//------------------------------// // #26 - Well in the Lead: Part II // Story: Techorse Short Stories // by Spirals95 //------------------------------// Well in the Lead: Part II Techorse series: #26 By Spirals95 Techorse had successfully found a place for Mortar's talents, but he still had two other ponies left to go. It wouldn't be easy establishing a job for a kleptomaniac and someone who liked to scare others, but it had to be done. He simply couldn't settle for the terrible alternative of letting Arbiter lock them up. Despite this, Techorse also understood that this was not simply a contest against the captain, it was also a way for him to make friends with these ponies. Anything he could do to try to improve himself in that area was considered a victory in his book. As the three walked through Ponyville, Raider had a look around all of the mom and pop stores that made up a majority of the town's economy. Although some were built into the colonial pink and white homes, many of them were simply wooden stands covered in tablecloths of various tints. Now Raider was a raging kleptomaniac, at least from Arbiter's perspective, and a lot of the stores were covered booths that would be extremely easy to steal from once nopony was looking. One particular stand left unguarded was displaying small shiny rings made from silver mined from the mountains. Each of the rings was not placed in an exact order on the table, and that drove Raider absolutely nuts. The unicorn would be unable to help herself if Techorse didn't keep a close eye on her! "Wow!" she said, a subtle nervous laugh on her throat, "There sure are a lot of… shiny, small objects here." "Uh oh. Don't even think about it, Raider," commented Mortar, "if Captain Arbiter hears from Techorse that you took a ring…" "I don't even want to think about it," said Shadow Breeze, frowning. The thought of being locked up for the rest of measurable time made Raider bite her lower lip as she struggled not to try to take the rings. But they seemed so out of place to her, all alone on that table and not in a pile of loot somewhere. Techorse noticed her sweating buckets from the temptation, and approached her, "Raider, if being near the stores is making you feel upset, let's get you out of the market. It's my fault for not thinking about that and letting you get tempted." "Yeah, that sounds great. There's gotta be a place in town where I can stop taking things…" she said, nearly shivering. "I have an idea," Techorse said, then, turning his head to the other two stallions, "it'll give you guys something to do as well." Shadow Breeze nodded, "Sure! We can take a break for a while." He brought them to the library to relax and read while he discussed Raider's condition with Twilight. Opening the red wooden door to the tree home, Techorse ushered his companions inside. Twilight had been finishing a personal letter at the time, and moved over to greet them as they entered. "Hey Tech!" she said, "Brought some friends over to check out some books?" "Yes, Twilight, this is Raider, Shadow Breeze, and Mortar," he answered, introducing them with a pointing of his leg, "guys, this is my marefriend Twilight Sparkle." "Nice to meet you Twilight," said Shadow, stepping forward, "it's pretty cool how you're a librarian and all, my sister decided to do that in my hometown." "It's great to hear somepony else likes managing books too!" Laughed Twilight. She noticed the amulet hanging around his neck and asked with surprise, "Hey, where did you get that shadow manipulation amulet?" "I found it in a cave while helping out a zebra who wanted to explore it," the pegasus replied, "my real name is Spirit Breeze, but after I learned how to really work with this thing's magic, I sort of got myself a nickname." "That's pretty neat, and those amulets are rare! Would you mind showing me a trick, I've always wanted to see one work?" she asked. Shadow Breeze looked at a nearby wall of the library, and focused on a plain section of it. The amulet around his neck darkened in appearance for a moment, and a small beam of black energy shot out and touched the wall, casting a shadow in the shape of a sprout. With each second, the shadow puppet sprout grew larger until it was a silhouette of a vine scaling the library wall. The shadows then returned to the source beam, and it disappeared inside the amulet. Twilight looked at him again and said, "Cool, it's just how that book on magical artifacts I finished last month described it!" As they talked, Raider noticed a set of three books on the east-most shelf. They were all volumes of the same collection, blue-spined books with a gold number at the base. But something was terribly wrong, one of the books was left standing up just a few inches to the right of the other two books. Raider nearly began to squirm from the sight of it, and clenched her jaw shut. As soon as she was sure that Twilight and the others weren't looking at her, the unicorn used her magic to gently slide the book back into place with the others. With her sharp eyes, however, Twilight had noticed the event. "Thinking about checking out that book?" she asked. Raider rotated her head quickly and shouted, "I wasn't going to take it, I swear! It was out of place is all!" "What..?" Trailed Twilight, tilting her head in a confused manner. "I'm sorry," apologized Mortar on behalf of his friend, "Raider is a kleptomaniac, and she's worried you might think she was going to take your book." "Who called her a kleptomaniac?" asked Twilight, still not following. Techorse explained, "Arbiter described Raider as having stolen a bunch of lawn decorations from ponies around her town. She'd then return everything in one big heap in the middle of the town hall." "Ugh, I can't help it!" said Raider, her ear twitching, "Those lawn decorations were all out of place, just like those rings at the store, and just like that book!" Twilight thought for a second about the pieces of information she had just received, and concluded, "Raider, you're not a kleptomaniac." "I'm not?" she asked, "But Arbiter said…" "Arbiter is quick to assume things," noted the lavender mare, "Raider, if you had kleptomania you'd have a huge horde of stolen objects in your house. But instead you gave them back pretty much as soon as you took them. I think what you really have is obsessive compulsive disorder." "What's that?" she asked. Twilight tried to give a simple explanation, "I read about it a long time ago. Basically, it's a condition where anything that's out of place bugs you until you absolutely have to fix it. The lawn decorations, the rings, that book, were all out of place and irritating to you." "So she doesn't have to steal things?" said Shadow, "That's great!" "But what can I do?" asked Raider, "That sounds permanent." Techorse suggested, "Well, you could always take some medication to help you with the disorder. I know a pony who might know one, and I'll give you his address later." "Well yeah, that, but I meant what could I possibly do for a job?" she asked, "There isn't going to be much work out there for a mare who takes things." "But that can't be true," Twilight laughed, "look at your cutie mark, three flashlights. Don't you think that means something?" Raider looked back at her own flank and said, "Well, I got my cutie mark when I found a lost necklace that belonged to my mother in the dark of the woods behind our house. Nopony else could see it outside, but somehow, the small sparkling of the necklace drew me to it." Raider stared blankly for a few moments at Twilight, who smiled knowingly. Raider slapped her forehead with an orange hoof. "Oh, duh!" she said, "I could have a service dedicated to finding little mistakes in things, maybe a decorating business. I could start by apprenticing with someone else and figure out if all the paintings and decorations in ponies' homes were level and evenly spaced, and then work up to having a perfect decorating business of my own." "Way to turn a flaw into an advantage!" said Twilight. She then added meekly, "Oh, and don't forget, if you ever need support for obsessing over things, write me sometime. I tend to obsess too." Raider promised, "I will, thanks Twilight!" "Hey, not to be rude," daid Mortar, "but we still need to find Shadow Breeze a job as well." "Oh, that's ok!" answered Twilight, a bright smile on her face, "Come back anytime you'd like to." Twilight watched the four of them leave, and winked at Techorse as he closed the door behind him. But as soon as her guests were gone, Twilight whisked around and hurried over to a nearby bookshelf. Furiously searching, she took out a brown, well-worn book, and started flipping through the pages magically as fast as she could. "Shadow amulet, shadow amulet…" she muttered as she searched. Techorse brought the three of them back to his castle in order to discuss plans for helping Shadow Breeze figure out what positive tasks he could do with his talents. In his mind, he would make a good diplomat, but the road to being one was long and required a better education than what he had now. The inventor believed that the best idea was to simply tell him this, and give a list of places where he could go and study to become one. But when they returned to the stone fortress at the edge of town, they found a familiar face leaning up with his back against the door. It was Arbiter, waiting patiently for them to return. Relaxing from his pause against the door, the larger stallion put all four hooves on the dirt road in front of Techorse's home, and walked towards them. "Well hello, Techorse," he said teasingly, "glad to see you back, your robot told me to wait outside for you." The three friends stopped behind Techorse, and tried to avoid Arbiter's remaining eye. The swordscolt caught on to this behavior and asked of them, "Now, as for you three. Step forward." Raider and Shadow Breeze boldly stepped in front of Techorse, then pulled up Mortar between them, who was lagging behind. "Techorse, did these three complete their service?" he demanded to know, "What have they done?" He answered, "They helped repaint Applejack's barn and weed her trees. Raider has learned that she's not a kleptomaniac, but instead has obsessive compulsive disorder, and is taking steps to counter it. I was just about to tell Shadow Breeze here a job he could do if he stops pulling pranks…" Captain Arbiter smirked, and flapped his wings once sharply to get his cape straightened out. "I see. Well it sounds like you've done quite enough, and I'm sure Shadow Breeze will be happy with whatever assignment you give him," he chuckled, "if that's all, they may go." "So we're free?" asked Raider with hope sparkling in her eyes. Arbiter had waited for this, and said, "I guess so. However, I was going to offer you a special task that would not only reverse your status as pranksters, but also entitle you to something rather special, especially for civilians such as yourselves." Techorse frowned, he knew Arbiter was up to something with that way of speaking and the look on his face, but he couldn't figure out what it was. Something in his gut told him, however, that it was going to involve him in some way. "What kind of an entitlement?" asked Mortar. Arbiter said with a happy tone, "Medals of course! Each of you will not only be considered good citizens of Equestria, but also heroes if you succeed in this task. Wouldn't you like to receive a medal for a job well done?" The captain watched as each of the ponies in front of him agreed that indeed, a medal for doing something special would be a great accomplishment. He thought to himself, "Carrot…" "Of course," Arbiter said out loud, "If you choose not to… I will have to let Princess Celestia know you were just trying to get out of trouble as fast as possible. She's not going to like that one bit, I'm afraid." That froze them in their tracks, except for Techorse, who knew better. Dealing with Captain Arbiter might mean being locked up or getting a whipping, but Princess Celestia? It would be the end of them, in their minds. "Ha ha, and the stick!" thought Arbiter, enjoying the brilliance of his plan. "We… we'll do it!" said Raider, attempting to gain confidence. Arbiter shut his eye, and smiled, before reaching into a bag tied around his belt. Pulling out a scroll, he turned it over to Techorse. The stallion's saddle opened up, and his robot arms accepted the message. When he unrolled the scroll though, his coat seemed to turn a slightly paler shade of green. On the scroll was a drawing of a blue-colored, four-headed hydra, with scale indicators at the side showing that it was estimated at 115 feet tall, and 50 feet across, an 80 foot long tail barbed with vertical scales of red color, and natural armor consisting of light blue scales woven throughout the monster's hide. Below was an order to move the creature to a new location, as it had been sighted a few dozen miles in a canyon near Cloudsdale. A merchant had gone through the area recently, and after nearly becoming a meal for the hydra, fled and told Princess Celestia about it. Because the canyon served as a trade route for several towns around the Cloudsdale area, the monster would have to be re-located. It would first need to be knocked unconscious before being magically transported to a cavern by the seaside, where it'd be able to live without being a threat. "You want us to fight this thing?" asked Techorse with some level of panic, "Arbiter, this is insane! Are you trying to get us eaten?" Arbiter answered slyly, "Techorse, old friend, with your technology I'm sure it'll be a piece of cake. That hydra is only two thirds the size of the one your marefriend ran into a while ago, so it will be far weaker. Plus, I know as well as you do that your weapons are good at not slaying things. You'll gauge just the amount of firepower necessary to knock it out, and then this teleportation rune I've had my cousin bring to me will move it to its new home." Shadow Breeze hated violence, and gave Arbiter a nasty look before saying to him, "What if we say no? What if I don't want to fight this thing?" Arbiter sighed and shook his head, "I guess I'll just have to do things… my way." The sword that had been gifted to him by Techorse was removed from its sheath, and Arbiter stood there with the hilt in his mouth, as he'd left his magical gauntlets at home. Shadow Breeze's mouth opened slightly, and his expression changed to one of horror. It was bad enough that he'd have to fight the hydra, but if he didn't, Arbiter would dispose of it! Worst of all, the hydra was not as valuable as a pony's life, so Arbiter would be able to get away with it. Techorse and Shadow Breeze looked at each other, and knew that they had to stand up to Arbiter's plan. "We'll deal with the hydra," said Techorse, a little angry, "just give me the rune, and we'll have it done by the end of the day." Arbiter returned the sword to its blue sheath, and said, "I knew I could rely on Techorse and his new friends! Oh, and I wasn't lying about the medals, you'll receive them as soon as you've completed the task." The Captain of the Guard threw the rune at his front hooves. It was a simple flat piece of flagstone, with an odd pattern resembling a warped ceiling fan on it. He then spread his wings, and took off into the blue sky of Ponyville, with only a few clouds to cover his exit. Techorse wasted no time preparing for the mission. It would be extremely dangerous given both the hydra's carnivory and how territorial the creature was. He loaded into his battle saddle his trusty laser cannons, his missile launcher with 10 rounds of ammunition, and his turbofans. There'd be no need for his robotic arms, hopefully, and the other gadgets he had were more based around utility than offensive firepower. After he had prepared himself mentally and equipment-wise for the task, he led his new friends into a room he hadn't used in a long time. It contained a holographic table, which scanned document and created a 3D image of them in the air above it. The table itself was a small stand, with a blue grid of glowing projector wires crisscrossed along the top of it. The rest of the room itself was empty, save for an electrical light switch. Holograms were the most visible when it was dark, and the room had no distractions. After placing Arbiter's orders on the table, he pushed a few buttons with his hooves, and the three ponies in front of the table oohed as the table constructed a 3D hydra from the drawing on the scroll. Techorse pointed to it and said, "This 3D image gives us a way to plan our attack. In order to knock out the hydra, I've loaded half of my missiles with a sleeping gas. I need you three to stand in places where you'll be safe from strikes by the heads, while I come up from behind and drop the gas onto each of them. Once all of the heads have fallen asleep, we're going to use the rune Arbiter gave us to teleport it to its new beach-side home." "But what should we do to distract it?" asked Raider, "Honestly Techorse, I do not want to look tasty!" "We may have no choice but to fight it," Techorse sighed, "but hopefully we won't cause any permanent harm." Pressing another button, the hologram disappeared from view, and the lights in the room brightened again. "Let's take an hour break or so, and then we'll head out," suggested Techorse. Mortar nodded, "Sounds good." "Great! See you back here in an hour." The three friends left the castle, and decided to split up for their break, doing what they wanted to do the most. They were all a little worried this could be their last time of recreation. Shadow Breeze ended up wandering downtown by himself, and despite the warmth of the day, he wasn't having very pleasant thoughts run through his head. Some of the residents of Ponyville looked away from their shopping and felt pity for Shadow Breeze as he trudged along, a metaphorical storm cloud over his head. He reached a small gardening store, filled with potted plants of all kinds, and decided to spend time enjoying his hobby of botany. There were lush emerald ferns planted in terracotta pots, beautiful flowers of all colors and scents, and even a handful of marsh plants grown hydroponically in metal buckets of various sizes. Next to the display of plants were tools used to aide in growing them, shovels and rakes alike. While Shadow Breeze looked over the flora and attempted to focus his mind on happy thoughts, a timid mare walked up from an angle where she wouldn't be seen so easily, and also started to browse the same plants. It was Fluttershy, out on a shopping trip to purchase a new fern to replace one that had shriveled up over the summer. She browsed over one particular variety of the seedless plants, when she lost track of space and accidentally knocked over a rake. Down came the tool's long wooden handle, right between Shadow Breeze's ears and onto his head. THWACK Fluttershy put a hoof up to her mouth in horror at her mistake, and gasped, "Oh my! I'm sorry. Are you ok?" Shadow Breeze rubbed his head after removing the rake, and hoped that the impact wouldn't leave a lump. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said, rather grumpy. Fluttershy was not convinced she had been forgiven, "Are you sure? Will you be ok?" Shadow Breeze watched as the shopkeeper picked up the rake and put it back in place, while suspiciously eying them as if they were going to break things. He then returned his attention to Fluttershy and said, "I'll be fine. I'm just a little grumpy because I have to go fight an animal this afternoon, and I hate fighting." The yellow pegasus smiled and said softly, "Oh, I hate fighting too! You know you don't have to fight, right? There's always another way to solve problems, especially with animals." "Well, I'm sorry," answered Shadow, "but I do have to fight it, to try and knock it out so we can give it a new home. If I don't, Captain Arbiter will… slay it." When Fluttershy heard who was responsible for making this new acquaintance have to fight, she became concerned, "Now I know Arbiter can be very mean, and it makes it seem like there's only two choices. But there's a way to not hurt that animal, whatever it is. Sometimes all an animal needs is a little love." Shadow Breeze introduced himself, "My name is Shadow Breeze. I'm here in Ponyville to make up for a few mistakes I've made, and I'm working with Techorse to do that." "I know Techorse," she said, "he's a good pony. Is he having to fight too?" "I'm afraid so," sighed the darker of the two pegasi, "by the way, what's your name?" A meek reply came, "Oh… It's, it's Fluttershy…" "It's nice to meet you, Fluttershy. So, I take it that you like to take care of animals?" he asked. Fluttershy answered, "Yes, very much. It's a long story though, too long for most ponies." "Well, I have a thing for plants, and you have a thing for animals," he said, "ee could trade stories, and then I'll head back to see Techorse." "Um, maybe some other time, ok?" said Fluttershy, backing away, "I need to go… do something." She walked away slowly from him, leaving him looking at the plants. He was hoping to make another friend, but it looked like that would have to wait for another time. "Oh well," he thought, "Who'd want me for a friend anyways…" Fluttershy could pick up on his hurt, and looked down on the ground in shame. She didn't want to have a lengthy conversation with someone she had known for two minutes, that'd be scary. But it was more important for her to be kind to others than to try and satisfy her somewhat irrational worries. She turned around slowly, and went back to Shadow Breeze, who looked up at her rather surprised. "It's just that, right now is not a very good time," she said, not making eye contact, "but if, you wanted to talk later about plants and animals, that'd be ok. I'll be at Sugarcube Corner this weekend, to have tea with a friend. You can join us, if that fits your schedule." "I'd love to!" he answered, hoping to make more friends in Ponyville. "Ok, I'll see you later then… Shadow Breeze," she said, walking backwards before turning around and picking up her speed. She had completely forgotten her fern from the buildup of stress over the social situation. "Hey buddy…" said a rather concerned voice. Shadow Breeze turned to meet an unhappy shopkeeper, a grey earth pony with a black handlebar mustache and mane, "Sorry about the rake bashing you. Now I'd hate to have to pay any medical bills, so…" "Don't worry, it's just a bruise," assured Shadow Breeze. "Good, Good. So, talking with Miss Fluttershy eh?" he asked, "She comes by here to get plants for the umpteen-million pets she has. She might be a little weird, but she's right, if you show a creature a little care, it usually will respond with care." "You wouldn't happen to have a plant that calms reptiles down, would you?" asked Shadow Breeze, hoping for some hydra nip. "No, don't stock that kind of a plant," he answered, "but if it's a reptile you're fighting, those things can get pretty aggressive if they don't have a spouse. Give 'em a spouse and boom, no more aggression." "I guess that makes some sense," Shadow Breeze said, "thanks so much…" "Mr. Pottenturf," answered the earth pony, "my wife and I own the greenhouse outside of town, so you drop by anytime, and we'll let you look over the plants when you want. I heard you tell Fluttershy you're a plant lover, and I want to make up for the whole rake incident here…" He muttered under his breath, "Among other incidents concerning Fluttershy and my greenhouse." "Sound good?" he said, brightening up. "Of course! Thanks sir," answered the pegasus, "now I've got to get back to Techorse's castle, I have an idea thanks to you." "Good luck!" called Mr. Pottenturf as Shadow ran off, "You're gonna need it, kid." Once Shadow Breeze had gotten back the castle, he found out quickly that he had been late for about ten minutes, as his friends had already gathered their supplies and tied the saddlebags containing them around their middles. "Hey, there you are!" said Mortar, "We were starting to get worried about you." "Everything's fine," he assured them, "in fact, I have an idea as to how we're going to deal with the hydra." Raider shook her head, "Let's just stick with Techorse's plan, and use the sleeping gas he has loaded into his saddle there." Shadow Breeze frowned, but agreed reluctantly that he should go along with the original plan. Techorse, wanting to be a good friend, offered, "Hey, if anything goes wrong, Shadow, we can try your plan. For now though, we have to get to the canyon. I've put its coordinates into my self-teleporter, and I have a copy of the device for each of us." Techorse passed around the bulky silver boxes, each one containing a simple red activation button and several dials used to input coordinates. "All right, on three, we all push the buttons," instructed Techorse, "one, two… three!" Each of the ponies depressed the red button on their control, and with a heavy sound of electronic energy, a cyclone of blue light engulfed each one of them, and they disappeared. When they re-materialized, they found themselves just a few miles away from the canyon, and could even make out the city of Cloudsdale in the distance above them. The grassy plain Techorse had chosen for coordinates would allow them to sneak up on their enemy from behind, as the Hydra had ambushed the merchant from the other side of the huge ravine. It was a copper laden formation, being rather red in color and rocky. A perfect place for a giant reptile to live in relative peace. Unfortunately, snacking on passersby was not acceptable, so it had to be relocated. Raider felt her heart in her throat as she and her three friends proceeded down a carved-out slope meant to allow carts to enter and exit the canyon. Not only was the air dry, but the sun was beating down on the ravine, the teleportation had also left them dizzy and somewhat struggling to regain their thoughts as they proceeded down the shallow dirt path down into the canyon basin. Once they had reached the bottom after a good half hour of walking, their hooves were getting sore and their mouths were getting dried out. They stopped to have a drink of water once they had exited the ramp, and then they proceeded with great caution through the twisting ravine. It was at least one thousand feet high on each side, and yet was rather wide, making it unlikely the natural structure was on a fault line. Several inhabitants that would normally find home in a mountain area were living in the place, including insects of many varieties and small animals such as rabbits, who fed on the vegetation. Many of the creatures were hiding inside their homes, however, staring out at the ponies with fear in their eyes. Techorse observed this and new exactly what the animals were afraid of. The team reached a turn in the walls of the canyon, and after looking ahead, Techorse knew he'd located the hydra. Motioning for the others to follow him, they carefully walked around the corner, and found the beast watching the other ramp leading out of the canyon like a hawk. Each of its four heads scanned the area, just waiting for another merchant to come by. The area itself seemed almost like an arena, a circular cut in the ravine with a few small caves dotted along the ground. "All right," whispered Techorse, "I'm going to sneak around to the other side, you three need to stay as far away as possible and distract it!" "Got it!" replied Mortar. The green stallion moved away from his friends, and hugged the right wall of the canyon, edging slowly towards the monster. He gave the mental command for his saddle to load the first set of missiles into his launcher, and prepared to attack with them from behind once his friends had gotten the beast to turn around and focus on them. But unfortunately, as many well-thought out plans tended to go, it backfired. The rightmost head of the hydra turned and spotted Techorse creeping along the wall, and he had made eye contact with the creature. The head gave a loud hissing sound, and its three siblings concentrated their attention on him. "Oh no!" shouted Techorse, drawing his laser cannons. He opened fire, and streams of yellow bolts of energy flew out from the weapons. Blasts struck against the hydra's necks and body, blasting away scales and scorching the surface of its skin. The monster roared and charged for Techorse on its two legs, leaving indents in the soft ground behind it. Of course, although the bolts of destructive electromagnetic energy were inflicting harm, they weren't going to do enough damage to completely take down a hydra. Yet still, the stinging of the projectiles seemed to be slowing it down, and making it think the brown-maned pony in front of it might not be such an easy meal to pick up. The colossal reptile had reached within striking distance of Techorse, and he switched as fast as he could to his turbofans to attempt to dodge anything thrown at him. Each of the heads lunged for him simultaneously, and Techorse jumped, then with the sound of helicopter blades, the fans carried him up over the heads, and onto the back of the Hydra's second neck. He slid down the monster's back, and took off again half way down, flying at an angle to make sure he didn't head directly back for the rest of his team. The Hydra's heads all impacted the stone wall of the canyon, likely removing a few more of whatever small number of brain cells it possessed. After recovering from the missed attempt at snapping up Techorse, they seemed to quarrel amongst themselves for a second, before turning around to scan for him. The mighty tail swished, grating along the wall behind it and kicking up red dirt clouds that clogged the lungs. Techorse was standing in a battle-ready pose to the Hydra's right, and he switched to his missile launcher. Two platforms slid out from the inside of the machine, each one sporting a small red-colored missile. Looking straight at the beast's second head, he opened fire, and the pair of missiles broke free from their racks and streamed for the monster. The projectiles impacted the head, and to Techorse's shock, they exploded, knocking the head backwards and shrouding it with smoke. "I forgot to switch to the sleeping gas rounds when I left the castle…" he said slowly, "Well… that's going to make it mad…' Sure enough, when the smoke had settled, the Hydra's injured head was furious, and of course the others were obligated to share in the rage. Each of them spat a stream of boiling hot acid from glands located underneath their bottom fangs, and the purple goo streamed out towards Techorse. He rolled away to dodge the venom, and it splashed in front of him, soaking the ground and making it sizzle as it ate away at the ground, showing how potent it was. "I don't want to know what'll happen if I get hit by that!" he said to himself. A stone sailed through the air, and struck the Hydra's side, gaining its attention. It stared down angrily at the three ponies to its left, and turned to face them, stomping the ground. Raider, Mortar, and Shadow Breeze looked up at the monster. Then, with a lift of her front leg, Raider pointed to Mortar and said, "He did it." Mortar gave Raider a look of contempt, before looking back at the Hydra and deciding it was the perfect time to flee. The three ran and flew away as fast as their legs or wings could carry them, although Shadow and Mortar had no intent of flying up and leaving poor Raider to be devoured. The monster gave chase, roaring and spitting more streams of venom. The splashes of purple all-dissolving liquid were missing wildly, but the threat of it kept the three running. Eventually, they reached a small cave in the wall of the canyon, and ran inside to hide. This distraction had provided a perfect opportunity for Techorse to attack. Since he had forgotten the sleeping gas entirely, he decided his best bet was to knock each head unconscious with the force of his remaining conventional missiles. Since they were plastic and shrapnel free, it wouldn't leave any lasting damage, although the pockmarks from his lasers were likely to leave the Hydra with missing patches of scales for a few weeks. Techorse's missile launchers returned, freshly reloaded with another set of explosives. Aiming again, this time for the spaces between the first and third heads, he figured a blast in those exact spots would knock out all the heads at once. Firing, the missiles screeched before traveling on the path their owner had intended for them, but unfortunately, the Hydra had heard the noise. The third head turned nearly 180 degrees, and ordered the others to duck. The long, flexible necks bent downwards, and in an impressive display of intelligence, the missiles sailed past it and off into the distance, where they exploded harmlessly against a boulder. Another full about face brought the oversized lizard back to focusing on Techorse. This time, he panicked, and started to blast away with his laser guns again. More impacts and small energy explosions dotted the monster, but it was not going to give up. It reached Techorse, and prepared to strike once more. He panicked, and rapidly the guns disappeared into his saddle to be replaced by the fans, but before he could do so, the monster swung its tail, and the appendage wrapped around Techorse, then flipped him upside down. Yelling in fear, Techorse tried to bring out anything to help him, but the tail's muscles were strong, and squeezed around his saddle so tightly he could hear the internal components start to strain. The hydra then brought its tail up, and, being careful to use exactly the right amount of force, bumped Techorse's head into the ground. The earth pony fell unconscious, and the hydra flipped him over, holding him tightly in the light blue tail. Each of the Hydra's heads gave each other a congratulatory smirk, but also shared enough thoughts to know Techorse wouldn't be enough meat for the four of them. There were still three other ponies to catch. Those three particular ponies had witnessed Tech get his proverbial lights knocked out, and tried their hardest not to scream. "Techorse!" cried Raider. The Hydra approached the hole in the wall of its home, and attempted to snake one of its heads in to retrieve the other tasty morsels. Unfortunately, the entrance to the small cave was very short, but Shadow Breeze had a good look at one of the heads! Its reptilian yellow eyes seems to burn with pure hatred, but were those long eyelashes on them? Shadow Breeze noticed the feature, and realized that his plan from earlier would worked perfectly, given that Mr. Pottenturf had told the truth earlier about Hydras. "Oh what are we going to do?" panicked Raider, "It has Techorse, and it has us trapped. I don't want to be Hydra food!" Mortar imagined the terrible scene in his head, each of the four of them being popped into a maw alive and screaming. It was a stupid mistake to think they could take on the task they had been assigned, and now, he was going to learn what the inside of a Hydra's stomach looked like. The thought made him incredibly ill. "Man, I'd rather go back to Arbiter's jail cell than be stuck here," he said, sitting down, "cut I guess we can't last in here forever. We'd better just step out and…" In the darkness of the cave, Shadow Breeze may have been hard to see, but he still spoke rather loudly, "Now listen guys. I have an idea that'll save Techorse. We have to leave the cave all at once, slowly, and not panic." "I guess we have no choice," sighed Mortar, "it's been really fun being your guys' friends." "If this works you can still be our friends!" stated Shadow Breeze. The three exited the cave one hoof at a time, and as they thought, each of the heads lunged for them as soon as they left. Shadow Breeze then shouted, "Wait!" The monster stopped and stared at the ponies as if to say, "Now what?" "I noticed you didn't have a nest when I walked in here," said the graphite peagsus to the beast, "maybe I just didn't see it, but, shouldn't you feed us to your young? Don't they come first?" Like most creatures in Equestria, the Hydra had a limited ability to understand what ponies were saying, and understood Shadow's statement as a comment on their lack of nest. The monster was reminded that it had no one to spend life with, and the heads began to look rather somber about the fact. "You mean, you don't have any young?" asked Raider sympathetically, playing along, "Oh, poor thing!" "No wonder you were so upset," added Mortar. Shadow Breeze continued, "I figured it out, you're a lady Hydra. I noticed your eyelashes when you were staring at us, and Techorse hadn't seen a Hydra spit acid before, because only the females can do that. Now, I know you really, really think you want to do all four of us in, but what you really are, is lonely!" The amulet around his neck sparkled with red energy, before a beam of shadow energy extended from it, and touched the wall of the canyon behind the Hydra. It observed as the pegasus manipulated the darkness to create the image of another hydra, about as big as Arbiter had described it. "This is a shadow of another hydra we have near Ponyville," Shadow Breeze explained, "also lonely, also angry because of it. It's even got four heads, just like you, sot here's no fighting. We have a home for you two planned by the seashore. If you trust us and promise not to eat us, we'll give you a husband so you can finally build your nest!" The creature, stunned by the incredible offer to set it up with another Hydra, consulted itself before all nodding with a unanimous decision. Its tail moved around gently, and deposited the hurt Techorse back with the other three ponies. He opened his blue eyes gently, his head pounding from the impact, and he looked up at his friends. "What happened?" he asked groggily, "Did you beat him?" "Her," answered Shadow Breeze, smiling, "and no, we didn't fight. We settled it like civilized reptiles!" Techorse looked back at the creature, who still seemed to have a bit of hate directed towards him. After all, he did cause it a good deal of pain with his weapons, a rather mean thing to do. "I still think it doesn't trust me," he said nervously, "probably still upset over me forgetting to use the sleep missiles." "Don't worry, she won't hurt you. She promised!" said Mortar, "But we do need to ask you for a favor…" "Well, what did you have in mind?" asked Techorse. With the help of PAL and a delivery rocket from the castle, the brand new heavy teleporter device was ready. It was simply a much larger version of the personal teleporters Techorse had made for one pony. Using the large device, they successfully managed to teleport themselves and the Hydra to a location just outside of Ponyville. There they found Captain Arbiter and Twilight Sparkle in a yelling match. "I can't believe you made Techorse go out to fight a Hydra! Are you nuts?" screamed Twilight, firing off a pellet of magical energy from her horn. Captain Arbiter, holding his new sword with his magical gauntlets, raised the blade and successfully used it to deflect the bolt away from him. "He was going to put it to sleep from a safe range, and then use my family's special rune to transport it to the seaside!" he said, "I'm sure he has it under control." The Hydra was nearly hidden behind Techorse's castle, and watched the battle between Twilight and Arbiter eagerly, enjoying the argument. It gave a happy cry, which startled them both into looking at it. Twilight shrieked, and Captain Arbiter brought his blade into a ready stance, spreading his wings in case he had to attack. "Surprise!" said Shadow Breeze, stepping out from behind the Hydra's leg, "We managed to get it to listen to us!" "And you brought it here to Ponyville?" shouted Twilight, her mane hair going in many directions from shock and stress, "It's going to make an all-you-can-eat buffet out of us!" "No it's not!" said Techorse, walking up next to him, "Apparently the Hydra you sent us after, Arby, is a female who'd very much like to start a nest. We made a deal. If she agrees to move to the seaside peacefully, we'll introduce her to our friend down at Froggybottom Bog." Twilight suddenly realized what was going on and said, "Oh… So, she's not going to eat us?" "Nope!" assured Raider, "This girl's just looking for a dedicated husband." "Just like Mr. Pottenturf said," Shadow Breeze finished. "Well what if they don't like each other? Hydras aren't smart enough to understand…" complained Arbiter. The Hydra bent its heads down, and eight yellow eyes glared at Arbiter. He may have been good with his sword, but he wasn't sure if the rumors about cutting off heads were true. The captain cleared his throat, and said, "Then again… the other hydra in question has not seen a female in years, perhaps it'll be love at first sight!" "Let's go get Fluttershy and see what we can do," suggested Twilight. After finding Fluttershy and spending a good hour convincing her to come out of her home and see the Hydra, she led them out to the bog, which was now covered in warning signs indicating the presence of the yellow one living there. The mud of the bog sat rather still for now save for the sulfur bubbles that rose occasionally, and the sound of whining insect wings could be heard. The movement of the ponies caused the mud to stir, and several yellow spots were seen moving in the mud, before the occupant burst out of the grime. The Hydra of the bog, just as he had been left earlier, recognized his earlier adversaries, and each of the four heads stared down angrily. Techorse drew his laser cannons and pointed them upwards, but Fluttershy waved her wing at him, an order to stand down. Of course, the Hydra would have thought about striking, if it weren't for the female looking at him. Four pairs of eyes met four pairs of eyes, and the male rose out of the mud to meet the newcomer. After looking over each other carefully, as if having known all along what to do, the four heads on each Hydra twisted necks with their opposites. They gazed on each other, all heads smiling in agreement that they'd make a good match as far as gigantic monsters go. "Aw, isn't that sweet?" cooed Fluttershy, "He has a soft spot after all." Twilight Sparkle nudged Arbiter with her leg, and the stallion stepped forward, a magic rune in each floating metal hand. "These will put you by the seashore, in a nice cave meant for Hydras. You'll be able to enjoy all the fish you can eat, and unlike ponies, they don't fight back. As Captain of the Guard, I wish you luck with your new family." Arbiter walked over to the two creatures, and attached a rune to each of their tails, then, he pressed each one with his gauntlets, activating the magical energy stored in the stones. A column of blue light wrapped around each of the reptiles, and then they were gone, taken away to their new cave by the shore. "That was easy!" Stated Mortar. Twilight wrapped a leg around her pale yellow friend and said, "It's like Fluttershy here always said. All an animal needs is some love!" "That's true," said Fluttershy humbly, "but, to be honest Twilight, I didn't think it was going to work that quickly. I thought they'd end up living here until we made them leave." "Oh nonsense!" laughed Twilight, "Beachfront property is worth so much more than a dirty old bog." Captain Arbiter was caught slowly walking away from the group, when Techorse said, "Speaking of worth, I think Captain Arbiter was just about to award my friends here some medals." The pegasus's ears dropped back in annoyance, but he turned around and confronted them anyways. "Oh, what the hay," he said, putting a triumphant look on his face, "you went above and beyond the requirements I gave you. To back out now would be cheating." Captain Arbiter reached into the bag still connected to his belt, and pulled out three small silver medals, each one in the shape of a star superimposed on an octagonal base. The ribbon supporting each one was green in color, and Arbiter slipped each one over the necks of the three recipients. "For your efforts, you are not only cleared of your crimes, but I, Captain Arbiter Axechop, award you the silver star for bravery," he said, rather rehearsed, but sincere. After the medals had hung on their owner's necks for a while, Mortar was the first to speak up. "I guess I'm going to go back home and get to work on my cartoonist career now," he said. Raider nodded, "I can get to work as well, being a decorator's going to be great!" Captain Arbiter nodded in approval, and then turned his attention to Shadow Breeze. "What sort of improved life did you come up with?" he asked. Shadow breeze looked at Techorse, then back to the Captain before answering, "If possible, I'd like to get an apartment here in Ponyville, and study diplomacy. I bet I'd make a great diplomat someday, especially after what happened here!" "I concur," daid Arbiter, who then turned his attention to Twilight, "Miss Sparkle, please assist Shadow Breeze in enrolling in Princess Celestia's program for politics and diplomacy. We'll pay him a stipend for his studies to allow him to continue living here." "That sounds great!" said Twilight, "Also, Shadow, about your amulet there. It turns out when I researched it that those things can sometimes get cursed if left alone for too long. You probably had the urge to play all those pranks because of the negative energy it was giving off. If you give it to me, I'll undo the curse for you." "Of course, glad to finally know what was wrong with me!" He said, breathing a sigh of relief. Taking off the amulet with a hoof, Shadow Breeze let the jewelry fall to the ground gently. Twilight's horn glowed a soft purple as the object floated over to her. Then, closing her eyes and with a good deal of concentration, a blue stream of energy connected her horn to the object, making it glow softly. One the process was complete, Twilight opened her eyes, and returned the amulet to its resting place around Shadow Breeze's neck. "There, that ought to do it!" she said proudly, "But if it makes you act up again, come and see me!" Shadow Breeze nodded, and then looked to his friends. Raider and Mortar, standing off to the side, were looking back at him with a bit of sadness in their eyes. "I'm going to miss you guys," he said to them, "take care back home." "We'll write," promised Raider, "and we'll visit sometime too, Shadow!" The three hugged goodbye, and then, Captain Arbiter led them away to take them back home. The others headed back for Fluttershy's house to celebrate with a hot cup of tea. As they walked back, Twilight and Fluttershy walked together ahead, while Techorse and Shadow Breeze were behind to talk. "Glad you're staying here in Ponyville," said Techorse, a broad grin on his face, "it was great working with you." "Come on Techorse, we're friends now, we've got to be!" said Shadow Breeze, "We've got a lot in common, you know. Plus, I did save your life. Don't you think that means something?" "Yeah, of course it does!" answered the inventor, "Drop by the castle sometime and we can play a board game." "I'll take you up on that!" he answered, stopping. Shadow Breeze turned to Techorse and raised his hoof. He stopped, and looked at the friendly leg, knowing what to do. Bringing his hoof up as well, he met Shadow Breeze's in an Equestrian greeting of friendship. The hooves impacted together, and then rested back on the ground, before they laughed. "Looks like Techorse has a new friend!" said Twilight happily, "It'll be great for him to have some more stallions around." "Oh yes," agreed Fluttershy. After a few moments, she asked, "Um, Twilight… do you think Arbiter is getting a bit nicer?" "He sure is," agreed Twilight, "maybe he still does some really crazy stuff, but hey, don't we all?" The two mares sat silently for a moment before snickering about their own bouts of craziness. As they walked back home with the stallions behind them, they were happy to have made a new friend in Shadow Breeze. It was always great to have a new face around Ponyville, especially one interested in peace.