Overgrowth

by ezra09


Interference

Keen golden eyes watched from above. One, two, three, four. And the earth pony would make five, if she accepted.

Five champions. Five little ponies with the future of the entire world on their shoulders.

Wings tilted. The treeline drew closer. The figured touched down and disappeared into the dark cover of the forest.

Shopping. Dinner with friends. None of the five had even considered going to Libiris today. That wouldn’t do. The figure grinned and turned back toward the town, just visible through the trees. He raised one limb. It was time to do what he did best, start some chaos.

No, he thought, pausing, the grin fading, his limb dropping a few inches. Chaos was already taken, wasn’t it? He’d need his own schtick. Something simple, but cool sounding. Something intimidating.

“Eh, whatever. Time to start some trouble,” he said, talons jerking upward. A hot point appeared in the darkness, glowing with an intense white light. The light traveled up the limb, and his talons became translucent, like luminescent glass.

Five points of light flickered into being in front of him. He felt a slight tug as the points of light began gathering mass. Leaves, rocks, dirt, and broken branches were pulled in, covering the lights and shifting. Within two or three minutes, five shapes stood before him, rough, four-legged beasts. Their eyes flared to life.

“Go,” the figure said, focusing his mind on the ponies he’d seen. “Make sure they understand. They don’t have time to be sitting around.”

The constructs turned and charged out of the trees toward the town. The figure laughed in exhilaration as he watched them go. “Them and their spirits. I’m coming for them!”

*****

“This seems simple enough,” Ivory Quill said.

Law smiled. It had been a good idea, letting the pony read the contract. It gave her something to do beyond simply listening. It had let the girl focus. Had given the more analytical part of her mind something to latch onto.

“No signatory that has chosen a mortal champion shall enter the building known as Libiris,” Ivory Quill read. “No signatory shall enter the building known as Libiris in search of the Heart of Creation. A bit redundant.” She continued reading silently for a few minutes.

“All signatories shall invest an allotment of their magic into protections to restrict the actions of any eternal spirit that has not signed this contract, and to act against any eternal spirit that has not signed this contract in the case of that eternal spirit attempting to...” she trailed off, reading silently before lowering the contract. “That’s why you signed? Because if you didn’t, everypony that did would be obligated to keep you out anyway?”

Law nodded. Her satisfaction in her newly found champion grew.

“And you want me to be your,” the girl looked back down at the contract, “mortal champion in this matter?”

“I do,” Law answered. “Do you accept?”

“Of course not,” Ivory Quill answered.

Law tilted her head.

“A magical sphinx jumped me in a dark alley and asked me to save the world,” the pony said, her voice remarkably even, given the situation.

“I suppose that would be quite a bit to wrap one’s head around,” Law said.

“It is. I’m not sure I believe any of it.”

Law shouldn’t have been surprised, she knew. She’d wanted a pony clever enough to get the job done, after all. She should have been ready for a reasonable level of skepticism.

“You wish to study law, do you not?” Law asked.

Ivory Quill frowned. “How did you know that?”

“I have been observing, looking for somepony that might be worthy of becoming my champion. I overheard you say as much tonight. You wish to study law and someday become a leader of ponies. Why?”

Ivory Quill looked at her uneasily, but answered. “It’s what my family does. My dad, mom, grandfather, and great-grandfather all studied law. I’m good at writing and understanding technical documents, so it makes sense.”

“Are those the only reasons?” Law asked.

Ivory Quill shrugged and glanced away. The faintest hint of pink touched her cheeks.

“By the way you spoke in the diner, and your disposition toward those you feel have wronged another, I would have guessed you were in part driven by a sense of justice. Perhaps even a desire to do some good in the world.”

Ivory Quill’s blush deepened and she said nothing.

“There are dark forces at work. Enemies of Equestria that have tried to unmake it before, and will try again. I can understand why you might not believe me without question, but I will ask that you find the truth for yourself before you refuse my request. Go to Libiris. Take a book, one you do not mind losing. You will find it unsealed and filled with answers.”

Ivory Quill looked down at the contract again, thoughtful. She didn’t see the creature emerge from the darkness with a pair of quick strides and leap toward her.

Law’s tail whipped around the pony and dragged her forward and down. The creature’s lunge missed her, but its front claws clipped her mane. She let out a surprised “oof” as she fell to the ground before Law.

The creature landed and staggered, trying to turn as its momentum carried it forward. Law quirked an eyebrow and used her tail to drag Ivory Quill further away, beside her front leg.

The pony had heard the impact of the creature’s landing and turned, seeing it for the first time. Her face paled and she pushed herself up. “What’s that?” she asked. Her voice was high, but once again she’d kept from flying into a blind panic. Her eyes went to the silver canister she’d tried to spray Law with before, still lying at the side of the road.

That was an excellent question, Law thought. The creature reminded her of a timberwolf at first. Its head was made of broken branches and leaves, but its body included mud and stone as well. Its eyes were twin pinpoints of white light.

It lunged again, clumsily closing the space between them. Law leapt away, scooping up Ivory Quill with one leg. Once again, the creature tried to turn toward her before it had landed, throwing itself off balance.

“I see,” Law said. She dumped the pony unceremoniously to the ground. “That simplifies things.”

The creature lunged again.

Law took a single stride forward and swiped a massive paw at it. The blow spiked the creature out of the air and into the dirt road. It tried to stand again, but Law kept her paw on it and pushed, crushing it.

Ivory Quill let out a startled gasp. Law turned to see her backing away, eyes wide.

“I thought...” the pony said, “your contract...”

It seemed she did have a limit when it came to shock and fear. Law took a step to the side, giving the girl a better view of the creature. Only sticks and mud, lit by the occasional flicker of magic, remained.

“It wasn’t a living creature,” Law said. “It was a construct.”

The pony’s eyes flicked down to the pile of debris. She didn’t visibly relax, but she did say in an almost inaudible voice, “oh.”

Law looked back down at the remains of the construct and frowned as a new question occurred to her. “Where did it come from?”

*****

“So, I’m thinking the spinach will go here. It grows fast, so we’ll have it for salads if we end up staying that long. I doubt we will, but you never know. Right about here I think we could do cucumbers and carrots. They take a little longer, but maybe the next ponies who live here will like a garden.”

Scootaloo nodded along, only half paying attention, which was fine. She was pretty sure Thistleroot was talking to himself anyway.

Running into Star Charmer out of the blue like that had been a nasty shock, but all things considered, she was kind of happy. It was out of the way, and things had gone better than she could have hoped. Even Thistleroot had calmed down, and now they had some friendly acquaintances in town.

If there were other spirits and other champions, getting to know ponies and finding out that somepony was acting peculiar would be important. And if Star Charmer, Dawn Flower, and Ivory Quill weren’t useful in that regard, well, they were still nice enough.

“Alright, it’s been a long day,” she said finally. “I’m gonna hit the hay.”

“‘Kay. I’ll probably be in in a minute. Just as soon as I figure out what I want in this corner. Ooh, maybe some radishes.”

Scootaloo chuckled at her friend’s enthusiasm and went back inside. The living room was quiet. Rare Breed and Triplicate had finished their own errands and turned in early. A small stack of books sat on the kitchen table, those that Triplicate had deemed unnecessary and to be donated to Libiris.

They would have to go back to Libiris tomorrow. Taking a day to get situated made sense, but the importance of what Discord had asked of them wasn’t lost on her.

Mimic had already crawled into her own bed, and was turned toward the wall. Scootaloo could just see the ear of her stuffed fox poking out from beneath one leg.

“You awake?”

“No.”

“Okay,” Scootaloo said with a chuckle before hopping into her bed and pulling the covers over her. It really had been a long day, but at least—

Thistleroot’s high pitched scream cut the thought off. She flinched and bounced out of the bed before she’d settled. Mimic jerked up as though she’d been on the verge of sleeping. They gave each other a wild look before bolting for the door.

Thistleroot was on his haunches, back against the house beside the porch by the time they made it outside. His wide eyes were fixed on a pair of monsters not three feet from him. The nearest sniffed at him, though Scootaloo wasn’t sure what it could possibly smell with a rock for a nose. The creatures turned and their eyes, twin pairs of glowing white light, met hers.

They charged her.

She hurled herself backwards and up. She saw Mimic appear in the doorway, eyes wide, and the changeling threw herself down the steps before the creatures reached her. Another voice, Rare Breed’s, asked from just inside the door, “What in the name of Equestria is going— oh sweet Celestia!”

The creatures followed her off the porch, smashing through the railing as though it weren’t there. She angled higher, pushing herself above the nearby rooftops. The creatures snapped at her hooves, but then fell back down, unable to reach.

She felt a moment of relief before they rounded on Mimic.

Mimic had landed at the base of the stairs and turned, body low in a crouch. She managed to jump away when the creatures made for her, snapping and clawing as she took to the air. She was fast, she could get away from them, but then they’d just look for another target. Mimic seemed to have the same thought. She kept low, letting the creatures chase her.

She wouldn’t be able to use her changeling magic without giving her true identity away, Scootaloo realized. “Get inside! We’ll handle this!”

Thistleroot shook his head, eyes blinking, and made for the door. Rare Breed fell back to let him in, and he slammed it shut.

“You’re clear, Mimic,” Scootaloo called, quieter this time.

The changeling swerved and lifted higher, out of the creatures’ reach. They came to a halt, teeth made of broken twigs barred up at her.

“What’s up with these guys?” Scootaloo asked, flying over to join her.

“No clue.” A curved horn appeared on her forehead in a flash of green.

The creatures stopped growling, and their heads bent. Their backs boiled and rolled, as did the ground beneath their hooves, and then wings made of mud sprouted from their backs. A moment later they charged again, into the air towards Scootaloo and Mimic.

“Oh, come on!” Scootaloo managed to shout before the heavy body of one of the creatures struck her. The creature forced her down several feet as they spun back together. Its paw scratched against her belly, tracing several hot lines of pain, and her stomach twisted in fear. She managed to kick off against it, gaining some ground and looking down at herself.

She drew a hoof against where it had scratched her in surprise. The creature’s claws didn’t seem to have managed to cut her hide. The creature charged again, and this time she rolled back as it did, catching it in the gut with her hind legs and launching him over her as she backflipped.

“Mimic, go for the wings!”

Mimic flew threw the air, managing to pull away from her own assailant and coming to a hover beside Scootaloo. “You think that will work? They’re way too heavy for their wings to do anything anyway.”

“Yeah, but then why bother making them?”

“Good point,” Mimic said as the creatures charged once again. Scootaloo dove, drawing their attention downward as Mimic attacked. She let loose a bolt of changeling fire, aiming just above the first creature. Its wings exploded in a wave of mud and fire, and it began to fall.

The creature continued swiping at Scootaloo even as it fell, even though it couldn’t have possibly reached her.

They’re not real, Scootaloo realized. A real animal would have shown at least some flicker of fear.

Scootaloo pulled out of the dive, wings flared to stop herself. She managed to land hard, but unharmed, and staggered to a stop beside the next house over.

The creature wasn’t as lucky. It hit the ground head first and exploded in a wave of fresh mud and broken sticks.

“Ha! Take that!” She called,sticking a tongue out at the whatever it was, adrenaline pumped by her racing heart making her giddy. She chuckled.

Something slammed into her side just as she remembered there had been two creatures. She rolled with the hit, landing on her hooves and leaping away, but her side hit against the house she’d landed next to almost immediately.

The creature lunged once again, and even as stupid and clumsy as they seemed to be, it had enough weight behind it to crush her. She ducked, hunched against the house, eyes wide as it closed in on her.

The creature bounced away six inches from her face.

She blinked.

The creature lunged and bounced away again. She looked up, and realized it had been trapped inside a large plastic sphere, like the kind a hamster would roll around in. Lounging atop that sphere was Discord.

“Sorry about keeping things to the last second,” Discord said in his typical, almost bored sounding voice. “I was trying to give you and your friends some privacy, so I didn’t notice this thing right away.”

Scootaloo sank against the side of the house and let out a breath. “Thanks.”

Discord waved his hand, as though to say “no big deal”. “Now, what do we have here?” He hopped up and with a wave of his arm the top of the giant hamster ball unscrewed.

Mimic touched down beside them. “Are you okay?”

Scootaloo nodded and then turned her attention back to Discord. The draconequus laid flat against the hamster ball and reached inside, trying to grab the creature. It growled and jumped up, jaw clamping on Discord outstretched talons. Discord stood, as though the bite was nothing, and simply grabbed his shoulder with his other paw and detached the arm.

The creature dangled from his detached arm, though Scootaloo could see it twitching, its mouth loosening and tightening, as though it were trying to let go.

“So, what do we have?” Discord asked thoughtfully, letting go of his arm. It stayed suspended it front of him and he reached his paw into the creature. The mud that made up most of its body began to slough off, and its eyes winked out. Its form melted around Discord’s arm, until only his clenched paw was left.

Discord opened his paw, and a glowing point of light floated above it. With a tilt of his head, his other arm reattached itself to his shoulder in a flash.

“What was that thing?” Scootaloo asked.

“Not sure,” Discord answered. “Some kind of construct. Somepony’s magical toy. A better question is, who made it?”

“Who?”

“No clue,” Discord answered. “It couldn’t have been anypony that signed the contract.” He gave it another few seconds of thought and snapped his talons. A collar appeared around the point of light, connected to a leash that wrapped around his arm. “Well, only one way to find out.” He paused, and then tossed something to Scootaloo.

She caught it. A simple metal whistle on a cord. “Just in case something else comes after you two.”

“Are you sure you don’t want us to come with you?” Scootaloo asked, but Discord was already gone, being pulled forward by the point of light.

*****

The light brought Discord North, toward the edge of Greenhaven Grotto. It stopped near the edge of the trees, bouncing around like a bloodhound looking for the trail.

“Discord!” a voice called out from behind him.

“Oh here we go,” he said, turning to see a large sphinx land a few dozen feet off.

“I should have known you would have something to do with this,” Law snarled at him. “Not five minutes after I choose my champion, you try to kill her.”

“Believe it or not, it wasn’t me,” Discord said.

“Of course. You just happen to be here, where the construct came from.”

“I am. I promise.” As he spoke, Discord crossed his heart with a talon and then mimed putting a cupcake in his eye. The gesture was lost on Law. “Look, my champion was attacked too. I’m trying to find out who did it, see?” He pointed at the light on its leash, which was currently standing beside a bush, showering it with sparks. “No, bad dog!” Discord yanked the leash, and the light bounced back toward him.

Law looked unconvinced.

“Look, just come with me. We can find whoever did this together, and then you’ll see it wasn’t me.”

“You want me to work with you? You expect me to trust you?”

“Would it help if I shook?”

“No, it wouldn’t. I think...” Law trailed off as Discord began vibrating in place. After several seconds, she sighed. “Just find whoever was behind this.”

“Ha, I knew that would work,” Discord said, grinning broadly at Law. “Partners then? Oh, it’s just like old times.”

Law sighed again, burying her face in one massive paw. Exactly like old times.