//------------------------------// // The Conjuration Map, Episode Two, Part Three // Story: Twilight Gets a Puppy, Season 5 // by TDR //------------------------------// Twilight Gets a Puppy Season 5 By TDR The Conjuration Map, Episode Two, Part Two [ Cutie mark Vault] The ritual spell had taken Starlight a few hours to set up. Honestly despite her annoyance at those in town for thinking about cutie marks, she wasn't going to punish any pony as their interest delayed these six long enough for her to get set up. It had taken her years to develop this into the way it was now, a prelaid ritual in the cave that was undetectable with all the magic the vault, another of her creations, was giving off. She had learned a few things in her travels, including suppression magic to hide it's radiance from any one seeking it, or in some cases trying to eat it. Artemis had been weird, but she had learned a lot from it, and she likely never would have been able to set this up if she hadn't found it. Pity she had parted on such bad terms. That and she forgot where the heck the place was beyond in the mountains some where. Starlight admitted her sense of direction had never been great. Starlight had seen a lot of things since she had first put together the spell that allowed her to remove cutie marks. She had seen ponies crying, seen ponies get mad, or even more depressed, she had once even seen one of them break into a very disjointed, and frankly terrible, song about losing their cutie mark. This however was new. She had expected something from the alicorn, but at the moment she was still getting over the loss of her cutie mark as expected, just like the blue pegasus and every other pony the spell had hit in the past. They were always going to be useless for a time simply due to the shock of what their bodies were going through. Starlight doubted it would of worked had the princess not been taken by surprise. The pink mare was much the same, despite her demands for this 'Rahs' to appear. The spell had taken far more power than she expected right off the bat and she would need to rebuild the ritual before she could use it on those guards outside of town. Most of the magic seemed to be getting pulled into the orange pony. Granted the orange pony also wasn't an orange pony any more and was now a massive witch wolf. Starlight hadn't expected another encounter with those from Artemis, but she was glad she had set up parts of the ritual for them, just in case. Granted this witch wolf seemed intent on attacking the white unicorn. A white unicorn who was wreathed in shadowy tendrils and was lashing out at the witch wolf with just as furious of attacks. She also wouldn't stop screaming, a deep unearthly howl that actually set Starlight's fur on end. The multiple eyes thing in her hair was just creepy, as was the three fanged maws running along her neck and torso. Seriously what the buck was that thing? The yellow thestril was currently hanging from the cave roof hissing at every pony. That was just weird too. And the blue witch wolf was just glaring at her angrily as he advanced. Wait a tick. [ Outside of Our Town] “CODE PURPLE!! CODE PURPLE!!” Slipstream screamed out as Rahs vanished from their sight. The pegasus was already off like a shot to the relay point as he cried out, Snowy Path started sending messages almost at the same time. If something interfered with the magic sending, his wings would get the message to the next point. Snowy Path quickly moved away from the camp and into cover, all but vanishing in the treeline to keep an eye on the town and take note of anything that might change. If the look on Rahs' face was any indication, something had happened to Twilight Sparkle. And if something could take down the goddess of magic, the unicorn guard wanted as little to do with it as possible. [Cutie Vault] The towns ponies who had gathered to help Starlight with their guests were at a loss of what to do. There were three out of control monsters flitting around the fallen princess and the pink earth pony. Two of them were fighting and it was only the deadening of their instincts when their mark was removed that kept them from fleeing at the very sight of the beast ponies and the nightmare. Then there was the massive diamond dog creature that was attacking Starlight. Despite having lost their cutie marks, talents, much of their common sense, and individuality it could be said that they were almost on par with the residents of Ponyville. In other words, none of them was stupid enough to get between a Sparkle and his target. Starlight screamed out as she dodged back, the beasts claws grazing across her muzzle leaving red lines of blood as he came for her. She was not prepared for a witch wolf to suddenly appear and start attacking her, sure she had left Artemis on bad terms, but she didn't expect a murderous reaction like this. Teleporting was out of the question, with two witch wolves the spell would have too much magic drawn from her to allow a long teleport back to her house so quickly. A short range blind fire would be easier to cast, but it could drop her into a rock and getting shunted out of a boulder was not a pleasant feeling, particularly if she was shunted back into the cave. The witch wolf was relentless, though it seemed reluctant or disoriented? Starlight shrieked as fangs snapped at her, going for her throat. Nope not either of those. She brought up the Staff of Sameness, blocking the bite, though that saved her she cried out at the feeling of something smacking her horn as the witch wolf devoured the magic holding the staff, and then snapped the stick in two with a bite. “RAHS NO, that's what she used to take our cutie marks.” Twilight called out. “Woof!” Rahs snapped back, pausing momentarily to respond and spit out wood. “What? What did you say?!” Twilight blinked. “Rahs!” “Woof!” Rahs repeated. “I...... I don't know what you're saying.” Twilight stammered.' I don't understand you....” “This isn't the first time I've dealt with one of your kind witch wolf.” Starlight stated her magic gathering a number of small rocks from the cavern. She really wished she hadn't been as meticulous cleaning this place out. A big boulder would have been perfect. Rahs lashed out, not as distracted as Starlight thought, as her horn flared, the planned projectiles dropping to the ground as his claw tore across her face to smack her horn, the attack nearly taking her eye as it left three long gouges in her cheek and temple, bleeding profusely. Before she could counter, his other claw whipped up grabbing her by the neck and yanking her off her hooves, before he slammed her repeatedly into a wall dazing the unicorn and making her drop the glass jars. One of them shattered. The trio of diamonds swirled in the air before quickly launching over to the shadow monster impacting it with a flash of light. Rarity blinked her ears drooping as the multitude of tendrils eyes and mouths faded, confusing the out of control Witch-Jack. “Oh my... that was...... uhhh.” Rarity began before falling backwards in a faint, some how landing on a couch. Rahs blinked watching the mare faint before turning back to the unicorn he held as if to demand an answer, only for a massive build up of power and a sudden blast of energy to slam into his head setting his fur on fire and melting his eyes. “Take that you AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” Starlight snarled only for the witch wolf not only not go down, but to clearly get more pissed off despite half it's head burned away. She screamed out as she was flung through the air, slamming bodily into the cutie vault, shattering it in a grand explosion of color. Rahs cursed clutching his head as his eyes reformed. He had planned to keep the mare alive for questioning, now he wasn't as interested in that result. The gathered towns ponies gasped in shock as the marks floated around returning to their owners who reacted either the same as Rarity, sans couch, with stunned silence, or celebration. Rahs ignored that, blinking as his sight came back, ready to finish off the unicorn mare when a large orange furred bitch practically enveloped him in her arms purring loudly and she started licking his face trying to clean his fur, her huge tracks of land rubbing heavily against his back. Rahs was briefly torn about dealing with the unicorn or letting Witch-Jack continue her grooming. “Rahs! Twilight's starting to freak out! Get the jars with our cutie marks.” Pinkie Pie cried. Witch- Jack's grooming was suddenly cut off as an apple was shoved into her maw. Rahs growled advancing on where he threw the unicorn as Flutterbat tackled Witch-Jack trying to get the apple. “You damn fools. I was making a utopia of friendship and equality, and you damned fools had to ruin it.” Starlight snarled pushing herself up from the glass pile that used to be the vault, the mare bleeding from numerous wounds, though her cutie mark remained the same equal sign. “I will not allow everything I've worked for to be ruined like this! “ Starlight roared. “ You come to my town and disrupt my life! Let's see how you like having your lives disrupted without your marks, and no Starlight or Our Town to guide you to real happiness!!” “That's bullshit! You lied to me and stole my mark when all I wanted to do was find out what happened to my sister!!' One of the towns ponies yelled back. A group of them that were still up seemed quite pissed off and were advancing on the mare. Rahs just rushed her. Starlight snarled having had enough time for a proper teleport and she vanished with a pop of magic along with the jars, though the presence of two magic eaters meant she didn't manage all of the remaining five. A pony slammed his hoof down on the jar left behind, the pink butterflies floating up out of it and darting over to reconnect with Fluttershy. The mare blinked in confusion as her senses returned to her. Granted Witch-Jack took advantage of the pause to take back the apple and sit on the yellow mare in order to eat it in peace. “She's outside!!” Double Diamond shouted. Rahs surged through the crowd and outside to spot his target fleeing into the town. With an angry howl he was off after the mare, with several other towns ponies running after him, some of them now with torches and pitchforks from somewhere. This was not supposed to happen, Starlight cursed to herself. Her dream utopia free from the curse of the cutie marks. No pony would ever be torn away from another by the stupidity of some arbitrary design that appeared on their flank. And she had it!! She had managed to take the mark of an alicorn, the god of magic at that if the rumors were true. The very idea of what she could have accomplished with such a pony devoted to her cause was the stuff of her dreams. And it was ruined, the whole town was beyond salvage at this point all due to that damned witch wolf. She had half a mind to turn in Artemis and let them all be destroyed for interfering. Had she known the orange one had a mate floating around some where she would have tried to send the earth pony away before trying to take the others marks. She should have focused less on the alicorn and more on the others, she might have noticed the give away of the light around that orange pony's ears and tail if she hadn't been so tunnel visioned. Now she was stuck trying to escape to the mines since her whole town was turned against her. The whistle of something cutting through the air made her yelp and jump to the side, only for a balloon made up to look like an arrow to fly past and shatter another one of the jars she carried with her. The apple cutie mark spun into the air and shot off back to the cave. She turned her gaze back to see an angry looking Party Favor standing on top of a building with a bow made out of balloons. “Damn it.” Starlight shouted. “WHAT HAPPENED TO BELIEVEING IN THE CAUSE!?!” “You don't convince ponies to join you by locking them in a room until they give in!” Party Favor shouted back, quickly making another balloon arrow. Starlight cursed, vanishing with another teleport. “She's headed up the trail.” Night Glider shouted launching herself down at Starlight, dodging the blasts of magic the unicorn sent her way before slamming into the mare and sending her sprawling. The jars falling out of her magic grip, one shattering on the rocks allowing a trio of balloons to swirl in the air and shoot back towards the cave. The roar of something from the cave shook the mountain and made both mares stop to look. “I'M GONNA BLACK LIST YOU SO HARD YOUR FOALS WON'T TASTE SUGAR UNTIL THEY HIT THEIR THIRTIES!!!!” The shout caused both mares to shudder, though Starlight recovered first and drove the pegasus off her with a right hook. “You're willing to give up all this for strangers!?”Starlight growled. “We gave up everything for you because we thought 'you' were our friend, but then you acted like a tin pot tyrant and started grabbing ponies who didn't want to join you and forcing them to join. Then you expected us to help them cope with what was stolen while you patted yourself on the back.” Night Glider snapped pushing up to her hooves only for Starlight to vanish in another teleport. The pegasus took to the air again, noting the blue diamond dog running from behind one rock and vanishing behind another. “What is up with that thing?” Night Glider questioned. Rahs was pissed. He felt the connection with his sister vanish and had immediately stage lefted into the town. Finding no sign of her there. It took him a few moments to reorient on the flood of power he felt and burst in to see the girls in varying states of panic and a odd unicorn looming over them. With the target identified he had attacked hoping to take her down fast enough that she couldn't react and yet not hard enough she couldn't answer questions. That had been a mistake. He should have just torn her throat out and been done with it. Rahs didn't like killing things he wasn't going to eat, but he was more than willing to make an exception for things that threatened him and his family. They had almost lost to Tirek, and his sister was down for the count here by some stupid unicorn. He was going to take an ax to that tree. Maybe Luna would allow him to borrow Dr. Choppy. Stepping from stage right he made a lunge at the mare as she ran past, his claws missing her, but he did manage to grab a jar with his tail, quickly smashing it against the rocky path. A swirling cutie mark of a rainbow colored lighting bolt emerging from a cloud shot off in an eye blink towards the cave at the bottom of the mountain. Rahs jerked his head back as a massive boulder was launched at him from the unicorn. Who ever this mare was it seemed she either learned quick or had fought a magic eater before. “I don't know why Artemis is involved with a princess, but I'll be damned if I let you stop me now that I know I can convert gods to my cause. I will make sure every pony knows the lies their cutie marks tell them!” Starlight snarled. Rahs took note that she mentioned Artemis much as Daring had done, but at this second he really didn't give a shit. “GET BACK BEAST!” Starlight snapped her horn lighting up with a purplish glow as the last jar was enveloped in a different colored aura. The mares normal magic tasted like mints. This magic smelled different, still mint, but wrong. Corruption magic. “Not one step closer or we both find out what happens if I cast mages disjunction on a magical cutie mark.” Starlight snapped backing up towards the mouth of another cave. Rahs paused, having heard of the spell but unsure of the effect himself if used on a cutie mark. “That's a good dog just stay right there.” Starlight sneered. “Meow.” Rahs offered. “The fuck? Screw this. FETCH!” Starlight snapped flinging the jar off the edge of the path over the cliff with the spell launched right after it as she pulled back into the mine entrance. Before Rahs could react a blue blur tore past, snatching the jar out of the air, the spell spiraling off to hit the mountain on the other side of the valley. “I got it Rahs! Fuck her up!” Rainbow Dash called as she wheeled around yanking the jar open and letting the spinning star cutie mark within free. Rahs whipped his head back to the mare who had barely made it into the mine. He took a step forward only for Starlight to blast the ceiling of the cave, dropping tons of rock down to block the entrance and hopefully crush her pursuer. As the rocks slowly stopped raining down Starlight coughed a little in the darkness from the dust, she wasn't ready to rest just yet, the witch wolf seemed to be able to teleport. Taking a moment to drop a dimensional anchor to prevent that long enough for her to escape she was caught off guard as some one spoke. “Starlight Glimmer.” The unicorn mare blinked, looking to the wall of fallen rock and a large boulder that had not fallen all the way down, showing the light from the outside, framing the face and upper body of the witch wolf that had been after her. Rahs grinned looking at the panicked mare in the cave before him as he kept the one rock from falling all the way. His ears perked at a scream from below and frowned recognizing his sister's voice. As much as he wanted to catch this mare, he had to check on Twilight. “Make sure you don't receive any head trauma until we meet again.” Rahs snarled. “I'd hate for my new chalice to get damaged before I can harvest it!” Starlight's eyes widened before Rahs stepped back, letting the boulder drop. Turning around Rahs was greeted to the sight of a small group of the towns ponies looking terrified at his statement, save one blue unicorn who looked thoughtful for a moment. “That was from Princess of Demons act three wasn't it?” Party Favor asked. Rahs smirked, nodded and pointed at the pony before darting off to find out what happened to his sister.