Chapter Nine
As the sun sank and the shadows of evening grew, Twilight Sparkle and her friends lay on cushions in the unicorn’s library home, discussing their impressions of the human visitors.
“..And I actually think my first impression may have been more correct than I initially thought,” Rarity was saying, having just told Fluttershy about how the party had gone from her perspective. “I thought they were acting more like businessfolk than diplomats, and I really think that might be the case after chatting with that charming Anderocus fellow. They want something, I’m sure of it, and they’re willing to trade for it.” The elegant unicorn took a sip of her tea. “I just wish they’d come out and tell me what they wanted. They seem determined to dance around it!”
“I wonder if they’re trying to find out if we’re willing to trade before they introduce the idea,” Twilight mused.
“Or maybe they’re waiting for their leader to talk to you, Twilight.” Rainbow Dash observed.
“Why would they wanna talk to Twilight specifically?” Applejack asked. “Seems t’ me that they’re already talkin’ to Rarity.”
Rainbow looked at Twilight with a hint of truculence. “Can I talk about it now? You shut me up really fast when I was gonna talk about it before.”
Twilight assumed the pegasus was talking about the epiphany she’d had while they were talking to Commander Seria. “Of course, Rainbow Dash. I just didn’t want to talk about it in front of the humans, that’s all.”
“Oh, is that why you kicked me? You coulda just said so.” Rainbow grumbled, but the frown vanished with the chance to share her realization. “I think the thing is that they all have, like, particular jobs they do. Kinda like cutie marks, but different. Each group of ‘em has something they do, and the others don’t. Remember, Seria said she fights, but she wasn’t interested in anything else.”
“Maybe like ants?” Fluttershy interjected. “Some work, some defend the nest, and some make babies?”
“Sorta, yeah!” Rainbow exclaimed, glad for the unexpected support. “Except, ya know, smarter and not bugs.
Anderocus makes the decisions, Seria and the guards keep everyone safe, dunno what the others might do.”
Rarity looked thoughtful. “Well, that unpleasant fellow Tangro seems to run most things, though he does seem to take his orders from Anderocus. A sort of manager.” They’d already covered that the light-maned seneschal seemed to creep all of them out, but none of them could nail down why. Even odder, none of the other ponies in town shared that reaction.
Twilight chimed in, too. “You girls remember Setaron? The one in the brown robe? He does their communications.”
“Maybe they really are like ants.” Fluttershy mused quietly. “Big, scary, two-legged ants.”
Rainbow scowled. “They aren’t that scary. I mean, when Twilight and I were talking to Seria, she turned out to be probably the scariest one, and she’s still pretty nice!” They’d already told the others about that conversation.
Applejack cocked an eyebrow at the polychromatic pegasus. “What ‘bout that Tersiaard feller? He seemed like the scary one t’ me.”
Rainbow deflated. “Oh, right. That guy. Yeah, he’s scary.”
Rarity bit her lip. “I’m sorry to tell you this, Rainbow, but I’m fairly certain that he’s going to be coming back at some point, probably tomorrow. Anderocus suggested that he would be involved with whatever it is they need; it seems that he knows quite a bit that the others don’t.”
The athlete dragged her forehoof across the floor in irritation. “Great. And here I was hoping that guy wouldn’t be back. Pfeh.”
Huh. Twilight thought. Seria did say that Tersiaard knew quite a bit. I wonder what I could learn from him? She almost immediately thought better of it, though. She also said he didn’t like to share it, and he acted like he was going to attack Rainbow because of a rhetorical question. Nevermind. She was wrestling with frustration. On the one hoof, she and Rainbow had had quite an interesting discussion with Commander Seria, and had learned a fair bit about the humans and the way they acted. On the other hoof, though, she hadn’t managed to talk to Deumos about this ‘God-Emperor’ figure the humans seemed to revere, and as such was no closer to fulfilling Princess Luna’s request than she had been this morning. The severe-looking bald human had outright refused to speak to her when she’d tried to approach him, instead choosing to stare off into space, even though she knew perfectly well that the skulls were translating what she was saying.
Oh, well. There was always tomorrow. Maybe Twilight could get the commander to talk to Deumos on her behalf; Seria had proven to be talkative and helpful thus far.
“Oh, wait!” Rainbow exclaimed, perking back up, “One more thing! How are you guys doing with their language?”
“Their language?” Rarity asked, puzzled. “Whatever do you mean, darling?”
“Like, figuring out how to understand it!” The pegasus replied. “It’s easier than I thought it was gonna be; those skull things are really helpful!” The other five ponies boggled at her, prompting her to let out a defensive, “What? What did I do this time?”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Rainbow,” Twilight answered, “Are you really learning the humans’ language?”
Rainbow grinned proudly. “Yeah! It took me a while to figure it out, but every time I say something, one of those skulls says the same thing, just in their language. Gothic, I think it’s called. You just gotta listen; it’s super easy!”
The others looked dubious, and Rarity said, “Well, I’ll certainly try, Rainbow Dash. It would definitely be easier if we could all talk the same language. At least Twilight won‘t be the only one who can understand them!” Rarity had looked at the translation spell Twilight had used, and regretfully pronounced it beyond her own capabilities. That Twilight was able to cast it was a testament to her skill.
Interesting discussion or not, it was getting pretty late, and Twilight thought it might be a good idea to follow Spike’s example and turn in for the night. “Well, ladies, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I could use some sleep.” Twilight yawned, followed by all five of the others. “Tomorrow’s going to be just as busy as today, I have a feeling.”
The group broke up, everypony headed for their homes, with the exception of Rainbow Dash who was spending the night at Pinkie’s, since all of the others were still concerned about her mental state, though Twilight had to admit the pegasus seemed to be in better shape than she had been in days.
Her friends having departed, Twilight sat down at her desk to compose her first day’s report for the Princesses. To her chagrin, it wasn’t very long, just a brief description of the humans she’d met and a short summary of the events of the day, most of which had been a large number of words exchanged that were actually saying very little. After a moment of consideration, Twilight decided to include Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy’s speculation on human social patterns. While it was only speculation, Twilight considered it to be intelligent speculation, well-grounded in the evidence they’d observed, and felt justified in including it in her report. She rolled up her report and tied it off neatly; she’d send it in the morning, when Spike woke up.
Feeling pleased and disturbed in equal measure at how the day had gone, Twilight tucked herself into bed and swiftly fell asleep.
The next day started out more or less the way the previous one had ended, to Twilight’s dissatisfaction. She left Rainbow Dash to talk to Seria and joined Rarity in her conversation with Anderocus, but it didn’t seem to help. Their conversation wandered evasively, neither Anderocus nor Tangro willing to definitively state exactly what it was that they wanted. Even more frustratingly, the one human she really wanted to talk to, Deumos, had decided not to even show up! It wasn’t until the huge, frightening Tersiaard reappeared midway through the morning that she actually learned some of what they were after.
Rocks.
They wanted rocks. Lots of them.
Okay, that wasn’t really fair. It wasn’t just rocks they wanted. Tersiaard was actually quite specific about what they needed; they were seeking several particular kinds of ore. The problem lay in the fact that, while the ponies were familiar with the ores the humans were talking about, actually doing anything with them was incredibly difficult and prohibitively expensive, in time, effort, and magic expended, and thus it wasn’t mined extensively, nor were there large stockpiles to be found anywhere. And “large” was a wholly inadequate word to describe the quantities the humans were looking for. “Vast” was closer. It made Twilight wonder just how big that ship of theirs was.
Twilight had called for a break around midday for lunch. She was planning on getting Applejack involved in the discussions, along with Pinkie Pie. The former, along with Rarity, would probably be able to work out an equitable trade or payment arrangement with the humans; they’d hinted at some fairly amazing things as payment, but Twilight wasn’t especially economically-minded, and she’d prefer for her two more mercantile friends to handle the financial side. As for Pinkie’s involvement, while the pink pony came off as a bit of a bubblehead, she did come from a background as a rock farmer, and possessed a surprisingly extensive knowledge of geology. She should be able to give Rarity and Applejack a fair idea of how difficult it would be to obtain the ores that the humans wanted, so they would be able to work out what Equestria might be able to ask for in exchange.
While that discussion was going on, they’d also had to deal with another problem; namely, Magos Tersiaard. While Rainbow Dash was assiduously avoiding the giant, and Tersiaard appeared to be leaving her alone, he most certainly wasn’t being so polite to the rest of Ponyville’s pegasus population. He’d harassed several of them, asking question after question about how their weather-manipulation abilities worked. Some of the more academically-minded pegasi had done their level best to answer his queries, but the Magos lacked the proper frame of reference to fully understand their answers. It had led to evident frustration on Tersiaard’s part, and more than a bit of fear on the part of the pegasi he’d confronted. Especially poor Thunder Blaze; the Magos had backed the mare into a corner, refusing to let her leave until Twilight and Anderocus had made him back off.
Twilight had asked the Lord-Captain to keep the Magos from upsetting Ponyville’s pegasi. He’d agreed to do so, and Twilight had been sufficiently close by to hear the conversation. She’d been pleased when Anderocus had delivered her request to the Magos almost word-for-word, adding his own command to leave the pegasi alone. What had worried the unicorn had been the response.
“Lord-Captain, the weather alteration ability these creatures possess could potentially be extremely valuable. Surely, you can recognize that further study could prove beneficial!” The Magos’s voice had been uninflected as ever. Twilight had wondered what exactly he’d meant by ‘further study,’ though.
“Perhaps, Magos.” Anderocus had replied, “But conduct your studies without disturbing the xenos. Perhaps answers will come to you through observation.”
The lavender unicorn was talking the problems with the tech-priest over with Fluttershy, the two having stopped at an outdoor restaurant for lunch. Twilight was glad her friend had decided to attend the second day; she’d spent much of it talking to the astropath Setaron, who seemed to share some of Fluttershy’s shyness, and the yellow pegasus had seemed fairly comfortable with the blind human. Unfortunately, the kindhearted mare didn’t have any better idea of how to deal with the giant than Twilight did.
Fluttershy’s attention was suddenly diverted, her head whipping from where she’d been talking to Twilight to look off into the distance, over Ponyville’s roofs. “Oh. Oh, my. This could be a problem.”
Twilight followed her friend’s gaze, but all she could see was a flock of birds wheeling in the sky. “Fluttershy? What’s wrong?” The unicorn frowned, trying to see where the problem could be.
Fluttershy pointed at the wheeling birds with a forehoof. “You see those birds?” At Twilight’s nod, she continued, “I know those birds; they’re part of a flock that lives at the edge of the Everfree Forest, and they only wheel like that when something scares them! And if something has scared them…”
“…It might be something coming out of the forest.” Twilight finished for her. Fluttershy nodded, teal eyes large behind her pink forelock. Twilight heaved a sigh, thumping her head on the table in front of her. “Of course. Of course! Nothing ever goes smoothly! Argh!”
Fluttershy’s suspicions were confirmed when Rainbow Dash came rocketing up to her, trailing a dark gray pegasus stallion whose name Twilight couldn’t remember, yelling “Twilight! Twilight! We’ve got a problem!”
The lavender unicorn spared a brief, regretful glance at her half-finished salad (it really was delicious) before heaving herself to her feet to try and deal with whatever crisis was arising. “What’s wrong, Rainbow?”
The cyan pegasus landed in front of her, the stallion following. “Fluttershy, great, you’re here too! Man, I’m glad you’re both here. Skyfall here,” Rainbow twitched her head to indicate the dark gray pegasus, “was taking care of the clouds around the Everfree. Tell ‘em what you told me, Sky.”
“Right, boss.” Skyfall nodded. “Well, I was keeping an eye on a storm formation way out west, when I spotted a bunch of trees shaking, in a line pointing this way. Flew over to see what was causing it, and there’s this big blue snake-thing headed this way, fast. It’s mean, too; when I tried to go in for a closer look it nearly got me.”
Twilight looked at the yellow mare next to her. “Fluttershy, animals are your talent. What do you think?”
“Um. C-can you tell me more about it, Mr. Skyfall? More about what it looks like, maybe?” Fluttershy stammered slightly, her shyness in the face of somepony she didn’t know well making her nervous.
The stallion stared off into space for a pair of seconds, evidently trying to recall what he’d seen as precisely as possible. “Uh… okay, like I said, it was a big blue snake. Big. Like, twenty bodylengths, maybe more. It had what looked like armor scales covering its back; they overlapped, not like a normal snake. Um, what else… Oh, there were a couple of big horns on its head, pointing backward, and it had big teeth. I got a good look at those. Its mouth is big enough to swallow a pegasus whole, by the way. I’m really glad it missed.” Skyfall winced at the recollection. “It was hurt, too. I could see it bleeding from at least two places.”
Fluttershy nodded, looking suddenly serious instead of nervous. She looked Twilight in the eye. “Um, Twilight, I think we need to get everypony out of town, and fast. You especially need to make sure Spike gets out of here as quickly as he can.”
Twilight was stunned by the pegasus’s sudden change of attitude. “Wh- Uh, Fluttershy? Why? What’s wrong?”
“It’s a behir.” The gentle mare responded. “They’re big, they’ve got terrible tempers, and it sounds like this one lost a fight, poor thing. It’s going to be a lot safer if we get everypony someplace else until it calms down. We definitely want to get Spike somewhere else, behirs hate dragons.”
“But, can’t you calm it down or something? Maybe make it leave?” Twilight protested. Evacuating the town would be really hard with the humans around. The unicorn bit her lip, imagining how difficult it would be to talk Tangro and Anderocus into going somewhere else.
Fluttershy shook her head sadly. “Behirs are smart enough that I can’t talk to them the way I talk to my animal friends. And if it’s hurt and mad, it won’t be like that dragon up on the mountain; he was just grumpy. I’ll try, but it may just make it madder.”
Skyfall shifted uncomfortably. “Uh, we may not have that much time. That thing’s gonna be here in a couple of minutes.”
Rainbow nudged him. “Thanks for the warning, Sky. Get yourself up outta harm’s way, and let the rest of the crew know what’s up. We’ll handle stuff here.”
“Right, boss.” The stallion shot off into the clear sky.
“A couple of minutes?” Twilight was aghast. “I don’t… we’ll never get everypony out in time! What are we going to do?” She looked around frantically.
“Well, I can try to make it turn around…” Fluttershy offered, quietly.
Twilight shook herself, taking a deep breath and pushing out her incipient panic. This was a time for calm and for cool-headed planning, not a time for panic. “Okay. Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do. Fluttershy, see if you can catch the behir at the edge of the forest and try to convince it to go back. Rainbow Dash, you go with her, so if it decides not to listen to her, you can try and buy us some time. I’ll try to find the rest of our friends to get them to start the evacuation, and then I’ll see if I can get the humans to run along with us.” The pegasi nodded, acknowledging her instructions, and took off together for the edge of the forest.
Twilight galloped through town, telling everypony she passed to head for Sweet Apple Acres as fast as they could, and to spread the word, reasoning that it was the only place nearby that could serve as a temporary refugee center. She was growing increasingly frantic, not finding any sign of the humans, or the rest of her friends. Finally, she stumbled across Applejack, crossing the street with her brother.
“Applejack, there you are! Have you seen the rest of our friends? Where are the humans?”
The earth pony blinked at her. “Well, Big Mac and I saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy headed west a minute ago… Last I saw of Pinkie and Rarity, they were with that human boss guy. You seen ‘em since then, Big McIntosh?”
“Nope.” The laconic stallion answered. “They’re off that way.” He jerked his head in the direction Twilight had sent the two pegasi. She realized with a sinking feeling that the human group was probably right where they really needed not to be; at the edge of town where the serpent would be emerging from the forest.
Quickly, Twilight told Applejack about the emergency, finishing up with, “…And I’ve been sending everypony out to Sweet Apple Acres to keep them safe while we take care of the behir. You should probably head there too, to make sure nopony tries to come back until we give the all clear.”
“Right, Twilight, we’ll handle it.” Applejack reassured her, turning to head for her home. Twilight stopped her.
“One more thing, Applejack… would you please stop by the library on your way, and bring Spike along with you? Fluttershy said behirs hate dragons, so I’d rather not have him anywhere near here.” The thought of the little baby dragon getting hurt frightened Twilight more than almost anything could.
Applejack nodded again. “Right. Big Mac, you head fer home, I’ll get Spike and meet ya’ there.” She turned back to the unicorn. “Don’t you worry, sugarcube. I’ll take good care of the little guy.” The two earth ponies wheeled and galloped off at top speed.
She found the humans and the rest of her friends right where she suspected she would; right at the edge of town, overlooking the Everfree Forest. She could clearly hear the crashing noise from the Forest that heralded the arrival of the behir, and Fluttershy was hovering out in the clear area between the town and the Forest, clearly ready to meet the rampaging creature. Rainbow Dash was flying higher, shouting updates about the monster’s location down to the other pegasus.
The humans, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were standing in a group. Rarity looked worried; the sane response. Anderocus looked calm, Tangro had the smug expression he often wore, and Twilight couldn’t read Seria’s expression behind the mask that she was again wearing, nor did the metal face of Tersiaard give anything away. Tellingly, though, the ten guards had their boxy sticks gripped in their hands again, rather than slung over their shoulders the way they had been since shortly after they’d landed.
Twilight rushed up to the human party, arriving slightly out of breath but still able to speak. “Ah, gentlecolts, I’m so glad I found you. We’re having a bit of a problem, so if you won’t mind coming along with me, we’ll try and get it sorted out.”
“What kind of problem, Miss Twilight?” Tangro inquired, an odd small smile forming on his face.
Twilight forced a smile of her own. “The kind that I’d be happy to explain once we’re elsewhere. Soooo, if you’ll just follow me…”
“Too late, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash’s shout drifted down from the sky, as she swooped by low enough to deliver her warning. Biting her lip, Twilight whipped her gaze to the edge of the forest, and had a front-row seat to the behir’s entrance.
Two trees at the edge of the forest cracked, falling to the ground as they were pushed out of the way by a massive, sapphire-blue scaled head. The creature’s head alone was more than twice the size of a pony, and it glared around at the clear area with angry eyes the size of plates. Its gaze lit on the structures of Ponyville, and it rapidly slithered out of the forest and into the clear. Once free of the forest, it reared back, and a dozen legs unfolded from its paler blue underside. Standing upright, its head reared back, the behir was taller than most of Ponyville’s buildings, and Twilight knew that she, her friends, and their human guests were in serious trouble.
“Sir…” Twilight heard Seria say, concern in her voice. Anderocus held up a hand.
“Let’s see how our hosts handle this, Commander. We can intervene if the need arises.”
The commander made a dissatisfied noise, but said no more, and Twilight wondered what form the ‘intervention’ might take. For now, she judged that the best course of action would be to let Fluttershy do what she could; the behir clearly moved faster than Twilight or Rarity could run, and she suspected it was faster than the humans as well.
The behir shot forward, headed toward the town with violence in its eyes, and Twilight could see the injuries Skyfall had mentioned. Blood dripped from several places along the creature’s length, and she could see at least two places where scales had been ripped away. The injuries looked painful, but far from disabling, especially on a creature so large.
The monster checked itself as Fluttershy swooped down in front of it. The yellow mare addressed the behir, though Twilight was far enough away that she couldn’t hear Fluttershy’s words. Her tone was similar to the time she’d upbraided the huge red dragon at the top of the mountain.
Unlike that dragon, though, the behir didn’t look the slightest bit chastised. It looked surprised at first, but it recovered from that quickly, the smoldering rage in its eyes getting hotter and hotter. Fluttershy was clearly keeping it from attacking her outright, but even from this distance Twilight could see that the pegasus was struggling, as the behir bared its enormous teeth in fury. Eventually, she was going to lose the tenuous control she’d established over the serpentine monster, and Twilight was terrified of what would happen then. The unicorn started gathering magic to her, going over the options she might have available. Simply hoisting the beast into the air was unlikely to be effective; against an active and resisting target like the behir was likely to be, she doubted she’d be able to hold for long. She thought the best option would probably be to build a wall of force between Fluttershy and the monster, that would probably slow its inevitable lunge enough for the pegasus to get out of the way.
She wasn’t given the time to put the spell together, however. The behir lunged at Fluttershy almost the instant Twilight began gathering power, its jaw opening enormously, and the academic could see that Skyfall had actually understated the size of the monster’s mouth. Twilight felt a shot of horror run through her body and heard Rarity gasp in dismay as they both realized that the behir would be able to easily engulf the kindhearted pegasus, swallowing her whole without even having to chew. Twilight started forward, spell barely forming, but feeling that she had to do something, anything, to save her friend’s life!
A cyan-and-rainbow blur shot down out of the sky at the last instant as Rainbow Dash intervened, grabbing Fluttershy and pulling her sideways, clearing the behir’s closing jaws with barely an inch to spare. The behir spat in rage, and Twilight saw a faint fog of pink, as the hairs the creature’s closing teeth had sheared from the tip of Fluttershy’s long tail drifted down in the noon light. The two pegasi streaked away, Rainbow carrying her friend to a safe distance.
The serpentine monster worked its jaws, head swinging around to seek a new target for its wrath. Its gaze lit on the group of humans and ponies standing in the open at the edge of town, and it snarled.
“Sir…” Seria said again, sounding strained.
“Not yet, Commander. They haven’t asked for our help. It’s their world, presumably they can handle it.” Anderocus said. The guards shifted subtly as the beast’s eyes focused on the group.
The behir let out a low hiss, but before it could charge it was interrupted by a returning prismatic blur. Rainbow Dash kicked the monster in the face, pulling its attention away. “Hey! How about picking on someone who can look you in the eye, huh?!” The athlete sneered. The monster snarled again, lunging at the pegasus, who narrowly avoided its jaws. “Twilight!” She shouted over her shoulder, “I’ll buy you as much time as I can! Get everyone outta here!” Rainbow dodged another lunge, jeering at the behir and visibly enraging the creature further.
Twilight turned to the human group. “Okay, listen, we need to get everyone out of here. The rest of Ponyville is up at Sweet Apple Acres, so if you folk will just follow me, we’ll get there as quickly as possible…”
Tangro smirked. “What, leave already?” Anderocus frowned at the seneschal, but the slight human didn’t seem to notice, gesturing theatrically to where Dash was dodging and circling frantically around the behir’s head, barely managing to avoid its lightning-quick lunges. “But it’s just getting interesting! Are you really going to just leave your town to be smashed by some creature?”
Rarity and Pinkie Pie gaped at him, and Twilight found herself at a momentary loss for words. “I… but… what?” She stammered, trying to think of another way to convince the aliens to vacate the area.
It was at that exact moment that Rainbow’s luck ran out. Twilight had glanced in her direction at just the right moment to see it. She crossed the behir’s eye-line at precisely the wrong time, and it darted forward while she was adjusting her course. She swerved desperately, caught in irons as she tried to avoid disappearing into the monster’s gaping mouth. She succeeded, barely, managing to roll just enough that the behir didn’t swallow her outright, but she wasn’t able to avoid the rest of its head. Its snout smashed into the pegasus, the noise of the impact clearly audible even from the distance Twilight stood, sending the athlete hurtling in an uncontrolled tumble at sickening speed straight for a nearby building. Rainbow smashed into the side of the house hard enough to splinter the wooden walls with a sick crunch, falling to the grass in a limp heap.
Twilight’s heart leapt into her throat. Oh Celestia! She hadn’t been able to see clearly. Had the pegasus hit headfirst? Is she dead?! Oh no, no no! The unicorn felt sick to her stomach with fear for her friend. Pinkie gasped out, “Dashie!” sounding almost as sick as Twilight felt, and Rarity grabbed the pink earth pony before she could run to her friend’s aid. Rainbow’s unmoving form was even closer to the behir than they were, and it snarled again in satisfaction as it flowed toward the cyan-and-rainbow pegasus who had annoyed it. Twilight saw Fluttershy’s forehooves cover her mouth in horror.
“Sir!” Seria’s voice sounded strangled and thick.
This time Anderocus didn’t hesitate for a second. “Permission granted, Commander.”
“Yes sir!” Seria’s hands were moving even as she barked out, “Team one, heavy weapons! Team two with me, VIP retrieval! Move it, troopers!” Before Twilight could blink, the commander’s hands were filled. In her right was the long, slender thing that she wore at her left hip, which proved to be a blade like a drastically oversized kitchen knife, long and slender in a shape Twilight had never seen before, its gleaming surface covered by a bluish haze that crackled with tiny lightning bolts. Her left hand gripped a short, oval, metal object whose dorsal surface began to glow with a similar blue-white light, and whose end was blackened, as if by fire.
Seria and the guards took off at a dead sprint. Five of the humans wheeled about and pelted for where their vehicles rested, on the other side of town, while the other five plus the commander made a beeline straight for where Rainbow Dash lay.
“Lord Anderocus!” Twilight gasped, certain that Seria was guaranteeing the death of herself and her guards, along with poor Rainbow. She continued gathering power for her kinetic wall, certain that she would be too late, and that her efforts would be in vain.
“They’ll help your friend.” Anderocus calmly replied.
Four of the guards slammed to a halt at a fence and the last two buildings between them and where Dash lay. They each dropped to one knee, slamming a shoulder into a fence or wall to stop their momentum with what had to be bone-jarring impacts. They paid the discomfort no mind, raising their long boxy sticks to their shoulders, looking down their lengths and pointing the cylindrical ends at the approaching behir as Seria and the fifth guard continued to sprint toward Rainbow’s prone form. Stuttering beams of blinding red light connected the sticks and the behir with rippling cracks, blasting craters into its sapphire hide. A sudden, intense ozone stink flooded the area as the behir shrieked in sudden pain and surprise, its dozen legs stumbling.
“Sure would be nice to have some grenades right about now!” Twilight heard one of the guards observe acerbically.
“Stow it Kohb! The Commander’ll have your ass if she hears that!” Another shot back.
However continually they were being inflicted, the injuries were superficial, and not enough to stop the serpentine monster. Still focused on the pegasus, the behir regained its equilibrium and, enduring the storm of light burning into its hide, lunged forward to devour her. Its momentary hesitation had been just enough, however, and Commander Seria skidded to a halt between Rainbow and the serpent. The fifth guard was right behind her, dropping to both knees next to the motionless athlete and dropping his box-like weapon as his hands frantically darted over her body. He yelled something Twilight didn’t catch to his commander, and she shouted back over her shoulder, “Get her out of here, then!” She raised the stubby weapon in her left hand, two blue-white bolts of brilliant energy blasting deep craters in the behir’s belly as it lunged, but that was all she had time to do. Seria vanished from sight when the behir’s rushing jaws closed over the commander’s tall form, as the guard lunged to his feet, grabbing Rainbow’s forelegs in his hands and heaving as he frantically dragged her back and away from the massive serpent.
Tears streamed from Twilight’s violet eyes as she gathered the last of the power she would need for the barrier spell. Too late, she cursed herself, too slow, as she prepared to cast the spell she’d failed to cast in time to save the impossibly brave human who’d rushed to her friend’s aid.
The behir bared its teeth at the guards that continued to barrage it with brilliant light, preparing another lunge. It checked itself, an odd expression growing on its scaled visage. Then it opened its mouth to shriek in agony as a blue-sheathed, crackling point burst from the top of its muzzle. The open mouth revealed the armored form of Commander Seria, clinging to one of the monster’s teeth with her left hand and bracing her feet against the base of its tongue as she drove the blade in her right hand through the top of its mouth. The behir howled, shaking its head in an effort to dislodge the human driving the white-hot spike through its head.
Still clinging like a burr to the inside of the behir’s mouth, Seria pulled the blade back out, preparing to stab the beast again further back. As she drove the blade in again, the behir whipped its head back and forth, desperate to remove the source of agonizing pain in its mouth. The motion caused Seria to lose her grip, flying from the serpent’s maw in an imitation of what had happened to Rainbow Dash moments before, though nowhere near as fast. The commander tucked her limbs in as she flew, hitting the roof of a nearby house with the back of one shoulder, and falling off to hit the ground in a roll. She staggered back to her feet, momentarily stunned, and then braced herself, raising her crackling blade in a defensive pose, one arm hanging limp. A black line across her torso showed where the blade she’d refused to drop had scored her armor in the fall.
The instant the human was out of its jaws, the behir dropped to the ground, scraping its head along the grass, trying to make the pain in its head and mouth stop. It continued to do so for nearly a minute before getting back on its numerous feet. Its eyes found Seria, standing out in the open, the only easy target in sight since the fifth guard had managed to drag Rainbow Dash behind the shelter of the nearest house. He’d removed the armored socks that covered his hands, and was frantically checking her head, neck, and limbs.
The creature glared at Seria, and the human took the handle of her blade in both hands with visible effort, masked face gazing up at the maddened serpent.
Twilight finally had a chance to make a difference. She forced the matrix of the spell she’d summoned to coalesce faster than it wanted to, tears of effort and a little pain joining those already streaming down her face. The kinetic barrier formed invisibly between human and serpent, and when the behir lunged, it found itself shoved violently back and away from its intended victim.
Rage and pain filled the monster’s screams as it recoiled, still under assault from the crackling storm of light that was starting to burn deeper into its hide. It was growing desperate, head whipping around to find its tormentors. It focused now on two of the guards blazing away at it from behind a fence, and its mouth opened wide. A bolt of lightning spat from its maw, dwarfing the red lines of light carving into its armored hide and thundering into the two humans. The armored figures were flung back, the fence disintegrating in the blast. Their limbs flailed wildly, then fell still, the stick-like weapons they held falling to the ground.
The monster’s screech of triumph was met by Seria’s shout of challenge, the commander attempting to draw the behir’s attention back to herself. The other two guards stopped firing at Seria’s command, dropping their weapons and running to drag their fallen compatriots under cover. The serpent snarled, striking again at Seria and again being repelled by the spell Twilight was continuing to maintain.
Seria jeered at the creature again, driving it further into a fury just as Twilight heard the pounding of running feet behind her, heralding the return of the five guards who’d gone racing off earlier. The tall, hairless form of Deumos was leading them. Twilight risked a glance back, tightly holding her concentration to maintain her spell as she did so, and saw two of them carrying huge, tubular things that were reminiscent of drainpipes. The guards skidded to a halt, drainpipe-carriers raising the devices they carried to their shoulders much as the others had done with their light-shooting sticks, while two others pulled things vaguely reminiscent of fireworks rockets from the heavy backpacks they’d donned. They carefully fitted the cone-tipped cylinders into the drainpipes, and hastily moved away, with a shout of “clear!”
Deumos’s resonant voice boomed out, “In the name of the Emperor, deliver damnation and death to our enemies! Fire!”
With a heavy, loud thump smoke blasted from the rear ends of the stovepipes, and smoke-spewing projectiles shot out toward the behir. Both flew arrow-straight, directly into the serpent’s massive head and detonated with an immense double thundercrack. The behir’s head blew apart, fragments the size of a hoof flying everywhere. The headless body swayed, finally collapsing to the ground and twitching spastically, blood pouring from its explosively-truncated neck.
Seria barely even paused. Sheathing the blade she carried, she spun on one heel and ran for where her guard had dragged Rainbow. Shaking her head slightly, both to dissipate her spell and to push her horror at the gigantic headless corpse aside, (it was easier than it should have been) Twilight broke into a gallop with the same destination, Rarity and Pinkie Pie right at her heels.
Twilight skidded to a stop next to Rainbow and the two armored humans, relieved to see that the pegasus was moving, if in a slow, undirected manner. “Is she okay?” Twilight called, “Is she okay?”
Pinkie Pie pushed past the unicorn, trying to get to Rainbow, only to be grabbed one-handed by Seria. “Wait,” the human told her, “we don’t know how badly she’s hurt. You don’t want to make it worse.”
“But… but…” Pinkie’s lip quivered, and her blue eyes were huge.
Behind them, a resonant voice boomed, “Make way, make way! Get out of my way, blast it!” Twilight turned to see Deumos shoving his way past the others. One guard didn’t move quickly enough, and the big bald human thumped the armored figure in the helmet with his staff. “I said get out of my way, damn it all!”
“Sorry, sir.” The guard moved, clearing a space for Deumos. Twilight expected him to go to Commander Seria, but he just glanced at her and asked, “Bad?”
The armored head shook once. “Had worse.”
Deumos grunted. “Suit yourself.” He knelt, laying his eagle-winged staff on the ground next to Rainbow, whose eyes had opened and were blinking woozily. “Hold still, there.” She started to shake her head, but the priest grabbed her gently, holding her head still between his hands. “Hold. Still. Let me see how badly you’re hurt.” She blinked at him, rose-colored eyes foggy, but obediently held still. He laid her head carefully on the ground, and swiftly ran a hand along her spine, from the base of her skull all the way down to her hips. He grunted. “Did you feel all of that?”
Rainbow started to nod, but a fierce glare from Deumos made her freeze. “Um. Yes?”
He nodded. “Good. Do you hurt?”
“Ugh. Yeah.”
“Where?”
“Everywhere.” Rainbow groaned theatrically, and Twilight had to fight back a gasped snicker. Maybe she really was okay.
“Good.” Deumos said, nodding curtly. “Your back isn’t broken. Been hurt before?”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yes, Dad.” She answered sarcastically, “Plenty of times. Can I move now?”
The bald human snorted in amusement. “I suppose, if you really want to. Anything broken this time?”
Rainbow shook her head carefully. “Nah, don’t think so.” She carefully moved all six limbs, wincing a few times. “Nope, no breaks. Got some sprains, though, that’s gonna hurt later. And my head’s ringing; think I’ve got a concussion, but not one of the really bad ones.”
Deumos chuckled. He had a good laugh, Twilight noted irrelevantly, deep, rich, and full-bodied. “Damnation, you’re a tough little thing. From what the troopers said, I was sure your spine had shattered when you hit that wall.” He gave the pegasus a respectful look as he rose to his feet. The tall priest extended a hand. “Would you like some help up?”
Twilight found herself warming up toward the taciturn priest. Maybe he’s not such a jerk after all.
“Uh, no thanks. I’ll just stay here for a second, if that’s cool.” Rainbow’s eyes suddenly popped open wide, darting around. “Wait! The behir! Ohmygosh, is everyone okay?”
Deumos ignored Rainbow’s question, turning to Seria, whose left arm was hanging heavily. She was clearly favoring her left side. The commander looked straight at the pegasus. “The beast has been dealt with. Your town is safe; you were the only one of your people to be hurt.”
“But what about yours? How did you get hurt, Seria?” The pegasus started to heave herself to her feet, but was prevented from doing so by Pinkie Pie, who threw herself down next to Rainbow, embracing her fiercely.
“Oh, I’m soso glad you’re okay! I mean, you got hit, and you were all whoosh flying through the air, but not like usual! And then there was this crunchthump and I really, really thought you were hurt bad and I’m so glad you’re not!” Pinkie buried her face against Rainbow’s neck, and the pegasus awkwardly patted her friend in an attempt at reassurance.
Seria chuckled. Deumos was moving her arm a bit, evidently trying to determine the extent of the injury. “I got hurt doing something amazingly stupid that I haven’t done since aaah!” The confessor had grabbed Seria’s left wrist and, bracing her shoulder with his other hand, suddenly yanked on her wounded arm, hard. The commander let out a short scream, and Twilight heard a sharp click from her shoulder. “Damnation, Confessor! Bloody well warn me next time! Argh, one of these days, I’m going to forget your office and knock your damn head off!”
Deumos snorted. “And of course, a simple old priest like me would be easy prey for you.” He picked his staff up and walked calmly to stand behind Anderocus.
Twilight was confused. “Confessor, thank you for attending to Rainbow, but… what about the two guards that got hurt? Aren’t you going to help them?”
Deumos shook his head. “They are beyond my help. Or indeed, anyone’s help but the Emperor’s.” Twilight gasped, glancing at the still bodies, lying where their compatriots had dragged them. “I commend their souls to His care”
Twilight felt a pang in her heart, one that got worse when she saw Fluttershy out in the field gently stroking the lifeless body of the behir. Rainbow and Seria hurt, two humans dead, and the behir… this didn’t need to happen! Her gaze wandered to the small group around Anderocus, and she saw a tiny, smug smirk on the face of Tangro. The unicorn came very close to losing her temper right there and then, and she forced herself to take a deep breath.
“Lord Anderocus!” She called, walking angrily up to the dark-maned male. Once she had the human leader’s attention, she continued, “This might have been avoided. All of this, your guards and the behir both, if your seneschal hadn’t argued with me!” Tangro scoffed, an odd expression on his face, and Twilight gritted her teeth. “In addition to being responsible for this… this tragedy, he has persistently disrespected both me and my friends, and as of right now, he is no longer welcome here.”
Anderocus’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “Miss Twilight Sparkle, please. I offer you an abject apology on behalf of my servant…”
Twilight cut him off. “I am not asking for an apology. I am requesting that Mister Tangro take his leave. Now.”
Anderocus chewed the inside of his lip for a moment, thinking. “Aleron serves an important function on my staff, Miss Sparkle. It may be that should he leave, we will be forced to leave as well.”
Twilight took another deep breath. She thought this was a bluff, and she was willing to call it. “If that is the case, I will be very disappointed. You, Lord Anderocus, are welcome to stay, and I have no objection to Commander Seria, Confessor Deumos, Astropath Setaron, Magos Tersiaard, or any of your guards. I’d actually like to thank the Commander, the Confessor, and the guards for their help, and I would be very sad to see all of you go. Seneschal Tangro, however, must leave, and that is my final word on the subject.” Twilight stamped a forehoof, emphasizing her determination. Her violet eyes were hard as they bored into Androcus’s green ones.
Anderocus nodded once, slowly. “Very well. It saddens me that you’ve taken such a dislike to my seneschal. If you insist, though, I will send him back to our ship.”
Twilight returned the nod. “Thank you, Lord Anderocus. I think that would be best.”
Anderocus turned to the seneschal. Twilight was honestly curious as to what he was going to say, especially since the humans still didn’t know she could understand their speech. “Well, Aleron, it looks like you’ve worn out your welcome.”
“My Lord, you can’t possibly…”
“Oh, yes I can.” Anderocus interrupted. “We cannot afford to anger these creatures too much, seneschal, or we’ll never be able to repair the Lux. Go to the Aquila, I’ll be sending Seria up with you, since she needs to visit the medicae.” The curtness of the Lord-Captain’s dismissal surprised Twilight. Huh. Wow. I guess they need those rocks more than they’re letting on.
Tangro’s jaw clenched. “Very well, my Lord, though I believe you are making a mistake.” He glanced over at the tech-priest. “May I speak with Magos Tersiaard before I go? Without me here, he’ll likely be contributing more to your trade negotiations, and I‘ll need to brief him.”
“Very well, but be quick about it.” Anderocus ordered. Tangro bowed, a sour look on his face, and walked over to where the huge Magos stood. He hadn’t moved, not an inch, during the fight with the behir. The Lord-Captain turned back to Twilight, and the translation resumed. “I have instructed my seneschal to leave as quickly as possible. Will this satisfy you?”
“Yes, completely. Thank you.” Twilight was a little surprised to face so little resistance from the Lord-Captain. She’d have expected the Lord-Captain to object more on principle alone, given how status-conscious he seemed. The supplies they were trying to obtain must have been more crucial than she’d originally thought.
Anderocus stepped past her, walking over to where Seria stood next to Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie had just told the pegasus about how Seria had saved her life. Dash was shaking her head slowly in astonishment.
Seria waved her unhurt hand in a brushing-away gesture. “She’s exaggerating a bit. Besides, I had to…” Anderocus cut the commander off.
“Excuse me, ladies, I need to speak to Commander Seria for a moment.” Without waiting for a response, he turned to tall female and the translating skulls cut out as usual while he spoke to her. “Commander, it seems that Tangro has managed to irritate the locals enough that they want him sent home. Would you mind escorting him and your two casualties on the Aquila? I’d prefer if you got the medicae to treat your injuries aboard ship.”
Seria shifted uneasily. “Sir, I don’t want to leave you here without…”
Anderocus interrupted her again. “I’ll be fine, Commander. You can come right back down as soon as the Aquila’s refueled, if you’re concerned.” He quirked a smile. “Besides, with a guard as brave as this one,” He jerked his head toward Rainbow Dash, “I think I’ll be safe, don’t you?”
Rainbow laughed, drawing a surprised look from Anderocus. “I… uh… I’ll… take… cure? No, care! Of… him… for you, Seria!” The dark-maned male’s eyes widened so much that Twilight was worried they’d fall out of his head, as Rainbow spoke to him in slow, hesitant Gothic.
“Holy Throne! You speak Gothic?” Anderocus exclaimed, looking stunned.
A chuckle emerged from Seria’s helmet. “I was going to warn you later, sir. She’s picking it up quite quickly. I think she’s listening to her own echo when the servo-skulls translate.” Rainbow nodded and beamed, wincing a bit as her numerous bruises twinged.
“I… see.” Anderocus said, nonplussed. He adjusted his cape nervously. “Regardless, Commander, I expect you to report to the Aquila to accompany Tangro back to the Lux Foedis. You can return when the medicae is done with you.”
Twilight left Seria to her preparations (which seemed to consist of deciding which of the surviving soldiers was going to carry the bodies back to the shuttle) and Anderocus to try to diplomatically figure out just how much of his language Rainbow actually knew, and trotted out with Rarity to where Fluttershy hovered, gently stroking the huge, headless body out in the field. “Fluttershy?” She called softly.
“Oh!” The yellow pegasus started, but regained her composure quickly when she recognized the two unicorns. “I’m sorry, Twilight. I’m sorry for all of this.” Tears pooled in the corners of the mare’s eyes.
“It’s not your fault, Fluttershy. I’m sorry I couldn’t get the humans to leave faster.” Twilight hung her head.
“Now, stop, both of you.” Rarity cut in. “Twilight, it was that Tangro’s fault, not yours, that they didn’t leave. And Fluttershy, it’s scarcely your fault if an angry monster won’t listen to you!”
“I know.” Fluttershy answered softly. “I tried, but he was looking for a fight, and didn’t want to listen. I’m just sorry he found one.” She looked sadly at where the guards were lifting their fallen compatriots to carry to their vehicle. “I’m not even angry at the humans, really. Like I said, he was looking for a fight, and they gave him one. He probably thought they’d be easy to beat.”
“You aren’t angry?” Rarity was perplexed. “Darling, I thought you’d be furious!”
Fluttershy shook her head. “No, they were just doing what came normally for them, the same as the behir was. They aren’t ponies, Rarity, and it wouldn’t be fair for me to judge them as if they were. I’m just glad Rainbow Dash and Seria weren’t hurt as badly as I thought they were.” It was intriguing, Twilight reflected, that understanding the aliens seemed to come more naturally to the two pegasi than it did to the rest of them. Especially Rainbow, it made some sense that Fluttershy would be more in tune with these creatures, but the athlete’s rapid identification with the bipeds was surprising.
Twilight’s musing was interrupted by Fluttershy clearing her throat. “Um, Twilight? Could I ask you a favor?”
The academic shook her head to clear it. “Of course, Fluttershy, what do you need?”
“Um. I know you’re really good with your telekinesis, so could you…” Fluttershy sniffed, “Could you move the body back into the forest? I couldn’t save this creature, but I can at least make sure it feeds others.” The pegasus wiped tears away from her face with a quick swipe of her forehoof. She might not be angry, but she was clearly upset.
“Sure, Fluttershy. I’ll take care of it right now.” Twilight answered, gently. She turned her attention to the motionless sapphire body, horn beginning to glow as she gathered energy. Lifting dead weight wasn’t especially complicated, unlike the kinetic barrier spell she’d used to save Seria, and she didn’t need to spend a great deal of time focusing. The behir’s corpse lifted silently off of the ground, and Twilight levitated it deep into the forest before lowering it carefully, and dismissing her spell.
“Thank you, Twilight.” The pegasus’s voice was quiet, but sincere. “Um. I’m going to go home now. I’ll see you later, maybe?”
Twilight nodded, and Rarity interjected, “Do you mind if I come along with you, Fluttershy? I think you could use some company right about now.”
“That would be nice, Rarity, but don’t you need to be here to help Twilight?”
Twilight waved a forehoof airily. “Oh, I’ll be fine. Go ahead, Rarity, I’ll see you later.” The white unicorn gave her a grateful look, and left with the pegasus.
A few minutes later, a roar echoed through Ponyville, as the blue-and-silver eagle-winged vehicle lifted off, arrowing into the sky.