Lost

by Mr101

Chapter VII - Raven's Desperation

Lost

Chapter VII – Raven’s Desperation

Fluttershy awoke slowly to the sound of birds chirping, she looked around to see the morning sky and Celestia’s sun shining down at her. She smiled softly at the scene of serenity around her before realising where she was and frowned.

“Morning Miss Fluttershy.” Grendel said softly.

She looked around to see Grendel smiling at her; he took an apple out of his pouch and offered it to her. She hungrily took the apple and began to eat it delicately.

“Thank you Mister Grendel.”

He smiled as he watched her eat the apple; she stopped mid-way eating it and offered half of it to him.

“Not for me thank you, you need your strength.”

“A-are you sure? You need to eat to.”

“I’m not hungry, least not for apples.” He replied with a smile “I’ll be fine, go on and eat.”

She wasn’t totally happy with the response, she knew he hadn’t slept for three days as he’d been keeping an eye on them while she slept, and now she was concerned he wasn’t eating properly as well. She finished the apple but was determined to make him have some food by the end of the day.

“So, ready to get going?” he asked her as she wiped her mouth with some cloth her gave her.

“Mhm, but where are we going?”

He pointed to the trees on the other side of the river, she followed his hand and saw in the not too far distance the ruins of an old castle.

“Well, far as I can tell, if we get to the top of that ruined castle we can see over the trees and hopefully Ponyville.”

“T-the castle?” Fluttershy gasped “That’s where me and my friends defeated Nightmare Moon.”

“Nightmare what now?” Grendel asked tilting his head.

Fluttershy giggled and began to tell him about the whole escapade, Grendel just listened utterly amazed at the whole thing. He knew Fluttershy wasn’t the type to lie and was impressed that she was able to stand up to a Manticore, last time he saw one of those he nearly lost his legs to it.

“Incredible…with no disrespect Miss Fluttershy but had you been anyone else, I would of called them a liar.” He chuckled ruffling her mane slightly.

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Raven floated over the remains of the Timberwolves, he tilted his head as he picked up a limb and then tossed it aside with a sigh. He would need a new play toy and he needed it now, looking around him he darted off into the trees his cloak billowing behind him, he came to an abrupt stop just near the edge of a bog that connected with the river and he scanned the area. He giggled when he noticed the water ripple and shot at it before suddenly plunging into the water, a few moments passed and the bog was as silent as before then suddenly, Raven appeared, his blades sinking deep into a skull of a Hydra who was roaring in anger.

The hydra flailed its head trying to dislodge Raven but he clung on, he quickly brought a barrier of energy around him so the other heads couldn’t bite at him. The hydra winced in pain as Raven begun to channel his magic through his blades directly into its skull, it roared in pain and thrashed about before falling forwards in a slump, its heads resting on a nearby bank. Just as quickly as it fell, its eyes re-opened and were a piercing red.

Raven, satisfied it was under his control, removed his blades and retracted them leaping off the hydra’s head landing in front of it and giggling again. The hydra rose up and looked down at its new master with a mixture of anger and hatred, Raven turned around and closed his eyes trying to lock in on Grendel’s energy. Finding it towards the south he then raised his arm and point to the direction he felt it, the hydra growled and dipped into the water and swam out into the river, Raven twirled as he slowly began to follow himself.

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“Mister Grendel I’m feeling much better, I can walk now I think.” Fluttershy whispered.

She was being carried by Grendel as they trekked towards the castle, they were taking a route following close to the river to try and find a bridge to cross over. He had found it painful at first but after using a quick healing spell he had gotten used to walking with the aches, Fluttershy had protested several times that she was ok to walk but he was having none of it.

“That may well be, but I still insist on carrying you, until you are fully healed and that’s that.” Grendel retorted with a grin.
Fluttershy let out a defeated sigh and changed the subject of the conversation, one which they had been sharing for the past hour.

“Mister Grendel…what will you do once you…you know, dealt with Raven? If you don’t mind me asking that is…”

Grendel stopped in his tracks and blinked, he hadn’t actually given it much thought, well not in recent years at any rate. He looked up thoughtfully as his mind raced through what he would be able to do once Raven was destroyed, he could visit the town of Ponyville or even meet the rulers. His happy ideas were soon crushed when he realised something, he didn’t deserve to stay here, he created a creature that could have done a lot more harm than it did and he felt guilty about all of it. Raven had on several occasions nearly attacked travellers who had taken a ‘short cut’ through the forest only for Grendel to stop him in time, and with his recent attack on Fluttershy, he had made his mind up. He would leave this world as soon as possible and return to Cyrium.

“To be honest Miss Fluttershy, I think I’ll just go back to Cyrium, its best for everyone if I did.”

He could tell that Fluttershy’s heart sunk and was upset by his answer.

“O-oh…I was asking b-because…I would like t-to of had you round for s-some tea, before you l-left…” she trailed off her answer.

Grendel’s mouth formed into a massive grin.

“It’s been over twenty years since I tasted tea…” he chuckled to himself and hugged her tightly. “Ok Miss Fluttershy…just for you, I’ll visit you before I leave for some tea.”

Fluttershy squeed at his response and blushed lightly hiding in her mane again, Grendel chuckled and playfully ruffled her mane as he continued walking. Grendel didn’t let it on but he wanted to put as much distance between where they had last seen Raven and the castle, he knew that because he had survived the fall intended to kill him, Raven would start to take things more seriously. It would probably shock Fluttershy more to learn that up until now, Raven had been simply playing a game.

Grendel didn’t really want to be in that situation with an innocent with him; he came to a stop near the river and sighed in frustration.

“I think we’re going to have to wade across the water, I don’t see us finding a bridge anytime soon.”

Fluttershy bit her lip nervously looking at the water, the current wasn’t as fast this far down the river but it still looked a bit dangerous. One wrong step and they could both be swept away down the river.

“O-ok…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be holding onto you.” He reassured her.

She nodded nervously and clung to him as he slowly began to enter the water, he moved her gently so she was sitting on his shoulders holding her back legs for support whilst her front legs held onto his head. He moved carefully into the deeper part of the river, the water began to slowly rise higher and higher on his body till just his head and part of his shoulders remained above the water and he had to swim. Fluttershy clung tighter to his head not entirely sure of the waters safety.

Grendel was about halfway across when he felt something stir in the water; he quickly looked around with his eyes and saw a ripple heading towards them. He cursed under his breath as he gripped Fluttershy’s legs tighter with one hand and blasted a jet of water with his free hand just as the hydra broke the water, narrowly missing the two, Fluttershy screamed in surprise as the pair reached the other side of the water. Grendel placed her down on the bank and gave her a stern look.

“Stay here.”

“Ok…”

Grendel then cast a spell on his feet allowing him to stand on the water and ran towards the hydra, he summoned his staff as the rest of the hydras heads appeared from the water each one growling deeply. Grendel gritted his teeth as he readied his staff, he could tell from the glowing red eyes it was under Ravens spell, he waited patiently for the hydra to make its move. Sure enough it soon attacked; it shot its middle head at Grendel opening it mouth wide baring it’s dripping sharp fangs.

Grendel shot a fireball from his staff directly into the hydras mouth before launching himself up as the fireball exploded partly down its throat. Grendel landed on the head as it reared it back in pain, gripping tightly on its spine, the other heads roared and darted for him. He lept up again avoiding one snapping him up into his mouth and landed spinning his staff around and bashing another head away.

Grendel turned round, a head snapped at him and he fell backwards off the hydra’s head and towards the water. Quickly regaining himself he landed on the water and shot a barrage of fireballs at the heads, some of them flew past but the rest exploded on contact causing the hydra to roar in pain and flail angrily. It brought its heads down hard on the water suddenly sending a large wave towards Grendel; he didn’t have enough time to react and was caught off guard as the wave took him under the water.

Grendel struggled to get out from under the water; he felt a crack to his back as the hydra slashed with its claws in an attempt to find the mage’s body. He swam up wards and came up panting hard as he took in much needed air before swearing, one of the hydras heads shot down grabbing him in his mouth and launching him into the sky. Grendel cried out as he flailed, he fell back down and summoned his staff as he rapidly approached the awaiting hydras mouth.

“MISTER GRENDEL!” Fluttershy cried out.

She felt the tears fall down her face as she watched Grendel’s body fall into the hydra’s mouth, the hydra licked its lips before letting out a belch and sighed in content. It then slowly turned to look at Fluttershy and growled before slowly advancing, she whimpered and begun to back up. The hydra then stopped and its heads reared up blinking, it let out a screech as smoke began to flow from its mouths and it looked down to its stomach.

There was a massive explosion as the Hydra suddenly blew apart disintegrating, Grendel landed in the water with a splash and slowly swam for the shore. When he clambered out he panted heavily, dripping wet and covered in hydra guts using his staff to help him stand up.

“I never…want to do that…again.” He panted as he shook himself.

He tapped his staff on the ground and the guts staining his robe disappeared, he sighed as he slumped backwards and onto his back. Fluttershy came over slowly looking at him worriedly.

“A-are you ok?”

“Been better….not the first time I’ve been eaten I have to admit…” he said chuckling between pants.

She frowned at him and smacked his head with her hoof earning her a sharp ‘ow’ as he rubbed his head.

“What was that for?”

“For worrying me!”

Grendel was about to argue and raised his hand up in protest but stopped, he thought for a moment then shrugged.

“…Fair enough.”

The pair was silent for a moment before they both began to laugh.

“Come on, we better get moving.” Grendel said with a grunt.

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Raven floated above the trees, he had come to an abrupt stop when he had felt the energy controlling his hydra suddenly fade, he began to shake angrily as dark energy crackled around him forming red lightning. He suddenly lent back and let out a loud scream of anger as the sound of wood rattling followed, the sound echoed throughout the forest sending birds flying from the trees. He growled as he shot his five blades out and took off above the trees towards Grendel’s location, he suddenly dipped under the tree line and flew past the trees.

He was angry, and his patience had run out.

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Grendel and Fluttershy turned their heads in the direction of the scream; Fluttershy whimpered before Grendel quickly picked her up and began to run towards the castle. He winced as he ran, feeling slightly weaker after having used a large amount of power over the course of the past couple of days without proper rest, he lept over roots and ducked under branches daring not to look behind him for fear of tripping over something. Fluttershy had buried her face in his chest and was softly whimpering clinging to him desperately, he panted heavily as he struggled to keep his pace up.

They arrived at the entrance to the castle’s ruins and he stopped for a moment to take a quick breath and see if he could spot Raven, satisfied for the moment that Raven wasn’t near them yet he booted the door off its hinges and ran inside. He looked around for a place to hide Fluttershy and ran down some stairs; he found an old ragged curtain that hid a small room under the stairs. He then lifted Fluttershy’s head and looked into her eyes.

“I have to fight him…if I don’t he won’t stop chasing us.”

“But Mister Grendel…you’re not in any shape to.”

Grendel kissed her forehead gently and squeezed her tightly in an embrace.

“I don’t have much of a choice…”

Her eyes welled up as he placed her into the room; she reached up and gave him a tight hug softly crying into his neck.

“W-what if he f-finds me?”

“I’m not going to give him the chance…” he replied looking into her eyes.

She softly nodded and sniffled; he wiped away her tears and smiled at her.

“You're brave Miss Fluttershy, you may not know it yet, but you are. You’ll know when it’s safe to make a run for it; do you know your way back from here?”

She nodded, although she had only been to the castle once she knew how to get back to the town from it. He smiled and he gave her one last farewell and headed back up the stairs. She closed her eyes and covered them with her hooves holding back her tears and silently prayed to Celestia.

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Grendel stood at the top of the castle on its highest tower, he had his staff in one hand and the other was clenching and un-clenching. He had been in this situation several times over the past years but this time it was different, he was fighting Raven with a higher goal. To protect Fluttershy and allow her the chance to run, he closed his eyes as the wind blew around him catching under his cloak making it dance in the breeze.

He re-opened his eyes when he heard the sounds of a second cloak blowing in the wind and the rattling of wood, he was greeted by Raven hovering in front of him having launched himself up the side of the wall. His blades shone in the light of the sun as he wiggled his fingers slowly, the blades lightly clanging into one another; the two stood silently for a moment neither one breaking their gaze. Grendel knew he was at a slight disadvantage in his sleep deprived state but didn’t let it bother him.

“Well Raven…here we are again.”

Raven didn’t giggle this time, he merely growled as he rattled angrily.

“Seems a bit desperate of you, you charge me so soon after an attack. Losing your touch?” Grendel smirked as he tightened his grip on his staff.

Raven hissed at him and brought his arm up behind him preparing to strike, each blade crackled with red lightning. Grendel raised his staff up and growled at him.

“Let’s end this Raven…”

Raven let out a loud cry and lunged at Grendel.

The final fight had begun...

Comments

[omega-ze-wargod]

TO TEH DEATH

[Haunted Toaster]

fatality...

[Fireeaters]

*you're brave fluttershy

[Smurf]

MORTAL KOMBAT!

[Warmaisach]

Time to get this battle started

[APoeticHeart]

Here we go! *Gripping the edge of my seat* GO GRENDEL!

[Mother3Forever]

cracks knuckles

It...IS

ON!!!

[theshinobistallion]

Oddly enough I thought of Dragon soul when I read epic battles