Six o'clock and All's Well
Beasts and Burdens Chapter 12:
Six o'clock and All's Well
"Thanks again for your help, Twilight Sparkle," said one of the pegasi of the Royal Guard. "We'll make sure that the Chimera is locked away in Tartarus for good this time."
"It was no trouble at all," said Twilight. "Do you have any idea what actually happened?"
"We're not sure yet," said the guard. "We think the Diamond Dogs might know, but they disappeared as soon as Cerberus showed up."
"I personally don't blame them," said Rarity. "They probably didn't want to get locked up in Tartarus, too. Although, I do remember the Chimera saying something about Orthrus being involved. Not quite sure what to make of that."
The guard's eyes went wide for a moment. "Wait, Orthrus? Nightmare Moon's pet?"
"I, guess," said Rarity with a shrug. "I never knew Nightmare Moon had a pet."
"Well, I know what book to recommend to you next time you drop by my library," said Twilight half-jokingly.
The guard cleared his throat. "Anyway, we'll look into it. Thank you again."
With that, he flew off towards Tartarus.
"Well, I guess we should be heading back to Ponyville," said Twilight. "That was quite a rough night."
"Tell me about it," said Rarity. "I'm going to need a month at the spa just to get that Chimera's stink out of my coat."
"Looks like Sweetie Belle could use it, too," said Twilight, motioning to the young filly asleep on Rarity's back.
Rarity chuckled. "Oh, please. Sweetie Belle doesn't understand how wonderful the spa is yet. Although there is a first time for everything." They trotted across the now-barren wasteland in silence for a time. "Say, Twilight. Why did you come back for me?"
"You can thank Spike for that," said Twilight.
"We weren't comfortable leaving you and Sweetie Belle alone against the Chimera," explained Spike. "So, I came up with a plan to distract the Diamond Dogs who were digging for Tartarus. Trust me, they're as dumb as they look."
"Oh, I know, darling," said Rarity. "But however did you trick them?"
"I replicated your jewel-finding spell and pointed them in the right direction," said Twilight. "I just neglected to tell them that it was their own hoard they were going back to."
"I, see," said Rarity, stifling a giggle. "But, what about Cerberus?"
"Yoohoo!"
A familiar voice called out to Rarity as she noticed that they were heading towards a riverbank. There waiting for them was none other than Steven Magnet.
"I managed to get Cerberus up to speed," said he. "Turns out he had no idea that the Chimera escaped. And trust me, he wasn't happy about it."
"Almost makes me wonder how Orthrus managed to pull it off," Twilight mused. "Or if he'll try it again."
"Ah, don't worry about it, Twi," said Spike. "If he does try it again, we'll be ready for him."
Twilight smiled. "I know, Spike," she said with a nod.
"Not only that, but those Diamond Dogs will think twice before pulling a stunt like this again," added Rarity.
"That's true. I think they'll leave us alone for good this time," said Twilight.
"It couldn't be too soon for me," said Rarity. "So, Steve. Would you mind terribly if you gave us a ride back to Ponyville?"
"Not at all, dearie," said Steven, lowering himself to allow the two unicorns to climb onto his back.
"Oh, and do you mind going slowly this time? We're not in a particular hurry." said Rarity.
"We're not?" asked Twilight. "But I thought you had a big order to fill for Fancy Pants. You told me about it yourself this morning."
"Don't ruin the moment, Twilight," said Rarity with a self-mocking grin. "The Crystal Empire Ensemble can wait. For now, I just want to spend time with my little sister."
"Oh. Okay," said Twilight with a smile of her own. "A slower pace it is, then. Right, Steve?"
"Of course, of course," said Steven. As he swam back towards the Everfree Forest, Celestia's sun started to peer over the horizon.
"What a beautiful sunrise," said Twilight. "Don't you agree, Spike?"
But Spike was, once again, fast asleep. Twilight and Rarity chuckled softly as they lay the two youngsters on Steven's back.
"Looks like these two will be sleeping in today," said Rarity. She then nuzzled Sweetie Belle with her muzzle. "You're very lucky I'm your sister."
Sweetie Belle smiled in her sleep, shifting herself closer to Rarity. Rarity responded in kind by embracing her little sister. She sighed whimsically as she watched the sunrise with Twilight, the younger filly in her forelegs. It was the dawn of a brand new day, and all was well. Sweetie Belle was safe and sound, the Diamond Dogs' plans were thwarted, and the Chimera was safely back in Tartarus. Rarity couldn't ask for anything more.
Well, except for maybe a nice warm bubble bath.
The End
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1953851 Perhaps, perhaps.
I'll have to give the idea some thought. But yeah, Rarity bringing Sweetie Belle to the spa does sound like a pretty funny idea.
applause yeaa wow The crusaders ina spa
2003552 Honestly, that pun was the inspiration for this story (or at least parts of it). Seriously.
Awesome fic mate. Very exciting and fun to read. I hope to see more from you.
This was pretty good!
Very entertaining, and with a great use of Greek mythology, and I love Greek mythology.
Good job
2020596 The funny thing is I always had a nagging feeling that Greco-Roman mythology was at least semi-canon after Twilight mentioned Tartarus in the episode It's About Time. And since in the original Greek myth Bellerophon rode on a pegasus to fight the Chimera, it just sorta fit. Plus, I couldn't resist making that pun out of Sweetie Belle's name.
Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
This ain't ROCK 'N' ROLL! This is GENOCIDE!
2453376 I'm sorry, what? Did that have anything to do with this story whatsoever?
2453399 Well, duh, because this story features Diamond Dogs prominently. Brush up on your knowledge of awesome music, man.
2455300 Hmm. Touché.
But all right, references aside, some comments on the story itself:
It's an interesting idea, having Rarity rescue her sister from the Diamond Dogs. But the execution... well, I think it's much too short. So much epic stuff happens in so few words that it all feels very rushed, and the seriousness of the situation doesn't really get across. Especially the part where the Chimera explains his evil plan to the Diamond Dogs suffers from this - the plan is too big and too epic to just drop it on our heads like that! These things need to be built up, revealed slowly.
I honestly think that this story would work much better if it were forty or fifty thousand words long. In some parts it reads more like a plot summary than an actual story.
Oh, and one other thing: the fact that Rarity holds her own just fine against the Chimera strains suspension of disbelief, given that the same Chimera just fought off a bunch of Royal Guards without much trouble.
2455325 I will admit, this was a lot shorter than I had originally intended, and there was a lot more that I wanted to do, mainly involving Orthrus. That's why I extended this story into the Orthrus Trilogy. The fact of the matter is that the scenes as I wrote them just flowed one into the other, and I didn't want things to drag out. Plus, I was focusing more on having everything make sense than anything else.
In story, I would argue that the Chimera is meant to be an overconfident idiot. In the rest of the Orthrus Trilogy, it's revealed that the whole thing was Orthrus's plans, not the Chimera's. For all of its planning and scheming, it makes a lot of mistakes in execution; the least of which being dropping the plan on the Diamond Dog's heads without any precedent, and the greatest of which being that it thought all of its enemies were dumber than it was.
As for Rarity's battle with the Chimera, well, I honestly tried to make it a balanced fight. That and there was a subtle contention that the Chimera is better at fighting an entire hoard of enemies than it is in one-on-one duels. But I can see how that one was easy to miss.
All the same, I thank you for this candid review.
Awesome. I read this story in one go and found it to be funny, a bit suspenseful, and overall most excellent. Can't wait to read the sequels.
2980284 Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
You get the idea for the chimera from episode 18? (Our was it 17?)
4273251 Actually, no. Believe it or not, I wrote this back in January of 2013 (as evidenced by the time stamp); long before the episode Somepony to Watch Over Me came out. It's a pretty neat coincidence though.
Cool story! Starting the next one.