Twilight Gets a Puppy
By TDR
Feeling Pinkie Kennel,
part 4
[ Froggy Bottom Bog]
“Are you certain it's going to happen here?” Shining Armor called out as he ran along across the barely visible path leading deeper into the bog.
“Mostly sure like eighty percent sure, cause it keeps getting stronger the closer we geuhuhuhuuhuhuhuhuhuh.” Pinkie Pie vibrated along before recovering.” See..”
Froggy Bottom Bog was part of the Everfree on a peninsula of sorts where the river bent around a large portion of land. Historically the bog had been discovered before the Everfree and thus was one of the few points in the forest that had it's own name and wasn't just lumped into 'The Everfree Forest'.
Twilight frowned at the small bit of trivia darting through her head as she ran along behind Shining and Pinkie Pie, with Rahs loping along at her side having to drop to all fours to keep up with the equines and even then only barely. She needed top get him running again, while the Moon Dog was fit, like most canines he was built for short bursts of energy not marathon like sprinting. Then again maybe he was fat for a Moon Dog. Twilight needed to ask Princess Luna about that.
“You didn't need to come with us sis.” Shining called back. “ I'm sure I can deal with whatever the issue is.”
“Forget that. I'm here to show that it's nothing and Pinkie Pie's abilities are just a bunch of hooey.”Twilight snapped.
Rahs simply groaned saving his breath for running.
“ Fluttershy!” Pinkie Pie called out as they wandered around a large pool of murky water looking for the yellow mare.
Well Pinkie, Shining, and Twilight looked for her. Rahs had fallen over in a wheezing heap and was acting out a over the top death scene that was on par with the one in Bubbly the Vampony Slayer.
“Fluttershy?” Twilight called starting to get a little worried herself.
Rahs just lay there panting after finding out he was being ignored by his target audience and simply growled as he lay prone on his back staring at the branches of a cypress tree above him.
“Oh dear are you alright?”
“Woof.” Rahs muttered.
“Oh well that's no good. Maybe you should exercise a teeny bit more?”
“Woof...”
“No I expect you are fit but hunting is different than running. Perhaps something to work on your cardiovascular system.”
“Whine?”
“No I don't think more leg days would help that.”
Rahs rolled his eyes then blinked before sitting up suddenly and looking over at the pink haired Pegasus that had sat down beside him.
“BARK!” Rahs sounded loudly pointing at the Pegasus mare.
“Found me? Oh you were looking for me?” Fluttershy asked curiously. “Why's that?”
The others rushed back over to where Rahs was, with Pinkie Pie huffing a bit that she had lost the game of hide and seek to someone not even playing.
“ Oh good... she's safe.” Shining nodded looking at Rahs and ignoring the yellow mare's blushing.
“And oh look nothings wrong.. gee... guess I can say I told you so now huh?” Twilight glared at Pinkie Pie.
“Seriously sis?” Shining sighed.
“What? She went on about this twitching nonsense and now it turns out that it's noth....... Rahs why are you growling.......?”Twilight questioned looking back behind her at the bog , a mass of steam and mist rolling over the water as a massive form lifted up out of the bog towering even above the trees. It was quickly joined by three other forms stretching up just as tall, looming over the group.
“Bork....” Rahs growled.
“Language!” Pinkie Pie chided.
“Meep.” Fluttershy cowered.
“Oh it's just a hydra.” Shining exhaled.” I thought it would be something bad.”
“ RUN!” shouted Twilight as the massive snake like heads roared out at the small group.
Rahs was first to react, grabbing Fluttershy and Pinkie, diving behind the cypress he had been laying under dragging the mares with him into cover.
“WOOF!” He sounded out before remembering Shining couldn't understand him. Tossing the mares further away from the hydra like unwanted luggage he turned just in time to be blown back by the force of the impact as all four heads slammed down at the same point atop of Twilight and Shining.
Rahs tumbled back, crashing into the mud and foul water of the bog. Fighting free of the muck he wiped away the sludge over his eyes as the Hydra heads drew back with another roar. The mist and dust settling around the impact point revealing a magenta dome shield formed over Twilight and Shining Armor. They both seemed alright though Twilight was staring at Shining in surprise as his horn glowed.
Shining Armor sighed softly as he looked up at the creature towing over the pair of them.
”Was that your best?”
The hydra roared lashing out at the shield , jaws clamping on it and doing little more than sliding over the dome or bouncing off it with no sign that the blows were even causing Shining the slightest bit of discomfort despite the pressure and impacts on his shield.
One of the hydra heads pulled away after doing little more than drooling on the shield noticing Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy in the trees, the former doing some sort of weird vibration as the 'doozy' was evidently not triggered yet.
They hydra head roared launching towards the pair of mares. There was a flash of light and the other three heads impacted the ground as the fourth bounced off a shield that suddenly appeared over Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy with Shining armor and Twilight appearing in the middle of it as well.
“What?” Twilight stammered.
“Mass teleport, it's mostly used for transporting multiple wounded off the field of a battle. I can only manage about two.I never did well with traslocation spells.” Shining stated simply as the blows rained down on the shield again.” Are you two alright? Where's Rahs?”
“Over there in the mud.” Pinkie Pie offered pointing the soaked moon dog out to Shining. The four hydra heads noticed her pointing and looked as well seeing the annoyed Moon Dog climbing out of the bog.
With another roar the four heads launched themselves at Rahs, the Moon Dog yelped and dove out of the way of the first head, leaping back from the second with a airborne pirouette. He landed on the neck of the third that had missed him and scampered up the scaled creature like a cat scaling a tree in time to avoid the fourth head smashing into the third.
“When did Rahs learn how to dance?” Shining smirked.
“Umm is this the time to be joking?” Fluttershy asked quietly. “ Particularly since Pinkie Pie seems to be having a seizure.”
“WHAT!?” Twilight stated loudly staring at her brother.
“Good point.” Shining Armor stated ignoring Twilight. His shield flickered out for a moment before reforming as a large bubble beside him, another bubble formed around Twilight and the others and a third popped up around Rahs sending him tumbling down the Hydra's back like a hamster ball down a flight of stairs.
The shield floating next to Shining flattened out, becoming a disk before narrowing into oval shape.
The Hydra's heads were tracking all the targets, the first head was going after Rahs as he tumbled down towards the creatures tail. The third head of them was still recovering from the impact of the fourth head biting it instead of the Moon Dog. The second head was watching the three mares in the bubble and the fourth was watching Shining.
Seeing no bubble around the white stallion the fourth head roared and launched itself at the unprotected pony. It jerked suddenly as the ovoid disk blurred through the air. The creatures eyes dulled before it slammed into the ground next to Shining Armor, the severed neck coming along with it to crash to the mud in a pile atop the fourth head of the hydra. Blood started gushing from the stump still attached to the main body showering the area with even more foul smelling muck.
The other three heads roared in pain as Shining's disk vanished, his horn growing brighter before a lance of flame shot from it striking the bleeding stump of the creatures neck searing the flesh and preventing the head from regrowing.
The other three heads flailed in pain as the beast reared back turning to thunder off into the bog to ease the burns covering the severed stump of a neck and before any more heads were lost.
Shining Armor watched it leave before he dropped the shields with a sigh, dumping Rahs back in the bog.
“Bork!” Rahs growled as he clamored back up out of the muck.
“I don't want to hear it. That was for that crack about me earlier.” Shining smirked.
“WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT!?!” Twilight bellowed.
“What was what?” Shining asked innocently.
“That! You put up a shield that a hydra bounced off of , teleported while in a shield WITH another pony and shaped the shield into a sword, then, fireball thing!?!” Twilight ranted.
“Flame strike, it's a moderate level attack spell...” Shining sighed.
“I don't know that spell!” Twilight snapped as Shining sighed a shield forming around him as Rahs tried to sneak up and shake off all the muck from the bog.
The Moon Dog pouted as his revenge was unsuccessful so he sat down with a huff and started emptying his pockets to see if anything he carried was damaged by the bog. The sandwiches were a loss obviously.
“ I wouldn't expect you to, it's an attack spell that is primarily used by the Six Sixty Sixth.” Shining shrugged.
“Umm what is that?” Fluttershy asked looking over as Pinkie Pie vibrated in place. “ The Six Sixty Sixth I mean.”
“Monster hunter division.” Shining stated closing his eyes as he counted down in his head. “I'm currently second in command of field operations. “It's why I wasn't worried about the Hydra, I’ve fought bigger, and it was nowhere near as nasty as that six eyed dragon thing my Drill Sergeant brought to training for us to practice against.”
“The Monster hunters!?” Twilight stammered out finally her tail lashing behind her as her brother stopped counting to roll his eyes. “ They have the highest injury and death rate of any of the Guard?!”
“I know. I joined them to try and reduce that, and the injuries and mortality rate has dropped by about ten percent...” Shining offered looking at Pinkie Pie who was drilling into the ground with her vibrating twitching.
“You willingly joined them!?!? Are you Crazy!?!?” Twilight shouted.
“Seriously sis calm down, you sound like mom.” Shining Armor snorted.
Twilight went silent for a second her eyes going wide as her ears lay flat against her mane. Smoke rolled off of her as she suddenly exploded into a ball of fire, her coat going pure white, eyes turning red and her mane and tail catching fire,whipping about in an inferno that chard the ground under her.
Rahs who was sitting on the other side of Shining and had just tossed a frog out of his pocket also exploded into a ball of fire. His fur also turned white, though the glowing orbs at the end of his ears and tail turned into small suns rather than moons. The most noticeable thing though was that his coat and pants suddenly caught fire sending the Moon Dog running around in a howling panic before he jumped back into the bog to douse himself.
“I. DO. NOT. SOUND. LIKE. MOM!!” Twilight roared.
“Cool a ponyta. Ooh, OOH, that's it, that's the doozy!!” Pinkie Pie cried out suddenly hopping around Twilight before pulling out a stick with marshmallows already on it holding it over Twilight's head.
“Wha? What? “ Twilight stammered sitting down hard as her coat and mane returned to normal, distracted by the pink mares pronking about her and the fact she was making smores.
“That was new.” Fluttershy muttered only for Shining Armor to shrug lightly.
“That was the first time she exploded like that, but her manes caught fire before when she's mad.” Shining Armor pointed out.”We should probably head back.”
“Oh no buster, I want answers. Does Cadence know about this........ Rahs?” Twilight trailed off looking up at the chard and muck covered figure towering above her.
“BORK!” Rahs snapped at her, grabbing his sister and tucking her under his arm before storming off back towards town dripping mud and foul smelling slime everywhere. His new coat and pants were a burnt mess and his fur had so much filth in it he was more olive than navy colored.
“What no, put me down, AHHHH, you're dripping on me!! NOOOO lemme go!!!! Gahhhh that's cold!!!” Twilight flailed as she was carried off by her irate brother. The others quickly followed though kept their distance from the reeking Moon Dog.