//------------------------------// // Ch.13 - The Owl Harpies and the Beasts // Story: The Witching Hour - Looking Forward to the Past // by Chaotic Ink //------------------------------// Midnight jerked awake as she was touched and blinked unhappily at the darkening world around her. “Captain, the sun is setting,” Private Pillar said. Midnight yawned and sat up, cursing silently to herself as she got ready for another long night. Just as Orestes had said, the owl harpies didn’t have much of an idea where the beasts retreated to during the day, only that it was often back towards the mountains to the north-east. The Bearer guard had taken wing while Shoal pushed through on foot towards them and after some time they made it to the base of the heights. They hadn’t stirred anything up on the way, at least nothing big, armored, and purple, which meant that either they came and went from the mountains every night or there were other places they hid in the forest while hunting in it. They could see several caves higher up but a quick look showed they went deep into the rocks. With Shoal unable to follow, only Midnight would have a chance at fighting any beasts they came across and then she’d only be able to take on one at a time while the rest would have to try and hold the others off. Going in after them really wasn’t an option. Scarlet suggested waiting outside the caves for them so Midnight and Shoal could ambush them as they left the caves, sighting that she could see that the mouths of the caves looked worn down from use. However, she had to admit that she couldn’t tell if they’d been used recently or not and it was hard to believe that they trekked hours to and from the rookery each night. No, they had to be coming from somewhere else, possibly even resting in some of the abandoned farm houses and it had just been their luck to pick one that hadn’t any staying in it at the time. That might explain why they attacked the first night they set up. By the time they arrived back at the rookery it was getting close to noon and they were all exhausted, having stayed up almost the entire night before and going all the way to the mountains and back that morning. Midnight had given a brief report to a groggy Asli, then told everyone to catch some sleep and to do so around Shoal, who barely seemed bothered by staying awake so long. She’d wake them when the sun started to set so they could prepare for the night. She did one more thing before she clocked out with them and that was to check in on how things were going back in town via Arina and from what the spider told her everything seemed to be going alright. Sapphire was back at the inn with her leg all wrapped up and when Arina asked if she should wake the pegasus up so Midnight could “talk” with her the kirin declined, sighting that they both needed sleep and that knowing she was safe and sound was enough for now. Midnight had then asked about the train and reinforcements and Arina told her that both had indeed come, a lieutenant from the Solar guard leading them. That made Midnight grimace as now the highest ranking person from her guard in the town was Corporal Lance Breaker but Arina assured her that the new lieutenant seemed to be on the same page as the sergeant, at least while there was a bigger problem to deal with. He also wasn’t butting heads with Star Chaser but working with her as Midnight found out as she “talked” (had Arina write out what she said) with the two of them. With the guards in town nopony was panicking, yet, but it was clear everyone was nervous and keeping as far away from the woods as possible. When Midnight told them that her team hadn’t been able to catch the beasts sleeping, Lieutenant Cover Clash said he’d start building barricades between houses that faced the forest so that if the beasts came their way they wouldn’t have an easy time coming into town. Chaser added that she’d have her thestrals fly in pairs over the first few lengths of the forest to act as early warning. Midnight explained to them about the owl harpies and if it would be possible to send the children and old of the rookery at the very least to town as soon as they could. Both lieutenants had shared unsure looks and Clash had told her that it would be difficult to handle a defensive line and take in refugees, even if they were different species and coming in different ways. One could distract from the other and throw everything into disarray, not to mention it could draw more of the beasts towards the town than would have originally done so and Trill, who had already successfully tried turning into an owlursus to aid in the defense, could only handle so many of them at a time. They all hated to admit it but the owl harpies were going to have to deal with the SNAFU for at least one more night. At least on their end they had Shoal. It was only after she had broken the connection that she realized something: Shoal hadn’t encountered any of the beasts on her own until they’d been attacked. The first night she hadn’t seen any of them despite almost nightly occurrences before that as per the reports, then she hadn’t seen any until coming to their rescue the night before. They might not have seen any near the caves because they’d sensed her approaching. If they kept Shoal near the rookery, the beasts probably wouldn’t attack that night, which was good, but would that then mean they’d attack the town instead? It was a dilemma that made the kirin feel sick because she realized she was trying to figure out who to better protect. When she approached Shoal with the problem the dragon had thought for a minute. “If they don’t like me, then what if I go and stay half way between here and the town? I should be close enough to there to scare most away but still close enough to here to help.” “That’s fine but if you come back here that might give them a chance to run towards the town once you do,” Midnight said, rolling the situation around in her head once again. “Well, why not go wyvern then? You should be able to do so now since you’ve recovered,” Shoal pointed out. That was true and she’d been prepared to do so the previous night but only after everyone had gotten clear of the house. There was a chance the rookery could get clear of the area as, if that was the route they went, she’d probably have to burn the entire area to the ground. However, if the owl harpies were as stubborn as Orestes said they could be, or were even more so, they might refuse to leave their home and not get out of the way. They’d put up with these attacks for thirty years already. Then again, if they could find some clouds and keep them over the rookery… In the end Midnight decided on an emergency meeting with Asli and the general as soon as Shoal woke them up. The plan would be that as soon as the beasts started to attack all the owl harpies would fly for Shoal or quickly gathered clouds, leaving the Bearer guard at the rear to harass and slow the beasts down. Once they were clear, Midnight would go wyvern and torch their pursuers. That should scare whoever was left off and keep them away long enough to implement a more permanent solution. It was only after deciding on that did she finally go to sleep herself. Looking up at the sky after Shoal as she flew off, Midnight grunted before yawning again. The darkening sky was clear of even the smallest puff and if they couldn’t see one, they didn’t have time to hunt any down. Stretching her wings she jumped off the ground, aiming for the clump of treetops she’d seen Asli and her father fly off to. They came up from the canopy themselves when she got close, General Ocax showing himself to be a stronger flyer than Midnight had realized. Then again, he’d probably had to do this most of his life. “What is plan?” Asli asked. “Wait until strange beasts get here,” Midnight told her, “then, fly to Shoal. Bearer guard stays behind until new dragon gets here. New dragon burn strange beasts, drive them away, everyone safe.” She wasn’t trying to talk down or dumb to the owl harpies but she needed them to get the idea fast so they could spread the word and be ready to go as soon as possible. Once she translated this to the others, several including herself didn’t look too pleased. “We not leave home,” she said, “we fight if can.” Midnight shook her head. “Other dragon come, need space to fire. You stay, you get hurt. You come back when other dragon done. You ask us for help, this help we give.” Again, they didn’t look pleased but the idea of getting in the way of a dragon shooting fire had to appeal to them even less and they unhappily nodded in agreement. It was easier than she'd expected but she could sense some resentment. As she turned back towards the clearing she saw the four that had come looking for her climb into the sky as well. She nodded at them as she flew past and they immediately fell into formation behind her. She gave a look back at them but didn’t say anything. When she landed, the other guards formed up around her and she told them what the plan for the night would be. “That’s a load off my mind,” Private Pillar said in relief, letting his spear droop a little, “I thought you were going to have us duke it out with them or something.” Everyone but Midnight and Buzz had traded out the weapons they’d used in the house for spears when they got back to town. None of them wanted to get in close quarters with those things. “I only wanted guards with wings for a reason, Private,” Midnight said, then turned to Buzz. “Trill can manage an owlursus; any chance you can do something like that in a pinch?” The changeling tapped his chin, then grinned and disappeared in a flash of sickly green fire. In his place stood a slightly smaller, black and gold version of the strange beasts. Several owl harpies nearby squawked in fear and he quickly changed back. “That’s about as big as I can get but it should be enough to hold a couple back for a little bit.” Midnight nodded, hoping she wouldn’t have to see it again that night. “Wait, I don’t get it,” Shade said, “how are YOU going to take out so many of them by yourself?” Midnight hadn’t used the term “go wyvern” in her plan because the rest of them knew what she meant when she said she’d take care of them herself and she hadn’t told the owl harpies because that would be too complex and long of a thing to try to translate and explain when time was precious. The four of them would better understand and it would only take a second but she didn’t know how they would take it or how many questions they would ask that would waste time. “You’re just going to have to trust me,” she said, “and I promise to explain afterwards. For now please go with the owl harpies once they start heading towards Shoal. If you all get killed, I can’t go north.” The four of them looked at each other, then nodded. “Don’t get killed, either,” Marina said, taking off along with Shade and Orestes. Snow simply looked at her, head cocked to one side, for a few more seconds before nodding with a smile and taking off herself. Midnight turned back to the others. “Bearer Guard, are we ready?” she asked. “Ma’am, yes ma’am!” they answered. ----------------------------- As with the previous night, the wait itself was horrible. Midnight thought that the beasts would attack almost right after darkness fell, however she was told soon after meeting with Asli that it took some time before the rookery was usually attacked. Most of the owl harpies used that time to get in what hunting they could, especially those with little ones to feed. Perhaps the beasts stayed awake longer into the morning than they had originally thought or perhaps they all really did go back and forth to the caves despite how long the trek was. She was also regretting not telling Snow’s group what was going to happen as it now looked like she’d just shooed them away for nothing. She’d have to make it up to them with a big buck once they got back to Ponyville or send an express request to Long Line for a seafood feast. Without the sun there weren’t any thermals so she didn’t stay aloft as long as the others and their magically-powered wings. When she got tired she landed on the top of a tree on the edge of the clearing and looked around at the typical goings on of the rookery and, honestly, it wasn’t much different from Ponyville, just with no open air market. Young played, adults and teens went about work and chores, and there was a palpable sense of community, only just by night. “This must seemed very odd to you,” Marina said, landing next to her, “having grown up around ponies.” “Actually it’s very familiar with just a few things missing or different,” Midnight told her. “I take it things are like this back at your home up north?” “For the most part,” Marina confirmed, “like you said, with a few things a little different.” Her face grew focused. “If we decided to move here, to Equestria, would we be accepted?” “Depends where you want to settle,” Midnight told her. “Orestes said you four came west from Manehattan; I can tell you that trying to settle there would be a mistake.” “It certainly didn’t seem welcoming,” Marina agreed, “and I guess you left there for a reason.” “Not as good a reason as you might think but I would have eventually,” Midnight said. “I’d just avoid the cities altogether if I were you. My personal, biased opinion? Live in Ponyville. It’s a nice, quiet town with ponies that will be your friend at the drop of a hat. It’s a real special place.” “Which is why you live there now,” Marina said. “Pretty much. I guess the territory dispute is between Orestes’ rookery and your and Shade’s colony?” “Actually, I’m from the Brightwing colony. Shade is from the Silverwing colony and Orestes is from the Roma rookery and the problem is between those two; I just got swept up in everything,” the thestral explained. “Ah, so you’re asking for them,” Midnight said but Marina shook her head. “We ran into Snow as we were escaping a patrol from Roma. Once we got away and Snow insisted we tell her what that was about, she said that if we helped her find you she could guarantee us safe passage back north to see the wyverns and make an appeal to intervene. Usually they only do so when situations become violent but Snow says she has an in. Don’t know how unless the Storm Clan secretly favors the Greka rookery, though Snow doesn’t really sound like she’s from there. She knew about you, though, and even has a picture of you she says she got from the Patriarch himself, which, seeing as it’s one of you as a foal…” She shrugged. “She must be telling the truth but I’d like a backup plan.” Midnight snorted. Having a picture of her as a foal that they’d gotten from her grandfather proved her father was up there or at least had been. Snow said he still was but had been acting shifty when she said it. Maybe she got along fine with her grandfather but not her dad? Hard to believe but not impossible. “Well, I can try to do what I can up there, but you’re welcome in Ponyville if it comes down to that,” Midnight assured her. “Thank you,” Marina said with a nod. “Hey, if it isn’t too much trouble, is there any way you can tell me what you’re going to do? I take it you thought things were going to happen a bit faster than they are.” Midnight let out an unamused laugh. “Heh, yeah, I figured things were going to pop off any minute. You see, the thing is-” From across the clearing to the north-west, several harpies took to the air, screeching an alarm that all other owl harpies immediately took note of and began getting into the air themselves. Midnight and Marina looked at each other and almost laughed. “The thing is we’ll see in a bit?” Marina asked as she began flapping. “Pretty much,” Midnight agreed, taking off herself and aiming for the airspace over the trouble. On the way her guard joined her, Night telling them that she could just see familiar shapes on the forest edge. “Let’s get this started,” Midnight told them and dived down. Half a tree up from the ground she leveled out and breathed fire along the edge, lighting up the area and making the advancing beasts jump back, roaring out shrieking, clicking noises. She pulled up just as one jumped out at her, its fangs missing her tail by a few inches. Those that tried to advance despite the flames were met by the tips of spears that raked across their armored faces, hoping to take an eye or two out in the process. The guards moved as quick as Midnight and pulled up before the line of fire ended, giving Midnight space to score another line of fire, this time with her armor fully deployed. Several beasts pushed through the fire on the ground but took direct hits from Midnight as she shot past from both her fire and her now armored tail. She had the grim satisfaction of hearing one of them scream in pain as her tail-blade made contact, taking out an eye herself. Others raised clicking shrieks of pain as spears found exposed targets. It wasn’t all their way, though, and Milk Run swore as his spear was wrenched from his hooves to be broken in half by one of the beasts. “Sorry about that, ma’am,” he said as he joined up with Midnight after another pass. “Better the spear than you,” she said, taking a minute to examine the scene. Her fire was doing an okay job keeping them back in the trees but she could just make out more moving in the dark cover just out of sight towards the direction the owl harpies were flying. Those that had been in the far north-east of the rookery were just flying past them now, several guiding young or elderly or even weighed down by infants. “Another few minutes and I should be clear. Help any stragglers to move faster and stay up. Anyone who loses their spear, help get everyone clear!” This last bit she called out to the three remaining with spears, which quickly dropped to two as Scarlet got a little too eager to stab and practically shoved the spear into a fang-filled mouth. The beast howled in pain but still took the spear with it as it turned away from the flames. The hippogriff gave her a guilty smile as she went past to help Milk Run. In the distance Shoal was standing up, wings outstretched and impossible to miss. Her eyes flicked between the trees below and the owl harpies coming towards her, some of which were just then reaching her. Some owl harpies had stayed around at the start, choosing to ignore Midnight’s call for all of them to leave and echoing Asli’s want to fight but when they saw how Midnight and her guards fought they turned for Shoal; using any weapon shorter than a spear, like a pair of talons, was almost guaranteed to get one grabbed. There was also the fact that, with her armor fully deployed and all the fire reflecting off of it, Midnight herself looked almost as scary to them as the beasts did. Snow, Orestes, Shade, and Marina, who were at the southern end of the clearing, helping in whatever way they could, would later agree that the kirin looked like she was made for battle then. There weren’t as many beasts as Midnight had expected, though she couldn’t see how many were staying in the trees. She hoped more were just staying out of sight to hunt the harpies rather than attacking the town if any had went in that direction. Twelve were testing her fire line and only one or two hadn’t been hurt yet. They could see some trees rustling under the flying owl harpies like something big and heavy had hit them or had tried to jump into them, but the beasts’ targets were staying high so even if the beasts managed to climb they wouldn’t get anything. They also couldn’t see how close they were getting to Shoal but the dragon wasn’t attacking anything around her, so that was a good sign. Unfortunately, both Pillar’s and Night's spears were soon taken out as well and it was down to just Midnight to keep this particular group contained. This made the beasts below bolder, despite all of them missing at least one eye, and a few charged through her latest line of fire. When she pulled up again, she saw that the sky around her was clear. “Good; let’s get this over with,” she muttered but as she was starting to concentrate she heard a squawking from the tree line behind her. Turning to look, she saw a young owl harpy, not even able to fly yet, hoping from branch to branch after the last of the fleeing group of adults. She swore at the same time the beasts below saw the colt (Midnight could see the bird tail) and it became a race to see who would get to him first. A leaping beast won the race, its jaws biting into and splintering the branch the young one was on, sending him tumbling to the ground. Midnight angled herself and caught him as he fell but was jerked to a stop and yanked backwards by another beast that had gotten a hold of her armored tail. It threw her back into the clearing and she curled into a ball to protect the child and lessen any injuries and she felt herself hit at least one beast before rolling onto the ground. She shot up and roared, unleashing another stream of flames to keep the beasts back. The child quickly got up, too, and tried to hind behind one of her legs. Had he not been there, the kirin wouldn’t have sweated the situation. Even if they piled on her, she’d just throw them off as she grew. She knew she could even survive long enough for the others to wonder why she wasn’t growing and come back to check but she couldn’t keep the child safe for that long. She roared again as the beasts approached through her flames and deployed her hoof-blades, lowered her head, spread her wings, and arched her tail. Even if it was only one or two, she’d take them like she had the one in the attic. Then another beast, this one black and gold, barreled into the others from her right, sending two to the ground and getting tangled up with a third. A screech from above and both Orestes and Scarlet came swooping in, talons raking the faces of two more. The distraction was enough for Midnight to turn around to grab the child but Snow was already there, the young one held gently but firmly in her talons. “Knock’em dead!” she said before shooting off into the sky. Turning back to where Buzz was fighting, she jumped into the fray herself, getting under one that was coming in to attack him from the side and did exactly what she’d done in the farm house attic, throwing it into another beast that was coming for her. She dodged a bite by another one and dove at Buzz’s opponent, this time diving in under the side and driving her blades into its belly. The beast screeched and tried to get away, getting clear of Buzz in the process. “GO!” Midnight yelled, her hooves bursting into blue flames. He got the message, changed back, and took off like a rocket straight up like Honey had done in the Crystal Empire, another beast’s jaws just missing him. She put out the flames to give him another few seconds to get clear and she was rewarded by being grabbed by the tail again and flung further out into the clearing once more. Again she rolled when she landed, stopping on her hooves and dodged a beast that had run after her, her tail blade swiping its legs as it went by. Apparently they weren’t as armored as the upper body and she was rewarded with the beast falling over screeching with blood oozing from its cut legs. She turned her attention back to the other beasts who were closing in more carefully and did something they’d never seen another creature do: smile at them. "I wonder if you taste as good as bunyip,” she growled as blue flames erupted from her hooves again, this time engulfing her in an ever-expanding wall of flames. ----------------------------- Snow was just passing off the owl harpy foal to its thankful mother when a bright light flashed behind her and everyone watching grew wide eyes, some even making noises of amazement. Turning around, she saw briefly a pillar of blue fire the size of a wyvern, then it dispersed with the flap of two large, black wings. A wyvern did indeed revealed itself, roaring as it was released from the burning blue tower. The black wings came down, the tips impaling into the ground to provide stability as the head and body leaned forward and released a tsunami of blue fire almost directly at its feet. The blue fire engulfed the clearing, then the wyvern moved its head so the stream started to blow into the forest. When it was done the wyvern stood back up and roared, the raging blue flames illuminating her black hide. Her large black wings beat as she roared, fanning the flames beginning to engulf the trees. “That’s my granddaughter!” Shoal called out with pride as she took a step forward. Waving her front claws to shoo owl harpies out of the way, she bent her own head down and blasted the forest below with her own light purple fire, shooting a line that almost met the blue one despite the distance. Even the light absorbing trees couldn’t overwhelm the amount of fire light and beasts were seen trying to escape the two-front conflagration in any direction they could. Both the wyvern and Shoal blasted the forest twice more, moving their heads side-to-side to burn a wider area and catch more of the beasts. It had cost the entire western side of the rookery and a good portion of the forest beyond that, but it was clear that the beasts had suffered greatly as clicking shrieks rose up from the blue and purple inferno. Despite that there was very little cheering going on, that mostly coming from the Bearer guard. “That’s Midnight for ya!” Scarlet practically crowed, “always able to pull a win! I’d like to see those beasts come back from that!” Midnight finally went down on all fours and came over to them, the owl harpies giving her a wide birth as she came close. “Is everyone alright?” “How did you do that!?” Shade yelled. Asli flew up to Midnight’s now massive head. “You are wyvern?” she asked, her tone both amazed and suspicious. “It’s complicated, kinda,” Midnight confessed, “but we’ve got time now, so I guess I can-” she stopped and her eyes began to glow. “What she doing!?” Asli yelled, backing away. “Being called by Arina! Something’s going on back in town!” Scarlet said, taking her place close to Midnight’s head. “What’s wrong?” she asked. Midnight’s eyes stopped glowing and her head whipped around to look towards Hollow Shades, nearly hitting Scarlet in the process. “The town is under attack. Not by many, but enough that they don’t think they can hold. Shoal, stay here and watch over everyone; I’m going to help.” “Understood,” the dragon said as a few owl harpy mothers and their children began to carefully rest on her horns. “Should we come, too?” Scarlet asked. “No, not unarmed as you are. That attack you and Orestes did was reckless.” She smiled. “Thanks for that.” “Anytime,” the hippogriff said with a grin. With that, Midnight moved away from them all and took to the sky once she was clear, flying low. “Seriously, she can turn into a wyvern!?” Shade yelled. “How is that even possible!?” Snow simply watched her go, already having a conversation in her head with Patriarch Firestorm. ----------------------------- The two privates, a unicorn and an earth pony, were doing there level best to keep their spears pointed over the top of the barricade while not losing them. They’d been warned that an attack might come but they also knew they were dealing with animals. Big, armored and nasty animals, but animals all the same so there shouldn’t be any kind of coordinated attack. Heck, just taking one out should have scared the rest off. But they were wrong. The beasts had hit three separate points, hard, with very little warning from the thestrals above. So hard, in fact, that the order had come down almost immediately to pull back to the secondary defenses to regroup and reinforce. They’d done so just in time as three beasts had climbed over or busted through the first barricades and quickly advanced on the second. From what they’d heard, that changeling that the Bearer guard captain had left behind had turned into some sort of owl-bear-thing and was giving the three on the street to their left a heck of a time, with help from the guards there, of course. The three beasts in the street to their right were being harassed by the thestrals as that particular part of the barricade wasn’t as sturdy as the others. The members of the Bearer guard that had stayed in the town were assisting that flank. That left the barricade they were at, now the center, with no extra support. At the moment the spears were the only things keeping the beasts back as the guards quickly jabbed at them and pulled the spears back before they could be pulled out of their hooves. They’d scored a few hits and even managed to take out an eye but the beasts were getting bolder and already they’d lost three spears. “We’re going to have to pull back soon!” the earth pony shouted as another spear was grabbed and torn from a guard’s grip, nearly pulling that guard over with it. “If the center falls the flanks are screwed!” the unicorn shot back. “We’ll be screwed if we stay here!” the earth pony yelled. He jabbed his spear again but this time his aim was a little high and the point skated off the top of a beast’s armored head. It rushed forward, getting in under the pony’s reach and jumped up at the barricade, catching itself with its front two legs and heaving itself up to roar in the guards’ faces. The moment held, then the world behind the beasts became as black as under the trees and the earth beneath them shook. Out of the darkness something larger than even the beasts appeared and the beast on the barricade was suddenly jerked back amid a rising cheer from the other two streets. Up and up the beast went, flailing with its tail caught in the jaws of a dragon, who proceeded to chomp down on more of the tail once it had reared back up fully. It snorted in disgust and pain then jerked its head back down, throwing the beast to the street below where it impacted with a sickening *splat*. The other two beasts, seeing what happened to their buddy, charged at the barricade, this time to escape the dragon. The guards tried to hold them back but they, too, got a hold of the top in their mad scramble to get away. A huge claw reached out and scraped them back down the street, the dragon hissing a bit as the spines on their backs pricked it. One beast was rolled onto its back and the claw came down on it, crushing it with another sickening sound. The third beast tore back down the street towards the forest, scrambling over the first barricade like it was barely there and making the guards thankful once again that they’d abandoned it. The draconic head followed the beast and a few seconds later the forest beyond was lit up with blue fire with more cheering coming from the street to their right. A cheer then went up from the street to their left and the draconic head went that way. Before long any sounds of the beasts from that street were silenced. “I’m putting in for some leave,” the earth pony said as he fell back onto his haunches, barely holding his spear up. “The extra pay was NOT worth it.” “I just want a stiff drink,” the unicorn said. ----------------------------- All told, things could have gone a lot worse. No owl harpies, thestrals, or guards were killed and only a few were hurt. None of the townsfolk even saw the beasts, though the fighting hadn’t gone unheard and there’d been a few that had rushed the train in a panic. Night Stick and his officers had quickly stopped them and kept the peace until the fighting was over, though many were still staying by the train station, just in case. Midnight had just finished going over the post-battle details, including chaining up and muzzling the only surviving beast (barely) for transport, with the two lieutenants when she saw Shoal and the whole of the Turka Rookery approaching the town. Chaser and Clash eyed the approaching dragon and swarm but Midnight assured them they were friendly and would take care of them, so the two officers went to deal with their respective guard issues. She met them at the edge of the town by the barricades, her guards coming down to meet her first. “We tried to explain the best we could,” Night said as they landed. “The concept of cutie marks is a little lost on them.” “They understand that you can change into a wyvern at will,” Scarlet added, “but are still fuzzy on the details. Beyond wyverns changing size and a few other examples, even our new friends from up north aren’t used to magic as an everyday thing.” “It’s a bit hard to comprehend that you can just do that,” Orestes said, landing with the others. “I wonder if all kirins can do that.” “From what I’ve been told only two other kirins in history have had that special talent,” Midnight told him. “Well, I think we’re all glad you have it,” Shade said. “We haven’t seen any more live beasts and a lot got caught in the fires you and Shoal made.” Asli and General Ocax landed next and the old owl harpy said something. “You said other dragon come. You no said wyvern come. You no said YOU wyvern,” Asli said, a bit accusatory. “I didn’t mean to hide it,” Midnight told them. “I thought there was a lot less time to prepare for the attack and I needed you to understand why you needed to get out of the way so none of you would get hurt by me.” “But you still wyvern? You part of clan?” Asli pressed. “Technically, yes,” Midnight said, “I’m going to meet them soon, anyway.” “She’s the granddaughter of the Storm Clan Patriarch,” Snow said proudly. “She’s definitely part of the Storm Clan!” She proceeded to repeat herself in the harpy tongue and louder for others above to hear. Asli and her father looked at each other, then nodded. “Father’s many fathers stayed long ago, wyverns leave,” she said. “Father’s many fathers told wyverns come back, wyverns never did. All fathers sad they not go, don’t know where wyverns are now.” She and Ocax bowed and so did the many owl harpies in the air above. “Please, we pledge to Storm Clan, pledge to you, to take us under wing like other harpies. We serve well.” Midnight flared her wings and took a step back. “I’m sorry but what?” she asked, looking over at Orestes and Snow. “Harpies and other races are protected by wyvern clans,” Snow explained, “you saving them puts them in the debt of the Storm Clan and as you’re the only representative of them here, they’re pledging their loyalty to you. What she was telling you was that the Turka Rookery was left behind in Equestria when the wyverns left and they heard a rumor they would return, so they didn’t think about leaving their home until it was too late and they didn’t know where to go. Now that a wyvern is in Equestria again, they want to follow it.” “Wait, so, am I their general now or something?” Midnight asked, not liking the situation one bit. Being the captain of a guard was one thing, taking responsibility of an entire community was something else. “Actually, you rank above him as a Matriarch. Sort of,” Snow said. As Midnight just stared at the white owl harpy, Scarlet nudged her with an elbow. “First thestrals, then a couple of dragons, and now owl harpies; what do you plan to add next?” “A fried hippogriff,” the kirin growled, then turned back to Snow. “Look, I don’t know what they’re expecting but I’m not ruling over anyone. I command the Bearer guard but that’s not the same. We’ve stopped the beasts so their rookery should be safe now.” Snow sighed heavily. “You don’t understand; the bond and respect between the wyverns and certain races run deep, to the point that wyvern word is considered law by many.” She turned to her companions. “If the Storm Clan was to decide to move back down here to Equestria, would anyone stay up north?” “Nope,” Shade said without hesitation. “Few, if any,” Orestes added. “The real question is who would want to be the first ones after them,” Marina said. Snow nodded and turned back to Midnight. “Even though their home has been saved and they were ready to fight for it, this changes things for them. They’re going to want to follow you and make a new home wherever you live.” “I didn’t see this myself, staying apart from the clan as much as I did,” Shoal said, “but Firestorm did mention from time to time that he had to settle disputes between species and how many the clan had taken under their wing. It sounded like whatever his decision was, they agreed to it.” Midnight rubbed her temple. This definitely wasn’t how she’d seen things going after beating the beasts. “Please,” Asli spoke up, “we not just ask you for help; we help you, too. We do what you ask, we even join guard.” Midnight sighed, suddenly very tired. “Look, I just need time to think about all this. Between the beasts, suddenly knowing where my clan and father are, and this being dropped on me, it’s a lot to take in. First Sergeant Night Sky, please let the lieutenants and Chief Night Stick know that you’ll be in charge of the Bearer guard for the next several hours and to come to you in case something else comes up that isn’t an emergency.” She looked back at Asli. “For now just stay with Shoal just in case, I’ll give my answer later.” Once everyone agreed to this, Midnight took off in the direction of the inn. ‘Didn’t think I’d want bed so badly again so soon but makers I need some time to think about all this.’ ----------------------------- “So…” Hazelnut said as he watched Rarity race by, “does this count as an emergency or…?” Both he and Windrunner were in town hall, along with most of the guard left in Ponyville and five of the six bearers. Twilight and the rest of the guards were back at the town library, trying to figure out what was wrong with the five and how to fix it. Earlier that morning Windrunner had received a report from Night Sky about how things at Hollow Shades had gone down and what was most likely to happen in the near future. She also told them not to send anything directly to Midnight until about noon unless it was an emergency as she had a few things to sort out there and didn’t need things on her plate now that could be held off until later. It had been right after sharing this with Hazelnut and Wild Mane that the first indications of something being wrong manifested themselves in Rarity running up to them. “Morning, darlings! Fine day for a race isn’t it? Anyone want to race? If you don’t that’s fine, racing is sweaty work and I myself am starting to sweat like a PIG, but that’s just how it goes!” They’d all looked at each other and then asked if she was fine, which she told them she was but then Mane had noticed that Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark was where Rarity’s ought to be and they’d asked her to come with them. When she’d refused, saying that she needed to find someone to race, Mane had simply thrown her onto his back and told the others to help keep her up there. Believing that whatever was going on with the unicorn had to be affecting the other bearers, they all decided that Mane and Hazelnut would commandeer the town hall to keep them all in one place while Windrunner would pass the word to the other guards and start rounding up all the other bearers. The next bearer they found was Applejack, who was digging around randomly looking for gems on the outskirts of town. Pinkie was discovered by Tight Fit trying to help around the Apple Farm in AJ’s absence, while Fluttershy was found in Sugar Cube Corner, trying to make the morning patrons laugh. Rainbow took some time to find, as they first looked in on every cloud they could see and then a few flyers started heading out towards Cloudsdale when Angel Bunny ran up to them and led them back to Fluttershy’s cottage, where Rainbow was trying to take care of her friend’s animals and succeeding as much as Fluttershy was making ponies laugh. Only Twilight, who was led into the town hall at the same time as Rainbow, seemed unaffected, both in that she still had her own cutie mark and she wasn’t acting strangely. It was after some brain storming together with her that Twilight thought she knew what the problem was and admitted that she’d tried a spell from a book Princess Celestia had sent her the night before and had simply thought nothing had happened. She and a few guards had gone back to the library to try and figure out if there was a way to reverse the spell. “On the one hoof the bearers did it to themselves,” Windrunner said in a conflicted tone, “but that’s something we’re supposed to defend them against, too.” “But is this truly an emergency?” Spine asked. “Unless there’s a time limit before this becomes permanent, this should be something that can wait until the captain and the others get back. It sounds like a lot has gone on where they are and bothering her with this might distract her from what needs to be done out there.” “But there’s Solar and Lunar guards out there as well and she made a point to go so that if something like this came up a proper choice could be made,” Honey pointed out. She’d gotten up with Windrunner and knew the situation in Hollow Shades. Her changelings had joined in the hunt for the bearers when that problem had been discovered. “I say we let Night know what’s going on and she can pass the information along at the proper time. With any luck Twilight will have this all fixed by the time Night lets Midnight know, thus no issue.” “I hope you’re right, Honey,” Windrunner said, nodding at Hazelnut to do just that.