//------------------------------// // Subject 109: Team 10 Returns // Story: Interviews With Equestrians // by Jmaster49 //------------------------------// Indeed. It had been ages since we were all able to fight alongside each other. Now that we were back together, it was going to be more than enough to take down this foul beast. While we were excellent combatants in our own rights, fighting alongside each other was a pony of a different color entirely. We each brought something different to the table, and now was the time to actually show off what we could do. The gargoyle reeled back, and leaned downwards with a mighty roar as it breathed a hefty gust of purple fire at us. Cork was the first to notice, and flapped his wings to create a gale force to counter the flame. “On me!” he shouted, and both Quick and I grouped up next to him. He flew around in a small, rapid circle to create a miniature cyclone that pushed through, and destroyed the fire. Quick was next to spout a command. “Okay, stay close to me. I think I can possibly do the same thing as what I did to Fleur a minute ago.” Cut it open? That was going to demand a serious opening. But I was more than happy to oblige. Quick galloped forward with her dagger clenched between her teeth. The beast swiped at her with its claws, but she barely managed to avoid it. In a crazy display of movement, she climbed up the monster’s arm, and attempted to scale its body to get to its neck! To compound her attack, I charged forward towards its left leg. It was a massive foot, but I knew that I could at least stagger the beast to make it lose its balance. As they said, ‘the bigger they are…’ Corkscrew started to fly around the upper body of the gargoyle to catch its attention. I could tell because I watched his shadow from the ground as it danced around to match his erratic, crazy flying pattern. A perfect distraction that enabled Quick Draw to get up on its shoulders, and allowed me to move in. “HYAH!” With all I had, I rushed in, and headbutted the beast right in his left shin. I knew I was strong enough to at least force it to slow down. Which I just eked by to accomplish. “AAGH!” It let out a sharp roar, and took one thunderous step backwards from my attack. This was going well. To further disrupt its balance, I went behind its leg, and grabbed ahold of it with both hooves. I started pulling backwards in a typical ‘suplex’ fashion. Naturally, I was nowhere near strong enough to actually flip it over, but I had applied just enough strain to keep it from moving off the ground. If it started to fly, it was game over for all of us. Cork knew that as well, which is why he started to fling wind-based projectiles at the beast’s wings in order to keep it from trying to use them. Almost there. Quick Draw was almost there. She just needed to get up to its neck, and stab it one good time with one of her special knives… But there was one flaw in this plan that the beast quickly exploited: We didn’t account for the potential damage to the surrounding area. “RRRRRRAGH!” The beast howled a mighty roar that echoed with the force of a hundred wind machines. Quick Draw was thrown a bit off-balance due to the sheer amount of pressure applied by how much its inner body vibrated. Why did it vibrate? Because it was charging something. An attack! From its mouth, I could see a purple ball form from its mouth. It wasn’t fire. No...it was a ball of pure dark magic! “Shittin’ me…” The gargoyle flung the magic ball towards Carousel Boutique. There was no way our current attack pattern could remain active while that sphere of destruction was in play. We had to change it up--immediately. “Cork!” I shouted, “Block it!” The pegasus turned his head, and saw the magical attack fly towards the home of Rarity and her sister. “...!” His initial shock wore off almost immediately. Cork flapped his wings and flew in a downward meteor-esque position to allow gravity to increase his speed for him. It was a rare, and dangerous movie that only professional pegasi were capable of pulling off due to their flexible bodies. “I...got this!” KABLAM! Quick and I had ceased our actions to check on the extent of the damage. Luckily for us, Cork had proven himself yet again. Once the dust settled, we saw that Carousel Boutique was still standing tall and proud. No damage had been caused. How? Cork had made use of one of his best tricks. “Haha! Nice try!” An entire wall of thick, dense clouds had been erected between him and the explosion. The ball harmlessly went off against it, much to our relief. From above, we heard a familiar voice. “What in Equestria is happening out there?!” Rarity shouted from her second story window. As soon as she laid eyes on the gargoyle, she didn’t look very intimidated. “Seriously? Is that one of Scorpan’s friends you’re dealing with? How rude of her…” ‘Her’? Well I couldn’t exactly tell if itg was female, but I had to take the mare’s word for it. However, for the time being, we needed her to evacuate the area. Cork was already on top of it. “Ma’am. We could use your help. Get you and your sister to safety and warn all the denizens of Ponyville about what’s going on,” he explained, “My crew and I will handle it.” “...I understand. We’re in no mood to debate the situation,” she replied amicably, “but if you all need help, I’ll be back as quick as I can.” She then turned to retreat further into her home. From there, I couldn’t hear her clearly, but I could just barely discern the unicorn call for her sister, followed by their thundering hoofsteps as they fled the scene. Rarity certainly could’ve assisted us in the battle, but warning the townsfolk of the current problem at hoof was imperative above all else. To my left, I heard Quick shout. “Move!” “Wha--oof!” I was promptly tackled out of the way of the gargoyle’s claws in the nick of time before it struck me down. We both landed a few yards away, and had to rise to our hooves immediately afterwards. “Yikes...you alright?” “Me?” she asked in a sarcastic manner, “You’re who I’m more worried about.” I dusted myself off. “I’m fine. But now? We need a new plan of attack.” “What’s the plan, Pale?” Cork flew down, and landed between us both, “How about you, QD? An idea from either of you would be great right now, because I’m like, uh, oh yeah--shit outta luck here!” he said with a spastic flap of his wings. The gargoyle glared at us with silent fury. It was as if it dared us to make another move. This creature...was it more intelligent than the average monster? It had to be. It wasn’t just going to fire off attacks willy-nilly like most others would. But I couldn’t exactly read its aura. This demonic creature didn’t exactly have a fully sapient mind, so my sensory abilities were limited against it. On top of that, I wanted to do my best to avoid collateral damage to the surrounding town and civilians. In short? This was not going to be simple. “I’m thinking...this is going to take some strategy…” I mused over the potential ideas that we could attempt against such a creature. But that’s when I heard yet another familiar voice. “Pops!” I looked up, and saw Cozy fly down to greet us. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest when I saw her. This was no place for her to be! “Cozy! What the buck are you doing here?! Get far away from here!” “No I...I lied…” she said while she avoided eye contact with me. My frustration turned to confusion. “...You what?” “I was too scared to admit it before, but now that I’ve seen what’s going on with my own eyes, I need to tell you: I saw drawings of gargoyle’s in Neighsay’s book. This must have been one of the experiments he was working on.” Quick interjected. “Okay, that’s all well and good--but do you remember any specific weakness that this thing could possibly have?” My ear flicked. From the corner of my eye, I noticed that the stony, winged beast continued to observe us. She didn’t make any sudden movements, but it was like she allowed us to communicate for a second. Was this thing that confident in herself to where she felt like she could engage us whenever she pleased and still win? Could it understand us? It was conjecture, but it was fascinating all the same. “It doesn’t have any ‘weaknesses’ per se,” Cozy explained, “Although, if you can somehow restrain it from using its wings, then it’s pretty much down for the count.” She looked down. “I’m sorry for not being clearer…” I sighed. While I wished that Cozy had been more transparent much sooner, I still appreciated her words. Still, whether or not she knew more was something I needed to speak with her about at some point in the future. “...Alright, kid,” I said with a nod, “Thank you. But you need to head on home now. Once I’m done here, we’ll both work on dealing with it together.” Her eyes went from concerned to relieved. She put both hooves around me in a quick hug. “Got it, pops. Thanks.” She let go, and took off once more. “Neighsay is gonna get it...I swear it.” With that established, I turned back to my teammates. Corkscrew’s agility was incomparable, and Quick’s reflexes were unstoppable. Combining that with my sheer power would be more than enough to take this beast down. Though in the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but wonder: Was this gargoyle truly related to Scorpan in some way? “Okay, I know what we need to do. Same thing as before but with more...area control,” I concepted to my crewmates, “Savvy?” Predictably, Quick Draw put her hoof against her forehead in disbelief. “Ugh...whatever works. I’m in no mood to argue.” “I’m ready to roll,” Corkscrew flapped his wings, “C’mon! Put me in there!” The plan was simple. Corkscrew flew into the air to distract the beast once more, and lead it away from Ponyville. That way, we could minimize damage done to any civilians who (hopefully) had all hidden somewhere safely by that point. I sincerely hoped that Rarity and Sweetie Belle were able to rally everypony so a widespread panic wouldn’t ensue. “Catch me if ya can!” Cork shouted to rile the gargoyle up. It worked perfectly, as it started to walk, and eventually fly after him. Granted, its large wings prevented it from flying too terribly fast, so we were more than able to keep up with it. “AAAAARRRGH!” The gargoyle focused its rage on Corkscrew with more flames and dark magic balls from its mouth that fired off towards him. “Woah!” He panicked, but kept his guard up. With the wind on his side, he was able to create air blasts and slashes that put the flames out before they could reach him. To accomplish this, he flew with lots of twisty turns, zig-zags, and spins to create a vortex that left behind windshields to put it plainly. I nodded at my yellow earth pony partner. “Quick. You’re up.” “On it.” Quick Draw scaled the nearest house, and leapt from rooftop to rooftop like a skilled warrior. With the extra height off the ground, she was able to get a more accurate sense of scale to which she could fling her daggers from. Whatever she had up her sleeve, I knew it would be good. “A few knives dipped in paralysis potion should clip those wings of yours…” “EEEAAH!” the beast howled as Quick’s knives lodged themselves in its wings. Perfection. After a moment or two, its flight began to slow and it couldn’t keep its wings going for much longer. How did I know this? Because I had been following the beast from the ground, galloping off towards the edge of Ponyville the entire time to follow it, Cork, and Quick from below. The slowness of flight became a sudden lockup. Quick’s knives had taken full effect, and forced it to land on its feet. It stopped to check its wings, only to realize that it couldn’t move them anymore. And that was my chance. I heard both of my comrades shout for me. “GET ‘EM BOSS!” “END THAT THING!” I ran full speed. I gathered as much of my internal magic that I could muster, and prepared myself to make a jump like I had never performed before in my life. I needed to leap at least half the height of a house to accomplish this. Well...here goes nothing. “BEGONE!” With enough force to create a small crater in the ground beneath me, I practically sprang off of the earth to launch myself into the air. With the force of a speeding cannonball, I forcefully tackled the gargoyle headfirst which caused it to let out a piercing scream that could shatter glass. “EEEEEE!” THUD! With a heavy tumble, it fell to the ground. When the dust settled, I stood atop the winged creature’s belly with a triumphant glare. Thanks to Cozy’s planning and my team’s execution, we had taken this beast down. “...You’re finished.” I stepped off of its body, and walked around to its head. Quick Draw landed next to me, followed by Corkscrew who landed a few seconds later. “Did we do it, boss?” he asked. “Hang on,” Quick commented as she leaned down, “Let me just…” She stabbed the beast one good time in its neck. After which, it began to disappear into a thin, faint miasma. But before it faded away completely, the gargoyle actually spoke to us. “I’m sorry...Scorpan…” “Wait wha--?!” Cork yelped, but it was too late. The monster had already faded away. Quick stared blankly at the ground. “...I didn’t even know it could speak.” Part of me had a feeling that it--she could. But I didn’t want to dwell on that for now. “...For the moment, let’s head back into town and make sure nopony was hurt. Okay?” Cork gave a defeated sigh, but nodded. “...Understood, boss.” Quick looked up at the both of us. “...Well hey...at least we got to fight again as a team. Like old times, right?” Cork perked right up when he heard that. “Heh...yeah. OA’s Team 10 is back, baby!” “Heh,” Quick scoffed, “I’m surprised you even remember the Officer’s Academy.” “Wh--shut it you!” Ah, it was wonderful to watch them bicker like siblings again. Yes. We were indeed back. But before we got into town, we were stopped by a crowd of Ponyvillagers who had watched us, and gave us silent, blank stares. The three of us were confused. None of us knew what to say in front of the crowd after we had accomplished. Let’s hope it was no angry mob. At Canterlot Dungeon… “...It is defeated, Neighsay. You promised me that you would have enough individuals for me. And yet they were defeated by a bunch of individuals with no magic.” “I...there must be some mistake, I--” “Enough! You blubbering fool. You clearly can’t accomplish the most simple of tasks. I no longer have need of you.” The old unicorn pleaded as he lied on the floor of his cell. “No...no, please! Don’t...AAAAAAAGH! GAAAAAH! PLEEEEEASE!” “...Your soul is mine.”