“Are you sure this is what you want me to do?” Discord asked as Tempest walked with him to the door.
“Yeah, I'm sure,” she said. “We need to find out more about Rocs and we won't do that just sitting around here. So I want you to go back to Twilight's library and have her help you find more information. Take all the time you need. And I'll stay behind to help everyone rebuild. And protect them if the Roc comes back.”
“Alright. I'll see what I can learn. Be careful.” He leaned down to hug her, then teleported away.
Tempest looked outside and sighed. It'll be a long day of repairs after the Roc's second attack.
Discord materialized inside Twilight's castle. He headed for the library, but once he was inside, he wasn't sure where to start. He flew around, checking various shelves, but there were far too many books for him to go through all of them himself. He decided to just land and call for the one pony that would know where to start.
“Twilight!” he yelled. His voice echoed through the room. “Twilight Sparkle!”
After a few seconds, Twilight appeared in front of him in a shower of sparks. “Is that who I... oh.”
Discord grinned and picked her up, hugging her. “It's so good to see you again!”
“Uh, yes, hi,” she said awkwardly. “What are you doing here? Are you and Tempest back already?”
“Oh, no, we're still hard at work,” Discord said, setting her down. “But I came back because we need your help with something. A little research project, so to speak.”
Her eyes lit up at that. “Oh, okay! What do you need help with?”
“What do you know about Rocs?” he asked.
She tilted her head. “Rocks? What kind of rocks, and I think Maud Pie would be a better pony to ask...”
Discord shook his head, though chuckled at her confusion. “Not rocks that you find on the ground. I mean Rocs, as in the giant birds that hunt dragons and apparently harass storm creatures.”
“Ohh.” Twilight nodded. “Those Rocs. Spike and I had a bit of a run in with one of those, actually. We don't know much about them unfortunately, they're so territorial and violent that it's dangerous to study them. But I'll tell you what I can.” Her horn lit up, and she pulled books down off various shelves. “I only have one book that focuses entirely on Rocs. The rest of these mention them in passing. I really wish I had more, but...”
“It'll do, thanks,” Discord said, gathering the books and sitting down with them.
Twilight came to sit next to him. “So why the interest?”
“Because we just had one threaten the storm creatures,” Discord said, flipping open the first book.
Twilight gasped. “Oh no. What happened, are they okay?”
“They're fine. But it turns out Sunny Oasis, that one northern town of theirs, is in a Roc's territory. They had no idea, she didn't even show up until now, but she's very upset that they're there. She broke down a bunch of their houses and stole barrels of fish from them. Then she came back today and did even more damage. No one's been seriously hurt, but she was mad. She told us to leave, that this was her second warning and next time it won't be a warning.”
“So... was she threatening to kill you?” Twilight asked in a hushed voice.
He nodded. “Unfortunately. She doesn't seem like she's above murder.”
Twilight looked sick. “Ah. That's awful.”
“I know. Which is why we need to find some way to get rid of her.” Discord scratched at his neck fur. “We'll kill her if we have to but we'd rather find a peaceful solution first.”
“I'm sure you'll be able to convince her not to hurt anyone,” Twilight said. “Is there anything she wants? Maybe you could give her a gift?”
“We didn't get a chance to ask, she just told us to leave or else, and flew away.” Discord frowned as he read the book he had opened. “And this doesn't seem too promising.”
“What's it say?” Twilight asked.
He moved it over so she could read along. “Rocs are incredibly antisocial. They only meet each other to mate, and even then they can barely stand to be around each other while that's happening. Heh, nothing new there.”
She had to suppress a giggle.
Discord kept reading, “As soon as they're done, the female chases the male off. As the larger partner, she usually succeeds, because if he stays, he's probably going to be eaten. Once that's taken care of and she's ready to lay her eggs, she makes a nest and lays between two to four of them. Instinct drives her to stay just long enough for them to hatch, as she wants to pass on her legacy, of course. But she has no feelings for the hatchlings themselves. She provides them food for a few weeks after they hatch. And then she leaves once they start developing feathers and show signs of being able to fly.”
Twilight stared. “She just leaves?” she asked.
“Yep.”
“Does she at least show them how to fly?”
Discord scanned the page. “Nope. I mean, they watch her every time she flies somewhere, so if they don't figure it out, clearly they weren't meant to live.”
“Wow, just... wow.”
He flipped the page. “But that's not the worst of it. When she leaves, well, those chicks are still pretty hungry. So the first thing they decide to eat? Each other.” Twilight gagged, but Discord just laughed about it. “Hardcore!”
Despite her disgust, Twilight read from there, morbidly curious. “The strongest chick eats their siblings. Then, driven on by hunger, they finally leave the nest and fly off. They'll hunt small animals at first. Rabbits, squirrels. But they just keep growing. Soon they have to move up to larger beasts. Bears. Alligators. They'll even prey on sentient species if they see them. Ponies, deer, griffins, whatever they can get. They see dragons as an especially tasty challenge. They absorb magic from everything they eat, but they especially like using dragons for that. Hm, they absorb magic...”
“Magic. Rocs have magic?” Discord asked. “I was told they can't use it.”
“They use it, in a sense. But it's not an active kind of magic like what unicorns can use. It's a lot more passive, but... tricky.” Twilight spent a few silent moments reading, making sure she was reading this correctly. “They use magic as a sort of barrier. Basically, they can cancel out any magic used against them.”
Discord whistled. “I knew that. But they use magic to block magic? Interesting.”
“Yeah. The good news is, they have to actively want to use it. So if you surprise them with an attack, they might not be able to block it. But if they see you coming? Everything you do to them will have no effect. You'd have to use physical attacks. But well... they're birds. They're fast, they can fly, so they're very hard to hit. If we can ground one, clip its wings, that'll give you an advantage. But good luck doing that.”
Discord waved a different book. “According to this story, which I admit could just be hearsay, Rocs have a weakness against fire.”
“That makes sense, Spike was able to drive one back by breathing fire at it.”
“Mhm! So if I'm able to get a direct hit against her with a flame attack, that could be enough to chase her off!” He kept reading.
“Hm, you might have luck attacking her en masse,” Twilight said. “If she has to focus on you to block magic, then if multiple people attack her at once, she might not be able to focus on all of them.”
“Excellent point.” Discord pulled over a notebook to write in.
“How long do you plan on being here?” she asked.
“Tempest told me to take as long as needed, but I'll probably head back in a few hours, I need to help them repair Sunny Oasis after that last attack, it got pretty brutal.”
“Mm, okay. But if you are willing to stay for longer, we could go ask Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for help and check out the Royal Canterlot Library!” Twilight got up to prance in her excitement. “And travel to the Crystal Empire and go through their extensive library! We're gonna make sure you get all the information we have on Rocs, okay?”
“Heh, okay,” Discord agreed. “I'm sure Tempest will be fine without me for a couple days.”
“Get back!” Tempest shouted, horn flaring as she galloped toward a pack of snakes. They hissed at her, tails rattling. Most snakes preferred to keep to themselves, avoiding places with much larger predators. These desert snakes, however, were the exception.
One lashed forward, and she jumped straight up to avoid its fangs. Her magic exploded outward, sending the snakes flying. When they hit the ground, they decided it wasn't worth it and slithered away.
With a snort, Tempest headed back into town. The wildlife around here was bold, but it was no match for her.
“Get rid of those rattlers?” Dusty asked as Tempest wiped her hooves off on the grass. “I bet they came super close to defeating you.”
“Oh, yeah,” she laughed, brushing sand out of her fur. “It'll take a lot more than a few angry snakes to beat me.”
“I guess that's part of the danger of standing up a completely new town, you have to deal with the local animals,” Dusty said. “Of course I want to live alongside whatever creatures I can, but not all of them are peaceful, heh. Thanks for dealing with that.”
“No problem. If the worst you have to deal with are snakes, I think you chose a good-”
The sound of heavy feet pounding against stone made Tempest's ears shoot up, and she turned toward the southern road. The storm creatures turned to face it too, in time to see around eight huge lizards come around the dunes and charge for the town. Riding on their backs were tall cat people.
“Abyssinians!” Dusty exclaimed.
The cats unsheathed various swords, though the one at the very front of the group had a gun. Their leather clothes and the bags hanging over their mounts gave away who they were immediately.
“Bandits!” Tempest shouted. “Everyone, take cover, NOW!”
Everyone outside quickly hit the ground, and the lead cat aimed his weapon. Tempest snarled and ran forward, and the barrel was pointed right for her forehead. She saw his finger tighten on the trigger, and she focused her magic, knowing she would have to be quick. The second she heard the bang, she reached out and snagged the bullet in midair.
She caught it when it was inches away from her face, and her breath caught in her throat. But the leader seemed surprised, and that was what she was going for. She threw the bullet aside and broke into a gallop while he fumbled to reload. He was struggling to put a bullet inside when she leaped up and tackled him right off his mount.
“Who are you?” Tempest growled, wrenching the gun away and throwing it.
He yanked a knife from a sheath she hadn't noticed, swinging it at her. She jerked back, but it still grazed across her chest. She grunted and stomped her front hoof into his face, while her magic pulled the knife out of his hand and threw it too. With no weapons left, he hissed, “I'm Jakal, scourge of the desert.”
“Jakal?” Tempest asked. “That sounds a lot like jackal, which is a kind of dog, which is pretty funny...”
Jakal punched her in the mouth. Pain flared from her teeth, and she grunted, instinctively hitting him back. She would have kept going, but then she realized they were surrounded by the other bandits, who had climbed down from their lizards and were now closing in, swords pointed at her.
Tempest stepped off Jakal and jumped up, flipping backward over their heads. She fashioned her magic into a ball of energy and threw it down. The resulting explosion sent the bandits flying, giving her time to run back toward the storm creatures.
“Form up!” she shouted to them. “I need eight groups of three and I want each group to focus in on one bandit! Everyone else, chase off the lizard mounts! And be careful, they have swords!”
The storm creatures stood to their full heights, grunting and cracking their knuckles before getting groups together and running to take on the cats. Tempest called Dusty and Rusty over to her side, running toward Jakal.
The bandits seemed stunned at the sudden mass of creatures rushing toward them, but ran to meet them anyway.
“I wish we had our shields!” Dusty yelled.
“Me too, but we don't, so be careful! I'd recommend sliding in under their swords and disarming them as quickly as possible, then taking them down with good ol' hand to hand combat!” Tempest dropped to the ground in a slide, getting past one of the bandits and jumping back up in front of Jakal just as he was grabbing his gun from the ground. She twirled and delivered a solid kick to his arm with her hind legs, hearing the crunch of bone. He howled and dropped the gun, and was promptly tackled by Dusty and Rusty, whose superior size allowed them to pin him.
The other bandits were overwhelmed just as easily, and Tempest listened to their panicked shouting, alert for any signs of pain from the storm creatures. But they seemed to be doing fine, so she focused on Jakal.
“Never come here again,” she said, pressing her hoof down firmly on his chest.
He thrashed, but with two storm creatures pinning him down, he had no hope of getting back up. He glared at her. “You'll pay for this, I have more companions, I'll bring them all here and we'll burn this entire town down!”
“Is that so?” Tempest stepped on his tail, making him yelp. She leaned in close, staring into his yellow eyes. “Look around you. Look at how easily we're stomping your pitiful gang. Yet, we aren't seriously harming any of them, are we?” She waited for him to look around and acknowledge that while his partners were being tossed around, none were actually hurt. He looked back at her, and she continued, “If you return, we won't play nice like we are right now.” Her horn glowed, and she brought his gun over, pulling a bullet from his pocket and loading it. “We were part of the Storm King's army, which as an Abyssinian, I'm sure you're aware.”
He swallowed. “Y-yes, I know, that's why we targeted you. Klugetown was far too dangerous to invade, but we thought... all of you out here would be helpless. We were going to get revenge for what you've done to us.”
“I understand your anger. But that was all done under the Storm King's orders. He's gone now. Dead. We will never lay siege to your towns again. We don't want to hurt you. We just want to live a peaceful life.” Tempest slid the hammer back and pointed the gun at him. “But we will fight back if threatened. If you know what's good for you, you and your buddies will leave, now. You'll never come back. And if we hear that you've caused trouble for anyone else, we'll make sure we eliminate you.” She looked at her friends. “I don't think any of us want scum like this running around in the desert, right?”
The others agreed.
Tempest chuckled and took the gun apart, dropping its pieces into the grass. “So what's it gonna be, Jakal? You gonna keep fighting and get yourself killed? Or are you going to leave and never bother us again?”
Jakal's lip raised as he started to hiss, but one of the other cats yelled, “Sir, it's hopeless, they're too strong! They took all our weapons!”
“Our sand lizards are gone!” someone else shouted.
“Our supplies! Sir!”
Jakal finally spit and said, “Fine! Everyone, fall back! We'll leave, let me go!”
Tempest nodded to Dusty and Rusty, who stood and let Jakal scurry away. He swore upon seeing that all the mounts really were gone, and waved to his companions to follow him. They were right behind him, spurred on by the storm creatures kicking them as they went. Soon the bandits were out of view, running off into the desert to the east in pursuit of their sand lizards.
“Whoo! Great job, everyone!” Dusty shouted, clapping Tempest on the back and turning to check on everyone.
She found herself laughing as the adrenaline wore off. “Whew, alright, that could have been bad. That could have been... so bad. Is anyone hurt?”
A few storm creatures came forward, nursing cuts that were clearly left by swords.
“Ouch,” Tempest said, gently pulling someone over to check his arm. He had a particularly long few gashes that had gotten through the fur and were currently bleeding.
“The bandit was skilled, it took a few tries to disarm him,” the other said sheepishly.
“It's alright, Brian.” Tempest wasn't too good with healing magic, but she did what she could, cleaning the blood away and conjuring a bandage so she could wrap the wounds. “Here, keep pressure on that and don't do any heavy lifting, you know the drill.”
He nodded and thanked her, walking away.
“Change it every day and clean the wounds with warm water and soap!” Tempest called after him.
She and Dusty worked to tend to the others, and one of their medics, a woman named Kris, ended up running to gather her supplies and brought them over, using them to numb and disinfect everyone's wounds.
It was only when the last storm creature had walked away that Tempest finally noticed the pain in her own chest, and she pressed her hoof to the cut only to find that it was deeper than she had thought.
“Oh, that's not good,” she commented as she watched blood stain her fur. “Kris, uh, got any more bandages?”
Kris knelt down next to her, peering into the cut. “Ouch, that's got to sting. Do you feel lightheaded at all?”
“No, I'm okay. Just... that hurts.”
“I imagine so. Here, just hold still.” Kris cleaned it off, then wadded up some bandages and put pressure on it. “Luckily it's a short wound. I'm going to stop the bleeding, then stitch it up, and you should be good to go.”
Tempest wasn't a fan of getting stitches but she nodded anyway. It wasn't long before the bleeding stopped, and Kris got out the stitching kit. Along with a small bottle of alcohol, which she poured into a shot glass.
“You may want to take this,” she said, offering it to her.
Tempest accepted the glass. She took a breath, then knocked it back. Kris wiped disinfectant on her skin, then a sharp-smelling herbal mixture to help numb it. Tempest's nose wrinkled at the smell. Years of smelling it when visiting the med bay on the Storm King's ship and it still wasn't tolerable.
Kris got to sewing up the wound, and Tempest couldn't help wincing when the needle first pierced her skin. She decided to talk to Dusty to keep her mind off it. “Have you been bothered by bandits before?”
He shook his head. “No, this was the first time. I figured it would happen sooner or later though. Abyssinia is harsh. Some people would rather just steal than make a living on their own. But I'm glad you were here to help us.”
“Heh. You could have managed without me.”
“Sure we could have. But it was nice having our commander doing her thing.” He nudged her, and she chuckled. “You really are meant for this. Being in charge, leading us into battle.”
“Yeah, Mary was saying that back at the banquet.” Tempest dug her hoof slightly into the grass at a particularly painful twinge from the needle. “I've definitely got a knack for it, huh?”
“Mhm. I mean, is it really much of a surprise? You've done it for years and though he was harsh, the Storm King was an excellent teacher.” Dusty patted behind one of her ears as she tensed. But that was the last stitch, and Kris tied it off and pulled the needle away.
“I suppose he was. Too bad he was an asshole who deserved what happened to him.” Tempest thanked Kris and stepped away once able.
“Yes, true.” Dusty sighed and looked east. “Hopefully those bandits stay away.”
“I think they will. That was a humiliating defeat for them, I doubt they'll be back for a repeat.” Tempest limped back toward her house. “I think I'm going to go lie down.”
“Alright. Take it easy, let me know if you need anything!”
“Of course!” She went inside, and only when the door was closed did she let herself groan in pain. But the shot already seemed to be kicking in and the pain was fading. She dragged herself onto the couch and laid down, sighing. She really wished Discord was back.