//------------------------------// // Ch.15 - A Kirin's Power // Story: The Witching Hour // by Chaotic Ink //------------------------------// Spring time in Equestria. A time of perfect weather, fresh scents wafting through the breeze, and the natural restocking of game. Well, that last part was something Midnight was currently happy about. The kirin was laying on the ground in the yard by the shed, wings outstretched and sunning herself while digesting a fresh meal of rabbit. As she sighed contently, a ball rolled up in front of her. Smiling, she batted it back to the two fillies that were playing with it. “Thanks mom!” Squeaks called out as she collected her toy and kicked it over to Twist. The ball was a gift to Squeaks from the red-maned earth pony for her birthday. Midnight smiled as she recalled how both excited and nervous Squeaks had been; never having had a birthday party before. Thankfully her little girl had the time of her life that day. While the fillies and some of the adults played party games the rest had conversed about how the party almost hadn’t happened that day, what with spring almost being late thanks to poor coordination between the Wrap Up teams. Midnight, Squeaks, and Sapphire had all been a bit confused how things were done, since the adults had lived in cities all their lives and Squeaks had never been allowed outside. In the end, they had simply wandered about helping whoever they could until Twilight had somehow brought the whole town together and got everything done on time. Almost immediately after everything was done, Pinkie had bolted back to Sugarcube Corner to get everything for the party. Speaking of the pink mare, Midnight had been pleasantly surprised how she had kept her hyper-ness down around Squeaks, even in the middle of a party atmosphere. Pinkie had also made one of the best cakes Midnight had ever tasted. She had wheeled it out after the games and piñata and revealed it to be a mango cake with banana cream baked inside and covered in coconut frosting. The look on Squeaks’ face when she bit into it was priceless, as was the look she had when it was time to open her presents. Twist had gotten her a bright red kick ball while Dinky and Pinchy had gotten her a new game and a kite respectively. Pinkie had unexpectedly given her a ‘Junior Prankster Kit’, complete with whoopee cushion, can ‘o’ snakes, directions for banana cream pies, and loads of other things. Midnight and Sapphire had waited to give their presents until everypony else had left. Sapphire presented Squeaks with two gifts and explained that one was from her and the other was from the princesses. Sapphire’s gift was some kind of ball with wings and she explained that it was a toy parents in Cloudsdale gave to their foals to help them start flying. Apparently it hovered about two yards above the surface and foals could only catch it by flying up to it. “It’ll be frustrating at first,” Sapphire told her, “but it’s one of the best feelings in the world when you finally do catch it.” The gift from the princesses was a gourmet candy apple that, according to the accompanying card, was made by their head dessert chef. First off this apple was huge; at least twice as big as a normal apple. Secondly it had two different candy coatings on it. One side was white chocolate with crushed up lemon drops while the other was dark chocolate with crushed up mints. The whole thing was topped off with lettering in peanut butter that spelled out “Happy Birthday Squeaky Wings” wrapped around it in two lines. Midnight’s gift to her daughter was a book. It was easily twice the size of a normal book with the title “Myths, Legends, and Fairy Tales From Around Equestria”. They had recently started a nightly tradition of Midnight reading to Squeaks before bed. With the only things to read her that Midnight had that she felt was appropriate being the mythical creatures book, Midnight had gone to the local bookstore and found the perfect alternative. That night Midnight read her the first two stories of the book while she ate a slice of her candy apple, which apparently had its core replaced with caramel. Back in the present Midnight let out another contented sigh and looked away from the fillies and towards the tree line. She’d have to start cutting down trees again soon if she wanted to be sure of having enough for next winter. While it was true that her pay as a captain more than covered everyday costs and bills, she still needed to keep up her role as the town wood cutter. On top of that it felt a lot better to actually go out and do something to earn her keep rather than lazing about indoors all day, especially during this season. As she laid her head back down and let her eyelids droop slightly, two blurs, one grey-ish, the other one pink-ish, flew by her and towards the girls. “Hi Midnight!” “Good morning Midnight!” Looking up she saw Pinchy and Dinky join the other two in kicking the ball around. “Balls of energy this morning, aren’t they?” Turning her head Midnight saw Berry walking up to her. Midnight got up and stretched like a cat while her wings flapped several times before folding up against her. “They are indeed,” Midnight said as she finished. “How has she liked the gifts?” “She’s made sure to play with or use them all at least once already.” Berry smiled. “Even that prankster thing Pinkie gave her?” Midnight nodded. “She hasn’t done anything she thinks is harmful or scary, but she did break in the whoopee cushion. Sapphire’s face was priceless.” Both adults had a good laugh at that. “I’m sure Sapphire was amused.” “She was; even more so when Squeaks failed to mention there was two of them in the kit.” Berry was silent for a moment before snorting out another laugh. Midnight smiled as well even as she was the butt of the joke. “Yeah, yeah, my girl has a mischievous streak. Laugh it up.” “So… so what you going to do today?” Berry asked as she finished laughing. Midnight shrugged. “I think I might as well start getting back to work since I don’t have a group of fillies to watch over for the day. Nothing much else to do.” Berry nodded in understanding. “Alright girls, time to get going!” she called out. All four of them came over and Squeaks nuzzled her mother goodbye. “Have a good time Squeaks; I’ll see you at dinner.” “Bye mom.” With that the bat filly ran off after her friends while the kirin began heading towards the forest. ----------------------------- “Tho, what are we going to do today?” Twist asked as they followed Berry through town. “A treasure hunt, my fellow Pillow Knights!” Pinchy exclaimed, although she kept her voice low and kept an eye on her mother. “A treasure hunt?” Squeaks asked. “Yes! I have recently found out about an ogre who has horded treasure in its cave. We will find this cave and take this treasure for ourselves; by force if necessary!” As Pinchy reared up to make the whole thing more dramatic, she was derailed as something large, green, and slimy hit her in the face. “GAH!” she yelled, falling backwards. “Get it off! It’s trying to eat my face!” “Oh, I’m so sorry!” Looking up, the three remaining fillies and Berry saw Fluttershy above them, hitched to a cart filled with frogs. Landing, she quickly made her way over to the felled filly and pulled the frog off her face. “I told you, you need to stay in the cart until we get to Froggy Bottom Bog, Mr. Bullfrog! Remember what happened with Twilight a few minutes ago?” The bullfrog in question grinned sheepishly then hopped back into the cart. “I’m so sorry Pinchy, but they’re all just so anxious to get to their new home!” “Why are you moving them in the first place?” Berry asked as she came over to stop her daughter from making more of a scene. “Oh, well, you see the pond was getting just so crowded that the poor little dears were constantly hopping into each other! So, I decided to move some of them to the much bigger Froggy Bottom Bog where they’ll have lots and lots of space!” “Well, that’s very nice of you. Come on girls, let’s let Fluttershy get these frogs to their new home.” The girls waved goodbye to the yellow pegasus and began following Berry again. Recovering from her slimy near-death experience, Pinchy grinned as they went. If everything went as she planned, they were going to have a great, chocolaty afternoon! ----------------------------- It was supposed to be, anyway. That cookie jar had been practically in her hooves and out the door, and it would have been, too, if Squeaks and Dinky had just been able to distract her mother a little while longer. “It’s your turn Pinchy.” Dinky told her, passing her the dice. Ever since then they’d been playing board games up stairs. “And stop being a grump; the plan was a bad one from the beginning.” “It was not!” Pinchy grabbed the dice and rolled them. “You and Squeaks just weren’t distracting enough.” “At least your mom let each of us have one cookie. She could have not given us any at all.” Pinchy just grumbled as she moved her piece along the board. “I wath kinda hoping we would be doing a lot more thingth outthide today, too.” Twist added. “Ith really nice out.” It took about a minute for her words to sink in before Pinchy got another idea. A brilliant idea. Twist’s words gave Pinchy a brilliant, awesome idea. “Why don’t we go to Foggy Bottom Bog then!?” she cried, leaping into the air. The other stared at her. “I think the failure of the cookie heist broke her.” Dinky said. “Isn’t it near the Everfree Forest?” Squeaks piped up. “And are we even allowed to go there?” Twist added. “I’m not broke, kinda, and how can my mom not let us go there when Fluttershy is there by herself? That proves it’s safe.” ----------------------------- “I said no, Pinchy.” “But mom!” “I am not letting you wander off willy-nilly into the forest!” “It’s not the forest; it’s that bog Fluttershy was going to! And if she’s going there by herself, then it must be safe!” “Even if Fluttershy is still there, I’m not letting you go there by yourselves!” “You could come with us!” “Pinchy, I have a business to run! And on top of that, it’s the busiest day of the week for me!” Pinchy looked over the empty store and then back at her mom with a raised eyebrow. “It’ll get busier!” “How about just for an hour then?” “Pinchy-” Before Berry could argue with her daughter anymore the bell for the front door rang. “We’ll talk about this later.” She turned and addressed her customer. “Welcomes to Tipsy Berry’s, how can I help you?” “Can I use just any old rum for a cake, or is there a specific kind?” Sapphire asked, giggling slightly at Berry’s theatrical flair. “Well, I’d only use flavored rum if you plan on adding anything else to it.” Berry led her over to the rum section and hoofed her a bottle. “This should work out.” “How are the girls doing?” Sapphire asked as she followed Berry back to the counter. “They’re doing fine. Pinchy decided to organize a raid on the cookie jar and is now pleading with me to take them over to Foggy Bottom Bog. First of all, I’m too busy here,” she rung Sapphire up, “or at least I will be soon. Saturdays are my busiest and I just can’t leave. Second is that, Fluttershy or not,” she gave Sapphire the bottle in an opaque bag, “I’m not about to let them just go wandering off someplace that I don’t know a lot about and is so close to the Everfree Forest.” Sapphire nodded. “What’s Fluttershy doing there anyway?” “Moving some frogs. She said the pond they were from was getting crowded and that moving them would be for the best.” “She’s also there alone!” Pinchy piped up. “That means it’s safe to go!” “Pinchy, Fluttershy walks into bear dens alone, but that doesn’t mean it’s safe!” “Why would you even want to go there in the first place?” Sapphire cut in, “It’s nothing but muck and muddy water.” “Because, we could… um…” Pinchy tapped her head as she thought. “Um… adventure? Yeah, we could go on an adventure! Maybe we could find a cave out there with a gemstone that grants whoever wears it the power of an alicorn, or something!” Berry shook her head slightly. “Pinchy, I highly doubt that would happen. Now, if you want to go outside, that’s fine, but you are not going to that bog.” Sapphire leaned in close. “Humor me a second Berry. What if I take the girls there? Then they can see that it really is just water and mud and come back here and play.” “I don’t know, those four have good imaginations, and don’t you have work to do?” “If I did I wouldn’t be here buying alcohol.” “Good point, but I’m still not too thrilled with this idea. The last time the girls went off somewhere they got foalnapped by those horrible diamond dogs!” Berry shuddered. “I don’t want any of them to go through something like that again.” Sapphire thought for a moment. “How about I write to Midnight telling her to join us? She’s working on a tree now but I’m sure she’ll meet us before we get there.” She opened her saddle bags and pulled out a paper and quill. Berry looked down at her daughter, who was now attempting to make a pleading, puppy dog face. Thankfully, it looked more funny than heart-pulling. She looked back and forth between the two ponies for a minute before sighing in defeat. “Fine.” “YES!” Pinchy jumped up and punched the air. “BUT! Each of your friends HAS to agree. If even one says ‘no’, you’re not going, got it?” Pinchy nodded vigorously and dashed into the back and up the stairs. Sapphire quickly wrote down the note and sent it off with some dragon fire. “Tell me I didn’t just make a mistake?” “Everything will be fine Berry. With Midnight there, what could possibly happen?” ----------------------------- ‘Midnight, where are you?’ Sapphire thought as she and the girls neared the bog. ‘You should have been with us since before we left town! Berry will kill me if you don’t show up!’ “Hey, Sapphire?” The pegasus looked down at Squeaks. “Shouldn’t mom have gotten here by now?” “I… I’m sure she’s on her way now. She must have just ran into somepony and stopped to chat for a bit.” Sapphire gave the filly what she hoped was a reassuring smile, and for the moment it seemed to pacify the young thestral. ‘Come on, Midnight! Even Squeaks is wondering where you are! You had better not be taking a nap!’ ----------------------------- Midnight yawned as she walked into the house. Sure, she had only felled one tree, but it was a start, and that nap in the sun right afterwards felt heavenly. She stretched her wings again as she walked into the kitchen and got herself a glass of apple juice. ‘Sapphire should have been home by now. Berry’s busy on Saturdays, so she can’t still be there chatting with her.’ When she finished her drink she saw a letter on the table. Opening it, she saw it was from the pegasus in question. “Midnight… got the rum… girls to Foggy Bottom Bog… said you’d join us there… see you in a bit. Hmm… sure, why not? Kind of bored around here as it is anyway, and if Fluttershy’s there it should be alright. Not like anything as big as a dragon is there or she’d be in her home under the bed.” ----------------------------- Hungry. They were still hungry. There had been four ponies and what looked like a large lizard, and they had let all of them get away. All four heads grumbled as they felt their stomach growl again. If something didn’t come along soon they’d have to head into the forest; a very demanding task as prey could easily hide in the tree cover. Add to it that the many mountains and ravines that were there made it hard to maneuver, and it was small wonder they had stayed in the swamp for as long as they did. As their stomach rumbled again and thoughts towards the forest became more acceptable, one of them heard something. Getting its compatriots attentions, they all listened, and after a minute they all licked their lips. It looked like they were going to get another chance. ----------------------------- Sapphire looked around anxiously. They had made it all the way to the bog and Midnight had still not shown up. There was also no Fluttershy around as well, which meant that she was all alone with four fillies in a swamp without any clue as to whether or not it was safe to be here. It didn’t help that Squeaks was now practically glued to her or that Pinchy was running in and out of the tree line. Dinky and Twist were thankfully doing neither, but their faces clearly showed that they wanted to leave. “Squeaky, sweetie, could you please let go of my leg? Pinchy, come over here; we need to talk.” Squeaks obediently let go and Pinchy came bounding over. “Hey girls, I found this really cool looking burrow, and-” “We’re going home.” Pinchy stopped mid-stream and stared up at Sapphire. “But-!” “No ‘buts’ Pinchy. Midnight never showed up like I told your mom she would, Fluttershy isn’t here either, and its plain nopony but you want to be here anymore. I’m sorry, but we’re going home.” Pinchy looked around at her three friends and gave up when they all had apologetic looks on their faces. “Fine.” "Alright, stay close, and-” Sapphire was cut off by a bone chilling roar and something massive rising up out of the swamp. ----------------------------- “Midnight!” The kirin wheeled for a second before diving down towards who called her. “Hey guys, what are you all doing out here?” She asked as AJ, Twilight, Spike, Pinkie, and, strangely enough, Fluttershy, came into view. “Well, first Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense started a twitchin’, then we all headed out here ‘cause Pinkie said there’d be a doozy-” “And what a doozy it was!” Pinkie interrupted. “Twilight finally believed in my Pinkie Sense!” “Um… what’s Pinkie Sense?” Midnight asked. “I’ll tell you later,” Twilight said, “but I’d stay away from the bog if I were you; we ran into a hydra out there.” Midnight’s stomach did a few flips before disappearing entirely. “WHAT!?” The group recoiled at Midnight’s outburst. “We all made it out fine!” Twilight said, trying to reassure her. “That's not... Sapphire, Squeaks, and her friends are there right now! They thought it was safe since she had gone there all alone!” Midnight pointed an accusing hoof at Fluttershy, who hid behind her mane. But, before she could continue yelling or any of the others could make a rebuttal, a familiar, bone-chilling roar sounded from the swamp. “The hydra!” Fluttershy squeaked. Midnight was immediately up and speeding towards the source of the roar at speeds Rainbow Dash would have been impressed at. “We better go, too; we out smarted him once, and we can do it again!” Twilight rallied, beginning to follow the kirin. “T-T-Twi-li-li-ght!” The lavender unicorn turned around to see her pink friend bouncing and twitching around in a random fashion. “Another doozy?” Twilight asked, afraid of the answer. Pinkie only nodded. ----------------------------- Sapphire continued to move deeper into the trees with the girls as the hydra continued to wade in behind them, one or more of its heads poking down under the canopy in an effort to find them. Back during her time as Celestia’s aid, she’d look in on the guards training for various different scenarios. The most common one was for dragon attack, but every once in a while they’d switch it up and try something else. One of these times Sapphire had looked in on just so happened to be about a hydra attack. “… and if all else fails, your best hope of escaping is to head into any nearby woods. Hydras are large and need lots of space to maneuver in. Trees help to limit its movements and allow for an easier escape…” Or at least that what she remembered the sergeant saying. Either way, it was working so far. They were slowly pulling ahead of the beast, and with any luck the trees would last until they were out of sight of it. *whump* “Ow!” Sapphire turned and saw Dinky flat out on the ground with some wire-y roots wrapped around one of her back legs. Immediately, they were all on her, pulling both on her and the roots to get her free. After some panicked pulling and grabbing, Dinky finally came loose. “Are you alright, Dinky?” Sapphire asked as she did a quick check. “Yeah, I’m fine.” The hydra chose that second to grab the tree next to them and rip it out of the ground, exposing them. It threw the tree away and stepped forward, while Sapphire and the girls, who were now huddled behind her, took several steps back. Even if they tried to run again, now it was close enough that if one head missed, one of the other ones would surely get them. “Sapphire, I’m scared.” Squeaks said, grabbing hold of Sapphire’s wing. Sapphire rubbed the filly’s head but said nothing. Even if she flew up to try and distract it so the girls could get away, she wouldn’t last long, and it probably wouldn’t be long enough for them to get away. The heads reared back. “DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH THEM!” Without warning a black blur passed in front of the hydra’s heads, spewing blue flames into their faces. All four heads reared even further back in alarm, and the creature even took a step back away from them. Just as the heads seemed to recover from the intrusion, the black blur was back, impacting one of the heads as well as sending out more blue flames at it. “MOM!” Squeaks yelled out. Sapphire felt a wave of relief at seeing the kirin on the scene. “GET OUT OF HERE!” She yelled down to them, hopping off the head she had been wailing on to avoid an attack by another. Sapphire nodded. “Girls, we have to get out of here, now!” “But, what about mom!?” Squeaks asked, looking back up at the kirin, who drove onto another head. “She’s distracting it so we can get away; let’s go!” The three other fillies began to take off once again, but Squeaks stayed put, looking from her friends and Sapphire to Midnight. “Squeaky, your mom is putting her life on the line so you can get away to someplace safe.” Sapphire pulled the bat filly away from the scene. “She’ll be fine as long as we go, now.” Squeaks looked up at her, tears already forming in her eyes. “You promise?” Sapphire wordlessly scooped Squeaks up onto her back and began running after the others. ----------------------------- Midnight stole a brief glance back towards where the others had been. She was pleased to see that they were gone. She only needed to keep the monster distracted long enough for them to get a safe distance away and hopefully find Twilight, who could teleport them back home. She twisted and fell away as another pair of fang-fill jaws snapped at her. She let out a brief blast of flame before jinking around another’s neck. A head followed her, and with a flap of her wings she turned sharply upwards. The head followed her up, too fixed on its target to notice another head coming down on her. A quick twist to the side and she dodged the head coming down, letting it collide with the one under her. Midnight was able to take in the sight of two of the heads now bickering with each other for only a moment before the other heads came roaring after her. She let loose another fire blast at one head and just dodged the second, whipping her tail to the side so the blade could graze against it. Both heads roared in pain and she flew up to get a better view of the situation with her new opponents. What she forgot was that while the other two heads were fighting with each other, they were still a threat. As she dodged the head she had just grazed with her tail, she failed to see one of the two fighting heads pull itself free from the other, flinging itself backwards. Midnight caught the movement out of the corner of her eye a hair too late. The back of the head smacked into her, sending her flying away from the hydra. She hit a small cliff face some distance away, her left side taking the impact, then slid down to the ground. It took the hydra a few seconds to realize its small tormenter was gone. When it finally did, it gathered its wits about it and looked around. Its prey was gone as well, but then it spied s few small bits of color run through a small clearing in the trees a ways away. Roaring as it resumed the hunt; it began to give chase once again. As it began to smash through the trees, Midnight slowly got up from where she’d crashed. Her whole left side was sore, especially her rear left leg. Putting pressure on it showed it wasn’t broken, but she was pretty sure it had taken the brunt of the impact with the cliff. Her right side wasn’t feeling so hot either, but she simply shrugged it off. Thankfully both her wings felt mostly fine and she took off again to see the hydra once again in pursuit of Sapphire, Squeaks, and the others. “Damn it!” As she began flying after it, she saw that this time the creature wasn’t picking its way through the trees like it had before. Now, it was simply marching through them. She roared, trying to get it to pay attention to her, but all four heads were looking straight ahead and none turned in her direction. At this rate it would be on them again in no-time, and all it would take would be one head to strike down… ‘NO!’ she thought angrily, ‘you’re NOT getting any of them! Not Twist, or Pinchy, or Dinky, or Sapphire! And ESSPECILLY not my SQUEAKS! I’m going to stop you no matter what it takes!’ With that Midnight stopped and hovered as she took a steadying breath. “No matter what it takes.” Blue flames erupted from her hooves and engulfed her body. ----------------------------- Sapphire had just jumped over another log when she collided with something orange and blonde. “Dang, girl, y’all need to look before ya leap next time!” “Applejack! Thank Celestia!” The two ponies untangled themselves, and the two groups gave their relief at finding each other. “Where’s Midnight?” Twilight asked. “Last time we saw her she was speeding towards the way you came!” “She’s distracting the hydra; she told us to run.” Sapphire looked over at Squeaks, now curled up on the ground next to her. “We need to get the girls out of here first. Twilight, how many ponies can you teleport with you?” “Right now I can only teleport myself and one other; sorry.” Twilight did her best to look apologetic. “It’s better than nothing.” Sapphire looked over the fillies. “Okay, first Pinchy goes, then Dinky, then Twist, and finally Squeaks -” A loud, booming set of roars interrupted her. Spinning around, Sapphire saw the hydra starting to bear down on them. ‘What happened to…? Celestia, no!’ As the hydra closed in, each of the adults flipped a filly onto their back and prepared to bolt, when, for the second time that day, something black plowed into the beast. This second black object, however, was much bigger than Midnight had been. The impact sent the hydra rolling and sliding across the ground for a ways. When the creature straightened up onto its hind legs, they could all tell what it was. A dragon. One as big as the hydra the way it was currently standing, but it was also significantly different from the one the Mane Six had encountered atop Smokey Mountain. To start with, this dragon was pitch black all over, including its belly. The head was shorter but thicker, and two horns stuck out the back instead of spines. Its wings and front arms seemed to be one and the same, and were enormous, with three talons capping the bends on each wing. The hind legs had three toes each, each ending in thick, sharp talons. Finally, the tail, which whipped around behind it, ended in a familiar looking tail blade. The dragon let out an earth-shaking roar of anger and defiance at the hydra, which was trying to pick itself up. The dragon leaned forward onto all fours, then swung its head toward the group of ponies. “Don’t just stand there, GO!” it said with a rumbling, yet distinctly female voice. Everypony except Sapphire and Squeaks took the advice immediately and bolted. The pegasus and thestral stared at the dragon for a few more seconds before realization crossed their faces. Sapphire gave the dragon a determined nod and followed the others away from the scene. “Sapphire, that was-!” “I know, Squeaky. We need to do as she says so we can all get out of here together.” As they made their escape, the dragon turned back towards its opponent. The hydra had finally gotten itself up and roared at the intruder, then charged. ----------------------------- Flying, Sapphire easily caught up to the others. Only once the sounds of roaring became somewhat distant did they finally stop. “Alright; I’ll take Pinchy back to town first, and hopefully those two will keep each other busy enough so we can all get away. Hopefully, Midnight will fly by and spot us.” Sapphire and Squeaks exchanged a look. “It’ll take about a minute for me to recover from such a long teleport, so just hang on. Pinchy, are you ready?” The young unicorn nodded, and the two disappeared. “Hey Sapphire, what made you choose which filly goes when?” AJ asked. “Well, Pinchy probably handles being alone the best right now,” she bent down and let Squeaks slide off, “Dinky will be the best one to keep her put, and I think Squeaky will do best being here with me as long as possible.” “Huh, that’s some pretty smart thinkin’.” “Thanks.” While Sapphire and AJ talked, Squeaks looked around at the others. Nopony was paying any particular mind to her at the moment, and they all seemed preoccupied with their own thoughts. Backing up behind a tree, she waited a moment to see if anypony noticed. When they didn’t, Squeaks began making her way back towards the fight. ‘I need to make sure mom’s okay!’ ----------------------------- Midnight jumped out of the way and blasted the rampaging hydra with another bout of fire. It howled in pain and frustration, this being the third time it had charged the dragon with nothing to show except being burned. She flapped her wings and jumped back, once again putting distance between the two of them. She winced as she landed; her left leg still sore from the impact. As before she was just biding time for everypony to get as far away from the hydra as possible, but this time she was sure the beast in front of her wouldn’t simply knock her away. The beast in question stared intently at her, growling as they did so. For the time being she was stuck on the ground since trying to take off from a standing position would take too long and leave her exposed to an attack. When the time came to leave she would simply start running away, which would give her enough time and momentum to get airborne. The two stared at each other for a little bit more, then the hydra charged again. Like before, Midnight waited until the last moment to jump out of the way, but this time the hydra was ready for it. As she jumped the heads tracked her, ready for the maneuver. The pull of all four heads swung the body around, causing Midnight’s fire blast to miss and the hydra to slam into her. As they connected Midnight grabbed the main body of the creature with her talons and pulled it down with her, both of them snarling and snapping at one another. Midnight managed to grab one head by its base while two of the others bit down on her shoulders, doing their best to ignore her wing talons clawing at them. The fourth head began trying to grab her tail, which was swinging up to try and hit one of them or the main body, which was currently pinning her hind legs, and more importantly the much bigger and sharper talons attached to them. She bit into the one head’s neck several times while the two heads on her shoulders began shaking back and forth, as if trying to pull her wings off. After a particularly hard shake Midnight used the head in her mouth to head-butt the one on her left. The left head let go in a daze and she let loose a torrent of fire on the right head. With three of its four heads in pain the hydra backed up and off her, but not before also getting grazed by her tail in the side. Midnight pulled herself up and tested her wings. Both shoulders hurt a lot, and there was blood oozing out of the wounds, but she was still able to fly-jump back away from the hydra again. The hydra was in just as good a shape as she was; blood oozed from the bite marks on one’s neck and from the two heads that had gotten swipes from her wing talons. A little trickled from the gash mark in its side from her tail. One of the scratched-up heads had its eye closed from the direct blast of fire, while the other still looked somewhat dazed from the head-butt. Only the head that had been watching her tail had come out unscathed. Once again they both stared at each other. However, instead of charging, the hydra began to circle; Midnight immediately copying its movements. She flexed her talons as they went, digging them into the ground with every step. If the hydra charged again, it was going get to all four sets of talons in it. She was so focused on the next attack that she failed to spot the small tuft of orange sticking out of the trees a little ways away. ----------------------------- “Ah don’t like this. Midnight still hasn’t gotten back.” AJ said as she paced a bit. Twilight had just teleported out with Twist, and it had taken her a bit longer to get back and recharge than before. Apparently the long distance was draining her faster than she’d expected. “I’m sure she’s fine Applejack. None of the heads looked satisfied, so I’m sure it didn’t get her,” Sapphire said, flexing her wings a bit nervously. “Then what happened to her? Maybe it hurt her and it’s planning on goin’ back fur her? We all need to go back and look!” “Applejack, that’s suicide! And even if I agreed with you, we still need to get all the foals out of here first! The only one left is Squeaky, so as soon as she goes, then we can think of something.” “Um… where is Squeaky, if you don’t mind me asking?” Fluttershy piped up. “She’s right… here?” Sapphire looked down at her side, expecting to see the small bat filly. All that was there was empty space. “Oh, no; she must have gone back for Midnight!” AJ fixed her Stetson. “Now we definitely need to head back there!” “Then Twilight will come back thinking something happened to us!” “Me and Fluttershy can wait here for her while you two go look.” Pinkie offered. Sapphire nodded. “I guess that works out…” then an idea struck her. “Hold on a minute.” “What’re you doin’?” AJ asked as Sapphire pulled out a quill and paper. “Getting some help, hopefully.” Once she was done she sent the letter via her dragon fire, and then followed AJ back towards the sounds of battle. ----------------------------- Princess Celestia watched the late afternoon sun from her balcony as she sipped some tea. Day court had just ended, and it was only a little while longer until dinner, so the alabaster alicorn had decided to rest a bit. As she took another sip, her thoughts began to turn towards Ponyville. Twilight’s last friendship report had been a nice one, about how ponies should come together to help one another out, instead of going it alone. It had also been amusing to read about all the ways Twilight had tried to help out without magic. Celestia could barely remember the last time she had seen a season wrapped up without the help of magic; it had been so long ago. Finishing her cup, the princess got up and was about to leave when a letter popped into existence above her. Catching it with her magic, she gently lowered it down to read it. ‘I see Twilight has already learned something new… wait, this is from Sapphire…’ Celestia carefully read the letter, and when she was done she read it again to make sure she understood everything. “Guard!” “Yes, your highness?” asked one of the guards from outside her doorway, sticking his head into her room. “Find Captain Hot Lance and tell him I want ten of his finest pegasi to meet me by my balcony, fully armored and armed, immediately. A situation has arisen in Foggy Bottom Bog and I plan to go there myself.” The guardspony nodded. “I shall find him swiftly, your majesty.” The door closed behind him and Celestia could hear the sound of a unicorn teleporting. ‘Please hold on a little longer, Midnight. Help is on its way.’ ----------------------------- The hydra dodged the bladed tail, letting it soar past it only to allow its owner to shoot another blast of fire at it. Both the hydra and Midnight were sporting a few more battle scars now; Midnight several bite marks along her side and the hydra some deep rakes on its body’s stomach and sides. Blood oozed out of these wounds as well, but neither combatant stopped to nurse them. Midnight could feel that her fire reserves were beginning to run low. Soon all she would have were her teeth and talons, and her left leg was still bothering her. She had a bad feeling that it was at least sprained now, and she was making sure to not put as much pressure on it when she could help it. They charged each other again. Midnight feinted to the right, then threw herself left. The move worked, and she was rewarded when her tail blade sliced another gash in the monster’s side. The hydra howled in pain and staggered slightly. Midnight smiled. The others were surely away by now. If she could just pull that feint one more time, she could keep going and make it into the air before the hydra could do anything else. Then she could get back to Squeaks and try and explain all this and hope that she understood. But, before she could ready the next charge, something caught her eye. A bright orange patch in the middle of some bushes. As she looked closer she saw the head it was attached to poke out as well. ‘No!’ “I told you to RUN!” She bellowed at Squeaks, who recoiled from her a bit. Midnight’s heart hurt when she saw that. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay!” The bat filly called up to her. “I’m fine Squeaks, but you shouldn’t be here! I’m only still here so it doesn’t-!” Midnight was cut off as she was slammed into, sending her sprawling across the ground. When she tried to get up something slammed down on her right wing, then her tail, left leg, left wing, and neck were seized and slammed into the ground. Squeaks watched in horror as her mother’s limbs was picked up and slammed down again. “MOM!” Midnight struggled to fight back in some way. Both her wings were pinned down, she was on her stomach and her right leg wasn’t connecting with anything, her tail was being held near the end, and the hydra’s fangs were deep enough into her neck that she couldn’t simply twist her neck and aim a blast of fire at it. She was slammed down again, and this time it was accompanied by a vigorous shaking. Her left leg was screaming in pain now. She let out a tongue of flame in defiance, but it was cut short when the hydra bit down hard on her neck, momentarily cutting off her air supply. The hydra picked up her head for a fourth time, held it up for a second, then slammed it down again. A guttural groan of pain escaped her, but other than that she put up no resistance to it. Cautiously, the hydra relaxed its hold on her, until finally it pulled all its heads up. Midnight stayed down, bleeding profusely from her four new wounds and breathing in a pained manner. The hydra leaned hungrily over her. It had started out the day chasing after ponies; bite size snacks at best. Now it had a whole meal laid out before it. It had been a lot more painful work to get it, but it would be worth it. “NO! MOM!” The hydra turned and saw one of the ponies it had been chasing earlier a little ways off, just standing there and looking at them. Looking back down at the dragon it had just fought, it grinned wickedly to itself. It was no longer a threat, and it certainly wasn’t going anywhere. Turning back towards the pony, it began advancing on her. ----------------------------- Squeaks couldn’t move; couldn’t process that the hydra was getting closer. All she could see was her mother on the ground, covered in blood, and not getting up. ‘Get up!’ The hydra’s body blocked her view of her. ‘You have to get up!’ It began to loom over her. ‘Mommy, please!’ Squeaks looked up at the beast looming above her, tears spilling out of her eyes. “Mommy?” The hydra growled. “HEY!” The hydra turned, and without warning its left most head went sailing off, severed right above the main body. All three heads roared in agony as it staggered back and away from Squeaks. The bat filly looked over to see Midnight stumble as she completed turning, her tail blade covered with blood. Despite her injuries, Midnight charged forward and leapt onto the hydra, clamping her jaws around the stump of the severed head and letting loose as much fire as she could muster while digging her talons deep into the hydra’s body. The hydra continued to roar in pain. The loss of one of its heads was a pain it had never experienced before. Add to that being bitten, cut, and burned all at once, and all the beast wanted was distance between itself and the dragon. “SQUEAKY!” Squeaks turned to see Sapphire and AJ running towards her. “What in Equestria were you thinking!? You could have…” Sapphire stopped when she saw Midnight and the hydra. “By Celestia…” AJ whispered when she saw it as well. Midnight pushed herself off the hydra before it could recover and the two backed away from each other. The stump had been cauterized by her fire, meaning that the two new heads that were supposed to appear after a decapitation would never grow. The three remaining heads stared down at the burned stump with a mix of surprise, pain, and confusion. Unfortunately, this did not last long and all three heads turned towards Midnight and let out bellows of pain and rage. Midnight steeled herself as the hydra charged her. She waited a moment, then spun around, aiming her tail blade at yet another head. In her determination to fight back, however, she had spun about on her left leg. After all the abuse it had taken, this was the final straw; with a wet, sickening crack her leg broke. Midnight fell over with the loudest, most mournful roar of pain. While her shot went wide, it did have the effect of temporarily driving the hydra back. Immediately she tried to get up, but fell over with another roar of anguish when she tried to put weight on the leg. Sensing that it’s opponent was truly beaten this time, the hydra slowly moved in for the kill. Midnight tried to let out a burst of flame, but only a little wisp that barely made it out of her mouth came out. She was out of fire, her leg was busted, and she was still bleeding. Another attempt at getting up ended in failure, and finally she simply looked up at the hydra with hate-filled eyes. Without warning the hydra was hit by a golden blast of magic. It roared and fell back, only to be hit by another, and then another. Then it’s tail was enveloped in a golden aura which pulled and yanked it off its feet, spun it a few times, then launched it through the air and out over the swamp, landing somewhere away with a dull thud. With the hydra now gone, Midnight slumped down and let out pain-filled groan before being consumed in blue flames again. ----------------------------- Squeaks, Sapphire, and AJ watched as the hydra went sailing off towards the horizon. “Land sakes! What did that!?” ‘I know who did that,’ Sapphire thought. A flicker of blue caught their eyes and Midnight disappeared in a blue inferno. “MOM!” Squeaks screamed, immediately running towards where the dragon had just been. “Squeaks, WAIT!” Sapphire called after her, giving chase. “Did she just say mom!?” AJ called out after them. Squeaks burst out into a clearing and suddenly found herself face-to-face with a pack of heavily armored and armed royal guards, all of who immediately aimed their weapons at her. “Stay your weapons!” A familiar voice called out. The guards withdrew their weapons, and parted to let a familiar figure through. “Are you okay, Squeaky Wings?” “Princess Celestia!” Squeaks cried out, “my mom’s really hurt! You need to help her!” “I know Squeaky,” Celestia said, “but I also need to know where the others are.” Sapphire and AJ burst out of the tree line not a second later. “Princess!” Both adults quickly bowed. “Thank goodness you’re here!” “Sapphire, where are the others?” “Back in a clearing some ways over there,” Sapphire pointed in the general direction they had come from, “but they should be on their way here now. All the other foals are back in Ponyville.” “Good.” Celestia nodded to her guards, some of which took off in the direction of where Twilight, Pinkie, and Fluttershy should be. “Now we can concentrate on-” She was cut off by a sharp grunt from the other side of the clearing. The remaining guards moved between the noise and the princess, and a moment later the noise reveled itself. “MOM!” Squeaks cried out, a smile splitting her face. The kirin looked like she had been through a meat grinder. Her fur was matted with blood, with still more spilling out from certain wounds. Scaled down bite marks covered her body, and her wings and tail were limp. Her rear left leg was lifted up, dangling slightly below the break. Her face was a mix of determination and pain. “Squeaks… thank Faust… I’m so... please… I’m not…” She convulsed, her eyes rolled up, and she fell over. “Midnight!” “MOM!”