//------------------------------// // Episode 2: New Endeavors of a Nightmare - Part Five // Story: All is for my Princess // by Hoppa_21 //------------------------------// “Well, it seems the entertainment for the party has arrived,” I stated as I cracked my paw knuckles before walking closer to the beast. It only seemed to give me a sideways glance before turning back to the fillies. I could already hear panicked screams and a stomping of hooves, showing that the prey animals are leaving the area. I was just about to get into the fray, when I heard a commanding tone address me. “Fenrich! Safe the foals!” Luna ordered me as she got closer to the monster herself, while her eyes shone with a rather nostalgic determination, “We shalt show this mindless beast what it means to anger the Princess of the Night!” “At once your highness!” I agreed as I sped forwards. Just in time I grabbed the three shirts of the problem fillies in my muzzle before forcefully dragging them away, just as one of the hydra heads sunk itself in the floorboards, completely obliterating them with a loud crack. The fillies screamed out in surprise as I dragged them along the floors and towards the other side of the town hall where ponies were already storming out of the double doors. They seemed a bit dizzy after this experience. I looked them over shortly, making sure they were in an adequate condition before turning back and running to the hydra. The Princess was already standing in a boxing stance before this foul beast. She instantly rushed forward in admirable speed for her now weakened form and threw two quick punches to its gut. The hydra seemed to recoil slightly from the power of the punches, but was otherwise unharmed and unimpressed. It let out a furious roar as it dove one of his heads towards the Princess who quickly sidestepped it and letting it crash into the ground. She had however no time for a break as another head immediately dove for her new position as well, making her roll out of the way. As she got up she threw another quick punch to the head now embedded in the wooden floor. One other head quickly attacked her from the front, and it seemed the beasts had a strategy as the last one tried to take her off-guard from behind. The Princess quickly jumped up avoiding the head on the front and prepared to strike the head below her now in mid-air. The one head on the back quickly made a lunge at her, but I of course smashed into its cheek with the same ferocity like the kick I decimated the door with earlier. This gave the Princess enough time to fire Ice on the creature, engulfing its body in ice before dispersing just as quickly, giving it some damage. Both of us took this opportunity to take a step back and assess the situation. Ponies were still fleeing from the building, while the five mares were trying their best to bring them to safety. Rarity seemed to have taken the lead as she has stopped Rainbow from storming right into the battle. ‘It seems that she will live another day.’ Before we could dwell further on this all four heads of the hydra rose again. The creature scowled at us in clear distaste as it gave us a fierce and hate-filled glare. Its heads lashed out again, making us dodge, before the beast whipped around. His thick tail lashing out at us. I ducked under it with ease, while the Princess took off with her reduced wing size, showing her agility as she was furthermore dodging their heads in the air, before giving a flurry of punches to one of the beasts throats, making it choke slightly. I meanwhile took aim at the beasts knee, kicking it with all my might, and making it stumble slightly, so that it had to lean down on it. The Princess and I looked at each other. A look which conveyed a concrete message. Our attack plan. Immediately we drew back, before both of us stormed at the creature. It tried to hinder us in our offensive by lashing out with its head, but we both managed to dodge. I then jumped in the air, being alongside the Princess as we both aimed our legs at this beasts torso, hitting it hard with a well-trained double kick. The beast gasped out in surprise as it fell backwards through the hole it came from and into the open. Much to our annoyance it quickly stood back up with a low menacing growl, seemingly unharmed by our combined efforts. “Halt foul creature!” And now it seemed that we even got some backup from solar guards as nine of them suddenly rushed forward towards the hydra. Honestly, it is a pathetic display that the ones that are assigned with the protection of this little town are so late for the party. Not that I’m expecting much from a guard that was trained under the Sun Witch’s regime. Anyway, the hydra glowered at the guards with annoyance but seemed to bide its time, letting them get near and clearly luring them in. It was quite the obvious trap, but the guards didn’t seem to notice that. The tensing of muscles was the only warning they received or probably even perceived as the beast swung around with his tail, using it as a powerful whip against the guards. Me and the Princess of course avoided this attack again with ease. The solar guards however… More than half of them were hit by the reptiles strong tail and quickly knocked out. I couldn’t help the groan that escaped my lips at this sheer incompetence. Give me three of the night guard and they would do a better job than them. They would actually even manage to slay this monster with no problem. The remaining solar guards weren’t all that helpful either, as two of them were quickly knocked out by the creatures head butt, leading to only one of them standing. A young pegasus by the looks of it. He tried to put on a brave face, but he never seemed to have faced such a beast before. Clearly a recruit. He raised his sword with shaky hands, making the creature chuckle maliciously as it raised its hoof. Of course the guard was too shaken to dodge as the foot came down on him. His sword bent and then shattered under the well-armored foot and it seems like this guard might lose his life, or face rather painful injuries to say the least. Well, that was until the Princess stepped in, shoving the inept guard out of the way. She held both of her hands up as the foot came down on her. But of course she wasn’t squashed like that guard would have been. She was holding the beasts foot aloof, much to the beasts frustration as it tried to stomp her, increasing the pressure on her. The Princess strained under the weight of the beast, but was not going to give up. “WE SAY NAY! NO LIFE SHALT BE LOST TODAY!” the Princess roared with a fierce determination, making my admiration for her spike again. Unconsciously a memory was played in my mind. The memory of how I came to be her most loyal servant and right hand. Of course I quickly shook this heart-warming memory off to help her. With a small sprint and some well-aimed torso kicks the Princess managed to get out under the foot as the beast stumbled back a bit. The Princess gave me a grateful smile before turning back to the saved guard. “Bring the guards to safety. We shall see to this matter personally.” The guard nodded dumbly at the commanding tone, as well as in visible awe of the Princess, despite her diminutive form, making me smirk. The Princess then turned back to the fight and we both got into a battling stance once again, ready to continue our fight with the hydra. We then both continued to pummel the monster, always dodging, jumping, flying out of the way, while landing several punches and in Luna’s case some Ice spells, encasing some parts of the beast in thick layer of ice. But each punch we threw at it, each time the Princess froze one of its limbs or heads, it would stun the creature only for a mere moment, before it was back to its full fighting prowess. It was quite disconcerting to say the least. One head launched at her, and since she couldn’t dodge in time she got into a defense stance. The incoming headbutt was pushing her far back, leaving noticeable trench marks in the ground. Only three hydra lengths later she came to a stop, huffing in annoyance at this persistent creature that even dared to stuck its tongue out at her in clear defiance. I quickly run over to her. Seeing as our assaults won’t work we might have to use a different kind of tactic. And I already had an idea. “It seems that both of our attacks alone are not causing much damage, considering his scales give him quite the admirable DEF. At least for the likes of him,” I said in an analyzing tone of voice. “So it seems,” the Princess nodded as she eyed the big monster for any kind of weakness she might have missed. “But even the thickest hide can be torn asunder, if you only use either the right tool, or the right amount of magical prowess. Therefore allow me to make a proposal, Princess.” “I’m listening.” I simply mentioned one word. One word that I noticed on my commando bar. An ability I couldn’t use in my normal form, but now am able to pull off without a second thought. It definitely would be a new experience, but it might give the Princess the power she needs. I could already see the realization in her eyes, before she thought about my proposal for a short moment. “So thine suggestion is we use brute force to slay this mindless beast? To simply double our own fighting prowess in hope of piercing this hydras hide?” she asked with a sceptic gaze and a raised eyebrow. I simply nodded, waiting for her judgement. Just like I expected her eyes quickly lit up to the idea as she couldn’t help the cheery grin that formed on her muzzle. “We really ADORE this idea, Fenrich! We art really quite fed up, like modern ponies would say with this beast, so taking it out like that would be a great help. Thou always seem to know the right thing to say!” I bowed to her, “I knew you would see it like that. So shall we proceed?” The Princess nodded, “We shall!” With that I stepped forward to the Princess opened the commando bar in my minds eyes and let my gaze hover over the new option. “MAGICHANGE!” I roared with determination as I chose the command. What followed was a rather alien feeling as my own magic enveloped me and changed my form. I was twirling around the Princess in an arc of light a few times, before my body aimed in on her fists as it split in two. After both of them were enveloped I started to regain a form again. When this new sensation was finished Luna had leather gloves on her fists. They were red like my own clothes with a bushel of fur on the inside and at the wrist end of it, making it rather comfortable for the wearer. Three black spikes lined her knuckles and my sharp eyes were directly beneath that. I will admit that it was a bit disorientating, considering how I was split in two and had now two different sets of eyes in different locations. “Art thou alright?” the Princess finally asked as she eyed the new pair of magichange weapons. “I’m quite alright. It is only a strange feelings since this was my first Magichange. But I will get used to it over time.” The Princess nodded, before going into a boxing stance again and eyeing the hydra. A small smile then spread across her face. “We must say, thou art quite comfortable to wear Fenrich.” “I thank you for your compliment Princess. Now shall we dispose of this blight?” The Princess nodded as she stepped closer to the scaly nuisance, “We will.” Said hydra seemed rather wary after the show of magical might that came with the Magichange. It seemed to be smarter than I gave it credit. The Princess of course saw this careful behavior too, and it only fueled her confidence. “Thou seem surprised. Fenrich knew that our power alone was not enough yet. But with our combined efforts we shalt now smite thee!” And so she did. She landed punch after hard punch at the beasts torso, making his heads gasp in pain as its skin was embedded through the punches. Of course it tried to retaliate in a blind rage, but the Princess easily dodged its heads as they one after the other came crushing down into the dirt. Seeing as its tactic didn’t work it quickly turned trying another tail whip. Luna laughed triumphantly as she sprung up before it could hit her. She hereby propelled herself towards two of its heads, her fists connecting with both of them. I even heard a satisfying crack as both of the heads jaws dislocated and it fell on its back with a loud wail of pain. Of course the beast wasn’t defeated just yet, but the blood that was dripping from its maws and nostrils was a good indication as any that it would soon be over. It stood up with an intense hate-filled glare. The two heads with working jaws roaring loudly in fury as it stormed at us in a blind rage, not caring for any form of defense. “Let’s finish this, Fenrich!” the Princess stated elated. “As you wish! All is for my Princess!” With that she kicked the incoming and annoying hydra up in the air. All of the ponies around stared in awe as it was lifted up, before gravity decided to drag it back down again. The shadow was directly beneath the Mistress of the Night, who just smirked. Both gloves then started to glow as the spikes on them started to grow and harden to almost unnatural levels. “Bloodrain Terror!” we both exclaimed as she assaulted the beast with a flurry of punches as soon as it came in reach. Again and again they connected painfully with it, as the sheer speed and ferocity of our attacks kept it in midair. Dent after painful dent formed in the hydras scales, before the Princess deemed it enough and let both fists connect with the body to drive it higher again, as she prepared herself for the last attack. She jumped up as the gloves started to grow brighter, crackling with energy. As she when reached the creature she drove both fists deep into the beasts scales. Nothing seemed to happen for a moment as the time seemed to slow to a halt. At least before a few seconds later a huge hole was torn into the beasts torso and its guts spilled out of its back. Like a blood-red fountain. The Princess then came back down as the body of the hydra landed next to her. A rain of blood followed only a second later, showering the Princess in the life-giving substance. I turned back into myself after the blood rain ended and nodded approvingly. “That was an excellent show of power Princess.” And I meant every word of it. Just how the ponies turned green or cowered in fear at the filly in front of them that was bathed in all matters of guts and bloody grime. It warmed my cold heart. This was the Princess I remembered. The Princess I swore fealty to. She seemed rather proud of her kill, and she could be, considering her limited power. However her attitude seemed to change then suddenly as she noticed the stares of the ponies. She was suddenly wrapping her arms around her chest as if she was cold, her shoulders were tense, while looking frantically around at the whispering and fear-struck ponies. Her breathing seemed to quicken just as her heartrate did. “…Princess?” I asked worriedly. But not because I didn’t recognize the emotion that played in her eyes, because I very well did. And this was the problem. The emotion was fear. Before I could do anything else the Princess started to run off in a hurried pace, leaving me and everyone else behind. ‘Just what happened?’ I mused rather confused. She seemed to be a bit off today, I noticed that, but the problem seems to run deeper than I first anticipated. I looked around the crowd again. Fear still displayed. I then even saw the five Element Bearers. Rarity, Flutteshy and Pinkie looked worried after the Princess, while Applejack and Rainbow Dash shot me disgusted and disapproving looks, which honestly made me roll my eyes. ‘How would they have handled the situation?’ I thought with clear annoyance. But there was no time for this. Deciding that I needed to comfort the Princess I took off in search for her, only one thought occupying my mind. ‘What did I miss?’