//------------------------------// // Episode 2: The Strange Swordsman Part 2 // Story: An Epic for Gilgamesh // by zaleacon //------------------------------// The bright eyes looked across the plain, still focusing their foul and obvious intent upon the peaceful village in the distance. The creature continued its pursuit, looking across the place under the dim light of the moon. It clacked its pincers together once more. Its target was clear in its mind, and the denizens of the village would be none the wiser to its attack until it was far too late. Dust was kicked up in its wake as its sharp claws tore into the earth, and the air seemed to part at the shimmering field about the insect-like beast. Its pincers clacked faster, although the noise that they created was unheard by the equines living in the village. It was close – closer than even it, with its minuscule intellect, could have imagined. Soon, its mission would be completed, and its desire to feed upon flesh would finally be sated. -- An Epic for Gilgamesh -- -- Episode 2: The Strange Swordsman Part 2 -- -- Written By ZaleAcon -- Twilight Sparkle sat around a table in the library, letting out a deep sigh as she placed her head in her hooves. Her friends sat around him in similar positions of confusion and irritation. "So… anypony have any thoughts about our 'new arrival'?" muttered Twilight, rubbing her temples. Rainbow Dash grimaced, leaning back in her seat. "I think the guy's a total blowhard," she said. "I mean, didja all hear just what he… it… whatever it was said?" She stood up, deepened her voice, and raised her forelegs into the air. "'I… am… Gilgamesh, the legendary, powerful, and legendarily powerful swordsman who shall pound you into oblivion for daring to run into me and causing me no small amount of pain!'" She changed her voice back to its normal pitch and rolled her eyes. "Sheesh, the guy's more of a drama queen than Rarity, and that’s sayin’ something." Rarity blinked. "I… I beg your pardon?" she asked. "I assure you that I am far from being anything like that ruffian and his disgusting sense of fashion… or lack thereof, I suppose." She proceeded to mumble something incoherent under her breath, although the few words that Twilight was able to catch were most certainly not meant for the ears of foals. "N-not to mention just how mean he was to Discord…" Fluttershy said, her voice barely audible. "H-he said that he was… h-horrible, and ugly, and all sorts of other not-nice things…" "And please," Applejack sighed, "please tell me that this 'Gilgamesh' wasn't that wacko who went and stole our apples and pitchfork? Ah mean, Ah can tolerate a lotta things, but thievery's just disgustin'…" Fluttershy grimaced. "W-well, I did see him running around with that… he called it a trident, but I don't really know why he–" Applejack slammed her hoof into the table, causing the others to jump in surprise. "Dagnabbit! That pesky little varmint!" She looked over at Twilight, her eyes narrowed. "Ah hope that none of y'all like that guy, 'cause Ah'm gonna rip him to pieces the next time we meet!" "A-Applejack!" "What? Ah'm just gonna make him work off what he stole, and then some. And give back that pitchfork, 'course." She grimaced, placing a hoof on her forehead. "Though why he stole that ol' thing's beyond me…” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Probably so he can go and show off his 'legendary swordsmanship.' I bet he's off in some field right now, or threatening some poor old mare for looking at him the wrong way." Rainbow Dash leaned down and picked up her fork, jumped onto the table, and struck a dramatic pose. Once again, she lowered voice, and said, "'Fear me, you scoundrels, for I am the mighty, awesome, deadly, powerful, and every other adjective Gilgamesh! Now face my terrible wrath, and vanish beneath a sea of demise! Have at you!'" She stabbed at the air with the fork, her eyes narrowed. Several of the ponies around the table burst into peals of laughter at the ridiculous sight, forgetting the troubles of the day to simply take in the image of Rainbow Dash acting the part of the mysterious creature before she, too, began to laugh with glee, stepping down from her perch. "Hey, could you all keep it down?!" Spike shouted from the floor above, his voice somewhat slurred due to sleep deprivation. "Some of us are trying to sleep!" The six mares stopped, met each others' eyes, and instantly began to giggle again, albeit at a lower volume. Pinkie Pie – who, miraculously, had avoided speaking at all up until that point – grinned from ear-to-ear. "Well, Gilgamesh didn't do any of that stuff around me!" she said. "I mean, he stepped into Sugarcube Corner, and he was all, 'I'll have a cupcake, please,' and Mr. Cake was just like, 'Sure.' And then he took the cupcake, and–” "Pinkie!" snapped Applejack. "Oh, sorry, I was kinda getting off track." Pinkie grinned sheepishly, and placed a hoof on her chin. "Weeeeell… after we talked, and he told me he was moving here, Gilgamesh just kinda walked out of there really slowly, and looked back over his shoulder about… two or three times, I think." She shrugged. "He seemed kinda nervous about something, but he didn't say anything about how awesome he was." The other five stared at her in stunned silence. Twilight blinked, and looked between her friends. "Well," she said awkwardly, "I'm not going to ask how you managed to shut him up, Pinkie, but… Well, it worked." "Hold on a second," Rarity interjected. "Pinkie, dear, did you just say what I think you did? Did… did you just say that this Gilgamesh has decided to move to Ponyville?" "Yeah! I was gonna throw him a party tonight, but nopony's seen him, and there was gonna be balloons, and streamers, and funny hats, and streamers, and cake! I even made a design and everything!" She pulled out a small piece of paper with a happy, smiling caricature of Gilgamesh in the middle. "Pinkie!" Applejack snapped again. Pinkie blinked and smiled sheepishly again. However, before she could say anything, she was interrupted by a loud thud. "Oh, dear!" Fluttershy gasped. "I-I think that Twilight's out cold!" "Hang on, I've got it!" Pinkie exclaimed, grabbing a basin of ice water from some pocket dimension and emptying it onto Twilight’s unconscious form. Twilight instantly sat up as the cold water rushed over her and let out a loud gasp. "Wh… Gilgamesh is moving into Ponyville?! No, what if he… but a lunatic like that can't be allowed to just run all over this place!" She began to hyperventilate, horrifying images of ponies being threatened by Gilgamesh entering her brain, culminating in a mental image of Canterlot on fire. "We have to get this guy out of here!" Applejack grimaced. "Three things, Twi'," she said, holding up a hoof. "First, ya need ta calm down. Second, where'd ya get that basin, Pinkie?" The pink pony opened her mouth to speak. "On second thought, don't answer that. And third, Twi'" – she turned and looked at the cowering alicorn – "Gilgamesh ain't gonna destroy this place. While it does seem like he's got an ego bigger'n Ponyville, he seems mostly harmless. Mostly." "He's running around with a pitchfork! Somepony could get hurt! And they probably will, knowing our luck!" "Hey, Ah said 'mostly,' not that he's completely safe ta talk to." Applejack sighed. "Yeah, it'd probably be best if we get that thing outta his hands, but he ain't harmin' anypony… yet, at least." Rarity rolled her eyes. "After you made such a big fuss about him stealing apples from your farm, you're going to just claim that he's not causing any harm? At the very least, we need to keep him from tearing the entire village down." Rainbow Dash sat back. "And considering that he threw a tantrum when I accidentally ran into him today… we probably should keep him monitored for… Oh, how does 'always' sound?" "W-well, he just seems like a lost animal," Fluttershy whispered, "a-and we don't even know what he is yet, right…?" "That's a good point," Twilight conceded, her voice having mostly reverted to normal. "We're talking about some new species, here, or something. It wouldn't make sense to just throw him back into the Everfree or wherever he came from, even if he isn't… well…" The five mares all turned their gazes on Pinkie Pie expectantly, although she simply shrugged. "What?" Twilight opened her mouth as if to say something, but closed it just as she did. "You know what? Never mind." She rubbed her temples with her hooves, and said, "C'mon, let's go and find Gilgamesh before he causes any destruction." "But where do we even start to look?" Rarity asked. "That creature could have disappeared to anywhere within Ponyville, or even outside of it! For all that we know, we may never find him under these cir–" "AAAAAAAAAUGH!" The six of them instantly jumped from their seats, and exchanged glances. "I think we've found him," Twilight offered dryly. Without a single other word, the six mares galloped off towards the sound of the scream, and towards where they expected to find Gilgamesh. "M-monster…!" gasped the mare, stumbling back in terror. The beast before her was absolutely horrendous; it stepped across the earth on six long, spidery legs. Its long, golden eyes stared directly into hers. Its carapace was a strange green, and its shell shimmered with an odd light in the shadows cast by the night sky. The creature's pincers clacked together, omitting a loud and disgusting squelch throughout the town square. Its eyes focused upon the mare in front of it, though it seemed to lose interest fairly quickly – its gaze traveled from the mare’s body to the many surroundings buildings, almost as though it were scanning them for something. However, just as quickly as it had looked away, the monster's gaze settled back on the poor mare, and its pincers clacked together once more. Its eyes looked almost hungry, and the mare could have sworn that the smallest bead of drool began to drip from its mouth and onto the stone road near the town square. "No, stay back!" she cried, taking a single step backward before her legs froze up completely. The beast did not listen to her pleas, as it slowly stepped closer to the mare. Its legs cracked the stone as it stepped, and its massive frame dwarfed hers. The pincers clacked together once more before the beast lunged forward. However, before it could successfully hit its target, the mare was shoved out of its path. Twilight stumbled back in awed terror from the massive, insect-like creature. "What… what the heck is this thing?!" she gasped. "Looks like one of the beetles back on the farm," replied Applejack, "but much, much bigger." Rarity stepped up beside them. "In any case, we should not allow this beast to run wild throughout Ponyville! The results would be absolutely disastrous!" "Yeah," Twilight said, "let's put our search for Gilgamesh on hold right now… we've gotta deal with this thing first!" The monster's pincers clacked together, and it let out a loud screech at its meal being taken away. It focused its gaze on the creatures who stole away its food, and its pincers began to hit even faster than before. Without warning, the insect lunged at the six mares, causing them to jump to either side of its path in order to avoid being devoured. The thing's legs bit into the rock with a frightening speed. It recovered from its charge at an astonishing rate. Twilight's horn glowed a bright pink as she welled her magic into it. She released it suddenly, sending a blast of pure magical energy at the insect-like beast. However, rather than become stopped in its tracks or injured in any way, the monster did not react to the blow at all. Twilight and the others watched in horrified awe as the blast simply vanished into the aura around its body. "What?!" she cried, stumbling back again. "That's not… Th-that's not…!" Rarity grit her teeth. "That glow around it… it must be some sort of magical barrier! But to absorb even Twilight's magic…! Why, that’s completely absurd!" Applejack stepped forward. "Then y'all'll have ta let me take this," she growled, stepping up in front of the massive beetle. "If magic ain't gonna work, then one of my patented apple bucks'll rip this thing up like paper!” She stepped forward to crash into the creature, but was stopped in her tracks as it blasted her with a jet of strange, blue-green liquid. It coated her from head to hoof, adhering her to the ground like glue. "Hey! What the hay is this?!" she growled, trying to pull the liquid from her body to no avail. "Gah! Why can't Ah move?!" Fluttershy held her hooves up to her face. "Th-this is looking very bad…!" she gasped, eyes pinpricks. "It won't even react to my stare…!" Rainbow Dash puffed out her chest, and flew towards the beast, only to be hit by the same substance that coated Applejack. "Blech! This stuff's disgusting!" she spat some out of her mouth, trying to pull herself out of it. "C'mon, move, move!" Pinkie stumbled back. "U-uh… this looks bad!" "Why can't anypony who can actually help us be here when we need them?!" Twilight shouted. "I mean, you'd think that there'd be more ponies paying attention to something like this!" The creature looked over the six mares, and – as if deciding that none of them were fit to fight back – turned its gaze on Rainbow Dash, staring her down as drool began to drip off of its pincers. Rainbow Dash continued to pull at the slime that coated her body, before looking up and noticing the giant creature looming over her. Her eyes became small, and her jaw dropped in terror. "O-oh, no…" "What do we do?! What do we do?!" Pinkie cried, bouncing in circles and covering her eyes with her hooves. "Fear not, young equines, for I shall rescue you from this most wretched of creatures!" came a familiar shout from above. Twilight pressed her hoof to her forehead. "Oh, great…" she muttered, "and I thought things couldn't get any worse…" As if from absolutely nowhere (which, Twilight suspected, was exactly where he emerged from) Gilgamesh literally jumped from the sky, landing between Rainbow Dash and the insect. He twirled Applejack's pitchfork in his hand, eyes narrowed as he looked upon the massive beetle-like beast with eyes of ice. "Foul beast of darkness," he proclaimed, and pointed the pitchfork toward the monstrosity, "know the fate of one who would attempt to slaughter these mostly-defenseless creatures!" Rainbow Dash blinked, possibly in surprise at the armored giant leaping from the sky and landing on his feet with no difficulty. "Wh… Hey, who are you calling 'mostly-defenseless'?!" "You, of course!" Gilgamesh answered her rhetorical question. "Thankfully, that wretched injury that you imparted upon me earlier shall not cloud my judgment in rescuing you from this being of utter destruction! Nay, instead it shall but strengthen my resolve!" Rarity leaned over to Twilight. "Um… I suppose that you have some idea what he's saying?" she whispered, not taking her eyes away from Gilgamesh for an instant. Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. "No. Unfortunately." The insect, however, did not appear as fazed as the rest of them were. Instead, it looked over Gilgamesh for but an instant, and its eyes shifted to a strange, greenish color. It simply stared at him for several seconds, much to the combined shock and confusion of the ponies present. After those several seconds passed, its eyes turned back to normal, and it let out a screech even louder than the one earlier. The thing lunged toward Gilgamesh, its massive pincers clacking together faster and faster. Gilgamesh reacted immediately, jumping back and spinning the pitchfork in his hands once more. "So you long for the embrace of death?" he asked. "In that case, then I, the almighty Gilgamesh, shall not deny you your request! Prepare yourself… and perish!" He lunged toward the insect, stabbing with the not-quite-a-weapon (Twilight refused to consider it dangerous in the slightest, considering that its tips were completely blunt), only for the beast to leap back and shoot that same gooey substance at him. Gilgamesh jumped aside, the liquid flying instead into the window of a nearby house, followed by the sound of a stallion's scream. The beast did not allow that minor setback to infuriate it, however, and rushed toward Gilgamesh with the same horrifying speed that it had shown earlier in an attempt to impale him on its pincers. Gilgamesh raised one of his gauntleted arms, not only blocking the strike, but also completely stopping the thing in its tracks as it tried to bite through the material. Even though its pincers could clearly not penetrate the strange gloves, it still tried, biting and gnashing at the thick metal. Gilgamesh pulled away, spun the pitchfork once, and stabbed toward the thing again, using his same strategy in an effort to end its life. Once again, it simply dodged the strike and let out yet another scream to the sky, before rushing toward him once more. The two continued to counter and trade blows, with the insect-like monster continuing to rush, screech, and spit at Gilgamesh as he dodged and stabbed at it. The six ponies all stared, mesmerized by the odd display. Even Twilight had to admit that it was rather impressive that he was standing for so long, but she immediately decided that it had to have been a fluke; unless he had encountered a beast like that before or had been watching their fight, there was no way that he could possibly have known how it fought. After a time, the beetle-like beast appeared to have grown tired, its legs shaking and seeming almost crumpled in some areas, while Gilgamesh still stood with a level of energy that seemed to rival Pinkie Pie. "I shan't give up here!" he declared at the thing, "so come and face your foe, or flee back into the darkness from whence you came!" Once again, the beast's eyes changed, becoming the same color of green as they were before. For several seconds it simply stood in that position, before its eyes reverted to their original color. The insect took a single step back and turned, scuttling down the road and out of Ponyville completely, leaving only the silence of the night in its wake. That and, of course, the six ponies who stared with gaping jaws as Gilgamesh struck yet another heroic pose, looked them all over, and – without a single word – jumped roughly fifty feet into the air and vanished from sight. The ponies stood in silence for several minutes. Rainbow Dash was the first one among them to speak. "Did… did that really just happen…?" Its pincers clacked together and its eyes were set on the ground in front of it. It had been so close, and the one that it had been searching for had been directly in front of it, yet it still failed. Its stomach was empty, just like the rest of it, and the beast felt no small amount of pain from its crumpled joints. It ached – oh, how it ached – but reprieve would not arrive. All that it desired was to fill its stomach and for the agony in its legs to cease. At last, its gaze moved away from the road, and toward another area entirely. A strange castle lay nestled on a cliff, surrounded by a large city. It glowed in the darkness of the night, standing out immensely against the black curtain. A single bead of drool rolled down the thing's face at the sight of it, and the sheer beauty of the feast that was soon to await it danced in its mind. But in the back of its mind something still continued to nag at it. It knew what its target was meant to be, but the city just looked too delicious for it to focus on such trivial matters. No, it needed to feed, and with its new shell, the city would be nothing but a buffet. With renewed speed and vigor, the monster rushed toward the city, its new target locked in its sight. Rainbow Dash cleaned the rest of the goop out of her feathers, grimacing in a mixture of pain and humiliation. "I can't believe we got showed up by Gilgamesh," she groaned, spitting some of the slime out of her mouth. "Blech! Ugh, what the hay is this stuff, anyway?" Twilight opened up yet another book, glancing through it in an attempt to locate information on the strange being that had attacked their town. "I'm not sure," she admitted, "but it seems to be something designed to make that thing's prey unable to move. We're… we're lucky" – she felt as if she was going to vomit admitting it – "that Gilgamesh came when he did." "Yeah!" Pinkie shouted, throwing her hooves into the air. "I mean, Dashie woulda been lunch! Or dinner." She placed a hoof on her chin and took on a quizzical expression. "Yeah, probably dinner. But still, that thing was terrifying! I can only imagine what woulda happened if it got to Dashie. It’d probably have–” She was instantly quieted thanks to Applejack placing a recently-wiped-off hoof into her mouth. "Pinkie," she murmured dangerously, "please just don't say anythin', okay?" At a nod from the pink pony, she retracted her hoof, and slammed her other one into the table. "Darn it! Ah can't believe that thief had ta come and save us!" Rainbow Dash sighed, flexing her wings with an audible crack. "Yeah, I know," she muttered, and rolled her eyes. "Seriously… I'm not about to owe anything to that creep!" "Indeed," agreed Rarity, sipping tea from a cup in front of her. "However, I do have to ask you this, Twilight: When do you plan to tell the princesses about him?" Twilight blinked, her eyes suddenly growing small. "Th… Oh, no!" she cried, throwing the book to the ground as she did so. Twilight instantly began to run about the library, hyperventilating as she had only a couple of hours earlier. "What if Princess Celestia gets angry at us for being unable to stop that thing… Wh-what if she banishes us, or disowns me as her pupil, or banishes us and disowns me?!" Already, the horrifying mental image began to form: "Twilight, I am very disappointed in you," remarked Celestia coldly, glaring at her former student. "Because of your last failure, I am revoking your right to be an alicorn. In your place, I will assign a more capable creature." She turned to the side, and gestured to the figure next to her. "What do you think, Gilgamesh?" "Um… Twi'? Are you feelin' okay, or…?" "No!" Twilight screamed, stumbling back into the bookshelf in horror. It shook as her back collided with it, but – thankfully for her fragile skull – none of the books fell on top of her. Unfortunately, she did not notice until it was too late that Pinkie had chosen to place her party cannon on the top shelf. With a loud thud, Twilight had lost consciousness once more, sprawled on the ground beneath Pinkie Pie's artillery. Rainbow Dash pressed her hoof into her forehead. "Ugh… somepony grab the ice water…" As Pinkie reached into the aether to do so, footsteps began to echo down the staircase. The pink mare quickly threw the icy water on her friend, and sat her up. Spike came sauntering down to the bottom floor, holding a piece of parchment in his claws. There were very visible bags under his eyes, and he was slouched over. "Ugh… Twilight… I jus' got this for you…" he muttered. He stepped over to her and handed her the parchment before turning and grumbling to himself as he stepped back up the stairs. Twilight levitated the paper in front of her face and unrolled it, looking it over for several seconds before her face went pale. "O-oh, no…" she breathed, already looking on the verge of another panic attack. Fluttershy stepped over to her, and weakly spoke: "Um… what's the matter, Twilight?" "Is it Gilgamesh?" growled Rainbow Dash. "I swear, if that jerk got into Canterlot…!" "I'm not sure, but…" Twilight groaned, her face still pale. "I mean, I… I think you should all take a look at this…" Rarity stepped over, and used her magic to grab the letter. "Here, allow me to look at this," she said needlessly. "Hm… Well, it merely appears to be a letter from Princess Celestia, so why is i–" She stopped, and her face completely changed: Her eyes became small, her jaw dropped, and her overall color seemed to turn almost green. "O-oh… s-sweet Celestia, that's just…!" "Gimme that!" Applejack declared, grabbing the letter out of the air and glaring at her two friends. "Sheesh, if y'all're gonna act like that, Ah've gotta see why…" She raised up a hoof to her mouth and cleared her throat. "Alright, then… "'My dear student former student, Princess Twilight Sparkle,'" she read, and blinked. "Huh, that's odd… why does the 'student' have a cross goin' through it? Ah, well… Anyway, it says, 'The ponies of Canterlot will need your aid. A monstrous bein' has appeared in the city, and is terrorizing the nobility and common-folk alike. While there have been no serious injuries yet, Ah fear what will occur if nothin's done ta stop it. Please make haste, and come up here as soon as ya can. Princess Celestia.'" The room was silent for several moments, before Applejack placed the paper on the table. "Huh," she said at last. "Well… that's a problem…" "Funny how we have to do everything," Rainbow Dash grumbled. "I mean, can't Princess Celestia take care of this? Or Princess Luna? Or even Discord, I mean he's got nothing to do right now!" Fluttershy looked over at her, her expression neutral. "Oh, but Discord needs his ten hours of sleep, and I couldn't just force him to get up right now. I mean, imagine how annoyed he'd be!" Rarity cocked her head, having finally broken free of her stupor. "Funny, I did not think that Discord needed sleep, given that he's the avatar of chaos." "Oh, but of course he needs to sleep!" Fluttershy gasped. "What else would he be doing right now?" Discord lay sprawled out on a table that appeared to be made out of hay with a large milk carton beneath his head. A book was clasped in one hand, a box of cotton balls in the other, and he mumbled to himself as he looked over the pages. "Hm… So that is what Luna does in her free time…?" He turned the page, shoveling the cotton balls into his mouth. "She really needs to work on hiding her diary better…" "Never mind," muttered Rainbow Dash. Twilight stepped up between the two and grimaced. "Anyway," she said urgently, "we've gotta get going now before somepony gets seriously injured!" The others did not even have a chance to react before they were engulfed by a bright pink light, and completely vanished into one of Twilight's powerful teleportation spells. Ponies screamed as they ran throughout the streets. The monster paid their cries no heed, however, and continued to step about the area, its legs stabbing into the buildings, causing them to crack and break apart. Its viscous bacteria coated the landscape. It looked to the sky and screamed loud and long, before turning its gaze back on the fleeing creatures. They ran in horror, several trying to escape into other buildings or toward the massive building in the distance. The beast screeched once more and clacked its pincers together before rushing toward them with a horrifying speed for one so large and clumsy-looking. "Halt there, fiend!" came a cry from behind it, and the beast turned to view its new adversaries. Before it stood a group of six horned creatures, all clad in golden armor and standing tall. The front-most one stepped forward, and gestured to the ones behind it. "Now, focus your magic with mine!" it declared, its horn turning a bright blue. The others nodded, and their horns also began to alight either blue or pink, and shot rays of pure magical energy toward the beast. However, their attacks vanished as soon as they touched with the aura surrounding the creature. The leader stumbled back, eyes wide. "What?!" it gasped. "All of you – retreat!" Almost instantly, the six creatures turned and rushed away, leaving the monster back to its own devices. It let out another screech in approval. It turned toward the street and began to scuttle down the path once more, its legs continued to crack the road as it did so, and its pincers still crashing and gnashing together. Before it, the equines continued to flee away from the destruction, still running toward the palace at the city's head. They did not dare to look over their shoulders, instead affixing their eyes on their target and sprinting for their lives. "What?!" Celestia shouted, looking over the guard before her. "Are you certain that creature is unharmed by magic?!" The guard nodded, his teeth grit. "Yes, Princess," he responded. "Our greatest team attempted to fend it off, but to no avail. Even now, the ponies are leading it toward the palace in their attempt to escape, but I fear that if that monster is as quick as it appears to be, we could run the risk of serious danger." Celestia sat back on her throne and rubbed her temples. If she left the palace to face the beast, she would only stir up more unnecessary panic, and with the insect being immune to even powerful magic, the results would most certainly be disastrous. "Twilight," she heard herself murmur, "please get here soon…" Twilight stumbled out of the light, groaning as she held her head. Traveling as far as she had was difficult on its own when she was by herself, but the others being with her had caused her no small amount of fatigue. Shaking her head free of the exhaustion, Twilight stared over Canterlot in horror. The buildings were crumbling into the ground, the roads were breaking apart, and a strange, gooey substance covered much of the landscape. "Hold on a second," muttered Rainbow Dash, "isn't this the same stuff that thing was doing back in Ponyville?" She blinked, and flew up into the air to scout out the area. "What the…! It must've come here after Gilgamesh chased it off!" Applejack grit her teeth. "It ain't important how that thing got here; what's important is that we're gonna have ta stop it!" "But without magic," Rarity murmured, "and with that strange substance that it shoots off, how can we expect to best it? Such a thing as this can't simply be rushed into," she added thoughtfully. "We do not have the Elements of Harmony, and it looks to be a simple matter of combat, rather than negotiation." Pinkie crouched into a fighting stance, her eyes fixed on the dilapidated street. "Well, then," she growled, "let's throw this thing a party it'll never forget, and get these ponies out of this perilous predicament!" Twilight's horn began to glow, and she grit her teeth. "I might not be able to help you girls out here much," she admitted, "but I'll do whatever I can to support you!" "No more talk!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "That thing's getting closer to the palace, and if it gets there…" The six mares looked each other in the eyes, and wordlessly ran down the broken up street. Their hooves cracked over the shattered glass, past the crumbling buildings, and toward the royal palace in order to end the foul insect that had caused so much destruction. The insect-like creature had given up on its most recent prey, and convulsed awkwardly in the center of the street. Its eyes had reverted to that odd shade of green, but seemed to be rapidly switching between both that and their original color. Its pincers smashed together several times, and it let out what sounded like a combination of a screech and a groan. Applejack stepped over to Twilight. "Hey, what's with this thing? Why's it just stopped here?" Before her question could be answered, however, the beast's eyes stopped their alteration and changed to their normal color once more. It looked to the sky, let out one last howl, and affixed its gaze to the six mares. Its gaze shifted between them, as if it remembered them from only a couple of hours earlier. "I-I'm not exactly sure I like the look that it's giving me," Rarity murmured. She took a single step back in an effort to stay away from the insect. "Me neither," responded Applejack. "Do y'all think it remembers us from earlier, o–?" Before she could finish that statement, the monster screeched again, clacking its pincers. Immediately after doing so, it charged towards them, with only a quick dodge to either side preventing them from being crushed. "Alright, everypony," Twilight declared, "we've gotta keep this thing busy while Rainbow Dash and Applejack do as much damage to it as they can. Are you all ready?" The five instantly nodded, hoping that they could execute their plan before the thing rushed once more. "Alright, girls, then let's do this!" The creature screeched once more and rushed toward them. The mares reacted immediately, once more leaping aside as the monster crashed into the building behind them and became stuck. Rainbow Dash flew into the air while Applejack rushed at the insect from the ground, both crashing into it before it had a chance to react. It cried out in pain, letting out a loud groan of agony as Applejack slammed her legs into its side and Rainbow Dash flew into it from above. The thing wrenched itself free from the wall, and glared at the mares that had caused it so much agony, before it spat more of its slime towards them. Twilight leapt forward and grabbed the stuff out of the air using her magic, hoisting it into the sky and throwing it away from her friends. It stumbled back, looking between the six mares with horror apparent on its small face. The creature turned away from them, planted its legs into the building behind it, and started to climb the structure in what appeared to be an escape attempt. However, Twilight knew that allowing such a thing to escape would do no good to anypony, especially if it continued its spree of destruction about Equestria. "Alright, girls," she shouted, staring up at it, "we just need to knock it down from that building, and we're all set to g–" Naturally, Murphy's Law instantly came into effect, with the creature – rather than escaping, as Twilight had predicted was its attempt – leaping from the wall, with its massive body pointed toward the area where she stood. Had the building been any taller, Twilight had no doubts that she could have run to escape it. However, given the shortness of it, all that she could see was the thing's shell as it came toward her. In that brief instant, she forgot that she could teleport, use levitation, or any other method that could have saved her life. Instead, Twilight raised her hoof up to cover her face, and hoped that the inevitable pain would be quick. Given that she was an alicorn, she knew that the wound would not be fatal, but she could suffer any sort of permanent injury due to it. She stood in that position for several seconds, before realizing that there was no pain, and there was no massive beast crushing her in the broken-up pathway. "Do not fear, Moisturizer, for I have come to rescue you from this foul beast!" Twilight looked up in shock to see Gilgamesh, his eight hands holding the insect above his head with a strange simplicity. The pitchfork was tied to his waist, and his eyes were set as he held the creature high. And then – as if it was nothing at all – he threw it several feet to the side, leaving the six ponies to stare, openmouthed, as it crashed into a building. Gilgamesh slapped his hands together, and looked to Twilight with a large grin. "That was close, wouldn't you say?" he asked, his voice still sounding ridiculously hammy. "I am glad that I was able to show up when I did!" Twilight ignored the large amount of crow that she was currently eating, and nodded. "Yeah," she responded, for once relieved to see him. "How did you…?" "You did not think I would leave a beastie like this to its own devices, did you?" responded Gilgamesh. "Of course not! After you left, I tracked it, and found it coming here!" The illusion was instantly shattered. "You've been waiting here – camping here," Rainbow Dash growled, "for all of this time, just so that you could make an entrance?! What about all of the buildings that you just let get destroyed?!" Gilgamesh laughed, placing his hands on his hips. "Mere trivialities!" he responded. "Next to the life of a creature, a building is but a small price to… pay…" He stopped, the six ponies staring daggers into his eyes. "What?" he asked incredulously. "I needed a way in order to actually gain an advantage on that thing!" "So you were camping." "I was not camping!" The two were interrupted from their small fight by yet another loud screech coming from the building that the monster had been thrown into. The beast stumbled from the wreckage, although its body seemed to have been somewhat altered by the attack: Its shell was dented at several points and looked almost concave at others, while four of its six legs were bent at awkward angles. Even its pincers were affected, bent down instead of in. It looked over the six equines and Gilgamesh, let out a weak gasp, and stood tall. In spite of its wounds, the creature began to awkwardly stumble toward them. Its eyes were set on Gilgamesh, and its jaw opened wide, revealing a large amount of the slimy liquid. Instead of being thick, however, it seemed more watery, and bubbled as if it was boiling. Twilight's eyes widened in horrified realization, and she felt her heart stop in her chest. "Everypony get down!" she heard herself scream to the creatures around her. Everypony instantly obeyed, dropping just as a large sphere of the slime flew over their heads and slammed into a building behind them. Said building instantly exploded. Fire rained down on the ponies as the creature continued its slow advance. It let out several weak cries as it did so, eyes still focused on Gilgamesh. However, the closer it walked, the further its wounds seemed to cause it agony, and the beast eventually stopped completely in order to catch its breath. In that instant, Gilgamesh responded. He pulled himself up from the ground and rushed toward the insect. The beast pulled its head back, readying another shot of the explosive liquid at its target… … only to stop as the pitchfork split it in half down the middle. The six equines reacted in several different ways to the display before them; Fluttershy covered her eyes with her forelegs, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie both let out cries of shock, Rarity crawled back as the liquid spilled onto the ground, and Twilight and Applejack simply stared in awe. For a moment, the beast began to convulse, with both halves moving erratically in either direction. Without even a single last screech, however, the two broken pieces dropped to the ground, unmoving. However, what Twilight found to be especially odd about the creature was simply in what happened after it died: No blood exited its wounds, unless one was to count to strange liquid that it had collected in its throat (and that now lay beneath its body, curiously unexploded) as "blood." But what she truly found to be curious was what she could see from where she lay. There was nothing inside of the creature; its body was literally empty. She jumped up and ran over to the carcass, looking it over to ensure that she hadn't missed anything. Her eyes, though, had not deceived her. "This is so weird," she murmured, touching her hoof to the creature's shell. Something about the way it felt seemed familiar to her, but she could not quite place it. "You'd think that a thing like this would need at least some kind of organ in order to survive…" Her more scientific side had already overridden the terror that she had felt only moments earlier. Disregarding Fluttershy – whose hooves were still clamped firmly over her eyes – the other ponies stood up to look at the thing that had been so utterly terrorizing the city. Rainbow Dash touched the area where Gilgamesh had stabbed the creature. "Yeah," she agreed, "you'd think that a beast like this'd need something, right? I mean, it doesn't even look like it has a brain." She ran her hoof over the area, and recoiled. "Gah!" she cried, pulling her hoof back. "Ugh, sweet Celestia, that just…!" Rarity stepped over to her friend and examined the injured hoof. "That's odd," she mused, gingerly touching the wounded area. "I haven't seen a cut like this come from a creature's body before… Save a timberwolf, of course," she added. Gilgamesh placed a hand on his chin, but said nothing. "Is there… something wrong?" Twilight asked curiously. "No, there's just something familiar about this thing," he replied. "It is odd, yet… I feel as if I've witnessed a creature like this before, somewhere…" He shrugged, and turned away from the group. "Oh, well. If I cannot remember it, then I am absolutely certain that it contains no manner of importance. Farewell, my equine allies, and I am entirely too grateful for your assistance in the ending of this being of evil!" Without a single other word, Gilgamesh bounded away once more, leaving the confused ponies to their own devices in the rubble of what was once Canterlot. "I am so, so sorry, Princess!" Twilight blubbered for the fifty-eighth time, pacing around the throne room. "I-I just… I should have done something earlier, or I shoul–" "Twilight, calm yourself," Celestia responded gently. "This was nothing that you could have prevented; that creature would have caused this destruction regardless of what you did to stop it. I am only thankful that this 'Gilgamesh' you've told me about appeared when he did." Twilight froze. "W-wait," she gasped, "how do you know his name? I didn't tell anypony except for Spike and my friends his na–" she froze, and placed a hoof to her forehead. "Spike…" Celestia smiled. "He was worried about you having to care for that creature all on your own, so Spike sent me a message regarding his fears. I didn't want to intrude, so I simply stood back, but I was fully prepared to give you help if you needed it. "In any case, however," Celestia continued, "I realized something strange regarding the creature that arrived here: Its kind has never been seen anywhere in all of Equestria, nor in any surrounding nations that I can think of. In fact, it was only spotted for the first time this evening, as if it just appeared out of nowhere. Now, how long has it been since you found that swordsman?" "Three days…" Twilight stopped, her eyes widening in realization. "Are you saying that that thing's appearance was triggered by Gilgamesh's? It did seem fixated on him, now that I think about it…" She paused, a horrified look crossing her face. "But… if that's the case, we need to get him out of here as soon as we can! It could be too risky to keep him around here if something like that's gonna just show up again…!" "I agree," admitted Celestia, "but… something about this simply feels off to me. I can't exactly explain what it is, but this entire occurrence just seems too simple. Too… planned, if you will." She met her former student's eyes, and grimaced. "I am aware of your animosity toward Gilgamesh, but I feel that it would be best for us to keep him in Equestria while we can, if only to know where that monstrosity came from." Twilight sighed. While she wanted to keep Gilgamesh as far away from Ponyville as possible, she had to admit that Celestia had a very valid point. "Yeah," she finally said, "but only until we find out more about this. Having a guy as unstable as Gilgamesh around Equestria for too long could lead to disaster…" Celestia nodded, and stepped over to Twilight. "Very well, then I'll provide him with ample housing in Ponyville. I want you and your friends to keep an eye on him, but I want to see what else you can do. Who knows?" she added "Perhaps you'll make a new friend." Twilight rolled her eyes at the statement, but said nothing else. She and Celestia exchanged their farewells, and the two bade their leave. Neither of them saw the small thing in the top corner of the room that had been watching them throughout their entire conversation. Gilgamesh leaned back against the tree, looking up at the night sky with a small smirk on his lips. Already he had bested a creature and saved several innocents from being devoured. Needless to say, he felt immensely accomplished. So, without further ado, Gilgamesh felt his eyes grow heavy – burdened by the hard work of the day – and found himself in yet another deep and dreamless sleep, hoping that this one was not to be interrupted until he wanted it to be. And, for once, it wasn't.