Gloaming

by Rambling Writer

25 - Hammer, Meet Anvil

“Finally, they’re here,” Cascadia muttered to herself. “How many of them?”

Homeguard clicked his tongue as he thought. After a moment, he said, “Twenty-one that I can detect, not including the chimera. They are still several miles out, but they shall be here within five minutes.”

“Alrighty. Lock and load, everypony.” The crk-crk-CHKT of crossbow harnesses being cocked echoed around me. Again, I felt like a millstone. I’d wanted to practice with the crossbows, but Cascadia had insisted that I was the best pony to go after the chimera, and since I’d said crossbows wouldn’t do much against her, I shouldn’t practice on crossbows.

Homeguard twitched. “Three ponies just broke off from the main group,” he said. “I could not tell their intentions; they were disguising their thoughts quite well. They… seem to be looping around the town.”

“Crystalline’s sending out some loners to go after the Bay Bucker Bar,” muttered Hailey. The Tri-B was one of the more distant shelters, harder to protect. It’d been built up the most, but it wasn’t invincible. “I’m going after them.”

“And you’re sure you’re okay?” I asked.

“C’mon, trust me,” Hailey said, flaring her wings and flashing a stupefyingly winning smile. “I can see the future.” And she vanished into the night.

Somehow, that both eased my anxiety and ratched up the tension even more. So she was leaving. That implied she thought we were fine, right? But we’d just sent one of our best fighters away, alone, without a plan. You didn’t need to be a tactical genius to see how stupid of an idea that was. Still, future sight, so…

Minutes ticked by. The only sound was the wind rustling the trees, the flexing of crossbows, and somepony coughing every now and then. I squinted into the darkness but couldn’t make anything out.

Then Homeguard whispered, “They are here, now. They are watching us.”

I looked out again. No change. “I can’t see anything,” somepony said.

“Then hit the lights,” muttered Cascadia.

After a few seconds, the infrasonic buzz of magic made every single hair in my coat stand on end. Several improvised spotlights hummed to life, blasting the forest with light. I waited a second for my eyes to adjust, then I caught my breath.

The figures standing in the light looked like ponies, but they were… off. I still don’t know what, but something about them made my skin crawl off. None of them had flinched from the sudden light in their faces. They were still as statues, with no wind to ruffle their manes or tails and break the illusion. They stared expressionlessly, unblinkingly at us; even from here, I could see that the eyes of all of them I could see were bright, bright red. All of them wore thin black robes.

And then there was the shadow of the chimera behind them. The silhouette was unmistakable; nothing else looked quite that strange. It was pacing back and forth, not quite of sight. It was strangely quiet for its size, even accounting for the distance. Shit.

I swallowed, attempted to will my heart to slow, and looked again. The vampires were roughly arranged in two rows of… about ten, I guessed. Behind them stood Rebirth and Tributary. Rebirth was grinning crazily at us, her eyes wild, and wore a gilded saddlebag at her side. Tributary simply stared at us, feeling like he was analyzing us.

For about five seconds, no one spoke. “Hi there!” said Cascadia. “Nice night, isn’t it?”

One of the vampires stepped forward and threw out his hoof. “Ponies of Delta!” she boomed. “You have prepared for us, futile as it may be! Two of your own have lied to you for years, and yet you still believe them, shelter them, trust them! Know this: we will show you no mercy. If you surrender, your deaths will come swiftly. If you fight, you will wish you had never been born long before we’re through with you. We will destroy your town, raze it to the ground, and use your lifeblood to resurrect the great King Sombra, all before dawn! You cannot hope to stop us! What say you?”

Silence. A soft click. Then an irregular series of twangs sounded around me, quickly followed by a fusillade of arrows zipping through the air. Not all of them hit, but within seconds, the announcer and three other vampires had collapsed into ash.

“What say I?” yelled Cascadia. “Thanks for giving us time to aim!” More twangs, but the remaining vampires scattered and had vanished into the night before I even saw the arrows.

Homeguard chuckled. “Oh, my. They did not expect you to interrupt their monologue. They…” His eyes widened. “They are at a near-complete loss,” he whispered. “They were so certain that they could defeat you without a loss of life…”

“Yeah?” Cascadia put her hoof in the forward loop and pushed, recocking the crossbow. “Those idiots’d never last a week in the Royal Guard, even with its current state.”

“Hush,” Homeguard said, holding up a hoof. His ears were pivoted towards the forest. I wasn’t sure if he could hear anything or if it was something he did to help focus his mind reading. He licked his lips. “They… are… Rebirth and Tributary are arguing. Rebirth wants to storm Delta now, casualties be damned. Tributary wishes to release the chimera as a diversion.”

“Hrng. Not good, either way, but let’s hope for Rebirth to wi- Oh, I see you.”

I peeped over the wall. Just beyond the beam of the spotlights, I could barely make out the silhouette of a vampire approaching. I thought they were looking at us, but they stayed outside the beam, trying to let the glare hide them. It almost worked, and I was still left wondering how Cascadia had spotted them in the first place.

“Coooome oooon,” Cascadia mumbled around her crossbow’s trigger bit, “just a little-” She paused. Twang. I could barely see the vampire, but I saw enough to see them collapse into dust. Cascadia smirked. “These are some pretty lousy vampires.”

“They are unused to this sort of resistance,” said Homeguard. “They have forgotten caution.”

“Maybe they’ll stay in that ru-”

Homeguard’s eyes suddenly widened. “Tributary won out. Rebirth is sending the chimera at us.” As if to punctuate his words, the chimera broke out in a joyful roar.

I immediately broke out in a sweat. Shit.

“Finally!” the chimera yelled. She stomped into the spotlight. She was a big one, alright, over a dozen times the weight of a pony. Her tiger stripes had a certain elegance that drew my attention even in these circumstances, but she wasn’t lithe in the slightest. Chimeras were brutish in build and in nature. Several ponies shot her with crossbows, but the bolts simply embedded themselves in her body. I wasn’t sure she would’ve noticed even if she hadn’t been vampirized.

The tiger grinned up at us. “You couldn’t kill me before, you little ponies! You can’t kill me now!” All three heads laughed discordantly. The chimera slowly, deliberately stomped to one of the shelters, dug her claws into the wooden armor, and tore a sizeable chunk away. Pony vampires would’ve had trouble getting through, but the chimera would tear through it in minutes.

“Shit shit,” muttered Cascadia. She swiveled around, looking into the night for more vampires. When she didn’t see any, she ducked down below the battlements. “No targets except for the chimera,” she said to herself.

“The rest of Crystalline will not come out so long as the chimera is in the open,” said Homeguard. “Once it breaks through the walls, it shall set upon us while the other vampires-”

“Shit shit shit,” Cascadia muttered again. “Swan? You’re the chimera expert. You got a plan?”

Everypony on the roof looked intently at me. I tried and failed to breathe slowly. When it came to fighting a chimera, I’d thought I’d have… I didn’t know what I thought I’d have. More than sixty seconds to come up with a plan. The thing was just too big. The only thing I could do was provide a distraction.

Crap. If that was the only thing I could do, then… “Listen,” I said, and dropped my spear. “I’ll lead her away for a while. You all? Stay here, unless the other vampires try to chase me. I got this.”

“No.” Cascadia put a hoof on the wall. “Swan, I’m coming wi-”

I didn’t have time to argue. I bodyslammed her to the roof and, hoping Homeguard would also stay, jumped to street level before she could get up. I ran into the open and hollered, “Hey! Kitty! How come you have three heads and no brains?”

It’s kind of weird, the kinds of insults chimeras respond to. Her attention was immediately ripped from the building and she whipped around, turning all three gazes on me. I was probably hopped up on adrenaline, but like this, thanks to her red eyes, she looked so over-the-top in trying to be threatening that it flipped around and became an eight-year-old’s idea of “threatening”, dragging out every cliche in the book. Big fangs, sharp claws, hulking body, fine, menacing. But red eyes on top of that? Whoever designed her was trying too hard. She looked silly.

“Fine words, coming from a pony!” bleated the goat.

“Yes, quite fine! Finer than you! I’ve met dogs with more smarts than you!” Come on, tiger, come on come on come on-

“No! Ignore it!” screeched Rebirth. “It’s getting to you!”

Luck was on my side for the moment; rather than listening to Rebirth, the tiger threw her head back and roared. “You’re going to eat those words, and then we’re going to eat you!”

“Yeah? Then you’d better come and get me, you little pussy!” I blew a raspberry and bolted into Delta. The chimera roared and followed, the sound almost drowning out Rebirth’s scream.

One thing vampirism doesn’t change? Mass. Speedsters still have inertia. Ponies aren’t that heavy and we’re built for running, hence why pony vampires (vamponies?) can easily start and stop booking at… whatever speeds Homeguard and Hailey can reach. But the chimera was big, brawny, meant more for fighting than running, and it took longer to get up to speed. Oh, it was still faster than a regular chimera, definitely, but it took just long enough to speed up and change its direction that dodging it ought to be a cinch.

I sprinted through Delta like I’d never sprinted before, buildings and lights whipping past me as my heart pounded in my chest. I could feel the earth shaking beneath me as the chimera ran, digging into the ground with her claws and pulling herself forward. Only the fact that I was already on a flat road kept me from tripping from the quakes. I could hear her, too. She was gaining.

“We will rend your bones from your flesh and drink you dry!” howled the chimera.

“How can you drink me dry,” I yelled back, “when you’re so busy eating my dust?” (In my defense, I’d never needed to throw one-liners before.)

Another roar. Then, suddenly, the earth stopped shaking-

I jinked awkwardly to one side, lost my grip, and fell, rolling sideways. Cobblestones dug at my skin as I tumbled down the road and the flare gun pressed awkwardly at my ankle. But I avoided the chimera’s pounce. She slammed into the ground where I had been and slid several yards, plowing up a nice furrow of dirt. I rolled back onto my hooves and kept running. “I’d say you’re blind as a bat,” I laughed, “but even bats have better eyesight than you!” (Which is actually true; bats have great eyesight.)

The chimera howled in frustration. Perfect. I needed to keep her frustrated. She shook herself off, dug her claws into the road, and bolted after me. Again, I waited until she was almost then turned down another road at the last second. The chimera attempted to follow; but inertia took over midway through the turn; she rolled over and smashed through a storefront.

Suddenly, I realized that I had no plan. Was I honestly just going to keep running until my legs gave out or the chimera caught up with me? I’d been so concerned about the chimera not destroying the building that I’d forgotten about what would happen to me.

Okay. Maybe I could lead her back. Back to Cascadia and the rest. Get their help. Homeguard’s and Hailey’s, too. Where was I? I glanced to one side. Supermarket, hardware store, post office, okay. I knew where I was. I could go around my house, lead her back that way. Okay. Yeah. I could do this. Keep breathing.

I bought myself some time by jinking down an alley. It was narrow, barely wide enough for three ponies to walk side-by-side. Definitely too narrow for the chimera. She was nearly stopped dead when her shoulders slammed into the walls on either side, smashing bricks from the corners and shaking the ground so much I tripped and fell. The tiger head lunged and snapped, but I was still a good ten feet from her. My heart burning, I turned on the ground to look at her and grinned. “Not very smart, are you?” I asked, punch-drunk on adrenaline.

The chimera roared again, jumped onto the roofs of the buildings on either side of the alley, and swiped down at me. I rolled aside. The claws whistled by me by inches and sliced little furrows into ground. I forgot about the knot in my chest and staggered to my feet. The chimera swiped again. I almost dodged, but one of the claws shallowly nicked me across the side. Did only bites turn you into a vampire? I ran for the other end of the alley as the chimera bounded across the roofs.

She reached the end before me and sliced down. I ducked under her paw and charged down the road to my house. But the cut must have been deeper than I first thought; a stitch of pain lanced through my body whenever my hooves hit the ground. I couldn’t keep up this pace, not all the way back.

I slid around a corner and spotted my house, lit up by lanterns and just down the road, the For Sale sign winking into the night. I could make it there, at least.

“We can SMELL YOUUUUUUU!” every head of the chimera screamed in unison. “We can almost taste your pain! You’re dead!” I chanced a look back; the chimera was still running at me. She was moving a bit slower, my mind tried reassuring me. Now that all three parts of her were working in sync, she remember not to charge full tilt and lose all control when she tried to stop.

Not wanting to see my own death approaching, I turned forward again. My house was less than a hundred feet away, but even as I changed my route to it, I knew I’d never make in time. I was too slow, and she was too fast.

Then my eyes fell on the sign again and I realized I didn’t need to get that far. I put on an extra burst of speed.

The ground stopped shaking as the chimera pounced.

I twisted around, slid backwards over my wet yard, and yanked the For Sale sign out of the ground.

The chimera was flying at me, tiger jaws wide, claws bared, roaring.

I charged and thrust the point upward.

My aim was true and the chimera’s bulk forced her onto the post better than I ever could have. For an instant, I was forced down, then ash was cascading down around me, getting my eyes, my mouth, my ears. I stumbled and collapsed onto my back, still holding the sign like a spear. I waited to be crushed beneath the massive body, but it never came. I opened my eyes. Neither the chimera nor her body was anywhere to be seen, only a thick layer of ash coating the grass around me.

I’d just killed a vampire chimera.

Holy shit.

Unfortunately, the adrenaline chose that moment to begin wearing off. I’d been sprinting for I didn’t know how long, and every single one of my legs burned as if it was on fire. Would I even be contributing that much if I got back? I wobbily got to my feet and took a few steps. It hurt like Tartarus and the flare gun felt a bit too tight, but I could walk, provide support, maybe fight a little. I began walking back toward Del-

“Helloooooooo.”

I turned around. Two vampires, a unicorn mare and an earth stallion, had materialized out of the night between me and my house and were staring intently at me. My brain still running in fight-or-flight mode and too tired for either, I didn’t respond the way I should have. I just waved and said, “Hey. How’s it going?”

The two glanced at each other before the mare smiled disarmingly. “You know, Rebirth said you’d die. That there was no way you could survive against a chimera, let alone a vampire one. Tributary sent us after you, just in case.”

“Can you imagine?” the stallion said with a laugh. “Two vampires for one pony!”

“Hard to blame her, considering all the trouble you’ve caused for us,” said the mare. “But now you don’t have any vampires to hide behind, soooooo…” She smirked and shrugged.

I pointed at the pile of ash that had once been the chimera. “Dude. Seriously?”

The stallion’s laugh petered out. He bit his lip and glanced sideways at the mare, but she didn’t notice. Her horn began glowing. With my head still swimming, all I could think of was that at least I’d go out on a high note.

“Ai yai yai!” And Hailey dropped from the sky, impaling the mare with a spear clean through to the ground. Poof. The stallion turned to run and actually got a few steps off. But in a motion so smooth it looked choreographed (and, knowing Hailey, probably was), Hailey yanked the spear from the earth and the pile of ash it was in, spun around, smashed the vampire so hard in the throat with the spear that he performed a backflip, kept spinning, and stabbed the vampire through the chest before he hit the ground. Poof.

Hailey batted the dust away with a flick of the spear. “You know what’s great about precognition?” she asked, grinning. “Well, a lot of things. But you always know the best time to make an entrance.” She licked the tip of her hoof and slicked her bangs to one side. “I’m good, aren’t I? Of course, I had a little help from…” She whistled.

Bay lowered herself into the light. She grinned sheepishly, rustled her wings, and kicked at the ground. “Um. Hi.”

I blinked. She wasn’t my daughter, but my maternal instincts kicked in nonetheless. “You- You were supposed to stay in a shelter! Homeguard escorted you in, and- you made him ignore you when you left, didn’t you?”

“I wanted to help!” protested Bay. “I’ve been practicing with my power and I… I think I can make them ignore other ponies, not just me! Mmmmaybe.” She kneaded at the ground and looked away. “It… I think it worked just now.”

The cut across my side twitched and I unconsciously tried to cover it up with a hoof. “And you can smell my blood without going nuts?” Tactless, I’ll admit, but after sprinting for several minutes, tact had been replaced with pain, hurt, burning, and pain.

Bay gave me a Look. Her eyes, once so red, were now closer to copper. “I had a meal before everypony went into the shelters,” she said defensively. “Homeguard wanted to be totally sure I wouldn’t snap. Yeah, you…” She suddenly looked very self-conscious and her voice dropped. “Your blood… smells… good, it’s, it’s just… I’m… not really thirsty and I don’t wanna drink it all that much.”

“Good enough.” And if nothing else, at least her power guaranteed Crystalline would ignore her.

Hailey brushed my hoof aside and squinted at my cut. “How’d you get that?”

I opened my mouth.

“Oh, then you don’t need to worry about getting vamped. Only bodily fluid exchange causes the change. Plus, if you don’t feel paralyzed by now, then you didn’t get any venom in you, anyway.”

Good. I took a few steps. My legs burned like mad, but I could walk. I didn’t want to sit out; after being involved with vampires for so long, bowing out of this was nearly out of the question. “And the Tri-B? How’re-”

“Tighter than a tick’s drum,” said Hailey with a smile. “Crystalline never knew what hit them. Now let’s get you back to the main action.” She pulled one of my hooves over her shoulder.

I awkwardly pulled myself over her withers and wrapped my forelegs around her neck. I vaguely wondered how many vampires were dead already. Of course, those were probably the stupid ones. The ones that were still alive almost definitely were smarter and harder to kill. Still, Crystalline’s numbers were dropping, so that was something.

“You ready, Swan?” asked Hailey. “Ready, Bay?”

“Ready.”

“Ready.”

“Then let’s roll.” And Hailey bolted into the night as I held tight to her.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

I’d just killed a vampire chimera.

Holy shit.

I'm pretty sure Swan just leveled up from that. Go for favored enemy (undead.)

I vaguely wondered how many vampires were dead already. Of course, those were probably the stupid ones. The ones that were still alive almost definitely were smarter and harder to kill.

Of course, they're still pretty stupid if they're still fighting, especially when they find out the chimera got dusted by a mortal earth pony. The really smart ones will have retreated by this point. The especially smart ones... well, Sombra probably killed them back in the day. That's the thing about working for an evil overlord; it's not exactly an environment that promotes critical thinking skills.

In any case, epic stuff thus far, especially the monologue assault. Looking forward to more.

[River Babble]

That defeat could have felt too easy and anticlimactic, after all the build up, and I wouldnt have minded a little more of a fight scene, but you succeeded in making Swan come across as just plain awesome. XD Well done. And ALRIGHT BAY!

[draconequus07]

9240815
I would say that it was done really well in my opinion. True it was kind of short as far as fight scenes typically go, but given the circumstances that one good hit would have killed her made it seem just as long as it needed to be. Plus the exhaustion she's feeling from the chase satisfies the need for a sort of "mutual consequence" that important events need.

[Bugsydor]

They brought a beast to a ranger fight. Surprised novampire saw this coming. I wonder what the chimera's vampire power was...

[redmar]

With the chimera dead and their numbers about halved the fight is really going bad for the vampires.