//------------------------------// // A Rocky Introduction // Story: Of Night and Stone // by Kirb //------------------------------// Of Night and Stone By Kirb Chapter Three A Rocky Introduction Brooklyn and Maud stood in the park, looking at each other. Brooklyn raised an eyebrow at Maud, glaring at her as if she were a pony from a mental institution. Maud stared blankly back at Brooklyn, but then again, that was the expression she always wore. Brooklyn soon remembered that Maud had said something. “Oh. Uh, hi, Maud! Nice to meet you. I’m Brooklyn.” Maud didn’t respond. Brooklyn looked down, then up at the sky. His right foot began tapping on the ground at a fast pace. “Well, this has been a nice conversation, but I really have to get back to my clan.” Again, Maud didn’t respond. Brooklyn raised his right arm to look at his wrist, as if he had a watch there. Then he looked back at Maud, who was still staring at him blankly. “Alrighty then!” He turned around and took off back towards Ponyville. That was weird… I mean, she was just silent! The whole time! Never talking! I mean, it beats being screamed at, or being asked a lot of questions, but still. Hope that never happens again. Maud, meanwhile, watched as Brooklyn flew away. She blinked, then began walking in the same direction. … Elisa entered the upper floor of Town Hall looking around for Twilight. “Twilight?” she called out. “You can come out now!” “No!” Twilight had a terrified tone of voice. “I… they… you never told me that you’re friends with monsters!” “Hey, you were the pony who asked me.” Elisa tried to figure out where the voice had come from. “But don’t worry. They won’t bite!” “Are… are you sure?” “Of course I’m sure! As you said, I am friends with them.” As Elisa alone knew, she had grown to be much more than friends with the Manhattan Clan. Indeed, they were her family, and Goliath and she were now in a relationship. But she didn’t tell this to Twilight immediately. That would be something the unicorn had to figure out on her own. Elisa heard a noise and turned around. Twilight slowly, adorably stuck her head out from behind a desk, looking at Elisa, and then back at the doorway. Had this been under any other circumstances, Elisa would have cracked under Twilight’s cuteness, but this was no time for that. She had to convince the mare to go back outside. Twilight walked out from the desk and began cautiously heading to the door, with Elisa now following close behind, but she had barely stepped outside when she was greeted face-to-face by a large beast. This dog-like gargoyle was deep blue, had two fan-like ears, three spikes running down his back, two small horns above his brows, a short tail, and big, sharp fangs. The beast moved closer to her, growling, his eyes glowing. Intimidated, Twilight let out a yelp, but Elisa stepped in soon enough. “Eeeeasy there, Bronx,” she said, holding out a hand. The beast, ‘Bronx,’ stopped growling and let Elisa pet him on the top of the head. Twilight was now less scared and more confused. “Bronx?” Elisa smiled. “Yep, that’s his name!” She pulled away. “He’s one of the less talkative members of the clan, if you couldn’t tell.” “The clan?” As Twilight fully went out onto the deck, she could see the other gargoyles looking at her. Her eyes scanned across the group. She saw Lexington, Broadway, Goliath, and two others. The gargoyle on the left was clearly the oldest of them. He had tan-colored skin, orange wings and white hair, but unlike all the rest of them, he also had a beard. There were three small horns running along either side of his forehead. In addition to the loincloth customary among gargoyles, he also wore a tight leather jerkin and trousers. His left eye appeared to be blind, with a yellow tint and a scar across the lid. The gargoyle closer to the right appeared to be female. She was attractive by gargoyle standards, with her tall, slender body covered with lavender skin. She had long, dark hair worn in a ponytail with her ears pierced by two gold earrings. Her wings and skin tone resembled Goliath’s. She wore a short, white dress. Twilight stared in awe at them, then looked back at Elisa. “These are--?” “We are Gargoyles,” Goliath interrupted, speaking in his distinctive booming voice. He stepped forward and held out a clawed hand for the unicorn. “I take it you are the one known as Twilight Sparkle?” Twilight’s mouth hung wide open from this. However, in a few seconds she realized what was going on, and grabbed Goliath’s hand with her own hoof. “Yes-?” “My name is Goliath,” Goliath spoke again, shaking Twilight’s hoof. “I’m sure you will have a lot of questions, which we will be willing to answer. But first, allow me to introduce you to my clan.” “O-okay,” Twilight weakly replied. Dear Celestia… that voice! Twilight thought. I bet that voice could make even Big Macintosh question his stallionhood! Goliath pointed to each member of the clan, starting with the oldest. “This is Hudson, my former second-in-command.” ‘Hudson’ took a bow. “Pleased to meet you, lass.” Unlike the others, Hudson spoke with a thick Scottish accent. Then Goliath pointed to the female. “This is Angela.” Angela simply nodded in response. Goliath continued to introduce the other members as they each responded in their own ways. “Then there’s Broadway, and Lexington, and I believe you have already met our watchdog, Bronx. We are awaiting the return of my second-in-command, Brooklyn.” “There is another one of you?” Twilight asked in response. “You heard me mention him when you asked me about the gargoyles,” Elisa spoke again. “He’s been missing since last night, but if he’s the same one Pinkie Pie has discovered…” “He’d better be,” Broadway said. “If not, we’ll have to start looking for him!” “Don’t start just yet,” they suddenly heard a voice call to them. Turning to face it, they saw Brooklyn gliding towards them. He landed next to Goliath. “Where were you?” Goliath asked. “I would’ve come sooner, but the sun rose fast.” Brooklyn shook his head. “So I had to stay in the park for the day and pretend to be a statue.” “Did any of the locals see you?” asked Goliath. Brooklyn sighed. “Only one. She was really weird. She must have only said three words to me, and kept looking at me with this blank face.” “Was she a gray earth pony with a faded purple mane, and wearing a blue frock?” Twilight asked. “Um, yeah!” Brooklyn was surprised by that. “How did you know?” “That would probably be Maud!” Twilight replied. “She discovered you today and showed you to her sister Pinkie Pie and me.” “What is her deal?” Brooklyn asked her. “She’s… um, eccentric,” Twilight explained. “I could tell,” Brooklyn remarked, shaking his head. “Anyway, Goliath, I wouldn’t worry. The way she was acting, I didn’t even know if she saw me.” “Oh, she saw you alright. She just doesn’t express herself in the way most ponies do.” “Oh boy…” Goliath was deep in thought. Hudson asked him, “So we have been seen then?” Goliath nodded. “Do you have any ideas, old friend?” Hudson shook his head. “I cannot help you here.” Goliath sighed. “In that case, we have no choice but to keep a low profile. Brooklyn!” The young gargoyle turned his head to Goliath when addressed. “Brooklyn, you’re relieved from patrol duty for the next several days, until this blows over. Understood?” Brooklyn nodded. “Good. Broadway, you take patrol tonight. Everyone else can do what they please.” Broadway nodded and turned around to take off. The other gargoyles went inside. Goliath wrapped his wings around his body like a cape. Brooklyn stood by the edge of the roof, looking out over the town. Lexington was about to go inside when Twilight walked up to him and lightly tapped him on the arm. He turned his head. “Um, Lexington was it?” Twilight addressed him, blushing. “Yes?” “I want to find out more about you and your clan. I’d love to talk to you!” “Well, okay!” Lexington nodded. “Come on in, I’d be happy to tell you.” “Great!” The bookworm unicorn went inside alongside Lexington. Elisa and Angela were the last ones to enter. Brooklyn could hear some snippets of their conversations. “So, what do you want to know?” “I didn’t believe unicorns existed until now.” “Well, anything really. Like I really want to know how you got here.” “Okay.” “I know! But now I’ve seen one, and I had a hard time holding myself back because she’s so cute!” “Oh, hi Maud.” Upon hearing those last words, Brooklyn’s eyes instantly widened. He turned his head back to the door, but he didn’t see anything. Maybe I misheard, he thought. Oh, please tell me I misheard… Unfortunately, luck was not kind to him. The pony in question ambled through the door a few seconds later, still bearing the same blank stare. She looked directly at Brooklyn, who instead looked away. “H-how did you get here so quickly?” Brooklyn asked, surprised. Maud waited for a few seconds to respond, then, in her normal deadpan voice… “I followed you.” Brooklyn really didn’t know how to respond to this. He just looked around in silence, tapping his foot again. He finally began to talk, but Maud did at the same time. “Look, why are you--” “I wanted to--” Both the pony and the gargoyle stopped mid-sentence. Brooklyn looked down. Then up. Then anywhere but directly at the mare. “Um, hey! I just remember that I have patrol duties tonight, too!” Brooklyn lied. “So yeah, better get to that!” He took off flying. Maud reached out a hoof and opened her mouth as if she was about to say something, but closed it, turned around and went back inside. … As Broadway flew over the town of Ponyville for his patrol, he decided he was hungry as always. Broadway took advantage of the prevailing winds to fly overhead, but they happened to be carrying him some distance beyond town. As he floated along the breeze, Broadway could see a barn, with a farmhouse and many rows upon rows of apple trees. “Well, it’s no McDonalds, but it’ll do!” He began his descent and finally landed just in front of the barn. He looked up at the rows and rows of apple trees and licked his lips. “Mmm!” Taking a step forward, he suddenly heard a sound from behind him. The gargoyle turned around and saw a cart filled with a large pile of apples. His eyes glowed, and a huge smile grew on his face. “Even better!” He walked over to the cart and reached in with his right hand to grab an apple. He wiped it off on his wing, ready to eat it. Though he wondered why somebody would just leave an apple cart lying out in the open for him, anything that meant less work for him was a good thing. All of a sudden, he heard a voice behind him yelling, “Now!” He instantly turned in the direction of the voice, only to be met with a hoof to the face. This blow knocked him off his feet and onto the ground, and before he knew it, he was being dragged into the barn. “Lights!” he heard the voice command. Some bright yellow lights came on inside the barn. Broadway would have fought his attackers off, except he didn’t know who they were, and he was on his back with a heavy force of what felt like two hooves straddling him to the ground, preventing him from getting up. Broadway was able to move his head, though, and saw Applejack glaring back at him. “So you’re the one who’s been stealin’ our apples!” yelled Applejack. Broadway tried to turn his head to his right, to see what was pinning him down. It was a big stallion, with brilliant red coat, orange mane and tail, green eyes, and a cutie mark resembling a green apple sliced in half with seeds visible. The gargoyle then saw another pony next to Applejack, looking at him with an adorable scared expression. She was a young earth pony filly, with pale yellow coat, red mane and tail, orange eyes, and she also appeared to be wearing a pinkish red bow in her mane. He also noticed that she didn’t have a cutie mark present on her flank. Applejack yelled at him again. “Well?” Broadway now growled at his captors, and his eyes glowed white as he attempted to get up and push the stallion off him… only to land back on the ground with a THUD, as the stallion’s hooves pushed him down. His eyes went back to normal as a disappointed look came on his face. “Oh, now don’t try t’ be gettin’ up none,” Applejack sneered, as she walked closer to Broadway’s head. “My brother Big Macintosh is a force t’ be reckoned with. Right, Mac?” In a deep tone, Mac only uttered a simple, “Eeyup.” “Now!” Applejack raised Broadway’s head up with her right front hoof. “Are ya gonna tell me who an’ what th’ hay you are?” Broadway couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Hah! What the hay! It’s funny because ponies eat hay!” Laughing, unfortunately, was not a good idea, as Applejack’s left hoof came up to his chin and, with a WHACK, bucked it like an apple tree. “So y’all can talk, huh? Well, ya better put that skill t’ good use, if ya don’t want another hoof to th’ face.” Broadway struggled again, but the weight of Bic Mac pinned him down. “Wh-what do you want to know?” “Didn’t I ask ya earlier? Who and what are ya?” “I-I’m Broadway, and I’m a gargoyle!” “A gar-what?” “Gargoyle.” “Never heard of it.” “We’re not from here!” “Y’all came here with that Lisa, didn’t ya?” “Lisa? Who?” “That Lisa Maza!” “What about her?” “I knew it!” Applejack sneered. “I told Twi she wasn’t t’ be trusted, but she wouldn’t listen! Why, I’ll find that human an’ I’m gonna…” This sparked something inside the gargoyle. He growled again and his eyes glowed. Broadway found something in himself to suddenly stand up and push Big Mac off from on top of him. He flared out his wings and grabbed a trembling Applejack with one of his hands. “Don’t you lay a hoof on her!” he growled. “When you mess with my partner, you mess with me!” Just then, Big Mac ran up behind Broadway and bucked him hard enough to knock him back down. Now on his stomach, he dropped Applejack, who landed in front of him but ran off outside of the barn. She came back inside with her lasso, which she swung around a few times and then roped Broadway, tying him up. During all this, the yellow filly watched with an expression of intimidation and confusion. “You think I got him, Mac?” Applejack asked her brother. “Eeyup,” he responded. “Good. Now…” She spoke directly to Broadway again. “I just wanna talk t’ Elisa. I won’t hurt her.” “You promise?” Broadway growled. “I Pinkie promise!” Applejack responded. “Cross my heart an’ hope t’ fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Broadway was confused about this, but he settled down for now. “What’s the catch?” “While I’m gone, I’ll let my sister Apple Bloom guard you.” She pointed to the yellow filly. “Meantime, don’t y’all try to escape none!” Broadway wished it didn’t have to be this way, but he didn’t want Elisa to be hurt… though Applejack did seem like a fairly harmless creature, despite kicking pretty hard and planning his capture. Nevertheless, he kept his promise. “Deal.” … Twilight followed Lexington to his corner of the upper floor of Town Hall. She looked and was surprised to find the enclosed space, just about as big as a large office cubicle, had a set of tools and a welding mask hanging on its gray walls, as well as some pieces of scrap metal and lots of other equipment. In the middle of it, a big object was obscured by a white sheet. “Wow!” Twilight commented. “So this is your man-cave? Or.. whatever a male gargoyle is called-cave…” She blushed again, looking away. “Well, yeah!” said Lexington. “Usually I spend most of my time here making stuff.” “Making stuff?” Twilight was intrigued by this. “Like what type of stuff?” “Well, like this!” Lexington reached and grabbed the sheet to pull it off. Beneath it shone a gleaming mass of silvery metal and blue-gray parts, a chopper-style motorcycle with the front end sticking far out, though it looked unfinished. Twilight cocked her head. “What’s this?” “This? Oh, of course you wouldn’t have these here. Well, it’s a motorcycle.” He sat on top of it and spread his arms out to grab the handles. “You ride it like this, just sit on top of it and push the pedals down like this, and zoom! It can take off at impressive speeds! Only problem, it’s not finished yet and needs gas to start up.” “Wow!” Twilight seemed to understand. “Can I try it out, Lexington?” “Sure! But, uh, call me Lex.” He jumped off and reached down to help Twilight get on. “Uuup you go!” Twilight giggled as she sat on top of the motorcycle. She grabbed onto the handles with her hooves and her hindlegs were just able to reach the pedals. Lex smiled. “You got it! Though, I don’t know how you’ll start it up with those hooves…” “Simple! I’ll use my magic!” “Magic?” “Yeah, watch!” The unicorn’s horn lit up and she lifted Lex onto the motorcycle, putting him behind her. “Whoaaa!” interjected the gargoyle. “I didn’t know you could do that!” “Well, it’s simple levitation. Most unicorns know this basic stuff, Lex.” “Well, we don’t have unicorns back in Manhattan. You’re the first one I’ve seen.” “Am I?” Twilight smiled. “Well, your clan are the first gargoyles I’ve seen, apart from that stone one in the park--what was it? Brooklyn?” “Yeah, that’s his name.” Lex jumped off the motorcycle now. “I get the sense that you’re the brains of the group, Lex?” Twilight followed him. “You could say that..” It was now Lex’s time to blush. “I’m sort of the same in my group of friends. I should introduce you all to them sometime!” Lex frowned now. “I don’t think they’ll like us much…” “Well, once they get to know you… Say, I haven’t gotten to know you very well myself! Do you mind if I ask you some more questions?” “Um, sure!” “Great! I’ll take you to my library at once!” “Wait, what? Couldn’t we just…” “Elisa!” Twilight called out. “I’m gonna take Lex to my library!” “Be back before dawn!” Elisa’s voice called back. “Great!” Twilight fired up her horn now. “Twilight, are you sure--” Lex tried to ask, but was cut off by a purple flash of light, and then both pony and gargoyle were gone. … After about a half hour of aimlessly flying, Brooklyn finally set down, landing back in the park, only closer toward its outer reaches. He sighed a breath of relief. “That should put enough distance between me and her for now.” He turned around, only to see Maud standing right behind him. He gasped loudly. “D’aahh! What? But how?” Maud didn’t respond immediately. She just stared at him. When she did respond, though, it was to say, “I thought you had patrol duties.” Brooklyn shook his head. “Alright, look Maud. I’m sure you’re a great person--er, pony. But it’s just… gah! Why do you follow me around like this?” Again, Maud didn’t respond immediately. Until… “I like you, Brooklyn.” The way she said this made Brooklyn raise an eyebrow. First of all, he wondered if she meant ‘like’ as in friends or as in romance. Secondly, she said it with absolutely no enthusiasm whatsoever. Her tone was almost robotic. In fact, this led Brooklyn to wonder if she was just one of the robots of the gargoyles’ nemesis, Xanatos, in disguise as a pony. “Come again?” Maud walked up closer to him and touched him on the chest. “I like you a lot.” Again with the robotic tone. Brooklyn shook his head. “Well, I’m flattered, but I’m just not into interspecies relations. Now if you’ll excuse me…” The red gargoyle pushed Maud’s hoof away and turned around to run until he took off into the air. As he was flying off, he looked back to Maud to make sure she wasn’t following him. Indeed, she was still standing in the same place he had left her. “Brooklyn!” she weakly called to him, but loudly enough for him to hear. “What?!” he called back. He looked ahead of him again… only to smack right into a mountainside. Immediately pain filled his head and body as he slid down the rocky mountainside, groaning all the way down. As he hit the ground below him, he suddenly heard a sound. It was quiet at first, but grew louder and louder. It sounded like… hundreds of rocks falling. He looked up to see an avalanche barreling down toward him. “Uh-oh.” He tried to get up, but suddenly found his foot was trapped between two rocks. He looked back up to see the avalanche getting closer… closer…