Previous Chapters Next
Close
The Trio, The Pink and The Monotone5,499 words
The Queens of Harmony and Love4,983 words
The Study of Friendship, Fire and Apples4,847 words
The Campfire3,631 words
The Glowing Eyes5,205 words
Budding Relations4,253 words
Meanwhile4,318 words
The Hive, Part 14,262 words

The Campfire

Near the height of the moon's rise, it was Garotte Wire's turn to watch the fire. Shining Armor and Starlight Glimmer had already completed their shifts and were tiredly snoring on the ground nearby. Twilight had the most sleep of anypony thus far, but it would be her turn to wake up next when Garotte's shift had ended. The knowledge that it was only two hours didn't help her however, as she could only watch magical orange flames flicker in the distance so long before becoming incredibly bored.

The first thing she attempted to amuse herself with was swinging her axe at an imagined assassin, rolling quietly around and making clashing and clanging sounds with her mouth and whisper shouting at nopony. A few times she nearly rolled into a sticker bush or squashed some unfortunate wildlife, but somehow her rough housing hadn't alerted anypony enough to rouse them from their slumber. Soon she grew tired both from the physical exertion and the coming lack of entertainment value of fighting imagined specters, finally sauntering back to the middle of the campsite to look around for something else to entertain her.

She soon spotted something crawling around on the ground and pressed herself against the leafy undergrowth next to it. A tiny caterpillar was making a steady, wavy advance towards whatever goal it was that caterpillars strive for and gave Garotte something to do by coincidence.

"Hey little guy!" She whispered eagerly to the oblivious creature. "How are you?"

The caterpillar had no reply as it could not speak Equine and had important caterpillar things to do.

"Are you cold?" Garotte asked the tiny thing, slightly poking its bristles with her hoof and causing it to stop in place. The caterpillar hoped that whatever had poked it would go away soon. "You seem cold..." she decided.

Garotte looked around for something she could use as a makeshift blanket and spotted the bandages from Starlight's saddlebags. "That'll work!" She quietly exclaimed to herself with excitement. She had become so bored in the short time she was awake that this amounted to an adventure for her. Lifting a roll of gauze from the saddlebag in her magic, she floated it over next to the caterpillar and set it down in front of the creature. "Hold onto this for me, would you?" She asked, amused with herself.

She flipped her axe around so that the blade was facing upwards to the sky and secured by a few rocks so that it wouldn't move. She then took the gauze from the caterpillar's care and unraveled a small portion of it, pressing the taut bandage against the sharp edge of her axe in order to cut a small square from it. She then stealthily placed the gauze back where it had come from in Starlight's bags and folded her new gauze blanket to accommodate her caterpillar friend. With the blanket ready, she looked excitedly towards her pet caterpillar.

"Where'd you go?" She asked, looking around where she had left the bug not a moment before and finding that it had somehow disappeared. "Seriously?" she whispered to herself in disbelief, "How did you even get away; you're like this big!" She held her hooves a small distance apart before setting them down on the ground so that she wouldn't fall over. Disheartened, she set the small blanket aside just in case her caterpillar friend decided to return.

Now Garotte had to find something else to do, and watching the fire provided all of five seconds entertainment before she grew bored with the eternally light orange inferno constantly sweeping across nothing and shifting in an unfelt breeze. She decided that anything else that would be watching the fire would see their camp silhouetted in front of it and looked towards the treeline that surrounded them.

Trees...bushes....plants... wait, glowy? Since when do plants have glowy? Garotte thought, having scanned the treeline and finding two glowing pink orbs hovering nearby. Something about this set her coat on edge, making it poof out slightly in anxiety. She stood up from her sitting position and readied her axe, just in case something were to come charging out of the treeline at her. After a few tense moments, she was both relieved and disappointed that nothing had happened. She still kept her axe at the ready, but she didn't want to go exploring after some strange floating orbs all alone.

"Twilight!" Garotte whisper shouted in the Princess of Friendship's ear and shaking her slightly with a hoof, peeking over her back where the orbs continued to make her uneasy. "Wake up, Sparkle!"

"Guh' 'way. Sleeps time." Twilight grumbled, shifting away from Garotte in her sleep.

Garotte redoubled her shaking efforts. "Twilight, get up!" she insisted.

"Whaaat?" Twilight tiredly grouched, opening her bleary eyes to see Garotte. "What is it?"

"Floaty orb things in the trees!" Garotte explained while leaving out a few key details that may have helped their situation.

"What?" Twilight asked, rubbing her eyes to wake up faster. "Orb things?"

"Yes, right over..." Garotte hissed, pointing towards the treeline at the... nothing. "What?! Seriously!?"

"Garotte, you need some...aaah... Sleep." Twilight yawned.

"I'm serious! There was something right there that was being all spooky and glowing pink! It looked like eyes!" Garotte insisted with more hoof pointing towards where she had seen them last.

"I'm sure its just some random forest creature from the White Tail Woods wondering what we're doing." Twilight replied, yawning once more.

"Since when does the White Tail Woods have anything spooky in it?" Garotte questioned in her whisper shouting. "This place is like the daycare forest of forests on the spooky factor!"

"Maybe it has something to do with the magical fire?" Twilight drowsily suggested, flopping back down onto the ground in an attempt to regain the precious moments of sleep she had just lost. "I wouldn't worry about it, Garotte."

Not worry about it-- Are you on salt?! Garotte yelled in her mind at the disinterested Princess. I guess if you've defeated gods and you're an alicorn then you're not spooked by floating eyes! She snarked internally.

Grumpy but also alerted by the excitement of the night, Garotte stood watch with nervous anticipation of conflict. She had expected that whatever was watching her would leap out of the forest at any moment to attack her and she constantly shifted her position while pacing to compensate. She hoped it would give her an added second to react if anything dramatic happened.

To her dismay and ultimate boredom, nothing was happening. She decided that since she was already half way through her shift, nopony would mind if she searched for her caterpillar friend for a few minutes. She took great care to look for glowing pink eyes in the night and edged further and further away from the campsite in a spiral search pattern. Eventually and miraculously, she happened upon the same caterpillar as before.

"There you are!" she cheered quietly, bringing her muzzle down next to the insect. "How did you run off so fast?" She asked, not expecting an answer.

Then, she looked up suddenly all around her in a wide circle and was disappointed that nothing had snuck up on her while she was temporarily distracted. "Come on, that was the perfect time to start a life or death brawl!" She grumbled to herself, kicking a twig. "Stupid monsters not wanting to attack a unicorn with a fireaxe."

"Hissssssss..."

It had come directly behind Garotte, and her coat nearly leapt off of her back as she whipped around to see Starlight's face illuminated by her horn's magic. "Boo!" She quietly exclaimed.

"Starlight!?" Garotte barked in both fear and exhasperation. "What is wrong with you?!"

"Come on, you have to admit that was perfect." Starlight giggled.

"I could've hit you with this axe!" Garotte whisper yelled while swinging the axe around in her magic for emphasis.

"I learned a shield spell while you were asleep. I'm pretty sure I can handle an axe, Garotte." Starlight countered.

"Oh yeah? You want to test that theory?" Garotte threatened in annoyance and brandishing the axe towards Starlight.

"Stop... arguing..." Twilight mumbled in her sleep, shifting away from the two.

Both Garotte and Starlight sighed in unison, before getting annoyed that they had done the same thing.

"So, why are you awake?" Garotte asked Starlight.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Really? You stay up with Shining Armor to learn a shield spell, then you go through your own shift and barely sleep an hour before you wake up again?" Garotte asked with either concern or praise in her voice. Starlight couldn't be sure which.

"I also organized my bags as well." Glimmer added happily.

"I think Twilight is rubbing off on you more than you know." Garotte mumbled.

An awkward silence passed between the two as Garotte continued to survey the surrounding area. Starlight was rummaging around in her bags for something which caught Garotte's attention.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm just looking for your dignity." She sniped out of the blue.

"What do you mean by that?" Garotte asked in annoyance.

Starlight then imitated Garotte's voice poorly, making it sound more like Fluttershy's soft voice than Garotte's slightly deeper soft voice. "Oh Twilight, you have to wake up! There's spooky monsters in the forest and I'm scared!" she added hoof movements to go with her act as well, making the whole scene very melodramatic.

"I don't sound like that!" Garotte quietly complained.

"Twilight, Starlight is making fun of me!" She teased again in her imitation of Garotte.

"I'm gonna throw this axe at you if you don't stop, Starlight." Garotte threatened.

"Psst, please." Glimmer waved with a hoof. "You leveled two cities and took the time to evacuate everypony before-hoof. Like you'd actually hurt anypony."

"You..." Garotte was about to counter before her brain decided it was better to shut up at the moment. "...whatever." she grumbled, crossing her forehooves and sitting down.

Starlight smiled in smug satisfaction for having won an argument with Garotte, her eyes closed and muzzle pointed haughtily skyward.

"Pampered Panzy." Garotte mumbled.

This drew Starlight from her smugness. "What did you just call me?" She asked with a bit of surprise. The two had argued, but it usually ended before attempted insults were thrown about.

Garotte pointed to a flower in the distance. "They call that one a Pampered Panzy." She explained, her demeanor suddenly changing.

"Oh... I thought... wait, why does that matter?" Starlight asked. The flower that Garotte was pointing to looked similar to a rose combined with a fly trap, several vines behaving like snakes around the stem of it with unblossomed buds for heads.

"Just made me think about something is all." Garotte calmly replied.

Starlight debated whether it would be worth it to hear what sounded like a story from Garotte. Apparently, Fluttershy had been told a story about how Nightmare Moon came to be evil from Garotte's point of view once before. She wasn't certain if the grey mare had told anypony else a story since, and decided she was going to start 'making friends' as Twilight wished her to, she should probably start by extending a metaphorical olive branch to Garotte. "Do you want to talk about it?" Starlight asked.

"What, so you can have something else to make fun of me with?" Garotte growled back, moving away from Starlight.

Starlight had only been joking around with her teasing, but now she realized that she had unintentionally struck a nerve with Garotte. She didn't want any bad feelings to be between them when they were going into a blazing forest full of mystery and potential monsters lurking about. "I'm sorry for teasing you, Garotte." She said sincerely.

This caused a surprised reaction from Garotte whom looked at Starlight with some suspicion. "Sure." She finally spoke, turning her attention back to the flower.

"Did you want to talk about what's on your mind?" Starlight asked, committed to the change in conversation and also to pass the time.

"That flower," She pointed to the Pampered Panzy, "Is the deadliest flower in Equestria."

Starlight blinked in surprise. "Really? Why do they call it a 'Pampered Panzy' then?"

"Because it only comes alive if the conditions are just right. It lays in wait for days, months or even years for its choice of prey and only strikes when it will take the least amount of effort to do so. Some of them live to be centuries old without a scratch on them."

"Why would they have scratches?"

"Because it's carnivorous." Garotte explained.

"The plant eats... meat?"

"You haven't heard of that before?" Garotte asked Starlight.

"Eh... I know more about spells and rituals than herbalism." Starlight admitted while scratching her neck with a free hoof.

"I would've thought you needed some plants in your spells at least."

"That's a more specialized field of magic that I'm not interested in, really."

"You want to hear why I mentioned the flower?" Garotte asked.

"Sure. What's special about the flower?"

"The special condition it needs to come alive? Yeah... I think we met them." Garotte replied, standing up suddenly and readying her axe in a grip of magic.

"Garotte?" Starlight asked, joining her as she walked towards the flower. "What are you doing?"

"Nullifying the conditions." She replied cryptically, hefting the axe above her head. The two of them were steadily approaching the flower, its vines swirling lazily around it.

"What conditions?" Starlight asked.

"Warm area, aggravated or scared prey and conflict." She replied, her axe looming over the flower. "Get your shield up for us, Starlight." She ordered suddenly.

Starlight complied, creating a barrier between Garotte and the plant.

"Can you make a dome?" Garotte asked, looking over her shoulder at Glimmer.

"It's just a plant, Garotte."

"It's just a plant, she says." Garotte scoffed.

"Fine, I'll make a dome shield." Starlight rolled her eyes.

Garotte then closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her axe still hovering above the plant on the edge of the shield. Then to Starlight's immense surprise, the Ambassador of Evil began chanting in a language she had never heard before, her horn crackling with a dark purple, black and green magic.

"Plantarum in tortis mortem redite ad infernos, ut numquam reverti." She droned in a dull voice, raising the axe higher. "Plantarum in tortis mortem redite ad infernos, ut numquam reverti." She took a step forward from the shield, the plant's attention being attracted to Garotte exclusively as its vines actually hissed at her.

Garotte's magic then crackled with a lightning bolt of power towards the axe she wielded, causing it to burn with a magic that Starlight had never seen before. Dark black crystals began spreading across the surface of the sharp blade as Garotte's voice became suddenly filled with anger and conviction. "Uno ictu finis est malum, ut éxeas ab hoc pulchra terra!" She very loudly shouted, startling the ponies that had been sleeping, yet more importantly using all of her weight and magic to drop the axe atop the Pampered Panzy.

The reaction from the plant made Starlight's jaw drop involuntarily. It looked as if ethereal wraiths were pouring out of the plant as it screeched loudly into the night, forcing her to cover her ears.

"Keep that shield going, Starlight!" Garotte yelled, the force of the magical reaction causing her mane to whip around her face in an unseen wind.

Shining Armor and Twilight saw the commotion and added their own magics to Starlight's shield, reinforcing it. The plant itself was shooting large thorns at it in desperation as the purple, black and green magic performed its spell.

"Tandem ut finiatur mortis passione fecisti, daemonium habes!" Garotte shouted as loudly as possible, the plant shrieking in such a way that everypony's coats and mane stood on end if they weren't already. Even Spike decided to hide behind Twilight, shivering.

Garotte raised the now crystal covered axe for a final blow, the plant letting loose a jet of orange flame at Garotte which was mercifully deflected by their shield. Striking downwards, a final explosion of magical energy sent Garotte and the others flying backwards towards the campfire and skidding along the grassy earth.

A final dying shriek announced the end of the Pampered Panzy, its husk shriveling and dying on the spot where Garotte's axe had embedded itself.

"What, was that?!" Twilight asked, breathing heavily in shock. "What just happened!?"

"Is everypony okay?" Shining asked, looking between everybeing present.

"F-f-fine!" Spike stuttered, still clinging to Twilight's rear leg.

"Yeah, fine!" Starlight added, picking herself off of the ground.

"Garotte?" Twilight asked, looking around in search of her.

"Yep!" she coughed, "Totally fine!"

Everypony breathed a sigh of relief. "What even was that thing?" Starlight asked.

"I told you; Pampered Panzy."

"Whoever named that thing needs to get their head checked!" Starlight complained towards the sky, as if asking for it to be changed on the spot.

"Mind explaining what all of that was about?" Shining asked Garotte, helping her stand.

"Yeah. Big nasty plant was close by, had to deal with it. No biggie." She replied non-nonchalantly.

"NO BIGGIE?!" Starlight shouted. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"

"Yeah. There's worse in the Griffon Empire and abroad. You should get outside more, Starlight." Garotte said, dusting her suit in reply.

Starlight was almost speechless. "W-worse?"

Garotte walked over to Starlight calmly with a smug smile on her face. "There's a lot worse things than magic and time travel, Starlight." she said cryptically.

Garotte then walked off and promptly sat down next to the fire, before falling backwards with her hooves sticking in the air. She then loudly snored in exhaustion as a forehoof twitched.

"Is she serious?" Starlight finally asked everypony. They returned looks of confusion or bewilderment. "She can't be serious!"

"I'm actually pretty impressed she fell asleep that fast." Spike commented, his nerves having finally settled down enough to talk.

"What was with that spell? I thought she didn't learn any magic!" Starlight asked Twilight in a mixture of both concern, awe and a bit of jealousy.

"That's not like any spell I've ever seen... but from the looks of it, it takes a lot out of the pony casting it." Twilight noted, before looking at the remains of the Pampered Panzy and the crystalline axe. "Did you get a good look at the spell in action? I was only awake long enough to see the end of it."

"Y-yeah..." Starlight stammered, refocusing her attention. "It had black, dark purple and green coloring, with sparks of lightning moving around it."

Twilight turned around suddenly, her face becoming concerned. "You're sure?" She asked, walking towards Starlight. "Absolutely," moving closer, "Positively," Way too close for comfort, "Certain that it looked like that?" Twilight asked in a very worried voice, her muzzle pressed against Starlight's in a very uncomfortable manner.

"Yes!" She squeaked.

Twilight swiveled around on the spot before looking at the axe and plant with more concern. "This doesn't look good... I've actually seen that kind of magic before."

"Really?" Starlight asked.

"Actually, it did seem kind of familiar." Shining commented, also looking more closely at the axe.

"Doesn't this remind you of..." Twilight trailed, looking at her brother.

"King Sombra." Shining nodded, before looking with concern at the slumbering Garotte Wire. "Where did she learn a spell like that?"

"I don't know, but we're going to have to ask her at some point." Twilight replied quietly, and the three ponies and dragon huddled together away from Garotte in worry, whispering to each other in concerned tones.

This left them none the wiser of the pink eyes that were watching them from behind.

Author's Note:

Please leave your comments and thoughts! I live off of comments!

Also, here is the beginning of the 'adventure' the story alludes to! I hope you enjoy the mystery!

1,006 views