//------------------------------// // Chapter 2. Staring into the maw of death // Story: Chupacabra // by LightningThunda //------------------------------// ===================== -Staring into the maw of death- ===================== -1st Person POV James, Everfree forest- The sun broke through the little cracks in the granite cave that surrounded me filtering through in strips, one such strip landing right between my eyes. ‘Ahhh’ I yawned, aggravated that I had to wake up. ‘Two more minutes...’ The light slowly shifted as I moved and twitched still way too tired to get up, the soft smell of the pines filling my nostrils from the forest below, and the heat of the early morning light warming my slightly cold body. My teeth shifted across my tongue as I twitched in my half asleep state, my ears raised picking up the smallest of sounds miles away; I could hear the shifting of the individual leaves, the running water from a creek off in the far distance and I could hear the smallest sliver of soft voices too far away to understand what they were saying. ‘Wait, voices’... Jolting up out of my daze I sit up, the voices fading away back into the background noise of everything around me. Closing my eyes and focusing on my hearing alone I filter everything out, and there, far off in the distance I could hear them again… ‘Voices, why would I hear voices, are they from some sort of a nearby city.’ ‘Hmm, I'm in a giant forest in the middle of nowhere with a volcano in the middle of it with a possible nearby city… maybe some country like New Zealand?’ I thought to myself, while stretching my aching muscles in the sunlight now flooding in through the cave; sleeping on a rock floor wasn't uncomfortable but was definitely not preferable. Now thoroughly confused at the voices I was hearing, I jump up walking to the mouth of the cave, still weary of the very large height difference between the ground and my new resting place. Excited about the possibility of not being completely alone wherever I was, and having nothing better to do other than to continue trying to climb the mountain (which I was beginning to think was a bad idea in the first place) I decided to head towards the voices. Walking out of the cave and sticking to the edges of the mountain I begin making my way only to be stopped a massive wall of rubble and stone blocking my path, taking a risk I slowly lean over the edge of the path around the stone and found that the path had disappeared after this point. ‘Hmmm so the path stops at this wall of stone’ I thought, ‘strange...’ looking away from the path and out over the rather beautiful valley I could see the mountain range come to a stop a few hundred miles south at a final great white mountain, squinting with my increased eyesight on the edge of said mountain I could just make out… ‘A castle?’ I kid you not there was a giant almost pure white castle looking to be made out of marble carved into the mountain -or at least that was what it looked like from here- ‘How in th- wha- why would someone even...’ was all that went through my mind as I considered the structural integrity of having a castle hanging over what was essentially a cliface, several scenarios going through my head of someone dropping a pin and the entire thing literally just collapsing. The area immediately in front of the mountain I was on, in between me and the white castle held a magnificent valley exhibiting a beautiful forest consisting of giant pine trees further in but as the forest came to an end the trees became black and rotting looking almost as if to just be there to torment. Looking to the far edge of the forest due east I took note of some odd looking mounds differently coloured to the land around it, looking closer I saw them to be some sort of village though a bit rudimentary with thatched roofs. Focusing in on the village with my hearing in an attempt to try figure out exactly where I was I came across those voices again concluding that they must be just slightly outside the village, as if I tried to listen any further I just heard a ringing sound before feeling slightly queasy destroying my concentration. ‘Holy shit that is far for me to be able to hear anything’, the village was easily so far away it started to fade a bit into background fog as my eyes struggled to make out anything, thinking back to my time as a human I realized that this was WAY too far to be able to see let alone be able to make out voices, maybe I was imagining it… Maybe I really had just gone insane. Deciding my new destination should be towards the voices I was hearing, real or not I started taking the long route that I had seen going around the back of the mountain and down to the forest below. ‘This is going to be a long trip’. -3rd Person POV Fluttershy’s cottage outside Everfree forest- “Girls I'm here!” Rarity yelled out rounding the bend to come over the bridge, a giant pile of suitcases and bags looking to be floating behind her as Spike carried the enormous amount of luggage for her hidden under the literal mountain of bags. “Rarity I told you to pack light” Twilight said exasperatedly, “that means you pack one or two small things: an apple and a few items of clothing”, “But darling, that forest is absolutely horrid and you do know a lady must look her part if she is to save the world” Rarity said with her snout held high. “Ok, Rarity you can bring them… if you can carry them, I am going to use Spike this time to carry my research and notes” Twilight replied with a smug expression. “Oh hehe” Rarity replied now not so sure about her need for her luggage “I suppose I could part with a few things”... Spike promptly dropping all of the things he was carrying and hastily heading over to Twilight, “Sorry Rarity, Twilight always comes first” Spike as he picked up Twilight’s things from the ground where they lay. After Rarity had finished fitting all her luggage into Fluttershy's cottage, the group headed off towards the mountain. After about an hour of walking through the forest a few of the group had begun to complain about the situation they were in, a few being Rarity. “Ugh, can we take a break, all this walking is exhausting!” Rarity dramatically exclaimed. ‘ “Shh Rarity don't y'all worry, well stop soon for a small food break” Applejack replied slightly annoyingly, seeing as this was the fifthteenth time she had said it after listening to Rarity complain about everything for the last two to three hours. “But it’s so fun to walk, you see so many things” said Pinkie as she somehow bounced horizontally from tree to tree. The air hot and humid making the everyone except Spike sweat profoundly. “Ohhhh it’s so hot” Dash moaned hovering slightly above the ground, beating her wings slowly trying ever so desperately to cool down. “And that's saying something, I'm a weather pony so I’m used to the heat” Dash continued. “We should be out of this part of the everfree soon, just a bit more” Twilight panted as the group made their way through the thick underbrush towards the smoking mountain. “Hey, Dashi ,do you think the dragon will be big bright green one or a small brown one? oh, oh what about a medium, large, averagely sized giant red one!” Pinkie excitedly asked somehow still bouncing around with full energy without even breaking a sweat. Applejack looking over to see dash just trying not to pass out from the heat decided to answer for her. “I don't know Pinkie, but I hope we can just get it away without anything getting messy”, at that moment a very loud distorted, evil sounding wolf howl was heard coming from the mountain. “Eep” Fluttershy’s attempt at speech muffled as she hid behind her mane at the sound. “Oh I'm sure it wa-” Twilight began only to be cut off by pinkie exclaiming “It’s the big bad wolf coming to eat us all up!” Which after hearing, Fluttershy promptly dashed behind a giant boulder trying her best to hide from said “bad wolf”. “Ma-ay-aybe it’s just a-a hurt animal” she tried. “Come on Pinkie try to be nice, we need Fluttershy in case she can try to calm the dragon and convince him to leave otherwise we’ll never get it move” Dash huffed out of irritation momentarily distracted from the raging heat due to her friends distress. “Wait I-I have to t-t-tell th-that dragon to move” Fluttershy stuttered somehow making herself even smaller behind the bolder, “but I don't like dragons” she mumbled barely above a whisper behind the rock, causing Spike to snort. And Fluttershy to jump out from behind the boulder and reassure him that she didn't mean to hurt his feelings. ‘Oh, here we go again’ Twilight muttered, at this rate its going to be hell to get anywhere let alone up the mountain. -1st Person POV half way up the mountain- The wind flowed across my fur like water on oil, my temperature not even changing from the harsh wind, the smell of stone and clay lingering as I stealthily made my way around the edge of the narrow path taking my time and being careful not to look down. Turning a corner I came to a giant boulder blocking my path although this time there was no alternate route. ‘Shit now what’ I thought to myself as I looked around, the air around me looking very weird; little squiggles and lines running around and away from me in a chaotic manner ‘Wait what’. The lines and squiggles that I noted a second ago were now becoming clearer, more vivid allowing me to see them in higher detail: the lines and squiggles in the air now showing as two prominent dots interconnected with a single line running from points in the air and around me to higher up and further back all overlapping each other, making me think of a connect the dots gone horribly wrong. ‘What the hell is this?’ I asked myself, one line I noticed went from what I could see, just in front of me straight up all the way to the mouth of the cave I saw awhile ago from the forest. Testing something I put my paw up to the dot only to paw at the air as it went straight through as if it weren't even there, physically at least. Turning my head around again to look at all the other dots and lines I tried to think of what they were and why they were so clear in the air around me, in turning my head my eyes instinctively blinked, and, for the microsecond they were closed I felt a huge pull and push of gravity as my body felt like it was being squeezed through a pipe half the size of my body. Finishing the blink my eyes reopened to find I had moved to the mouth of the cave, seeing the dot at the end of the one I was looking at before. ‘What--’ my brain froze for a few seconds, as I tried my hardest to figure out what just happened. Looking down the mountain I spotted the area I had just been at and the giant boulder I had been stuck behind. ‘I teleported… holy shit that is amazing!’ still shaking off the feeling of being incredibly compressed and tight. ‘Shit well I’m here now, might aswell go in and find whats causing all this smoke’. Walking into the cave I stick to the edges and melt into the shadows, following for some reason the smell of strawberries that apparently encompassed the cave. A few seconds later the cave opened up into a giant cavern, looking around I realised that the potent smell of strawberries was wafting from a giant pile of altering gems; from giant sapphires the size of a head to emeralds the size of a bike, they were everywhere. Giant piles to my left and right ending slightly away from my hidden form, looking up from the pile I saw something that terrified the living shit out of me. A dragon, yes thats right a FUCKING DRAGON! Which was just casually snoozing on said giant pile of treasure and gems. The super large behemoth of a creature was a brilliant red with a shining golden belly. Giant bat like wings of red and gold were spread out across the gold and gems beneath it. Well of course it had to be a fucking dragon, cause thats totally orginal, shit, why couldn’t it have just been a giant fluffy bunny instead?!’. Almost as if it could hear my thoughts it lifted its head, turning it to face me it opened one glittering red-gold eye and looked right at me. “Who dares cometh to thine in this time of slumber?” The dragons voice rang out in a deep guttural booming sound that shook my frame. “Uh, Not me”... Deciding it was about time I got the fuck out of here and as far away from the dragon as possible I ran for the cave entrance only to be blocked by a massive blast of fire, singing my fur and nearly making me piss myself. “Why doth thou come before thee?” the dragon questioned, “Doth thou wish to challenge thee?” He growled, chuckling “Because if thou try thou shalt DIE!” The dragon roaring out the last part as it launched itself from its horde, scattering jewels and gold everywhere. ‘Shit’ Another blast of fire burned past me., ‘sssssshit, shit shit shit’ I thought running and hiding behind the mounds of gold and gems before realising ‘I’m a fucking wolf with godly powers, I don't need to run’! Emerging from my cover I finally properly presented myself. The dragon taking a step back, either out of shock that something such as myself would challenge it or the fact it did not know what I was. Leaping forward I jumped at his prone form while he was distracted, splaying out my paw in an offensive manner to slash at his underbelly. My claws quickly sliding out of my paw and raking across the dragon removing some scales and ripping through the flesh underneath. Blood starting to drip down from the wound as he jumped back and looked down at me. “Thou dare strike me! A being more powerful than you could conceive, you shall pay for thine mistake Creten!” The dragon roared, no screamed in fury before lunging forward at an incredible speed for its size slamming his claw down towards me, but I was already gone. Using my speed and newfound teleportation, I avoided most of his attacks and swipes managing to only get a few scrapes than the full force of his brute strength. Lunging forward I torpedoed into the dragon's side viciously using my claws to dig a pit into the dragon's flesh. Blood spurting up showering the room behind me in a large puddle while covering my face and fur with the red liquid. I screamed my head off while the dragon spun around trying his hardest to free me from his body the blood and spinning motion disorienting me, before finding a floating dot in front of my eyes, blinking over to the other side of the room to stop my head from spinning. Without warning his tail came slamming down on my side, painfully pinning me to the ground and smashing my back paw against the stone causing it to bend in an awkward manner. Yelping I quickly blinked over to the other side of the room my leg fixing itself at an incredible speed, the pain disappearing almost immediately and the horrid crack of the bone realigning making me shudder. As my paw snapped back into place it was like a switch had been flipped in my head, a massive burst of energy flowing through my veins, every hair of my fur standing on end sparking with huge amounts of electricity. Instinctively I turned my head towards the dragon and locked eyes with it. The very air around me starting to crackle a mist forming as my body temperature lowered dramatically swirling as the massive current of electricity built up. The dragon began backing away as my whole body started glowing a blinding white, electricity arcing off me. Still looking the dragon directly in the eyes I let go of the masses of energy I was carrying and watched with awe as an endless torrent of electricity unleashed itself from my body onto the dragon in a blinding white laser, somewhere in the back of my mind a little voice shouting ‘I’ma firin ma lazar!’. Cutting through the air the bolts hit the dragon; carving through his scales and searing his flesh to then burn a black mark across the wall behind him. For 10 whole seconds, I unleashed hell upon the beast in front of me, ripping him apart leaving nothing but molten clumps of flesh. Finally feeling the burden of my attack I collapsed the electricity dying down bringing with it the sounds of the world back to me and the feeling of having stood in a freezer for the past few hours. Lying on the ground and shuddering from my bodies now freezing temperature I looked past the remains of the dragon. The ground covered in molten gold and the lingering smell of burnt flesh. Lifting my head, I let out a howl of the excitement and pleasure of winning as I padded over to my new horde. About two hours later I began to hear some quiet chattering followed by the distinct clopping sound of hooves against stone outside my new den, getting louder and louder. Standing up I walked out of the cave mouth to see what was going on on. About two-thirds of the way up the mountain, only about ten minutes away there was a group heading towards me. The, from what I could see where ponies, were heading towards my cave, they had bright coloured, pastel coats and, after looking closer there appeared to be another small dragon alongside them which I took was a baby. The weirdest thing of all this was that they where not only unaccompanied by anyone but also chatting amongst themselves... ‘What the fuck’ I thought, filtering out the other noises to hear what they were saying. “I wonder where the dragon smoke is, isn’t it meant to be pouring outta that cave over there?” The orange one of the group asked. Growling slightly I backed up a little bit further into the cave melting into the shadows completely, preparing to protect my new den from these intruders. -3rd Person POV a few feet from the dragon's den- “Why isn’t the dragon coming out to play?” Pinkie asked, “shouldn’t he be coming out to be a big meanie?”. “Im not sure Pinkie, maybe he’s just sleeping” Twilight sighed, sceptically. After a few hours of walking and a giant avalanche they had finally made it to the mouth of the cave ready to face whatever came at them, and she was exhausted. “Alright everypony, I’ll head in and scope out the situation to see where the dragon is, STAY HERE” Twilight said looking specifically at Dash who promptly rolled her eyes. Lowering herself to the ground she crept into the cave, trying to stay hidden. Little did she know she was being watched. Further in the cave opened up into a giant cavern piled high with gems and… setting molten gold. ‘What happened here’ Twilight thought; her eyes scanning the room for the missing dragon, eyes landing on several large pools of congealing blood spread across the floor and massive burn marks running up against the walls and floor. Directly in front of her there was what little remained of the once mighty dragon, Twilight caught herself before she puked trying her hardest, not to envision the slaughtering. ‘What could have killed a fully grown dragon in such a way’ She asked herself as she quickly ran out of the hell hole thankful she hadn't smelled the flesh. Hurriedly leaving the cave she quickly went over to her waiting friends, looking slightly green, Rarity walking up to her asking what was wrong. Twilight didn't even have the time to reply before she puked all over Rarity, who promptly fainted in a stinking puddle of vomit, Twilight then went over to a small boulder and sat down shuddering every so often. “Twi? Whatcha see in there?” Applejack ventured edging towards her friend. Twilights ear flicked towards the comforting voice before turning around “*Sniff*- It was so horrible, the walls and floor were covered in blood and some of the gold was straight up melted, and..and there was guts and flesh everywhere” Twilight finally managed before breaking down in tears. Not knowing, flying over, Dash sat down to comfort Twilight before looking over to the others “How could something just up and kill a dragon, I mean the things are basically indestructible, take Spike for example, hes still a kid and he swims in lava!” Rainbow Dash quietly. The others slowly sitting next to the two, Fluttershy began walking towards the cave, spike trailing behind her. “Hey, Twilight I'm going to go into the cave with Spike to see if I can find anything.. that is if you don’t mind..?” Fluttershy stuttered. “I really wouldn’t recommend it Fluttershy, you have no idea how horrific it is in there, I don't think it would be good to let spike, or anypony for that matter see something like that” Her request only being heard by her friends sitting next to her, as Spike and Fluttershy had already wandered in... Water slowly trickled down the cave walls and the sound of still-burning flames echoed through the tunnel as Fluttershy and Spike made their way in. “What do you think could have done this Fluttershy?” Spike asked nervously, gulping as he looked around the cave as they advanced. “Im not sure Spike in fact I didn’t even know that dragon scales could be cut, I thought dragons could only be killed by extreme magic or well, thats it really.” Fluttershy said worryingly. Continuing on they reached the cavern that the dragon once slept in. Upon seeing the full extend of what was left of the dragon Fluttershy turned a threw up before looking turning to Spike to tell him not to look only to see him staring, not at the blood but at the mass of gold currently inhibiting the cave. Then the smell hit her and she turned to puke again. Spike, ignoring Fluttershy turned his attention from the hoard to the mass of leftover guts and pools of congealed blood that littered the floor and splattered the walls and ceiling, turning away quickly before he could witness any more, only to find Fluttershy behind him puking. “W-what happened here” Fluttershy finally asked Spike hoping he would have the answer but spike just stayed quiet, slightly shaking in fear and partly from puking. Instead of a reply from Spike, a large clanging sound was heard as one of the great diamonds rolled down a solidified part of the now set melted gold, hitting the floor. “I think we should leave, I have a bad feeling that whatever killed the dragon is still in this cave” Spike stuttered trying to look tough but failing miserably. “I agree” Fluttershy quickly replied before grabbing Spike as more jewels and gold fell down. Causing her to jump and sprint at breakneck speed towards the cave exit, in the background nearby the two could hear the distinct sound of soft padding as something in the dark raced them to the cave entrance. Making it to the end of the tunnel the two burst out quickly turning their head to see something stirring in the depths of the darkness as it raced from within the cave. “Get back, somethings coming” Spike yelled backing up himself, trying his hardest to make his body bigger to cover all of his friends. -1st Person POV mere feet away from the main six- I ran hard -not my hardest mind you- to stay with the creature running to try get away from me. For some reason finding it quite amusing that they thought they could outrun me as I easily kept up with them. To be honest I wasn't actually chasing after them, I was running out of the cavern due to the fact that said cavern happened to currently be caving in, There goes my new den... When the first few gold pieces and jewels had started to fall and I noticed a change in the air as it began to flow out the entrance, the cavern further in already collapsing. Reaching the end of the cave I saw that the creature had reached the end of the cave and was backing up from me, before realising that they were probably scared of me and not actually aware that the cave was crumbling. Looking behind me I saw the remainder of the cavern collapsing in on the mass of gold, before turning and blinking behind the group turning to see the spot I was just standing in covered in rubble, the cave completely sealed off. Snorting from a the plume of dust the collapsing tunnel had shot out I attracted the attention of the ponies I had seen before. A respective gasp coming from the group before I turned and took my chances jumping off the cliff face down to the path below, running off and quickly gaining speed. Looking behind me I noticed that the blue pony of the group had begun to fly after me, ‘Wait, fly’ looking at its back I noticed a pair of wings that should not have been capable of supporting its body weight, deciding to have a mental breakdown over the laws of physics being brutally broken in front of me later I put my mind towards getting away from the pegasi who was currently chasing me. Leading the pegasi further down the mountain and then into my clear line of broken trees that I had created earlier. “Get back here you!” She gasped straining to catch me “I'm the fastest flyer equestria has you can't outrun me!” She yelled increasing her speed. I smirked slightly at that comment, knowing full well that I could easily outrun her. Picking up speed and still running along the split in the trees I had created, I soon reached and surpassed terminal velocity pushing my body to a ridiculous speed before finally breaking the sound barrier everything going dead silent, the only noise I could hear the thundering of my heartbeat. The pegasus now disappearing into the far distance. Speeding up even more I reached the end of my line through the forest and started enlarging it, traveling at near Mach 4 and heading directly for the castle I had seen in the distance earlier that day. -3rd Person POV Dash- ‘Obviously not fast enough’ Rainbow thought glumly and she speed back to her friends. The creature she had been chasing had somehow flied much, much faster than her traveling at a ground speed, and that absolutely baffled her. Finally nearing her friends she slowed to a stop and flew down to meet them. “Hi Rainbow did you catch it?” Applejack asked hopeful. Her look turning to one of confusion when Rainbow replied with a no. “How is that even possible, you're the fastest flier there is Rainbow!” Twilight exclaimed irritably. “And how did it move from in front of us to behind us! Last time I checked only unicorns could pull off that fancy magic stuff” Pinkie said. “I think the question is not how it accomplished these acts but of what it is” Rarity started, making all of them stop and turn to look at her. “I mean what is this creature and where did it come from?” None of them had an answer, but twilight knew somepony who would. The sun shone down brightly on Ponyville as the residents went about their day, enjoying the sunlight. Suddenly six mares raced through the town streets heading for the library in the center of the small town. “We need to contact the princess and tell her what happened” Twilight said as they came to a stop at the front door to the library. Spike jumping off twilights back and racing over to the door, fidgeting for a moment, he flung it open and rushed in the girls following. “Quick Spike grab some parchment and a quill we need to write a letter immediately” Twilight said as she raced over to her desk, pulling out an inkpot. Spike came bounding down the stairs and ran over to Twilight holding the requested items. “Here” he huffed as he went over to sit down beside the girls tired from the days trek, sitting on one of the steps watching Twilight anxiously as she hurriedly wrote a letter to the princess. Satisfied with her letter Twilight read over it one more time to make sure she had gotten all the details down ‘Dear Celestia, when we arrived at the cave where the dragon was supposed to be, we found something quite disturbing; it was dead. It had been torn apart by something extremely powerful and we fear that it may still be out there. The creature in question was a giant black wolf with sharp quills running down his spine, the scary thing was that it was able to out-run Rainbow Dash and you know how fast she is, it also appears it was able to teleport although this I am unsure of. The creature was seen by all of us, to be heading towards Canterlot. Please reply with what to do Twilight Sparkle”. “Great now send it of, I need to get home and get some sleep” Dash replied. Twilight passed the scroll over to Spike, who then proceeded to roll it up and send it off in a burst of dragonfire. All of the residents of the room sat waiting anxiously, before finally, Spike burped up a reply; Twilight quickly grabbed it with her magic and began reading it, before lifting her head and tell the group what her mentor had said; “The princess said we need to come to Canterlot immediately, the creature we saw is apparently an extremely ancient being with immense power and strength called a Chupacabra. She said that these ancient and beautiful creatures died out over twenty thousand years ago, becoming little but a myth, even when she was young they had been gone for a long time. She said that after so long since the last sighting, this might bode bad.’ The girls stood holding their breath as Twilight finished recounting the letter. “Don’t worry Twilight we’ll talk some business into it with our elements” Rainbow Dash said smirking. “Thats just the thing, Rainbow, these creatures lived over six thousand years before the elements were even created, and where in fact one of the few ancient races that were hypothesized to be able to withstand the full blast of the elements and get away without too much damage, the only other being a several billion-year-old lord of chaos who is now gone from this world. The thing about the elements is that they only affect beings who are causing disharmony since the elements are pure harmony, but this creature was said to be passively harmonic, unless we attack, or hurt it, it won't hurt us.” Twilight finished. “Anyways the princess has sent down one of her chariots to pick us up and take us to Canterlot”, as she said that the sound of guards ponies galloping to a stop outside and the scraping noise of something heavy settling down indicated that said chariot had arrived. There was a knock at the door and a voice floated into the room. “Its the Royal Guard, we’re here to take the elements to Canterlot in order to talk to the princess immediately, please open the door” Somepony spoke in a stiff tone. “Coming” Twilight yelled as she trotted forward to open the door, heaving it open, she was greeted by two guards dressed in gold armour. “Hello Twilight, the princess has requested you and your friends to come to Canterlot immediately, she wishes to have an audience with you and the rest of the elements.” “Sure, come on girls we’re going to Canterlot” Twilight shouted back into the home, “Spike stay and watch over the house while we're gone”. Spike nodded and saluted. “Sure thing Twilight” he said. The rest of the girls walked out the door, heading towards the chariot awaiting them. “Oh, I can't believe we're going to Canterlot, that city makes dreams come true, and I get to meet the princess herself” Rarity exclaimed loudly. Getting to the chariot and stepped onto it, the six of them just fitting into the small room. The guards then hooked their armour to the chariot and begun running forward, taking off quickly. “We should be arriving in Canterlot in about twenty minutes” Twilight yelled over the rising noise of the wind as they took off. She then sat back as she and the rest of the girls headed towards Canterlot. Nearly thirty minutes later, the chariot set down upon the white flagstone that made up the streets of Canterlot castle, a guard rushing forward to help the girls to the ground. “I’m glad you made it, Princess Celestia is waiting for you in the throne room and Princess Luna should accompany you soon.” By now the sky was pitch black and the girls only light source was the street lights lining the road, quickly making their way forward they entered the castle and began the walk towards the main throne room. “Ah welcome Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie, and Applejack”, Celestia said as the girls made their way through the open throne room doors, lead by the guard that had met them at the chariot landing platform. “Thank you” Celestia said, head nodding at the guard, the guard bowing made his way back out of the room. The girls all quickly got to their fetlocks and bowed. “I’m sorry we didn’t make it sooner, there was a huge buildup of air pressure and it slowed us down, please don’t punish me” Twilight said, still kneeling. “Nonsense Twilight, it is fine, in fact it gave me more time to get some thinking done; this creature, if it really is the legendary Chupacabra, is probably the last one ever. The important thing is that you’re all safe.” Celestia said, smiling, “I have sent for Luna to see if we can figure this out and find out if the creature that killed the dragon is indeed the Chupacabra, if it is, we must treat it with utmost respect, it is an extremely intelligent beast and can possibly be tamed if we really try to work with it. We do not want to accidentally attack it or scare it” Celestia and the elements then took a seat at the banquet table while they waited for Luna to arrive. While waiting they ordered a meal for themselves and fell into conversation about the past few days. After waiting for quite some time, Luna finally emerged, walking into the hall and took a seat in the chair next to Celestia’s. “So what have you called us for sister” Luna said turning to face Celestia, as a servant came out of the darkness and took Luna’s order. “We are troubled tonight Luna, a creature previously thought to be very long extinct may have returned”. Celestia said to Luna, “Im sure you're familiar with the myth of The great Chupacabra!” Causing Luna to bark a laugh. “The Chupacabra was a mare's tale that was told to young fillies and colts when we were but younglings in our home, it was said to be last sighted over sixteen thousand years before even we were born, over seven thousand years before the creation of Equestria, BEFORE the fall of the great Alicorn race, and you’re telling me that one has been sighted here, today?” Luna said, somewhat exasperatedly, “You need to come up with better jests sister” Luna asked looking down on Celestia with a smirk. Celestia continuing to look at her sister replied “Im serious Luna” causing luna to huff in slight annoyance “Well you will have to give more proof than an unconfirmed sighting to convince me” “I can do that, I can cast an a searching spell, specifically looking for the Chupacabra species even if its all the way out in saddle arabia it will pick it up” She said. Holding her head up, her horn began to glow a brilliant golden white colour swirling around her horn then a loud crack was heard as the a golden sphere of magic expanded outwards, spreading throughout the room and beyond into the world. After a few seconds, Celestia stopped focusing her magic and opened her eyes, shocked. “I think I found it, apparently its here”... As she said that, the bang of doors being slammed open caught everyones attention as they turned to see the remainder of a black tail disappearing out. “I-It was in this room, and we didn’t even notice…” Stuttered Twilight, “We didn’t even notice… how…” She looked to her teachers face and only saw shock as well. “That was a very rare breed of the wolf, one that has the passive ability to, for better intensive purposes ‘melt’ into the shadows, one such breed which hasn’t been seen in a VERY long time” Celestia sighed unsure of how to deal with the situation. “I underestimated this race, they are very powerful, I hope we haven't angered it in any way. We need to try to speak with it; Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie, I want you to try find it and talk to it, WITHOUT using force, Fluttershy, I would like you to try translate if necessary, you will be Equestria’s Ambassador for the race of Chupacabra.” ‘I need to talk to it myself’ Celestia thought. -1st Person POV Near Canterlot castle, earlier that night- The moon crept up along the mountain ridge, creating a silhouette of my pitch black form. My eyes traveled across the vast valley, keeping an eye on everything that moved. sticking low to the mountain edge I slowly made my way to the front gates of the magnificent white marble castle carved into the mountain. As I neared the gates I began to hear the voices and whispers of the guards watching the gate. Sneaking around the corner and making sure to keep my body molded with the shadows I caught a glimpse at what I was to deal with if I wanted to get in the castle; The guards were the same quadrupeds creatures that I run into earlier only these ones were dressed in what looked like either brass or solid gold armour, but I seriously doubted that the guards were stupid enough to wear gold armour. They held great spears made from some sort of dark wood, tapered with a sharp brass point. I slowly made way closer and closer listening in on their conversation: “I hope that dragon down near Ponyville was moved, the smoke it was putting out was horrible” One said. “Yeah me too, you can actually just see over at the mountain that the smoke has stopped coming from the actual mountain itself, so they must have stopped it somehow.” The guards then became quiet once more as they stared lifelessly into world in front of them. Too bad they didn’t notice the massive black form moving through the shadows behind them. Moving stealthily through the shadows like a phantom I kept to the building edges invisible to all. The reason I have come to this city was not to hurt or attack the people, but to get a better understanding of where I am. Passing yet another set of guards who didn’t glance my way I came to a bend in the road. Up ahead, about five blocks from my position I could see the castle that lay within the city walls, but directly in front of me was a large group of guards watching over some sort of jewelry store that looked as if it had been broken in lately. Moving closer I confirmed my theory as I saw that the entire front window of the building had been completely smashed inwards and almost all of the glittering jewelry inside was missing. Slowly moving away as to not alert the guards I turned and continued on my way towards the castle ahead. After about five minutes of walking, I came to the end of the road I was on as the street split up; circling the castle and joining up with multiple other roads. ‘So there is a bunch of open roads for me to escape down if ever needed, good to know’ I thought as I continued onwards to the front gate. Great wide steps lead up from the street level too two gigantic dark oak doors decorated with golden insignias and other golden bits and pieces. Two guards in shiny brass armour stood stock still right in front of the gates, but, of course, that didn’t bother me, walking forward, still completely hidden in the shadows. I stepped up to one of the little teleportation nodes as I had decided to call them and blinked towards them to land in one of the small hedges right by the door. Turning around a bit so as to not make a single sound I saw that I had teleported a few meters behind the guards, who were standing on a little platform, halfway up the flight of stairs. Quietly I moved to the door and tried pushing on it to make it open. ‘Shit, it’s not opening’ I thought. I tried putting my full weight against the door and found that I still couldn’t push it open. ‘Must be something as strong as fuck to stop me opening them, fucking castles, why do they have to be so hard to break into’. Looking around I saw that there was a small flight of stairs that went from a stone walkway and up, curving around one of the battlements before bridging across to the one of the main towers. Blinking over to it I saw that there was only one guard holding up in the battlement, and there was no one else that was anywhere near except the door guards. I passed the guard with ease and began making my way across the bridge towards one of the many rooms in this castle. After about an hour of sneaking along the halls and sticking to the shadows I came to what must have been one of the food halls; there was a long table with over 20 seats set around it. The plates and cutlery were not there so I assumed that it was late or at least after dinner because I hadn’t seen anyone else besides the guards and maids walking the halls. ‘Im going to have to be quick if I want to make it out before midnight’ I thought as I looked out of the window up at the moon. ‘Should be about nine o’clock judging by the moon unless this place has a different time system, which at this point wouldn't surprise me’. Quickly making my way down a grander looking hallway I soon came to a door engraved with the words; ‘Luna, Princess of the night’. ‘Hmmm a princess eh… I wonder what she knows’ Sneaking up to the door and pushing it fully inwards I crept into the black room, my eyes quickly adjusting to the low light level. The room was a dark midnight blue colour with stars and galaxies painfully handcrafted into the ceiling and walls, around the walls in a semi-circle ending at the head of the bed was a beautiful hand crafted circular desk, covering it was old fashioned looking scrolls and quills, books and a whole bunch of other stuff. The bed itself was a huge four poster bed that would even be able to fit my massive form easily with space left over. In taking my time, I didn’t realise that someone was entering the room. ‘Shit, Fuck… Now what?’ I thought, sweating nervously as a large midnight blue creature crossed the room and sat down at one of the desks. ‘Maybe it’s the princess’s caretaker… Or it’s the princess herself, in which case the Princess looks quite old to still be a princess.’ I pondered all this while the creature started to read one of the manuscripts on the desks, mumbling as she read. ‘I hope she doesn't read all night, I don’t exactly want to spend all night standing here.’ She continued to read from her manuscript for about an hour much to my annoyment before a guard knocked and let himself into the room. ‘Your highness, Princess Celestia has requested an audience with you, will you follow me please?’ he said. ‘Yes, we would however like for thou to wait for us, we would like to finish this chapter.’ ‘Of course your highness’ he replied. Stepping back out of the room ‘Oh come on, I’ve been standing here for a hour, hurry up and leave already!’ I thought tired of not being able to leave incase I was noticed. After about ten minutes of reading, she finally put down the text and stood up, walking over to the door, she held it open as she spoke to the guard, while I was finally able to creep through the shadows and blink out into the hallway behind the guard. “Please lead the way to the hall.” The guard bowed then proceeded to lead her and, unknowingly, me to the great food hall I had seen earlier. The guard then opened the door and let us into the hall. Sneaking into the shadows over on the far side of the room, I proceeded to listen to them converse about, as I found out: good old fucking me, as they ate. About halfway through their conversation it started getting interesting: “I can do that, I can cast an a searching spell, specifically looking for the Chupacabra species even if its all the way out in saddle arabia it will pick it up” The white “Alicorn” said. Holding her head up, her horn began to... glow a brilliant gold colour, swirls of beautiful golds and whites swimming around her horn. ‘What the fuck…?’ I thought Suddenly there was a loud crack as a golden sphere of magic expanded outwards, spreading throughout the room and straight through me. I quickly closed my, expecting to be incinerated but after a few seconds, the golden creature stopped the spell and I became horribly aware that I had been noticed by her hovering eyes, latching onto me. ‘Shit’ I thought, ‘that spell must have located me’ I quickly blinked over to the door and slammed it open, not caring if they heard me at the moment, making way out while still listening to the creatures in the hall stay silent, I could feel their eyes trained on me as I melted back into the shadows right in front of the shocked guards standing in front of the doors to the hall. Listening hard from where I was, I managed to hear that the older looking princess was ordering the smaller creatures around, to search and find me. I started running, molding and changing with the shadows and consistently blinking across hallways and up stairs ‘Shit I did not want to be noticed now’ I thought as I made way through the winding halls, avoiding guards.