Part 10: A Benevolent Deed
“Where are those fools?” the young Warlock acolyte known as Shade grumbled. The stallion was pacing inside the small clearing, hesitant to go into the forest alone. ‘I’m not scared. I’m being cautious,’ he told himself.
It had been several moments since he had sent his soldiers to nab that nasty mare who had body checked him. Off they went, leaving him behind to think of all the ways he was going to sacrifice her to his goddess. ‘I could just tear her soul out of her body. A mercy kill really. But she did knock the breath out of me…Nah, no mercy for her.’ He had grinned savagely.
But he was all alone now. His tail flicked back and forth constantly, a tell-tell sign of an equine’s agitation. Not to mention his twitching ears. ‘Don’t they know it’s their job to guard me? It’s in their bloody title even: Shadow Guardsponies. You can’t possibly buck that up.’ He was looking forward to killing each and every one of them when they returned. “When I get my hooves on them, I’m going to make them wish they were never born.”
To be truthful—though only himself—he admitted he was tad bit scared. The Everfree Forest wasn’t a place to be caught all alone. The creatures that inhabited these woods could make even a Warlock take pause. His eyes shifted about, readying his magic just in case. ‘These beasts know better than to tangle with the dark.’
He was bolstered by that thought. Shade straightened his posture and started to strut about. “I’m not scared of you, forest. I can take on whatever beast you throw at me and please do. Nightmare Moon needs a little nourishment.”
A soft rustle came from a nearby bush.
Shade spun around and blasted the bush with dark magic. “STAY AWAY FROM ME!” he shouted with all his might.
The sound of the wind brushed up against a few branches.
“DIE!” Another blast halved a tree.
Shade huffed. He had used too much magic in that last blast. A small ache struck his head. ‘Calm yourself. Fear isn’t something a warlock should show.’ He was better than fear. He was its wielder and master. None would dare oppose him, not without a death wish.
A little twig snapped.
He jumped a little ways into the air. “Who dares sneak up on me, Warlock Shade?” He tried to sound as intimidating as he could. It wasn’t saying much, since he was just barely into adulthood and his voice trembled. He aimed his horn at the foliage; the magical glow surrounding it gave him a little more light in the area. “Come out and I’ll end you swiftly.”
The rustling stopped. A harsh tension filled the air before Shade let out a breath of relief. “Nothing. I’m working myself up over nothing.” He turned away from the forest edge. “Damned, guardsponies. Damned mare.”
In the next instant the silence was broken by something bursting from the woodworks. With a quick snap of its jaws, the beast bit into his haunches faster than he could react. Shade let out a miserable cry of pain as the beast yanked and tugged. The pain was too great for him to properly think of a plan, which gave the beast enough time to try and finish him. Its claws raked his legs, tearing away pieces of flesh then it swung its head to the side, sending him careening into a tree.
Yelping in pain, Shade could only gather the energy to sit up. He was bleeding profusely, but glad that the sudden attack hadn’t put him in a shocked state. He’d be as good then. ‘Should have been more careful.’
With his back to the tree, he got a look at the beast. ‘What the hay is that thing?’ he thought. It was around twenty feet long and stood on two legs. It was large enough to look a pony in the eyes. Its muscles were compact and ripped, making it easy for the creature to have thrown the light unicorn. In his own opinion, the creature looked like a cross between a bird and a lizard and had some sort of thin plumage on its green and yellow body.
The beast let out a low growl, hungry for its prey. Its forepaws twitched, looking to tear into his skin.
‘By Nightmare Moon’s mane, look at those teeth!’ Shade though, as he watched the serrated fangs glisten with saliva. Its long snout was wet with his blood. The beast was poised and ready to strike. ‘No. I’m not ready to die.’ Shade collected as much magic as he could in his frantic state into his horn.
The creature lunged.
With faster reflexes than he thought he had, Shade created a translucent, purple force-field around himself while subconsciously raising his fore-hooves. The creature bounced off it, stepping back several steps. It shook its head to clear its senses and then roared.
Shade panicked and sent another surge into the bubble. He could feel the strain already taking a toll on his body. It was strange really; he thought he had more energy than this. When the creature attacked again, this time purple arcs of magic electrocuted the creature.
It screamed in pain as it jumped back, arcs of the magic still circulating around it. Shaking its body in a vain attempt at getting rid of the magic, it let out a pained and angered roar. Shade could see it in the beast’s eyes that it had a grudge against the unicorn.
Shade gulped. ‘Lucky me.’
The creature ran back into the woods, letting out shrieks of agony. Shade knew it wouldn’t kill the creature, though not for a lack of trying. Although, the next couple of hours were going to be a living Tartarus for it. He let out a pained sigh. ‘At least I have that.’
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“Oh, what luck,” Redheart exclaimed joyfully. She was hunched over a clutch of strange, blue flowers. sing some tweezers, she carefully plucked the petals from the flowers and put them into an empty jar. “Lightning, come over here.” The nurse inclined her head to the small patch.
Lightning groaned. It hadn’t taken the pair long to find each other after awakening alone in the forest. Lightning’s speed made travel a breeze. In all honesty, she wished she found one of the other mares.
It wasn’t that she hated Redheart. Far from it actually, they were practically family. It’s just that Redheart was an egghead, in Lightning Dust’s opinion. She liked to take her time and look at the world, while Lightning would just speed right through it. ‘Why does she have to act so lame anyways?’
“What is it?” Lightning walked over to Redheart’s side.
“Poison Joke,” Redheart practically squealed.
“What?” Lightning Dust jumped back in an instant, then hovered up above the ground just to be sure. “Why did you want to show me that? That stuff messes with ponies.”
“Yes, but it’s so fascinating.” Redheart put the jar and tweezers away and used her tail to pull out a notebook from one of her saddlebags.
Lightning was still a bit awed how earth ponies can manipulate their tails so easily. Granted, she could do that with her wings, but using your tail seemed kind of cool.
Redheart fished out a pen and quickly started scribbling down into the book. “You never see Poison Joke so far into the woods. It can’t handle the thick foliage that covers the canopy,” Redheart explained, to which Lightning rolled her eyes. The pegasus knew she was in for a lecture. “Poison Joke is more often found on the edge of forests, in small open fields. It needs a stable amount of sunlight to survive. Even though, like the Everfree Forest itself, it is inherently tainted by chaos, hence why it has no scientific name, it still behaves like a normal plant. To think that creatures of chaos live such orderly lives, in a matter of speaking, is fascinating. Don’t you agree?”
Lightning didn’t. Once Redheart had started her science tirade, she had tuned her out. Given how often it happened, it wasn’t any surprise. ‘Poison Joke? Really? We’re battling the forces of darkness and she wants to look at Poison Joke? Gah, uncool. I could be kicking Nightmare Moon’s butt right now.’
Redheart looked up over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes. “Are you listening?”
“Wah?” Lightning shook her head to clear up her thoughts. “Yeah, you were talking about the Poison Joke. Fascinating.”
“You don’t sound fascinated.”
“I’m sorry, I’m a little preoccupied with FINDING THE ELEMENTS!” Lightning threw up her fore-hooves in anger as she shouted.
Redheart’s face flushed in embarrassment and her ears fell back. “Oh yeah…sorry.”
Lightning face-hooved and landed. “Seriously, you need to stop being all sciency, at least for tonight. We have a daemon princess to pummel.”
“Yeah, I don’t think it’s going to be that easy.”
“Stopping your science stuff, or beating up Nightmare Moon?”
“Both.” Redheart put the notebook back into her saddlebag.
Lightning Dust sighed. She wasn’t in the mood to argue with her friend. Right now, there was villain to smack. ‘She’ll be running with her tail between her legs when I’m through with her. Nopony, not even Nightmare Moon, messes with Lightning Dust and gets away with it.’ “So, are we going or what?”
“Right after I take a few more samples.” Redheart reached a hoof into her saddlebag, rummaging through her things.
Lightning groaned and started to walk off. “We don’t have time for this. The townsponies are counting on us, or did you forget about them.”
Redheart glowered at her. “I didn’t forget. I just thought…”
“There you go.” Lightning shot an accusing hoof at her. “Thinking instead of acting. We should be storming the old castle, not collecting flowers.”
Redheart held up a hoof to stop her tirade. “One: We don’t know where the old castle is?”
Lightning scoffed. “We’ll find it…eventually.”
“Two: I’m not collecting flowers, I’m collecting some insurance.”
Lightning raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?” ‘Is she just making that up to save face?’
Redheart nodded and lowered her hoof. “You do know the side-effects of Poison Joke, right?”
“Yeah, it plays pranks on you,” Lightning said. “But that takes hours. We don’t have hours.”
“Ah, you underestimate science.” Redheart smirked.
Lightning really wanted to wipe that smirk off her smug face, but she was interrupted by a scream. “What the hay was that?”
“Sounded like somepony’s in trouble.” Redheart, without saying another word, took off after the sound.
“Wait for me!” Lightning shouted and took after her. Soon enough, they heard something roar. It was beastial and sounded like it was in pain. Lightning momentarily thought about running ‘away’ from the noise, but quickly quelled that thought. ‘I’m not a chicken.’
It didn’t take the pair long to come to a small clearing. A strange, purple light filled the area. There was something unnatural about it, causing the two mares to shiver in fear. Looking to the source, they found something surprising.
____________________________________________________________________
‘The poor dear,’ Redheart thought.
A Warlock, a young stallion by the look of it, lay with his back to a tree. He was panting profusely with his fore-hooves outstretched. His horn glowed brightly, creating the magical shield that surrounded him. She noticed it flickering, making the shield recede every now and again. Redheart gasped when she saw the wound on his thigh. The robe he had been wearing had been ripped to shreds in that region. His cutie mark was covered by horrid serrations.
Upon seeing them, the Warlock’s eyes widened. His shield fell as well as his fore-hooves. “D-don’t come closer,” he squeaked out. “I’ll…kill you if you do.”
Redheart wasn’t fooled by his false bravado. The stallion—really he was barely a stallion—was shivering in both pain and fear. She guessed his age at fifteen at the most.
“Pfft,” Lightning spoke up. “I’d like to see you try.”
“I-I-mean it,” the Warlock said before his breathing started getting a little more hectic.
‘Oh, this looks bad,’ Redheart thought. The wound looked fresh, and he’d already lost a lot of blood. She needed to treat him soon or he’d get infected. She took a few steps forward.
“Whoa there!” Lightning cut her off from the stallion. “What are you doing?”
“I’m helping him.” Redheart sent her a small glare. “What else would I would do?”
“I don’t know, maybe leave him to die. He is one of the ponies who want to kills us, remember?”
“Yes, I remember,” Redheart said. Lightning was right. This stallion was a cultist of Nightmare Moon. His compatriots were destroying the town and killing her friends. They all deserved death. ‘Nopony would blame us for just walking away. Hay, I think this stallion would prefer that.’
She thought about it…and then discarded the idea. The mare could feel something inside her spark. She knew what she had to do. She walked around Lightning Dust.
“Didn’t you hear me? He’s the enemy,” Lightning shouted.
“He’s still a pony,” Redheart shot at her, walking beside the stallion. He stared at her in fear, his horn trying and failing to come to life. “He deserves a chance.”
“Ugh,” Lightning groaned. “Alright, but if your bleeding heart gets us killed, I’m so not hanging out with you in the afterlife.”
Redheart giggled. “Fair enough.” She then addressed the stallion. “Now, what did this to you?”
“W-why do you want to know?” The stallion asked. “Why do you want to help me?”
“Didn’t I just explain that?” Redheart raised an eyebrow. “You’re a pony in pain and I’m a nurse. It’s my duty to help…besides, I couldn’t live with myself if I just left you here to die.”
“That’s what I would’ve done,” the stallion said. “That’s what any of the followers of Nightmare Moon would have done. The strong survive, the weak perish.”
Redheart snorted. “I say that’s a lot of poppycock.” ‘Sounds like something the night goddess would do.’
“B-b-but, our goddess said so,” the stallion weakly tried to defend himself. “Her word is law.”
“So, you want to die because you’re weak?” Redheart asked.
What the stallion did next surprised her. He started crying. “I-I don’t want to die.”
Redheart sighed. She’d dealt with young ponies on the front lines before. Warfare wasn’t something the mind—especially a ponies—could handle well. They’d freak out, make mistakes, and get themselves killed. So, she put a reassuring hoof on his head and started stroking. “It’s all right,” she cooed. “It’ll be okay. You aren’t going to die.”
“But that beast,” the stallion spoke up. “It’ll come back.”
“What did it look like?” Redheart asked.
“I-it was some sort of lizard-bird,” the stallion said. “It was yellow and green and stood on two legs.”
Redheart’s eyes went wider than she thought they could. ‘Did he see…’ “Herrerasuarus.”
“What?” Lightning asked.
“Herrerasuarus ischigualastensis,” Redheart explained. “Meaning: Herrera’s lizard from the Ischigualasto Formation. It was named after the expedition’s leaders’ donkey wife who uncovered the first fossils. We can thank Discord for bringing it back.”
“Donkeys and long names aside,” Lightning said. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“It has everything to do with this,” Redheart said. “Herrerasaurus is an ambush hunter with a nasty bite. Its saliva is more potent than a komodo dragons’, ensuring death within the hour.”
The stallion’s eyes grew wide in terror. “H-hour?”
“In your state...” Redheart tapped her chin. “I’d give you less than thirty minutes due to several variables: age, size, energy consumption…”
“Uh, Redheart,” Lightning interrupted her.”
“Yes?”
Lightning pointed to the stallion. “You’re scaring him.”
Redheart glanced to the Warlock. He was holding himself, shaking in fright. “Oh dear, I overdid it, didn’t I?”
“You always overdo it,” Lightning said. “Your bedside manners suck.”
Redheart huffed in annoyance. “I have wonderful bedside manners. This just isn’t the time to use them.”
Lightning rolled her eyes. “Sure it isn’t.”
Redheart let out a ‘humph’. “At the very least, I came prepared.” She fished out a vial from her saddlebag. ‘I knew this would come in hoofy.’
Lightning’s eyes grew in surprise. “Is that…”
Redheart nodded. “My extract of Holu. I brought along the vial in-case we needed it. Looks like I was right in doing so.”
“But didn’t you say how valuable it was? You might not get any more.”
“A life’s in danger,” Redheart un-popped the top. “Nopony’s going to die on my watch.”
“But he’s the enemy,” Lightning tried once more to talk her out of this. “He should pay for his sins.”
“We’re all sinners in a way,” Redheart retorted, staring down her friend. “Some are just more open with them.” She hoofed over the vial to the Warlock. “Drink up. This’ll make you feel better.”
The Warlock was hesitant at first, but took it anyways. With a quick gulp, he down the small amount of liquid with ease. Within seconds, the stallion’s breath eased up and Redheart marveled at how the wounds seemed to be closing.
“Fascinating,” Redheart quickly took out her notepad and started scribbling the results. ‘Holu extract seems to be nearly instantaneous in its effects, confirming earlier reports. Still, seeing it with my own eyes is baffling.’
“I’m,” the Warlock paused to look at himself. His injuries were gone, like they never were there in the first place. “I’m not dying. I’m not dying.” He tried to jump up in joy, but quickly stumbled.
Redheart stopped his fall and let him lean on her side. “You’re still too weak from your injury. That and the effects of the Holu take their toll. I’m sure you’ll be on your hooves by morning.”
“Thank you,” the Warlock said. “I can’t help but wonder how I can repay your kindness.”
Redheart gave him a joyful grin. “Don’t think anything of it. Helping ponies is my special talent. By the way, I didn’t get your name.”
“Shade,” the Warlock answered. “And yours?”
“Redheart,” she then gestured to her friend. “And this is Lightning Dust.”
“’Sup?” Lightning said, giving him a measured glare.
“So,” Shade said. “What now?”
“We’re off to the old castle in the woods,” Redheart said.
“Yeah,” Lightning nodded. “I’ve got a score to settle with Nightmare Moon and that jerk of hers.”
“And let me guess,” Shade cut in. “You're lost.”
“You hit the hammer on the nail,” Redheart said.
“I think I can help you,” Shade said.
“And how can we trust you?” Lightning narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
“Look, you mares saved my life,” Shade said. “It’s the least I can do…Besides, Apostle would just kill me if he learned what you did. Accepting help from the enemy isn’t something he tolerates.”
“Point taken,” Redheart said. ‘What kind of cruel stallion would do such a thing?’ “Now, let us be off.”
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Great writing, you're making me start to empathize with the cultists, and considering that they're a bunch of sadistic psychos, that's no mean feat. It does make me wonder how exactly Apostle manage to get these ponies to sign up in the first place.
This was a good chapter for Redheart. Really highlighted many aspects of her character including her element.
4596469 Well, that's the song I was parodying in Ponyville's entrance, so it's not just you.
So yeah apparently I must have missed a notification on this chapter or something, but anyways great chapter. It shows what you'd expect someone to do in that given situation. Would you spare him or leave him to suffer a dilemma of sorts while myself would have sided with Lightning because of the whole he tried to kill me. It was also wonderful seeing the other scenario play out though. Redheart did it masterfully too.
Its also great that your flushing out more for the universe, giving the cultist a more gentle side while maintaining that defiant stand of "If your weak you die." The dinosaur is also a wonderful addition to the universe albeit scary as buck.
You do know the phrase is "You hit the nail on the head", right?
I want to see Lightning try to physically attack Nightmare moon and watch the Daemon princess wipe the floor with her. Not that I want horrible things to happen to Equestria, but her stupidity/arrogance is getting on my nerves.
fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/144/c/c/feathered_velociraptor_by_thefranology-d5qjdeh.jpg
Raptor?
....Herrerasuarus...
Eh, close cousin.
Discord: "Nurse Redheart, welcome to- Everfree Park! Da-da-dee-da-dah eh-dah. Da-da-da deh dah eh da!"
Rapters? Wasn't expecting to see those guys/girls here. Yet it weirdly makes sense.