Twilight Sparkle sighed loudly, her wings fluttering as she sat with her friends. Apple Bloom was about to start another chapter of the story of the moongoose, and Twilight still could not get over the fact that the stallion of few words the author. Big Mac nodded and his little sister started up the story again, much to the joy of all the foals there, and a certain blue coated and rainbow maned pony.
Riki spent the next week getting used to her new home. In the mornings, she’d hop from the nest she made every night on Rare Ore’s pillow, and do a prowl of the ponies’ home before spiralling up a table leg. She was thoroughly enjoying herself in her moongoose glory.
After breakfast, she would follow Rare Ore out into the gardens where he would play. There, not a stone was left unsniffed. Not a single blade of grass left unchecked.
One morning, when Rare Ore was spreading seeds for the chickens, Riki smelled something amiss. There was a snake nearby.
She spiraled down the fencepost Riki had been perched on when the foal suddenly cried out in alarm. In front of Rare Ore, hissing and spitting on the ground, was a tiny brown snake.
Now, most snakes are not poisonous. They may bite, but they did not have any fangs to bite down and make ponies sick. This snake, however, was a brown rust snake, one of the most poisonous snakes in all of Equestria.
“Mom! Dad!” Rare Ore screamed, “help!”
Riki bounced back and forth from one hind foot to another. This was a snake that she would have to be quicker than it or else she’d be the one to pay the price. The moongoose’s teeth chattered and her tail became thick and bushy.
The snake lunged for the foal and Riki howled in indignation as she lept, smacking the snake with a clawed paw. She bounced away, with all of the snake’s attention was on her.
“Rare! What is it?”
“It’s Riki, dad!” the foal spoke in excited tones. The jet black earth pony moved to put himself between the snake and his son, and his cousin, Titanium, plopped the colt on his back. All three ponies watched with wide eyes and Riki and the brown rust snake danced in a battle to the death. If Riki did not strike the snake just right, she would die.
The dance of death spun around the garden, as more of the Ore family came to watch, staying a prancing distance away from the brown rust snake.
When it finally happened, Riki was a blur that the ponies could not follow. Hissing, spitting and teeth chattering, Riki tangled with the brown rust snake and got it in a death spiral, her razor sharp teeth finding the fatal spot at the back of the snake’s neck.
With a shudder, the snake went limp. Riki held on until she was sure the snake was dead.
She dropped the snake, and grabbed it by it’s tail, dragging it away.
“Did you see that, ‘tanium? She killed it dead!” the little colt cheered.
“That’s sure one ornery varmint, that moongoose. I think you brought in some very good luck when you found her, Rare Ore,” Titanium smoothed down the colt’s mane with a hoof before letting him down off his back.
“I reckon you best tell your ma to make sure there’s an extra heaping of food for that moongoose ‘a yours, son.”