//------------------------------// // 3 - Gallop into Town // Story: Daughters of Poseidon // by A Random Guy //------------------------------// The journey down the road stayed rather quiet. Diamond Tiara sulked as she walked next to Daring Do. The filly hadn’t spoken for a while, which disappointed the pegasus somewhat. She enjoyed being asked questions from such a young, lively fan. There was something about her age that made her fan-girl attitude cute. It broke the adventure’s heart a little to see that enthusiasm replaced by depression. Daring Do kept a sluggish pace next to the filly, walking the same speed as she did. For the pegasus, this speed was too slow for her liking. It wouldn’t turn night anytime soon, but the sun was dipping behind the hill a little too fast for comfort. Lyra lagged behind the two, keeping a steady distance between them. She hadn’t complained about the harp on her back for the entire time, but the strain was starting to show on her face. She stopped for a moment to wipe off the sweat that was dripping from her face. “I know we’re not on the best of terms right now,” she panted, jogging forward a bit to catch up, “But we’re not doing a silent treatment thing, are we?” “Depends on what you say,” Daring Do said, looking back at the unicorn. “You’re not in a position to complain, if that’s what you’re going to do.” “Not exactly,” Lyra said, shaking her head. “Do you know how much farther that town is? I saw you flying around, so you had to have seen it nearby.” Daring Do nodded and looked back forward. “Since you ask, we’re close.” “Great. How close?” Lyra shifted her shoulders to rebalance her lyre on her back. “Could you guess an ETA?” “My best guess,” Daring Do paused, looking at the sun that was now halfway behind the hill. “I would have to say…” She halted in the middle of the road. Diamond Tiara stopped as well, followed by the unicorn. “Less than a minute.” “We’re that close?” Lyra asked, slightly shocked. “Yeah, it’s just down this hill.” Lyra galloped forward, closing the distance between them. She skidded to a stop next to the pegasus, on the opposite side of the filly. Lyra’s jaw dropped once she got a look at what lay beyond the hill. “Holy cow, what is this place?” Below them, the dirt path gently sloped, and broke off into a stone road, into a large town surrounded by lush forest. The town was full of white houses with terracotta roofs, all built in a valley between the rolling hills. The light from the setting sun bathed the town in a warm glow, making the houses seem like they were made of gold. Several large, white stone buildings jutted out from several points in the city, appearing simply yellow in the sunshine. At the edge of the town, the valley dipped into the ocean. A stretch of green hill rolled out into the waters, creating a barrier from the wakes of the sea and forming a natural harbor. From where they stood, they could see boats flocking into and out of the harbor. These boats weren’t large by any means, but they gave a pleasant texture to the crisp blue that made the ocean. Beyond the harbor and the ocean outside of it, a large stretch of land stood above the horizon. The green hills that made up this land glowed with a brilliant yellow from the sun’s falling light. “Wow,” Diamond Tiara said, speaking her first words since Lyra’s outburst. “It’s so… pretty.” Daring Do nodded in agreement. “Kid, I’ve been to many places, and I never get tired of how amazing and different each one is.” “Frankly, I’m jealous of the town down there,” Lyra said. “They get to live here. It’s prime real estate! Dang, I feel sorry for anyone who can’t see this.” “Ponies will,” Daring Do said, “When they read what I write about this place. Though I don’t think even I can give this place justice.” Diamond Tiara looked up at the pegasus. “You’re going to write about this?” Daring Do shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I? I write about all my good adventures. I have a good feeling about this one.” A smile grew on the filly’s face. “Does that mean you’re going to write about me too?” Daring Do patted the filly on the shoulder. “I think you’ll have a big role in this story.” Diamond Tiara’s mouth opened wide, merging her smile with a wide gaping hole. “Oh my gosh!”she squealed, practically jumping in place. “Me, in an adventure with Daring Do! The Canterlot fanclub is going to be so amazed!” Her enthusiasm spread to her legs as her hooves did a rapid tap dance with the ground. Lyra groaned as the filly spun around in a circle. “Really, you have fanclubs?” Daring Do gave glanced at the unicorn. “Ponies really love my books,” she said before switching to a subtle glare. “And don’t start with that attitude again.” Lyra rolled her eyes as Diamond Tiara bounced right in front of Daring Do. “I can’t believe this is happening! It’s exactly like I dreamt it would be like,” the filly spouted out, “Though, I didn’t dream of being sent to a different world, or talking to old ladies, or anything else that happened, but still! I get to be in an adventure with Dari”-- The filly went dead quiet when Daring Do put a hoof to her mouth. Before the filly could protest, the adventure put a hoof to her own mouth, gesturing to be quiet. The pegasus looked at the forest, her ears twitching underneath her pith helmet. “Did you hear that?” she asked in a low voice. “Hear what?” Lyra asked, imitating the pegasus’s sudden quiet voice. “I couldn’t hear anything over Little Miss Fangirl’s”-- “Shh,” Daring Do interrupted, not taking her eyes off the forest. “Listen.” Diamond Tiara nudged the hoof away from her mouth, looking towards where Daring Do looked. She didn’t hear anything specific, just a flock of birds flying away. She did hear the muffled sounds from the town below, but they weren’t anything special. Before she could say anything, a dull thud echoed through the forest. The filly scanned the forest for anything strange, but nothing had made an appearance. “What was that?” she whispered, taking a couple steps back. “Something big,” Daring Do replied. The ground shook when another, louder, thud came from the forest. “Something really big.” Further in the woods, the filly could make out a rustling sound, possibly from something moving around the trees. A loud groan rolled through the forest, shaking off a cloud of leaves from the branches. Diamond Tiara’s ears went flat at the noise, followed by her nose shriveling up when a musky sent wafted over her. “Oh sweet honey, that reeks,” Lyra cried, covering her nose with her hoof. “That’s some genuine B.O. right there.” More tree rustling, then a large crashing sound came out from the woods. A large, lumbering figure rose up from the tree tops, towering well above the ponies. The figure let out a groan as it stood up. In unison, Lyra’s and Diamond Tiara’s jaws dropped at the sight before them, though Daring Do remained stoic. Several thuds echoed around as the figure turned around to look at them. This creature reminded Diamond Tiara of a gorilla she met one time at her mom’s work, only much larger and elongated. A thick, black mat of hair covered its entire body, save for its pale belly and face. Its legs made up half its height, keeping it upright far above the treetops. At the end of the creature’s arms hung a pair of hands, similar to the old lady’s, but fuzzier. A circular pattern of triangles radiated around its exposed belly button, emitting a soft, red glow. Now that the creature stood at its full height, the air thickened with the musky odor. Diamond Tiara could hardly breathe, and almost didn’t notice the red eyes looking down at her. One of the creature’s massive hands lifted up and scratched the red belly markings. “The Thorn’s vision has not failed,” the creature boomed with a deep, lethargic voice. “Ponies did come to serve the gods.” “And of course it can talk,” Lyra muttered. “Why would it not?” “These things tend to happen,” Daring Do replied, “You get used to it, eventually.” Lyra waved a hoof through the air. “Unless he takes a breath mint or something, I’m not going to get used to the smell.” The adventure ignored the unicorn and looked up at the giant. “Hi, I guess you were expecting us. Do you know a place we can spend the night?” The giant didn’t answer. He scratched his belly, particularly around the red patter. “The gods are cowards,” it boomed once again. “They send their servants to twist fate for them. Pathetic! The Thorn will not tolerate this!” “It doesn’t sound like his guest room is going to be an option,” Lyra noted, backing up along with Diamond Tiara. The giant’s leg lumbered forward in a massive step, clearing the forest and stepping onto the edge of the road. “I am Ubara, Earth Shaker! Know thy slayer’s name, for it’ll be the last one you’ll hear!” “I guess we’ll try the bed and breakfast down the street,” Lyra hastily said before screaming, “RUN!” and turning to gallop down the hill. Daring Do and Diamond Tiara immediately followed, dodging out of the way as Lyra’s lyre fell from her back and tumbled behind her. Ubara let out a massive roar, shaking anything and everything on every corner of the island. The hairy beast lunged forward with a step that could be felt for miles. His next step landed right behind the fleeing ponies, knocking them over and sending them tumbling down the hill. “AAAHH!” Lyra screamed and she rolled down the slope, “AAA-OOF!” crashing into a fence post. She lay there, seizing up in pain, the world swimming around in a foggy daze. Within seconds, she found herself being pulled up by a hoof. She was thrown onto her feet and into a gallop next to Daring Do. “No time for pain,” Daring Do yelled, ducking to the left to avoid a brick that flung through the air. Lyra could barely hear the pegasus over the stomping coming from behind them. Even without the stomping, the unicorn didn’t think she could hear anything with the stench in the air. “Do we have a plan?” Lyra yelled back, jumping a foot forward at the sound of another stomp. “Run and hide,” Daring Do said, running by houses. “Exactly what we’re trying to do right now!” “Oh sure, great plan.” She could hear her own panting as the chase pushed her to her limits. The stench wasn’t making running any easier for the unicorn. “Do we have something that can speed up that plan?” Another stop shook the ground. “I got a teleport crystal in my bag!” The houses were packing tighter together as they ran into the heart of the town. “Great, use that!” “I didn’t set a return point!” The roofs of the homes around them jumped up an inch from the next stomp. The pegasus dived to the left to avoid a falling terracotta shingle. “That’s useless!” Lyra yelled, jumping over a crumbling statue. Her horn glowed a golden yellow, encasing Daring Do’s backpack in the same glow. “I’ll look at what you got!” “What? No!” Daring Do protested, but there was little she could to stop the unicorn’s magic from opening her bag’s flap and shuffling through her stuff, especially with a giant Earth Shaker tailing them. “Let’s see,” Lyra mumbled, looking at the stream of items that floated out of the bag. “Batteries, nope. Water, nope. Food rations, nope. Rope, maybe.” “Quit it!” Daring Do screamed over the sound of another stomp. “That’s my stuff!” “Hey, I’m trying to help,” Lyra said, threading the items she already looked at back in the back and pulling something else out. “Oh, hello. What’s this doing in here?” “What did you”-- Daring Do glanced back, nearly exploding at the sight. “NO!” Lyra grinned wide as she flipped through the pages of a magazine she held in front of her face, a magazine with a scantily clad stallion posing on the cover. “My oh my, what’s a copy of Playmare doing in your- ACK!” The unicorn toppled over when her throat met Daring Do’s foreleg once again that day. The magazine of female delights fluttered through the air, flapping its pages of provocative stallions for the world to see. The pegasus jumped up, snatched it from the air, and shoved it into the deepest, darkest recesses of her bag. Lyra lay on the ground, coughing from a lack of breath after a hard run and from the force of another clothesline to the throat. “I didn’t know Playmare counted as wilderness survival material,” the unicorn snickered between coughs. “Does it come in handy on those cold winter nights?” The pegasus’s cheeks turned a noticeably bright shade of red. If looks could kill, Daring Do’s eyes would have torn the snickering unicorn to shreds. “Never touch my stuff,” she seethed, giving Lyra a rough kick to the stomach. “Gah!” Lyra cringed, holding her belly with her hooves. “Don’t be rough down there,” she moaned, “I might want kids someday.” “Then don’t touch my stuff!” Daring Do snapped. Lyra rolled onto her belly and carefully sat up. “We had a giant chasing us! I had to do something.” “Don’t touch my stuff,” the pegasus repeated, her eyes attempting to burn through the unicorn’s skull. Lyra rolled her eyes, and in doing so, something behind the pegasus caught her attention. A crowd of onlookers had gathered in a semicircle, watching the two ponies interact. These onlookers were not ponies, or anything Lyra was familiar with. They looked similar to the giant, but they were smaller, much smaller. They were almost the same size as a full grown pony. And they weren’t hairy. In fact, they didn’t have much hair to begin with. They stood around, skin showing, completely hairless, with only some clothing covering them. “Hey, guess what?” Lyra said, grinning at Daring Do. “We have an audience.” The pegasus turned around to meet the gaze from a crowd of tiny hairless giants. They all wore some variation of a white sheet around their torsos. Each one of them had some combonation of confusion, shock, or awe on their faces. They awkwardly stood there, staring at the two ponies. Daring Do could hear someone cough from the back of the group. The pegasus noticed the location they were in. Previously, they were running for their lives down a street of houses. That street fed into a plaza with wooden stalls spread out in rows all over the place. These stalls had varieties of foods in them, from fruits to vegetables, even some red food types she wasn’t too familiar with. Just by glancing around the place, she could tell that they found their way into the town’s market square. The buildings surrounding the plaza were the same houses throughout the town, only bigger. At the opposite side of where they stood, a large white building towered over the market. Daring Do looked back at the crowd. The tiny hairless giants didn’t move much. She guessed they were waiting for a response of some kind. Well, the ponies needed shelter, and there was a group to ask about it. “Hello, people of… Greece, I think,” she said, slowly, remembering what the old lady called this place. Several of the tiny hairless giants gasped. Whispers rapidly spread through the group. Did she say something wrong? “Um, yeah, do any of you know where we could find a place to spend the night?” she asked. “We don’t have money, but we’re willing to work for our keep.” The whispering in the group grew louder. Now Daring Do was getting a bit worried. A single one of these strange, tiny giants stepped out from the crowd. “You’re a pegasus,” the tiny giant said, “That can talk…” Daring Do nodded, slowly, keeping eye contact with this single tiny giant. “Yes, I’m a pegasus… That can talk.” She paused to see if this… person would say anything about it. “Is that an issue we need to deal with?” The tiny giant took a step forward before turning around. “People of Ithaca,” the person called out, raising his arms above his head, “We have pleaded with the gods, and they have answered!” The crowd cheered at this. “Poseidon has sent down his own steeds to aid us! We’ve been saved!” The crowd broke into an uproar of louder cheering, causing the ponies’ ears to fold back from the noise. Daring Do looked back at the unicorn, furrowing her brow. “What?” Lyra shrugged, but then jumped when she felt a tremor. The crowd’s cheering all but died out at the sound of stomping. The unicorn’s eyes went wide as she frantically looked around. “Where’s the giant? I thought it was behind us!” “So did I!” Daring Do said, eyes dashing around the place in a mad search. Then her gaze locked on to an empty spot next to the unicorn. “Better question. Where’s Diamond Tiara?!” <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Diamond Tiara screamed as the beast stepped out of the forest. She heard Lyra yell, “RUN!” The filly turned and sprinted after the unicorn, who had gained a head start. The hairs on Diamond Tiara’s neck stood on end when the giant let out a massive roar, shaking everything and anything on the island. The filly galloped as fast as she could down the hill, kicking up a dirt cloud behind her as her hooves kicked into the dirt. Daring Do came up next to her. “Find a place to hide!” the pegasus yelled over the thunderous stomps behind them. Before Diamond Tiara could respond, a large foot slammed into the ground right behind her, sending out a shockwave that knocked her over. Her body flipped over her head, sending her tumbling down the hill. She tucked her head in between her legs, curling up into a ball. Using gravity to speed her up, she rolled down the rest of the hill, putting as much distance as possible between her and the giant. When the dirt road changed into stone, Diamond Tiara sprung out of her ball and landed upright on her legs, charging forward in a sprint, and thanking her dad for enrolling her in gymnastics classes. The unicorn ahead of her wasn’t so lucky. The filly winced as Lyra tumbled straight into a fence post. A loud cracking sound filled the air as pony and wood brutally met. Out of the corner of her eye, Diamond Tiara could see Daring Do rushing over to help the downed unicorn, ignoring the giant that loomed over the trio. Up ahead in the town, a building split the road into a fork. On the right, the road went straight off into the distance, ending in a market place. On the left, the road snaked around several buildings, going uphill and around the outskirts of the town. Diamond Tiara banked towards the left, charging back up a slope as the giant closed in. She figured the winding road would be easy to lose the giant in. She dared to take a moment to look behind her to see how far the giant was. The two other ponies didn’t follow the filly, instead taking the path to the right and running towards the market square. Ubara’s foot skidded across the road, sending bricks flying at the ponies. The filly’s eyes widened as it pivoted on its leg and walked forward, taking the left road and pursuing Diamond Tiara. Up ahead, the road ended at a T-intersection. Diamond Tiara leaned to the right and ran around the corner, nearly clipping the edge of a building. She ran farther down the street before hearing a loud crash behind her. Looking back once again, she saw Ubara step through the building she turned at. Layers of bricks crashed into the road as a massive body tore through the walls. Ubara’s head cut through the terracotta roof. “Don’t escape fate, child,” the giant roared. Diamond Tiara focused forward just in time to see a wall of spears pointed at her. She yelped as she skidded to a stop, almost tripping into one of the spikes. In front of her, a row of large, golden disks stretched out across the street. Between each of these disks, a long spear jutted up, angled high towards the giant. Strange animals crouched down and held the spears and disks in front of them. They looked strangely similar to the giant, except with less hair. In the middle of the street, a lone tiny giant stood above the rest. “Return to where you came, beast!” the standing animal yelled. “Don’t ever come back!” The stomping came to a halt behind the filly. She looked behind to see Ubara standing in the street, looming above her and the animals, blocking the path from where they came. “Don’t challenge me, humans,” the giant boomed. “This pony is mine. Leave us be and you will be spared.” The standing tiny giant threw an accusatory finger at the larger giant. “You monsters keep attacking our city! We won’t give into your demands!” The hairy giant let out a deep chuckle, making Diamond Tiara stumble from the tremors. “I am Ubara, Earth Shaker! Those that oppose me, or the Thorn, shall perish!” While the exchange went on, Diamond Tiara notice a gap underneath the row of disks she could fit under. She crouched down and slid underneath the disks, popping out from between the legs of a tiny giant. The standing one turned to watch the filly gallop away down the street. He refocused on Ubara, who lumbered forward after his prey. “Strike his belly,” the standing animal yelled. “Aim for his circle!” Diamond Tiara looked back to see the rows of spears strike at the giant’s stomach. Ubara simply covered the area around his belly button, hiding the red, glowing pattern and blocking the spear strikes. The animals in the middle of the street scattered away as Ubara stepped into the middle of the row. Diamond Tiara ignored the yelling behind her, turning right at an intersection and running down the street. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Lyra scrambled up to her feet, frantically scanning the area in search of a pink filly. “Crap, we lost Dia!” she said. “I hope she didn’t get eaten! Or crushed! Or stabbed!” “Stabbed?” Daring Do said with a confused look. “Maybe that giant likes to shank ponies.” The earth shook once again as a distant Ubara took another step. Both the ponies looked to where the sound came from. They couldn’t see the giant behind the buildings, but they heard it loud and clear. “She’s probably being chased by it as we speak. Oh, I hope she’s okay.” “She will be,” the pegasus reassured her. “But we need to go help her, now.” The unicorn nodded, and started running through the square. Almost a second later, she skidded to a halt as the crowd of tiny giants ran past in front of her. All over the square, tiny giants ran all over the place, trying to get to where ever they thought was safe. “Watch where you’re going!” Lyra yelled as she stepped out of the way of a runner. “Can’t stop, guard luring giant into the market,” the runner yelled back. “They better not destroy my stall!” As soon as he passed, Daring Do noticed a battalion of armed tiny giants entering through the streets behind them. They marched in-between the stalls in rows, holding golden shields and spears in front of them. The rest of the civilians scattered out of the market square once they caught sight of the soldiers. The pegasus could hear one of the soldiers yelling orders, likely the commander, but she couldn’t pick who was doing it. “Keep your spears high!” The voice was loud enough to be heard over the distant stomps. “Aim for its circle! We’re not going to let another one of these bastards destroy our city!” The clusters of soldiers let out a loud war chant at their commander’s order. They fanned out through the market square, seven groups of three marching through the stalls. The battalion formed into a semi-circle, the edges marching ahead of the peak towards the road at the opposite end of the square. “Here it comes!” the commander yelled again as the stomps grew louder. The earth shook once more as the giant crashed through a house on the side of the market. The building crumbled as it lumbered through. “Running is useless, little pony,” the giant boomed. “Save me the trouble and meet your end.” Once the giant entered the square, the battalion charged forward with a battle cry, spears raised and aimed for the monster. The pegasus realized that Diamond Tiara was somewhere between the giant and the battalion, who were racing towards each other, destined to clash in the square center. Daring Do flared her wings and launched into the air, dropping her backpack in the process. She soared right over the charging soldiers, searching the ground for the filly. There, running past a stall full of cabbages. A pink streak dashed towards the battalion, narrowly missing the large foot that crushed the cabbage stand. Bricks and vegetables erupted from the foot, carried by a shockwave that tripped the filly. Daring Do banked to the left, folding in her wings to go into a dive-bomb. She twisted through the air and streaked straight towards the downed filly. The other foot loomed right above Diamond Tiara, casting a shadow over the pony. The filly looked up and screamed at the giant’s filthy heel. The foot grew large as it came down. Just as the world went dark, she lurched to the side at breakneck speeds. Her vision was filled by the side of a large foot that crushed the pavement underneath. The foot grew smaller as market stalls zipped by her. “Hang tight, kid!” The filly looked up to see Daring Do grabbing her by the waist, zooming through the air. She looked down for a moment, only look back up when she saw paving stones rushing two feet below her. Daring Do tilted up and glided over the stalls, heading towards where the unicorn still stood. She flew next to her and deposited the filly next to Lyra. The unicorn jumped up at their return. “Dia! You’re alive” she squealed, running up to give her a hug. Lyra squeezed the filly against her, only to be pushed away by pink hooves. “Don’t,” the filly said, walking away from the dejected unicorn. Daring Do landed next to her backpack and shoved a hoof into its pocket. “I’m glad we’re all safe,” she said, rummaging through her stuff. “Take a breather. I’ll take care of Ubara.” Lyra looked over to the square, where the soldiers surrounded the giant and were prodding it with spears. The giant kept a hand against its stomach, and used the other to brush away the attacks. “I think the guards over there got this. We should run while we can.” “Lyra, if there’s one thing you should learn in life,” Daring do said as she pulled out the rope from her bag, glancing over to the scene in the square, “It’s not to count on others to do your work for you.” She gave a brief glare at the unicorn. “And to never touch my stuff.” Once more, the pegasus shot into the air, gliding over the market. The soldiers kept the giant preoccupied with their attacks, but they seemed to have no effect on the beast. Ubara stepped around the tiny giants, as if he was making an attempt not to hurt them. He had no problem with the safety of the market stalls; his foot crushed one while avoiding stepping on a soldier. She noted how odd it seemed that this giant, who had made it clear his intentions were to destroy the ponies, was now dancing around the soldiers in order to not hurt them, even as they prodded him with their weapons. The soldiers wanted to kill the giant, the giant wanted to kill the ponies, so she didn’t think anyone would truly complain if she decided to take down Ubara, though Ubara might complain. The giant noticed the pegasus flying over the market, lurching forward in pursuit. “That’s right, follow the tasty pony,” she said to herself. Daring Do started playing around with her rope, twisting and tying it around. The knot she wanted wasn’t hard to do, in fact she even made it before while flying at high speeds. What she needed was a good place to use it. She looked around to find a good spot before her eyes landed on the roof of a particular building. It was a larger building than the others that surrounded the market. It stood at least twice as high as most. The outside walls were surrounded by pillars that supported a terracotta, a-frame roof. Perfect. She dipped down towards the street and picked up a heavy piece of stone rubble she spotted. With the extra weight, her ascent towards the roof went slower than she wanted to. Ubara managed to walk right underneath her and take a swipe at her, barely missing her tail. Daring Do glided up onto the roof and tossed the stone towards its peak, cracking the terracotta shingles underneath. She rushed towards the rock and quickly tied the free end of the rope to it. Behind her, she could hear the giant begin to climb the side of the building. Time wasn’t on her side. Once her work was done, she picked up a piece of broken terracotta and placed it into the knot she made. It was a sling knot, a knot she made surprisingly frequently under stressful conditions. She picked up the end of the knot with her teeth and turned around to face the giant. Ubara’s head poked over the roof edge just as she finished. His red eyes bore down on her like a massive ship about to run over a dingy. Daring Do took a step back, twisted her head back, and then jerked forward, letting go of the sling knot. The knot soared through the air, only stop when its rope snapped tight against the rock it was tied to. The terracotta, on the other hand, shot out from the knot, striking the giant in the eye. Ubara let out an agonizing scream that shook all the shingles out of place. The pegasus covered her ears as the scream rolled over her. Both of the giant’s hands went up to cusp his injured eye, leaving nothing for him to hang onto the building. He tilted back and crashed into the market square below, destroying countless more stalls on impact. Daring Do flew above the mess she just created. Ubara thrashed around, kicking and screaming, tearing up the road and sending stalls flying into the air. The pegasus looked up to see the battalion rushing in on the downed beast. From the looks of it, it seemed another group of guards had joined them while Daring Do was making her sling knot. “Strike his circle!” she heard the commander yell to his troops! “Strike it while the monster is down!” The pegasus looked down at Ubara when she noticed the circle of red triangles on his belly. Earlier, the guards had been spearing at it, only to be blocked by his hand. Now, his hands were grabbing his face in pain, leaving his belly circle wide open. Without another moment of thought, the pegasus dived towards the belly of the beast. Halfway down, she flipped around in the air and pointed her hind legs downwards. CRACK! Her hind legs spiked into the circle like a nail. The circle shattered like glass before bursting into a pulse of red light. Her attack continued on into Ubara’s stomach. His skin wrapped around her kick before springing back. The giant lurched up in pain as the pegasus recoiled into the air. “NO! How dare you!” Ubara screamed louder than ever before. Everyone present, from pony to soldier, keeled over and covered their ears as hard as possible. The soldiers dropped their weapons as they fell, and Daring Do simply fell from the sky, crashing into a market stall full to the brim with bread. Ubara continued to thrash around and roar. “The seal! You broke my seal! How dare you break my seal!” His yell cracked the walls of the building he fell from. One of its columns shattered into two. “Thorn, save me! I don’t want to go back!” A ripping sound cut through the air. The world shuddered under the pegasus’s back, adding to the tremors that came from the giant. Daring Do rolled out of the pile of bread rolls and looked up at the sky, where a slit had formed in space. The slit started expanding out, revealing a dark and swirling emptiness inside of it. Ubara howled as the slit opened up into a massive hole above the city. “I don’t want to go back! Leave me be!” The monster lifted up into the air. He flipped around and dug his hands into the street. His legs dangled above him as a mysterious force pulled him towards the hole. The ground bust apart as his hands lost their grip. The giant shot up into the sky, screaming, “NOOOO!” as he flew into the air. Everyone lost sight of the giant once he entered the hole. The rip immediately closed behind Ubara, disappearing with a light zipping noise. The world stopped shaking right after, leaving a market square full of tiny giants and ponies lying on the ground. Daring Do pushed herself up, bread falling off of her body as she stood up. She took a moment to look around at the carnage. Many of the market stalls were destroyed, but many more were left untouched. The paving stones lay torn up all over the plaza, leaving behind craters large enough to fit several ponies. Only two buildings sustained damage, including the one Ubara climbed up on. She eyed the soldiers, who were getting up one by one. None of them seemed to be hurt, although their hearing might have taken a blow. One of the soldiers made eye contact with her, giving her a smile as he started to walk over. “I wasn’t expecting help from the gods,” the soldier said. Daring Do recognized the voice as the commander of the battalion. “In fact, I was starting to think they didn’t care. But wow, they out did themselves.” He stretched his arms out towards her. “They sent a pegasus! By Zeus’s beard, I never thought I’d see the day.” “Um, yeah,” Daring Do said. “I’m guessing you don’t see a lot of us flying around.” The commander chuckled as he continued to walk forwards. “And you can talk. And I thought fighting giants was crazy. No, mythical creatures never stop by our island to say hi. Heck, we didn’t really think you existed.” The soldier walked right up to the pegasus and held out a hand. “I’m Homer of Deneth, captain of the Vathy guard.” The pegasus grabbed the hand with her hoof and gave it a firm shake. “I’m Daring Do, adventurer and in need of food and shelter.” Homer grinned as they let go from their shake. “Well Daring Do, fate smiles on you, then. You’ve come to Vathy just in time for the King Bakkos’s banquet tonight. I’m sure he’ll be happy to invite the pegasus that took down a giant.” “Thanks,” Daring Do, returning a smile. “I have two companions traveling with me. They will need food and shelter as well.” “If Bakkos doesn’t invite them, then I’ll serve them dinner myself.” “Again, thanks. So, we’re in Vathy? I thought this was Greece.” “It’s the city of Vathy, on the island of Ithaca, off the coast of mainland Greece,” Homer happily replied. “Seems a bit odd that you don’t know where you are.” “I guess the gods dropped us here without telling us anything,” she said, shrugging. “They enjoy being vague.”