//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10 
// Story: Lunar Rising 
// by azore24 
//------------------------------//

	The six ponies scattered as the manticore landed in the midst of their group.  Having missed its targets, the beast beat its wings, arresting its forward progress.  Once more it bellowed, blind with rage as it tensed up.  Its barbed tail rose, ready to strike at any moment, while it rested on its hind legs.  The manticore leered at the ponies, unsettling them as they regrouped.

For a third time, it roared loud enough to loose pebbles from the surrounding cliff face and send birds flying from the trees.  It swiped at the ponies menacingly as another, smaller flock of birds fled the trees further in the distance.  A tense moment passed, filled only by the sound of ragged breath and frightened birds.

Suddenly, the manticore made another lunging attack at the ponies.  It once more was left empty pawed.  It stumbled after landing awkwardly.  A few powerful wing beats allowed the manticore to steady itself.

The opening was all Rarity needed to act.  She rushed in, letting her years of training take over.  Suddenly, all those sweaty hours at the dojo didn’t seem so terrible.  She planted her front left hoof half a length from the beast and allowed her momentum to pivot her around that point.  Planting her other forehoof, Rarity unleashed a buck straight to the manticore’s snout.  The already unbalanced creature was sent tumbling backwards.

A quick flick of her head realigned a stray strand of hair which had fallen out of its place in Rarity’s well maintained mane.  “Well, that wasn’t so—”

Rarity was cut off by another cry from the manticore.  Such was the cry’s ferocity that Rarity’s mane and tail were blown and tossed about as if by a strong gale.  Rarity quickly retreated; she could have sworn that a small earthquake passed through the area at the same moment the manticore roared.

“Wait!” called Fluttershy as she saw Applejack already leaping into action.  However, she was drowned out by the manticore.  Even if she had been heard, nopony was willing to give the manticore a chance to gobble them up.  Besides which, they needed to get past it to get to the palace.

Already, Applejack was swinging her lasso and charging the manticore.  An expert snap of her neck sent the noose at manticore, cinching around its neck.  The creature panicked.  Years of rodeo practice let Applejack leap onto its back, using the lasso rope to stabilize herself.  The manticore thrashed and bucked desperately as its eyes bulged and its irises shrank.

“Yee-haw!” shouted Applejack.  “Get along, little doggie!”  She managed to remain stable on the manticore, which began jumping about madly and pawing at the rope around its neck.

“Wait!” shouted Fluttershy once again, though everypony was too busy dealing with the manticore to listen.  Suddenly, Applejack flew by Fluttershy, still holding the torn lasso in her mouth.

The dirt spurted up around Applejack as she landed on the soft earth and slid for a few lengths.  Spitting out the rope she looked up at Rainbow Dash and said, “Your turn, partner.”  Rainbow Dash silently saluted Applejack with a stern look on her face as she reared back in the air.

With a streak of rainbow, Rainbow Dash was off.  From somewhere behind her, Fluttershy said, “Wait!” though the indignant command went unheeded.  The much more troubling sound was the indescribable one which came from behind the manticore.  What made Rainbow Dash pull up from her attack wasn’t the sound, per se, but rather what happened to the Manticore.

The beast was momentarily webbed in blue bolts of energy.  It cried out once and then fell silent.  The ponies watched in shocked silence as the beast crashed to the forest floor.  Then, their eyes fell on the four forms behind it.

“You folks alright?” asked O’Neill as he walked past Teal’c, who holstered his Zat gun.  To the ponies’ eyes, it was a strange folding device which resembled a snake, but it was colored too darkly to make out any further detail.  The rest of SG-1 stepped out of the shadows after O’Neill, keeping their weapons trained on the downed manticore.

“What did you do!?” shouted Fluttershy, speeding past the other ponies.  She flew right at Teal’c.  O’Neill was shocked to see him flinch away from Fluttershy’s glare.  “What did you do to that poor, defenseless creature?”  Before anyone could react to the outburst, Fluttershy zipped over to the manticore and lifted one of its front paws revealing a thorn which was at least a foot long.

“It was just hurt and scared, and you... you... you did whatever it was you just did!”  Fluttershy gingerly pulled the thorn out from the enormous paw and spat it out at Teal’c’s feet.  “Now you say you’re sorry.”

“I have done the creature no permanent harm,” Teal’c said.  He had recovered from Fluttershy’s stare, regaining his stoic demeanor.  “It will be fine when it wakes, though that should take some time.”  O’Neill was sure he heard some bit of smugness in Teal’c’s voice, though such emotions were completely unthinkable in the cheery fellow.

“Even so,” Fluttershy insisted, “you hurt it.  And don’t you try to deny it.  It was scared and hurt, and you didn’t even try to help it.  So, apologize.”  Her voice had grown icy and stern.  Her sudden, dramatic shift in personality drew all eyes away from the thorn, which was now surrounded by the telltale aura of Nightmare Moon’s magic.

“A scared animal is often more dangerous than a belligerent one,” Teal’c said.  “I have nothing for which I need to apologize.”

Fluttershy stomped in rage, though much of her anger was directed inwardly.  She knew that Teal’c had a point, and that he was basically right.  What he did to the manticore, the pain she had seen in its eyes as the blue magic surged around it, was just wrong.  She couldn’t just let Teal’c off the hook for it, but the reasoning behind why it was wrong just wouldn’t come.  Fluttershy simply glared at Teal’c while digging at the ground with her front hoof, wings flared.

“Whoa, there, Flutts,” said Rainbow Dash.  She flew over to Fluttershy and landed beside her, draping a comforting wing over Fluttershy’s heaving barrel.  “We can yell at them for it later, but we have to keep moving.  Nightmare Moon could be lurking anywhere...”  As Rainbow Dash trailed off, she led the somewhat becalmed Fluttershy back towards the group of ponies.

The thorn had completely dissolved now; in its place was a thick purple mist which blended into the shadows of the night.  

Fluttershy broke away from Rainbow Dash and headed to the Manticore.  “Fine,” she said.  Her voice was now demure once more, but it gave no room for argument.  “I just have to make sure this poor little guy is OK.”  She bent her neck down and pressed her ear against the manticore, listening to its heartbeat, and then moved on to give the unconscious animal a quick checkup.

As Fluttershy began to work, O’Neill stepped to the fore of the human group and said, “OK, folks.  The Palace is just a little ways over there,” he pointed in a vague direction, “so we should make it there in ten minutes if we move.  Dash,” O’Neill said, “pop up above the trees to get some better bearings before we head out.  Twilight, are there any other creatures we should worry about—”

Fluttershy’s cry pierced the night as the frightened mare found herself crouched behind Applejack almost instantly.  “N-n-n-n-nightmare M-m-moon,” she whispered tremulously, pointing a hoof at the manticore’s prostrate form.  Fluttershy’s proclamation, along with the suddenness of her flight, caught everyone assembled off guard.

“Where is she?” Rainbow Dash shouted.  Twilight’s horn lit up as she started to channel magic, even before she knew what spell she would cast.

“Oh, silly, that’s not Nightmare Moon, that’s the manticore,” Pinkie Pie said.  “Nightmare Moon is the big black pony who’s all mean and stuff.  And I thought you were supposed to be good with animals.”  Pinkie rolled her eyes and put a foreleg across Fluttershy’s shoulders as if to console her over her inability to identify a wild animal.

Teal’c advanced at the manticore cautiously; he primed his staff weapon, aiming it at the unconscious beast.  As he drew closer to the manticore, Teal’c could begin to see the midnight coat of Nightmare Moon.  A series of hand gestures relayed to O’Neill that Nightmare Moon was, in fact, there.  Another step brought Teal’c close enough to see that she was still breathing, slowly and steadily.

O’Neill had the team advance, guns trained on the manticore, and therefore on Nightmare Moon.  Teal’c then prodded Nightmare Moon with his staff.  When she did not react to the prod, Teal’c knelt down to get a closer look.  

“Colonel O’Neill,” Teal’c said, “she appears to be unconscious.  I believe it was a Zat blast.”

From where he stood, O’Neill could see the gently heaving barrel of Nightmare Moon.  “Good,” O’Neill said, “then we can deal with her quickly.”  He looked at Teal’c and nodded.  There wasn’t any reasonable way to capture her; O’Neill knew that after seeing her powers displayed multiple times.  At least this way, the ponies would be safely out of danger and the planet liberated.  They’d probably get over the whole killing thing eventually.  Teal’c passed his staff into his left hand and drew his Zat gun once more.

“Wait, what’re you—?” was all Twilight was able to ask before Teal’c squeezed the Zat’s trigger.  Blue energy lept from the weapon’s tip.  As soon as the beam hit Nightmare Moon’s body, she became webbed in the blue energy; the black alicorn’s body seized for a moment.  The blue energy rapidly dissipated and Nightmare Moon fell still.

“Well,” O’Neill said, “that was a bit anticlimactic.”  As if the universe worked on dramatic timing, Nightmare Moon gasped her way back to life just as O’Neill spoke.  If looks could kill, Jack would have been dead three times over from the glares he earned from his team.

“You have spoken earlier than was appropriate, O’Neill,” Teal’c said in a chastising tone.

“That’s not how you say it,” Pinkie said.  “‘He spoke too soon.’  The way you said it was too long.  All those words just gum up the joke.  You could also work on the delivery,” she mused.

“Oh for the love of—” Jack said, swallowing at least one profanity.  “She should be dead, right?”  He looked at Carter, demanding an explanation.  He was exasperated more than anything.  For once, it had seemed like things would go well.  Actually, things usually seemed like they would go just fine until it all hit the fan.  Looking at it that way, this was all par for the course; it didn’t make Jack feel better, though.

Carter, still looking to be a mix of shocked and annoyed, knelt down to examine Nightmare Moon.  Jack knew she was no doc Frasier, but he felt that, on some level, all scientists knew this sort of thing.  A minute later, Carter had finished her inspection.

“Unconscious, Sir.” Carter said.  I couldn’t guess for how long, though a usual Zat blast would leave her out somewhere around twenty minutes, I guess.  It’s hard to tell with alien physiology.”

Jack considered.  Assuming they had twenty minutes before Nightmare Moon woke up, they had two options.  First, they could split up.  Half of SG-1, and all of the ponies, could continue on to the Palace.  Since killing Nightmare Moon seemed to be off the table, at least for the moment, they needed the Elements of Harmony pronto.  The two who stayed behind could keep Zatting the goa’uld until...  Well, until the Zat guns ran out of power.

That risked those left behind being overpowered.  Nightmare Moon seemed prone to trickery; she could feign unconsciousness while preparing some sort of attack.  Even if she didn’t, forests were generally more dangerous at night, and O’Neill didn’t like leaving half of the team behind to deal with a very angry goa’uld.

His other option was to press on, taking the twenty minutes to get a head start.  That should give them enough time to dial the gate and get some specialized weapons, as well as more men.  At the very least, it would give them a line of retreat should things go badly, though manual dialing wasn’t exactly going to do them well in an emergency.

“All right,” Jack said, “we’ll make a run for the Palace.”

“Sir,” Carter replied, nodding slightly.

“Wait.  What?  But... she...” Twilight stammered, clearly thrown for a loop.  She began to hyperventilate and grind her teeth; if she wasn’t quickly losing her grip on sanity, Jack would have commended her on being able to do both at the same time.  

Rarity walked over to Twilight and draped a hoof over her shoulders.  “Come now, Twilight.  A lady shouldn’t allow herself to act with poor manners.  Besides, wouldn’t it be nice to get out of this dirty forest and into a nice palace?”

Twilight looked for all the world like she would very shortly explode at Rarity.  After a second, though, she deflated and sighed.  “I guess you’re right,” she said.  “Thanks, Rarity.  That O'Neill really grinds my gears.”

“Of course, dear.  He is a bit of an unmannered boor.”

“Hey,” O’Neill interjected, “you know I can hear you, right?”

Rarity placed a hoof over her mouth in what O’Neill was sure was mock embarrassment.  She said, “Oh my.  I am ever so sorry; I thought you had already run off to the palace.”  O’Neill stared for a moment before deciding that now was not the time for any sort of argument.

Putting on a fake smile he said, “You’re forgiven.”  Jack pointed at the unconscious Nightmare Moon and said, “Goa’uld.”  He pointed in the direction of the palace, “Magical artifacts.”  He pointed once more towards the palace, “Run!”  Carter and Teal’c took the lead and the others followed.  O’Neill brought up the rear himself, though he was soon joined by a prancing Pinkie Pie.

“What’s up, Pepé?” O’Neill asked her.

Pinkie contorted herself into a rather impressive mimic of the Thinker pose, bouncing along on her tail, and said, “Well, I liked that you went with a smile back there.  I just wanted to give you some pointers.  For example, when you smile, you need to make sure your eyes get all crinkly or it looks fake.”  To accentuate her point, Pinkie gave Jack a broad smile.  She somehow, disturbingly, managed to crinkle her eyeballs instead of her eyelids.  Jack stumbled at the sight, but smirked when he got Pinkie’s wordplay.

“You’re not quite there,” she said, “but I’m sure that you can do it if you keep working at it.”  Pinkie bounced alongside Jack for a minute or two before asking, “Who’s Pepé?”