//------------------------------// // Vox populi [18] // Story: Stories in Stone, Capricorn's Curse // by TDR //------------------------------// Stories in Stone Capricorn's Curse By TDR Vox populi [Tamberlane, under the shield, early evening. 19 hours after the island reappeared] “It........ it's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life.” Twilight squeed, practically drooling. The small group had left the concert hall with little effort, only encountering one or two other undead guards that were easily by passed as the shambling horrors seemed to be in a rush to be some where else. Given the violent explosion earlier and the faint roar of fighting in the distance made it quite clear where they were headed. The problem was, that if the undead were fighting Jer'rahd and Celestia that meant that they were running out of time. Grogar could ring the bell at any point in time and send everyone and everything on the island back into nothing for a unknown period of time. Given that Grogar's comments showed that the time out of the world wasn't in stasis, none of them wanted to grow old and die in this place, and even the immortals of the group didn't feel like leaving those they cared about behind that long. Once past the concert hall the rooms started showing more variety than the store rooms and vaults they had found before. Mess halls broom closets and various sitting rooms dotted the estate. There was little left of anything in most of them that hadn't rotted away to dust and one or two had windows that looked out into courtyards where they could see the yellow dome of a shield over them. After hours of searching rooms, they had hit the jackpot. A library. A massive library. One on par with the Royal Archives before Tirek destroyed the castle. Towering bookshelves stuffed full of books that were all in surprisingly good condition. Twilight and Trixie to a lesser degree were clearly excited by the place. Both the librarians set out immediately darting among the stacks and shelves looking over everything, mentally documenting the tomes present. “This is astounding, some of these titles Trixie has only heard about as referenced from other ancient tomes.” Trixie commented. “This is a history of Griffenstan during the dark ages. Even the Griffons don't have knowledge of that part of their past!” Twilight called out. Luna sighed letting the two carry on for a time before looking at the others. “Octavia there seems to be only one door in and out of here, would you mind guarding that? Lyra, I know you've researched the monsters you had to take out as a Guard see if you can find something useful about Grogar, the island , or the bell.” “What are you going to do?” Lyra asked. “I'll go try to get those two to focus.” Luna sighed. “Good luck,” Octavia chuckled heading over to the door. Lyra nodded as well as Luna made her way towards the two nerds with a slight grumble.” I knew twilight was bad, but Trixie too? I suppose all that time in Golden Oaks....” “Hey look, the written history of the potato.” Twilight exclaimed. “There's four copies of that at Golden Oaks” Trixie complained. “But this ones written in Seapony.” Twilight explained. “Ooooh , yes we need that one then.” Trixie agreed. ==================================== [ White tail Woods. ] “ BIG MAC you hold it right there buster!” Applebloom shouted, running up to her brother, noting that the subterranean Elk, Drakast was taking that moment to slip into a shadow and away from her brother and the several tones of broken stone that lay around him. Of course there were a few does who were now looking at the big red stallion with greedy interest and more than a few fawns and others standing around with their mouths hanging open at what they had seen. Big mac had that effect when he put his mind to something. She thought Drakast would be gone still, but evidently Mac had run into him as he returned early, probably to surprise her with a gift or something. The Watipi was always doing that, whether it was because he actually liked spending time with her, or he was just jealous of the time the others spent with her she didn't know, he was a hard one to read. Drakast also understood Equestrian just fine even if he couldn't speak it and she knew Applejack and Big Mac were learning Elk. Given the Watapi were more of the 'sneak around and use finesse' sort, the brunt display of force was probably a bit much. “Hmm?” Big Mac grunted looking back at his little sister as she ran up to him. Despite the new burst of height from her transformation he still towered over her. Although the yellow doe/mare was doing her best to try and glare down at him. “Don't you hmm me buster! What do you think you are doing?!” Applebloom demanded. “Jus letting yer colt friend know where his standing is with me. Nothing mor'n that.” Big Mac droned. “That's exactly what you shouldn't be doing....... whats all this any way?” She gestures to the rocks strewn about. “They were having trouble clearing a boulder from tha field so I figured I'd help......”Big Mac stated simply. “And you just happen to yank it outta tha ground and shatter it with Drakast nearby?” Applebloom accuses. “Eeyup.” Big Mac grinned. Applebloom was about to retort when a scream made her whirl around and look towards the other side of the village. “Ah think yah fergot yah got two siblings sis.” Big Mac chuckled as Applebloom growled in frustration glaring at Big Mac before running off towards the screaming. “DON'T YOU DARE THREATEN ANY ONE ELSE!!” Applebloom yells back racing off before Applejack hurt someone. ================================================== [ Tamberlane, outside of the shield] Metal clanged as their swords met, the undead donkey screaming out and spraying Jer'rahd with rot and maggots. His hoof impacted the underside of the creatures jaw, tearing it's head clean from it's shoulders, his magic gripped the exposed spine and yanked, pulling the spinal cord from the creature and using it to smash another aside as the first collapsed. He spit out his blade catching it in his magic as he wiped the gore from his face off on the back of his foreleg quickly before he brought the blade around to cut another one in half. The air was filled with the smell of rot, burnt flesh and a brimstone like scent that was the sand under them melting. Celestia was barely two paces from him, her control of magic much better than his and she swung the Brilliant Dawn and cast spells at the same time easily. Of course the Solar Princess had taken more to Starfall's style of combat and the leading edges of her wings were engulfed in fire as she wielded them like wing blades while using the double sword with magic or mouth as she needed. Frankly Jer'rahd was impressed. Not like he would ever tell her that however. The ground around them was littered with mashed undead, burnt husks and liquid glass. Cutting them up didn't work, very well unless you took their heads and shattered enough of their bones to make it impossible for them to remain upright. Removing their back bone was also a bit of a pun, but it worked. Of course the others that spawned did so by pulling themselves together out of what was left, often forming an amalgamation of horror that looked like nothing that should exist. Burning them was easier. Grogar had barely waited until they had ground under hoof again before throwing everything he had at them. The whole field was nothing but shambling corpses, most of which were fighting better than something as rotted and frail as these corpses were should have been. Most of them fought with the skill of expert soldiers, they didn't know fear and could shrug off even injuries from the Waning Moon and Brilliant Dawn as if they were nothing. The magic animating them was clearly persistent and large enough that even the magic nulling blades couldn't simply cut them down. Grogar remained behind his shield, his horns lit up with the odd two tone magic, clearly summoning more, or putting the fallen ones back together. It was a near never ending army that swept over the beach like a tidal wave to attack them. Of course the never ending dead were going to lose at this rate. Jer'rahd was by this point used to fighting overwhelming numbers of foes, those stronger than him, more skilled, or more resilient. Right now,the only thing the zombies had on him, was numbers. There were only three creatures on Equss that were more skilled than him in sword play, one he was married to, the other was currently watching over Canterlot, and the third was in the Crystal Empire probably trying to get a minute or two to himself to make out with his mare friend. He was also a false god, which still gave nearly all the benefits of being a real god, this included being nearly impossible to kill. Only a insanely powered spell, a star metal weapon with its magic nullifying properties, or another god could harm him permanently. And with all the contact he had with star metal over the course of his life, even wounds from that healed faster than normal. Supernatural stamina was also part of his deity like portfolio and he was already tough before he gained that, and that was before becoming part dragon. The zombies had nothing that could harm him enough to even make him itch. Celestia was, he hated to admit, doing better than he was. She had the same durability as he did, perhaps even more so given she was a true god. Her sword skills were lax, clearly she had not practiced much, if at all since her time in Guard training, still she was at least on par with the zombies. She was using quite a bit more magic to wield the Brilliant Dawn than he was, but she had the reserves for it. The Sword recognized her as worthy of it, but she wasn't used to being around Starmetal as much as Jer'rahd was so it took more effort for her to utilize the blade in her magic. Granted there probably wasn't any one ever who had the same immunity to Starmetal as Jer'rahd did, he had eaten a near mountain of it the first time he turned into the Beast. Evidently Troph thought it would disrupt the magic that would seal the monster away again, all it did was just make Jer'rahd that much harder to kill. Still even with that handicap Celestia's fire was destroying the horde faster than he could, her flame was turning them to ash almost instantly on a solid hit leaving nothing left to reform. It took nearly an hour of combat before there was nothing left of the zombies to fight. Grogar did not seem pleased about this. He was decidedly less pleased that while both Jer'rahd and Celestia were soot and gore stained, neither showed any injuries, nor any sign of even being winded. “Was that your best?” Celestia asked curiously. “You are on an island that was home to a number of ancient civilizations, and raided hundreds more for bodies. I have not yet begun to fight .” Grogar growled. “Well you better start soon, because this is getting boring.” Jer'rahd snapped. Grogar roared out in anger as a new horde of creatures burst up from the ground, towering constructs of amalgamated bodies, all teeth, claws, and flailing limbs. “There we go.” Jer'rahd grinned. ================================================ [White Tail Woods.] Applejack tipped her hat lightly at the Elk doe in front of her. The doe was a interesting looking one. Her fur pattern was alternating splotches of black red and white, her mane had been cut short and was dyed in numerous odd patterns and shapes. She had one gray eye and one bright blue one. Both of them were focused solely on the orange mare in front of her, her ears laid back against her head and a look on her face that Applebloom had never seen before, clearly fear. Harlequin was a shaman from her tribe or at least the equivalent of one and she was nuttier that a squirrel in a pecan tree. Nothing obviously dangerous, but she was very much like Pinkie Pie in terms of randomness. Applebloom screamed out , plowing into the side of her sister sending them both tumbling away from the spotted Elk doe, who took the interruption as a reason to get out of sight in a hurry. The two sisters tumbled across the field a little ways before Applebloom managed to pin the grinning Applejack to the ground, her added size and weight giving her the slight advantage over her older sister. Of course given how Applejack was laughing, Applebloom wasn't so sure her sister was really pinned. “What did you say to her?” Applebloom demanded. “Oh nothing much sis, jus welcoming her to tha family with a few ground rules is all...... Ah'm sure Mac's conversation was a bit harsher than mine.” Applejack chuckled. “Don't give me that, the southern tribe's shaman are supposed tah be highly resistant to fear, that's part of a requirement for um tah be a shaman!” Applebloom shouted. “ Ah've never seen that sorta look on her face! What did yah tell her?” “Nothing much, just some creative uses fer apples me and Dash came up with when we were talking with Jer one day.....” Applejack grinned as Applebloom paled. “Uncle Jer isn't even here and he's screwing with me.. GAH! Wait... that wasn't Harlequin that screamed, where's Rainbow Dash?” Applebloom demanded. The question was answered by a menacing cackle that echoed through the trees and made Applebloom lower her ears as she stared towards the sound with dread. “What is it with this family!?” Applebloom growled. “You stay here and stop trying tah intimidate tha Elk interested in me..... ah gotta stop Dash, not sure from what but that was but that laugh can't be good.” “Have fun with that.” Applejack grinned noting that her little sister hadn't forced her to agree to anything . Now where was that Watapi fella? ================================================================ [Manehatten docks, the Storm Cloud] “ ….so he hits tha thing with his hammer destroying it utterly with one strike. And then as tha stallions sitting there staring in shock Silver looks up at him and says' that'll be four bits'” Babs concludes as Sweetiebelle and the female Changelings explode with laughter. “Told him it was junk.” Silver Smith stated. The large stallion reminded Sweetiebelle of a cross between Big Mac and Pinkie Pie's sister Maud. He was quiet and some what monotone when he did talk, he was also freaking huge. Currently he and buttons were off to the side of the room talking shop about reinforcing the hull of the ship, or Reginsident Evil seven or something like that. The pair had moved off to the side with Ditty as soon as the girls had started up a conversation and mostly kept to themselves. As Babs finished her story the three of them were on their way out the door to check over the rest of the ship and meet the crew. “Gonna step out and show off the ship Belle, you want anything from the gally?” Button asked. “Nah I'm good. Let Captain Finch know that we'll be headed out tomorrow after noon even if Discord hasn't shown up. We got a long flight to the next gig.” Sweetiebelle stated. “Not a problem, we should have all the supplies for the trip ready by the morning any way.” Button nodded heading out the door with the other two males in tow. The girls glanced after their counterparts before Melody, Sweetiebelle and Babs grinned wider. “Cripes Babs how can you even walk if you're shagging that one. I bet he's bigger than your cousin.” Sweetiebelle chuckled. “Yer one to talk Belle, when the heck did that little nerd Button get that ummff? ”Babs demanded as Sweetiebelle giggled. “ And I thought all your singers were female, who's the Changeling stallion?” “That ones mine.” Melody grinned.” Whether he will admit it or not.” “He may not admit it but you've got him wrapped around your hoof like a scarf.” Sweetiebelle smirked. “Yer one to talk Belle. How'd you turn Button from the nerdy little loner into that?” Babs demanded. “He did it himself because he thought he might lose me if he didn't.” Sweetiebelle explained. “His mom barely even recognizes him any more.” “Don't focus so much on Button, you'll make Carol Jealous.” Melody grinned getting a glare from the other changeling who had wandered off to the other side of the room the moment the trio started talking about their colt friends. The other two had gone back to their card game, but were listening in. “Yeah seriously, you've got a stallion that looks like he was carved outta marble at your beck and call, you got no room to talk. ”Sweetiebelle laughed. ”Same thing with Scoots, little Pippy filled out nice.” “Yeah, but all of us are way behind when it comes to Applebloom.” Melody chuckled. “What? What happened with Applebloom?” I haven't really seen her since you guys came through a couple years ago. We barely have time to write each other now a days. I know she did that whole Elk thing and is living in Whitetail but what else she find a colt or something?” “Mares got her self a harem, a bunch of strapping young bucks ready to serve!” Sweetiebelle giggled as Babs jaw fell. “No way! Last letter she told me nothing was going on!” Babs gasped. “ I'm gonna twist that mares ear off next time I see her.” “Best make it to next years Hearths Warming at Sweet Apple Acres then.” Sweetiebelle giggled. “ Seems to be the only time we can get her outta the woods.” “With what she probably gets up to in those woods I'm surprised she can get out bed!” Melody added. ======================================= [ Main deck of the Storm Cloud.] “So what do you suppose they are gonna talk about in there now that we're gone?” Button Mash considered. “Probably comparing us to each other.” Ditty suggested. “Mm maybe.” Silver commented. “What you mean like how jocks talked about mares flanks and stuff in school?” Button pondered. “Pretty much. Was an art nerd myself. Never got into those conversations.” Silver added. “Me either, though I was stuffed in enough lockers to over hear some of it.” Button sighed. “Not much call for locker room talk when everyling can look like anything they want.” Ditty commented The other two consider a moment before shrugging. “Anyway, lets go let Finch know what's going on. When were you and Babs planning on leaving?” Button asked. “Whenever she wants tah go. I'm caught up on most of my orders so I can open the shop a bit late tomorrow. “ “You have your own shop?” Ditty asked as they walked across the deck. “Family owned. Father was a steel smith for the plant over there fer years. When he retired he bought a little shop to keep himself busy with small jobs the foundry wouldn't take. He still putters around the place a bit, but I do all the real work we get in. Usually have time to work on my own projects as well.” Silver stated. The other two listened in as this was the most they had heard him say at one time all night. “Your own projects?” Button asked. “Yeah, I make jewelry. Nothing too fancy, but ponies seem to think it's pretty and what I make'll last near forever.” Silver explained. “Might have a job for you then soon as I get some bits saved up.” Button muttered. “What's her horn size?” Silver asked flatly. “Not sure if I would want a horn ring or a bracelet. I'm not a unicorn after all.” Button commented before he turned red. “How.......” “Easy enough, you don't seem like tha stallion who wears jewelry, and yah were concerned bout price. Those stupid adds fer a ring that'll cost three months salary make everypony think a rings gotta be tha biggest most expensive thing ever. “ Silver snorted.” Diamonds ain't worth crap in tha long run cept as tools tah cut other gems. Better tah match tha stone to tha one gonna be wearing it. Belle would prolly be an amethyst, or if yer feeling it some purple opal. Got a bit of that at the shop left over from another order, I can cut ya a deal.” “Mind holding off on the proposal til after we get back from Trotkyo?” Ditty asked. “ I got fifty bits riding on it.” “He been thinking on this a while?” Silver asked. “It's been a forgone conclusion since I first met him. Most of us are placing bets on time and location at this point. Everyone's been hedging their bets too, Finch tends to fly past the ship past the most romantic spots he can when traveling and some of the girls try to be the third wheel any time they're near a spot that they don't have money on. It's gotten wild.” Ditty explained. “Opal.......” Button considered, not paying attention to the other two as he recalled Sweetibelle's sisters cat had been named that. “ Yeah that sounds good... Hey Finch what's going on?” Button called out to a Griffon that was starting off the edge of the ship at something. He was wearing a white captains hat and a long blue over coat that covered his body. Turning his head Silver paused briefly noting the left side of the griffons face was badly burned. He had an eye patch over where his eye should have been and the rest of the visible flesh was scar tissue down his neck and over his exposed front leg. With how his coat rested on his left side he obviously didn't have a wing there either. “Evening Button, Ditty,.... sir... Seems tah be some sort of ruckuses going on by tha smelting plant. Been keeping an eye on all tha fans gathered by tha gate too, though seems whatever else is going on on that other end of that street there has a bigger crowd of …...something. Didn't even see um gathering, but that groups bout twice tha size of yer fans.” Finch considered.” Not sure what's going on. Miss Belle didn't start another street party did she?” “Don't think so, she's been here all day.” Button commented as Ditty shook his head. “Until Babs showed up she's been mostly dead all day.” Ditty confirmed. “Huh.” Figured it might be her doing as it looks like some sort of costume party or one of those zombie walk things that got popular with the young ones in recent years.” Finch shrugged. “Zombie walk?” Silver questioned.” We don't have those around here. Mayor Goodrich has a irrational fear of zombies. I think he was traumatized as a foal or something. Spent half the city budget on some stupid zombie defense program a while back. If he wasn't such a good mayor otherwise he'd have been voted out of office after that. He even banned zombie costumes in the city limits during Nightmare Night.” “Don't tell me he's banned the sale of Reignsident Evil 7? I was gonna pick it up before we left.” Buttons gasped. “Nah, he likes games were yah shoot zombies, calls um training exercises.” Silver shrugged. Ditty had borrowed the Captains spyglass and was looking out at the growing crowd as the others talked. There was something decidedly odd about the figures. First off their costumes were far too realistic, he could see patches of bone on some and others were mostly skeletal. Even a changeling would have trouble with that. The second thing he noticed was that most of them were large green skinned pigs. At least with what skin he could see. A quick check with the hive minds memories identified them as Orcs, a subspecies of Boar and Pig that went extinct over a thousand years ago. Nowadays most ponies only knew them from stories and video games. What bothered him the most was that there appeared to be one living creature at the forefront of the horde. A Mule or Donkey who looked more like he was casting a spell than speaking to a crowd. (“Something wrong honey pot?”) Melody asked through the hive mind. (“Don't call me that... and maybe. I'm gonna check in with the local Guard..... ah crap.....”) As Ditty was responding he watched as some putrefied hooves pushed out of the soil before the Pony climbing out of the ground added another to the horde, though a good half dozen more of them crawled out of the hole after the first, all in various states of decomposition and decay. (“What is it?”) Melody asked only to be turned out as Ditty turned to Captain Finch. “Finch, get the ship ready to move, wake any crew that are off duty we need all hooves on deck ready to bring on civilians. I'd rather not let fans rabid enough to camp out in front of our ship aboard, but they're too close to that horde. This might just become a rescue operation.” Ditty ordered. Finch nodded before hobbling off at surprising speed for his injuries. “Ditty what's going on?” Button asked,not seeming to care that Ditty was giving orders on what was practically his ship. Ditty had a second job on the ship beyond singing. Before Sweetiebelle had first started touring Ditty had expressed interest in joining the Guard. He had even gone through the training to do so. Instead of making it into the guard however he was pulled aside by another group that had use for his skills. At Queen Luna's recommendation he had joined a smaller group called the Black Hoof, a sub-sect of the Equestrian ambassadors. He wasn't sure of everything they did though there were a number of rumors. His job had been to continue on exactly as he was as a singer. He wasn't officially or even unofficially part of the Black Hooves, but he was considered a contact point as celebrities could go any where practically. Button and Sweetiebelle had also agree that he should be the ships SSO, or ship security officer given his training as a Guard. The current reasoning he gave for not being a Guard was that he was talked out of it by Melody and into his current gig, which was partially true. Ditty didn't respond to Button's question and only passed him the spyglass. Button looked through it at the crowd a moment before whistling. “Wow, those are good costumes...” “I don't think those are costumes Button.” Ditty muttered as he checked the hive mind for any nearby Changelings in the local Guard. ============================================== [ Whitetail woods ] “.....so basically right at the base of the tail and the little ruff of fur where the neck meets her chest.” Rainbow Dash muttered to the two Elk stallions sitting on either side of her. One of them, Anesland, had a number of vines and leaves growing in his mane and tail. His tail was a fluffy long thing, curling and flicking like a cats with a large puff of dark green hair on the end. His fur was a soft green coloration and instead of hooves he had small claws at the end of each of his legs . He was far shorter than the other Elk and his antlers looked more like a pair of small trees growing from his head complete with their own leaves. The other one, Clam Shell, was sitting half in and half out of a small pond, he had back swept horns rather than the antlers the other elk had and small fins on the side of his head and a short dark blue mane. His fur was silky thin like a seals and was of a grayish blue coloration. While he did have back legs like other Elk his tail was a massive flippered thing that swirled the water behind him. “I dunno if it will be the exact same with her, but you play with that and Big Mac absolutely melts. Fluttershy confirmed about the tail base with AJ too and since they are siblings it's probably the same way for Applebloom too..........” “RAINBOW DASH!!!! WHAT ARE.... you........ doing?” Applebloom rushed up skidding to a stop as the Pegasus looked up at her in a small bit of amusement. The two Elk with her turned away. though Applebloom noticed both of them were a bit red around their faces. “Jeez what's the issue, just spotted these guys hanging out and got to talking to them a little cause they looked pretty cool.” Rainbow Dash shrugged.” My Elk's not that great, but I think we're doing alright.” What... Geez sorry, with what Mai sister and brother are doing ah figured yah might be threatening them too.” Applebloom admits. “Nah I figure your uncle did enough of that, besides I told yah I was totally cool with the idea.” Rainbow Dash placates. “ And seriously I can barely walk straight thanks to your brother, you really think I'd be up to busting a few heads?” “Yeah I know, but ah heard tha scream....” Applebloom admitted. “Oh that? Yeah that was probably one of the ones Fluttershy dragged off into the woods over there. “ Rainbow Dash gestured towards her left with her head as Applebloom tensed up again. “Fluttershy's doing somethin!? WHY!? HOW?! Ahh crap!!!” Applebloom galloped off again the two stallions watching her run off. “Hehe. I know that look guys, 'hate to see her leave but fun to watch her go', am I right? Any way I got a few more tips for yah, she's only part mare now, but some of this stuffs got to work and she really looks like she could use some relaxing.” The two Elk continue to listen in as Rainbow Dash regales them with a variety of sex tips she had read in various magazines and what she was certain worked. =============================================== [Tamberlane, outside the shield.] Grogar frowned. This was not going as planed. In fact at this point he was pretty sure the plan had packed up and left for another planet this was so far off plan. The usual plan was to investigate and then subtly convert the surrounding area drawing in bodies and other dead to feed the power of the island and his own power as well. In time the locals would catch on and try to stop him. Depending on the strength of the resistance he would either destroy his opponents and claim them for the island or ring the bell and retreat. It was what he had done time and time again for as long as he could recall. Despite what the mares seemed to think, the last time he had not been stopped by Starswirl, but by demonic entities of the air that called themselves Windigo. The island had appeared in the far frozen north and before he and Bray could even get their bearings they were assaulted by the creatures. That was the first time he had heard the island scream. The beasts had been feeding on it, sucking away it's power by their very presence. Killing them was useless, even if it was very satisfying, they turned into little more than snow, not even any bodies to claim. The most he had gained was a small settlement of ponies without any coloration and bland cutiemarks. Eventually the cold and the persistent attacks forced him to ring the bell earlier than he would have liked to retreat from time to recover. He had used up too much magic destroying what he could of the Windigo, and it took longer for the island to return to the world this time. Still Grogar had used the break to study and tap deeper into his powers creating an army so the next time the island appeared he could meet any force with force and stampede over the land and plunge it into darkness like a......... rainbow of darkness or something....... He'd think of a better name for his armies actions later. If any of his armies were left any way. This is the part where the plan went off the rails as it were.... much like the train..... shards he was punning now.... He had not expected to capture any locals alive, but he had, and they kept escaping him. Frankly it was getting old and he still was unsure how they got away from the ghosts, but that was what one of the spirits had told him. That was aggravating. but he had known he couldn't trust ghosts to do anything right, they were too flighty and often times held too much memory of their time alive to follow orders properly. If they were not so easy to make he would never bother with them. Bray had reported back that he had infiltrated a city called 'Manehatten' and planed to create a force there to take it over so that Grogar could have a larger base of operations. He had then reported back that he had been attacked and his time table had been moved up. There had not been another seagull or fish message since. Then there was the damned sun. Most of his army worked best at night and with that cursed orb seeming to linger in the sky far longer than it should he had to hold back many of his reserve forces. And of course there were these two. The self proclaimed Demon and Goddess. Seeming little more than oddities at first they had proven threat enough to gain his full attention. What ever it was they had used to attack his island he wanted it badly. It was unlikely they would use the attack again as it had caused them some issue as well. But if he could kill him he could learn of their power. The 'Kirin' was of the most interest to him, wounds did not seem to stay on him long and he was barely affected by anything that had been thrown at him. He did not seem to tire and he had been fighting all out for hours nonstop now. He used little magic, perhaps the earlier attack he had summoned drained him? It would make sense given all he used was a shield and occasionally some simple telekinesis. He did seem to have some mental issues as he was often talking to himself and fighting with his companion. The alicorn was nothing to him, despite her impressive control of fire, she was nothing he had not seen before. He had met and killed a number like her. All claiming to be gods, all with rather potent abilities. He had claimed a number of them for his army in the early days as well. He had put a great deal of work into their creation as spectacularly powerful undead. Unfortunately sunlight was a limitation of his early work, he had found a work around, but he had yet to figure out how to implement it on some of his earlier creations. Why was that blasted orb still in the sky? Had he come during spring equinox? During a point of the year where the sun stayed up for months? In any even he could keep throwing fodder at them until they tired, died, or the sun went down. The two were aggravating, but their actions were utterly futile. Two individuals would not stop him for long. He would allow his own monsters out to play and that would be the end of it. He would crush them, recapture the escapies, and kill them outright this time, then go and rescue Bray from what ever idiocy his adopted father had gotten into this time. “So help me if he managed to accidentally marry another Amazonian Elk I will disown him and then kill him for good this time.” Grogar grumbled. ================================================================ [ Whitetail Woods.] Fluttershy was standing before a small group of cowering Elk. The butter yellow Pegasus was talking in her usual hushed tones to them and if not for the expressions on the stallions faces no one would likely have been able to tell anything was up. Flowing Stream stood transfixed by the Pegasus, his face white as he nodded or shook his head. The tan buck wasn't wearing his usual gillie suit though he was armed with his bow and short daggers. Not that that mattered in the face of this particular threat. The second one barely looked like an elk at first. Maple Berry was blueish white with much longer some what shaggy fur, the visible skin of his nose and various parts of his fur was black, probably to help retain heat from the far north where his kind lived. He only had single pronged horns though they were thick and curled back. He was built as well, with nearly the same height and mass as Big Mac. He had a pair of piercing blue eyes that were half hidden by his long mane, though they were locked on the small Pegasus before him as well. The third Elk was an odd one. One of the Avarials. He was a cloudy grayish white with a nearly transparent mane and tail, and a pair of horns that seemed to be made of cloud stuff and wind. He also had a massive pair of white wings folded over his back. Dnom'aid Raelc's ears were flat to his head as he reconsidered his thoughts on seeking the hoof of Applebloom to bind their tribes, as he sat transfixed by the small mare. Perhaps he should pursue a less dangerous female, like a Linorm, or a Hydra. “Fluttershy!?!?!” Applebloom said incredulously as she galloped up panting. The yellow mare turned slowly and smiled lightly at the voice.” Oh hello Applebloom. I was just having a talk with your friends here. Very nice colts... err bucks.” “Please tell me you aren't threatening them like mai sister and brother are....” “Oh my, no nothing of the sort Applebloom.” Fluttershy stated though the three Elk behind her seemed to flinch and they all tried to back away before she turned around again, all three freezing in place as if they hadn't moved.” Isn't that right?” The Elk all winced at that, the tone of her voice hadn't changed but there was a slight inflection to it that made the trio nod lightly in response. “Well umm that's good I guess?” Applebloom blinked.” Not sure why Raelc is here but okay. I heard a scream though, didn't it come from here?” “ I don't think so......” Fluttershy began before a loud explosion off to their left had all of them whip their heads around to the source before gallons of cherry juice suddenly crashed down over all of them, some how missing Fluttershy entirely. “Wha... what!?” Applebloom demanded to no one in particular. “DANG IT BUTTERSCOTCH!” Shouted a young voice that sounded like Appleblossom. “IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO DO THAT!” shouted another voice, likely Butterscotch. “HOW DID YOU EVEN MAKE A CHERRY TREE EXPLODE?” Dandelion exclaimed. “CHERRY BOMB!!” came the giggling response from Zap. Applebloom simply stood there as Fluttershy rose to her hooves dusting off her legs and fluttering over the mess of cherry juice that seemed to cover the entire forest as she went to go check on her foals. Applebloom's ears drooped and her eye twitched a little as a wispy voice chuckled next to her. Glancing over Applebloom noted the spectral form of a young Granny Smith. “Well I'm glad you're enjoying yourself.” Applebloom muttered, noting that the Elk stallions had all fled. “Wouldn't miss this fer anything.” Granny replied. “ And I didna have tah haunt any of um.” “Arrrgh” Applebloom growled as she slapped her face with her hooves. =============================================== [Tamberlane, outside the shield] Jer'rahd tossed up a few shields forming a small box around himself and Celestia as his com chirped. The seething mass of undead parasprites outside the shield fell over the small box in a wave, trying to bite their way inside to strip the flesh from the pairs bones. Something thus far that they had not come close to doing, but the little shits were very persistent. Jer'rahd had let the Solar Princess deal with this for the most part as she had better area of effect attacks. The raising of Jer'rahd's shield had given Celestia pause in her attacks as she looked back to see what he was doing. “Kaisur here, go ahead.” Jer'rahd stated into the com. “Sir this is Captain Goose from Dolphin team four, Neighlantis Guard. I have the report of what we saw under the island...... and sir, you are not gonna like this.”the com crackled. “That seems to be par for the course today, go ahead Captain.” Jer'rahd sighed . “We did a sweep under the island. The island itself isn't attached to the seabed at all Also all the sea life that is under it has died, we sustained minor injuries after we were attacked by a school of undead herring, but nothing major. We swam up to check out the underside of the island to see how it was kept afloat when we were all nearly taken out by a flipper.” “A flipper?” “Yes sir. A great big one. It wasn't an attack I think it was still trying to stabilize after the bombardment. The texture of it was bony, it was covered in garbage and dead barnacles and looked more like stone than anything else. We followed it to where it connected to the body and then up to the head.” “So what the islands a dead whale or something?” Jer'rahd asked. “It better not be another kind of tank or I'm gonna strangle Discord with his own tail.” “No sir. From what we can tell it is breathing, filtering seawater through a series of gill like structures. Ensign Rickie claims he heard a legend about something like this and we are conferring with Lord Spike and Lady Bleu about it now.” “Good, Spike will probably be able to find something. What's the legend about?” Jer'rahd asked. “An old tale from the days of Neighlantis that spoke of a creature the Queen of Storms controlled.” the com buzzed. “ A Leviathan. Sir. We think the island is a Leviathan.”