10 - Whose Line is it Anyway?
Chapter 10: Whose Line Is It Anyway?
There it was, the beast we were looking for. It stood there in all its glory, fangs dripping, tongue lolling and eyes wild and feral as they come for beasts. Black fur streaked with white lines scored its hide, and as soon as I realised what it was we were looking at, I made sure not to make any sudden movements. Barely inching my beak open, I whispered to Twilight.
“Don’t move, don’t move a muscle.”
Underneath, I felt Twilight stiffen slightly, but other than her deliberately forced, but measured, breaths, she followed my instruction flawlessly. The beast was looking at us, as it snarled ominously, a deep rumble that seemed to reverberate the air around us, as if seeking to extinguish our will to live from sound alone. I perched perfectly still, despite feeling a faint vibration from Twilight.
It lumbered a few steps closer, as its eyes locked onto us, pinning us down with its sordid gaze. I stared forward, hoping that Twilight wouldn’t instinctively track the beast with her head as it approached. The sheer size of the beast meant that it topped near the trees, its head nearing to the height of even the tallest branches of the mighty oaks around us.
It growled again, this time much softer, then it eyed us once more before lumbering away slowly, ponderously, without a care in the world. I felt like I had cheated death and courted the grim reaper. Both of us let go of our breath at the same time.
“W-What was that?” Twilight whispered in a voice made harsh through adrenaline.
I couldn’t stop a shiver creeping down my spine as I answered.
“It’s a Bite.”
Twilight blinked. “A Bite?”
I hunched closer to Twilight. “The name is fairly self-explanatory. A Bite is an ancient beast that has the inclination to take a bite out of anything it’s curious about.”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “You don’t think that thing was the beast that Fluttershy—”
“No, no, no!” I shot back quickly. “Definitely not! If a fully grown Bite had wandered into Fluttershy’s cottage, nothing would be left!”
I flittered to a nearby tree that was next to a stump. Instead of a clean cut stump, the stump looked like it had been made by a tree falling over, only… there wasn’t a tree trunk around.
“Here,” I said, pointing to the stump, “the Bite would have chomped on this tree.”
“Why?” Twilight replied, eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. “What would a Bite…?”
“They don’t look like it, what with the fangs and all, but they’re herbivores. They eat trees. Not any tree, mind you, but a certain type of tree in forests like these.”
“Forests like these?”
“Yes, yes, there are more forests like the Everfree forest all around the world.” I waved my wing dismissively. “You don’t need to know about that. What’s important is that Bites love this type of tree, but they don’t usually venture out of the forest. They’re hugely territorial. Something must have forced them to leave.”
“What could make a Bite leave?”
I tapped my beak. “There are only three things an animal would want: Food, shelter, or…”
“Their offspring,” Twilight finished with a look of comprehension dawning on her face.
“That’s right,” I said, getting off the branch and alighting on her shoulder again. “Now, I know it’s dangerous, but I should check out the Bite habitat.”
“You mean we,” Twilight corrected.
“No, I mean I. You need to get the Followers out of here.”
“You think they would listen to me without you?”
I smiled. “Of course, did you see yourself?”
She sighed. “Okay, I’m not comfortable, but this is for their own good.”
“Pretend they’re listening to you because you’re the Princess around here.”
Twilight made to turn towards the Followers, then stopped. “How do you know where the Bite habitat is?”
I looked away. “Well, I kind of don’t.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Wait, why would it make sense for you to go by yourself?”
“I can fly.”
“So can I.”
“I keep forgetting you’re not a unicorn anymore.” I shrugged. “I can fly well.”
Twilight’s mouth twisted into a skeptical grimace. “I have an arsenal of magic spells.”
“I guess now’s a good time to mention that Bites are almost immune to conventional magical spells?”
Twilight stared at me for a few moments, before sighing. “Are you sure you can handle it?”
I smiled at her concern. “Don’t worry, all I’m doing is looking around the area. I don’t even know where it is—” Oops. I wasn’t supposed to say that.
“So how are you going to find it?” Twilight raised an eyebrow with a smirk.
I shrugged. “I thought I might wheel around and try and find it.”
“Then we both would be good at that.”
She had a point.
“Why do you want to do it alone?”
I shifted uncomfortably. This wasn’t something I had wanted to reveal to Twilight just yet. Shaking my head, I clacked my beak and then hopped onto a nearby branch to make sure I was facing Twilight when I told her just what was getting to me.
“The Bites… I thought they were actually extinct.”
Twilight blinked at me, then inevitable confusion flittered across her face as the implications sunk in. “They’re… obviously not now.”
“That’s why I find it concerning. I haven’t heard tell of a Bite for thousands of years.”
“Thousands?!”
“Yes. I can’t mistake it, but Bites are a symptom of two problems.”
“Two problems?”
“First, they’re dangerous, which is self-evident.”
Twilight nodded, then indicated for me to continue.
“And…?”
“And the second, Bites are definitely extinct. I know that for a fact.”
“How?”
“I was there when the last one died.”
—————
Under the blistering blaze of the oppressive heat that pervaded the desert, a small delegation made their way across the dunes. Griffons, four of them toiled under a palanquin, with a severe mistress perched on her seating, surveying her surroundings with a calculated sweep that seemed both disinterested and haughtily commanding.
On the top of the palanquin, unbeknownst to the royalty beneath, an owl gripped the top with his predatory claws. Looking disheveled by the lack of sleep, the sun bearing down on his small frame, and the need to keep away from the monster that lurked beneath his weakening claws, the owl told himself that this day would be the last. A mantra he had repeated almost one hundred times from the first.
That owl, of course, was me.
“Your Majesty.”
It was Seth, one of her chief advisors. Seth had been becoming less slimily servile and more serpentine as of late, not that I paid much attention to the Courts. His presence exemplified the decaying heart I saw in my little Griselda, but I never said a word about him, just as I kept my beak shut as he ordered the griffons to toil in the heat, knowing full well he was ordering their demise.
“What is it?” Griselda’s voice crackled with icy impatience that cut straight through the heat. “Tell me.”
“The temple is moving along as planned, except…”
“Except…?” Griselda’s reply was underscored with anger. Several of her guard rounded on the courtier as he gave a deep bow. The Queen never liked to repeat herself.
“Except for the local wildlife. The oasis nearby that we were drawing water from turns out to be inhabited.”
“Clear it. The temple must be completed.”
“Of course, your Majesty. Would you like them exterminated?”
“Expediently.”
Seth bowed and turned around to leave, but before he could clear the ring of guards, the Queen called out to him.
“Just out of curiosity, what are these beasts called?”
Seth cocked his head. “I believe they are called Bites.”
——————
“Do you think that has something to do with this?”
I shook my head. “I don’t get it. Bites are supposed to gather around magical hotspots, but they haven’t appeared since…”
“Since what?”
“Since the griffons burned down their home and eradicated them from the oasis they originally inhabited thousands of years ago.”
“But why come out after all this time?”
“I don’t know. It worries me.”
Twilight considered what I had told her, pacing around a couple of circles before nodding to herself and then looking back up at me.
“Right now, the priority should be to seal off the Everfree forest. Those Bites are dangerous, so we need to lessen possible exposure before we think of way to deal with them.”
“You’re not thinking of…” I trailed off.
Twilight cocked her head. “Thinking of what?”
“Of exterminating them?”
Twilight gasped. “No! Of course not! Why would you ever think that?!”
I heaved a sigh of relief. “Nothing, nothing. It was a stupid thought.”
Twilight looked like she was about to add something more, but she glanced back at me and closed her mouth.
“Are you alright, Owlowiscious?” she asked gently.
“Yes, sorry, I was just… never mind. I’ll tell you later, for now we have to clear the forest.”
“That’s right. I’m going to make sure your Followers are following my instructions.”
“The Who?”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “The Who’s.”
“Whose who?”
“Ha, ha,” Twilight grumbled, “just take this.” With that, Twilight summoned a parchment, quill and ink. She quickly scribbled a message and rolled it up, passing the document to me.
“What’s this for?” I said with more than a little confusion. “Need me to fly to the Princesses?”
Twilight chuckled. “Aren’t you forgetting somepony, or rather, some zebra?”
“Zecora!”
“Right, she’s in the forest too, she might be danger, heck, she might even know more about these Bites and how to deal with them.”
“They’ve been extinct for thousands of years, you know.”
“She always seems to know about the strangest things.”
I couldn’t argue with that. Zecora was actually my second choice to be a pet for. If only if she were more amenable to keeping animals around. She seemed to suspect I would eat something in her hut. I’m not that stupid. I’m also carnivorous. I don’t drink boiled plants.
“Done, where should we meet?”
Twilight thought about it briefly, before pointing towards Ponyville. “Let’s meet on the path towards Ponyville. Head there as fast as you can!”
With a jaunty hoot, I took off, heading towards the resident potions master.
———————
Ahead, I spotted the telltale glow of Zecora’s hut amongst the darkening light. I suspected that it was mainly due to the trees being more clustered around Zecora’s humble abode, but it may also be getting closer to evening. That would be a problem. Bites were mostly dark and their coat broke up their shape, making them impossible to spot even with my keen eyes. I needed to get Zecora out.
“Hey, Zecora, open the door!”
I pounded on the door with a free claw. It wasn’t very effective, and there seemed like there was no response, so I decided to use my head.
Literally.
Smack.
Ow, that’s going to leave a mark.
“My, my, what do we have here? A wandering pet of Twilight has appeared.”
I turned around woozily to make out Zecora standing on the path with her saddlebags full of strange plants and herbs. She eyed me with apparent amusement at my desperate efforts to reach out to her when she wasn’t even there. I felt like an idiot.
That’s not a perfect rhyme, I thought darkly.
“Is that a letter you have in your grip? Let us see the fruits of your long trip.”
With a scan of the letter, Zecora’s curious expression changed to confusion, then rapidly descended to worry and alarm.
“Owlowiscious, we must fly! I will gallop ahead, you must take to the sky!”
Surprised the zebra didn’t ask any further questions or even hesitate, I took to the air as she bolted down the path. We didn’t make it far.
With a shuddering roar that shook the leaves off the trees near us, a Bite came out from the left in a shambling lumber. Without even missing a step, Zecora fetched something from her saddlebags and flung it at the Bite. It roared as it was caught face-on with the satchel that Zecora had thrown at it. I veered away as a plume of green powder exploded out of the bag.
“Quickly now while it is currently distracted, that is all the poison powder I have extracted!”
Flapping ahead, I wheeled momentarily around to see if Zecora was alright. The zebra was making excellent time, and I could no longer see the Bite.
A chilling roar slammed into us.
Needing no further encouragement, Zecora and I doubled our efforts. I shot a look back, then saw the shape coming. With a harsh shriek, I dived down and slammed into Zecora, forcing her to stop just as another Bite charged past us, missing us by less than a foot. She veered off the path and stumbled over a fallen log. We tumbled together and I felt a sharp pain lance through my left wing.
Zecora got up and stared at me, then where the Bite had gone.
“No time for gawking,” I croaked. “Go, go, go!”
Zecora seemed to hear my message and she nodded. I prepared to take off again, but cried out as my wing suddenly seized. I must have twisted it when I hit Zecora. I hope Zecora wasn’t coming back for me, if she knew something about Bites, they wouldn’t go after the smaller problems, when there were bigger threats about.
Then I saw her, she had rounded back.
“No, no, no!” I yelled at her. “Get away!”
It was useless, I saw the Bite behind her. It was gearing up for another charge. Zecora scooped me up, despite my protests, and rounded a tree. The cover of the trees weren’t going to help us. We were trapped. I couldn’t tell her. We had to run.
The Bite roared again, snarling a challenge. Then it charged. Zecora, stepped out, facing the Bite. Then she charged straight at the Bite.
“We’re going to die, we’re going to die, we’re going to die!” I screamed.
The Bite tensed and leapt towards us, claws outstretched. Zecora waited until the last moment, then she ducked. It was only moments, before I registered another flash of black and white, and I realised it was the first Bite we had encountered, green powder still on its muzzle. I gaped as the first Bite tackled other, snarling and scratching each other as they tumbled off to the right, narrowly missing the opportunity to crush us along the way.
“That will not keep them fighting for long, we must leave before they find out what’s wrong.” She got up, helped me onto her shoulder and then broke into a brisk trot away.
I stared at Zecora with wide eyes. Maybe I should have picked her.
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I would have gone with, "Who let the dogs out?" for this one.
And suddenly this story became dramatic as well.
What's next? Let's find out!
Also Zecora never fails to amaze
And now for a Dr. Who joke...
The tree of Harmony was named because it was created when the Fausticorn drank to much mead and recreate a tardis using a timberwolf corpse and a vortex manipulater.
This has been a lame attempt to make fun of the chapter title puns.
Another cute chapter.^^
Twilight needs to be careful manipulating the Whos. Right now they come off as fairly gullible, but eventually they will wise up, and then they Won't Be Fooled Again.
WELL FUCK!!!
Better living through chemistry: If you persuade an animal without much in the way of higher brain functions that something else is a threat or a dinner by appealing to its sensory triggers (especially pheromonic), then you don't even have to think about fighting.
So... a time portal of some sort? Or have these things just been hiding in the Everfree and nopony has ever seen one before?