//------------------------------// // The Monster of Shadow Pass // Story: The Knights of Tambelon // by Catrina37 //------------------------------// Chapter 7: The Monster of Shadow Pass The next morning, the five are packing up their camp site to continue the search. Daring Do and Rainbow Dash folded the tents; Fluttershy was rolling up the sleeping bags; and Discord, well, with a snap of his eagle talon and some chaos magic, he made Fluttershy’s bed disappear, and made sure everything was packed. “I’m gonna fly above the trees and catch our bearings,” Daring Do informs the others. “Good idea, Daring Do,” Rainbow Dash says. Daring Do flies above the trees and gets out her telescope. She circles as she looks around, hoping that there could be a good landmark for her and her friends to mark down in order to keep track of their whereabouts. Then...to her mouth-opening surprise...she spots an old castle on top of a hill. Little did she know of course that it’s the same one Scorpan and the others are staying in. She dives down to let the others know, landing gently onto the ground. “Hey guys. I found a castle,” she tells them. “Castle?” Rainbow responds with a quizzical look. “Yay. It’s northwest of us. We can go over there and see if anybody has seen Twilight or if she’s there.” “I wonder how anypony could even miss that?” Fluttershy questions. “Oh, don’t worry Fluttershy. It’s just fate. After all, writers can hide something so well, and they have a good reason for doing it.” Discord says to Fluttershy. The last part of course gave her a rather confused look. She really didn’t know what he meant by all of that. Suddenly, a huge bat-like shadow appears and circles them. Fluttershy looks and screams. “IT’S THE MONSTER!! RUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNN!!!!!” She screams as she tries to fly off. The monster is really Thorne in his disguise. He swoops down and dive bombs the heroes, hoping to scare them. “I’m not afraid of that monster!” Rainbow Dash says as she flies up to fight the monster. She zips past him numerous times, causing Thorne to lose balance in his flight. “I’m dealing with a feisty pegasus!” Thorne says in panic. He struggles to get away from Rainbow Dash, but she bumps him, causing him to crash down to the campsite. Thorne was in a daze when he sees he’s surround by everyone but Fluttershy, who hides behind Discord. Discord picks up the “monster” and observes him. Holding him upside down by holding his feet as he did. “Oh, well, how do you like that? This isn’t a monster at all; it’s only a bat imp disguised as one.” he informs them. “Warrior bat imp if I may put in.” Thorne adds. “What do you think we should do with him?” Fluttershy asks. “We’ll take him with us while we look for Twilight,” Rainbow Dash says. “You’re Twilight’s friends?” Thorne asks. “You know Twilight?” Rainbow Dash says with a surprised look on her face. Discord by then puts Thorne down so that he could explain himself without being in such an awkward position. Thorne of course had to flip himself up on his feet because his head was on the ground instead of the air. “My name’s Thorne. And don’t worry, Twilight’s safe. She’s recuperating at my home, which is that castle you spotted.” Fluttershy by then stepped out from behind Discord to come in front of Thorne. “Can you take us to her?” Fluttershy asks him nicely. Thorne smiled at the way Fluttershy asked him, as well as being able to see her closer than last night, and how beautiful she was to his point of view. “For an angelic pegasus like you, I would even move this mountain,” Thorne says as he takes her hoof and kisses it. When Discord saw what Thorne just did, it caused Discord to growl with jealousy like a lion. “Lead the way then, Thorne.” Rainbow orders Thorne. With that order made, Thorne walks ahead of the others, leading the ponies and draconequess who were following closely behind to where Twilight was being taken care of. **** As the group was making their to the castle, Ahuizotl and his cats were sleeping on the hill, not knowing yet that their targets were moving on. Ahuizotl was sleeping against a rock, while his cats laid with one another like kittens in a basket. The small white kitten of the group was the first to awaken, yawning and stretching as she did. Thinking that it was a good idea to check up on Thorne and the other heroes on what was happening, she gets up from her spot, and walks softly to the ledge. A quick survey of her surroundings and the view, and she spots what she was looking for: Thorne, the pegasi, and Discord. She also saw that Thorne was leading the group. Quickly realizing that they were on the move, the cat hastily runs to her master, and meows loud enough to wake everyone up. Her meow did however cause Ahuizotl to get disturbed from his sleep, making him yelp as he awoke. “Ah! 32!” he yelped, like he was answering a math question. He snapped out of his stupor when he found that his cat was clawing him to get his attention. “What is it my friend?” he asks her. Since he could speak cat, his kitty friend by then meows everything that is happening at this very moment. What she told him had given him great joy. “Really? Excellent! Excellent!” he joyously says, “Come my friends, we have no time to waste!” Running straight to the ledge he last saw Thorne and the others from, he brings out his telescope, and sees Thorne leading the others somewhere northwest from where they slept. Seeing where the path lead, he finds that they’re headed straight to the old abandoned castle. “Hmmm. Strange how no one could ever see that castle they’re headed for,” he says as he puts away his telescope, “But no matter. Once I capture Scorpan and his friends, this search will be worth it in the end.” He by then pridefully chuckles to himself for the accomplishment he made for both his master, and himself. Soon, he will finally take the knights into custody.