//------------------------------// // Well, that is problematic.... // Story: A Twist in Evolution 2: Quit Horsing Around // by Dark Nightshade //------------------------------// "Now that is interesting," the man said. "But we haven't lost anyone recently. Actually, how long where you trapped for?" "Five years," Submersive Exploration said. "He took away five years of my life." "Wow, that's got to suck," the man said. Submersive Exploration frowned. "That's an under-exaggeration," she said. "Anyway, the pale brown man is dangerous, and we don't know what he's after." "I know, but don't worry, we have everything under control here," the man said. His arms rose dramatically. "We can protect ourselves or my names not Charging Cracker!" "Uh, sir, that's not your name. That's her name," Ethereal Whisper said, pointing at one of the female centaurs to the mans right. The man froze for a few seconds before lowering his hands. "Oh, right," he said. "We can protect ourselves or my names not.......wait, what is my name?" Ethereal Whisper sighed and turned to the group of humans. "These are our leaders," she said. "Only in title," the man said. "What was my name again?" "Your name is Frozen Charge," Ethereal Whisper said. "You led an attack on the invading humans, remember?" "Not at all," Frozen Charge said. "But we will continue to protect our tribe or my names not Frozen Charge!" "And I'm sure that you will," Ethereal Whisper said unenthusiastically. "But Submersive Exploration and her mother have done battle with the pale brown man before! They know at least a little about his attack strategy." "Then someone can fuse with one of them or something, I don't know," Frozen Charge said. "We have that technology available to us!" "But it's not ready!" Ethereal Whisper and Broiling Striker said simultaneously. "Oh," Frozen Charge said. "Well, in that case, take them back to wherever it is that they're staying. We don't need the help." Ethereal Whisper sighed. She turned back to the group. Flash's head turned away. "Well, I guess I need to take you back," she said. She turned to look at Frozen Charge. "Unless you want them to stay?" Frozen Charge shook his head. "No, we don't need them," he said. Ethereal Whisper sighed and turned back to the group. "Well then, are you ready?" she asked. Everyone nodded. The group filled out after Ethereal Whisper. The next half hour or so getting to the hole to had come into went by pretty fast, and as Ethereal Whisper opened the door, she started talking again. "Frozen Charge isn't usually this confidant with our abilities," she said. "Of course, despite all the partying, our parents train us in many different fighting styles." "Speaking of which, you haven't really talked about your parents," Flash said. "Eh, I've never needed to," Ethereal Whisper said. "Now, come on, I'll guide you back to your camp." "I think we can find our way back, but thanks!" Rarity said. "I know you can," Ethereal Whisper said. "But we still need to talk." For the two miles that the group walked back to the cabins, Ethereal Whisper talked about how Frozen Charge and everyone else on the council of elders had done something big and important to get onto it. Frozen Charge, like she had said earlier, had led an attack on a group of enemy humans. One of the others, Charging Cracker, had managed to kill a monster with an avalanche. Ethereal Whisper wouldn't say anything more about what the monster that Charging Cracker killed was, but it wasn't too important anyway. But as they saw the outlines of the cabins that they were staying in, Ethereal Whisper fell silent for several seconds. "What is it?" Flash asked. "What do your centaur eyes see?" "Danger," Ethereal Whisper said. "Into the center building, quickly!" As the group rushed to the building, Ethereal Whisper planted herself outside the door, in a ready to fight stance. All was still for a few seconds (except for all the snow flying around) until they saw the outline of something in the distance. A huge roar emerged from it's maw. It was on all fours, and looked like it had shaggy fur covering its body, and large, curly horns, although it was hard to tell because of the low visibility. And then it started to charge. Ethereal Whisper started to charge at the beast as well, and just as they were about to meet, Ethereal Whisper ducked under the beast and slid under it. As the beast stopped, the group inside the main building got a better look at it. It did have a white colored fur, and sleek black horns, ending in sharp points. "Whoa," Flash said. The beast looked at the group inside the building before it turned around to face Ethereal Whisper and roared again. Ethereal Whisper started charging at the beast again, and the beast lowered its horns and charged. Ethereal Whisper leaped into the air, her front hooves crashing into the top of the beast's head, driving its horns deep into the snow. Something cracked, the sound surprisingly clear in the wind. The group gasped. "Its horns snapped!" Rarity exclaimed. "How did she do that!" But that was where Ethereal Whisper's luck ended. As Rarity was talking, the beast had recovered from the pain and shock of having its horns snapped off, and flung its head back, sending Ethereal Whisper flying off of it, and towards the circle of cabins. As she landed, she let out a cry of pain as she landed and skidded towards the center building, where the group was. Several of them screamed, and the ones who didn't had just gasped. "Sunset Shimmer, get to her!" Flash exclaimed. "What?" Sunset Shimmer asked. Flash opened the door. "You need to go help Ethereal Whisper!" he exclaimed. "Don't worry, I'll distract the thing!" And Flash started running. The beast noticed him, but kept trotting towards Ethereal Whisper. It only started taking interest in Flash when he started yelling and waving his arms. The beast's primitive mind decided that a moving target was better than an unmoving one, and started charging after Flash. Flash turned and ran, his legs pumping. Meanwhile, Sunset Shimmer dashed out towards Ethereal Whisper's unmoving body, and started trying to see what was wrong. Her right arm was definitely broken, along with her legs. Ethereal Whisper's breath was uneven, and her face was contorted with pain. "Use its horn," Ethereal Whisper said, her voice strained, and filled with pain. "What?" Sunset Shimmer asked. "Use its horns," Ethereal Whisper said. "Those can pierce its skin." Sunset Shimmer almost snickered. "You're seriously injured, and your telling me how to kill it?" she asked. Ethereal Whisper's left arm managed to almost lightly slap her. "Just yell that to Flash, then you can focus on me," Ethereal Whisper said. Sunset Shimmer nodded, stood up and turned around, searching for Flash. It only took a couple of seconds. He was running, the beast closing in on him. "Flash! Use its horns to kill it!" Sunset Shimmer screamed at him. She didn't know if he heard her or not, but at that moment, the beast lunged at him, its fractured horn stumps just barley missing him, sending up a snow spray. But Flash appeared, his outline headed towards where the horns had been buried. But the beast recovered almost as quickly as he did. Sunset Shimmer gestured at the girls still inside the central building to come to her. As Flash continued to run, the girls helped Sunset Shimmer pick Ethereal Whisper up, and started heading back towards the mountain that Ethereal Whisper's tribe was in. Sunset Shimmer kept glancing back at Flash, who was almost at the horns, but then the beast managed to hit him. Its head ramed into his back, sending him flying into a small hill of snow a few feet away from the horns. Flash saw them, and both he and the beast froze for a few seconds. But only for a few. Flash started sprinting towards the horn, and the beast started charging towards him. Flash grabbed one of the horns and tried to lift it up, but it was buried into the dirt below the snow. He tugged and pulled, but the beast got to him before he could get it out. But Flash had still been holding onto the horn. The beast ramed its head into Flash, sending both him, and the horn into the air. The horn landed several feet away from Flash, and he scrambled to pick it up. As the beast started charging at him again, Flash rammed the bottom of the horn into the ground, and positioned so that when the beast was almost at Flash, the sharp point of the horn managed to crack through the beast's skull, and pierced its brain, killing it instantly. It covered Flash in blood and sent Flash backwards, but he had killed the beast. As he stood up, he looked around, looking for Ethereal Whisper. He noticed an outline that kind of looked like her, but she was floating on top of something else. Flash decided that that was probably her, and started running towards it. He was right. As he got close, he heard a sob of relief and Sunset Shimmer lunged at him, hugging him tightly. "You almost died!" she sniffled. "Yeah, you should see the other guy," Flash said. This made Sunset Shimmer giggled a little. "At least you survived," she said. "Now help us get Ethereal Whisper to her tribe." Almost thirty minutes later, they finally got to the tribe's mountain door. "Where do I dig?" Flash asked. Ethereal Whisper managed to point towards a spot just a little to Flash's left. He practically dove into it, snow flying behind him, until his hand touched something. He grabbed onto it and pulled. The stone door slid open, and the group continued into the mountain, having to crouch a little so Ethereal Whisper could fit below the roof. As they exited into the city, a small group of centaurs noticed them and started freaking out. But not because the group was mostly made up of humans. "What happened to her?" one of the asked. His fur was light brown and his skin was obsidian black. "Some kind of beast attacked, and she distracted it long enough for me to kill it," Flash said. "Where do we go to get her healed?" "Oh, damn, follow me!" the guy said. He started trotting in the direction the group was facing, so they started following. Fortunately, it was quick getting there. As the group gently dropped Ethereal Whisper onto a stretcher, the doctor there started looking over her wounds. The doctor had dark grey fur, and icy blue skin. "What happened?" he asked, looking at the group. "Some kind of beast attacked," Flash said. "I don't know what it's called." "Well, judging by the look of the blood on you, I'm guessing that a burrow hound attacked," the man said. "Dang, you took it down?" "Well, Ethereal Whisper managed to crack its horns off first," Flash said. "That's how she broke all these bones. It threw her off." The doctor nodded. "Hmmm. Well, don't worry, I can fix bones relatively easily," he said. He suddenly paused, looking at Broiling Striker. "Wait a minute, you're one of those mermaids that helped work on those fusion harnesses, aren't you?" Broiling Striker nodded. "I am, actually," she said. "Why?" "We might need one for later," the doctor said. "Ethereal Whisper will need to be concuss for some of this procedure, and she's drifting in and out of it." "Oh, they were never fully completed," Broiling Striker said. "And why does Ethereal Whisper need to be concuss for some of this procedure?" "I need to know what she was thinking, information about medical history, what kind of medicine she can afford, and her heart beat is getting dangerously low, and I know her parents can't tell me any of the previously mentioned information," the doctor said. "Wait, why not?" Submersive Exploration asked. "I'll let Ethereal Whisper answer that," the doctor said. "Just go to the inventing hall at the bottom of the mountain. They'll have more information down there."