Sohl's breath came in short gasps as she finally came to the place of healing. Not used to running on the ground like Amacia, she had run over ten miles from the tundra into the forest. Come to think of it, why hadn't she taken the train? Panic, she told herself. That, and technology never did really suit her. She slowed and took a few deep breaths as she laid Mimosa's prone body down on the ground. Was this really his plan? This place? The sounds of birds calling in the air kept this place from being too quiet. She sighed, and began to dig through the kudzu-covered ground.
She hadn't dug very deep when she felt tendrils around her shoulders. She gasped and pulled away, only to find the forest gone. She sat in a small, dark place, alone. She felt a presence, a familiar aura. "...Mimosa?"
"Forgive me, Sohl. I feel that I don't have very much time, and there are things that...that I need to tell someone. I had hoped it would be Ampelus, but this will have to do...Do you trust me?"
"I do..."
"I sense that you already know some of what I need to say. The rest is...complicated. I'm afraid that what I about to bequeath to you will change you...forever."
"I'm ready."
A few moments later, Sohl opened her eyes in the forest and stared down at Mimosa's prone body. The earth had already begun to repair some of the damage done to him in the icy tundra, but it was likely too late for him. She went over what had been done to him, what he had said, and what she would now need to do, and it would indeed change her life, and what she had wanted to do. She buried her head in her claws and wept.
Sohl peered through her claws as a sound in the distance started to annoy her. It came as an infrequent, but rhythmic squawking. Not now...she sighed inwardly as the one creature she did not want to be dealing with landed in front of her. Ridge was one of the few male harpies that existed. As far as eye candy went, he was...not great. While he wasn't a tub of lard, he wasn't toned and hard the way she liked. Still, if Zeff or Ranth wasn't around, she would definitely antagonize the little red-head into fucking her. Other than the occasional itch, she tended to stay away from him.
The harpy, which looked like a man with a bushy head of red hair that trailed down his neck and back like an out-of-control mohawk, sat down on a log next to Sohl, his red feathered hand clasping his chin. "So, this is where you got to. Where's the freak?"
Sohl let that pass, a small scowl written on her face. "He's safe. What do you want? Why are you here?"
"I was curious. Kinda itchy...if you know what I mean."
"Not in the mood, skid-mark. Seriously, why are you here?" She frowned and looked around. Were there others?
Ridge sniffed and held his nose high with pride. "I ain't no skid mark. Ew..." He reached down and rubbed at the brush over Mimosa's hole. "Is that Mimosa...?"
Sohl slapped at his claw, her gaze on Mimosa as it dawned on her. "Oh my gods. They're here, aren't they? How do they know already?!" She stood up, suddenly wary of the ceiling. She should have seen this coming. She didn't see Ridge slip behind her and grab hold of her, his clawed feet grabbing hers and holding her still as he nipped at her neck. "Get offfff...uuugh..." She moaned and struggled against the smaller male. Had she been thinking of preventing an attack, she might have held him off. Grabbing a harpy from behind was almost always a sure way to seal the deal.
"Yeah, we're about to have some guests," he whispered, one hand wrapped around her left breast, the other massaging between her legs from behind. Sohl whimpered, her sexual urges blinding her in ways that removed her senses. Her body bent, legs quivering under her weight and his touch. "I promise I'll make this a day to remember, and it'll be quick for the kid."
Sohl growled, her muscles tightening, her teeth clenching. All her good feelings were gone, but her will to resist wasn't working. It never did, not for any harpy that was caught in a sexual trap. "Aaaaaa...rrrrnnn...!" was all she could manage as he slid several claws inside her, further enveloping Sohl in physical ecstasy. Help...me...
Ridge was nearly ready to mount the much bigger harpy when a massive shock ripped through the red-feathered harpy and knocked him to the ground, where he skidded, still under electric shock until he ran into a tree and knocked it over. As the dust settled, Sohl slowly got to her knees, finally free. Her claws dug into the ground as she let loose a low, guttural growl. She took off through the air towards Ridge and disappeared into the dust cloud. "Oh - oh shit!" Ridge shouted. There was a sound of a heavy hit and the male sailed out of the dust cloud and rolled to a stop before the hooves of a very pissed off pegasus.
Ridge got to his feet, still reeling from Sohl's fist as Spark Storm turned in a snap maneuver and bucked the harpy off his feet, where he landed on his back. The harpy started to crawl away from the pegasus when Sohl landed directly onto the harpy's back, holding him down. Her clawed feet grasped tightly, one of those long talons piercing his shoulder. As the harpy screamed, Spark Storm approached, wings alight with thick blue threads of electricity. "Easy, Spark Storm. He's done."
"Done?! He was...he was fucking raping you! I'll tell you when he's done!!"
Sohl tucked away the feelings of pride in her heart and turned to Spark Storm before stomping Ridge into unconsciousness. She sighed when she saw Bombyx, Orea and Callie had come. Each of the girls had various levels of absolute horror on their faces. "I'm...there's no time to explain, at least not in a way that you'll understand." She turned to Spark Storm and gingerly cupped his chin in her claw to get his attention. "There are harpies on the way, Spark. News of Mimosa falling have spread, a lot fucking faster than I would've thought possible, and he was pretty much the only thing keeping griffons and harpies from trying to sneak in here and kill Cyno. Spark, if he dies, full out war between our tribes will break out. It will spread. Everywhere. We have to keep Cyno safe."
"W-what about this jerk?" Callie said, kicking at the prone Ridge. She shivered at the thought of angry, brutal harpies. Just how many?! Even one or two was more than any here could handle, save for Sohl...
"Please leave this to me." The group turned to watch as Bombyx approached the male harpy and spat out thick strands of silk around him, and used her delicate hooves to spin him around until he was completely cocooned. "That will hold him after it dries. Much stronger than steel."
It wasn't a metal that Spark Storm had heard of, but questions would have to wait. He looked around the enclosure until he spotted what he wanted to see. There, in the trees, he could see the tell-tale signs of brick red chicken feathers. And inside the plumage, he could see little Cyno, fast asleep. How he had slept through all this was beyond him. "Ok. Sohl, what do we need to do? Can the harpies get in here?"
As Sohl turned to him, Orea crept closer to the two. She was hunched over, filled with emotion. On the one hand, that harpy had been hurting what she considered the closest thing to her mother. On the other hand, she had seen in Sohl's mind that this was..."normal" in their culture. The females were completely at the sexual whims of their male counterparts, unable to resist. And yet...it wasn't that the male harpies had some kind of spell over them, in fact, it was the opposite...feelings from Sohl's own heart started flooding hers. Memories? Arrin...?
"Hey!" Orea jumped as she felt Sohl's claws lift her up to look into her eyes. "You're digging, kiddo. Trying to make sense of...what you just saw. I don't want to go into details..."
"I wouldn't mind one." Sohl scoffed incredulously at Spark Storm. "He had a glass jaw! A kick from a pony shouldn't have floored a harpy like you. He's weak! How did he..."
"If I didn't know any better, Sparky, it sounds like you're kinda jealous."
Spark Storm, Sohl and Orea turned their heads to stare at Callie. "I'm not jealous! He was all over my best friend, and she was helpless! She's like two heads taller than him and he went down way too easy!"
"It's a sexual tick, okay!? Female harpies are completely helpless if another being initiates sex. They totally collapse and literally have no choice. Doesn't matter if another harpy does it, male, female, genderless beings, it can be anything as long as that harpy doesn't have a chance to retaliate. There. Does that make you happy? Does it??"
Spark Storm backed away from Sohl as she got in his face. "No! I just...I never...would've guessed...Or...how it works. I'm sorry."
Sohl's thin mouth allowed for a smirk. "Guess it was a bit of a surprise for you. You never wanted to fuck me."
Callie's feathers ruffled as a visible blush ran over her body. Spark Storm himself looked quite nervous, looking from the girls back to Sohl. "Yeah. Well. I, uh, still don't. I'm...kinda seeing Rarity."
"The white chick? The archer?" Sohl set Orea onto the floor, where she settled down next to Spark Storm. "She's a hard warrior, I can respect that. What I can't respect is how we went from 'harpies are coming to kill us' to 'what's your sex life like?!' Why are we sitting here talking about this??"
"'Cause Sparky's jealous," Callie said with a giggle.
"I. Am. Not. Jeal-y'know what? We're done talking about this." Spark grumbled and looked down at the ground, noticing the mound in the dirt. "...Shit. Is he really..."
"We can all sit around in a group and talk about how sad we are later," Sohl said with a meaningful stare at Bombyx. "We need to get Cyno to a safer place."
"Wait, what about portals?"
Every last head turned to Spark Storm. "I mean...the tundra is obviously out of the question, but is that the only one?"
"Mister Spark, I admire your resourceful thinking, but the portals aren't a good idea. Technically speaking, the biodome is the safest place on the planet," Bombyx told him.
"Safe enough for him to get inside?" Spark deadpanned, gesturing to the captive Ridge.
"It's...safe when..." the nymph faltered, willing herself not to cry, just barely.
"...It's not safe here anymore," Spark told her gently. Suddenly, an idea came to him. "Bombyx, is there a portal to Breen somewhere?"
Sohl turned to Spark with a frown, preparing to argue, when there was a loud scream that shook the biodome, a sound that originated several miles of forest away. "Shit. We don't have time to deliberate, kids. The harpies have breached the dome. Good thing it's a true neutral zone with -no- reason for defenses!!"
Spark Storm turned to Callie. "Callie, I want you to take Orea back to the command center, wait it out with Frankie and the other kid."
"But-" Orea began, silenced as the griffon took the nymph in her claws.
"Ok. But you better come back to us. You got some 'splainin' to do, 'Kidd Thunder'." Callie winked, then shot up towards the ceiling, disappearing into the track trail.
"Bombyx, I want you to grab Amacia and Cyno," he gestured to them in the trees behind her. "Get the two of them to a good hiding place. I don't know how long this is going to take..." The pegasus trailed off as he noticed Sohl glaring at him.
"Spark...as much as I like seeing you take control (like...really good), I'm gonna have to steal your phrase, I think it goes, 'I don't want you anywhere near this'."
Spark Storm scoffed and approached the harpy. "I don't think so. You and I both know I'm the only one in this little group that can take on a harpy-"
Spark Storm found himself unable to continue as Sohl grabbed his muzzle with a clawed foot as she drew him in. "Listen to me, you idiot. You've only seen a little bit of what a harpy can do. Every last harpy coming here looking for Cyno has at least a hundred different ways to kill him, and most of those ways will kill you, too. Do you really think I ever fought you at one hundred percent of my intent to harm you?"
"...You weren't there, Sohl. I took on Shimmering Oasis by myself. And...something happened. I think I changed. I felt... something powerful inside me, like it was coming out, and for a brief moment, I knew she had nothing on me. I was going to kill her, and she was powerless to stop me."
Sohl stared at him. She had seen what he had just described, once. A little over a year ago, in that big warehouse in Canterlot. She'd never seen him so angry, and she knew he had a right to be, after that little unicorn prick almost raping Sapphire Snow. Spark Storm had very nearly transformed there into something she'd never seen before, but he was oozing black energy, energy that made her think of the black sky at midnight. After what Mimosa had just told her on his dying bed, she knew this wasn't a coincidence. Spark Storm was exhibiting horrible power he shouldn't be capable of.
"Spark...even if that's true, what makes you think you can control it? Have you even practiced to bring it out?"
The pegasus frowned at this question, as in truth he had not. He simply hadn't had time, and..."...No. Been kinda depressed lately. I haven't thought about it."
The rustling of leaves and chatty squawking was now close enough so that Spark could make out three figures flying overhead. Sohl sighed and ran a claw over her face. "Spark Storm, if we survive this I will tell you anything you want to know, okay? That's a big if."
Spark Storm was quiet as three harpies landed before them. All three were shorter than Sohl, but each one looked just as deadly. The harpy in the middle's feathers were black as midnight. Her face was longer than Sohl's, whose features were more vertically shaped. On the right was a harpy who looked like she could've been Ridge's sister, but short and squat and red. On the left was a harpy that looked like a bird Spark had seen earlier, yellow as a banana with black markings. Each of them were naked, breasts sagging near their waistlines.
That was an odd thing to be different about them. Spark made a quick glance at Sohl, and quite suddenly it made sense. Though she was wearing that little half shirt, Spark knew the difference. She was much younger than these harpies standing before them. He frowned and turned his attention back on the three. "Sohl," the black-feathered creature spoke in greeting.
"Shrike," Sohl returned conversationally.
"News travels fast," Shrike said with a grin. She kept her body bent low, as if preparing to strike at any given second. "Mimosa has fallen, and his biodome is no longer a place of protection. Cyno will have to find...other means of survival."
"Cyno is still under my protection, Shrike." Sohl took a single step forward, her claws gripping a large stone jutting out of the earth. "You three may be older, but you're strikers. Hit and run. Cowards. I'm the best hunter this side of Relmstin. I hit harder, I'm faster, and let's not forget, I'm a better spellcaster than all three of you combined. Just turn around and go back where you came from."
Shrike smirked as the red harpy shuffled her wings in front of her chest. "You've got a lot of nerve for someone on the test."
Sohl frowned, the statement making her hesitate. "What test?"
Spark's question made all four harpies suddenly look in his direction. "Oh. I almost didn't spot the little morsel beside you, Sohl. How delicious he looks..." the canary-ish harpy cackled, taking a single step forward.
"Ah-ah," Spark chided. "Don't come any closer. You're all in my trap, and I won't hesitate to harm you."
Sohl hissed quietly at Spark's insistence that he be seen and heard. It was bad enough that he wouldn't run and hide. This was so beyond him that it wasn't funny, unless he could access those powers sleeping inside him at a whim...
"You're a funny little pony," the red harpy said gleefully. "What exactly kind of trap have you laid for us?"
"You'll get a shock when you find out," he teased.
"I think we'll take our chances -" she began, all three stepping closer. Suddenly the area lit up. Spiderweb-like patterns in the air erupted in crackling light. Sparks flew everywhere as the harpies received dozens of shocks at once. All three screamed and fell to the ground, stunned.
Sohl turned to Spark in utter surprise. "How the fuck did you do that?? I didn't even see you setting it up!"
"I uh...spent a few weeks honing a few of my skills, just to give me something to take my mind off of you," he said with a prideful sniff. He frowned as the harpies stirred and got back up slowly. "Uhhhh..."
"This is why I wanted you to run, you goddamned idiot! Harpies are element resistant! Have you ever hit me hard enough to draw blood?"
"Lyra did."
"Lyra is a crazy strong unicorn with human magic, you ding dong! Plus, she hit me with a huge fucking non-elemental tree!"
"Oh."
Spark Storm backed up a few feet as Shrike spread her wings, dropping a blob on the ground. It seemed to undulate, ripples in it's dark body. Sohl stared at it, backing up slowly before she turned to Spark Storm. "You need to get out of here, or they'll kill you!"
"Soooohl," Shrike called as the blob thing began to vibrate. "It sounds like you've made an ally with our food. If the mimic deems you've gone soft, we will not hesitate to call the full hunt down upon you!"
"Spark, get your ass out of here, now!!" Sohl yelled, turning to the pegasus with the most panicked look he had ever seen in her eyes. He didn't want to question her or leave her behind to the four of these enemies, but he would respect her wishes. He turned tail and ran into the woods.
"The island is lawless," Shrike announced, the dark blob making for Sohl slowly. The canary-like harpy took off into the air, headed after Spark Storm.
"Gravitas circulus!" Sohl shrieked at Spark's pursuer. She immediately dropped to the ground as she was surrounded by a black circle, pulling her down against the ground by immense gravity.
Sohl turned back to the other harpies just in turn to grab the red harpy's face in her foot and slam it down onto the hard rock she was standing on. "Assula!" Shrike screamed. The rock Sohl stood on cleaved in two, upsetting her balance. Sohl took off into the air, but found herself snagged as the red harpy grabbed her around her thighs. "You're done, you-" Shrike started, claws outstretched and reaching for Sohl's throat. The lead harpy found herself anchored to the ground she stood on, a thick weave of white wrapped around her feet.
"No," Sohl whispered as Bombyx began leaping to and fro behind Shrike, each movement wrapping the harpy in thick strands of silk. She reached down and grabbed the would-be-Ridge behind her neck and freed her legs before pounding down on the smaller harpy's shoulders. She fell to the ground with a hefty 'oomf!'
"Seriously...my name is Aves..." she muttered to no-one in particular as the chase continued.
"You-will-die!" Shrike screamed as she pulled at the sticky strands holding her captive. Bombyx had captured her arms, legs and chest to the mass holding her legs together. Shrike opened her mouth to scream, but found her mouth suddenly covered with the silk, as well, enraging the harpy.
Bombyx leapt away from her, not entirely convinced she was harmless. She yelped as she was grabbed into the air by another harpy. "Where is Cyno?!" Sohl hissed into her ear.
"He-he's safe!" Bombyx muttered nervously. "I herded him and Amacia up to the command center. This isn't so hard, they're pushovers!"
Sohl made a grim face as she pointed down. Shrike was ripping up Bombyx's silk, Aves was flying up to meet the two of them in combat, and the canary colored harpy was no longer a prisoner of the gravity trap. "Oh. Uh oh."
"You think?!" Bombyx leapt from Sohl's arms, wings spluttering to life. She flew down under Aves, attaching a thick rope of silk to her legs and continuing on down, attaching the other end to a tree. It snagged the harpy long enough for Sohl to knock her down into the ground again. Sohl turned and growled as Shrike managed to plow into her, the two grappling in midair.
Shrike grabbed Sohl's face as she opened her mouth to scream, then turned and called, "Gravitas circulum!" in Bomby's direction. The nymph found herself plummeting down to the ground, pulled against gravity. Sohl grabbed Shrike's fist as she attempted to strike, but found herself pulled in the other direction as Aves pulled Sohl backwards. Aves ducked as Sohl threw a punch and wrapped Sohl's wing in Bombyx' own silk. Shrike grabbed Sohl from behind, a claw clamped around her mouth and legs wrapping around Sohl's waist, Sohl's other wing trapped between the smaller harpy's thighs. Aves grabbed Sohl's ankles with her own feet, the three plummeting down to the ground.
With Sohl on her back on top of Shrike, Aves grabbed Sohl's knees and struggled to hold them. Sohl strained against her captors, slowly beginning to free herself despite the two holding onto to her with everything they had. Sohl was bigger, and quite a bit stronger. It wasn't enough though, as Sohl had not seen how close the mimic blob had gotten. It crawled onto her wing, oozing between her feathers. She let out a muffled growl, still held shut by Shrike's claw. She attempted to roll away, but Shrike's legs and Aves holding her knees wide kept her from escaping. The mimic suddenly shot straight up, and came down like a drill over Sohl's heart. The area exploded in a cloud of pink and yellow dust.
Spark Storm dashed through the woods, unsure of where he was headed. He could hear the canary harpy just behind him, having escaped the gravity trap and caught up with him. Sohl had told him to escape, not to fight. Just how strong were harpies when they absolutely intended to kill? How strong were his abilities against a murderous harpy? Spark Storm couldn't hold back any longer. He opened his wings and leapt up into the air, gliding for just a moment, long enough for the harpy to get close.
He closed his wings and dove, leaving the harpy to swipe at air. Spark struck at the harpy with his strongest lightning strike, earning him a stunned harpy. He wasn't done. He struck out at several trees, getting at least two of them to fall on the harpy. The ground trembled and the sound crashed through the forest dome. When the dust cleared, Spark approached the yellow harpy, who indeed only looked angry. She was, however, struck under several tons of tree. She pushed up against the bark on her back fruitlessly.
"Ugh...nice...trap..." she said with a groan. "I can see why Sohl keeps such a strong pegasus at her side. But I think she had a griffon with her last time when we sent her to speak to the dryads...did she trade in for a younger model?"
Spark frowned at the audacity of the harpy. "No. The changelings butted in and killed him."
The harpy grinned at the simplicity of his answer. "Do you know why we're here, boy? We're here to see if Sohl has...softened. If she has, we're going to rip her apart little by little, and we're going to make you watch."
Spark felt his anger rise, but a small smile pulled at the edge of his mouth. "Do you want to know what happened to Ridge?"
The yellow harpy gave Spark Storm a furious glare. "Not really..."
"After I caught him trying to rape Sohl, I knocked his teeth out. Then, I plucked his feathers out. Always was curious what harpies looked like without feathers..."
Spark's confidence in this taunt unnerved the harpy. Were ponies normally this brutal? And yet..."I see, little morsel. You're smarter than you look. Unfortunately you also smell very clean. Much too clean to be a brutal murderer. Inhaere!" Her last word came as a scream as she aimed it at the trees. The scream split the trees directly above her, granting her her freedom. She took off into the air and turned to fly at the pegasus, only to be met with a ball of electric energy that shot her back into the woods.
After hitting her with that last concentrated bolt, Spark had run out of options when fighting the harpy. Sohl was right, these creatures were just too tough to beat. The canary harpy caught up to him again as he was approaching some hollowed out logs on the forest floor. She was just about to grab him when other claws grabbed him from below and pulled him into the logs. Spark felt himself being carried quickly through the logs as the harpy dug into the fallen trees and tore them apart.
"Oy, set him 'right, why dontcha?" Spark heard, his eyes covered. He threw off the wing and found himself face to face with three griffons, two males and a female. The biggest, which loomed half a head taller than Spark Storm, reminded him a little of a feline, and at the same time a bird of the sea. The other male looked like a black bird mixed with a smaller wild cat. The female, the most annoying-looking, looked to be crossed between a cardinal and a tiger.
Spark's wings popped to life, casting strobing lights over the four of them. "Hey, knock it off!" the female growled. "We just saved you from that harpy, do you want her to find us??"
"You saved me, huh?" Spark Storm hissed. "I suppose you expect me to stand down when you try to kill Cyno?!"
"Hey, take it easy!" the serval griffon laughed nervously. "We're not killer predators..."
"There ya go, Twig, that'll convince 'im." The big male spoke in an accent Spark didn't recognize, but something in his eyes told Spark that he meant well. "Let's just calm down. I'm Havet, this is Twig, that's Jorden," he gestured to the female.
"Names I should recognize?" Spark asked with clear hostility.
"Callie would. You know her?" Jorden replied, still warily glancing from their hiding spot.
"Oh yeah? How do you know her?"
"We're her friends," Twig said.
"Her tribe," Jorden corrected. "That makes four of us, and me the leader."
Twig groaned, and Havet shook his head with what appeared to be mirth. "Nobody's the lead here, Jorden, 'cept maybe captain thunderbolt, here." He turned to Spark Storm, a patient smile on his face. "I've a feelin' you haven't hit lady banana slug out there what for."
The griffon's way of speaking confused Spark, the look on his face evident. When he looked to Twig for answers, Jorden butted in. "He's saying he thinks you might have what it takes to beat banana beak."
Spark sighed. He probably did, but..."Yeah. I might have a move that could put her down, but I'll need at least 30 seconds of charging up to make it happen. Once I start, she'll know where I am. If we want to put her down...I'll need you three to distract her."
"Uh...you want us to fight her? For thirty seconds??" Twig asked nervously.
"Its all I've got right now."
Havet raised his brows and looked at the other griffons. "Well? Three griffons to one harpy. We've had worse, eh?"
Jorden shrugged, her eyes on the harpy who had landed on the ground and was currently throwing entire smaller trees out of her way. "I guess there's a first time for everything...hope you're worth it, 'sparkler'!"
"I'm Spark Storm," the pegasus told them quietly. "Just keep her off my back." He crawled out of the hiding place, which turned out to be a heavily bushed pile of logs. He jumped down to the ground and immediately started charging up energy, casting strobing lights that caught the harpy's attention. Before she could scream in his direction, the three griffons slammed into her from behind. It wasn't enough. She turned and took a swipe at Jorden, who deftly ducked and scratched at the harpy's long ankles. The harpy screeched in annoyance and tried to kick her, which she also avoided.
"Ya like that, ya banana bitch?!" she taunted. As the harpy returned her foot to the ground for balance, Twig shot underneath her, pushing that foot backwards. Havet shot around and slammed into the back of the harpy's head, sending her tumbling to the ground, face first. The three griffons pinned her to the forest floor, each taking an arm and holding it down. Jorden held the harpy's neck in her massive paws. "Was this so hard? Hah!"
The harpy growled and began pushing up against her would-be captors. None of the three were strong enough to keep her down. Finally, all three had to abandon the capture to avoid her claws and teeth. "You idiots! What exactly were you hoping to accomplish?!" She frowned as she saw the flickering lights coming from her first prey. What in blazes...? Above him floated two angry, buzzing orbs, swirling with what looked to be electricity swirling with furious energy. "I don't think so! Inha-"
Before she could finish her scream, Jorden's big paws rammed into her face from the side, Twig and Havet ramming her legs from the opposite side. The harpy twirled in midair before falling to her side. The griffons weren't strong enough to do much damage, but they sure were annoying! Before she could get up to try again, a blinding pain shot through her entire body. The force of Spark Storm's bolt threw her into an old oak tree, where her body collided with such force that she went right through it, bringing the tree down.
The harpy coughed and sat up slowly, clutching her ribs. How? Just how?? The pegasus wasn't capable of such power, ponies didn't come this strong! She looked up to see the dark pegasus, lit up by his own floating orbs over his head that seemed to carry a massive weight. "W...wait! Don't kill me! I'm not that bad..."
"Bad enough to murder a child to incite war." Spark Storm's voice was angry. "They don't come much worse than you." The bolts struck the harpy again and again, lighting up the whole forest. Finally, he stopped striking her once she was a smoking mess. He was sure she was still alive, harpies were resilient like that. For now, that was one threat down. As the griffons landed down beside them, they gave him a nod, though all three kept a good distance from those orbs, which didn't seem to have lost any energy. It was time to put an end to this harpy threat once and for all.
The pool felt much cooler today. Perhaps it was just the coronation being hours away that had made her on edge, but being here on her days off was usually so peaceful. Pearl Depth swam gracefully to the surface of the pool, near the outcropping of stepping stones. As she took her first breath of fresh air, something seemed...off. There were too many smells in the air. Smoke? Fresh earth that had been flung into the air? And...was that a massive abundance of plasma? The princess shook her head to help with the overstimuli. Perhaps Mimosa would be able to explain all this when she found him.