//------------------------------// // Old Enemies and New Frenemies // Story: An Interesting Arrival // by Moongaze14 //------------------------------// Old Enemies and New Frenemies Piercing Gaze grinned with satisfaction as he spread his wings and charged at Statice with his outstretched talons. He had tensed his powerful hind legs for a mighty pounce, and he combined them with the flapping of his wings to deliver a tackle with immense momentum. By the time that Statice was ready to throw at spell at him, the unicorn was going to be on the ground begging for mercy. Piercing Gaze’s grin faltered in surprise as he felt his body hit something that was not furry. It was hard, like a rock, but the contours of the texture resembled a pony. It was as if he had tackled a statue. And now that statue was wrapping its hooves on him! “What is this sorcery?” Piercing Gaze screamed as he landed his hind paws on the ground and tried to push the statue away with his eagle forelegs. “Terra Coat Spell,” the statue answered with a voice that the griffin recognized as Statice’s. “I used my magic to absorb the earth around me and turn it into armor.” Piercing Gaze clenched his teeth in frustration and for the effort of pushing the now heavy Statice away from him. The unicorn was smart. He had to admit it. When he made the spell, it wasn’t to blast him but to make that coat. Piercing Gaze had to acknowledge it now: Statice was no longer the cub that he tried to hunt down years ago. But that didn’t matter for the time being. He was going to get his revenge at any price! It's better this way. An easy prey would make my whole journey pointless. I'd rather have a challenging hunt that makes my arduous journey worth the travel. The griffin spread his wings and furiously flapped them, gripping the pony’s earth hooves with his talons. That earth armor made the unicorn heavy but he was strong enough to carry him. He was going to try out a favorite move of his: Pick Up and Drop. Once he reached a height that was appropriate enough to destroy the coat without hurting Statice too much, Piercing Gaze finally dropped his prey. “Have a nice fall!” Piercing Gaze called out as he heard Statice scream once he let go of him. The griffin placed a talon close to his ear to hear the result of the fall. He didn’t hear anything…but he felt something wrap around his ankles. The griffin squawked in protest at the tugging sensation of his hind legs. He placed his talons around his ankles, trying to find out what was wrapped around them. He felt something heavy and solid, but it was something that could not be torn apart with his talons. It was of something like…magic. “Let go off me!” roared Piercing Gaze as he bent his head down. If he was still capable of seeing, he would have seen two tendrils of green magic coming from Statice’s hooves. The green unicorn smiled under his armor. The Appendage Spell was very useful as he used magic to construct unique limbs on his hooves. He was capable of getting hands, claws, and pincers, among other unusual extremities. But his favorite by far was the pair of tentacles that were capable of wrapping around anything. With the tentacles wrapped around his enemy’s ankles, Statice’s weight, which was already a burden thanks to his rock armor, was making it harder for Piercing Gaze to remain in the air for much longer. The griffin was going to land in one way or another. Guess Digi was wrong when he said this spell was a stupid idea... “Can you explain WHAT IS GOING ON HERE, DISCORD?” To say that Twilight was not frustrated with the sudden turn of events was an understatement. She was irate at how many random things were happening around her as well as her inability to comprehend them. First, she met Statice in Canterlot and had her first meeting with him ending with her knocking him unconscious for sucking her horn in public. Second, Statice managed to escape and she never heard from him again. Third, she met a new pegasus named Aster and befriended him with her friends a few months later. Fourth, Aster was in trouble and she decided to help him out as one of her duties as the Princess of Friendship. Fifth, it turned out that Aster was Statice all along and that Discord was helping him out. All of these revelations had stressed her out beyond what she normally expected. It was hard for her to put her hoof around the current issue, but she knew the right pony, or draconequus in this case, that was going to set things straight for her. “After your little encounter with Statice I felt curious about meeting him,” Discord shrugged his shoulders. “I met him months ago during an experiment to see how a little unicorn was capable of making a big fuss for the Elements of Harmony. Statice turned out to be more entertaining than I expected.” “What do you mean by entertaining?” Rainbow Dash glared at Discord with hostility. “The guy is a criminal, Discord!” “So was I!” Discord reminded her with a singsong voice. “Besides, this all happened before my full redemption after the Tirek incident.” “Well it looks like you met him AFTER the Tirek incident,” Applejack narrowed her eyes at him, not content with being locked out of the loop. Even if words were not spoken, that counted as a lie in her book. “I grew fond of him after our first meeting!” Discord shouted in exasperation. “I’ve never met such an interesting pony in my entire life!” “And what do you think about us?” Pinkie Pie stood on her hind legs and placed her front hooves on her hips. “We’re very interesting, thank you very much!” “He was interesting in a dark sense,” Discord corrected her. “You wouldn’t believe the type of adventures that he had since he started working as an outlaw.” “What kind of jobs did he have?” Fluttershy asked fearful and concerned for Statice if he had somehow gotten Discord interested in him. “I can’t tell,” Discord grinned sheepishly. “I Pinkie Promised not to tell anypony about his past.” Hearing this made everypony around him groan in dismay. Pinkie Pie was now standing on his chest, shoving her muzzle on top of his. “Why did you have to go and make a Pinkie Promise like that, Discord?” Pinkie Pie growled in annoyance that she was not going to learn Statice’s past because of her own special oath. She wanted to find out what was Statice’s past, but she couldn’t do it without risking Discord’s friendship with him if he broke his Pinkie Promise. To say that it was the first time that Pinkie Pie was mad about a Pinkie Promise being kept was quite a small understatement. “I wanted him to trust me,” Discord shrugged his shoulders. “The kid was special and entertaining. He was unlike any other pony that I met since I moved to Equestria.” “How is he special, Discord?” Twilight asked, trying to sound comprehensive. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you that,” Discord turned his head away, sounding genuinely guilty. “I did make a promise to him, Twilight. You can only find out about him if he accepts to share his past with you.” “Easier said than done,” Applejack snapped as she pointed at the unicorn and the gryphon fighting it out in the sky. “Ah don’t think that he wants to share anythin’ regardin’ that guy.” By this point, Statice had summoned some sort of magical tentacle to drag Piercing Gaze into the ground as he was falling. The gryphon’s constant wing beating slowed the descent, but it was evident that the fight was going to reach the ground thanks to the tentacles and the additional pounds that were provided by the earth armor that Statice was wearing. “Can somepony explain to me what’s goin’ on here?” Apple Bloom yelled, getting the attention of the older ponies. “Why is that gryphon chasin’ after Static?” “Ya know him, Apple Bloom?” Applejack raised an eyebrow. “He saved us from Timberwolves,” Scootaloo answered hurriedly. “We were gonna chart a map of the Everfree Forest to get our cutie marks in cartography. Then some Timberwolves attacked us before he came in and wrecked them up!” “You did what?” Rarity asked in outrage. “How many times must I tell you fillies to not go into the Everfree unsupervised? You could have been hurt!” “We know that!” Sweetie Belle shrieked. “Static…no, Statice told us how dangerous it was for us to have done that. But I don’t know why he lied about his name or how he got to meet you.” “Statice is the name of a flower…” Spike tried to explain the Crusaders. “Got it,” Scootaloo interrupted him with a dismissive wave of her hoof. If he was named after a flower then she could understand why he lied about his name. It didn’t sound cool or even masculine…even she was willing to lie if that had been her name. “Look girls, he’s landed!” Pinkie Pie called as she looked at the fight with some binoculars. “They’re going to fight it with hoof-to hoof…or is it hoof-to-claw? Wait! I think that it’s hoof-to-talon. Yeah, it’s a hoof-to-talon fight.” “I think this event calls for some battle commentary!” Discord snapped his fingers to portray something akin to a television screen. He was now sitting on a table with a microphone in front of him. Pinkie Pie and Spike were sitting next to him, both of them with their own microphones in front of them. The purple dragon was stunned by his participation but seeing Pinkie Pie waving at Discord and playing with her microphone allowed him to know what he was supposed to do. What am I supposed to do here? “And Statice VS Piercing Gaze: The Blind Vengeance is a go!” Discord declared as the screen showed the unicorn and griffin rolling on the ground, pawing and kicking at each other. “The way I see it this battle is full of hate from both sides!” Pinkie Pie adopted a professional point of view. “What can you tell me about this fight, Spike?” Spike stammered for a few seconds, but recovered fast enough to enter into character. “Well…it seems that they are deciding to go on fighting close quarters. I think that Statice is weaker than Piercing if he is being pushed back despite his rock armor.” The screen showed Statice being pushed back by Piercing Gaze as the gryphon stepped forward with meticulous steps with his hind legs. Statice narrowed his eyes at Piercing Gaze, his eyes reflecting his determination in the griffin’s shades. The gryphon pounced on Statice, only to find that his earth armor was an empty husk. In the split second of the griffin’s assault, the unicorn teleported from inside the armor to behind the griffin and covered his body in a green aura. “Talk about a feint!” Discord banged his lion paw on the table. “Piercing pounced on Statice, only to get an empty shell instead! And now Statice pops in from behind to give him a nasty surprise!” “Ooh, it appears as if Statice is going to throw him away with a levitation spell!” Pinkie Pie bounced on her chair. She had seen Twilight doing the same strategy during the Changeling Invasion at the wedding of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. She estimated that Piercing Gaze was going to be thrown away from his opponent in a few seconds. “No he is not,” Spike countered before she had the chance of voicing her theories. Statice was rearing on his hind legs as he covered the griffin in magic. “He is going to use the…” He stopped. He couldn’t say it until he saw it done. Statice bent his body back, making sure that it was flexed in an arc as his fore hooves touched the ground and were pointing opposite to his hind hooves. Piercing Gaze soared above him, screaming in fright as his body was sent flying into an arc above the unicorn before slamming beak first into the ground. “He hit him with the Arcane Suplex!” Spike declared ecstatically. “An Arcane Suplex?” Rainbow Dash and Twilight asked at the same time. “What in tarnation is an Arcane Suplex?” Applejack asked, wondering how Rainbow Dash and Twilight knew the term well enough to say it at the same time. The only time these two had something in common was when they were reading Daring Do. “It is a wrestling move done by unicorns in many wrestling competitions,” Rainbow Dash explained excitedly as she witnessed the technique for the first time. “Normally, a Suplex is a throw on which you pick up your enemies with your hooves and then you bend down the ground to slam them on their back.” “But the Arcane Suplex is a variation done by unicorns,” Twilight interrupted to give her own explanation, not noticing the glare her pegasus friend was giving her. “Instead of using their hooves to lift their opponents, they use their magic to pick them up and then do the Suplex motion to throw them. It is an illegal move in competitive wrestling and it is only taught in the Royal Guard nowadays.” Even though Twilight was not into martial arts, she did help Shining Armor study for his tests in the Royal Guard Academy. One of the lessons on which she helped him to study was in theories of combat, which gave detailed instructions on combat techniques, including the Arcane Suplex. “Why was such a technique forbidden?” Rarity asked, not understanding how horrible was the technique if it was not allowed in a violent sport like wrestling. “Unicorns have a lot of range with their magic so the technique gave them a lot of unfair advantages,” Twilight recalled her studying sessions with Shining Armor as she enlightened her friends with the illegality of the move. “It wasn’t a fair move to use in a competition so it was only used in periods of war.” “Shining Armor showed me this technique once when he brought me to the Royal Guard Academy,” Spike commented on his microphone, remembering the good wrestling events that he saw there before Twilight’s study sessions grew increasingly longer and forced him to cancel his visits to the academy for good. It had been a long time since he saw an Arcane Suplex and it was just as awesome as he remembered it to be. Why can't Twilight use moves like that? “And Statice is not finished fighting yet!” Discord pointed at the screen. Statice was now balancing on his fore hooves. He bent his forelegs and then threw himself at Piercing Gaze, kicking him on the chest with both hind legs. The gryphon's beak came out of the dirt as his body was sent flying into the air with the force of the unicorn’s kick. He kept flying fruitlessly into the air even as Statice landed in the ground with his back turned on him. In a few seconds, Piercing Gaze was now lying on his back with his talons rubbing on his chest, wheezing for air. “A Flying Drop Buck!” Rainbow Dash and Applejack commented in astonished surprise. Their synchronized response earned them shocked looks from their friends. “I like wrestling,” Rainbow Dash shrugged her shoulders unapologetically. “Ah’ve been to some wrestling shows when Ah was young,” Applejack blushed a little bit, recalling the few times on which she used to sneak out of the farm back when she was as young and mischievous as Apple Bloom. “What is a Flying Buck Drop?” Spike asked from the commentator side, feeling curious about the move as he did not watch it being performed on the wrestling shows in Canterlot. “You do a hoofstand and then you do a hoofspring to throw yourself at your opponent and kick him with both hind legs,” Rainbow Dash demonstrated by performing the motions in the air. “I saw some old pegasus wrestling tapes that showed how the move is done.” “Ah saw the move being done in a dummy and Ah can see why it was cancelled,” Applejack remembered the wrestler destroying the dummy with a single kick of his hind legs. “The Flying Drop Buck is not like yer average buck. It throws yer whole body rather than yer hind legs into the buck for massive damage. Ponies used to get hurt severely when they used this move.” Ah gotta say that's some buck. Ah think it's nearly on the same league as a buck from the Apple family. “Oh my,” Fluttershy hid her eyes behind her mane, turning her head away, and even raising a hoof to cover her field of vision just in case she witnessed more violence. “I hope that he is okay. The gryphon may be mean, but he doesn’t deserve to suffer that much.” Taking no chances, Statice used his Earth Prison Spell on the griffin while he was recovering from the kick. He only had a few precious seconds to end the fight. The earth started to shift around Piercing’s talons and paws. The griffin squawked as he found the earth getting solid and growing around his body. He was going to get trapped if he didn’t escape. What is the cub doing this time? I don't feel like I'm being grabbed by his magic. It feels like his earth armor, only this time its something larger enveloping me. What spell is he using this time? Statice smiled for a brief second before frowning in concentration. The earth started shifting around the griffin and turning solid. Soon enough, the griffin was going to be trapped in a prison of solid rock. A few seconds more and the battle was ending. “I’m not letting your cursed magic beat me again!” Piercing Gaze screamed before letting out a powerful roar. It was different from the eagle screech that Statice heard from him. He felt his muscles bulge as he roared, which was a peculiar trait of the griffins in the Leo lineage from which he came. Statice covered his ears in pain. He was not used to hearing such loud noises in close proximity. His trained ears had turned against him as they absorbed the full volume of the roar. The stallion didn’t resist as he plunged his hooves into his ears to prevent them from hearing anymore. The unicorn’s ear pain and the griffin’s bulging muscle mass was enough to disrupt the spell, allowing Piercing Gaze to escape from his rocky prison. Having regained his freedom, the griffin wasted no time in tackling Statice again to resume their fight. In the meantime, the commentators were having the time of their lives. “And it appears Piercing Gaze went all ‘I am a lion hear me roar’ on Statice,” the draconequus took his microphone and leaned back to make his comment. “I am surprised with how muscled Piercing Gaze turned out to be,” Spike cringed as he remembered how muscular the gryphon became when he got out of the rock prison. “He must be a gryphon from the Leo lineage,” Pinkie Pie observed with a frown that looked like a professor giving a seminar. “What do you mean with Leo lineage?” Spike asked. “Some gryphons have lineages the same way pets have pedigrees,” Pinkie Pie explained, her cheery mood returned. “What I'm saying is that gryphons have lineages that show a close connection with either their feline half or their avian half. Those with the Leo lineage are closer to their feline half, so they are excellent hunters and fighters.” “How do you even learned all that?” Spike asked in surprise, not expecting Pinkie Pie to have such intricate knowledge about griffins. “I read it in the book that Twilight gave me when me and Dashie went to Griffonstone that time,” Pinkie Pie grinned, which was soon followed by a squeaking noise in the background. “I can’t believe how thorough you went with that book, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash deadpanned as she stared at her alicorn friend. “At least it gave us some valuable insight about this fight,” the purple alicorn defended herself. “Besides, it is a good lecture about another species. You just need to expand your horizons.” Back to the fight, Statice and Piercing Gaze were busy wrestling each other. The unicorn was using his hooves to prevent the griffin’s talons from scratching him. Similarly, their heads were dancing back and forth as Piercing attempted to peck Statice with his beak while Statice tried to poke him with his horn. Their hind legs were kicking and stomping at each other with Piercing’s claws scratching at Statice’s legs in the exchange. Statice gritted his teeth as the wrestling continued. He was holding his own for now, but beating a griffin at wrestling was impossible, especially when they were fighting for the kill. He couldn’t blast him or levitate him away with his magic. Fortunately, he had a spell reserved for such occasions. Statice grinned as his horn was covered with his magic aura. Soon enough, all of his body was covered with magic. Piercing Gaze frowned as he felt some sort of warmth surrounding his prey. He wondered what that sensation was before he found the answer: it was pain! “And it appears that Statice has used his Electric Eel Spell!” Discord happily pounded his lion paw into the table on which he and his friends were commenting. His mood was better as he watched Statice’s magic covering his body before it turned into electricity, which the unicorn was more than happy to share with the griffin that was pinning him. “Why is it called the Electric Eel Spell, Discord?” Pinkie Pie asked as she narrowed her eyes at the fighting pair. “I don’t see an electric eel anywhere!” “It is a spell that is used to emulate electric eels, Pinkie Pie,” Discord explained as he dressed like a professor and then materialized a blackboard with a poorly drawn electric eel on it. “Statice coats himself with lightning magic to electrocute his enemies just like electric eels use their electricity to defend themselves against predators.” “He is right,” Fluttershy commented to her friends. “I read that in one of my books about marine animals. I didn’t think that Statice was knowledgeable enough to actually replicate this defense mechanism in his magic.” “I didn't think so either!” Twilight stared at the stallion, watching as he was still wrestling with the gryphon despite electrocuting him for seconds. “Not many ponies are brave or foolish enough to coat themselves with elemental magic. It’s a very dangerous act of spell casting.” “Didn’t ya do somethin’ like that when you were tryin’ to understand the Pinkie Sense?” Applejack asked, remembering how Twilight got so enraged in one occasion that she literally turned on fire. “It was only for a few seconds, Applejack,” Twilight blushed as she remembered that lapse of petty anger. “If I had remained on that form, I would have wasted too much magic and I may have gotten some pretty nasty burns. I was lucky to calm down as soon as I lost control.” “Then what will happen to Statice if he keeps doing that?” Rainbow Dash pointed her hoof at the still electrified duo that was continuing their fight. “I’m not sure,” Twilight looked on as the fight progressed. “Nopony has been documented as doing something like that in the books of spell history that I read as a student of Celestia. He can either injure himself or exhaust his magic.” “He doesn’t seem to have a trouble keeping it up,” Scootaloo observed. She had not missed a single detail since the fight started. From the looks of Statice’s face as he fought, she could see that maintaining the spell was easier than trying to keep the gryphon away from him. “We don’t know that yet,” Twilight frowned as she watched Statice and Piercing continue their combat. “I can only assume that Statice has a limit to how much he can cast the spell.” Just what kind of education did you have, Statice? There's no way a sane magic teacher could let you try that spell... Soon enough, Statice’s spell was reaching his limit. The spell’s electrical current was only designed to last for a few seconds. Prolonged exposure caused the spell’s strength to decrease and the current to become weaker. In spite of the pain, Piercing Gaze gained an increased tolerance to electricity during the ordeal, which he demonstrated when he picked up Statice and threw him into a tree. Hard to forget that I'm not the only one in this business that can adapt in a fight. This is why I retired in the first place. “Ouch,” the unicorn uttered as his body managed to break a tree in half when he was thrown by the griffin. He used his Healing Spell to repair the damage that was done to him. Much to his dismay, the damage was taking time to heal. It was a clear indication that he was running out of magic. I’m running out of juice…in both senses of the metaphorical word. Statice cancelled the spell when the amount of pain in his body became bearable. He needed to save his magic for a more productive fighting approach. An idea came to mind, but he was going to need to get close and personal again. Wasting no time, the unicorn charged at the griffin this time. The next spell used little magic, but it was going to be ideal enough to disarm the griffin of his main weapons. “And it appears that this time around Statice wants to go hoof-to-talon with Piercing Gaze rather than keeping it safe with his spells,” Discord observed as he faked a concerned and shocked face from Statice’s approach. He had seen enough of the green unicorn’s fights in his memories, and he knew that he was prone to take huge yet calculated risks that gave high rewards. He could see that this was one of them, but decided to pretend that he didn’t know to maintain the suspense for his friends. He didn’t want to ruin the surprise for them. “This is SO tense!” Pinkie Pie gasped exaggeratedly. “Why is he fighting a griffin so close when he has those huge talons? Have you looked at them? They’re very big. One mean griffin in Griffonstone picked me up by the head with one of his talons!” “I think that Statice is taking a risk!” Spike was fighting his urge to panic. He read enough comic books to know that this was the part in the fight where the hero pulls out a risky move to earn victory. He was not missing up on that. Please let me be right about this! Soon enough, Statice and Piercing Gaze were rolling around the ground, trying to gain an advantage over the other. Punches and kicks were thrown with hooves. Swipes and stomps were thrown with talons and claws. Statice lighted his horn with magic as he attempted to headbutt Piercing Gaze. His horn barely nicked the griffin’s beak. Piercing took the chance to peck at him again, only for Statice to push his head away with one hoof. The frustrated griffin grabbed that hoof with one of his talons and slowly tried to pull it off. Statice attempted to shove his horn at the talons, barely nicking them. Not wasting any time, Piercing Gaze used the talons of his other foreleg to pin Statice’s head to the ground. He could feel that Statice’s neck was exposed, not caring about the little magic sparks that the unicorn was sending on the talons that firmly planted his head on the ground. “It’s time to finish this!” Piercing Gaze screeched as he raised his talons, ready to deliver the finishing blow once and for all. “We have to stop this fight!” Pinkie Pie yelled in horror. As fun as it was to narrate the match, she didn’t want it to end with Statice getting severely hurt. Whether that stallion was the unicorn Statice that she met in Canterlot or the pegasus Aster with whom she had fun in Ponyville, Pinkie still liked him enough to worry about his safety “It’ll be fine!” Discord leaned on his back and rested his mismatched legs on top of the table. He placed his arms behind his head, not caring about Statice’s safety at all. Spike stood up from his table and looked at Discord pleadingly. “But Statice is going to get…” “He’ll be fine,” Discord smiled reassuringly. He knew that Statice was going to end the fight big time. Plus, he had fast fingers ready to snap if the green unicorn was really in danger. Having seen enough, Twilight lighted her horn with magic and threw a magic blast at Piercing Gaze. As much as she still resented Statice for their first meeting and lying to her and her friends, she was not going to stand there and let him get hurt. Much to her horror, a barrier of magic contained her attack. She turned her head around to watch Discord, who somehow grew eyes in the back of his head. He waved a chastising finger with his eagle hand while the lion paw was ready to snap its fingers. “What are you doing, Discord?” Twilight shouted in outrage. “Statice is in danger! He needs our help! He’s going to get…” She was interrupted by the gasps of her friends. The purple alicorn turned her head in horror, feeling the need to watch despite the results that were running inside her mind. A particular image that went against everything that Twilight expected greeted her, leaving the purple alicorn with an open mouth. “What did you do to me?” Piercing Gaze shrieked with outrage. He was swiping his talons against Statice’s neck…but he didn’t feel flesh being torn. He didn’t feel blood. He didn’t hear screams of pain or anything of the sort. His talons were passing across the neck with all the strength that he put in his foreleg and yet he found no result. “Let’s just say that I got enough magic inside of me to take off your edges,” Statice beamed wide enough for the blind griffin to felt it. Infuriated, the griffin lunged at his prey beak first. He felt the beak hit something hard… but he didn’t feel it budge against its sharp tip. “I told you that I took your edges off!” Statice grinned as he took the chance to use a Taser Horn Spell on the griffin’s forehead. Piercing Graze roared in pain as the electricity surged inside his head and spread across his body. Once the spell reached its peak, his body was blasted off of his rival and into the ground. Pinkie Pie and Spike were left slack jawed at how Statice reversed the situation. On the other hoof, Discord had a smug smile on his face as he decided to give the finishing touch to the fight. Taking a deep breath, Discord spoke in his loudest volume to comment on the victory. “AND IT’S THE REVERSAL OF THE MILENNIUM! STATICE SOMEHOW MANAGES TO TAKE THE EDGE IN THE FIGHT AND ENDS IT WITH A VERY SHOCKING CONCLUSION! THAT WAS QUITE AN ENERGETIC VICTORY FROM STATICE! THIS IS DISCORD AND IT WAS A PLEASURE TO HAVE COMMENTED ON THIS FIGHT!” With a finger snap, Discord got rid of the tables and the microphones. The gesture was enough to wake up Pinkie Pie and Spike from their stupor. Opening her mouth and closing it, Pinkie was the first one to speak. “Hey!” Pinkie Pie protested as she crossed her forelegs on her chest and pouted. “I didn’t get to give my final comment in the fight! That was very rude of you, Discord!” “You snooze you lose, Pinkie!” Discord shrugged his shoulders, which only made Pinkie Pie give him a bigger pout. Spike’s reaction, however, was the opposite of what the pink mare showed. “That was awesome!” In the background, the rest of the girls were thinking on how the fight ended. They all remained standing in place, shocked and impressed by what they witnessed. “What in tarnation happened here?” Applejack bellowed, not believing how the fight ended. “I’m not sure,” Rarity responded. “For a second I thought that his talons were going to hurt him, but then they didn’t. It was as if his talons lost all cutting edges that they once had.” “I think that it was a spell of some sort,” Rainbow Dash voiced her opinion. Being a pegasus speedster, her eyes were trained to see objects in motion. “I noticed that he used some sort of magic sparks in the talons and the beak when he was wrestling with the gryphon.” “I saw them too!” Scootaloo proclaimed, wanting to get her idol to notice her. “It was when he was starting to headbutt him.” “But what do them sparks have to do with the talons not cuttin’ him?” Apple Bloom asked, still not getting how Statice survived what was supposed to be a finishing blow over and over again. “It doesn’t matter!” Sweetie Belle shrieked hurryingly. “Static…I mean Statice, needs our help. He’s hurt and tired!” With that said, Sweetie Belle went after her crush. “Get back here, Sweetie Belle!” Rarity called after her little sister, more out of concern than anger. As much as she trusted Sweetie Belle, Rarity was not going to let her get close to Statice until she got answers from him. “Oh my, we need to help them both,” Fluttershy flew after the sisters. As much as the fight scared her, she couldn’t let the two combatants to just remain there with their injuries. Twilight’s friends followed after Fluttershy. Soon enough Spike and Pinkie Pie followed after them. Discord disappeared as soon as the duo left him to follow their friends, leaving Twilight alone with her thoughts. Who was Statice? How can a normal unicorn like him managed to earn the hatred of such a savage gryphon? What kind of past did he had if Discord was that interested in him? Where did he learn to fight like that? Why did he turn into Aster? How did he meet the Crusaders in the Everfree Forest? And why did he go through all the trouble of spending time in Ponyville with her and her friends despite apparently being enemies? She didn’t know the answers to any of those questions. But she was going to find out now. Frowning from the many emotions in her head, Twilight went after her friends to talk to Statice. He owed her some answers and she was getting them. Statice stood over the defeated body of Piercing Gaze. His gambit worked. The Blunting Spell was a defensive spell that he used to give smooth edges to sharp weapons to prevent them from cutting them. Statice normally used them on swords and axes of large enemies. It was the first time that he ever used them on small weapons like a griffin’s claws and beak. Regardless of his inexperience with using the spell under those circumstances, Statice’s tactic paid off. As he checked on Piercing Gaze, Statice noticed that his last spell knocked the shades out of his face. He closely levitated the shades and stored them in Hammerspace as a little memento of his fight. Now all that he needed to do was to get rid of Piercing Gaze to be on his way. “Where do you think you’re going?” Twilight’s voice called out from behind him. Statice groaned as he turned around. Was it too much to ask for a fight that won’t be followed by a tense confrontation that may result in another fight? He didn’t feel strong enough to keep fighting after the brawl Piercing Gaze gave him. “I’m getting out of here with Piercing Gaze,” Statice responded as he levitated the unconscious griffin in his magic grasp. “We can assign a dungeon for him in Canterlot,” Twilight replied neutrally. Statice snorted. “Lots of good that turned out to be against me,” Statice bragged dismissively. “How did you escape?” Twilight asked. A part of her thought that Discord may have helped but another part told him that Statice may have figured that part out on his own. “You really think that I am telling you that part?” Statice raised an eyebrow at her inquiry. “How do I know that you won’t use the information to put me in a harder cell for me to escape?” “He’s got a good point, Twilight,” Pinkie Pie gave Twilight an uneasy look. The purple mare groaned at Pinkie’s reply, but she kept with her interrogation. That fight with Piercing Gaze was one of the scariest sights that Twilight had ever seen. She never saw a gryphon trying to hurt another pony like that. Not even Gilda was that violent. “What does Piercing Gaze have against you?” Statice winced. He hated to explain that part so he kept it to a minimum. “One of the first enemies that I made in my adventures,” Statice awkwardly explained. “Let’s just say that he doesn’t take losing in a good way.” “No, I don’t take losing in a good way,” Rainbow Dash pointed a hoof at herself before glaring at Statice. Being an athlete, Rainbow Dash was used to winning and was very sore in the few moments in which she lost a competition. She recognized a sore loser when she saw one and that gryphon was much worse than a sore loser. “That guy over there went all out to hurt you.” “Let’s just say that the fights outside of Equestria are a LOT different than the fights inside of Equestria,” Statice responded to avoid further digging into his past. “Where were you all this time?” Twilight continued her interrogation before Rainbow Dash lost her cool. She could see that the prismatic mare was going to attack Statice for not giving her a satisfactory answer. “I was hibernating,” Statice responded. “You were hibernating?” Fluttershy asked. She was very familiar with hibernation, having seen many of her animals go into it during winter. Hearing that Statice hibernated visually surprised her. “But ponies don’t hibernate.” “They do if they use a spell,” Statice answered quickly, perhaps a little too quickly for Fluttershy’s state as she whimpered in fright at his reply. Seriously, she got scared just for a quick answer? Who am I kidding? I don’t look too friendly right now. “How did you meet our sisters?” Rarity asked, feeling uneasy about Sweetie Belle already knowing him and caring about his safety. “After waking up from my longer than expected hibernation, I went to the Everfree Forest and heard them screaming,” Statice answered that question more securely. “It turns out that they were being attacked by Timberwolves when they were trying to get their cutie marks in cartography.” Hearing that answer, Applejack and Rarity gasped and promptly glared at their younger sisters. Rainbow Dash did the same thing with Scootaloo, not approving of the filly for doing something so dangerous. “Why did you turn into Aster?” Twilight asked with a little resentment in her voice. She didn’t like it when her friends lied to her, especially if they did it since their first meeting. “I needed to learn basic social skills,” Statice answered the question carefully. “I suspected that I was going to be searched all over Equestria from our previous meeting months ago. I created a new identity and decided to blend in with the ponies of a town to learn how to make a living on my own. Afterwards, I was going to move out into a new town to start my life there.” “Why did you choose Ponyville?” Twilight asked. For all the pragmatism he showed, it was unnerving that he chose the hometown of the six most dangerous enemies that he had made months ago. “Proximity,” Statice answered. “I needed to develop my social skills by talking to ponies and Ponyville was the closest town in my vicinity at the time.” “Why did you befriend us as Aster?” Twilight Sparkle asked, feeling a little betrayed by the revelation. “I didn’t mean to befriend you,” Statice answered sorely. “I suspected that you were going to see through my disguise so I made my best to avoid you all. Unfortunately, fate had me meeting you more times than I expected.” “Does that mean that you didn’t like spending time with us?” Pinkie Pie interrupted, her voice breaking at the revelation. It hurt to find out that Statice and Aster were one and the same because that meant that she lost two friends that lied to her twice. “Not really,” Statice sighed. “Spending time with you girls was fun…but you can’t really enjoy the experience if you’re feeling guilty while you’re at it. I was planning on leaving Ponyville soon enough to start a life. All I needed was more social skills…until this guy showed up.” He glared at Piercing Gaze for ruining his plan. It was because of him that he was having such painful conversation. Deciding not to waste any more time, Statice opened his Archive, showing a map of Equestria. Each part of it had the same symbol that he used on the Marking Spell. By using magic on the symbols written in the Archive, he was capable of remotely casting spells in the place that corresponded to the mark. Statice’s eyes wandered across the map, trying to find a place on which to get rid of him. “What’s that map?” Pinkie Pie asked, her curiosity mending her heartbreak a little bit. “It looks like the one that we have in Twilight’s castle.” “Let’s just say that I am planning on putting this troublemaker in a place far away from here,” Statice kept on scanning the map to look for the perfect place. “Have you tried putting him on jail?” Pinkie Pie suggested. “I think I’ll put him in Appleloosa,” Statice hummed in thought. “Say what?” Applejack glared at Statice with indignation. “There is a desert in Appleloosa,” Statice explained calmly. “I plan on letting Piercing Gaze there.” All of the girls gasped in shock. “But Piercing Gaze won’t be able to make it out in the desert!” Fluttershy yelled in horror. “He’s too hurt and weak to survive there.” Statice gave her a blank look. “You think I care?” he asked her indifferently. “He tried to hurt me in the WORST possible way. Why should I show him mercy?” “Because leaving him in the desert is no different than what Piercing Gaze was trying to do to you,” Twilight countered angrily. “You’re just using a different approach. It won’t make you any better than him.” “He’ll survive,” Statice scoffed. “It’s not like he and I had not been in the same situation before.” Hearing such horrible words being pronounced so calmly made the blood of the ponies turn cold. That sounded like an awful fate, and yet Statice claimed that he and Piercing Gaze had been on that situation before. They couldn’t stop thinking what kind of life did the stallion have when he was a foal. “Well you’re not doin’ that!” Applejack stepped out, her righteous fury allowing her to snap out of her stupor. “Mah cousin Braeburn lives there. You ain’t sendin’ some crazy gryphon to cause trouble there, ya hear?” Statice felt his eye twitch. “Contrary to what you think, Applejack, unconsciousness only lasts between a few seconds and minutes,” Statice explained his reasoning. “I think that there is a slight chance that Piercing Gaze just heard about his next destination right now. Because of you, I have to choose a different place to drop him.” “What makes you think that we’re letting you go?” Rainbow Dash spread her wings. “You still escaped from Canterlot and you lied to us!” “I don’t have time for this!” Statice snapped as he lighted his horn with magic. He selected a random location on the map, disappearing with Piercing Gaze still in his magical grasp. “STATICE!” Twilight exclaimed in shock and anger. Much to her displeasure, he was gone. She felt her anger blazing inside of her. Twilight was not the vengeful type, nor did she intend to be. However, that did not mean that she was going to leave Statice unattended. “Write a letter, Spike!” Twilight barked fast enough to stun Spike. “But I don’t have scrolls or quills, Twilight!” Spike answered desperately. His problem was solved when Pinkie Pie shook her head and let a quill, a scroll, and a bottle of ink to fall out of her mane. “Here,” Pinkie Pie smiled at Spike. It was a sad smile over the whole incident, but it was still a smile since she was doing it after helping a friend. That always cheered her up, even if it was just a little. “What do you want me to write, Twilight?” Spike asked the purple alicorn as he dipped the tip of the quill into the jar of ink. “We’re sending a letter to Princess Celestia,” Twilight announced sternly. “We’re getting those answers from Statice, one way or another!”