//------------------------------// // Chapter 14: Don't stand in the way of "El diablo carnívoro" // Story: Equestrian Paradox: "Worlds at war" // by An Sturmmann //------------------------------// "El diablo carnivoro come yeguas, mantenerlo aca es una estupidez" The hippogrif answered up as she was being held by the neck by an angry looking griffon mare "Please, in proper language, not your barbaric dialect" "Suck my clit bitch" She answered back and got clawed in the belly as an reward "Maybe I should just leave you alone with that demon next door, I'm sure he is still pretty angry at you" "That thing is a demon, why won't you understand that?, Isn't our duty, our burden as those who hail from the old world to deliver both, civilization and protection to those who lack them?, Isn't hunting demons part of our duties?!" She barked back at the griffon as she sank her claws deeper in her belly "Listen up, I served in the empire for years, first a Lieutenant, now a corsair, some big beaked bucanneer won't intimidate me with mere myths, what I see is a colt with the strenght of a demon but still a colt, you will tell me what it eats, and how you drugged him in first place, then I may not kill you..." "Making bargains with demons won't get you far perfidious hen, once the Queen gets news about this, you will beg that the Armada doesn't burn down your Ugly castle, like you burned down the White fort back in the new world" She groaned looking to the griffon straight into the eyes, defying her even when it was clear who held the control in this situation "Oh really? Should I remind you what happened to "La joya de la corona"?" "La joya de la corona es Griffoñola!" Roared the hippogriff in wrath while the griffon sank her claw a bit deeper, to torture her, focusing on never hurting any vital spot, just focusing on causing her pain "So were the Thirty settlements, they were ours, and you helped them in their revolution, do you really believe your weakening kingdom can stand against the Empire where the moon never sets?" "We beated you more than once, however, that's not what I want now, we should be focusing on the demon you have chained, throw it to drown or to never be seen again, let the sea be its final destination, if you bring that thing to the old world, everything will go downhill!" "Bleh, bleh, ivirithing will gi diwnhill" The griffon mocked her before finishing the clawing with a quick motion leaving the Hippogriff with a nasty wound in her belly "As if that would happen, that thing is just a hot stud in desperate need of being tamed by a powerful mare, not some sort of demon, even if he can act like one, so, why do you bother fighting still?, Just tell me how you got that thing to stand down and in exchange I may gracefully allow you to leave with that rotting carcass you called Frigate" The conversation got interrumpted by an small rumble, or better said, a low growl, constant but loud enough to be heard by the trio inside the room, getting Twilight who had kept silent so far, looking towards the wooden walls, the two feathered females doing so but with clearly worried looks. "Was that..." Asked the griffon and the Hippogriff nodded "An stomach growl, that thing is hungry, way too much for its own good, unless you get rid of that thing it will begin to fight back with twice the strenght it already showed, despite his growing weakness he is still way stronger than any of us" "BY THE GODDESS, IT BROKE FREE!" An scared shout could be heard while the floor let out an small cracking sound, coming from the other room, the sounds of claws against the floor warning everyone that the griffons outside were getting closer to the other room. "We are doomed..." The hippogriff on the other hand seemed... scared, extremely so, trying her best to break free from her chains, wherein Twillight couldn't even move, in an few instants several loud screams were heard alongside a warcry of sorts, the cracking noises coming from outside deeply disturbing Twilight, meanwhile the other two were frozen in place. "El diablo carnivoro aims towards the wings most of the time, it is a sadistic enemy who understands that the pain of broken wings can incapacitate any griffon, he constantly aims to break wings or legs, with powerful kicks and godess be damned you will never fly again if it gets its claws on you, I saw what those are plenty of capable!" The hippogrif roared in pain as she felt her fresh wound ache, while the other one withouth any trace of doubt quickly used a key to free her, soon marching to free Twilight "Look, while we may not have the best first encounter... we, ummm" "Yes, I'm aware perfidious hen, like everyone in your empire, the second something becomes a danger you get paralyzed, come now pagan unicorn, we got a demon to hunt" The hippogriff said before looking at Twillight "As far I know, Unicorns are renowned for their magical skills, use a healing spell in me before we march against that thing outside" "A... are you kidding me!" Twilight couldn't avoid shouting, just at the same time the door got hit... by the beak of an unlucky griffon courtesy of the thing on the other side, which seemed to slowly but surely get away "We've got no time winged unicorn, you better heal me up and we go to fight with that thing out there, or we die once it sinks the ship!" "What makes you believe it will sink the ship in first place?!" Twilight answered as her horn touched the wound in the belly of the griffon who groaned in pain feeling the magic work, the wound was slowly but surely being coated by the energy wich acted like a mix of a fluid and some sort of gel, stopping the bleeding and making the hippogriff feel better "L...look, I just encapsulated the wound, if you get hit the shell will break and the wound will get even worse, you cannot allow yourself to fight!" "Leave the colty talk for when he actually have a choice" The griffon sighed as she took a saber from her waist throwing it to the Hippogriff who took it with ease, then she threw an small but complex looking artifact throwing it towards Twilight who catched it with magic "As stupid as getting two prisioners armed, we really need to work together, unless ye want to finish like those girls out there" Soon, she kicked open the door, allowing for the trio to come out... the sight was certainly concercing. "B...boss..." One of the griffons laid over the floor, shaking a bit with a painful face, looking at her boss as if begging for help "That... thing... it was... too strong, we didn't even had time to get the muskets..." "Where's that thing heading for?" Asked Twilight as she drew near the wounded griffons, cursing herself for what she was about to do, casting an spell in secret "I.... I don't know... but you should know it witch, can't you just use that magic to control it?" "Don't confuse magic with witchcraft, come on, we need to capture that demon" The hippogriff groaned, forcing both Twilight and the leader to follow her, forcing Twilight to stop her spell as she felt the claw dragging her by the neck "You are a magician you will be our heavy hitter, the second we find that thing, I need you to use your magic to get that thing chained down, then we shall aim at its heart, got it?" "I really, really think we should just stop for a moment and try to understand why it would do this, I mean, I once had a similar problem with a dragon, just less violent, after a while we managed to find a solution wich didn't involve shooting down the dragon" Twilight scrambled to speak after she was left to walk on her own again, trying to keep the pace with the other two "You said it, a dragon, this is a demon, we cannot risk being tricked" "I think that you are really tricking yourself into thinking that you cannot speak to it" Twilight spoke while suddenly a loud boom was heard, startling the trio "Was that a cannon?!" As if it was an answer to that question, an small round looking object landing not too far away from them, startling the two avians wich quickly jumped back Twilight didn't even had the time to ask why, but she felt danger coming from the small device, teleporting behind just in time to avoid a sudden explosion, that attack made the ship crumble a bit more startling the wounded griffons. "Grenades... that thing learnt how to use weaponry..." The hippogriff roared before charging towards the smoke holding her weapon up high, the Griffon groaned before taking her staff quickly filling it with another charge and shooting, charging forward despite the smoke making it impossible to look at what she shot in first place. Twilight felt her world go numb for an split of a second, not only because of the sudden noises and the proximity to battle, but also because she could feel something else in that smoke trail, it was an oppressive presence, full of negative emotions, the magic around it was going numb and gray, as if polluted by some foreign influence. The loud sounds of cracking brought her back to reality, snapping just in time to see the smoke dissipate, allowing her to catch a glimpse of what was there in front of her. It looked like some sort of naked ape, with dull torn clothes, but unlike any known ape, it stood on two legs rather than use its arms as another set, on one of his claws it held the hippogriff by the claw, applying so much pressure that it was clear he had broke the leg of the female, on his other hand it held a piece of metal using it as an shield, in the middle of that piece there was an strange object wich seemed to had failed to penetrate the thick protection. But the scariest thing was it size, it stood three times the size of one of the griffons, making it at the very least four times her size, its torn clothing made it look even bigger, and yet because of the smoke she couldn't exactly pin point neither how its face or skin looked, its claws were small, barely remarkable, but the sheer muscle seemed to give it the strenght to properly deal damage. Frozen, Twilight saw how that creature lifted its prey into the hair throwing it straight at the griffon leader, the impact made them both roll over the floor, leaving Twilight all alone in front of what could very well be a shaved bear. "Come on big guy, we need to get out of here!" A masculine voice sounded as the creature turned, looking straight into the eyes of a pair of stallions wich had appeared on the corner, the instant it saw them, they ran away and it soon sprinted after them, but not before taking one of the griffon staffs, mimicking what they did to recharge them, using the materials from a nearby unconscious one "That...." Twilight couldn't move until a minute had passed, the sounds of explosions and screams heard all around, and yet she couldn't think of anything more but one question. That creature saw her, it clearly did, yet it didn't hurt her, neither did it hurt the stallions, even when it had one of the staffs on its power, it also seemed to learn quickly how to use the strange weaponry in the ship. Looking to the sides and behind her, Twilight saw the trail of destruction that thing had left behind... and she didn't saw any trace of blood, the griffons were mostly bruised at best, with broken wings or limbs at worst. The door of the room where the creature had come out seemed to have been tackled out of its frame with clear marks of impact, however what seemed to be broken wasn't the door, but is frame in fact, most of it was rotten, with a good kick anypony could have easily made way outside. Most of the sailors seemed deeply unconcious, even the leader and this loud "grifoñol", but besides a trio no one seemed to have broken limbs, most of them seemed to have been just knocked out, but by Celestia the sigh was out of an horror themed book... Twilight then was brought back to reality once again, this time by an stallion, a pretty mature looking one. "Princess, we don't have much time, we need to get out of here!" He spoke, behind him a group of scared colts, looking at the carnage not too far with wide eyes "I... I..." Twilight was unable to properly talk, until she heard a loud scream, or better said, warcry, just in time for another explosion to shake the ship, forcing her to act fast. She really needed to get those poor colts out of danger, that thing out there was far more dangerous than anything else right now...