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// Chapter 37. The unnamed eagle vs. a cockatrice. 
// Story: The Choice 
// by Not_available_now 
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Chapter 37. The unnamed eagle vs. a cockatrice.
            
        Martin put down the book, having read most of it to the sleeping Twilight. She had a smile on her face as he walked down the stairs. It was late at night and since they had a couch again he had a place to sleep.
            
        When he arrived downstairs he saw Spike sleeping sound in his basket. He followed his example and laid on the couch. He quickly fell to sleep. He thought a bit about his lost hand and how he was going to replace it. He was wondering if a magic hand would be corrupted immediately if he got one.
 
 


            
        In the north of the Everfree Discord’s mind, having taken the form of a see through version of his solid version, sat on top of a tree trunk.  He was whispering in the ear of a couple of animals. Some dangerous and some a bit less dangerous.  Most of the animals had a severe case of swirly eyes. Only a few of the more resistant animals, like cockroaches and little kittens, weren’t affected by Discord, they just liked the colors.
            
        After a few minutes of talking to most of the animals he left them. His ghostly form slowly started dissipating. He gave a cocky smile as the last whispers of his face faded into the ether.
            
        The animals stood there for a while, doing nothing. Then they shook their heads and the swirlyness disappeared from their eyes, but they still were hypnotized.  They scrambled off into the distance, disappearing into the night.
 
 


            
        Luna was walking through the hallways of Canterlot castle. She was on her way towards the artifact room. She wanted to use a specific artifact, one with not such a great power, but with great use.
            
        The use to look anywhere in a large range, if the user’s magic capabilities are large enough. And of course the magic capabilities of Luna were far greater than were necessary for her goal.
            
        She was getting closer to her goal, but she was still thinking over it. She wanted to take a look at Martin. She knew that he was coming soon, but couldn’t wait to take another glance at him.
            
        He was the only one, even though he was of another species, she ever felt close to. Close to her, not as a sister, not as a friend, not as an adviser, nor as anything else than a lover.  It also was a first one for her. When her sister dabbled and slept with guards and others so satisfy her needs, she kept away from any needs. She wanted to wait for the right pony, or alien. She now had found the right one. The only thing she wasn’t certain off was if he thought of her in the same way. Even though they talked long conversations and sat next to each other for a long time she still didn’t know for certain. He was an alien, someone from a different culture. She might be a friend to him. She wanted certainty. The artifact could help her find out. It didn’t just watch locations, but people their minds. She could look inside his mind and see if the chemicals reacted in the same way as they did in her head. She would have to dig deep though and she was sure that he would have a good night’s rest.
            
        She kept on walking, not being stopped by anypony until she reached the room. She opened the door and walked in, straight towards the artifact.
            
        The thing she completely forgot when she started looking was that magic is something that is everywhere in the body, even if it is a little. And that Martin’s main form of magic is corrupted. That could cause problems.
 
 


            
        One of the animals Discord had hypnotized was walking along the edge of the forest, seeing if anything was watching it. Nothing capable of forming words was watching it at that moment, but a certain zebra saw it some time ago wander through the forest. However, she wasn’t alarmed by this occurrence, since animals wander often near the edge of the forest, never to cross it.
            
        The animal in fact was a cockatrice. And it was flying low over the ground, turning its head, looking over the road that led along the edge of the forest. After it saw that there were no ponies to see, it he quickly flew over the road, towards Ponyville.
            
        The creature flew quickly to the town and it reached it in minutes. It had little knowledge of the town and only got told that the human resided in a large, hollow tree. Even though the given instruction were small and few in numbers it was easy to find the tree Discord mentioned.
            
        It flew a bit higher over the town and quickly found the tree. It flew towards the tree and ticked on the window. Not to wake any, but to see if anypony was still awake. Nothing happened as the cockatrice sat there.
            
        After a while it decided that it was safe. It pushed the, somehow, open window open and climbed through. It quietly walked through the house, looking for the human. It quickly found him sleeping on the new couch.
            
        It started walking towards it, walking carefully not to wake anything that could stop him from completing his task. He didn’t wake anything, since you can’t wake something that hasn’t even been to sleep.
            
        It wasn’t Owlowlicious though. The owl sipped a bit of coffee that morning so it had been more active during the day. The animal that was actually awake was Martin’s new pet, the unnamed bald eagle.
            
        The eagle thought that sleep was for the weak so it stayed up. Another reason might be that he took a bit of the Blue Cow.
            
        The eagle noticed the cockatrice; the cockatrice didn’t notice the eagle. The eagle glided silently down and landed back of the cockatrice.
            
        The eagle didn’t know what the cockatrice wanted to do exactly, but he knew that it wasn’t something good. The eagle tapped the cockatrice on the back and the cockatrice turned around, annoyed that something interrupted him.
            
        The cockatrice, not able to use its turn-to-stone ability more than once a day, didn’t want to waste it on the eagle. So it gave it a scratch with its talons, drawing blood on the eagle’s face.
            
        This only made the eagle angry. The eagle gave it a quick scratch back and flew away to a bookshelf, having drawn its attention. The cockatrice, despite wanting to complete its objective, couldn’t let this go. It quickly followed the eagle up to the shelve.
            
        Then the eagle and the cockatrice had a showdown. They stared deeply into each other’s eyes, glaring at each other for a while.
            
        The cockatrice jumped at the eagle and when it was close enough it swung its talons at the eagle. The eagle ducked and dashed under it, giving it a head-butt on its back. The cockatrice lost its balance and fell onto the shelf.
            
        The Eagle walked over to the cockatrice that was still lying on its back, a bit dazed by the blow. The cockatrice knew that if he didn’t do anything he would lose the battle and not be able to complete his objective.
            
        The eagle decided to give the cockatrice a sucker punch right on the side of its head. It dazed the cockatrice even more.
            
        The eagle hanged over the cockatrice, wearing a smug smile, for as far as an eagle can wear a smug smile. The cockatrice was running out of options and it determined that not dying was more important than completing his objective.
            
        It put deed to thought and gazed deeply into the eyes of the eagle. The eagle went rigid and even though his body tried to move, his body stayed in one place. His smile changed to a silent scream as its talons started to turn grey and to stone. Soon enough there wasn’t an eagle anymore, just a stone statue.
            
        The cockatrice gave a happy sigh, glad that he had won the fight, but sad that he had to retry his goal tomorrow.
            
        What the cockatrice didn’t notice was that the eagle statue wasn’t perfectly balanced. The eagle statue slowly tipped over and started its short journey.
            
        The journey ended with a loud sound as the eagle statue hit the ground. Loud enough to wake any human sleeping nearby…