To Fear A Predator

by Evowizard25

Captured Griffon

Inquisitor Trixie was feeling good about herself right now. Everything was going to plan. They had just captured the griffon and taken him into custody. Time Turner was out of the picture and Princess Sunset had given her a blessing to do as she pleased. Trixie could have had the right to do as she pleased anyways, but the princess’s word carried a lot of weight. Weight she was more then happy to bear. She was now effectively in charge of Ponyville.

She was ecstatic. This was one step in the right direction. One day, the Council would recognize more of her talents and thusly allow her a seat. Why stop there? No, she was going to become the High Inquisitor one day. Her place was at Celestia’s side. She would have the Grand Princess’s ear and she’d make sure that Equestria would trot into a golden age. She would be lauded as the greatest inquisitor to have ever lived! She could see it so clearly.

And it all started here. Here in the town square as she looked down at all the citizens of Ponyville. Well, most of them. She wasn’t sure if all of them would be attending. From the recent records of this town, a lot of ponies had moved away so this could be all of them. Either way, it didn’t matter. She just needed an audience.

“Ponies of Ponyville,” she smiled. “I am so glad to see your faces on this fine Celestia blessed day. Truly, our goddess’s radiance shines upon us for I am here to assure you that the danger is over!” She could hear the crowd start to mutter amongst themselves. “Yes, I can assure you that the culprit has been caught, no small part by the efforts of your local law enforcers.” She grinned as the crowd started to cheer. She held up a hoof to silence them.

“Spearheaded by me of course,” Trixie grinned. The ponies were looking for somepony to give out a little good news. It had been nothing but tragedy for them since the Summer Sun Celebration. She was that pony, “No longer will you have to worry about cultists wreaking havoc on your town or dragons burning you to a crisp. No longer will you have to worry about this scoundrel terrorizing you in the dead of night.

“I will and have succeeded where your previous officials have failed. I have put an end to this griffon’s rampage. Yes, my ponies. It was indeed a griffon.” Scowls were seen in the crowd, most of them from pegasi. “The same griffon the likes of Time Turner let wander the streets and choose his next target at leisure. They allowed you to be harmed emotionally, and in the case of the poor officers in the hospital, physically.”

She slammed her hoof down on the podium, “I will never allow a single hair on your heads to come to harm. Never would I have allowed the griffon menace to walk among you so freely and destroy your livelihoods. Never would I have allowed nightmare cultists so close to your homes. Incompetence has spread like a disease amongst the officers.” A few ponies nodded. They were getting tired of things going wrong in town.

“I will fix this,” Trixie snorted. “A new management is in order. Unfortunately, it will not be so neat and clean. Inquisitor Time Turner was injured during last night’s raid.” Trixie inwardly growl at the concern they showed for Turner, “So I shall take his place. Trust me, my fine ponies. You will never know fear again!” A cheer went through the crowd. Her grin grew, ‘Soon they’ll love me more than Turner. The Council is going to love this.’

Still, there was one other thing she had to take care of.

_________________________________________________________________

Crowland Tempo sat in the middle of an empty room. Well, empty besides him of course. They had taken his weapons from him, but that didn’t bother him. His claws and beak were weapons enough. Besides, he was confident that he could get out of this. One way or another. He was not going to rot in some Equestrian cell for the rest of his life.

‘It was supposed to be simple. One final job then I’m done.’ He sighed. ‘Seems life is never simple.’

All he had to do was sit and wait. That’s all he could do. His apprentice was hopefully somewhere safe. ‘Best case scenario, she skips town.’ The last thing he wanted was for her to get punished alongside himself.

The door opened. Several guards trotted in, pointing their spears at him. Crowland eyed them up. These weren’t the local forces. These were trained soldiers. They’d offer a bit of a challenge, but he’d faced worse in the past. It was the Inquisitor that troubled him.

Inquisitor Trixie, as he had come to know her as, did not look like she was pleased to see him.

Crowland offered a small smile and nod of acknowledgement, “Inquisitor.” She said nothing, so he made to stand. “Now I know-”

He was cut off when the metal butt of a sword slammed into his stomach. When he was younger, he’d be able to take that with no sweat but age and his own sub-species more lithe bodies weren’t made to take abuse. So he gritted his beak and took a step back, “Let’s talk about this.”

Her magic forced him to his knees. Before he could respond, her hoof crashed into his cheek. He shook his head slightly to clear himself of the blow.

“Listen, I-”

Her magic acted up and it felt like every nerve in his body was on fire. He fell onto his hands, trying not to cry out in utter pain. As quickly as it came, it left him. He gasped and panted as he tried to collect himself. He gave a weak chuckle, “Not the first time someone’s done that to me.”

“And it won’t be the last,” there was ice to her tone. “You are Crowland Tempo, renowned as one of the greatest poachers the world has seen. Is this correct?”

Crowland nodded, “That would be me.”

“You moved to Ponyville,” she circled him like a predator would their prey. “Just a few days ago. Is that correct?” Crowland nodded, “Very good. I’m thankful you are being cooperative.”

“I don’t have much of a choice,” he huffed, earning a backhoof from Trixie as she pushed her head close to his to stare into his eyes.

“You don’t,” Trixie seethed. “You are in a lot of trouble, Crowland.” She pulled herself back and cleared her throat as to collect herself from her angry outburst, “You have multiple accounts of illegal operations under your belt.”

Crowland nodded, “None of those were in Equestria.”

“Perhaps you are lying,” Trixie narrowed her eyes. “Of course, that’s not why I brought you here. First things first, the matter of drawing a weapon on a member of an Inquisitor’s team.”

“What?” Crowland blinked in confusion. “The human boy? Lady, he drew his weapon first and I had no intention of harming him.”

Trixie gave him a sweet smile, “I believe you.” Then she used the ‘pain’ spell once more for half a moment, before letting up with a scowl. “That boy is special to me. Besides, if you were a native to Equestria, you would know the penalty for doing such an action. You are lucky to be alive right now.”

Crowland sighed, “I apologize, but maybe you should teach the boy to be a little more cautious about pulling a gun.”

Another wave of pain.

“Duly noted,” Trixie snorted. “Now, I have plenty of evidence to convict you of this crime. Before I begin, I want to know your thoughts on the matter.” She drew her sword and placed it by his neck, “All of them.”

Crowland sighed, “It was just a simple job. Just a clean cut job, shouldn’t have taken me anymore then a week to accomplish.”

Trixie grinned, “So you admit it. Good. That makes things simpler.” She made to leave, “Do not worry, I’ll give you a fair trial.”

‘I sincerely doubt it,’ Crowland grumbled to himself.

___________________________________________________________________

Suri Polomare cursed her luck. She had watched her master get taken into custody by the ponies and she had done nothing. She just hid in some shrubbery as they passed. Her master had seen her, but he’d just shaken his head. She should have ignored him and helped. Sure, they’d have to go on the run but it wasn’t like they hadn’t done that before.

Either way, she couldn’t change the past. She needed to think of something. Something that would allow her to travel through town without raising suspicion. She wasn’t going to kid herself and believe they wouldn’t take her in too. They had seen her with her master often enough in town to know they were together.

‘So what am I going to have to do?’ She pondered. ‘Sneaky escape plan? A bit risky, especially with the Inquisitor in town. No, I’ll have to think of something else. I can’t just rely on the alleyways or things like that. Not this time.’

So Suri puzzled and puzzled, till her puzzler was sore. That was until she remembered a certain pony. A shy earth pony that worked with the local dress maker. She remembered her. Coco Pommel was her name. Yes, she was an Element of Harmony. The element….

‘Of Selflessness,’ Suri grinned. ‘Ohohoho, I just need to get her to help me and it’ll be as easy as pissing off a diamond dog… gotta remember to watch out for those in her shop.’ With that in mind, she had a plan. Now she just needed to wait a while for things to cool down in town.

______________________________________________________________

Princess Sunset Shimmer was a simple mare. All she needed was a book and a quiet place to read. Sometimes that would include a certain dragon who would read with her and perform brother/sister cuddles that would never be spoken outside their home or someone would wind up dead.

A very simple mare.

After everything that had and was going on in town, she desperately needed some alone time. Usually, she never balked from ordering others around. However, the past while had shown her that that doing everything herself had consequences and she wasn’t sure that she could handle this situation well enough. Besides, she wanted to relax. ‘I really need to install a jacuzzi in this house. Maybe next week.’ That would certainly be lovely.

She smiled… until the whole tree house shook. She yelped and jumped out of the comfy chair she was sitting on. Quickly putting away her book, she stuck her head out the window.

Lyra was laughing like a maniac as she pummeled what appeared to be…. A giant book with eyes and black noodle arms and feet that ended with gloved hands. The book monster roared, sending waves of paper that sliced through whatever they touched. Lyra dodged by rolling out of the way. Her magical fist shot out, stretching as quick as a bullet and smashed into the monster’s leg. It toppled over with a groan.

Sunset frowned and then looked up to see that Twilight Sparkle was laughing and throwing what appeared to be supplementary spells to the monster to aid it somehow. Sunset sighed and thought about going back to reading, but remembered this was a book monster. She needed to put it out of its misery.

‘I hate this town sometimes,’ she groaned and made to leave.

Comments

[Ausbrony]

Lil trigger happy there Trix.

Hooboy, this isn't going to end well for anyone is it?

[Raistlin]

Trixie grinned, “So you admit it. Good. That makes things simpler.” She made to leave, “Do not worry, I’ll give you a fair trial.”

cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/63429259/you-will-be-givin-a-fair-trial-and-then-you-will-be-shot.jpg

[Tsuguri]

just had a fun thought. What if Crowland was doing a job for Celestia? Wouldn't that just sick in Trixie's craw and upset her plans all around.

[NobodieZ]

Great work on this chapter, Trixie's out of control. Can Coco help Suri get her master of this jam? Also the ending part was brilliant, nice reference to Happy Potter.

[howard035]

Sounds like Suri is going to have to find the real criminal to clear Crowland's name.