COLD

by Shadow Spector

Episode 2: Recovery Part 2

Episode 2: Recovery Part 2

“Ugh! Shoo, griffon!” Radiance yelled.

The stallion signaled to several other guards, and multiple ponies arrived to seize the non-pony. Immediately when the leader returned his head to the problem at hoof, the guards grabbed a hold of each of Candid’s limbs, lifting the powerless griffon above the ground. His attempts at escape were useless, and he was inevitably thrown over the side of the wall back into the community.

Through the brief time of falling through the air, Candid was able to open his wings to slow his descent, but from the horrific expression of Opul from below, he didn't flap them. Instead, he let himself hit the ground with whatever speed was left over from his slowed drop.

The orange non-pony shook himself after the impact before glaring back up to the top of the wall. “Fine! Don't accept my help! This community can burn to the ground for all I care.”

Opul rushed over to help him off the ground, but he just waved his clawless talon away, declining the aid. Instead, he picked himself up so he could brush the dust off himself in an irritated fashion.

Droll looked away at the still heavily-populated streets, all in disorganized chaos. “Yak worried. This not happen much before.”

“Well, after today, it'll never happen again.” Candid stormed off into the crowd, disappearing through the ponies.

“We can't give up on this place,” Opul said, her voice quivering. “This is our home.” The single-winged non-pony looked around at her surroundings before staring up at the wall to where the community weapons were gathered, her eyes again seeing the sword with the long blade glinting in the sun. She turned to her friend in deep thought. “Droll, we need to help fix this. Candid seems to know what that beast is out there. He might know how to stop it. You need to go get him back. I'll see what I can do here, but you need to go.”

Droll nodded, raising his cloven hoof to his head in an attempt to give a partial salute. Without wasting any time, he began trotting back into the city.

Opul watched the yak go off into the streets as well, except that he seemed to have apparent confidence, as if knowing exactly where to go. The dragon hoped for the best, and she turned to listen into what the guards on the wall were saying.

A female pegasus galloped to the stallion with an expression that appeared as forced bravery. “That creature is almost upon us. We need a plan of attack, General.”

“With a beast of that magnitude, we may need to take extreme measures.” Radiance turned to stare at the monster at the visible horizon. “Mauve, you know I don't condone ending lives unless it's absolutely necessary, but if worse comes to worse, I want you and your team to take action against the beast.”

“How should we go about that, sir?” the mare asked.

“Its main form of attack appears to be at the heads. Those necks seem to be the point of vulnerability. I suggest decapitation. Avoid the heads as best as you can and cut low where it's safe. Use Olethros for it. We'll need to cut deep.”

The violet pony held up a wing to her head, successfully saluting Radiance before joining up with two more pegasi, one yellow and one dark red. The three ponies gathered at the edge of the walls, prepared to pounce off of them whenever necessary.

“Hurry up, Droll,” Opul panicked powerlessly. “They might make things worse if Candid doesn't come back in time.”

“Another cider!” Candid yelled.

The young bartender that matched Candid’s age was startled before he looked back at the griffon. “Another? But you haven't even had one yet.”

“Well, I don't care. Give me a first.”

“Uh, no. You're underaged.”

Candid slammed his clawless talons down on the counter. “Damn it!”

The pony behind the counter gave the griffon a concerned look before he looked around the tavern to make sure the peace wasn’t disturbed. Finally, he regained his composure before focusing on something behind the orange non-pony. “The same goes for you too.”

“Yak know,” Droll said from behind Candid.

The griffon huffed at the sound of his friend before turning himself away from the yak. “What do you want?”

The brown non-pony stopped behind a chair right next to him. “Droll just want to know how griffon holding up,” he said, a cordial smile coming to his face.

Candid turned to face his friend, purposefully tilting his head to the left to attract attention to his eyepatch. “You sure that’s all you’re here for?”

“Not full reason, but still part of it. Candid doing okay?”

The griffon gave an airy, fake laugh. “That's a dumb question. Are you even doing okay?”

“Well, possible when trying.”

“Well, good for you, but I don’t need to try to feel okay.” The griffon turned away back to the counter.

“No, what griffon need is drink,” Droll beamed.

The red pony behind the counter covered his face with his hoof in an arrogant manner. “Once again, you two are still not allowed a drink.’

Droll redirected himself to the pony, getting slightly annoyed with him. “Water illegal?”

The equine’s face settled into unamusement before he moved away to begin filling up two mini cups with water. “It’s gonna cost you 5 bits each.”

Droll was caught off guard, and he switched his gaze suddenly to comprehend the new information. “What? Water free.”

“Nope, sorry,” the young pony said, barely moving his lips. “Non-ponies still need to pay for water. Contume’s rules.”

“Unicorn dead!” Droll yelled in frustration before attracting the eyes of nearly everypony in the saloon. The yak blushed in embarrassment, ducking his head down in an attempt to hide himself. He awkwardly cleared his throat before lowering his voice. “Contume not leader now.”

“Don’t care. It’ll stay this way until the rules are changed. That’s how this place works.”

Droll’s face was now matching his friend’s in terms of unamusement, but the equine just shrugged before returning back to his station to fill the water cups.

The griffon sighed. “That’s exactly why this place deserves what’s coming to it.”

Droll calmed himself down to return his mindset to the original problem. “Candid, community need griffon.”

“I’m not going back there,” he firmly declined.

“Griffon only one who know beast.”

“Did you lose your hearing on the way here? I said no. Now don’t be a nuisance.”

“Community is home. Griffon no want to defend it?”

“No!” Candid snapped. “This place was hardly ever a home to me. We were always slandered here and never treated fairly, and we’re supposed to pay them back by saving them? I don’t think so. I feel no need to defend anything anymore.”

The pony returned with the cups of water to set them on the counter, one in front of Droll and the other in front of Candid. The yak picked the glass up in his cloven hoof, giving it a slight smirk before launching the contents out onto his companion. Immediately, the griffon retaliated, lurching out of his seat to tackle the yak out of his own, bringing him to the ground.

“What the hell is wrong with you??” the griffon demanded.

The yak laughed nervously before explaining himself in rapid succession. “Candid said there no feeling to defend. Now griffon want to defend.”

“Well that doesn’t give you the excuse to throw water on me!”

“No, griffon right, but hear Droll out. Anyone can do bad thing like yak just did, but griffon know yak. Candid know Droll not bad, but action show opposite. Radiance think non-ponies bad but non-ponies can show opposite too. Yak and friends always appear as bad but now, griffon can show creatures as good if griffon save community.”

Candid glared at Droll as he stood over him before releasing his grip and returning to his seat. “It was a worthy attempt, Droll, I’ll admit, but I’m not moving.”

The brown non-pony stood up before brushing himself off. He thought for a moment before a last resort came to mind. “Opul back there at walls, and dragon in trouble.”

Immediately, Candid stiffened. “You should have led with that.” The griffon got up from his seat to bolt for the exit.

“Hey!” the bartender yelled. “You didn’t pay for your waters!”

“Sorry,” Candid smirked as he turned to travel backwards through the door. “Neither one of us are the generous ones.”

Droll snickered before they returned to face the front, fully exiting the tavern.

The two non-ponies rushed through the now empty streets. From below the walls, Opul was still calling out to the guards but was being ignored. Finally, Droll and Candid accompanied their friend before looking back up to the top of the walls.

“What happened?” Candid asked.

Opul was breathing heavier than normal. “Radiance has never seen this beast before.”

“This ‘beast’ is a hydra, and it’s very dangerous.”

“Then you need to tell him that!” Opul scolded.

Candid rolled his eye in annoyance. “I tried. He won’t listen to me You saw him kick me off the walls.”

“Well, he’s going to have his army attack it when it gets close enough without even knowing what he’s doing. Ponies are going to die.”

Droll looked at his friend, the sun radiating off the dragon’s white scales. “How far away is hydra?

In just a matter of seconds, silence was brought about the community as the grand beast towered its heads over the walls, casting darkness across the ground.

“Now!” Radiance called out, and the team of three pegasi rushed out, the violet one holding the sword with the oversized blade.

The armed ponies flew out around the hydra, distracting as many of the heads as possible. The red and yellow pegasi got the attention as the lead violet mare readied the sword in her hooves.

“Wait, what are they doing?” Candid asked, tensing up.

The dark red pony hit against the top of one head of the hydra, angering it to lunge at the pony. Immediately when the neck outstretched, the violet pony swiped down with the sword, slicing through the top of the neck in a clean swipe and letting the head topple down to the ground.

“No!” the griffon shrieked.

But it was too late. As the neck fell to the ground, the remaining three heads turned to the pegasi, now angered at losing an apparent ally. The three ponies regained their formation before copying their strategy, flying away to make one of the three necks vulnerable and ripe for slicing into another one. Two heads left.

“You need to stop!” Candid called up, but Radiance disregarded him.

SLICE! PLOP! One head left.

Candid, in the heat of the moment, bolted upwards to the walls, viewing the horrible sight of one head left. He watched as the lone head swayed back and forth on its neck like a snake, staring down the three pegasi as it hissed loudly. The violet mare readied the sword in her hooves as the two other pegasi nodded in understanding, but Candid could not sit by and watch the situation get any worse, especially when he could prevent it. Impulsively, he jumped out over the walls only to get stopped in the middle of his breach. Immediately, he felt the tugging at his rear, pulling him back to land hard against the community walls. The griffon could only watch as the final head was eviscerated from its neck, causing the hydra to collapse to the floor.

Radiance released his grip on Candid’s tail before he turned to the griffon with a glare. “What is your problem? Are you trying to sabotage this community?”

From behind the walls, the sickening slosh of muscles sounded, binding together once more, but the leader continued.

“You’re lucky that my team wasn’t distracted by you. If you messed up their coordination and this beast was still around, then you would be the one to blame.”

The crinkles grew even louder from behind the golden stallion.

“You know what?” Radiance continued. “I don’t even think I want to have this conversation again.” The stallion turned towards the three pegasi who landed back on the walls in a unified formation, the violet pony setting down the bloody sword. “Mauve, have you and your team do something with this non-pony. He’s beginning to disturb the peace around here.”

“What would you want done with him?” the dark red pegasus spoke up from behind the violet mare.

“I don’t know. Something. And make sure he’s-.”

Radiance's words were cut off by the sudden vibration of the ground, knocking him off balance as the walls trembled. When the five creatures on the walls turned around, the brown beast stood back up even taller, its eight heads now completely covering up the sun to put even more shade over the community.

“We’re all gonna die!” the yellow armed-pegasus yelled.

Radiance held out his hoof to order another command against the hydra, but before the pegasi could take off into the air, one head of the hydra crashed into the side of the wall, sending each of the creatures into freefall.

As the griffon sailed through the air, he widened his eye to catch a good glimpse of the situation. From the debris, he could see the three pegasi attempting to recover as they flew away from the falling rocks, but he also caught sight of the leader of the community cometting down towards the ground. The familiar sight tore Candid apart, but through a split-second decision, he diverted his course of descent to propel himself towards the wingless stallion, tackling his stomach in the air to push him out of the way of the falling rocks.

The two creatures slid against the ground out of the way of the boulders, coughing as the dust began to settle around them. Candid lifted his head to glare at Radiance. “You didn’t deserve to be saved, but I still saved you.”

The pony coughed before returning the look to the griffon but was immediately cut from his stare to see the hydra beginning to enter into the community, destroying more of the community wall as the beast made its way through.

The unnerving sight made the pony and non-pony immediately stand up to rush away from the disaster at hoof. Through their rushing away, the equine returned his eyes to the griffon. “You act like you know what this creature is. What is it?”

Candid flew through the air beside the pony. “It’s a hydra. You remove one head and two more grow back. You should have listened to me, your ‘lowness’. You could have saved yourself this trouble!”

“Nevermind that!” the yellow pony snapped. “Tell me how we can stop it!”

Candid slowed down in his flying until he came to a stop.

Radiance stopped next to him. “What? How do we stop this creature?”

Candid’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his friends calling out his name in terrified tones.

“Candid!” Opul shouted. “Are you okay?”

The griffon rushed to the dragon and yak, pleased to know of their safety.

“Get back here!” the leader bellowed out.

“Beast grew head back,” Droll stated. “How stop it?”

Candid tried to think, brainstorming solutions under pressure. The story of the hydra had been his favorite legend but throughout all of his time obsessing over it, he had never pondered the way to actually defeat it. It was so cool to him to see something so powerful tear through everything it came across, only he never considered what would happen if it was destroying something he cared about.

Candid looked back at the beast that was now stomping through multiple buildings, leaving nothing but rubble in its path.

Opul watched in horror as well before looking back at Candid. “Can we use that magic thing we used earlier?”

“I . . . I don’t know how!” the griffon admitted. “It was in the heat of the moment that we did it. I have no idea how to replicate it again.”

“We have to do something!” Opul yelled. “Let’s just give it a try again.”

Candid calmed his breathing down to listen to the dragon. “Um, okay, uh . . .”

The griffon reached out his talons over his friends, his left arm over Opul’s back and his right arm over Droll’s. The three non-ponies were too fearful to be embarrassed.

Candid looked into the closing distance to where the hydra was running towards them, shaking the ground more and more with each step it took. The orange non-pony tried harder to do what he did before in the throneroom, but nothing was happening. Vital moments were lost as well as important distance away from the creature.

“It’s not working!” Candid yelled in frustration.

Droll sighed. “Non-ponies dead.”

The orange griffon looked back at the oncoming danger. The eight heads of the hydra were floating high above the body. The situation was seeming hopeless until Candid saw two of the heads traveled too far to the right side of the body, resulting in the hydra stopping in its tracks momentarily to steady itself.

“Oh Celestia, that’s it!” Candid rejoiced.

“What?” Opul asked. “Tell us!”

Candid thought through his plan for a moment before turning to his friends once more. “I have an idea, but you’re not gonna like it.”

The griffon took one last look at the panicked expressions of his friends before bursting towards the creature, keeping himself close to the ground. The monster directed each of its eight heads to look down at the non-pony, but Candid, although intimidated, persisted forward. When he got close enough, one of the heads began to sink down closer to him, opening its mouth wide to swallow a victim, but before it could seal the deal, Candid dove between the legs of the hydra, passing right behind it. The lone head hit the ground but quickly changed course to continue following after the non-pony, ducking between its own legs as well to maintain its proximity to the griffon. Before the head could catch up, the long neck ran out of extension, resulting in an awkward-looking hydra. The monster-head immediately tried to correct its error, but the moment it moved, three of its heads went to the side, causing the hydra to lose balance and fall to the ground.

Candid took this opportunity to dive at the rubble from the walls. He knew what he was looking for but didn’t know where it landed. He picked up multiple rocks to toss them aside, trying to find his weapon. Through his efforts, he looked back up at the monster that was now getting back up with great difficulty.

“It’s too heavy,” Candid said, trying to encourage himself that his plan would work.

The hydra had fully stood up by the time Candid had barely put a dent in the rock pile. Frantically, the griffon threw rocks around, but the hydra was already back on its warpath, this time, focusing on the orange non-pony.

Candid began breathing heavily as he screamed in frustration. He kept flying to different locations of the digsite, but he couldn’t locate his saving grace. He looked back up at the hydra that was now even closer, and the original hydra head that had dived after him glared down, licking its lips.

It was when the griffon was ready to accept his fate that the glare from the sun reflected off a fragment on the ground. Candid quickly turned to see the metallic surface just underneath some rocks. When he bolted towards the rocksite, the hydra head that towered from the sky lunged towards him with its mouth widened.

The sound of the teeth slicing through the air was apparent to Candid, and he hit the rock with all his might, knocking it aside to free up the elongated sword. With one swift motion, he gripped the sword in his talons before bringing it upwards to the hydra, the blade chopping through one neck of the beast. Right beside the griffon, the hydra head plopped, and the neck fell right in front of the non-pony, its blood rushing out to stain the ground.

Candid hefted the sword up, its heavy weight barely enough for the griffon to maintain. He flew upwards in the sky, matching the height level of the seven hungry-looking hydra heads. The fourteen eyes stared at Candid’s one eye, but he wasn’t afraid. He was ready to take on all of them at once.

He readied the sword in his talons before zooming towards the first head, ducking at the last moment to drag it across the neck, letting the blood spill out from the beast as the head plummeted to the surface. He turned towards the other heads and lunged directly at one whose mouth was opened wide, entering in between its teeth as he pointed his sword at the throat, cutting a hole in its neck from inside to escape back into the air. The incision made the hydra head hang loosely, and from its weight, the head tore from its neck to fall down to the ground.

Candid shook the monster blood from himself as he gripped the sword more firmly, aiming it directly at the next head that he was soon to slice through. It wasn’t long until he cut off another one putting it back at its original number of four heads.

From a safe distance away from the action, Droll and Opul watched in concern as their friend faced imminent danger. They knew for a fact that at any moment, he could be lost.

“What are you doing?!” Opul called loudly from below.

Candid turned to smirk down at her before he continued his work.

The gurgling from the ground grew louder as the severed necks began to float back into the air, two new heads worming its way from the one hole.

Immediately as they grew back, Candid swiped at them again, letting the heads fall to the ground as quickly as they came back up. He kept decapitating them left and right, drenching himself in the blood of the beast. It got to the point where his sword nearly slipped from his grip, and blood dripped from all over him as if it were raining.

Candid stopped himself to count the number of heads on the beast. If he had counted correctly, there would be now thirty-two hydra heads, all looking for a meal.

The griffon was panting hard when he flew quickly back down to his friends that were still watching from a distance.
“What griffon done?” Droll asked, his mouth and eyes fully opened.
“You’ve killed us all,” Opul said, as if accepting something long overdue.

Candid dropped the sword on the ground before looking back at the countless heads that glared at him from above. “I did what I could.”

The hydra steadied itself in the air before taking its first step towards the non-ponies, but immediately as it did, it lost its balance. Sailing through the air, the enormous creature fell over. The moment the rest of its necks touched the ground, the entirety of the community trembled violently, nearly causing the three friends themselves to fall as well.

Droll and Opul fixed their stances before they watched the monster in astonishment, its numerous heads preventing it from getting up to continue the rampage.

Candid watched in hesitation before he sighed in relief. “You’re welcome.”

Droll’s jaw dropped, but Opul smiled brightly.

“You’re a genius!” the dragon praised.

“Droll and Opul no doubt Candid next time,” the yak reassured.

Candid smiled as he stepped closer to his friends, but the hydra blood still fell from around him.

“Yeah, maybe you need a shower,” Opul suggested.

“I’m just glad that the hydra blood isn’t actually poisonous as I was always told,” Candid said.

“Wait, griffon thought monster was poison but still fought it?” Droll asked.

“Eh, it was either die by that or die when it kills us all. I say I made a good choice.”

Droll beamed. “Non-pony risk life to save ponies. Radiance no think non-ponies bad now.”

Candid’s expression lit up. He was about to add a remark when he turned his head to see the army of armed ponies marching through the streets, all of which were led by the two adult earth-ponies with contrasting colors.

“Maybe you won’t have to wait too long to figure out,” Opul added.

Candid smirked as he took off in the air to the group of equines, but when he got within close distance of the militia, the entirety of the crowd turned their weapons on their hero. The griffon stopped himself immediately, staring at the newfound threat and then at the leader. Candid accusingly looked at the ungrateful ponies, but Radiance stared back with a disapproving expression on his face.

“At ease, soldiers,” Radiance spoke up without breaking off eye contact with the orange non-pony. “The biggest problem at hoof is disposing of that oversized carcass. Move out.”

Radiance waited in place for a moment, and his army copied his lead, frustrating the general.

“Now!” he demanded, alarming the rest of the soldiers to march out in the direction of the hydra.

Candid stopped his flying to land on the ground. He looked over the group of armed-ponies marching towards the brown monster, being led by Nightfall. He watched the huge creature stir as it stayed lying on the ground in the distance. “You know that beast is still alive, right? It would be a good idea to-”

“That’s enough, Candid,” the stallion began. “We don’t need anymore of your help.”

Candid blinked hard in frustration as he was taken aback by the unappreciative pony. “What? Are you kidding me, right now? You do know that I just saved you and then saved everyone else in this Celestia-forsaken place, right?”

“Be careful of how you speak to me,” Radiance replied in a modest tone, narrowing his eyes slightly .

The griffon disregarded the authority to speak his mind. “So that’s, like, twice I saved you today. Two times in the same hour. Not enough ‘hour’; more like 10 minutes. How about a little gratitude? Hmm? Is it too hard to say ‘thank you?’”

“Enough!” he snapped at Candid, stomping his hoof down to the ground to order silence. “Anymore out of you and anything that you have done here will be fully forgotten.”

The griffon gave him the most unamused expression available at the moment, but Radiance continued, ignoring any visible disappointment from the non-pony.

“I shall consider this even for me not arresting you and your friends on the spot the moment I found you.”

Candid’s judgmental frown faded as he became stunned at the words. “What are you talking about? You already gave us a punishment at the funeral, remember? You came to us afterwards and told us we were no longer allowed to go to the community events anymore. We were already dealt with.”

“You just don’t get it, do you? I have every right to imprison you and that dragon, and unfortunately Droll as well, for the crimes you did. Trespassing, destruction of property, even attempted murder. If it weren’t for that unknown filly, we could’ve charged you for the full murder. The criminal list goes on and on, but I looked the other way. You’re going to talk to me about not showing gratitude? What you did here today is in little comparison to what I did for you then.”

Candid growled. “You only saved me and my friends. I saved everyone here, including you. What’s three creatures compared to thousands?”

“All you did was subdue the beast by holding him in place for my soldiers to take it from here. I still have to do the work of figuring out what to do with this landmass of a creature. And your actions might have been only out of self-interest. You haven’t proven yourself deserving to roam free-.”

“Then why did you help us?” Candid interrupted, getting more annoyed with his superior.

Radiance scowled for a moment, but then his facial expression was relieved as a sigh settled in. “It wasn’t my decision. Well it was . . . You know how some teachers can be inspired by their students? Something like that is unpredictable, but it does happen from time to time. A student inspiring their teacher. A worker inspiring a boss. A daughter . . . “ Radiance fought back tears. “She was always so forgiving. Whenever someone would wrong her, she never wanted to get back at them. She always gave them the benefit of the doubt. She never spoke back to me even when, in some cases, she should have.”

Candid’s anger eased into sorrow as he listened to the broken father.

“I may not have known exactly what was going through her mind at all times, but I do know that she was a big fan of you three. And we both saw how you paid her back. I won’t forgive you, but I know she would. She wouldn’t want to see her friends suffer for something that involved her. She would blame herself for having it happen. She wouldn’t want me to do this to you. I’ll honor that, but only this once. It wasn’t my decision; it was Lenia’s.”

Radiance was staring at the ground in sadness, but Candid didn’t know what to say, resulting in loud silence for a few seconds.

Finally Radiance took a deep breath, returning his anger back to his eyes as he regarded Candid coldly. “Do you know how she looked? Do you know what happened that was a result of you? I went to the throneroom and you thought it would be better to take a nap after I asked you what happened to her. I had to go find answers on my own, but I saw more than I wanted to see on the ground. It’s a sight that I wouldn’t wish upon anypony.” The yellow stallion blinked hard to rid his eyes of the tears. “Non-ponies and ponies don’t belong together.”

The griffon wanted to protest, but he couldn’t find the strength in him, leaving him to stare at the ground and ponder Radiance's words as the golden pony left him in solitude.

Cold