//------------------------------// // Mission #07 : Night Eater // Story: Adventures of Diamond Dancer (Mission Logs) // by RarityEQM //------------------------------// Assignment 07: Night Eater This is Assignment number seven. Code named: Night Eater. My own personal account of my part of the story. Geez, I hate recording these things. Nox'garth. That's the word Princess Luna used. That's the thing that I was staring at; a creature stitched together out of the very fabric of the night itself. An attempt at greatness by some wayward sorcerer fancying themselves a Necromancer and master of things of the night. An affront to the Princess of the evening, it was a large midnight colored creature. Massive, bulky, muscular arms, and a boxy grayish skull with glowing yellow eyes. Giant, leathery fan like ears. Tusks and fangs protruded from its jaws and spikey, bristly fur jut out from every inch of its body. And it's carrying a club, which looks like an uprooted tree. Awesome. If you saw me, standing there; a tiny little filly, no older than ten years old, staring up at this monstrosity of a creature, you'd probably think to yourself: "Wow, that filly is either really brave, or really really stupid." It's the latter, I promise you that. I'm Diamond Dancer, Star Seeker, Impossible Pony, and Night's Errant. I work for Princess Luna and I'm the scout for the Night Crew. I found this guy first. Right on the outskirts of town. Yay for me. So I charge forward. You might have heard about me: I'm the Fantastic Filly. Invincible to physical damage like Wondermare from the comic books. Yeah, that's me; 'The Miracle Mare'. Trust me, it ain't all that it's cracked up to be. My mind goes blank as I rocket towards this thing. See, when you charge towards a towering beast of a creature standing fourteen feet tall and wielding a tree as a weapon, you tend to forget the little things: like every inch of training you've received, an focus all on not wetting yourself. I admit it- I'm scared. But I shoot forward anyway. Princess Luna wants this abomination of a creature secured and that is what the Night Crew does- whatever the Princess wants. Time slows down to a crawl as I race forward and my thoughts lose coherency, drifting into single words and phrases. Run. Fly. Fight. Dodge. Duck. I try to catch it off guard. Who would expect a tiny filly to attack? But he's faster than me. Pretty swift for a massive ugly brute. He takes a single swing with that giant club of his. I can't dodge it in time. It connects. It cracks me across the face and the blow knocks me clean off my hooves. I bounce across the ground like a rubber ball. Doesn't matter. Get back up. Keep flying. Keep fighting. I realize I don't really have a plan. I never do, really. Just keep it focused on me. Keep it from entering the town. Keep it trying to kill me. Yeah make it want my blood. I lower my head and charge forward again. Don't let it enter the town. I increase my speed, chewing up the ground beneath my hooves. I'm the only thing standing between it and the suburbs of Canterlot until the rest of the team gets here. But Canterlot is a big place. It could take a while. I decide I refuse to fail this mission. Can't fail. Don't fail. Won't fail. It sees me coming, and takes another swing with that club. Catches my face at an awkward angle and pops me up into the air. I spiral down to earth and slam into the planet with my body weight landing entirely on my neck. Shoulda killed me. Get back up. Keep flying. Keep fighting. My cutiemark is in determination, but it might as well be obsession. Once I focus on completing a task, I don't stop until the job is done. I won't stop until the job is done. I CAN'T stop until the job is done. Doesn't matter how scared I am, or the nightmares this thing is going to give me, I keep going. Back on my hooves. Power forward. Keep it's attention. Don't let it attack the town. Where are the rest of the Night Crew? How long can I keep this up? I'm scared. No. Put it out of your mind. Fly! Fight! I launch myself into the air- aiming for his chest with a furious headbutt. I connect. 75 pounds of a little black and white missile sailing into its middle. The thing doesn't even flinch. No damage. Not even a wince of discomfort. Crap. It grabs me in a grotesque hand and starts to squeeze. It's trying to shatter me. Crush me into dust. This is what I wanted. This is what I asked for. I begged for this on a silver platter and it's delivering. Yeah. Keep the focus on me. This is what I want right? Where are the others?! It squeezes me. Harder and harder. I can't feel any pain, and my bones don't shatter. I'm invincible, after all. It won't crush me- but there's another problem. I can't breathe. Being invincible is all well and good but my lungs still need air and they ain't gettin' any. I wiggle. I squirm and struggle, and kick. No use. Suffocating. Can't breathe! Panic starts to set in. An on rush of fear I can't do anything to stop. I'm going to die. It's going to choke the life out of me and I'll never get to see my brother Bardigan again. I scream. I'm crying. I can't stop the tears. I want out of this things grasp, but it won't let me go. I kick, I struggle, and finally I bite. I bite as hard as I can into this thing's fingers, and it drops me on my butt. I scramble to find my limbs underneath me. I spit on instinct. Mouth is filled with blood. Its blood. I've probably swallowed some of it.. That's what happens when you can't taste anything. Great- I'll have to get a poison screen when all of this is over. But it isn't over. Not yet. It kicks me away. Frustrated- no, furious that I'm still moving. Still alive. I defy it. I bounce and crash across the manicured lawns of Canterlot's suburbs. Damn it, did the fight progress close enough to homes?! The world is spinning. I can't stop my trajectory from the kick. I hit something. Hard. Rocks and debris crumble down around me. There's screaming now. Loud, panicked screaming. Ponies scrambling past me. A home. I was knocked through the wall of somepony's home. Keep flying! Keep fighting! I try to pull myself from the rubble, but it's heavy. A nice, large chunk of debris is laying on my tail. Can't move. I can only watch. I watch the family I startled scream in panic. I watch a screaming mother and a father. I watch them scoop up a little unicorn girl, my age, into their arms. They're so scared. A monster attacking their home in the middle of the night, by throwing another pony through a wall. They're shocked and terrified. Screaming. It draws the Nox'Garth's attention. It lumbers towards them, still channeling the fury I gave it from failing to kill me. Oh, those terrible, glittering yellow eyes say it all. It's going to murder something tonight. I scream at them to be quiet. Not to draw it's attention, but it doesn't work. They're too frightened to think properly. So am I, for that matter. Being invincible doesn't solve a damned thing when you can't use it to help anypony else. I try to lift the rock again. It won't budge. No! No no no! I can only watch. It lumbers towards the family. They squeeze the little girl tightly, like their soft, fleshy bodies will provide some sort of shield. I won't let this happen. I scream for it. I curse with every word I know, insult it, yell at it. I don't know if it can understand me, but it can certainly tell my tone is hostile. And annoying. A shrieking little ten year old's squeaky voice, screaming at the top of it's lungs. I tell it that it's dumber than a sack of hammers. Smells like Big Foot after free burrito day. Tell it that it's a living disappointment; what kind of creature can't even kill a ten year old, unarmed filly?! It finally turns towards me. Hurray. I can't move. The debris from the house is still atop my tail. All I can do is watch it lumber towards me. It's going to kill me this time. It's going to murder me without a second thought or hesitation. I get to watch my death walk up to meet me. I start to think of all the things I'd never get to do. Never get to grow up or meet the Wonderbolts. Never get to have a first kiss, or even a first date. Never get to visit cool exotic places. It's over. That giant tree it wields comes down with a thunderous blast around me. It's instantly dark. I'm buried under the wood and rubble. I can't breathe, can't see, can't move. I'm defiant to the last, though. I scream something about how ugly it is. I'm sure it can't hear me, but it lifts the tree anyway, and brings it back down on my skull. Should have killed me. It doesn't, but it's enough to shatter the debris holding me prisoner for this punishment. I can't move anyway, though. My ears are ringing like crazy, and I can't see straight. Dust in my eyes. Completely helpless. I yell at it again. Still defiant. Still angry. Still determined. I wish I could check on the family, to see if they've escaped, but the way this creature continues to pummel me into the ground with it's club doesn't offer me a whole lot of options. By the stars, why won't it stop?! It crushes me again, and again, and again and again, and I can only lay there and wait for my body to finally break down. To give up it's 'miraculous' durability, and the next blow is suddenly my last. The next blow is different; a sweeping blow that sends me sailing like a golfball into a dirt road. I need a minute. I have to get my bearings, find my legs, find the ground. It doesn't give me the time. I'm it's personal insult now. It was going to kill me, and every movement I made just reminded it of it's failure. I roll over onto my back, panting heavily, trying to scoot away from it. I just needed a minute, just a second to orient myself. It brings the club down again with a shattering smash, crushing me into the ground. I suckle down whatever breath I can, trying not to fall into a blind panic. Where was the Night Crew?! How was I supposed to deal with this alone?! Why won't anybody help me?! I scoot back. Further and further. Sliding backwards on my butt, trying to flex and pump my wings. I can't feel my body of course, so getting up into the air from a cold take off wasn't happening. I was grounded. I could imagine a dirty, bruised, beat up filly, trying to fly from sitting position. Left wing fluttering wildly, while the right wing aimlessly flipped and flapped along. No, I wasn't going anywhere, and this monster seemed to know it. It crashed the club into me again. My body was made for it's amusement. I was its plaything. Thats all I was good for. It clubbed me again. Worthless. I was worthless. I wasn't saving anypony. I was delaying the inevitable. There was no ending to this fight. It would continue to crush me, until it got tired and wandered off to destroy the lives of some Canterlot nobles, and all I could do was watch. I wasn't strong enough to actually hurt it, and eventually it would figure out I wasn't a threat. Not by myself. The club fell again, flattening me into the ground. Something bright and yellow shot by overhead in the midnight sky, but I didn't get a good look at it. Whatever it was vanished under the giant tree that slammed into me again. I gasped for air, coughing and sputtering when I accidentally inhaled a mouthful of splinters and blood. Blood? My blood? It's blood? I couldn't tell. Suddenly the tree came tumbling down. The monster had dropped it right atop of me, pinning me to the ground. I took what air that my little lungs could hold, and did my best to keep breathing. It was getting harder and harder. Trees are heavy, if you didn't know. Above me, the creature stumbled forward and backwards, while an ebony coated pony buzzed around it wildly. Virga. A pegasus with ice powers and a member of the Night Crew, and one of my 'partners.' Took him long enough to show up. I noticed something to my left. Something waving frantically to get my attention. Firefly. Another member of the night crew, a pegasus, like me. She was screaming something at me, but I couldn't make it out. My ears were ringing from the multiple impacts from the tree that was resting on my chest. The world turned bright yellow, and suddenly the tree was gone- smoking cinders tumbling from the sky like rain. Did I mention Firefly had these weird lightning powers? She zapped the tree and exploded it, and even though I was caught in the blast, she knew very well I wouldn't be hurt. Still, I was blinded and deafened by the bolt, so I wasn't much good to anypony in my current condition. Thats what I thought, at least. Firefly, had other plans. The bigger pegasus scooped me up, and took me for a ride. High, high, high into the air. Me, I couldn't see and I couldn't hear. Couldn't feel, taste, or smell. I was just along for the ride, and once we were high enough, Firefly grabbed my tail, and whirled me around like a shot-put. When she let go, I ended up sailing towards the ground at mach 2- charged and infused with a bolt of Firefly's lightning. She'd turned me into a living weapon. I couldn't see where I was going, but Firefly's aim was perfect. I slammed into the creatures head with a skull crushing impact and electrocuted it at the same time. We both dropped like rocks to the ground. I was the one that kept breathing, though. The next evening, Luna tells me I did a good job- when I wake up, at least. She's a merciful boss. Made sure the dream I had that night was about getting tickets to see the Wonderbolts perform in Canterlot, and not some horrible monster mutilating my body for it's amusement. She tells me the Night Crew saved Canterlot and the would-be Necromancer was caught, and serving time in the castle dungeons. The Night Crew were busy apprehending this jerkazoid while I was keeping his 'pet' entertained. Couldn't have done it without me, she says, as if she somehow knew my reservations about my level of worth to the team. Hearing praise from my princess makes me smile. I appreciate it- I really do. So I don't have any problems with the next assignment we're given; stopping "Draqual" the Blood-Pony from ravaging the city of Detrot. But thats another assignment for another night.