her left. Her feather appeared within her mane. A small nut appeared in her hoof, which she tossed lightly at the Manticore. The beast watched as the nut arched through the air and landed softly at its feet. It leaned in and touched the nut with a claw. Suddenly, the nut flashed with a blinding light.

At that instant, Epona bit into the seed and sprinted for the stunned beast. She grabbed it by the stinger and carried it all the way until she reached the far wall and swung it over her shoulder, slamming it into the ground. Then she grabbed it by one of its great paws and slammed it into the wall. She leapt backward, drawing out her wooden sword midair, then dashed forward and brought its edge crashing into the beast's face.

She leapt high into the air, not waiting for the Manticore to reorient. Snowshoe disappeared from her left hoof, replaced instead by Rang 2 and her boomerang. She launched the projectile and drew out her slingshot. Even as the boomerang struck the Manticore in the jaw, she fired a gale seed just in front of the beast. The newborn tornado caught the boomerang and rapidly swung it around, pummeling the Manticore repeatedly. As the gale subsided and she fell back down to the tree, she dropped a bomb and brought her wooden sword down hard on the beast's head. Then she opened it's mouth, shoved the bomb down its throat, and forced her shield up against its muzzle.

Epona felt a pressure against her shield. When she looked up, she saw the Manticore's eyes rolling back as its body slumped over.

'Y-you killed him...'

Epona lifted the Manticore's eyelids. They were bloodshot. "Yep."

'Even though it didn't know what it was doing, you killed him.'

"Yep." She put her shield away then turned to face the safe.

'I asked you not to hurt him!'

Epona sighed. "Ya said try, and Ah did. Ah really did. But Ah couldn't get to the Element without beating it."

'But you didn't have to kill him!'

"If Ah didn't kill him, he would've eaten me! And Ah couldn't just ask for you to Stare him down 'cause you were too busy to help, remember?!" She walked over to the safe.

'Epona, you... You're a monster!'

"So they keep telling me." She opened the safe again and reached inside.

She suddenly felt as though a weight had been forced on her shoulders, and an uncontrollable fear took hold of her senses. Her pupils became little more than dots. She cringed, backpedaling until she bumped against the wall. When she could no longer move backward, she curled into a ball and stared out everywhere, paranoid of seeing the thing which had gripped her with terror.

'How could you, Epona? You said you wouldn't hurt him!' The weight on Epona become even heavier. Under the great tree's power, Epona could hardly think, much less move. 'What do you have to say for yourself?!'

"A-Ah had no choice!" Epona cried.

'No choice?! You could have spared his life, or waited until the poison's effect wore off, but you didn't! You could've-- Aaahh!!'

The weight vanished as if it had never existed, and the terror left Epona. All she knew now was that Fluttershy had screamed. "Miss Fluttershy, what's wrong?"

'Hurry! Take Kindness and get away from here!' Epona saw a faint flickering light coming up from over the edge of the bowl. She climbed up the side and looked over.

Fluttershy was burning.

Epona's eyes grew wide at the sight. Hundreds of changelings with torches were flying all around her, setting her leaves ablaze. The flames were traveling up her branches, becoming hotter and more violent.

'What are you waiting for?! Take Kindness and get away from here or you will die too!'

Epona turned back to run toward the safe, but four deafening roars made her pause. A large serpentine head with glowing green eyes appeared over the other side of the bowl. Then another, and another until four long necks were visible, all joining into a single body. The heads stared down at Epona and roared again.

Epona stared back up at the heads. "How in the hay am Ah supposed to fight that?!" One of the Hydra's head shot down and grabbed hold of the safe, lifting it back away from Epona. "Hey, wait!"

"Sstupid Earth Pony! We will not let you ssteal the changeling'ss Element!" A score of changelings flew up from behind the Hydra and landed on the trunk. "It'ss time for you to dissappear!"

"INCOMIIIIIIIIIIING!!" A pink blur streaked down from the sky and crashed into the center of the changeling swarm. When the dust cleared, Epona saw a pink Earth Pony mare standing in the impact site. The mare waved to her. "Hiya, Apple Bloom! Long time no see! Something like a hundred years, I think. Wow, you haven't aged a bit! You'll have to tell me your secret when we get a chance to talk, but that'll have to wait right now. My pinkie sense is telling me that we've got a friend to save!"

"That'ss one of the poniess the Queen sspoke of! Sshe musst be the real thief!" The swarm of changelings pounced on the strange mare, forming a pile on top of her.

"Mind if I borrow these? Thanks!" Epona whirled to see the mare standing beside her holding a set of blue orbs with white string just like her-- She checked her inventory and discovered that her bombs were missing! How had that mare taken her stuff?!

The mare pulled a cannon out from nowhere and loaded the bombs inside. "FIRE AWAY!" She pressed a button on the back and shot a bomb at the piled swarm, scattering the changelings in every direction. "Hey, Apple Bloom!" Epona glanced at the mare. "Stop gawking and save Fluttershy already! Do you want her to burn?"

Epona snapped out of her reverie and looked back over the bowl's edge. The fires had spread closer to the trunk and were climbing higher and higher. "How am I supposed to put out that huge fire by mahself?"

"Whenever I feel a fiery rage burning inside me, I sing to myself and that makes it all better!" The mare aimed the cannon at the Hydra and held its button down, shooting rapid-fire bombs at the monster like fireworks at a festival. "WOO!"

"How is singing supposed to-- Wait, a song?" Epona stared up at the starlit sky. "Will that work?" She pulled out her ocarina and began to play.

(A)(C)^(A)~, (A)(C)^(A)~, ^(B)~^(C)^(B)^(C)^(B)(G)(E)~,
(E), (A), (C)(D)(E)~~, (E), (A), (C)(D)(B)~~,
(A)(C)^(A)~, (A)(C)^(A)~, ^(B)~(C)^(B)^(C)^(B)(G)(E)~,
(E), (A), (C)(D)(E)~, (E), (A)~~~~~

As the filly finished her song, she looked up. The stars were suddenly blotted from the sky, and flashes of lightning arced in their place. The air became humid and sticky, saturated with moisture, but no rain fell to quench the flames, so she played the song again. She repeated the song over and over until finally she felt a large droplet strike her hoof. When she looked up, she saw millions of orange reflections falling from the sky. She grinned, then continued playing until the water breached the canopy and reached the branches below, cooling and dousing them with its life saving power.

A tree shaking crash struck the ground, causing Epona to stop. The Hydra's heads had fallen, and the safe was now free of its jaws.

"Well, it was nice to see you again, Apple Bloom! Tell Applejack Pinkie says hi!" Pinkie strode up to the safe and opened it, then took out the Element of Kindness.

"Hey, wait! That's what Ah was trying to get!" Epona called. The mare glanced back at her.

"Sorry, but I've got orders from the Empress herself to take this little doohickey." The mare tapped the Element. "I can't just let you have it."

"Then Ah'll just have to take it from you!" Epona drew out her sword and shield and faced the mare.

"Apple Bloom-"

"Mah name's Epona!"

"Apple Bloom," Pinkie reiterated. "Put that away. You could hurt somepony with a sharp little dagger like that, especially in this weather! Oh, these are yours. Thanks for letting me borrow them! They really helped against that Hydra!" She tossed the bombs at Epona's hooves, then pulled out her cannon again and loaded herself inside.

"Wait!" Epona rushed forward.

"Don't worry, Apple Bloom! I'm sure we'll meet again. Bye for now!" Epona instinctively held up her shield as the cannon fired, launching Pinkie into the distance with a force powerful enough to blow the cannon to pieces.

Comments

[Airoe]

God damn it pinkie pie....

[Night_Moon60606]

think u could find You Tube clips of those songs Apple Bloom plays? im sure someone has posted them somewhere...

[GMZ_Casper]

...Well, so much for getting the Element of Kindness. And, it seems Pinkie is now confirmed as an enemy (it was a maybe beforehand, but now it is for sure), though she did help Epona saved both Fluttershy and herself. It is going to be interesting to find out why Pinkie is the way she is in this story. As for Epona's behavior with the Manticore...while a part of me can understand that she was trying to survive, another part of me think that she really need to regain her sense of empathy. Poor Fluttershy, to have to witnessed something like that, and then to almost be burn alive...

Now it is time to hunt down Pinkie Pie before she escape completely with the Element of Kindness. Of course, it is going to be very hard to do so, since she has a good lead and has the skill to be very evasive. And, she has to see if Fluttershy is okay, first. Afterward, if anything doesn't interrupted the hunt or something else happen, then Pinkie deserved a good beatdown...you know, that is the strange thing I'll ever say, since I am a huge fan of Pinkie. Hopefully, she get some sense slap into her before anything seriously bad happen.

[Telly Vision]

Only pinkie would know how to break into someone else's hammer space.

[Moowell]

3556400>>3556503>>3560297>>3560585>>3564729
Fluttershy is best pony, no matter what her shape happens to be.

3566300
Probably, but I find it's more fun to type everything out I guess I could do both, though. If more readers have an issue with this, I'll definitely go back and put in some links. This chapter's song was the Song of Storms.

3566659
Yes, I suppose you could consider Pinkie Pie as an 'enemy'; however, I wouldn't say that she and Epona are against each other. More of rivals, really, since they shared the same basic goals (save Fluttershy, keep the Element away from the 'lings) and do not yet have any major conflicts of interest. At some point though, they will probably be true enemies.

Epona's behavior... It could've been far worse. More likely than not, it will get worse before it gets better due to the processes that are taking place within her. We'll just have to see how the story writes itself.

You're absolutely right about checking on Flutters as the top priority. And about the need to track Pinkie Pie. Unfortunately, Epona doesn't stand a snowball's chance in Dragon Mountain of tracking her, much less defeating her, with her current equipment. She is going to need several key things before she can survive a serious encounter against Pinkie.

3567041
Because Pinkie Pie

[GMZ_Casper]

3567293
...You...do realized that you have just leak a spoiler (minor, and somewhat vague, as it was), don't you? You may want to be more careful in the future about that kind of thing.

[squall_wave]

wow simply wow this is getting hot but i think i understand epona can't get the elements so easily i simply must see what's next goo job

[Moowell]

3568604
Thanks!