//------------------------------// // Causality // Story: Antecedent // by Anonymous Pegasus //------------------------------// Snarling roars rose throughout the hillsides as the hydra awoke suddenly. A pair of roars rose in symphony as the already conscious head and a second head both jerked around to stare at the intrusion on their sleep, jaws parted, rows of teeth visible in bestial snarls. Sentinel grinned as he skimmed away from them, wings splayed wide, keeping low to the ground, where the hydra would be hesitant to attack him because it would be more likely to smash its many heads into the bushes and twisted trees rather than the pegasus. A second pair of challenging roars rose to join the first as the two remaining heads awoke properly, realising the threat to their territory, no matter how minute. With a fierce snarl from three of the heads, the hydra lumbered to its large feet, and began to pound after the pegasus. Raindrop watched with wide eyes from atop her hilltop, standing with her forelegs splayed slightly, her wings twitching slightly in reflexive nervousness. She had absolutely no idea how Sentinel could just attack a hydra like that without being scared half to death at the prospect. It would have taken her hours to gather up the courage to do that. The hydra snarled in impotent anger at its prey, which seemed to stay just out of its reach, tempting it further and further from its horde. But the small mind and attention span of the hydra was focused on one thing: anger. It wanted to hurt the pegasus, to crush him to a pulp beneath its feet or share its limbs between each of its angry heads. Deciding that the hydra was far enough away from the horde, Raindrop bounded over the crest of the hill and began galloping down the other side, heading for the Element of Generosity sitting on the top of the pile. Elsewhere, in Ponyville, a lone unicorn was stirring. This unicorn was oddly coloured; a silvery white, with a jet black mane with what appeared to be glowing white highlights in it. Something about her appearance spoke of magic. It was almost a palpable thing that rolled off her. Her eyes, when they opened, were a vivid, deep blue. They were so bright and intense that it was almost eerie to look into them. Her name was Stardancer, and she was utterly insane. Ever since she was a foal, she had resided at the Ponyville Insane Asylum, quite at home with the other strange, broken ponies. In a constant state of near-catatonia brought on by mind-numbing amounts of drugs, she was often found whispering to herself in the corner about causality and effects. But today was different. Today, she had refused her medication. It was perhaps an odd thing that she refused her medication. She willingly took her medication, and seemed to rely on it to function. When Stardancer was old enough to make decisions for herself, she had been given a session with a Psychologist to see if she was fit for integration back into society. After an hour of discussions, it was deemed that the unicorn was ‘beyond intervention’ and she was sentenced to willing incarceration in the Ponyville Asylum until such time as she sought a second session with a psychologist. Today was that day. One of the orderlies came by to take her to the session, carefully helping her ease out of the straight jacket she had been placed in, allowing her unrestricted movement. The jacket was a precaution, but everyone at the asylum knew that it was unnecessary. Stardancer was a willing tenant, and her only respite from the demons of her mind were the drugs she regularly imbibed. And everyone who knew Stardancer, and knew her history, knew that if she really wanted to get out, then she could do so whenever she pleased. “F-five, seventeen, twelve,” Stardancer murmured hoarsely, her voice raspy from disuse. “Excuse me, ma’am?” the orderly asked, raising a brow, turning towards her. “N-nothing,” the pony rasped back, turning her head and mumbling to herself. The orderly frowned as he led the crazed pony towards the room where she would meet with the psychologist. But she had eyes only for the orderly. She watched him intently from beneath her sparkling black mane, eyes narrowing, watching his expression as thoughts rolled through his mind. At first, his thoughts turned to the numbers, pondering on them, wondering what they could mean. And then that thought then turned to the lottery, and the ticket he had in it, waiting to be checked. It was sitting in the office where he had his breaks, and he had to take it into the store that afternoon, as he’d forgotten it three times already this week.. He had almost forgotten it again! Phew. The orderly paused as they passed by a room, and Stardancer ran right into him, gasping in surprise and putting her hooves up to balance herself, entangling them in his mane by accident. “You should watch where you’re walking, Stardancer,” the orderly said kindly, as she disentangled her hooves. His mind was so preoccupied with asking his fellow orderly to remind him about the lottery ticket, that he didn’t even notice that Stardance came away with his hairpin in her hoof. “Yo, remind me to take that ticket in this afternoon, yeah?” the orderly called, while Stardancer hid the hairpin in her mouth. “Yeah, sure!” came the response, and the orderly smiled before continuing down the hallway. “So why today, Stardancer? You’ve been here what, ten years now?” the orderly asked of her, looking at her sideways. Stardancer just grunted in response. “Well don’t talk to me then,” the orderly said with a shake of his head, sighing and then pushing open the door to the psychologist's office, peeking in. “I’ll be waiting outside, don’t wreck anything,” the orderly said, narrowing his eyes at her. Stardancer shrugged, stepping inside and calmly draping herself across the couch inside. The psychologist looked up from his notepad, raising a brow at her. “Ahh, Stardancer? I understand that you wished to speak to me? Ready to get out of here, huh?” Stardancer merely nodded in response, remaining quiet, watching him. The psychologist perked his ears up at her, and then jotted something down on his notepad, moving out from around the desk and moving to sit down across from her. Stardancer watched him with narrowed eyes, waiting. She knew it was coming. She had known it for weeks. The psychologist stumbled slightly, and then winced, a hoof lifting to grip his stomach, his face screwing up slightly in pain. “Ugh...oh wow...that hurts...” Stardancer merely watched him, tilting her head to the side. With a groan, the psychologist stumbled to the door, pushed it open, and then bolted for the men’s room, shoving open the door to a stall before he began to be violently ill into a toilet. The orderly looked into the room where Stardancer was, giving her a surprised look. Stardancer shrugged, giving a bewildered look in response. The orderly turned and then bounded down the hallway to the door of the men’s room, peeking in to see if the psychologist was alright. Of course, Stardancer knew this was coming. She had known for a full two weeks. It had started with an innocent word to an orderly: ‘cake’. It wasn’t cake that made the psychologist sick though, no. A week before that, the psychologist had given the orderly a piece of cake for lunch. The forgetful orderly hadn’t remember that until today, and gave him a piece of home-cooked pie instead. What the orderly didn’t know was that the psychologist was mildly allergic to rhubarb, which was an ingredient in the pie. Stardancer calmly rose to her hooves, and stalked into the hallway and then to the door leading to the front of the asylum, spitting out the hairpin and looking down at it. With a quick twist of her hoof, she had it bent in half. The unicorn then picked it up, inserted it into the lock, and twisted it. It took her under three seconds to get the door unlocked, and then she was gone. By the time any of the orderlies noticed, she was long gone. Raindrop bounded down the slope, crashing through the knee-deep brackish water, and then back up the slope leading to the treasure horde. Up close, it looked even larger. Shiny piles of metal, silver, gold, simple stainless steel, even an old sword or two, formed a complex net draped with jewellery and other random bits of shiny things. Some of it was pure junk, but amongst the junk, were some very real treasures. She could see a treasure chest, spilled open with gold inside. There was a tiara perched upon an old cart whose contents included metal plates used for what appeared to be shield material, as each were in the three-pointed shape of an old shield. And old stove was laying half-on a walking brace used for helping old ponies who had trouble walking. And on top of all these mixed tangle of metal things, was the Element of Generosity. It was held high by the struts of an old foals playground, the paint chipped away to reveal rusting metal beneath. Raindrop clambered up this haphazard pile, sending various objects bouncing down from the pile as she disturbed the weight distribution. And then, she had it! She quickly transferred the element from her hoof, to under her right wing. Very quickly, the element dimmed and turned a stony grey. Unable to believe how lucky she had it so far, Raindrop leaped down off the pile and landed at a full gallop, speeding away from the horde with her prize clutched under her wing. But that’s where it all went wrong. Sentinel was merely playing with the hydra now, juking between the trees and actually laughing as he dodged the angry behemoths ponderous attacks. It was like watching a sloth try to catch a fly. The hydra just wasn’t too fast to catch the pegasus, even with all four heads vehemently trying to snatch him from the sky. But his cockiness was his undoing. Sentinel rolled over as he flew, and blew the hydra a kiss as he circled around a tree trunk, waving at the giant beast coquettishly. The hydra snarled its anger at his insolence, and two of the heads tried to attack him at once. Sentinel laughed, righting himself in the air and juking out of the way easily. But he didn’t dodge the tree so easily. The hydra’s two heads smashed into the tree he had been circling around, causing it to tilt, its root system tearing out of the ground as it began to lean and tip. Another strike from a third head causing it to tear itself out of the ground and fall completely. Sentinel was too close to the tree, and as it fell, it struck him across the back, raking down his wings and spine with its spindly branches, like clawed hands tearing at him. Feathers were torn from the pegasus’ wings and he was dropped instantly, like a bird caught in a net, forced down by the weight of the tree. He slammed into the ground and rolled free under his own momentum, coming to a halt in a tangled mess of leaves, torn feathers, and mangled flight surfaces. He groaned and stirred faintly, his wings giving a feeble twitch. It didn’t take a doctor to know that he wouldn’t be flying on those wings any time soon. The hydra roared in triumph, and began to circle around the fallen tree to get at the fallen pegasus, all four heads focused on him entirely, eager and ready for a meal. Raindrop watched with wide, horrified eyes, looking from the scene in front of her, to the element under her wing, biting her lip. Everything in her told her to run away, to stay safe. She couldn’t even fly, and that was a hydra. But there was something in her that was stronger than her impulse to flee. With a heavy sigh, Raindrop set down the Element of Generosity, rolling it into the fork of a tree. The pegasus then turned on her heel, and began to sprint towards the hydra, her wings automatically flaring for balance against the wind. Her shoulder was still too sore to fly, and even running caused twinges in it, but she ignored it. It was time to save the guard. Again. Raindrop skidded down a slope, catching a decent sized stone in a hoof as she skidded, and then landing neatly on all fours, spinning in place, using her momentum to hurl the stone in the general direction of the hydra. Her aim was true, and the stone caught the back of one of the gigantic heads, bouncing off it. The hydra paused in its attack on the unmoving Sentinel, and three of the heads slowly turned towards Raindrop, while the fourth whined and tried to snap at the form of the downed male pegasus, a few metres short of being to reach him, whining. Raindrop stared up at the giant beast, swallowing hard. She hadn’t thought that far ahead. All she had been trying to do was stop it from eating Sentinel, and now, it was focused on her. And she couldn’t fly! Raindrop backpedalled instantly, turning around and beginning to scramble up the slope she had finished sliding down, her mouth dry and her heart beating in her ears. She could hear the heavy thuds of the hydra’s footsteps as it pursued her, and she could see, in her mind, the four heads eagerly stretching out to bite at her. The ground began to tremble under Raindrop’s feet as she ran, cresting the slope she had slid down and then rapidly bounding down the other side. A heavy grating sound echoed behind her, and she stole a glance back to see the hydra sliding down the slope after her! One of the heads snapped at her, and she sidestepped, feeling the pressure wave of the jaws closing where she had been but a few moments before, her eyes widening at exactly how close it had been to sheering off her wings or just chomping her in half. Unused to running in any setting, Raindrop realised instantly that the hydra was faster than her. Just running wasn’t going to cut it. It would catch her and tear her to pieces before she managed to get into any substantial cover. So instead of running away, Raindrop turned and leaped at the hydra. Confused at the sudden change in tact, two of the hydra’s heads completely missed her with their clumsy bites, while the third head waited a few moments before attempting to catch her. Raindrop leaped as high as she could, and spread her wings on reflex, her hooves grazing across the side of one of the hydra’s necks, the pegasus slipping between two of the long limbs in an attempt to confuse it. Raindrop’s plan worked, and the hydra was momentarily confused. To further the chaos, the third head that was waiting to attack her attempted to curl between the two necks of its fellow heads. The gap was too small though, and its teeth grazed against the two necks as it narrowly missed snapping closed on Raindrop’s trailing tail. A snarl rose from one of the heads as a long gash in its yellow hide became apparent, and it snapped at the head that had caused the damage, headbutting it bickeringly. Raindrop, for her part, landed on the hydra’s back, bounding down the length of it, hardly able to believe she was running on a living creature. The hydra snarled in anger as it realised that its prey was getting away, and turned, writhing in an attempt to twist around and snap at her once more. Raindrop felt the motion underneath her, rolling like a ship in high seas, upsetting her balance. She resisted the urge to clamp down with her limbs to keep herself from falling off. A sudden impact caught across her breast, and she gasped, all the air leaving her body. The hydra’s thick tail had whipped across her form as the lumbering creature turned, and the motion of the whippy limb sent the pegasus high into the air. The world tilted crazily for Raindrop, and her wings spread automatically to catch the air, snapping taught to arrest her uncontrolled tumble through the air. A snarl of pain left the pegasus as the muscles in her shoulder were forced into action far too soon, the wound there making itself known with a vengeance. Automatically, Raindrop folded her wing to avoid the pain, and her fall turned into a tumble once more. Baring her teeth, Raindrop spread her wing before she lost too much altitude, feeling a crunching bite coming down on the air where she had just been, as she began to glide painfully towards the ground, putting distance between her and the hydra. Aching, piercing pain burned in her shoulder constantly, and she wanted to just fold her wing and drop to the ground in a heap, but she grit her teeth and fought through it. If she gave in to the pain, then she was going to end up a very small entré to four different mouths. Raindrop hit the ground running, each step sending a jarring bolt of pain through her shoulder, making her bare her teeth, the pain most definitely clearing her head. “Sentinel! Get up!” she called as she bounded at an angle away from where she had seen the pegasus go down. She hoped that he could hear her, but she had no idea if he was even conscious, or mobile. And she certainly didn’t have the time to stop and ask questions. Sprawled out in a few centimetres of murky water, Sentinel stirred fitfully, his wings giving an uncertain flex and flare. His brows twitched, and then his eyes blinked open, clouded with pain and possibly a mild concussion from his impact with the ground. The sounds of the hydra pounding after Raindrop seemed to echo from a long way away. Raindrop was already panting hard from her exertions. Running was not high on a pegasi’s ‘to do’ list, and generally speaking, on the ground, they were slower and had less endurance than even the unicorns. The price of wings, it seemed. The pegasus’ breath was coming in harsh pants, and her hooves were getting heavy, harder to command. Another crashing bite from the hydra almost caught her tail, and Raindrop stumbled slightly, almost losing her footing and ending up on the ground. Raindrop could almost sense the next strike coming, and she backpedalled, skidding to a stop and throwing herself backwards. The hydra’s bite slammed into the ground where she would have been had she not stopped so suddenly, and the next strike hit to the side of her, causing the entire ground to tremble underneath her. The strikes seemed to stun the hydra, as two of its heads came back up from the ground looking distinctly dishevelled, stunned by their impacts. Instead of running away from it, Raindrop took the opportunity to duck between its forelegs, standing beneath it. At first, the hydra was confused, apparently having lost track of her, before one of its heads dipped down to peek underneath itself, eyes narrowing evilly at her. A large foot lifted, shifted, and then began to come down on top of her. Raindrop leapt to the side, and the crashing blow hit bare earth instead, vibrating the earth underneath her. A second and third strike were dodged like this before the hydra tired of the new ‘game’. Another head curled down on the opposite side, and the remaining two shifted to come from the front, boxing her in, leaving her with only place to go: backwards. Raindrop turned to run that way, finding that the hydra had hiked its tail up slightly, as though offering her a route of escape. But she saw it for what it really was: a trap. As soon as she tried to exit that way, the tail would come down, and weight of it would crush her. Raindrop bit her bottom lip, looking left and right. Four heads stared at her. Eight unblinking eyes watched her. It knew it had her, but it was toying with her now, exulting in its victory. A muted shout echoed from the other side of the hydra’s form, and the large beast seemed to pause a moment, one of its heads lifting and curling away to peer down at the second pegasus. Sentinel was back on his feet, limping towards the hydra. His right front leg was cocked in front of him, and he wasn’t putting any weight on it. His wings were bedraggled, and trailed on the ground at his sides, seemingly unable to close properly. His form was streaked with mud, leaves, and clods of dirt, and, in one spot, blood. He was beaten. But he was still hobbling after the hydra, calling out to it in angry, challenging tone of voice. “Come and eat you, you oversized lizard! I got one leg for each of your ugly mouths!” he was calling, completely fearless. Raindrop looked left, at the head there, and then down at her hooves. The fourth head had moved, but three of them still watched her, making sure she didn’t go anywhere. She looked up again, gauging the distance, and then flicked her hoof, lifting a generous amount of sand with the flick, sending it directly into the hydra’s eyes. the head she hit with the sand recoiled, and Raindrop slipped out through the gap she created, lended a second wind by pure adrenaline, bounding away down the slope towards Sentinel while the hydra roared its fury at being duped and gave chase. Raindrop intercepted Sentinel halfway up the slope, skidding past him. The guard didn’t even pay her any attention, continuing to hobble towards the hydra resolutely. “What are you doing?!” Raindrop screeched as the heavy thuds of the hydra’s footfalls grew closer and closer, and a roar rattled their eardrums. “Run,” Sentinel said urgently, waving a hoof at her to entreat her to run. “I’m not going anywhere.” Raindrop scowled, gripping his tail in a hoof and tugging at it. “Run you stubborn mule! We’re going to be eaten!” Sentinel frowned at her as the shadow of the hydra fell over them, and he harrumphed at her. “So...I’m going to get eaten and you’re not even going to get away? Typical female.” Raindrop gave an exasperated sigh, “This is hardly the time or place!” Sentinel looked up at the hydra, and the hydra stared back, all four heads watching the two pegasus. A slimy tongue slipped from one of its mouths, licking across its teeth, savouring the moment. And then, the hydra paused. It realised its prey was no longer looking at it, but rather, past it. One of the heads turned, and that single head had time to register that there was a massive spire of rock levitating above it, before the rock swung down and smashed across four heads in a single massive swipe. The heavy body of the hydra keeled over sideways, ponderously tipping until it crashed to the earth with a resounding thud, unconscious. Sentinel and Raindrop could only stare. The large spire of rock was carefully set down with a touch of magic at the top of a hill, and a figure appeared. A white unicorn with a flowing black mane rolled a rock up to the side of the giant spire she placed there, and then nudged the rock once or twice, making sure it was just so, before heading back down the hill, apparently talking to herself. “That just happened, didn’t it?” Sentinel asked blankly. “Eeyup,” Raindrop replied, looking from the fallen hydra to the strangely placed rock. She then peered down at her shoulder, and winced slightly. Blood was seeping through her bandages from her stab wound. Sometime during her headlong run, she had managed to reopen the wound. Mud and dirty water caked her bandages, and she was suddenly wary of an infection. Sentinel gave a low groan, and then slumped, just splaying out flat on his stomach. “I wish that thing ate me. I hurt all over.” “Oh shut up,” Raindrop scowled, beginning to stumble her way towards where she had left the Element of Generosity. The unicorn had already faded from view, lost to the trees. Raindrop was certain she’d be able to find out who it was, though, as she had a very distinctive look to her. Sentinel groaned and pulled himself to his feet to follow after her, limping heavily. “You know, I was all set to be the hero, too. And there you went crashing my parade and not running away,” Sentinel stated flatly. “Yeah, and then you’d be eaten. I’d surely die of regret if that was to happen,” Raindrop rebuked flatly. “I would be eaten and I would not care,” Sentinel said in an offhand way. Raindrop slid over the element and pulled it up, hiding it under her wing again and then turning to him, smiling weakly. “Well, we got the element.” “And injured. Don’t forget injured,” Sentinel interjected. “And injured,” Raindrop agreed, nodding once and then prodding at her bandages, frowning. “Can you walk like that?” Sentinel stared at her for a long moment, and then shook his head sadly. “Nope, sorry. Can’t do it. I’ll just have to levitate back to Ponyville like I did to get over here.” “Looking for more injuries?” Raindrop asked flatly, glowering at him. “Can it wait until after we’re a long, long way away from that thing?” Sentinel asked, pointing at the hydra. “Agreed,” Raindrop conceded, turning and starting up the hill towards where Sentinel had left his armor. “You don’t happen to know that unicorn, do you?” Sentinel shook his head, and then raised a brow at her. “What makes you think I would?” “She seemed...to be a very crazy pony. I can’t picture you hanging out with a normal pony,” Raindrop said with a shake of her head. “I find it amusing that you say this to me while in my company,” Sentinel replied instantly. Raindrop just glowered at him, before adding threateningly “You know...I owe you a black eye.” “Owe me?” He asked, perking an ear at her. “Are we keeping a tally now?” “Well if you keep getting injured ‘in the line of duty’, then we’re going to need an IOU system for all the times you piss me off when you’re too injured me to inflict grievous bodily harm upon you,” Raindrop pointed out, raising a brow at him. The guard rolled his eyes, pausing, and then beginning to gingerly slide his armor on. “I’m sorry that my constant state of injury is inconveniencing your violent nature. Your boyfriend must be in a constant state of concussion.” “Actually, I tend not to hit him,” Raindrop said with a shrug. Sentinel slipped on his helmet, and then hobbled over to her, gingerly patting her shoulder with a hoof. “Don’t worry. I bring out the best in ponies.” “You bring out my violent streak,” Raindrop reminded him with a scowl. “And how is that a bad thing?” Sentinel asked, as he turned and began to limp back down the hill and towards the Everfree forest. “You’re usually on the receiving end of my violent streak,” Raindrop protested. “And I’m not complaining,” Sentinel stated, looking at her over his shoulder. Raindrop sighed, shaking her head. “You’re a glutton for punishment, aren’t you?” Sentinel raised a brow, pausing and then glancing over himself suggestively. “I just took on a hydra. And I was laughing...at the start at least. What do you think?” “I think you’re borderline psychotic,” Raindrop responded, shaking her head at him again. “We’re on the same page then,” Sentinel said with a grin. He was watching Raindrop, and so he didn’t see the carefully-placed stone in his path that rolled underhoof. Thankfully, it didn’t strain anything in his good leg, but it did off-balance him enough that he ended up sidestepped clumsily, ending up nose-to-nose with Raindrop. The two of them paused like that, unsure, neither of them really willing to break the sudden awkward silence. Sentinel was the first to make a movement though, and he leaned in to place a kiss directly on the end of her muzzle. Raindrop blinked slowly, stunned by the sudden motion, her eyes wide. Sentinel drew back after a second, and then inclined his head. “Thanks for, you know, trying to make me not die.” And then the guard continued to limp down the path towards Ponyville as though nothing had happened, leaving a blushing, confused Raindrop in his wake.