Thunder, part one
"I can walk by myself, thank you!" Bon-Bon shouted at the stallion before she proceeded to slam the door on him with her hind hoof. The heavy metal door shut behind Bon-Bon with a loud clang, followed by the harsh scrape of metal as she twisted the lock into place. The sound reverberated throughout the crew quarters of the airship before it eventually faded away. Bon-Bon let out a heavy sigh, feeling both tired and wound up at the same time. She needed to recover from what she had just seen, and being around Crisp and his crew was not going to help her in the slightest.
Slowly trotting over to one of the many bunk beds. Bon-Bon hopped up onto the bottom bed, where she proceeded to plant her face on the thin piece of itchy fabric that tried to pass as an actual pillow.
"What a mess," she groaned out loud, her voice muffled by the sheets as she buried her nose deeper into the bed. It felt like every bone in her body was on fire at that very moment as her exertions from earlier, which she had tried to ignore in favor of dealing with the situation, finally caught up with her. Somewhere deep inside the airship, the rhythmic hum of the engines that kept it moving forward acting as a sort of lullaby, drawing her to the very fringes of sleep. However, despite how much Bon-Bon wanted to just close her eyes and forget the past week, the mare found herself unable to fall asleep. Rolling onto her back, her brow furrowed into an expression of worry and contemplation as she clacked her front hooves together, trying to think.
Ever since she, Crisp, and everypony else on the bridge of the airship had seen the hydra, still and lifeless as it sat in the murky water of the bog beneath them, the level of activity had increased dramatically. Ponies were galloping back and forth between their stations, each one possessing the unmistakable look of fear in their eyes. And why should they not be? If the monster they were supposed to find could mutilate a fully grown bull hydra like that, one could only imagine what it could do to a pony.
To Bon-Bon, it seemed that she was the only voice of reason when she tried to convince Crisp to believe her, to at least consider what she said earlier in spite of the contradictory evidence that was practically right in front of them that was in the process of being casually picked apart by crows and other carrion eaters. Of course he did not listen to her in the slightest. In fact, he hardly seemed to notice she was even still on the bridge as he went about ordering his underlings to continue working at their stations and double their efforts to find the creature before it got the chance to do any more damage. It was only when Bon-Bon had actually yelled at him to shut up and listen to her that he finally took notice, only to have one his officers "escort" her to her chambers moments later. Knowing that fighting any longer would only make things worse, Bon-Bon reluctantly went along with it.
And now here she was, sitting alone on a thin, itchy mattress in the crew quarters with nothing to do except twiddle her hooves. She sighed heavily, wondering what was going on outside. Seeing that there was currently nothing she could really do to influence the situation, Bon-Bon resigned herself to just waiting silently for something to happen, whether it be Crisp finally wanting to actually listen to what she had to say or something else. She often felt her eyelids begin to droop, but no matter how much the mare would have welcomed it sleep continued to evade her, like water slipping out of her hooves. At the very best she was able to lightly doze, although it was hardly very restful, as each every far off clank and groan of metal kept her awake.
This continued for what felt to Bon-Bon like hours, although she was not exactly sure how much time had passed. There was no time piece available to tell her, and all of her equipment was in her saddlebags, which Crisp had ordered to be confiscated. Not for the last time, Bon-Bon muttered a particularly foul curse at him, even though he was not there to hear it.
Immediately afterward, a particularly loud groan echoed throughout the ship, and Bon-Bon bolted upright.
"It wasn't me, I swear!" she exclaimed, momentarily forgetting that she was still alone. Once she realized that she was still the only pony in the crew quarters she let herself relax slightly, and she realized that something was going on with the ship itself. After a moments thought, Bon-Bon realized that they it was turning around, which led to the question of what was going on to warrant it. Trotting up to the door, Bon-Bon undid the lock and poked her head outside, where she found the same stallion that escorted her standing off to the side, no doubt under orders to keep an eye on their guest.
"Hey, you," she said, getting his attention. "What's going on?"
Giving her a somewhat disinterested look, the stallion simply shrugged and replied, "Heck if I know."
Bon-Bon sighed through her nose, and was about to "politely" request that he let her talk to Crisp, when she saw another pony, the orange mare that she remembered as Horizon, quickly trotting by. She seemed extremely worried about something, although what that was Bon-Bon did not know. She hoped to find out.
"Excuse me," she called just as the mare was about to trot straight past. To her relief Horizon stopped.
"Yes? What do you want?" she questioned in a less than polite manner. She clearly seemed to have somewhere she needed to be, and did not seem interested in engaging in a conversation Bon-Bon.
Choosing to ignore that for the moment Bon-Bon asked, "Can you tell me what's going on? This lunkhead," she said while gesturing to the stallion, "won't tell me anything."
"Look, I don't know if I should-" Horizon began to say, until she was cut off mid-sentence.
"Please," Bon-Bon pleaded, something she did not ever do normally. "Give me the gist of it, just don't keep me in the dark here."
For a long moment Horizon seemed to be contemplating what she should do, until finally she gave in and said, "Look, I don't know exactly what's going on, but for some reason we've been ordered to immediately turn around and head back to Hollow Shades. Apparently something big is going on, so I suggest that just try to keep your head down. I'm sorry but that's all I know."
Bon-Bon scrunched her face up in confusion. She did not need to be told that they were changing course. She had already figured that out for herself before she even asked. What threw her for a loop was that they going back to Hollow Shades, and she wondered if it might have had anything to do with the creature. That did seem to be the most likely reason. She wanted to question the mare further, but when Bon-Bon looked up she found that said mare had already left.
"Hey wait a minute, I want to-" she called out, but saw that it was too late as the mares auburn tail vanished around a corner. Bon-Bon tried to pursue her, but found herself stopped by the stallion as he stepped in front of her.
"Hold up right there, miss. I ain't letting you leave 'til the the captain says so," he stated. Bon-Bon opened her mouth, finding herself wanting to tell him exactly what he could do with the captain's orders. She bit her tongue however, knowing it would have only been a waste of time and energy.
Letting out a breath through her nose, Bon-Bon smiled and said, "Alright then. I'll do that. And when captain flank-face finds out how much he's about to royally screw things up, you come and tell me. Sound good to you?"
She did not even give him a second to utter any kind of response aside from a confused "Uhhh," before she slammed the door in his face for the second time that day. Going back to the bed, Bon-Bon resumed her fruitless quest for slumber, kept awake by the chaotic thoughts that persistently rolled through her head.
Angela waited with baited breath as Luna and a number of other ponies inspected what she had written. It was not her most delicate penmanship, as it was actually somewhat difficult to write anything when she had claws the size of large scythes. Nevertheless Angela could not help but feel a certain amount of satisfaction at having finally discovered a means to effectively communicate with the ponies. Hopefully now she would be able to tell Luna of her situation, and at last put this whole mess behind her.
She felt no small amount of anxiousness as she waited and watched while Luna read, likely contemplating what she was going to do now that it was officially made clear that Angela was sapient and able to communicate, albeit in a roundabout manner.
Then Angela noticed Luna turn her head to a few of her underlings, appearing to ask them a question. She guessed that the Princess was getting their opinions on the matter, discussing what should be done with her in hushed voices. She saw a few of them shake their heads, which worried her somewhat. While Angela was fairly confident that Luna was not the type of pony that would do anything too rash, she could not really say the same for her entourage. Sparing a glance at them, she noted that more than a few of them were skittish in her presence, while the rest wore hardened expressions on their muzzles.
After a few moments Angela noticed that Luna appeared to be finished speaking with her ponies and was once again approaching her. Angela felt herself straighten up a bit as she waited patiently for Luna to speak.
"Beast," the Princess said. While her voice still boomed with the undeniable authority that Angela had heard from before when she first arrived, the wraith could not help but notice that it contained a subtle trace of apprehension. Additionally, the fact that she used the word beast as opposed to something less discriminating irked Angela slightly, but she chose to overlook that for the time being. "I have a question, a number of questions actually, that I would like to pose to you, if you do not mind that is?" the Princess asked.
With a wave of her clawed hand, Angela motioned for Luna to continue. Although the movement made a number of nearby ponies move away, she did not particularly care what they did when the only one here that she needed to convince was Luna.
Upon receiving her permission, Luna proceeded to clear her throat several times before speaking, and when she did the apprehension in her voice became that much more obvious to Angela. "Firstly, allow me to say that I in no way intend cause offense to you, as your particular style writing is quite lovely to look behold."
'Can we just cut to the chase please,' Angela thought with a snort as she crossed her first pair of arms. 'I fail to see what my style of writing has to do with our conversation.'
Luna continued, unaware of Angela's musings as she said, "However, I am afraid to say that there is a minor complication." As Luna said this, her brow started to furrow slightly, and the anxiety that Angela already felt nearly doubled as she frantically wondered what it is that was wrong, and what her writing had to. . . do with. . .
'Oh no, please don't tell me,' Angela begged silently. 'Say it isn't so, please for the love of God say it isn't-'
"I am afraid to say that neither I nor anypony else here can read this. You would not happen to understand written Equestrian would you?" Angela's only response was to cover her face with both of her clawed hands, and let a loud groan. "I shall take that as a no then."
In that moment, there were a multitude of things that Angela wanted to do. She wanted to cry for discovering yet another roadblock to communicating. She wanted to laugh for the very same reason. Perhaps most of all she wanted to let fly every single curse and foul word that knew of, but was unable to do so since her anatomy prevented her from performing all three of these actions. All she was able to do was utter a growl of intense frustration, causing a number of ponies, Luna included, to cautiously back away.
'Of course,' Angela fumed, throwing all four of her arms up into the air as she veered back toward the pool, hovering just over its surface while she attempted to calm down. She was having very little success however, and her efforts were not at all aided by her wounds and hunger, the latter of which continued to gnaw at her incessantly. 'Of course this would happen. No matter what I do I just cannot catch a break. I don't know why I expected it to be any different.'
Glancing down at her reflection in the water, she saw her visage become warped and twisted by the rippling waves, yet they could not disguise the thing that was the source of all of her frustration. Momentarily letting her anger and hunger get the best of her, Angela slashed at the reflection. Her saber claws carved through the liquid with ease, sending up a plume of water.
Before she took it any further, Angela began to breathe deeply before she did something that she would end up regretting later on. She was already in hot water with the ponies as it was, she did not need to lower their opinion of her even further by losing her temper, especially right now. Turning around, she saw the need for her to have a level head become even more apparent, as everypony watched her carefully, ready to act at a moments notice. Even Luna's spiral horn was alight in preparation to use magic.
Reminding herself of just how close she was to jeopardizing her chances of ever coming to an understanding with them, Angela took a few more calming breaths until she felt that she was as sedate as she was going to be, then hovered back over to the crowded shore and address the newest issue to present itself.
'Okay,' she thought. It's alright. I can salvage this, I just need to think. They obviously can't understand what I say, and the option of writing has gone out the window. So what can I do instead?' Angela hummed as she debated the question, a deep and yet oddly hypnotic thrum that reverberating throughout the area, echoing through the trees. The ponies mostly just stood there, anxiously watching and waiting for her to do something.
Suddenly Angela's spines stood erect on her back as a new idea popped into her head and she let out an excited chitter. She only had to consider the idea for a brief moment before she found it to her liking, knowing that right now it was her only means of reliable communication. Wiping away what she had written with a brush of her claws, she began to inscribe something else into the sand.
Luna watched with rapt attention as the creature scribbled away on the ground with the tip of one of its enormous claws after wiping away its foreign writing. While the meaning behind the words may have been lost to her and everypony else here, the Princess was still nevertheless very intrigued by the fact that it seemed to possess its own form of written language, and she found herself wondering what it had been trying to say. For all she knew it could have been a heartfelt poem or an invitation for her to become its betrothed.
Luna doubted either one of those possibilities as being very likely, especially given their current setting, but she would never know, as it was written in a language that she had never seen in her entire life. And considering that she was centuries old and fluent in many multiple languages, some of them belonging to long dead civilizations, that was saying quite a lot, and she could not help but feel her fascination with the creature grow.
If only her underlings were willing to show at least half as much intrigue as she was. However they only seemed to be mildly interested in what the creature was doing. She could tell from the looks in their eyes and the way that their bodies were positioned that they were more concerned with the possibility of the creature suddenly deciding to pounce on them. She could hear them murmuring and talking anxiously amongst themselves in quiet voices, though Luna could hardly fault them for it however, and she would freely admit that she herself was more than a little apprehensive being so close to a creature that could fell celestial beasts with apparent ease.
After a few more moments the creature withdrew its hand, signaling that it was finished with a sound that was something of a mix between a grunt and a hiss, apparently satisfied with its work as it dipped its head in a short nod. Letting her curiosity guide her actions, Luna stepped forward to get a better view of what it had created, ever mindful that the creature was gaze as it watched her. She was mildly disappointed to find that it was not more alien symbols and glyphs, but instead a simple and somewhat crude drawing that depicted the creature itself, and Luna realized that the since the creature now knew that she could not understand its written language, it would compromise using pictures and drawings.
Pointing with a hoof at the drawing in the sand, Luna asked, "That is you?" The beast responded with a quick nod, and Luna got the distinct impression that it was excited, before it proceeded to draw something else. In moments it was done. At first Luna was slightly confused by what she was looking at, until she realized after a moments thought that it was pony standing next to the creature.
The crunch of sand beneath armor clad hooves alerted Luna to Stalwarts approach. Standing next to her, he looked quizzically at the drawings before he asked aloud, "What do you suppose it's trying to say Princess?"
After gazing at the drawings and thinking it over, Luna felt she had arrived at an adequate conclusion. "I believe," she said while glancing up at the creature, "that this beast does not wish to be our enemy. In fact, I do think that it does not wish to fight us at all."
As soon as Luna said this the creature uttered a series of high pitched chitters and grunts, a display that all but confirmed what the Princess had said. Stalwart however was still less than convinced, which he made apparent by casting a worried glance between her and the creature he pulled her to the side and said to her in a hushed voice, "Princess Luna, may I be so bold as to have a moment of your time?"
Luna eyed the captain curiously, feeling that she already knew what he wanted to discuss with her. She briefly considered the option of saying no and dismissing him entirely so that she could continue her conversation with the creature, however one sided it may be, so that she could attempt to learn a little more about it. Still, Luna also knew that it would be remiss of her to do so without at least hearing what he had to say. Sighing through her nose she turned to him and said, "Very well captain. I will lend you my ear, but try it keep it as concise as you can." Looking back towards the creature she told it, "If you would excuse me for but a moment. I shall be back shortly."
The creature sighed heavily in response as it crossed one of its pairs of arms, alerting Luna to its displeasure at being ignored. Aside from that though, it made no objections as Luna allowed the captain to lead her away a good distance behind the first line of Royal Guard ponies, supposedly out of hearing distance of the creature.
"Princess Luna," Stalwart began, his voice firm yet hinted with a trace amount of trepidation, "I feel that, as is my duty as a captain of the Royal Guard, I must inform you that I believe that you are making a grave mistake in trusting anything that this monster has to say to you."
Luna raised an eyebrow at him, but otherwise her only reaction to his advice was for her to say, "Continue."
Clearing his throat, Stalwart obeyed. "What I am trying to say your highness is that I really would not trust what this says. . . or draws, or whatever. The point is I don't think this thing really wants to be friendly with us."
"Really?" Luna questioned, just managing to keep the skepticism from invading her voice. "Do you care to explain why exactly you believe that is the case here?"
"Why is it that nopony has ever seen anything like this thing before in all of recorded history? I mean, I'm no zoologist, but I'm pretty sure that nopony here has ever even heard of anything like it in their lives. I'd be willing to bet you haven't either."
Luna said nothing to him, yet her silence was answer enough.
"Exactly," Stalwart continued. "So why in the wide world of Equestria did this thing decide to show now of all times, right after reports of the bug bear started to come in? Not only that, but also, according to what you yourself said, this creature also has magic and abilities that no normal animal should ever be able to possess? I don't know about you Princess, but all of this is sounding very suspicious to me personally, and I can't help but feel that it has some sort of agenda."
And what agenda might that be captain?" Luna questioned. Her tone still retained a healthy amount of skepticism, yet even she could not deny that the captain did indeed make a valid point. Considering everything that they knew so far, or at least thought they knew, it did all sound rather incriminating when one stopped to think about it.
"I don't know Princess," came Stalwart's reply. "And to be completely honest, I'm not sure I want to give it the chance to reveal it. It's already proven that in it's capable of causing serious injury to a pony. Just look at what it did to Willow. That is why I personally advise that we do whatever we can before it can cause any lasting damage."
"Then what would you have me do captain?" Luna demanded, beginning to grow impatient with Stalwart and what he was proposing. Realizing that she was raising her voice, she quieted down slightly before continuing. "Please understand captain that I do believe that you make a valid point, but what else can I do other than talk to it and that is honest? Would you rather that I fought it and risked the lives of everypony here in doing so? Or perhaps I should just imprison it in stone for a thousand years for some insipid reason. Maybe times have changed, but imprisoning it without knowing its intentions first would be shortsighted and cruel. And I would rather at least try to avoid that, do I make myself clear?"
"But your highness, I-"
"Do I make myself clear?" Luna questioned a second time, her voice dripping with authority that she knew even a hard headed stallion like Stalwart would never go against.
After a few moments Stalwart dipped his head in a shallow nod, and he replied, "Yes Princess." When he said that, Luna felt herself relax somewhat, glad that he was finally willing to see things her way, albeit begrudgingly.
"Good," Luna replied, allowing a strained smile to adorn her muzzle. "Now then, let us go see if we cannot put your worries to rest captain, and see what our new friend has to say."
'I wonder if they know that could hear everything they said,' Angela mused as she watched Luna approach, the stallion she was speaking with trailing just behind the alicorn. The latter of the two, Stalwart she remembered, had a slightly grim expression on his face as his eyes constantly between her and Luna. He was obviously on edge, which admitted was not without reason. Although she did not at all appreciate what he was suggesting should be done with her to the Princess, Angela did not exactly see herself acting any different if their roles were reversed. She was just glad that Luna was not afraid of her, or at least did not allow it to be seen, and was willing to give Angela a chance to prove herself. It was a chance that Angela was determined to not let go to waste.
The Princess's head was raised high and her mouth was set in a firm line as she neared Angela, walking past her Royal Guard ponies. Angela would have preferred it if Luna ordered them to stand down and point their weapons and horns away from her, as they were doing little to help her already frayed nerves. Unfortunately she did not see that happening anytime soon however, and decided to just try to ignore it until this whole mess was sorted out.
Luna came to a stop before Angela, keeping a noticeable distance between her and the wraith, as Stalwart took his position behind her, keeping an ever watchful eye on them as Luna cleared her throat and began to speak.
"Beast," she began, causing Angela to flinch slightly, "if it is not too much of a bother to you, I would like to ask you some questions." Angela did not answer right away however. It was not the tone of her voice that bothered her, but the fact that still the Princess continued to call her beast, even after she had shown she was capable of understanding. She tried not to let it bother her too much, but still Angela found herself feeling a little disappointed.
Still she did not see anything wrong with a few questions. Luna did not seem like the type of pony to ask loaded questions or put words in her mouth, so to speak. Stalwart and the other ponies should not be too much trouble either, so long as Luna kept them in line and they did nothing to antagonize her further. Finally, Angela replied with a short nod and a soft grunt.
Satisfied with her answer, Luna proceeded to say, "Very well. In that case my first question is thus: what are you, exactly, and what are you doing here?"
When Luna began her interrogation, the real challenge presented made itself known to Angela, specifically how she was going to clearly communicate her thoughts using nothing but pictures on the ground. She fancied to be competent at doodling, but there was only so much she could do with stick figures.
Deciding to start off simple, Angela erased her previous drawings, wiping them out with a brush of her claws, she drew a group of small human figures, one of which if she selected to give long hair to. Angela pointed back and forth between it and herself. Luna looked at the drawings curiously.
"Excuse me," she said, "but if I am understanding correctly, you are saying that is yourself, correct?" Angela nodded, which made Luna's brow furrow in confusion. Realizing that the Princess probably was unfamiliar with humans, she went ahead in erasing all of the drawings except the one with long hair. Next to it, she scribbled in another stick figure wraith. Afterwards she erased the human stick figure before drawing it it once more inside the wraith, after which Angela once again gestured at it then herself. Luna's face was one of contemplation, as she she stroked the underside of her chin with a fetlock. Just when Angela thought that the alicorn was not going to understand, her face lit up in realization, and she said, "Ah, I think I see now." Angela nodded in approval, happy that Luna could see that she was-
"You are with child, aren't you?" Luna said. Wonder and surprise were plainly evident on her face as she gazed up at Angela. A similar reaction could be seen throughout the rest of the gathering of ponies, as a collective gasp echoed through the crowd. Angela however was less than pleased by the assumption, and she made it apparent by burying her face in her palm as her spines layed against her back in agitation.
'No, that's not. . . that's not what I. . . just, no.'
Thankfully Angela's reaction to the statement was more than enough for Luna to realized that she had guessed incorrectly, and her cheeks flushed a dark blue in obvious embarrassment. "Oh. . . I see. My apologies, I did not mean to. . . . Let us move on," she said as she cleared throat. Once she recovered enough from her error she then asked, "Alright, um. . . why don't we forget about that for the time being and just start with what you intend to do here."
Glad for the change in topic, Angela smoothed out the ground, then drew in another pair of figures, this time of the wraith with a group of three ponies, before she traced a circle around them.
'If that's not obvious enough I don't what is,' Angela thought as she watched Luna and Stalwart inspect it curiously, until the Princess ventured a guess. "Are you trying to say that you wish to become friends with ponies?" Beside her, Stalwart scoffed quietly, but aside from a disapproving glance from the Princess he was mostly ignored. Angela responded to the question with a nod. Before Luna could say anything else Angela scratched a line in the middle of the circle, separating the ponies and the wraith from each other. "Yet you also wish to remain separate from us as well." Angela nodded again, adding a soft grunt. Aside from the Princess' earlier assumption about her, she was pleased with how well the conversation seemed to be going.
"Well," began to say as she tapped her chin with a hoof, "I suppose that would be reasonable enough." Angela became even more pleased to hear that, and she felt her spines stand erect on her back. However, they quickly laid themselves flat again when Luna added, "However, I am afraid I have to tell you that may not be possible at this point."
Angela hissed and tilted her head in question at the statement. 'What do you mean by that?' she thought. Surely Luna could see the logic behind her desire. Whether she was friendly or not, Angela doubted that Luna would actually want to have a large predator with barely any control over her own urges to be in close proximity to her subjects. She had to know that such a thing was basically asking for trouble, so what reason could she have to tell her it was not possible for her to remain separate from them? Hoping for an explanation, Angela motioned for Luna to continue.
Luna understood the action, but seemed hesitant to comply as she cleared her throat and said, "Well, I dislike having to say this, but. . . oh how do I put it lightly?"
It was at this point that Stalwart chose to speak for her as he stepped forward towards Angela and stated, "Put simply, beast, you are dangerous. Whether you are friendly or not, sapient or not, you have shown yourself to be a clear and present threat to everypony, both here and in Hollow Shades, that must be dealt with by any means necessary."
When the captain finished his little speech, silence hung over the area like a fog, and the tension was so thick it could have cut by a knife as everyone, both Angela and the ponies, stared at the captain as he glared at her with narrowed eyes. Every single pony behind him was staring with wide eyed shock at the captain, their eyes flicking back and forth between the two while the Princess glared daggers at the back of his head with enough intensity that it looked like she were trying to melt him. Finally, the silence was broken when Angela let loose a feral growl of anger at him as she flexed her claws. Her head was lowered as she bared her fangs, and her spines quivered violently. It was all that Angela could do to keep herself from pouncing on him and tearing his head off of his shoulders.
Somehow, Luna looked even less pleased as she quickly came between them, putting a wing in front of Stalwart as she guided him backwards and away from Angela. "If you would excuse for but a moment," she said sweetly, flashing Angela a strained smile, but there was no hiding just how absolutely livid she was. Once they were a good distance away Angela watched as the Princess began to berate the captain in an intense yet quiet tone, just low enough that even Angela had a difficult time making what she was saying.
Angela could not have cared less about that at the moment however as she thought what she had just learned from Stalwart.
She should have expected it. She just knew that she should seen it coming. Of course they would not just let her be on her way, where she at least would be less of a danger to those around her.
'What could they possibly hope to gain by keeping me around?!' she thought, growing angrier by the second. 'Why do they insist on being around me?! Do they want to put me on trial or something?! What would I do then, plead insanity?! Do community service?! It doesn't make any sense, whatsoever! It's just stupid!'
So engrossed was Angela in her internal outrage that she did not even notice Luna was approaching her until the alicorn was standing right in front of her. Glaring down at the Princess, Angela's agitation was on full display as she hissed loudly. To her credit, Luna did not back down, but the expression of worry and trepidation was not exactly hard to notice.
"I apologize for Stalwart's less than subtle explanation of the situation," Luna said. Behind her, the stallion in question stood by, flanked by a pair of bat winged ponies in dark armor. His mouth was set in a grim line across his muzzle as he watched the proceedings from a distance. "Rest assured that he will not go unpunished for-"
A sharp and intense hiss cut her off mid sentence. Angela could not have cared less what became of Stalwart. What she wanted to know was Luna was not going to just let her be on her way, and she attempted to show by drawing another picture, this one depicting a wraith contained a cage with bars. She forcefully tapped it a few times to get her point across, to which Luna responded, "No, you are not being held prisoner, but you must understand that, given what you are and what you are capable of, we simply cannot allow you to roam Equestrian unsupervised. Please beast, you have to understand that-"
'I AM NOT AN ANIMAL!'
Angela roared at Luna, a harsh sound that shook the trees, knocking a few leaves loose. Her jaws stretched widely, fully displaying the set of needle sharp teeth as she slammed her palm down on the drawing with enough force to crack a boulder, obliterating it completely. The effect that her outburst had was almost instantaneous. With a flap of her great wings Luna was airborne and quickly putting a substantial distance between herself and the wraith. The moment she was on the ground again she was immediately surrounded by a wall of Royal Guard ponies, each one of them fully willing to risk their lives for their Princess. Even Luna looked prepared to fight, as her wings were still fully extended and her was enveloped in a blue aura that glinted brightly off of her silver regalia. Angela could tell by their expressions and postures that they fully expected her to pounce.
Instead of that however, Angela hissed angrily at them before she furiously began to scrawled her name onto the ground. She did not care that Luna could not read it, but she was so sick and tired of being called an animal, a beast meant to be caged. Snarling in barely contained rage, Angela thrust her index claw at her name, then at herself, making it abundantly clear what she was saying.
Looking at the wraith with newfound wariness, Luna glanced at the writing, then back at Angela. After a moment, she slowly began to approach Angela again, and when she stopped the distance between them was noticeably larger than before.
"You have a name," Luna said. It was not really a question, but a statement, an acknowledgement of fact that Angela confirmed with an aggravated hiss. A moment of tense silence passed, after which Luna added, "In that case, allow me to offer my sincerest apologies for believing otherwise." Angela huffed. She was still mad about it, but was at least willing to accept the apology. Luna could not have known that she had a name, but Angela would not stand for being referred to as a beast, however accurate the term may be. Luna continued, "But I am afraid that, until we can properly understand each other, it has little bearing at the moment."
Angela shook her head, hissing once more before turning away, needing time to settle down from her outburst. She inhaled several deep breaths, but they only helped her marginally, and she still felt as though she could snap at any given moment from her hunger, her aches and pains, not to mention her frustration at being misunderstood. It would not take much to push her over the edge, and when that happened. . . it was hard not to think about.
She could hear Luna sigh loudly in disappointment as she began to mutter to herself, accompanied by the crunch of sand beneath her hooves, and Angela guessed that Luna was pacing back and forth.
"There must be an easier way to do this," Luna said loud enough for Angela to overhear her. Looking at the Princess, Angela could practically see the gears turning in her head as she thought hard. Suddenly Luna stopped pacing, and her eyes widened slightly as though she had just realized something.
"Bea-" she began to say to Angela, until a sharp hiss cut her off. Heeding the warning, Luna appeared to swallow as he continued. "I believe that I possess a means that will allow us t speak directly to each other. A spell, if you will, that will let me link my mind to your own."
Upon hearing that, Angela tilted her head in surprise. 'Can she really do that?' she wondered.
"However, before I cast the spell, I require your absolute trust for it to work while you are awake, otherwise it not be as effective. I swear on my honor as a Princess of Equestria that no harm will befoul you, from either myself or my subjects." Luna directed the last sentence at the ranks Royal Guard standing immediately behind her. Understanding what she meant, they simultaneously took a few steps back and lowered their weapons and dimmed their horns. Looking back at Angela, Luna asked, "Do I have your trust?"
Luna allowed the question to hang in the air while Angela considered it. The proposal did sound intriguing to her, not to mention promising. If Luna really could link their minds as she said she could, then it would give Angela a means to be clearly understood enough to the point where she could explain exactly why it was a bad idea for her to be around ponies for the time being, and hopefully negotiate some sort of agreement with Luna.
However, just as much as the idea was tempting, Angela also found it to be very frightening to her. What if Luna could not only speak to her, but also see her thoughts as well. If she agreed then Luna could potentially find out about everything Angela was, and what she had done in the past. What would the Princess think of her then, knowing that she was not only a petty thief, but a murderer as well, however unintentional? Would she even be willing to give Angela a chance then? She did not know, and oddly enough the possibility of it frightened her even more than being consumed by her primal instincts.
All of her sins laid bare for Luna to see. . . the mere thought of it
Angela looked down at her hands. Covered in leathery skin, with the blackened talons of a monster acting like a cage around her palm. They were not human, but to Angela they were still the same hands that had taken a mans life so long ago.
After thinking on it long and hard, Angela finally reached her decision, and she gave Luna a short nod, giving the Princess permission to perform the spell. Luna nodded back, allowing a hint of silent approval to grace her muzzle. Then she closed her eyes in deep concentration, and within moments the spirals of her horn lit up in a ghostly white glow which gathered into a single a single point at the tip, and Angela felt a small amount of wonder as she saw it forming into a tiny orb no bigger than a tennis ball. From the orb, a small tendril of light snaked out and upward, waving around like a vine groping for purchase, before it suddenly began veering towards Angela.
Angela moved back a little, suddenly having second thoughts about this. But she knew that it was too late to back out now, so she steeled herself and stayed as still as she could as the tendril came closer and closer, until it finally made contact with head, and her vision slowly faded into a stark white.
Bon-Bon had just started to doze off as her tired mind and body finally began to allow her to slip into a much needed sleep, when something startled her out of her half dead state. Her eyes instantly snapped open, and she stared at the metal ceiling of for at least a whole minute as she wondered what it was that had disturbed her, as she was not quite sure what it was.
It could not have been the bed she was laid down on. She had been forced to sleep on much harder surfaces during her training in the A.M.D., and the spring coiled mattress that Lyra insisted that they purchase had been even worse. Compared to those the thin, itchy excuse for a bed that she occupied was like a cloud of silk. By all means she should be asleep and dreaming right now.
But something was wrong however, and Bon-Bon still had no clue what it was. Staring at the ceiling obviously was not helping, so she begrudgingly hopped off of the mattress. Her hooves clicked on the floor as she glanced around for anything that seemed out of place to her weary eyes. Nothing stood out to her however, and she began to wonder if she was not just imagining things. She was the only pony here after all, and there was not a sound to be heard from the. . .
"Wait a minute," Bon-Bon said quietly as she tilted her head, raising one of her ears higher than the other as she strained to detect any hint of sound.
Nothing. Absolute silence.
That was when Bon-Bon realized that was what was wrong. She could no longer hear the steady hum of the engines powering the propellers, and she felt her worry gradually increase as she considered the possibilities as to why that was the case. Had there been some sort of malfunction on board? She did not see that as likely, as she would have heard the sirens going off long ago. No, something else was going on, and Bon-Bon racked her mind as she tried to guess what it was.
"What in Celestia's name is going on up there?" she muttered, her ears swiveling in every direction, straining to detect something, anything, that might indicate what was happening.
The bridge was almost unbearably dark. The only source of light for anypony to even see their work stations was the steady crimson glow from a collection of flameless lanterns overhead. Everypony was utterly silent, not daring to make even the smallest sound as Crisp peered through a mounted telescope outside an opening in the panoramic window, awaiting his next order.
"There it is," Crisp said quietly, as though he were concerned that he would be heard by thing he was looking at. "There's our monster."
And what a monster it was. Although the darkness of night mixed with the shade of the trees made it a little difficult to discern, Crisp could tell that this beast that he was looking at would have made even the fiercest of manticores seem tame in comparison, so savage it was in appearance. The A.M.D. agents' description of it barely did the creature any justice, and Crisp could not help but find himself staring in awe at the creature as it stood, or rather floated, on the shore of a large pool located at the base of a cliff.
One of the crew members under his command eventually decide to speak up, her voice small and barely audible. "What are your orders sir?" she asked nervously.
Crisped stepped away from the telescope, motioning for the stallion standing next to him to resume his post, briefly instructing him to keep an eye on their the creature. "For now," he finally answered, "we are going to stay put and maintain a visual on our friend down there until we receive further instructions from the Princess." Glancing around, Crisp noticed that something, or rather somepony, was currently missing from her station. "Where is Horizon? She should be back by now."
"Nopony's seen her since she left sir," the same mare answered before returning to her attention to her station.
Crisp sighed. It had been almost ten minutes since Horizon had suddenly excused herself, just when they had been ordered to come to this location, and Crisp found himself wishing that he had asked what she was up to, as she still had yet to return even now. However, as much as he would have liked to continue pondering the matter, Crisp filed it away for later consideration. As of this moment, there were much more pressing things to be concerned about.
Turning to the pony at the telescope, Crisp asked, "Any changes cadet?"
"No sir," was the cadets' response as he kept his eye firmly trained on the creature. "So far it's just sitting there, doing nothing. Seems like it's looking at something on the ground but other than. . . hold on a second, is that. . ?"
Crisp watched with interest as the cadet's horn lit up and the settings on the telescope were adjusted slightly. Almost immdetiately Crisp saw his ears fall flat and a horrified expression cross his muzzle. "Gods above," he breathed out, his voice showing the first stages of complete and utter panic. "I-it's the Princess! She's down there with that thing!"
"Let me see," Crisp ordered, almost having to shove the cadet aside so he could look int the telescope and see for himself what was going on down there. To his surprise and horror Crisp found that what the cadet had said was true. Princess Luna was indeed down there, standing far closer than what he would ever consider to be a safe distance to the monster. Through the darkness, he could faintly see a thin strand of light form between them, seeming to originate from Luna.
At that moment, Crisp felt the blood drain from his face and his wings fall limply at his sides as he suddenly remembered one of the details that the A.M.D. agent had told him that he had initially disregarded.
Specifically how it fed.
"Captain!" Somepony shouted behind him, though Crisp barely heard it at all. "What's happening?! What's wrong?!"
Instead of answering, Crisp tore himself away from the optical instrument and immediately issued a single order.
"Prep' the weapon!"
After what seemed like an endless amount of silence, Bon-Bon began to wonder if she was not just getting herself worked up over nothing. If something was indeed wrong with the airship, she surely would have become aware of it by now. She was just getting ready to hop back into the small cot and try to reclaim sleep when the humming reached her ears, stopping her in her tracks.
At first it was barely detectable, but over time it gradually grew in intensity and volume until it reached steady thrum, at which point Bon-Bon could feel her hooves buzzing on the floor and her teeth vibrating in her skull. With a gasp, Bon-Bon realized exactly what was going on, and her eyes shrank to the size of pinpricks as she rushed over to the door and started banging on it.
"Hey!" she called out. "I know you're out there! Open up!"
After a few agonizing seconds the creaked open to reveal the same stallion from before, an obvious look of annoyance on his face as he glared at her reproachfully. "What is it now?" he demanded. "Do you need the filly's room or somethin'?"
Ignoring the question, "Bon-Bon quickly said, "Listen to me. You hear the buzzing too, right? I know what that is, and I know what Crisp is planning to do with it, but trust me when I say that he cannot be allowed to go through with it! You have to let me go talk to him right bucking now before he does something stupid!"
In response the stallion rolled his eyes at her and said, "Right, sure you do. Listen lady, I didn't understand half of what you just said, but until the captain says otherwise I am not going to let you out, so why don't you just get back in there and wait until he calls for you, got it?"
For a long moment, Bon-Bon simply stared blankly at the stallion, her face devoid of any emotion. Then, her eyes slowly closed, she breathed out through her nose and said, "Sorry about this."
The stallion raised an eyebrow at that. "What are you tal-"
That was as far as he was able to get in his sentence before Bon-Bon's eyes suddenly snapped open and she whirled around faster than his eyes could track, pivoting her body on her forelegs, and gave the stallion a swift, hard buck to the chest. Caught completely off guard, he was launched backwards, impacting hard on the opposite wall. Dazed, the stallion groaned loudly as he slowly began to recover, seeing stars as he staggered to his hooves. By the time he was on all four legs again, Bon-Bon was already long gone.
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Crisp is gonna be soooooooo fired, maybe even worse when Princess Luna gets ahold of him.
That idiot's situation aside, Princess Luna's mind link spell was a pretty good idea, though I had the same concerns about it that Angela had at first.
You really just want to make this the worst possible experience for Angela don't you? Makes for an interesting story.
Great as usual
well worth the wait
"communicate" is missing here.
Right now, i want to dropkick Crisp in the balls and call him an idiot
Why is it that in every story with royal guards they do nothing but piss people of with their idiocy and make everything more difficult with their incompetence while acting so sure of themselves when they know literally nothing about the situation. All they do is hinder the people who actually know what's going on like Bonbon and make bad situations worse with their idiotic brash actions. It's like having an army of brain damaged Rainbow Dashes.
It's so sad that it fits their character perfectly, the princesses are wasting their gold keeping them, they would be better of replacing them with maids or upgrading their castle to make it easier for them to defend themselves because the few main characters end up doing all the work anyway.
My hunger for a chapter has been quench. But saying that http://cdn.meme.li/instances/36662874.jpg
I wonder what a forced removal does to someone that is connected to anothers mind.
I also got a feeling that Luna might meet more than one mind.
Grammatical errors
YOU SIR! You are a fellow Evolve person, I salute you!
This... needs some editing. But another good chapter. Also, don't just go FIRING WEAPONS AT UNKNOWN ENTITIES.
Oh fuck. Oh, fuck. Please don't… Please don't… Oh no...
7591452 Nightmare Wraith when?
7591268
7591339
I can see that you both have a low opinion of Crisp. I tried to portray him as the kind of pony that is just trying to do the right thing, but I guess every story needs an antagonist in one form or another.
7591269 Well of course. Otherwise she would be just another Mary Sue clone, and we already enough of those in this group don't we?
7591397 Yeah, I too share the opinion that the majority of the Royal Guard is there just to look pretty, although I hope that I'm making them seem at least semi-competent in this story. I don't exactly have a lot to go on based on the show.
7591424 And you will get another!
7591452 We may soon find out in the next chapter
7591484 Thanks for catching those.
7591546 I salute you as well good sir!
40.media.tumblr.com/b157d732b265e2c67bf58b2d7d389783/tumblr_inline_o0mf1t4Kh31tjfj00_540.jpg
7591574 It seems everypony missed the memo on that one, doesn't it?
7591590 Unsure if that's meant to be good or bad in relation to the story. Should I assume good?
7591596
Ooooh now that's an idea! Probably won't show up in the story like that though.
7591645 Gotta be careful of those pickpockets. They can steal your high quality comic books from right under your nose if you let 'em.
7591880 I was referring to the captain.
This isn't going to end well...
i wonder if she can have eggs? like that weird thing evo hasl about the eggs mission hatching into mini monsters
OH NO! The Yamato is about to fire its wave motion gun!!
7591880
I guess they are a bit more competent than usual but Crisp still completely dismissed an agent of the crown with valuable intel and every crew member on that ship is somehow missing the fact that Luna has her guard nearby and that they are not attacking Angela. Y'know it's as if they have a better understanding of the current situation or something /sarcasm. From what I can tell the only reason the guards that put a load of spears in and zapped Angela are still alive is because she, just barely, managed to control herself until Luna got there to tell those idiot guards to knock it off.
So as a summery in my opinion so far they have done nothing but antagonize Angela and disobey the Princesses and attack with lethal intent without due cause.
Thunder hun, kraken monster has now been confirmed.
"What's a sniper rifle to a lightning bolt!
theclassicgamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/evolve-kraken-lightning-bolt.gif
Cliffhangers........ my mortal enemy
GIVE US PART TWO............ NOW!
AHEM AHEM!! sorry I do not know whats going on with me.
Cliff Hanger, hanging from a cliff! And that's why he's called Cliff Hanger!
Something just occurred to me.
What if Crisp fires the weapon and hits Luna too?! Think about it, Luna's well within the sights off whatever the hell is on that ship, along with Angela. And Crisp is hitting the panic button, without warning anyone on the ground. I know he's only trying to protect Luna, but he's not thinking fully.
Sometimes the best thing to do, is nothing.
7591880 Hey it'd be cool to have a buddy to play Evolve with. Wanna tell me your Steam? Send it over on a PM if you do.
7592238
Can't...
...hold...
...ON...
...MUCH...
...LONGER!
7592418 I actually do not have a steam account currently, and I don't know if I will be getting one anytime soon. Don't get me wrong, I have heard some good things about it, and would like nothing more than to play 'til the sun comes up. I just don't have the time. Plus, it's been quite a while since I traded in my x-box one copy due to connection issues, meaning that I just could not find anyone, so what experience I have regarding it is limited to that version. Still, if I ever decide to get a steam account, I'll be sure to let you know. Sound fair?
7591978
You have to remember though, Bon-Bon is a former member of an organization that does not even exist anymore. Plus, she does not really have any solid evidence to back up any of her claims except her word, so Crisp is bound to be a little skeptical.
On the topic of Crisp being aware of the Royal Guard's presence, if you read it over again you'll find that neither he, nor the cadet caught sight of them due to Luna telling them to stand down so she could cast the mind link spell.
They thought that Angela had purposefully attacked and killed one of their own. I think I'd call that probable cause, not to mention motivation to take things into their own hooves.
7592369 Wise words those. Too bad Crisp doesn't seem to think so, if he's thinking at all.
I really want the whole crew to die by Luna or be fired by Luna...then be fed to Angela for their stupidity, whata buncha fuckin idiots.
Gratz on the feature :3
Also, great chapter as always
7592544 i agree with you there and seriously someone who makes such decisions without thinking and all should not command anything at all the best decision whould have been observing what is actually going on before doing anything else
And this, ladies and gents is why we NEVER can have nice things. Cause some overzealous idiots allways find a way to fuck things up! I mean, who in their right minds would give a panic prone prey species access to airship mounted, monster slaying weaponry...
Ooooh, right.
7592531 Sounds fair, but I didn't realize you played Evolve on consoles. Have you heard of Stage 2 version on Steam PC?
Every chapter has been a nail biter so far.
7592990 I have. I'm the one who uploaded the trailer for it on the game crossovers forum after all.
7592969
7592558 Thanks!
(Although to be fair it gets featured every time I upload, so it's not that big of a deal.)
7592238
7592426
I'm glad it came to drawing stick figures so quickly. However, while I like how this is turning out I will still say that people seem to vastly overestimate how difficult it is to draw the following chain of events
1 me smiley face
2 me give coin to guy in hood, he give me necklace
3 me happy with necklace
4 me dizzy
5 dark
6 me unhappy in forest (question marks optional)
7 me scream
8 black
9 monster
10 me --> monster
Seriously, I think that pretty much anyone could from that deduce that you were transported and transformed into a monster from your original format. From there they could know you are not some feral beast with minor intelligence but a creature from another world who is as smart as they are.
7593306 I haven't seen that post.
7592702 It's like test their decision making skills and how paranoid they can get or how bad they command.
Noooo! Cliffhanger but anyways awesome chapter now i finally have something to look forward to:)
7591880 Was this happening before S5EP13 or after, as Tantabus combining with 'Wraith's instinct' could be terryfying.
7593788 Eh, that's alright. It was weeks ago anyway.
7594016 FINALLY! SOMEBODY NOTICED!
7594155 You may not have to look forward to it for long.
7594249 It takes place about a few weeks before that episode, so there is a possibility, however unlikely.
What system are you on, if I may ask?
7594034 he let his fear control him which always leads to stupid decisions a good general whould keep his feeling under control to make the right decisions
7594338 I was on the x-box one version, until I traded it in at gamestop. If I'd known before hand that it would be getting an update I probably would have held on to it.
7594363
7594034
Fear of the unknown can make even the most calm and collected individual act rashly.
7594741 not really observing is the best option taking action without thinking first can often lead to very dire consequences
7595240 SCP-111
7594741 Darn, I am a ps4 chap. If it helps, we console users do not yet have stage 2.
7595336 Not until Turtle Rock finally decides to update.
Uh-oh.....not good
7594273 Ehehe, that would be 'FUN'.
7595381 Consoles have extra rules
IM back MY freinds :D Dismay is here!