//------------------------------// // Savage // Story: In Reflection, The Same // by Faedelaide //------------------------------// Twilight, her friends, and the griffons all stood in a circle, inspecting the creature that lay in the middle. It was unlike anything Twilight had ever seen before. It resembled a starfish, but it was as big as she was, and its incredibly long arms continued to writhe and coil frantically, even though Gilda had assured everyone that it was long dead. "We were cracking pieces off the Wall cuz we noticed shadows somewhere inside of it. Thought it might've given us a lead on where this thing came from. All of a sudden, the whole thing starts blowing out this blue smoke, and we get attacked by a whole herd of these things. A couple of us would've ended up as starfish food if Gerret didn't put the ship at full throttle and send us all back home." "I-it w-w-was a-a-awful," Fluttershy stammered. she hadn't stopped shaking since the group had returned, and Twilight noticed that almost everyone who'd gone with Gilda was on edge. Rarity was stroking her mane anxiously, and Gerret, Gaine, and Fluttershy all seemed to be huddled together, their heads turning constantly as they continuously scanned their surroundings. Gillian, however, began to approach the creature with that familiar spark of curiosity in her eyes. "Gillian don't-" Gilda warned, but it was too late. The tentacle closest to Gillian thrashed with renewed vigor, tearing itself from its body and wrapping itself around Gillian's neck. Gillian flung herself backwards as the tentacle tightened itself around her throat. Immediately, Gilda, Rainbow, Gerret and Gaine sprung into action. Rainbow got to the struggling griffon first. In one smooth, rapid motion, Rainbow tore the arm of the creature off of Gillian, flew up high into the air, and tossed the arm far into the forest, where it fell out of sight somewhere far away. "And next time, keep your grubby tentacles to yourself!" she yelled at the trees. Gilda helped Gillian back up, though she now brandished a nasty bruise around her neck. "That's why you keep your distance. It took all six of us just to bring it this far," Gilda scolded the other griffon. "Th-they're not like any animal I've ever talked to back at Ponyville. they're so m-mean, s-s-so... ravenous." Fluttershy murmured. "I hope you two have figured something out, cuz there's no way we're going back out there now," Gilda growled. "We know that it's made from some sort of enchantment, but it's millennia older than any spell I've ever seen, not to mention it might not be equestrian magic in the first place," Twilight explained. "So not only is this wall enchanted, but it just so happens to be enchanted by a spell that isn't written down in any spellbook, and might be completely out of our ability to fix?" Rainbow Dash chided. Twilight didn't respond, but it was enough for Rainbow to understand. "Ugh, so then what do we do?" "I vote we blow it up," Gerret announced. Gaine rubbed his temples in irritation. "And release even more of those things, or who knows what else is stuck in there? No way." "Well if we don't figure out a solution soon, that ice's gonna melt away, and we're all gonna have a much bigger, more dangerous problem on our hands," Gillian added in a sinister tone. "Would it be alright if we moved ourselves inside? I can't bear to look at this creature any longer." Rarity asked, her mane becoming increasingly unkempt as she continued to pull at it. "Alright, fine. Griffons, help me move this thing somewhere it won't kill us. The rest you can head back inside while we figure out where to toss this thing." Gilda commanded, and the four other griffons reluctantly came to her side. "You know Princess... There might be a way to end this problem," Twilice's voice returned. "... Don't tell me, aether magic?" "You seemed excited to learn yesterday, don't tell me your scared Gelgen might trail us again," Twilice hissed. "Twilice, I can't do aether magic. I don't have the time to practice when the whole Wall threatens to fall apart. And now that we know that things like that are hiding in there, we can't afford to lose any more time," Twilight yelled in her own head. Twilice let out a deep, bubbling sigh. "Your mind focuses too much on what is and isn't, and not enough on what could be. There could be all sorts of nightmares in that ice, or maybe not. You might never learn aether magic, or you could learn it, and become the most powerful creature in all of... uh... ah, Equestria, no, Equus. Don't you want that?" "I want everyone to be safe, Twilice. That's all I care about," Twilight snapped at the voice in her head. "And they will be... so long as you listen to me." Twilight thought for a moment. "I might not agree with it, but i'll listen to you." Twilice's snake-like laughter echoed in her head. "I'm so glad that even in these dreadful circumstances, my persuasion still works." Twilight rolled her eyes as she followed her friends back into the cabin, but Rarity trotted up to her side. "Darling, can I talk to you for a moment?" "Oh, sure Rarity. What do you want to talk about?" "It's about those creatures we saw." Twilight leaned closer to her friend. Had she finally gained a lead? "Well, when those brutish monsters were loosed from the ice, not all of them were in peak physical condition." Twilight turned to look at the Gilda and the others. The four remaining arms of the massive starfish were held taught by the younger griffons, while Gelgen held up the limp body of the creature from its underside. The monster definitely looked dead. It's body was covered in cuts and gashes, but she noticed the occasional hole in its tentacles as they attempted to free themselves of the griffons' gasp. "What do you mean, Rarity?" Twilight asked. "Well, some of them brandished missing arms, burns, cuts, scratches and wounds not unlike that one over there. But we hadn't even engaged with them yet. Some of them flopped into the water below and just floated on its surface, like they'd already been killed." Rarity dug around in her hair to search for something. "When we apprehended that one, several others were lain across our ship, and I managed to gather this from the skin of one of them." Rarity pulled the item out of her mane, and handed it to Twilight. She grabbed it with a spell and brought it closer to her. It was a simply made arrowhead, made of some sort of gem, but Twilight didn't need much to figure out what it was. The loud, wet hissing from within her head, as well as the tiny symbol engraved into its surface, told her more than enough. It was an arrow from the Crystal Empire.