Centaurworld’s Shining

by Twinkletail

Come To Us

It was safe to say that Shining Armor had seen his fair share of threats back home in Equestria. Not even taking the shadow soldiers currently attacking the Crystal Empire into play, he had seen swarms of changelings, the crushing fist of Tirek, the frightening power of the Storm King and his army…the threats were many, to say the least.

And yet none had been as visually terrifying as what he was seeing at this very moment.

A tremendous black beast rose from the ground beneath Wammawink, positively dwarfing the rest of the group. The tendril on its forehead hung perilously, as Wammawink was currently stuck to the jewel at its end. Even when Shining was certain that it was the largest beast he’d ever seen, it continued to sprout from its hole, as if there was no end to its terrifying form. The thin beams of light that managed to penetrate the forest’s canopy reflected off the monster’s chitinous carapace. Two red eyes, gigantic yet still beady compared to the sheer size of the beast, glistened as it stared at the catch at the end of its fin ray. Just when Shining was certain that it couldn’t get any more horrifying, the beast’s mouth opened, displaying rows upon rows of terrible, spearlike teeth.

Everything else in this world was sickeningly adorable. This appeared to have crawled its way out of another realm, one which Shining wished never to visit.

“It’s an anglertaur!” Wammawink shrieked as she desperately tried to pry herself from its lure. The rest of the herd stared, aghast at the sight of the thing. Glendale in particular seemed about ready to faint.

“What do we do?” Shining shouted. He was clearly the bravest of the bunch, and almost certainly the most battle-hardened, but he didn’t even know where to start with this thing. A haunting howl from the beast, an eerily melodious chorus of voices that shouldn’t have been able to come from a single creature, only served to shake his resolve.

“Run away!” Wammawink screamed, her hand refusing to free itself. “Save my herd! I…I’ll handle it!” The words were meant to be brave, but the fear in her voice betrayed their intent.

Shining couldn’t believe what he was hearing as he watched her struggle. He looked to the rest of the herd. From his earlier interactions with the bunch, they seemed to generally look at Wammawink as their leader and follow her instructions. Despite that, not a single one took off running.

“We can’t leave you behind!” Shining insisted.

“Go!” Wammawink wailed. “I’ll be fine!”

Shining refused to believe her. He looked once again to the rest of the herd. The looks in their faces were intensely familiar to him. Despite being absolutely petrified by the situation, he could tell that they wanted so badly to save their friend and possible motherly figure.

“Listen,” Shining said to the others. “I know you’re scared. I’m scared too. But we can save her if we work together. Are you in?”

Zulius and Durpleton moved for the first time since the thing emerged, each putting an arm around Glendale to support her. Her head began to flop over, but Ched flew under her to support it. The four of them looked to Shining, then back to the beast, and then back to Shining again. Finally, they all nodded.

“Then follow my lead,” Shining told them. He was used to commanding an army. This might have been smaller than his typical army, and they certainly looked nothing like it, but the feeling was familiar enough to comfort him. Which worked well, as an incredibly discomforting song came from the beast in a multitude of voices.

”Come to us…”

“I see your face, I see your fear,” Shining sang in return, starting a charge towards the monstrosity.

”You will be ours…”

“We can’t back down when threats appear,” Shining shot back, looking behind him to see that the rest of the herd had joined in the charge.

”In the ground…”

“And it’s never meant more than here and now! Shining continued as the group closed the distance. Wammawink was watching them, completely horrified by the fact that they hadn’t fled, but a quick thrash from the anglertaur pulled her so they were out of her sight.

”Wont let you go…”

“You’re okay if you stick with me,” Shining sang as he pointed a hoof towards Durpleton, then towards the beast, giving him a series of insistent blinks.

”Don’t leave our side…”

“Cause I can teach you how to be…” Shining responded. Durpleton managed to pick up on the hint, stretching his neck towards one of the anglertaur’s eyes and unleashing an offensive sparkle blinkie directly at it.

”How will you hide?”

“Quicker, stronger, full of bravery,” Shining sang, noticing the beast reeling at the bright lights. Ched was the next to receive a direction as Shining pointed him towards Wammawink. The finchtaur took off, flying towards his target. ”And how to survive!”

Ched grabbed onto Wammawink’s hoof once he reached her, starting to pull. Wammawink’s eyes went wide. She knew Ched couldn’t possibly support her if she was pulled free, but she didn’t have time to think about that as the beast started to recover.

”You can’t escape from us
You were all made for us
Just give up, just give in
You will sink now”

The anglertaur’s powerful jaws snapped as it tried to pull its prey down into the ground, but it was stunned when Ched aimed Wammawink’s hoof at its other eye and a bevy of tiny versions of her were fired into it. This did little to solve the problem of Wammawink still being stuck, but she and Ched continued to try and work on that, now joined by Durpleton’s head as it provided a place for Ched to hook his feet and a bit more leverage to pull. The beast continued to sing its haunting melody as it refused to relinquish its catch.

”You will be one of our thousands of souls
We’ve taken and buried below
You are ours, and we are yours…”

On the ground, Shining watched the scene above. The group was making good headway, but they needed one final advantage. He glanced back to Zulius, Glendale, and Durpleton’s body, trying to figure out what to do from here. Before he could try to bark out another order, Zulius’s eyes lit up.

“Glendale!” Zulius shouted. “The bookcase!”

Glendale tilted her head, then pulled on her ears as another panic began to take over.

“Do I have to?” Glendale whimpered.

“Do you want to save Wammawink?” Zulius asked.

“More than anything in the world!” Glendale shot back.

“Then I think you know the answer, honey!” Zulius insisted.

Shining was completely lost, but it sounded like Zulius had a plan, and he wasn’t about to argue against that.

”You can’t escape from us…” the wicked beast sang as Zulius stretched his mane out, hooking and tying the top of it around Durpleton’s extended neck.

”You were all made for us…” it bellowed as Glendale launched a rather large wooden bookcase from her portal tummy. Shining wasn’t sure how that thing fit in there, but there was no time for questions.

”Just give up…just give in…you are all ours now…” the haunting voice continued as the bookcase sprung into Zulius’s mane. The weight of it pulled his mane back like a bowstring, before it was fired off and hurtled through the air.

”Just give in to us now!”

The final cry was cut off by the bookcase striking the anglertaur in the midsection. The jolt made it reel back in pain, and that was just what was needed for Ched and Durpleton to pull Wammawink free. The three flopped backwards, landing in a heap on top of Shining, Zulius, and Glendale. The group would have been left vulnerable, but the anglertaur, having lost its prey and apparently decided that it wasn’t worth the fight, sank back into the ground.

The group of six slowly pulled themselves up. They were a bit worse for wear, but considering what they had just escaped from, things could have been much worse.

“Glendale?” Zulius asked as he shook dust from his mane. “Weren’t there…books in that bookcase at one point?”

“Never you mind,” Glendale responded weakly.

“That was fantastic!” Shining exclaimed, no longer able to contain his excitement now that the danger was in the rearview. “The teamwork…the tactics…wow!”

Wammawink, meanwhile, opted not to say anything, letting a big, warm group hug with her herd say everything that was needed. Shining opted to stay out of it. He was happy to see everyone safe, but didn’t feel he knew them well enough to join in on a group hug like this. Then his choice was taken away from him as a bit of magic from Wammawink pulled him into the embrace.

“Thank you so much,” Wammawink said softly. “I really don’t know what I would have done without your help.”

“Of course,” Shining said, smirking lightly. “Although it’s your herd that deserves the thanks. I just spurred them on. They did the hard part.”

“I…guess they did,” Wammawink replied, a strange hesitation to her tone. It was quickly forgotten as she showered her herd with praise. “Wonderful, wonderful job, all of you! I’m so proud of you all!” The others bathed in her affection, excitedly babbling about how afraid they were for her and how wild it was to save her like that. Shining watched the scene with a smirk before offering one more comment.

“I guess they don’t need you to protect them, huh?” Shining asked.

He knew that he had done something wrong the moment the words left his mouth. The glow of Wammawink’s pride in her herd dimmed almost instantly, and the expression that replaced it was not one that Shining wanted to see. The rest of the herd was looking at him, so he figured he was the only one that saw what looked like fear in her eyes.

“…Wammawink?” Shining asked, taking a step closer. The herd turned to look at her, but by the time they had, she was right back to smiling.

“A wonderful job indeed,” Wammawink asserted, giving Durpleton’s cheek a pinch and patting Zulius on the head. “Well then…let’s continue, shall we? Keep moving, chins up, don’t forget your bookcase Glendale!”

Shining watched the alpacataur as she strolled forward. He raised a hoof as if to call her attention, but she simply gave him a curt nod and continued on.

Comments

[Draco Dei]

Shining continues to be a better person than Horse. I look forward to seeing how the ending with Wammawink will play out in future chapters.

[ponyrule1995]

I wonder why Wammawink acted weird at that last part?

[Black-Briar Memery]

I love this, it really shows the difference between Horse, an order-taking footsoldier, vs Shining Armor, a veteran military commander with experience in utilizing the INCREDIBLY varied talents of the ponies under his command. I wouldn't doubt that Shining has had to come up with a use for abilities stranger than sparkle blinkies before.