Darkness fell quickly once the sun was below the horizon, the magical property of the trees surrounding the farm house swallowing what little light was left. Everyone was on edge and watched out of windows to try and see if any shadows moved towards the house. Midnight had thought that whatever was going on out here had mostly been in ponies’ heads with a few random attacks by known wildlife to keep the fear going. The broken front door had changed her mind along with the increased activity of the giant owls. Too much was now pointing to something indeed stalking around and while she didn’t like being bait, much less with Sapphire there as well, they’d made preparations for themselves to get out of the situation if things went pear-shaped, so now all they could do is wait and see.
Midnight had stationed herself in the room closest to the stairs leading to the first floor. With her fire and armor she’d be the first line of defense if something got in. Just as night had fallen they’d built up the fire in the fireplace so that they shouldn’t have to go back down to stoke it until at least past the kirin’s namesake and by then if something was going to attack it would have done so by then. Probably. Whatever had attacked the first time might have waited for everyone to go to bed, so having all the lights on might just be both a lure and deterrent. No-one was willing to let the lights go out, however, so it might take more than one night to coax whatever was out there into the open.
Sapphire was on the bed with Midnight, her hoof-blades on and ready. Everyone except Night Sky, the changelings, and Arina were waiting in a room as well. It really didn’t seem like anyone could sleep, though some tried before night fell. Nerves were too high from anticipation and fear to allow it, the reputation of the area and what they’d seen and expected exacerbating the issue. Night, the changelings, and Arina were on the roof, keeping an eye out for anything approaching. Night had reported via Arina that Shoal was up and looking in their direction, apparently able to see the light from the second floor despite the trees. That was good; they might not need to make a noise or send a signal for her to realize something was wrong.
Scarlet and Trill hadn’t found anything outstanding. Tracks were all over the place but most were either dog or wolf prints, probably timberwolf tracks. She thought she found one set of tracks that were weird but with all the other tracks in the dirt it was impossible to tell if they had simply been distorted or not. “If they’re shaped how I think they are, then they’re like a crescent moon but at the same time the gait is off, so it could have been more than one of them moving in a single line,” she explained.
“Any idea what it could be?” Midnight asked. She’d never heard of a creature with such a footprint and apparently neither had Scarlet or Trill.
“We never had anything like that back near the hives,” Trill said.
“It might be some kind of deer,” Midnight guessed, “predators don’t move in lines like that and the prints sound like an exaggerated form of cloven hoof. Unless there’s anything else than that’s all we can learn for now.” There wasn’t and both were currently in position.
“If Princess Luna hadn’t forbidden you to do it, this would be a great scary story to tell for Nightmare Night,” Sapphire said, trying to lighten the mood.
“That it would,” Midnight agreed as she stared at the top of the stairs. The room they were in had no windows, so that was all they had to look at. Midnight’s ears were pointed forward, carefully listening to any noise other than the crackling of the fire coming from downstairs. “I doubt Luna will let me scare an entire town, however, after how stressful just taking care of three foals’ dreams was.”
“Maybe you could write your own stories then?”
Midnight snorted in amusement. “Ah yes, the famous Midnight Storm; accomplished writer, captain of the guard, woodcutter, and handymare. What WILL my next title be?” They both chuckled at that. “You should get some sleep, by the way.”
“I’m fine and that’s what I should be saying to you,” Sapphire countered.
“I got to sleep until the late morning, so I’ll be fine until the early hours. I’d feel better if you at least tried,” Midnight encouraged.
Sapphire huffed but laid more fully against the kirin, her head resting on Midnight’s neck. Midnight made a growl-purr and Sapphire felt herself relax even more at the sensation. “I want to be ready in case something happens,” she protested.
“Between Sky, the boarded up first floor, and me, you’ll have plenty of time to wake up,” Midnight assured her, nuzzling her cheek.
Sapphire gave in, allowing her eyelids to droop. She’d just rest a bit with them closed, not fully sleep, so she’d be ready in case anything happened. She let them close.
-----------------------------
They flew open again when Midnight growled and stood up on the bed, Sapphire flopping onto the cover. “What’s happening!?” she asked, somewhat groggy from waking up but hurrying to her hooves as well. She could hear weapons being readied in the other rooms.
“Night’s seen something,” Midnight told her, loud enough that the others could hear as well. “Several somethings approaching the house from the woods. She can’t make out what they are exactly, but they’re all a little bigger than me. They also have glowing eyes.”
“That’s comforting,” Steel Ore said from down the hall.
There was an almighty *BANG* from downstairs and it felt like the entire house shook. Sounds of distress came from the other rooms. “Get ready!” Midnight called out to them as she hopped off the bed and took up position at the top of the stairs, her armor extending out to cover her. Sapphire followed her out and saw the others coming into the hallway as well, armor on and swords and hoof-blades at the ready. While spears would be good in keeping attackers at a distance, in a confined space like inside the house they’d be more of a hindrance, though a couple at the top of the stairs wouldn’t be a bad thing. “Let’s see what we’re dealing with, then we can decide to fight back or pull out,” Midnight said as another hit shook the house and a clicking shriek could be heard as some wood cracked.
“I think whatever is strong enough to be breaking through what we put up warrants a tactical withdrawal, Captain,” Scarlet said.
Midnight assumed she was thinking back to the owlursus but a third hit and breaking wood brought her attention back down to the first floor. Bits of wood and furniture were now scattered at the bottom of the stairs and large shadows were dancing in the firelight. She raised a wing in a hold motion as she waited to see what their intruders were. Throaty clicking and careful steps came from below and the firelight was blocked as something came to the foot of the stairs.
The creature was large, bigger than Midnight like Sky had said, and its body was covered in what looked like dark purple armor. Large spikes were sticking out of its back and it had six legs, each ending in a two-talon foot shaped like a crescent moon. On its armored face were six small, glowing yellow eyes and the purple armor seemed to extend over the fang-filled mouth to created an upper and lower pair of fangs. On either side of its jaws were tusk-like protrusions shaped like a blade and from its mouth flicked a long, snake-like tongue. It had a long, armored tail that had spines of its own and, possibly worst of all, there were two more Midnight could just see poking their heads around the back of the first.
“ATTIC!” Midnight yelled, shooting a stream of blue fire down towards the monstrosities. The clicking shriek came again, this time sounding of pain, and Midnight continued to breathe fire down the stairs as she backed up. Everyone else was backing up as well but, as scared as they had been, finally facing down an enemy gave them something to focus on, so none of them bolted for the attic stairs. They kept pace with their captain, even as one of the creatures forced itself through the flames to the top of the stairs and roared at them. Its natural purple armor was already blackened and it seemed to try and not let one spot take all the fire for long. Bright Dawn began firing off stunning spells immediately and while they weren’t stunning it, the creature flinched back from the impacts whenever they hit a burned spot.
“Wasn’t there a large dresser or cabinet near the top of the stairs?” Scarlet asked, glancing back towards the attic.
“I think so,” Sapphire said, keeping a hoof raised so as to be ready in case the creature got too close to Midnight. The fire and magic was keeping it back but it was advancing at pace with them retreating. It was a good thing that they’d agreed to wait at the top of the stairs and let Midnight decide what to do; the original plan of storming downstairs and fighting whatever tried to get in at the barricades would not have gone well. Even if they had startled these beasts at first, it was obvious the advantage wouldn’t have lasted long.
“Amber, with me! Let’s get it ready!” Scarlet said, hurrying up the stairs, the earth pony close behind.
The other creatures were on the second floor now, staying behind the first and letting it take the brunt of the fire.
“Never seen anything like those before!” Ore shouted as she backed up the attic stairs, glancing behind her to see what Scarlet and Amber were doing. When she broke off and hurried the rest of the way up, the rest followed her, leaving Midnight in the attic doorway at the bottom of the stairs.
“Midnight, get clear now!” Scarlet yelled as she and Amber began tilting over the heavy cabinet.
Midnight let out one more blast of fire before turning and charging up the stairs as well. The cabinet just missed her tail as it fell and flew right for the first creature as it stuck its head into the doorway. There was a clicking shriek followed by the crashing sound of the cabinet slamming into the doorway. Thankfully, it didn’t splinter apart but stayed wedged in the door frame.
“Good thinking,” Midnight said, “but that won’t last long, not with three of them. Everyone, out the windows! Flyers to lift the ground-pounders out to the cart. Once we’re clear, either Shoal or I are burning this place to the ground while the cart takes off.” She looked at Sapphire but the pegasus only nodded. Another clicking shriek and an impact on the cabinet, quickly followed by the sound of splintering wood. “NOW!” Midnight yelled.
Scarlet shot outside, then reached back in for Amber. Then Autumn Pillar went out and reached back in for Lance, then Milk Run with Bright Dawn. In their hurry to leave and stay together they’d completely forgotten about the second window going out the back of the house. In retrospect, that might have been a good thing, for just as Night was pulling Ore out, the rear attic window blew open and one of the creatures, an unburnt one, charged in, roaring. Midnight whirled to face it and met it with a fire blast that went low, the creature just able to jump over it by staying in the center of the attic where the roof was highest.
It made a clicking growl at her, which Midnight returned with a growl of her own, fangs fully extended. They both got into combat stances and eyed each other, unable to circle due to the confined space they were in. Midnight knew she couldn’t stay and fight, however, and there really wasn’t a reason to. The cabinet wouldn’t last much longer and as soon as she was out she could burn the place down or just yell at Shoal to do it, taking all three creatures out and putting an end to this whole thing.
“Come on, Midnight, the others are clear!” Sapphire said from by the window.
“Just go!” Midnight called back, “I’m right behind-!”
*CRASH*
From below it sounded like the cabinet had exploded, distracting the kirin for a split second but that was all the creature in front of her needed. With her armor and fire, Midnight seemed just as dangerous to the creature as it did to her but there was something else still in the attic with them that wasn’t such a hard target. It leaped forward but not directly at Midnight, landing instead to the side of her, crashing into the interior of the slanted roof and swung its armored head into her, knocking her to the side and into the railing for the stairs, which surprisingly held. Midnight caught a glimpse of one of the creatures below, its burnt body halfway through the cabinet and snapping up at her when she heard Sapphire scream and her blood ran cold.
Spinning around, things seemed to go slow again like they had back in the wedding chapel when Chrysalis had taken a shot at her family. The creature was bent over Sapphire, her rear right leg in its mouth, fangs already glistening with her blood. Sapphire was swinging wildly at its head with her blades but the blows were barely scraping its armored hide. By instinct, Midnight knew the next thing it would do was shake her, both to disorient her and possibly, horribly, sever her leg to make it easier to feed. At the very least it would make the bite a much more grievous wound if she were to somehow get away. She shot forward at them, every fiber of her body screaming to stop it before it could begin. The creature saw her and swung its head, Sapphire still in its jaws, around to face her. In fact, it almost looked like it was using her as a shield to absorb Midnight’s attack. She came at the beast like it had done at her before, however, and went low, Sapphire going over her head as she got under the swinging head. Normally, she would have used her fangs to attack the neck but with the creature’s armor she wasn’t sure she could break through that way. Instead she kept her head bent down and jammed her head upwards, her back legs pushing for all they were worth.
She impacted and drove the creature into the roof, her forelegs, hoof-blades extended, came up as well and drove into the creature’s underside. It wasn’t a soft, vulnerable target, but it was soft enough that the blades went in instead of breaking on impact. The creature let out another clicking shriek of pain but this time it was accompanied by a wet, choking sound. Midnight felt something land by her back legs and, with a roar, she twisted and flung the flailing creature back towards the attic stairs, where it slammed into one of its comrades that had just gotten up them. Following the momentum, she twisted back around, saw the light and dark blue pile on the floor, grabbed it, and shot out the front window. As soon as she was out something large and blue flew over her head and the next second the top of the roof seemed to have been blasted away. A second after that light purple fire blasted the exposed attic like a meteor. Had she been looking, Midnight would have seen the blast punch through the attic floor and boil into the rest of the house, gutting it, but her eyes were only on the massive blue claw currently holding up the cart and the medic inside of it.
A space was cleared and she practically threw Sapphire into Ore’s forelegs. “It bit her! Check her leg, is it still there!?”
“Move, damnit!” Ore yelled back, pushing the kirin to get a better look at the wound. Sapphire whimpered at the all the jostling and Midnight moved forward to hover over her but Ore pushed her away again. “Do you want me to do my job or not!? I said get back and give me room! And put that armor away before you stab one of us!”
“I’m okay!” Sapphire assured through gritted teeth, “I’m still here! Let Ore look at me!” She winced and suppressed a yell as Ore handled her leg to see the extent of the bite.
Midnight forced the armor to disengage and made to step forward again but another look from Ore kept her in place. “How bad is it?” she asked. From where she was it looked like four big stab wounds, two on the outside and two on the inside of the leg with the two on the outside directly above and directly below Sapphire’s cutie mark, which she could barely make out through the blood. Arina hopped onto Midnight’s head and chirped unhappily, hugging the top of the kirin’s head with all eight legs.
“Bad,” Ore said, opening her med-kit. “Those fangs damn-near went clean through. She’ll be off that leg for at least a week and who knows how much longer after that to fully recover. Might have nicked the bone, too. I think they missed the main arteries at least, because there isn’t as much blood as there should be if they did. We’ll still need to get her to a doctor to know for sure, though, and possibly operate.”
Unable to move forward to nuzzle her, Midnight reached a wing out and rubbed Sapphire’s cheek with it. The pegasus seemed to ease a bit at the touch and the knowledge that Sapphire would be fine in the end finally started bringing the adrenaline down. Looking back at the house, she saw the devastation Shoal’s fire had wrought, then looked down at the ground around the now destroyed house. “Did they get away?”
Shoal snorted in satisfaction. “I blasted them directly. Even if they somehow did, they didn’t make it out uninjured or very far.”
Midnight sighed and looked back at her group. “Well, at the very least we answered some questions. With Sapphire hurt I say we return to town, regroup, and get her proper medical attention. I want to say that the problem is solved, especially after what Shoal did but…” she shrugged tiredly.
“Even if I did,” Shoal said above them, “the problem actually isn’t solved yet.”
Midnight looked up at her grandmother and was about to ask what she meant when she saw two figures perched on one of her horns. They looked just like two huge owls at first glance but then Shoal moved her head and the light of the fire let her get a better look at them.
They looked like ponies, only their normal legs had been switched out so that the front two legs were now wings and the back two were that of a bird’s. “Grandma, what…?” Midnight asked staring up at the two. The others followed her gaze and made various sounds of surprise when they saw the two as well.
“Well, there’s the owls,” Sky said, “kinda.”
“This is Orestes and Baris,” Shoal explained, pointing to each one as they were named “owl harpies, and they approached me just before you were attacked. They know about the creatures and were asking if I could help them and their rookery. As it turns out there’s more than just those three roaming the forest.”
The two owl harpies left her horn and came down to perch on the other front claw Shoal kept raised for them. Closer and in better light, Midnight could see that they also had bird-like tails and that their ears looked like a smaller set of wings. “It’s true, there’s more than just those three,” one of them, Orestes, said. His pony head and torso were grey while his wings were a darker grey and the inside of them were a pattern of dark grey and cream. His ears were patterned orange and cream while his mane was a reddish brown. The other harpy, Baris, had a similar coloration to Sapphire; a light blue pony head and torso with his wings and mane a dark blue, and the two colors were also present in his feathered ears. About the only difference in color were his eyes, which were green. Midnight could also make out a set of double fangs as Orestes spoke. “We were going to ask Miss Shoal for help defending Baris’ rookery when she saw what was going on at this house.” He eyed the burning remains. “They’re not fire-proof, at least as far as we know.”
“Wait,” Lance Breaker said, “What do you mean by his rookery? You aren’t together?”
“It’s a bit of a story,” Orestes said, “but I arrived here with another owl harpy and two thestrals a few days ago. We’re looking for-”
“Captain,” Ore interrupted, “I’ve got the wound patched up but Miss Sapphire really should be somewhere that can give her a better look-over.”
Midnight nodded. “Look, we have someone injured so we really need to get back to town. If you come with us you can explain everything clearly back there.” She looked up. “Shoal, damn the possible panic, just get us back to Hollow Shades as quick as you can.”
The dragon nodded and turned towards the town. The owl harpy that hadn’t said anything yet, Baris, began “speaking” to Orestes, though the noises he was making were more akin to odd bird noises, and he looked agitated. Orestes said something back to him in the same bird-speak, then turned back to Midnight. “Baris says he’s not comfortable with going into town. His rookery is sure that the ponies blame them for the attacks and they’ve seen how they treat outsiders.”
“If he wants help then he’ll deal with a few weird looks,” Midnight told him, “as for the townsfolk blaming them, we know better now. I’m not risking more lives by charging headfirst into more of those things without a plan.”
Orestes nodded and told Baris what she said. The other owl harpy looked uncomfortable but seemed to settle down, a resolute look on his face.
“By the way,” Orestes called out as they neared the town. Midnight had noticed he’d been eyeing her with interest. “My friends and I are out here looking for someone. We were going west from a place called Manehattan when we got caught up in all this. You wouldn’t happen to know a “Midnight Storm”, do you?”
Midnight’s eyes went wide as she looked back at him but Shoal was putting the cart down at the edge of town before she could answer and getting Sapphire medical help took priority. Star Chaser and her thestrals were already descending towards them. “Captain?” the thestral lieutenant asked.
“Tell me you know where the town doctor, hospital, whatever is at,” Midnight asked.
-----------------------------
“Who’s the one that needs to be careful?” Midnight asked as the doctor left the room. Thank the makers, Sapphire major artery hadn’t been cut, though it had been close. Like Ore had thought, the fangs had grazed the bone, which meant she was going to be sore for a while after the wounds healed.
The pegasus gave her a huffy look but it was only for a second before she pressed her head against the kirin’s and let out a long sigh. “That was scary,” she said.
“No kidding,” Midnight agreed. Chaser had led them directly to the town doctor. It was no hospital like Ponyville had but the stallion knew his stuff and had patched Sapphire up the best he could. Thankfully there was no sign of any kind of venom, confirmed by Baris when Midnight stuck her head out to ask for the doctor. Right now he recommended rest and staying off the leg after that for at least two weeks to let the wounds heal properly. They were deep and would take time. Arina, still perched on Midnight’s head, chirped softly and hugged Sapphire’s head with her four front legs.
“And you have to go back out and face them again,” she said unhappily.
“Shoal is staying closer this time and this rookery knows more about them. I have to be right that so many buildings around has kept them at bay up until now because otherwise I can’t explain why they haven’t wreaked havoc on the town by now.” She pulled back and looked out the nearby window into the dark of the early morning. “Thank the makers they can’t fly. As that’s the case everyone that can’t fly is staying back in town. Chaser is getting Night Stick and I’m telling him to let everyone know to stay close to the train station. I’m also asking Luna to send a train to stay just in case. After this who knows how bold they might get.”
“The rest of you are going to that rookery out in the woods?” Sapphire asked, looking worried. Midnight was proposing to head out into the woods that contained a known threat with even fewer allies than were at the farm house.
“Chaser and her thestrals are staying here in town to be eyes at night. I’m going to have Buzz or Trill stay behind as well so they can have some muscle. As for us, we’re going to drill Orestes and Baris on the situation, then head for the rookery at first light. From the sounds of it those things are nocturnal just like them, so traveling by day should be safer.”
“Hopefully,” Sapphire added.
Midnight nodded. “Hopefully. In the mean time stay here and stay safe. If it turns out there needs to be an evacuation…”
“I won’t ask to stay behind,” Sapphire told her, leaning forward and nuzzling her. “You’ll have enough to worry about. Midnight, that owl harpy, Orestes, said he and his friends were looking for you.”
Midnight silenced her with a kiss. “One problem at a time,” she told the pegasus. “Besides, if this is, amazingly, what I think it is, there’s two alicorns that would be really pissed if they found out I kept it from them. Rest, my beautiful fortune teller.”
“Anyone tell you you’re really smooth at the bedside?” Sapphire said, kissing her back.
“I must have been the sexiest thing in the world after the hydra attack,” Midnight said with a grin, which didn’t go away when Sapphire gently smacked her with a wing.
“Be careful,” Sapphire told her seriously.
“I promise I will.”
Midnight let out a long breath of air through her nose once she left Sapphire. From the looks of those waiting, the doctor had already told them that she would be fine. They needed to get back in the game now. “Chief Night Stick?”
“They should be here soon,” Night told her. “Chaser went to get him personally after we told her and the other thestrals what’s out there.”
“But do we know what we’re dealing with?” Midnight said. “About all we know is that they’re big, spiky, covered in natural armor, have fangs and too many eyes, and that there’s more than three of them. Not exactly enough information to make a plan around and now that we know this rookery is out there Shoal and I can’t just burn the forest to the ground.” She turned to look at the two owl harpies expectantly, both of whom were talking to each other in that bird-speak again, when she caught sight of their ears flipping up and down as they spoke and found herself unable to look away. She couldn’t explain it but right then she found she couldn’t take her eyes off their movements. It took Arina chirping at and poking her to get her to quit starring. “Uh, Orestes, what can you tell us about those things?”
Orestes nodded. “Baris’ rookery doesn’t have a name for them, exactly. The best translation is “strange beasts”. They started showing up about thirty years ago, periodically coming down from the mountains around every two to four months, and they’re highly vicious to any prey they come across. Ever since they first arrived, the harpies have had to stay aloft all night whenever they come down from the mountains to hunt or else…” he trailed off, no explanation needed. “It’s been pretty bad for the old and the young. If you get sick that’s practically a death sentence as well. The trees around here are just short enough that they can jump up and snag anyone roosting too low or get up into the branches. Sometimes there are clouds they can rest on but that’s about their only reprieve.”
“And how was Shoal going to help? Let everyone roost on her for the night? I mean it would work but she can’t stay here forever,” Midnight pointed out.
“No,” Orestes said. “We didn’t approach her the first night because we didn’t know what her intentions were. Once it was obvious she wasn’t going to burn the town or the forest, the general asked us to go and see if she would help. Right now just chasing them away would be good enough, just to give the weaker ones a chance this time around.”
“General?” Midnight asked.
“He’s like the governor of a thestral colony, their leader,” Orestes explained, nodding towards the thestrals present.
“We had a governor-general,” one of the thestrals started but Midnight silenced him with a look.
“So you wanted Shoal’s help to drive them off,” Midnight said, “but I have to ask why the rookery never left if these beasts have been a problem for a while. Wouldn’t it be safer and easier to just leave rather than risking it all whenever they come around?”
“Harpies of all kinds are territorial,” Orestes said with a shrug, “it’s actually causing a problem at home. They won’t leave unless something extraordinary happens. If there was a wyvern clan around here they were under the protection of we could appeal to them to make the rookery move, but…” he shrugged.
Midnight ignored the looks she could feel on her and pressed on. “Do they have any weaknesses? Are they vulnerable to sunlight? Where do they sleep during the day?”
“Best bet is to get them on their backs and come at them that way, otherwise they’re walking boulders with spears on their backs. A dragon could crush them, throw them, burn them to ash,” he motioned vaguely in the direction of Shoal, “that was why she’s a makers send.”
“The captain could also-” Milk Run began but he caught her warning look and shut up.
“And where are they during the day?” Midnight asked quickly.
“No-one knows; they’ve been too afraid to follow and once the sun comes up they all rest and sleep, getting ready for the next night. It’s also a lean time, as most prey is either run off or eaten by them.”
“Then that’s where we’re going to have to start.” She gave an attention grabbing snap of her wings. “All flyers in the Bearer guard are going with you to the rookery. I want everyone to get some sleep before we leave at first light because once we make ourselves known to the rookery, we’re searching for their day-time hiding holes. If we can catch them while they’re asleep, this should make things a lot easier.”
“Captain Storm,” one of the thestrals near the doors called out, “Lieutenant Chaser is here with Chief Night Stick.”
Midnight nodded at them, then caught Orestes looking at her with surprise and recognition. “We came here to do a job,” she told him, “and we’re not leaving until it is done or something more important comes up, though that something better be an Equestria-ending threat for me to abandon lives. Once this is all over, I’ll approach you, understand?”
Orestes nodded. “I can’t promise Snow Bank will be as understanding. She’s the one who really came looking for you; the rest of us just kinda got swept up.”
“Tough spit,” Midnight said, turning to Chief Night Stick as he entered. “Chief, we’ve got a Tartarus of a situation.”
-----------------------------
Even with the light of dawn spreading over the forest it was still pitch-black below the very top of the canopy. Midnight snorted and tried to ignore the idea of small yellow eyes watching her from below. The “strange beasts” couldn’t fly, so as long as they all stayed aloft there was nothing to worry about. She would soon have less to worry about back at town, too. Luna had gotten back to her quickly and not only was a train being sent as soon as possible, but it was being sent with twenty more guards from both the Lunar and Solar guards as reinforcements. She’d breathed a sigh of relief until she’d gotten to the bottom of the letter saying that two shipping containers would be sent with the train as well. As these appeared to be creatures that were unknown even to the princesses, they wanted to know just what the beasts were capable of. While dead specimens were fine, if it was at all possible to capture a live one or two…
Midnight had wondered to herself who’d been in the room with Luna when she’d gotten her letter and decided to bite Puzzle Mixer later just out of principle.
Ahead of them, she could just make out shapes descending into the trees. If Shoal hadn’t been flying above and behind them, Midnight was sure at least a few of the owl harpies would be rising to meet them.
“There’s a bit of a clearing the rookery is set up around,” Orestes said. “Shoal can land there.”
“It would be a bad first impression to land on somebody,” Midnight called up to the dragon, who nodded and angled herself towards the clearing just then becoming visible. They all slowed to avoid her as she landed, though she stayed up on her tip-talons and looked behind her to see where her tail should go. Seeming to understand her predicament, several owl harpies took to the air again to get out of the way. Once they were clear, Shoal let herself fully rest on her feet and allowed her tail to fall into the trees. Midnight and her guards swooped down to land by her talons, Orestes landing just a little ways off, while Baris angled towards a cluster of treetops nearby.
“You know, a few of my old school buddies would call this a “First Contact” situation,” Private Pillar said, clearly trying to lighten the mood. None of them were exactly happy about being back in the woods so soon.
“Which is?” Scarlet asked.
“It’s something from old sci-fi comics about meeting a new alien species for the first time,” he explained, “and this is kind of like that. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve never heard of owl harpies or even regular harpies before today. Tonight? This morning? Whatever.”
Midnight only grunted as she looked around the edge of the clearing. She could just make out shapes that were staying under the canopy and from a few angles she could also make out eye-shine. Those eyes she could see were moving in a way that showed they were looking between them and Shoal and back again. Speaking of eyes, she wished right then that she’d taken Arina with her. She’d left the spider back in town so that if anything happened there she’d know right away. “Remember that we’re here to help, not start trouble.”
“Not exactly in the mood to be making trouble, captain,” Milk Run said, looking around nervously.
After a few seconds two shadows detached themselves from the cover of the trees and two thestrals came winging down towards Orestes. “Where have you been!? We’ve been worried sick!” the thestral mare yelled as she landed. “We thought the dragon might have done something to you two!” She eyed Shoal with a mix of fear and annoyance.
“Yeah; were there some fat mice running around you guys just had to catch or something?” the thestral stallion added.
Midnight eyed the two of them, wondering if their colony had driven them away on account of their coloration. The mare especially looked about as brightly colored as Squeaks with the same cream-colored fur but with a blonde mane and tail, bright orange wings, and green eyes. The stallion wasn’t as colorful but she couldn’t see the colony liking him either with his light, blue-grey fur, blue-white wings, orange mane, and green eyes. Night seemed to understand what she was thinking because she motioned for the kirin to bend down. “We were always told our colony was special from other thestral colonies,” she whispered, “that was why we were taught to hate “light-borns”. We kind of figured that any thestral we’d meet from another colony would be different that way.” Midnight nodded and hummed in understanding.
Orestes winced. “Things… came up. The short of it is that the dragon, Shoal, is going to help us, as are they,” he motioned to the Bearer guards.
The two thestrals stared at them for a second. “Wait, Orestes, that’s-!” the thestral mare started, looking directly at Midnight, but Orestes stopped her with a wing.
“She said once the beasts are taken care of, then she’ll talk with us Marina. She’s their leader, actually. Even Shoal listens to her.”
“Wait, seriously!?” The thestral stallion said, looking between the two.
Orestes shrugged. “Weird but true, Shade.”
“Well, we can’t just keep this from Snow; this is her whole mission!” Marina said.
“Yeah, but the way she’ll react…” Orestes said, cringing.
“How will who react?” asked a tired voice. All three of them whirled around to see another owl harpy, this one pure white with a blonde mane and light blue eyes, which she was currently rubbing with a wing. She was also different from the males in that her tail was that of a pony’s. Absently, she popped a peppermint into her mouth. “Hey Orestes, glad to see you’re safe. I guess Baris is talking with General Ocax? Maybe we can get some good sleep with the dragon here now.” She looked up at Shoal, then looked down to her talons as if apprising her.
That was when she saw Midnight and the others. She blinked owlishly at the Bearer guards, then blinked slowly again. Her eyes flew open like she’d just gotten a shot of concentrated caffeine and she began hacking on her candy. Shade quickly smacked her back, causing the minty snack to go flying. Once she was able to breathe properly again she began attacking her pouch like it was struggling prey, quickly pulling out both the photo she’d originally been given and the newspaper picture they’d found in Manehattan. Looking between them and the kirin standing in front of them, she let out a squawk of joy. “WE FOUND HER!” All the Bearer guards took a startled step back and before her three friends could stop her she’d launched herself at Midnight. Scarlet was closest and moved to stop the owl harpy but Snow just dove under her and kept going. Midnight had just enough time to rear up and put her forelegs out before Snow barreled into her, almost knocking the kirin onto her back. “WE FOUND YOU! WE FOUND YOU! WE FOUND YOOOOOOOOOOOU!”
“That’s nice but can you get off of me!?” Midnight yelled, trying desperately to keep Snow from, she guessed, hugging her to the point of strangulation.
“But we found you! Gra-Patriarch Firestorm will be so happy to see you when you come back north with us!”
A loud snort and gust of wind from above made Snow stop and look up, her field of vision being filled with the front of Shoal’s muzzle before the huge head turned sideways to look at her with a single, hard eye. “Is there a reason you’re trying to strangle my granddaughter?” the dragon asked coolly.
“Oh I wasn’t trying to strangle her, just hug-!” and then Snow froze, smile now seemingly plastered onto her face. “Wait, granddaughter?” she asked, abandoning her efforts to hug and hoping back down to the ground.
“That’s correct,” Shoal confirmed.
“But… that doesn’t… wait…” Snow began using her wing feathers to count and point to things only she could see, muttering to herself as she did so. Finally, just as she was going cross-eyed and Marina was reaching out to her she let out a long “oooooooooooooh!” and her face went back to bubbly happy again. “I got it now! Makes perfect sense!”
“It… does?” Midnight asked.
“Yep!”
“How?” Shade asked, looking between Shoal and Midnight.
“It just does!” Snow said before jumping at Midnight again, this time able to wrap her wings around the kirin in what was indeed a strangling hug. “We can leave for the Clan as soon as everything here is settled, right? I mean, you’ll need to pack first of course, but then-!”
“NO!” Midnight snapped, able to finally push the surprised owl harpy off her. “I mean, just one step at a time, alright? I can’t just drop everything on a bit and go running off to makers know where.”
“Oh, the clan is up north, past Equestria’s borders,” Snow explained. “Almost a straight shot north if you go along the coast.”
“That’s nice but I’m not changing my mind. I have family here to think about, not to mention the princesses are going to want to know where their old friend has been all this time.”
That finally seemed to sober Snow up. “Right… but you ARE going to come up to see the clan, right?”
“Is my father up there as well?” Midnight asked with a raised eyebrow.
Now Snow seemed nervous. “He is,” she said, not looking Midnight in the eye.
“Good enough,” she said, turning her head back towards the trees. “Now, looks like we can get things started around here.”
Everyone looked in the direction Midnight was and saw a small swarm of owl harpies coming towards them. They could see Baris at the front, chattering away with a female owl harpy and a wizened, old owl harpy male that Midnight had a hard time believing could stay flying all night long. He must have had help each night, which couldn’t have been easy, or they’d kept finding a cloud for him. If that was the case, she really hoped that they’d stuffed all the rookery’s children on it with him. They also confirmed that apparently all female harpies had pony tails and that all males had bird tails, specifically hawk-like ones.
They landed in front of the group, eyeing Shoal wearily, then the old owl began to speak but it was in the same bird-call speak that Baris had spoken in. Midnight was just about to turn to Orestes to ask him to translate when the female owl harpy spoke up. “This General Ocax of Turka Rookery, I daughter Asli. He speak, I speak. You speak, I speak.” Her body was a dark coffee color while her wings were a dark green, as were her mane and tail, and her eyes were a bright yellow. General Ocax had the same color scheme only dulled and grayed with age.
Midnight nodded. “Okay,” she said but still looked over at Orestes.
“Most here only speak the harpy language. Being away from a wyvern clan, they don’t speak the common tongue. However, some have hoped to be friendly with the town ponies one day, so they’ve picked it up as a sort of hobby,” he explained.
“I speak best,” Asli said, her chest puffing out just a bit. “New friends help.”
“I don’t mean to offend,” Midnight apologized, “we’re just not used to dealing with other species and their own languages.” She motioned to herself with a wing. “I am Midnight Storm, Captain of the Bearer Guard.” She then indicated those with her in turn. “This is First Sergeant Night Sky, Corporal Scarlet Claw, Privates Autumn Pillar and Milk Run, Specialist Shoal, and Buzz, on loan from the Honeycomb Hive Royal Guard. There are more of us back in town, but they cannot fly and I still need to protect the ponies there. Those of us here will help you drive away the “strange beasts”. When they’re gone I can personally report to the princesses on the situation here and we can put some sort of plan to work to keep both your rookery and the town safe going forward.”
Asli blinked once Midnight was done, her ears going flat, tried out several of the words Midnight had used, then looked defeated and spoke to Orestes in the harpy tongue.
Orestes gave her an apologetic look and then apparently repeated what Midnight had just said, pausing at points to find the words that best lined up. Finally the group all nodded in understanding and gave them thankful looks.
“We very happy you help,” Asli said, “(strange beasts) very bad, hurt, kill, many in years. You send away, they never come back?”
“We can send them away for now, but we’ll need to come back with a better plan to keep them away,” Midnight told them.
They all nodded once this was translated. “Is best for now,” Asli said. “What you do?”
“Well, first I need some questions answered, if you can.”
